System Break

Huan Xie sat at the head of the table. It was a beautiful oval oak table that looked old school, but the technology was well hidden which was one of the features of the best tech.

There was a bar at one end of the room and screens on all the walls. They showed depictions of ocean views accompanied with ambient sounds.

On one side sat Sakaala and Ailen, known in the real world as Jia and Gan. And on the other side were two men in leather jackets and another in a suit.

Xie nodded to the men and gestured for them to introduce themselves.

The man in a suit smiled and said. "Juan, I'm the surgeon flown in to oversee your employee's care. I've been a resident at Cedars-Sinai for the last eight years and my specialty is neurology."

The was a short silence and the first man in a leather jacket spoke. He had dark hair and pale complexion. "Pieter, I'm from Moscow and my specialty is data interception and mining."

The last man spoke, "I'm Michael. I solve problems." He was slightly tanned with short brown hair and eyes.

Jia peered at the last man. "What sort of problems?"

He smiled. "All of them. Think of me as a fixer."

She looked at her father. "Why do we need these two?"

"That's why we're here," Xie said, "To get on the same page. I've arranged for your friend to be moved here in four days. Dr Juan will ensure he arrives safely and then we'll install him in an upgraded pod. Pieter will intercept the data and only send back a modified version to QWP."

"I have the schematics, but I need the pod tomorrow if I am to have enough time," Pieter said. "Four days is not a good window for such a task."

Xie nodded. "It's here. You can start after this meeting if time is critical."

Gan looked at his sister and then back at his father. "What are we doing exactly? What do you need from us?"

"Your role is to keep the asset comfortable and happy. If you know what we're doing, then you can answer any of his concerns in the right way."

Jia frowned. "What are we doing?"

"What we said." Xie smiled. "We're bringing him here and we'll get to the bottom of his secrets."

Jia scoffed. "We know his secret, we told you. He can see qi."

Xie nodded. "That's what he tells you. You can't know for sure. But even if that's true we want to know why, how and if we can replicate it. Something the developers have failed to do. In fact, they don't even know as much as you."

Gan rubbed his chin. "Are we going to start a competing product?"

Huan Xie shrugged. "Insurance. If I take over the Qi Worlds Programme, I don't want a faction of the current directors creating a competitor. I'll have the key information and take their best people. And if not, Michael will solve any problems."

Michael nodded.

Jia laughed. "Father you're too much. First you help create skyrocketing unemployment then you take this over."

Huan Xie laughed. "You don't know the half of it. On the inside I need you to meet with the gatekeepers as soon as you can. Find out how the world is created and how it is paid for."

"You don't know?"

A patient smile appeared on his face. "We have the information, but I don't trust, I check."

Jia looked at Gan. "How are we going to meet with the gatekeepers?"

"We've been there once, before they brought us to the forest. Maybe we negotiate for more adventurers and we go back to do the deal with the gatekeepers."

Huan Xie said, "Good. We can kill two birds with one stone. Arrange for five players and we'll set up loyal people here to take those spots."

"You don't trust us?" Jia asked.

Xie shook his head. "Think of it as backup."

"Why do we need backup?"

"So, you can do what you need to for me and know they'll have your backs."

Jia sighed. "So, this place is real? These gatekeepers are aliens?"

"You haven't worked it out yet?" Xie said. "I'm disappointed. Pieter explain it to them."

The pale man had a thick Russian accent. "It is a hybrid place. These gatekeepers and others live in a place called the planes. I only learned about it myself this week, I'm an information expert not a spiritual guru. Think of these planes as another dimension, another universe or as they're called another plane of reality. What the qi worlds programme has done is quite amazing. The Chinese have been traveling to these planes for thousands of years. Not many, just their gurus who study the Dao or Buddhism. As technology has advanced, they found a way to upload people to these planar realms using technology. As I said, it's a hybrid. Part computer game, part planar realm. Both at the same time."

"When you travel there, it is your spirit and mind which goes, as you know your body stays here. I have no idea how this part works. But there is a stream of data which comes back to your body and I can tap into that - where it connects to your cybernetic implant."

Gan's mouth was open and his eyes wide. "That's incredible. If I hadn't done it, I wouldn't believe it."

Dr Juan said, "The mind is an incredible thing. And we have only scratched the surface of what it is capable of. There is also your nervous system it is this which is communicating through the cybernetic implant. Think of it like a second brain, one that taps into your whole being. There is no evidence, that I know of, of a human spirit, but this enterprise may blow that wide open."

Jia shook her head trying to break loose of her confusion. "Okay. So, what we have to do is keep Benzhi happy, calm, and compliant. And meet with the gatekeepers and open a dialogue?"

Huan Xie nodded. "Well put. That's all I want you to do. For now."

Gan frowned. "What about the tournament?"

Xie shrugged. "It's not important for you." He tapped the desk and a screen rose from the middle of the table. A short advertisement played. The tournament was going to be streamed free on the world's major media platforms.

Gan stared at the video and then shook his head. "It is. We've be aiming for it forever - if we were to suddenly to lose interest that would be very suspicious."

"Then its part of your first directive. Keep him happy and calm. Until we unlock his secrets, he's a valuable asset."

"He's a person," Jia said.

"Honey, of course. We're not going to kill him once we have what we need. We'll pay him well and he'll be safe as long as he stays with us. It will only get dangerous if he wants to leave."

Gan eyes were still glued to the disappearing screen. "He only wants to stay in the forest with his women. If we give him that, he'll be happy."

Jia glanced at Gan but kept quiet.

Xie picked up on it. "What. Please tell me, have you slept with him?"

Jia blushed slightly and shook her head.

"What then? Do you have feelings for him?"

"No. I'll do what needs to be done. We're friends that's all."

Xie sighed. "He'll be fine as long as we control him. Getting his secrets is insurance as well as giving us the capability to upscale. It's bad business to rely on one cog without a replacement part."

Xie took a sip of water. "One day there could be hundreds of qi worlds with hundreds of millions of players."

"All the same?" Gan asked.

Xie shook his head. "Use your imagination. Anything is possible. We could use AI or real people could play a role and be paid to do so. The technology is in its infancy and its potential is endless."

Xie waved his hand. "Okay, we've talked enough, some of us have a lot of work to do."

Pieter grunted and stood. "Show me to the room with the pods." 

Xie nodded to Michael who led Pieter away.

The doctor stood. "I will go to the research facility tomorrow to prepare. If you excuse me, I'll get an early night."

Huan Xie said, "I have faith in you both." He stood and looked at them for some time. "This is your time, you're young and if robotics is my legacy this can be yours.

He turned and walked towards the exit. "Good night," he said before he disappeared.

Gan looked at his sister who sighed and said, "Maybe investing in the programme wasn't such a great idea."

"He wanted us to work for him and now we are."

"Let's go," she said.

They walked through the corridors and into the games room where Pieter was already tinkering. There were now eight pods in the room, their father had already procured the extra five.

Without a word they sat in their respective pods and plugged the cord into their cybernetic implant at the base of their neck. Within a few minutes they were back in the game that was real.