## 2018:05:24:21:23 - The World Neuvo: α Notre Borealis

Logging into The World one by one, the hackers generated a harmless storm of blue tornadoes created by the rings that rose from avatar feet to head whenever the avatar entered a zone.

Before them lay the hollow shell of their grand, new root town. Using their simple administration panels, they had shaped the landscape, loaded and placed various buildings, and set up the weather. Everything appeared complete from the looks of it, but the aching fact was that it was entirely inanimate. The NPCs were lifeless models. The building walls could be walked through - as if they weren't there. None of the plants grew or waved in the artificial wind. To the greater populace, it could provide joy were it a mere painting, frozen in time and virtual memory. But to its makers, it was a glimmer of the dawn of a new creation one day to fulfill all their dreams of a pixel-based reality.

Xil-Sta was the first to log in, but q5corbo was the first to rush in, shouting, "Hurray! It's The World!" As he ran away, a few others logged in, including Kellei and Brofin.

"Yes! It feels great to be gaming again," said Kellei. "How would I waste my life away without games?"

"You could get a girlfriend," teased Xil-Sta.

"Only if she were a gamer. I rarely leave my room. Flirting with my monitor is more fun," Kellei confessed.

The others kept up the lighthearted teasing for a moment, but as smooth as the dying of waves, their attention shifted to their digital play-scape.

A half-hour later, everyone was so distracted that they nearly missed the arrival of their newest playmate.

"What's up, boys!" said Nono301 in a jolly tone as he approached a group of hackers gathered in a circle.

"I'm going to add a paper-airplane gun," spouted q5corbo to his companions, ignoring Noro301.

"For... launching airplanes, I assume," replied Xil-Sta.

"Yup!"

"Why? You can't do much with that in the game."

"It's for fun," objected q5corbo. "What else is the game for?"

Xil-Sta shrugged and smiled in agreement.

"Indeed, what else could it be for?" said Noro301.

All eyes finally turned to him. Noro301 stood there silent, expecting a reply. Everyone else stood there for a moment waiting for him to answer his own question.

q5corbo finally broke the silence. "Games are for FUN!" he said, pumping his fist in the air like a super hero.

"I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm really interested in exploring the dungeons right now," said Xil-Sta.

"Sounds like an awesome idea!" the others added.

"They'll probably be the same as before," Kellei noted.

Xil-Sta smiled. "Ah, but this is a special edition of the game."

"A special edition?" Noro301 asked.

At that moment, everyone looked again at Noro301 and suddenly remembered he wasn't one of them.

"How so?" Noro301 continued.

Brofin looked at Xil-Sta and nodded. "Duty calls."

Xil-Sta turned to Noro301. "I take it you don't know much about the World."

"Pardon my being a newbie," apologized Noro301.

"That's fine. Normally I'd yell 'noooob' at you but since it's been quite some time since anyone has played this game, it's understandable."

"Thanks!"

"So... let me ask you first, what brought you to this game?"

There was a pause and an confused look on Noro301's face. Behind the screen, a certain government agent was playing his cards carefully. Do they already know my mission? he wondered. No, not possible. Maybe they're asking about why I want to play.

"I just like playing video games, and I heard about this one."

"This one isn't ready yet for..." public release, Xil-Sta would have said, had he not caught his tongue. "...noobs."

"Why's that?"

Kellei chimed in, "Because the monsters are super dangerous..." His voice transitioned from a cautionary father to that of a child telling ghost stories, complemented by a telling face. "... and you might be put in a coma."

"Sounds thrilling," Noro301 replied. "I have read this game put many victims into comas, but that doesn't frighten me."

"Oh good," said Xil-Sta. "So what intrigues you about this game then? Why did you want to play."

"Maybe I like the idea of playing with doom."

"Excellent! We'll have to take you along on our adventures, then."

"Fantastic!"

"But I'm still curious. What's your real reason for playing the game?"

"Why do you ask?" said Noro301. That will catch him off-guard if he's prying too much.

Xil-Sta suavely replied, "Because as a pro at this game and your host in this world, I want to see to it that you have the best experience."

The others smiled. If they could have, all of them would have chuckled silently with a jiggle of their shoulders - all knowing full well the personality behind Xil-Sta.

Evgeni grinned as he sat at his game console. Are they really opening up to me this easy? I ought to be careful. Still... they seem to be average gamers so far. Evgeni couldn't decide what he was seeing. A number of years had passed since he had been actively in the field as a spy. Investigations he lived and breathed, interrogations he loved, but exposing himself was in every way contrary to his nature. Yet for all he considered, the benefits seemed to outweigh any potential problems. With his credentials and KGB-style tracing, he could easily find where the servers were located, so if they booted him from the game, it wouldn't be long before he was back online, or so he thought. He could go for the gold now, but that might draw suspicion and then he might waste valuable connections. But how long would it take to gain their trust. Would these gamers trust him quickly? He needed to find out.

"Well in that case," Noro301 said, "Take me to the greatest fun place you know of in this world."

q5corbo shouted, "Onward to the dungeons!"