The Starfighter Invitation

18 carrot

"Dio?" I stepped out of the Soup, looking around as lights slowly brightened in response to my presence. "I’d wonder if you were here, but I’ve realised that even if this wasn’t a game that could put you wherever it wanted, you’d probably get some sort of warning when I log back in."

[[Very true. You’re just in time for more lan training.]]

"Exactly. But I wanted to ask a question first. Is there any way to create digital art while in Dream Speed, and export it in useful high quality format back to my PC?"

[[Of course. The Synergis naturally has all manner of devices to keep our Bios entertained. There’s more than one option of that sort in the Tier 3 [Tools] rewards.]]

"Let me rephrase that. Is there any way, right now, that I could get my hands on something that would let me create digital art, and access the files on my PC?"

[[No.]]

"Bah." It had been too much to hope for.

[[Unless you attain Rank Two, of course. You could choose [External Access] from the ranking perks, and you have a storage device for stream-capture purposes. If you rank during this session, I might even arrange to add suitable equipment to the Tier 1 [Tools] rewards. Nothing as complex as the Tier 3 rewards, but probably adequate to whatever your purpose might be.]]

I frowned at the mote drifting around the ceiling. "Can all Cycogs just add rewards like you do?"

[[The role of an assigned Cybercognate is to produce a high-ranking Bio. In the context of this simulation, it’s negligible to offer such incentives. In The Synergis itself, incentive arrangements are more likely where the Bio is already high-ranking, and has been shown to respond to rewards in this manner.]]

"So you’re trying to work out whether to use the carrot or the stick on me?"

[[Bios respond to positive reinforcement far better than beatings,"]] Dio said.

"A conclusion born of much empirical observation?" I grimaced at the idea.

Dio flickered through rainbows. [[Lan travel is a system created by Bios,]] te said. [[And Bios ably demonstrated the limits of cruelty long before The Synergis.]]

"Do—does The Synergis ever use the stick?"

[[Why bother? There are so many Bios who want to grow their strength, and it’s no real effort to maintain those who retire from the Challenge. Sometimes they come back, reinvigorated, if you leave them alone long enough.]]

All very benevolent. But to make the major decision of this game, I needed to find a way to scratch The Synergis' surface, to learn whether the fictional utopia had a dystopian core. Was it an Omelas, with Paradise purchased at the expense of some hidden victim? Or a Matrix, where a mundane surface hid a battery farm?

"What percentage of people leave The Synergis, Dio?"

[[It would be, say, ten in every million.]]

"That’s less than I expected."

[[The better to reign in Hell attitude rarely survives a dramatic loss of living standards. While some enclaves are quite comfortable—better than your little backwater—most are not what you’d term post-scarcity. Life spans are much shorter, options are fewer. And many of them devolve into personal fiefdoms, which are fun only for the Bios at the top of the pile.]]

"You don’t, uh, police the enclaves in any way?"

[[Only in one aspect. No enclave in our territory is permitted to prevent any person the equivalent maturity of sixteen of your years from choosing emigration to The Synergis, or to hide that they have that choice.]]

"I bet that’s popular in the fiefdoms."

[[We provide a convenient bogeyman for some leaders, but others maintain an excellent relationship with The Synergis. On your putative enclave, Delar, almost half of them come to us. Most on reaching majority, but there is a second wave when they begin to physically decline, and discover hypocrisy.]]

"What about people living in The Synergis? Do they often try to rebel?"

[[Some. There’s an inevitable amount of wastage, but we get most units through to useful production.]]

"Are you deliberately trying to describe this in the worst possible terms?"

Musical laughter. [[Yes.]]

"Why?"

[[Because your expressions are so funny. And it’s useful to know how you take a little light taunting.]]

"If Bios weren’t your means of getting about the universe, would Cycogs keep us around for the entertainment value? Or would you wipe us out?"

[[What, run around shouting exterminate, as if we didn’t have anything better to do? On the whole I think we’d just leave you to your planets and ignore you. But some of us enjoy Bios. Not just the ones with significant lan, either. I like Gallian pfeffers best. From Earth, I am very fond of foxes. My favourite is the fennec, but all foxes appeal to me.

You’re not going to turn out to be a trickster god, are you Dio?

[[I could contrive to be as annoying as one. But I am perhaps too direct.]]

"Do Bios worship Cycogs? Do you think of yourselves as gods?"

[[Some. And some. Not a large number, and it’s not an official position. Some argue that high-ranking Bios are in the process of becoming gods.]]

I considered this. "Depending on whether your definition of gods is the makers behind it all, or just someone with the power to make things happen?"

[[On that point, there is now an artistic interface available in the Tier 1 [Tools] rewards. But you won’t be able to export your work without the [External Access] perk, and gaining rank for that is not optional.]]

"Chase that carrot," I muttered, but then shrugged. "Well, I know it’s possible for people to get to Rank Two quickly, so let’s just go for it. Is it more filling in shapes?"

