Episode 3 – Synqer
“This is it, isn’t it?” I say, running my fingers along the surface of the pod. It’s so soft it feels like fabric. “It’s got something to do with this?”
“Faun, look at me. Focus.”
I immediately obey, eager to know what this equipment is, what it has to do with the game, how I can be involved and actually be of use to the Mega!
“If this is going to go any further, the first thing I need you to do is be honest with me. I want you involved, but I don’t want you hurt, understand?”
I nod, determined to answer as fully and quickly as I can so she knows I’m not lying, that I’m being fully cooperative, that I will be or do whatever she needs me to.
“First, list your medical conditions for me.”
This catches me off guard, but I recover and reply, “Nothing I know of. I haven’t been to a doctor since I was little.”
“I see. And how long have you been playing Trop 99?”
“Since…maybe six months after release. I found out about it in a forum, figured out what I needed to be able to play, and then I started.”
“That’s good. It helps that you’ve been through every iteration and update except the beta. Who else lives with you?”
My stomach drops. Not because of the truth—that I live alone—but because that shouldn’t be the truth.
“No one. I live alone.”
“Arrest record?”
“None.”
“I’ll check that out, Faun.”
“I know. None. Really.”
“How old are you?”
Fuck.
“I…tell people I’m twenty-five,” when I see her brow furrow, I panic. “Please don’t tell anybody. I just needed a job and a place to stay and I couldn’t get either if I wasn’t at least 18 when…please Mega, I’ll do whatever you want, just don’t say anything, I’m begging you.”
She crosses her arms again, takes a deep inhale.
“Faun…I need your word that whatever you ran from isn’t going to interfere with this project.”
I shake my head so fat I feel dizzy. I shake my head so fast. And feel like shit for that. It deserves to get me, doesn’t it? To catch up with me the same way other people’s problems catch up to them?
“No. I’ve been living here for five years with no problems. You can ask Terella. I’ve got rent receipts, and she’s got copies, from when I first moved in and—” I pull out my phone, ready to show them to her. She reaches out a hand and stops me. Her still fingers make me realize that mine are trembling.
“Alright,” she says, lifting her eyebrows, face more relaxed. “Alright, Faun.”
When I let my arm fall back down to my side, she turns toward the pod. She pulls out her own phone and asks me for my email address. Less than a minute later, I’ve signed what must have been hundreds of pages of an NDA that I, of course, didn’t bother to read a word of. It’s not like they could take much away from me. And whatever this project entailed, it was going to be worth any backhanded corporate consequences that could be included in the file. For me, this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Once I’ve sent the files back to her, she closes the door, the drones still working outside of it to put things in the other room. They’ll place items meant for the workspace near the door. Mega points to a space on the underside of the pod where the word “SYNQER” appears, shallowly embossed. You wouldn’t be able to see it if you didn’t know where to look.
“We’re calling it ‘Synqer’ right now. This is the latest prototype. I honestly can’t see it getting any better than this. Tested it myself before I left Atlanta,” she moves her hand to the top of it again. “It’s slated to be the first apparatus that can fully immerse someone into a game world, complete with the ability to provide input through all five senses. What we have now is state-of-the-art, for sure, with hap suits and AI augmentation. But if we can really get Synqer off the ground…” her eyes go unfocused, head tilted down at the curved surface her fingers are resting on. “It will literally change entertainment like nothing else ever has.”
I’m burning up in my coveralls. This is an advancement for the gaming world, yes. The entertainment world, of course. Most importantly, in addition to the triumph that is Trop 99, this will be Mega’s legacy. And I have a chance to be part of it. It’s a miracle I’m not salivating all over her floor or passed out on it.
“Since you didn’t appear to actually read anything I sent you, the TL;DR is that you are now legally an employee of GramOnyx and are bound by the legal stipulations included in that. For this project, that means complete silence. No message boards, no newly made dummy accounts leaking information, no chatting about it with your friends at work, no mumbling about it in your sleep. Crystal?”
“Yes.” When is she going to let me use it?
“The consequences of such a breach are…severe and unpleasant, let’s leave it at that. Tomorrow then,” she says after a quick inhale, tapping one finger on the scarlet pod before turning to walk out the door.
“Wh…What?” I whimper, glancing at the Synqer.
Mega turns in the doorway, looking confused.
“Tomorrow means the day after today, last I heard.”
“No, but…what are we waiting for? I—I can start now. I don’t have work or anything.” As the words come out of my mouth, my chest aches. There’s no way I can work for Chapman and Mega. I can’t reject too many assignments, or he’ll take me off the roster. No matter what, I have to be here, though. I have to be available for whenever Mega might need me. But if I quit, I’ll have to move in with her or be homeless again. Shit.
“Faun, this isn’t going to be some week-long binge test of a platformer. This technology has sophisticated needs and this place simply isn’t ready to run it yet. If I even plugged it in, the entire house would probably vaporize.”
Feeling chastised, I just nod. She’s right. As someone with her expertise would be in this situation. I got overly excited and unrealistic. I have to play this at her pace and in her way. I don’t want to do anything to make her think bringing me on board was a mistake.
“Sorry. I get it.”
“That’s good to hear,” she finally says after a solid five seconds of looking at me. “Let’s finish up so I can settle in. I’ll get you something to eat. My treat.”
As if it could ever be mine. Unless she wants some of the last few packets of ramen I have in the cabinet. This thought reminds me that I forgot to go to the grocery store in my rush to get back to Trop 99. Normally, I’d go when I wake up tomorrow, but I don’t want to leave if I get to start diving with Mega.
“Thank you. Can’t afford to decline. Sorry.”
