The Card Job, page 9
Mary scrunched her nose. “Never played that one, I’m usually just into whatever is popular on the phone. Isn’t being immersed that way a little freaky? I’ve heard that some people forget that it is a game.”
That rumor has been around for ages. Players in the game becoming their characters until the game forces them to quit, or worse, leaving the game while still pretending to be their in-game characters. Herm knew most players don’t pretend to be their characters. Captain Cobra was an exception, not a rule.
He steered the conversations to current shows, like which adaptation of Red Rising was the best, while she ate and ordered another drink. “This is the best date I’ve had in a while. I’m going to run off and use the restroom. I’ll be right back.” Mary gave him a little wave as she departed.
Herm waited. Then he waited longer. Then the man started to worry. It took a few more minutes before his worry exceeded his uncomfortableness and he waved down a server. “The woman I was with, Mary, she went to the restroom and hasn’t returned. Can you check on her?”
He saw it in the server's eyes, that oh you poor man look. “I’ll be right on it sir.” The smile the server gave him was only half as strong as it could have been.
It was only a few minutes before the server returned. “She doesn’t appear to be in the restaurant anymore.”
Herm sighed and looked at the empty plates of food she had left nearby on the bar. He could have sworn they were at least having an okay time. He didn’t get modern women. At least in the game, with Sasha, he knew what he was going to get. He chose to pay for the girl's food anyway before leaving himself and calling a car home.
Chapter Fourteen
"The Cradle is the most massive starting zone of any game. You could easily spend your whole time there and never leave."
-Changing Worlds promotional material.
Fitful sleep and paranoid dreams tussled with Herm as he was in his bed. He woke up the day of the heist in a sweat. The real world had been disappointing, but he knew that there was a chance that everything could be turned to ash today. Even after that little confrontation, Sasha had sent him a game message saying she would be ready to do her part today.
He forced himself to think about it like it was a game of Change-Set. Each team member has their face-up cards showing how they should behave. On top of those are face down ones, changing the situation as the bets are made. The question is what cards are they playing with, and did he select the right ones to win?
He logged in and immediately felt better. There was something about the control of special abilities, inventory, and ships that was empowering. Even if everything went to shit, it was still just a game. Two hours early for the meet-up and Angel is setting up a spread in the crew lounge wearing an oversized chef hat and frilly pink apron on its massive, muscular green body. “Any news, Angel?”
“I can’t decide between eclairs or cucumber sandwiches.”
“No, about the team, security, and backups.”
“Everything has been organized as you requested. Extra upgrades have been installed. Sasha Bear also inquired about the status of our defenses in case the planetary defense forces are drawn to our location, and I provided a list of the upgrades you requested and installed.”
It was rare, but there was a possibility of having the whole of a planetary militia after you. The Cradle’s was neither small nor weak. Hermanos knew that if needed, the YDMG could stand up to a full assault long enough to get out of there, and he had enough funds to pay off even the most extreme bounty.
He let himself relax, as the plan was in place. He pressed his hand to open the safe and gave one more look at the Change-Set cards stored in the safe on the ship. Their durability had dropped some, but it wasn’t like they would turn to powder with a little rough handling.
Protea and Minc showed up first. They’re loaded up with the gear they had requested. Assault style, set for taking the bank and holding off a siege. “We have cucumber sandwiches and eclairs if you want a snack while we wait for the rest of the crew.” Angel shrieked at them.
Minc picked up an eclair. While generous in size, they looked tiny in his hand. Protea handed a package to Hermanos. “Here is the knock-out charge. When you start hearing gunfire, pull the string, and it should set it off, taking care of the vault. It doesn’t last that long, but we should be able to take care of the guards by the time you revive.” She told him a bit gruffly as she handed it to him.
“I know the plan. Naptime, and then we get the prize. I’d like to thank you. I couldn’t do this without you.” The Gambler watched as she looked away briefly.
With a hoot, RT interrupted the interaction. “Woooeeee, the shuttle is a beaut. The boost will turn the engine into a brick after a short bit, but it should be faster than anything without a matching boost to get us from point A to point B.”
The short proto-dwarf seemed more excited about pushing the speed limits close to maximum in the game for non-FTL travel than anything else. “Glad you liked it. Angel put it together from my supplies. Can’t guarantee it won’t trigger some kind of quest for you later on though.” Hermanos told him.
RT snorted. “Quests are fun, that’s why we all play after all.”
Sasha strolled in wearing formal business attire, a black and barely flattering suit. Even her classic red and blue hair had been turned blonde. “I look awful! I can’t believe I have to wear this to break into the bank office.”
“The NPCs are not completely blind. You can’t wear nearly nothing and have the correct papers.”
“Well, this personal assistant outfit sucks. We’re just lucky people have been playing monopoly with the property, and it has been bought and sold a few times. It’s always been more about the status than the game with those types.”
“You didn’t mind that much when I bought us that apartment on Oceana.”
“I also got to blow up that place. It made a very satisfying mushroom cloud. I also was never made to wear something so drab.”
Hermanos realized that he was in the same beat-up, stained, torn, and scorched starting outfit he always wore. “Angel. Get me a business suit.” He handed the AI the starting outfit. “Store this pronto.”