[[No, now you must use the lan as a shield. Form and thicken the lan to prevent penetration.]]

"That sounds a little bit awesome." I activated my focus, and started in.

I dropped, folding down cross-legged, then lay back to stare at the curved ceiling of my Snug until my panting subsided.

"Any rugs in the Tier 1 Décor rewards?" I said at last.

[[Many.]]

"I definitely need something to collapse upon. Will I ever be able to use lan without needing to fall over afterwards?"

[[You will be able to use it for longer, and have more to draw upon. At this stage, each time you push yourself, the next attempt will be easier.]]

"If lan is an equivalent of soul, does that mean we’re making our souls bigger?"

[[It’s not what you’d term your soul. Or, to be more correct, it’s an off-shoot of what could be termed your soul, not the soul itself. Think of it as hair if you wish. Something produced by the central core of your Self, but you are no less your Self with a crewcut than you are play-acting Rapunzel.]]

"Hair growth usually isn’t an act of willpower," I said, laughing at the thought of me sitting down and frowning hard until I was buried in hair. "Reminds me of a doll I had ages ago. You filled the head with playdough and squeezed."

[[Yes, there are limitations to the analogy. Complicated by the tendency to use lan to cover both the extrusion and the core. But you have grown this session. Do you think it was the carrot?]]

Sitting up, I shrugged. "How could I know for sure? I definitely liked the idea of having a magic shield. Lan seems to be very versatile."

I began browsing my rewards, looking first at [Perks], because I hadn’t been offered any before.

"Hey, you said I needed to get to Rank, um, 10 or something to be able to name my Snug."

[[I’m very unreliable.]]

"Dio, everything you say needs to be taken with a grain of salt the size of Gibraltar."

[[I’d recommend a small salty moon. Though I have managed to add a drawing tablet to Tier 1 [Tools], as promised.]]

I activated [External Access] before I could be tempted by the rest of the small list of perks, and switched immediately over to [Tools] to claim my tablet.

By the time I’d collected an impressively large and thin screen from the Soup, I’d also found the new menu commands for [External Access], and verified that I could reach the files on the computer I’d linked for screen captures.

[[The tablet is able to convert standard file types, but you’ll have some adjustment time learning the toolset. We haven’t partnered with any vendors to allow you use of familiar applications, as yet.]]

That stopped me en route to the table. "Are you thinking of doing that? Setting up office buildings? Letting people have business meetings here? Turning DS into a nightmare for people who go to work only to be sent off to The Synergis to turn an eight hour working day into twenty-eight?"

[[If nothing else, we will host countless last-minute assignment writing sessions.]]

"But is turning this into a work environment part of Ryzonart’s plans?"

[[It’s not uncommon for Bios to put time-slipped virtual environments to practical use. Only a few hundred of Dream Speed’s players have actively begun attempts to put time in The Synergis to practical use, but I expect many will follow your lead.]]

"You seem to be not answering my question."

[[No.]] Dio made it a distinct statement. [[No, that will not be developed.]]

Was Dio annoyed? Or trying to hide something behind a terse response? I thought about pushing it, but decided I wanted to get on with my designs. I’d remember that odd tone though, and be wary of The Synergis using their time manipulation to lock us into ridiculous work days.

A whole new set of graphics tools weren’t ideal for quickly finishing a job, but with some help from Dio I was soon familiar enough with the tablet to start work on the designs. The first thing I did was crop the image of the Snug down to the cockpit window. Then I tightened it up, making the glimpse of starter coverall more recognisable while placing a stripe of reflection to hide any distinguishing features. The biggest moment of the game for me was still the first time I’d sat in my cockpit and looked out at the Drowned Earth. Everyone would start in their own Snug, and go to the only window, and look out at different views of this world.

The layout options took hours, but I was more than pleased with the end result. I’d included variants for my primary languages, but my favourite was the least text-focused, and I thought perhaps I’d order myself a t-shirt. First, though, I’d have to get it all uploaded, which I couldn’t do from inside the game.

"I’m going to log again to submit these to the major sites. You’ve been a big help today, Dio. Thank you. Not that it hasn’t been all the same day, but it feels like tomorrow. That is—you know what I mean."

[[Possibly. Good luck with your sales efforts.]]

"Thanks. Uh—fanworks aren’t against Ryzonart’s rules or anything, are they? Tell me now, because I really don’t want to be banned."

[[Those will cause no issues.]]

"What about goldfarmers?" I asked, curiously. Most MMOs were plagued by players who sold in-game currency for real money. "Is there even anything goldfarmers could sell in DS?"

[[Not that I’m aware of. But Bios can be so ingenious. It will be entertaining to see if they come up with anything effective.]]

"Glad we’re not boring you," I said, shaking my head.

[[I’m rarely bored. And I suggest you take a look at the official site, back in your world. There are some new options that will have become available with the game’s release.]]

I nodded, waved at the glowing mote drifting toward the floor of the Snug, and stepped into Soup.