Job location: Zone 3, Block 6.
Deadline: Evening end-of-work alarm.
Compensation: 15 sol.
That was all...
More math. Fifteen minus twelve is three. If I could manage to get up, find the location in the description, and do the job, I’d be out of debt and have three sol to my name.
Three sol...
Was that a lot or a little?
A little, of course. Enough to pay the daily rent for three out of my four limbs.
That was all the information in the green menus. I closed the menu, got rid of the cursor, and looked at the real world in front of me. Now that the haze of pain was gone, I realized I had been mistaken — it wasn’t just a hallway, it was a street. In fact, the whole place had a very urban atmosphere. The morning rush. People heading off to work by themselves or in groups. There was nothing even hinting at some form of mass transit, but maybe this was a pedestrian street.
Emotions?
Things were pretty bleak. The people around me looked sullen and gloomy, but there were calm faces as well — even a few smiles.
Was it too soon to panic and decide I’d been dragged down to hell?
Yeah, too soon.
I still had a lot of questions, but that motivated me, gave me another reason to stand up and make my awful limbs start working. If I can just get my legs going... they should get stronger once I start using them, right? At least a little. Enough so that I could walk without using the wall for support.
I noticed something on the wall across from me.
Different colored lines stretched across the top, each with an arrow and a description. The green arrow on top was labeled Zone 3, and there was no mistaking the direction. Thanks. Now I knew where to go, at least. I leaned on my right arm, tucked my left arm in close to my body, and started to stand. I very slowly engaged my legs to push my body upright, feeling my hip muscles kick in. My knees cracked and popped. Must be dehydration. What I wouldn’t give for just one more liter of water…
Hmm... what was I supposed to do with my... biowaste? I doubted I’d have to go anytime soon, but it was something worth finding out.
The arrows on the walls answered me. The closest toilet was about fifty yards away. Great.
All right, Eleven. Ready to get moving?
“El,” I said quietly. El sounded much better. Come on, El! Just take the first step...
I lurched and shuffled my right leg forward. Putting all my weight on it, I grasped at the wall for good measure and took another step. Joy bubbled up inside me. I’m moving! I’m walking! And moving much better than I was half an hour ago. My body was coming alive.
What’s the saying? I move, therefore I am? Something like that...
Oh, right!
I do, therefore I am!
Another step! And another!
A flashing screen suddenly made me jump in surprise. Well, I didn’t exactly jump — my feet never left the ground. But I definitely flinched. I moved away from the wall and looked over at the large, bright screen. A brief scan of the hallway showed similar screens lighting up all over. People were stopping and staring at the screens with inexplicable tension and expectation. Someone next to me whispered fervently:
“Let it be me. Let it be me. Let it be me.”
The number 11 flashed clearly and distinctly against a background that had probably once been white, but was now faded to an off-color shade of yellow. In slightly smaller letters below it were the words:
“Game Challenge!”
A timer was counting down on the screen — 59 seconds, 58...
The tension broke as the people around me seemed to sway and exhale as one. I heard disappointment, angry words. Someone was cursing my number. And it was definitely my number on the screen. Some kind of game challenge was about to happen, and the system had chosen me to accept it...
Chapter 2
“Game Challenge!”
I STOOD IN FRONT of the screen and studied these two words carefully, unhurriedly, keeping an eye on the countdown timer.
00:17… 00:16…
“What are you waiting for?” Someone behind me shouted. I didn’t turn around.
I kept my eyes on the screen. After a few seconds, I noticed a familiar black square near the bottom. As I reached my right thumb out to touch it, someone pushed me. Hard. I staggered, almost fell. The slow, languid laughter from the audience made it clear this happened on a regular basis.
Are these griefers?
While my brain was deep in thought, my body acted as the fresh pain slowly receded. I kept my stance solid and took another step towards the screen, then turned my head sharply. My neck cracked and flooded with pain in response. Filling my field of view was a bald thug with ancient, muscular arms, swinging at me. It was a strange combination — this guy clearly worked out, never skipped arm day. His sullen glare was filled with malice. I looked directly into his eyes, pulled back my arm, and touched the square. A victorious beeping sound confirmed I wasn’t too late. The thug hissed something at me and stepped back, shoving a couple skinny guys aside with his shoulders, and vanished into the far rows.
The man who had tried to stop me was Fifty-Eight. I would remember him.
But for now...
I looked at the screen, trying not to seem overly interested, keeping Ninety-One’s words in mind. She had said not to look weak or insecure. But it was hard to keep my emotions from showing on my face.
Game challenge... From the menu that showed up on the screen, it had to be something strange.
Tic-Tac-Toe.
Three rounds.
Select difficulty:
Easy.
Normal.
Hard.
Are you fucking kidding me?
Tic-Tac-Toe?
Didn’t everyone play that as a kid? It was a kid’s game. Or was it? I couldn’t remember. But the surge of astonishment I felt told me I was more or less right in thinking it was a kid’s game, even if it didn’t deserve to be called one. But I did remember one thing for sure — if both players knew what they were doing, every round would end in a tie.
And they were even letting me choose the difficulty level. There had to be a catch... I was no Tic-Tac-Toe pro — I assumed I wasn’t, at least, since I didn’t remember anything, but it wasn’t exactly a hard game. Why were there three difficulty levels?
“Pick Hard!”
I ignored the hoarsely-shouted advice from behind me, but sensed a hint of malice in the voice. Or was I getting paranoid?
I put out my hand to press Easy. The menu disappeared, and a familiar game board appeared. Who was going first? A lot depended on that. Would I win or would it be a tie? I most likely wouldn’t lose. What would happen if it was a tie? Would it be just that, a tie, or would there be a tiebreaker?
Nothing seemed to be happening. I tapped the middle square and a red X appeared. Bam. A zero appeared in the middle square of the top row. Bad move, I thought. I put my next X in the lower left corner...
All three rounds were over in just a few minutes — I won, no contest. My opponent had played incredibly poorly.
VICTORY flashed across the screen, along with the number 11 lit up in gold. It was nice... but what did I get?
The green numbers and words that I saw next made me realize I would be accepting every game challenge I got and trying to win, whatever the cost. It was an incredible chance for what was basically free money.