After too much hair raising, garbage disposal of a chalkboard-level discussion, about the six suits pulled out of the vault. Hermanos was finally able to send Angel on a different task while also dressed appropriately for the mission.
“You look good.” The Gambler felt the Codebreaker slide her arm around his waist. He shivered and didn’t want to put too much thought into why.
“Considering that you’ve called my previous look homeless, I think any option would make me look good. Even that lime-green monstrosity with the shoulder pads that Angel tried to convince me to wear because it gave me plus six luck.”
Hermanos stumbled forward as Sasha let go and pushed off from behind. “You always were shit at taking compliments, Hermy. Let’s get this job done. Then I can take my pay and new toys from you and sun myself on one of the purple beaches on Planet Paradise.”
He admitted to himself that the black suit didn’t look bad on his character. It was the slick tightly-cut kind he would have loved to own in real life. In this world, though? Anyone can dress up how they want if they are willing to put in the hours as Sasha did. He turned to his crew, “Let’s do this.”
RT flew and dropped Sasha off at the landing pad on top of the Bank. He constantly revved the engine, and his fingers twitched to push the boost that would get him to max speed but also turn the vehicle into a pile of slag. From the shuttle, Hermanos watched his ex walk away. He felt she looked cute in ordinary clothes, but knew not to tell her that. This game of theirs was coming to an end soon anyway.
The Gambler stepped out at the public entrance and gave a little wave to Protea and Minc who were waiting for their cue to start their raid as a distraction before he was to knock out the guards on the lower floor. He held the package in his hand as the bank would want to check it before he took it down to deposit and stepped inside.
Two sturdy-looking guards managed the line to get into the bank, they asked for items to be inspected and then let you through. If you listened carefully, you could tell that they were both NPCs as the line’s cadence perfectly repeated every time. “Illegal item!” one of them declared, breaking script suddenly.
“Wait, I just!” The player started to protest. In one swift motion, the guard pulled up its weapon and fired point-blank at the offending player, turning him into a fine digital spray. Hermanos touched the package Protea had handed to him. He knew this would be one quick job. If the guards decided to take offense at it, there was only so much even a max-level player can do at these kinds of checkpoints. Checkpoint guards always got special buffs which is why forged documents, items, secret compartments for smuggling were a part of this game. Hermanos wondered if space smugglers and scoundrels had some special place in the hearts of the designers who made this game. He then dismissed the thought as he thought about all the other silly things in it like the warzones or even places where you can run a cattle or horse ranch.
When it was his time, the Gambler tried not to show his nerves. He presented his own forged papers to the guards. “Name? Reason for visit?” the first NPC guard stated in the same tone he used every time he had asked.
“Biggus Spacecok. Here to make a deposit for the vault.” Hermanos strongly suspected that Sasha had picked out the name on his paperwork, not that he thought Protea thought highly of him. He knew one of them had to select a name that implied he was overcompensating for something. He would let them have their joke. It’s not like NPC react to such things anyway. Behind the Gambler, someone snickered.
He ignored that and stepped forward. The guards scanned him, and whatever function the game used to decide if the device was acceptable enough to pass through was put into play. As far as Hermanos knew, no one had yet to hack or manipulate the code to affect the game. “You may pass.” The guard stated flatly.
The Banque Morte was a masterpiece of black stone blocks and gold accents spiraling around. Throngs of players and NPCs ran about on their business. Hermanos activated his ability to get a feel of the area as he strode toward another line that would bring him in contact with an agent who could take him down to the vaults. Despite being an S-class building, many of the achievement tags Hermanos saw were of the lower level variety that you saw on the starting planet. Rookie, Upstart, Chosen One. He knew Chosen One was particularly funny because the questline where you got that title ended up with your character waking up naked and in a dumpster. There were no real chosen ones in this game, but they certainly liked to joke about the idea of them.
The Gambler stepped into another line. He inwardly cursed the line between realism and actually dealing with bank lines. “This is a robbery!” Someone yelled. A man’s voice, so he knew that Protea hadn’t decided to come early. The NPCs scattered and huddled on the floor. The players just stood around, looking annoyed. Hermanos looked at the would-be robber. Upstart was still his tag, so he couldn’t be that high-leveled. Nervous was his status. Herm was grateful that it wasn’t an NPC because any action he took, in that case, would involve him in some complicated quest.
“Everyone down!” The man, a Soldier class, lazily waved his gun around. Then shook it in Hermanos’s general direction. “You too!” Five other players and an NPC were waving their guns around in a similar manner.
He didn't bring his golden Xerces-99, that kind of weaponry would have triggered the guards. But it wasn’t like he wasn’t allowed to have any weapons inside the bank, they just had level and damage restrictions. The gun he had brought had the undignified name of 7C-Peashooter. With a sigh he checked his in-game clock, everyone in the crew was on a schedule for this little bank robbery. A bolt of energy hit near his feet, a warning shot. “I said down!” Yelled the Soldier again.