“Being poor is nothing to be ashamed of and nothing to apologize for. You’re at where you’re at in life. Being able to survive is actually more badass than people give it credit for. If I think of a way to help you out of the hole, I’ll let you know.” She turns to walk out again and I follow.
“Why?” The word is out of my mouth without me even thinking about it. “Ugh, delete that. I’m…I didn’t mean to sound ungrateful—”
“It’s all operational. Not an uncommon attitude. You don’t want my help, I’m out. Cash tends to be a band-aid on a broken limb. Rather set people up to do better long-term when I can.”
The statements seem odd to me, at first. I realize that’s just because I’m not used to hearing them. Who do I ever spend time with that could possibly hand someone enough money to make a big difference in their lives? No one living in this house fit that bill, not that I was all that close to my housemates anyway, short of Sassy. And Mega was easily worth millions. She probably had co-workers, family members, and even strangers begging her for cash all the time. She’s been through this enough times to fully understand what I could want to ask and to articulate that she’s more than willing to help, even if it’s not in the way I think. Still…
“Seems like people could manipulate you. Play on your emotions for money.”
She shrugs.
“They do. You could. You’re young enough, I’d probably give in. You’d be surprised how being upfront with people can make sharks show themselves and genuine folks…well… say what you just did.”
“I don’t know any gamers in real life. And the first one I meet is you, of all people, so…” I shrug.
She doesn’t respond as we make our way back downstairs, but I notice a smirk on her face. I’m hoping this means she isn’t about to tell me to leave her alone and never speak to her again, not interested in an extra shadow.
“I’m not going anywhere for a while. Product development, even at this stage, takes time and patience. As co-workers, you’ll have plenty of opportunity to gawk at me whenever you like. ”
We make it back to the truck and she grabs three orange, cereal-box-shaped. I pick up the stack of blankets beneath them. As two of the droids gather the last few remaining items, we all exit the truck and the door automatically comes down behind us, the ramp being sucked back into the truck’s undercarriage as we head upstairs again.
It feels like I’m moving a character around instead of being in my own body as I think of Mega talking about us as if we’re equals. About her front door being mere feet away from mine day after day. About holding onto a secret that would make every Trop 99 forum user I know shit themselves with excitement. I’m not too far from it myself.
“Who says I won’t just move out the second you give me enough money to buy my own house?”
She laughs heartily at that.
“Touche! I guess I better not count my chickens before they hatch, huh?”
Knowing that Mega’s got a parent to take care of, a mother no less, sends a pang of discomfort into my gut. Why did there seem to be so many mothers in the world who needed taking care of instead of the other way around? Then comes the guilt, but I try to shake it off before it overwhelms me. No need to have a breakdown in front of one of my idols. She’d never want to be around me again, creating an extremely awkward living situation for the time she’s here. I won’t be responsible for that. I slap a smile on my face.
“Nothing wrong with having hope, I guess.” It’s a leaden lie coming out of my mouth. Even Mega cocks an eyebrow as if to ask ‘Where is this coming from all of a sudden?’ as we reach her workspace again.
“Hm. Yeah. I guess so.”
She puts the stack she’s holding down on a glass desk across from the Synqer, and I wait for her to walk me over to her bedroom in order to put her blankets away. She directs me to place them into a floor-to-ceiling, metal wardrobe, painted a shiny black, similar to the inky sheets on her bed. Looking at the bed again, something strikes me.
“Wait. Is that…Qellie’s bed from her Northtown condo?”
Mega smiles and nods, looking impressed. For any gamers who decided to take a stab at working in finance, Qellie would be their direct supervisor upon starting that questline. When you played your cards right, she’d become a sexual partner as well. In her bedroom, taped to the underside of her bedframe, was a data tik with enough evidence to bring the entire company down or just ruin Qellie’s career. Depending on how you wanted a specific playthrough to go, you could decide to confront her about it or secret it away and leverage it for power or dits. Everything on the four-post bed was a light-absorbing black that made it look more like a hole in reality than a piece of furniture.
“Good eye.”
Mega pulls out her phone to pay the droids and they offer a standard message of thanks, complete with encouragement to keep their company in mind if she needs to move in the future. Then they go back downstairs to get in their truck and ride away. Mega turns to me and sighs as if she’s relieved to put down something heavy.
“Okay, that was a long drive and I’m beat. I owe you a meal,” she taps her head, “that’s noted. For the time being, what’s your tag?”
“Sett,” I say, spelling it out for her.
“Got it. I’ll leave you something as compensation for today,” she says, pulling out her phone and performing a series of taps and swipes.
It’s a struggle not to immediately run back into my room and log on to see what she sent. It’ll be some kind of weapon or outfit or artwork that no one else in the game has. She said I had to keep quiet about the Synqer. That has nothing to do with flaunting any gifts she decides to send my way.
“Thank you.”
She turns to look at my door.
“Understood. Till next time, Sett,” she winks, making me both roll my eyes and lose my breath. This feels so friendly and familiar. As a celebrity, she needs to know how to be nice to people. But this seems so genuine, like we really do mesh. Even if she is just putting on her PR charm, I’m going to let myself believe the fantasy that we really could ever be good friends. It’s nice to, at least for one person, not have my guard up about ulterior motives. To remember that some people are simply authentically kind. Like Terella letting me move in at age 15 with no money. Or the housemates who put up with my late-night gameplay that I know disturbs them when I get too excited, no matter how quiet I try to be.
I walk out of her room and turn to wave at her and she does the same. Walking back to my place in a nonchalant manner is excruciating, but I would be embarrassed for her to hear me running like a giddy child across the hallway. I even manage to slowly enter my room and close the door softly.
Right before I practically swan dive onto my bed and log on.