Chapter 10.5 - Intermission
While all these changes are going on in the online world, in the real world there are changes happening too.
A bright star appears in the sky in the middle of the day shocking countless people, this star has appeared over Australia causing people to start panicking. The scientists involved with 'The Secret World Online' project are discussing something between each other.
"There are roughly 120,000 people actively playing project 11z, we need to increase that to 500,000 within the next 2 months otherwise our projections will no longer be valid"
"We can't afford to take massive amounts of people into the game world just yet, we still don't know the full effects it has"
"That doesn't matter, if people can't handle the crystal interface or don't understand the game that's their problem, we're talking about the survival of the species and the planet here"
"It doesn't matter how it gets done, we just need to ensure as many people can play the game as possible"
They start bickering amongst themselves, everyone is worried about what the future will mean if they don't complete their assignments. 'Project 11z' or 'The Secret World Online' a virtual world that isn't quite a virtual world. It is acting as a training ground for humanity while it's being transported to 'The Centre World'.
According to 'A01', the Earth will start to undergo several stages of transformation starting in two months, the first couple of stages are completely transparent and unnoticeable to the general public but as it hits stage 5 within a year, a protective layer will shut off our access to the surrounding space.
This means there will be no energy leaving or coming in, essentially turning off our access to the Sun. Countless plants and animals will die and there's nothing they can do about that, they have to take 'A01's word that they'll be protected.
The scientists are discussing the game world in terms of saving it while their governments are discussing things too.
"We can't trust that 'A01', we don't know its purpose" one of the world leaders loudly proclaims while banging his fist on the table, representing the view of his country.
"Since 'A01' is aware of the changes happening within the universe, we need to restrain it and acquire all the information it has about this incident, perhaps then we can save everyone without relying on it" another man exclaims the view point of his nation.
"We need to send people to negotiate further with it, perhaps there is another way to go through all this" a woman points out, trying to get her nations viewpoint out there.
"That's stupid your nation can do that but my nation believes we need to destroy it right now, there's no proof of anything that it has said and we can't take the risk with such a dangerous entity"
These government officials have bickered like this everyday ever since 'A01' revealed itself and told everyone the information it has. There's no end in sight for these arguments with each nation believing their viewpoint is the only valid one.
Both of these groups are having their discussions when both are interrupted at the same time.
They have received information that a star has appeared in the sky over Australia, many nations near Australia are feeling the influence of this star, they can feel a pressure deep within their bodies coming from the Sky, as though an Emperor of Humans has appeared and they must bend down and worship this being.
Many people are worried and scared about this unfamiliar feeling, countless religious organisation attempt to appease their followers while many mystical sects attempt to peer into the secrets surrounding this dipping star.
Members of the Taoism sect utilise their members to peer into the secrets of this star giving off an Emperor's might but quickly find themselves spitting up some blood as the heavenly secrets surrounding this star are too heavy for them to handle.
This only lasts for a few minutes before the star dims again and the pressure disappears. No one is sure what happened or why but they're worried and quickly the online world is ablaze with discussions surrounding it.
The pressure was especially strong over Australia, where John was ripping a few cones while playing a game of Rocket League. Him and Jack are the only people home so John quickly attempts to break into Jack's room to see if he knows what's going on.
Within Jack's room, it's empty as though someone hasn't been there for several days. John takes a quick look around the room to make sure Jack hasn't been kidnapped and jumps onto Jack's computer. Seeing that nothing is the problem, John is confused but helpless to find where Jack is.
As John was walking out, he notices a big yellow envelope sitting on Jack's dresser. John opens it up in case it's some sort of letter from Jack about what's going on with him. He reads the first page titled, 'INSURANCE AND LIABILITY CONCERNS'. He quickly skims it, not understanding most of it and turns the page which is titled, 'COSMIC BACKGROUND NOISE AND THE MESSAGES FROM THE OUTER RIM' which actually interests John as he has always enjoyed space.
John carries the envelope out and starts to read it all on the couch. His expression while glazed over, slowly becoming more and more serious. He quickly jumps onto his laptop and starts to talk about the information with several people all of whom are alarmed and spread the information to more people.
Scene shift – Within a skyscraper we look to an office where a young man wearing a rather expensive suit is talking to another older tougher looking man.
"Did you securely pass the information to him? We can't afford to have any of this information appear online otherwise everything will point to us" the young man asks.
"I did but why would you even give him the information if it's so critical to remain secret?"
"I have my reasons, stage 2 is about to commence and the sooner he's aware of this information the sooner he'll be able to help me" the young man replies without looking at the other man.
They continue to talk like this for a few minutes when they are interrupted by a phone call. The young man picks it up and listens, but soon he almost drops his receiver and hangs up.
"The information has been leaked, what did you do?" the young man asks the other in anger.
The other man is unable to explain himself, and rushes out of the room.
"FIX IT!" can be heard from the room as the door is slammed shut, the text on the door reading "TOM CARRINGTON, DEPARTMENT HEAD, US-AUS LIASON OFFICE"
In an unknown area, there is an area of space that is pitch-black without the twinkling of any stars in the sky. There are 16 different brightly coloured lights that almost look like a crystal.
"Synchronization rate is at 2%, it's going far too slow" a blue light says, flashing as it speaks.
"2% is better than 0%" a yellow light twinkles.
"That's 2% sync with over 80% power usage if this continues then we'll have to abandon the mission" a purple light flashes.
"Power is easy to recover as we can just harvest the Qilin bloodline" a brown light shines.
"It's more worthwhile to harvest the residual Phoenix bloodline from the girl" a black light is barely visible.
"Let's harvest them all!" a red light flashes brightly.
"Silence, we can only let the user continue their actions as they choose" a white light interrupts them all.
"Is the corruption going to be contained?" the white light points its question to one that hasn't spoken.
"If the user doesn't use more than 10% power before sync rate hits 7%, it can be contained that's if someone doesn't try to parasite his mind" a green light says.
"I promise I won't try to do that, *giggle*" a violet light flashes.
"You are the newest subroutine and the most recently subdued, you need to control your succubus influences from affecting the mission" the white light emits.
Slowly their discussions come to a close and this piece of space returns to the darkness that it should contain.
On the Earth's surface, a young-looking teenager is laying down on the ground surrounded by butterflies and various other insects in a flower bed. He was watching the sky, when the star appeared in the sky, he could feel some pressure from it. This is 'A01' the entity in control of 'The Secret World Online', he lazily takes a yawn and reaches his hand into the sky.
Unseen by anyone, an invisible energy barrier appears far from the planet encircling it. Once this has finished surrounding the whole planet, he takes another yawn and promptly falls asleep.
All these actions are happening while the person responsible for a lot of it, Jack is completely unaware.