He accessed his skill [Sleight of Hand]. The Peashooter was now in his grip, and he did not fire warning shots. Luck did nothing to boost the weapon's pitiful damage. The robber was a low enough level that it didn’t matter, as the bullet critical strikes the man's head, turning it into a ball of mist before his body dropped to the floor and dissolved away as well.
The four others in the crew turned their guns on him, but even they were too slow. Pop, pop, pop, the 7c-Peashooter fired off three more shots taking out each of the players, leaving only the NPC. NPCs were more logical than players in these types of situations. It dropped it’s gun and raised its hands. “I surrender.”
The NPCs who had dropped to the floor at the first sign of the heist stood up and applauded. Herm could hear a player from behind him mutter, “I could have done that.”
The game rewarded him with two new achievements.
[Big Fish, Completed a heroic act in a low-level zone. +1 to all stats when in a lower level zone for actions involving lower level players.]
And
[Bully, Killed players much lower level than you. Gives you an intimidation debuff applied to all players 30 levels below yours in a 1000 foot circle.]
The game asked him if he wanted to use either of these achievements. Herm waived them off, just wanting to get down to the vault.
Saving the day did not let him cut ahead in line. The NPC bank teller smiled like the place hadn’t been held up moments ago, “How may I help you?”
He handed her his papers, “I’m here to deposit a package into one of the deposit boxes in the vault.”
“Biggus Spacecok, we have the vault for you. For only nine thousand, nine hundred, and ninety-nine credits, I will have security escort you down.”
He winced. The NPC didn’t have to say the cover name so loudly. Well, maybe it did, but it still annoyed him. The price in credits for a vault box was pretty outrageous for the fact that The Cradle was a starting zone. He handed the money over, and two NPC guards walked up from the back. They looked remarkably like the two that were guarding the entrance, except these had big black bushy mustaches.
They led Herm to the back of the bank, past the first set of Vault doors and then down some stairs. He walked with the two burly dudes, their shoulders at the top of his head. Two more security gates opened with sets of keys chained to the individual guards that needed to be turned at precisely the same time, taking him deeper into where the deposit boxes were.
He could see one more gate, the one he still couldn’t get into with a simple box purchase from the bank floor. The boxes inside sparkled. He squinted and could see they were gem-encrusted. One of the NPC guards grunted and tapped the unit he had purchased for his part of the mission. It was just dull gray metal. The timer in his vision started counting down from ten. He figured he was too deep to hear blaster fire. “I know you won’t understand this, but I hope you have pleasant dreams.” He told the NPC.
He pressed the button on the box as the number hit zero. Instead of the slow hissing sound, he half expected, Herm heard a click, click, click. Then he knew from his years of experience that the package was not knockout gas. Everything flashed white and rumbled.
The bold red words welcomed him moments later.
[YOU HAVE DIED]
Herm sat down in the void, knowing that the top cards have just been revealed and waited for his respawn.
Chapter Fifteen
"Ninety-five percent of players have alternate accounts. Of those, only ten percent have two characters above level twenty-five. Only .001% of players have a level-capped character, as leveling at higher levels is long and tedious."
-Changing Worlds Wiki, account statistics.
Respawn in Changing Worlds is formula based. Eight seconds per level of your character, fifteen seconds for every other team member, ten seconds to five minutes added based on the distance to players spawn point. Being max level with four teammates and his respawn point being the Your Debt My Gain in orbit, the gambler stared at his personal respawn timer ticking down from twelve minutes and seventeen seconds. “Talk about starting with a bang.” he muttered to himself as he looked at his options.
Changing Worlds wasn’t so cruel as to make him sit in darkness. He could play a minigame or choose to play an alternate character. Some players like to have multiple alternate accounts in the game, burly male tanks to fragile sharpshooting female gunners. Hermanos knew that splitting your time between various characters is a recipe for not reaching the max levels in the game, and for him a barrier to getting the complete Change-Set. It had taken him years of dedicated gaming to complete the basic collection and learn of the Advanced Card.
He had one alternate character, which was of course created at Sasha’s urging when they were dating. With a little grumble, he selected it.
[Welcome back to Changing Worlds, Titania Gnomwood]
The former max level Gambler stumbled forward from his last spawn point, imbalanced by long heels, an over proportioned chest, and the loud, crowded noise of fast beating music accompanied by flashing lights. “Double fuck.” He’d forgotten his last respawn point had been Club Switch Sixty-Three.
Sasha had thought they could have some fun interactions if he played as a female character, and they did have fun. When Sasha rolled up into the club in a blond, crew-cut, beefcake of a soldier named Antonio in the club, it had been too much, and Herm had logged out. That was the last time he had played Titania. That line of play he just wasn’t into, and it was the one thing Sasha had been kind enough never to bring up again. He knew there was a very good chance that a guy worked behind Sasha Bloodlilly’s eyes. That had never bothered him.
Now he was in a level ten Sapper wearing a strappy, barely-there outfit Sasha had picked out months ago. Steadying himself, Herm ignored the crowds and focused on his game display to pull up the friends-list. Only one name sat on it. “Sasha, I got blown up. What the hell is going on?” The high-pitched almost bubbly female voice coming out of the avatar was at odds with how he felt.
