Chapter 32: Nexus

The Gateway building's roof abruptly disappeared ten feet after his feet hit solid ground. Hugh's first unobstructed view of Nexus made him stumble to a stop and gape like a country bumpkin who'd never seen a city before.

Dex's description did no justice to the terraced city of skyscrapers. Much like the Gateway itself, the city was an accumulation of brightly shining towers of metal and stone. Gold, silver, steel, some kind of blue metal, rainbow metal, pink metal; alabaster, marble, castle bricks, sandstone. No two buildings were the same hue, the same width, or the same architectural design. The only thing they had in common were their mirrored windows and their height, which appeared to be determined by the level of the terraced city where they were located.

Mundane blacktop highways were available for people who owned their own transportation. The ramps leading upward bisected each level, giving the city's walls the appearance of a ziggurat temple. At the very top, large letters boldly wrote out 'Welcome to Nexus' in imitation of the famous Hollywood sign. And standing behind that? The Statue of Liberty stood tall and proud, holding her famous torch and tablet. Centered over the other three walls were super-sized versions of Mount Rushmore, the St. Louis Arch, and the Marine Corps War memorial. He had a feeling if he actually went up there to take a closer look, he'd find dozens of smaller American memorials replicated for him to visit.

Inside the walls themselves, solid white bullet trains made counterclockwise laps around the city, their progress visible through clear panels. The perfectly timed dance stopped for only thirty seconds as every train pulled into a subway station at the same time, then picked up where it left off.

Billboards and advertising were everywhere. A blimp circled in the sky with an banner trailing behind it saying, "Your Name Here." A smaller biplane etched the same thing in the sky with a trail of smoke. Television screens flickered here and there, cycling through placeholder commercials, and a robot on wheels sped up to him to offer a paper brochure proclaiming 'This could be your flyer. Rent your own Guildbot Recruiter 50zb/day. Only ranked Guild members may apply. See Center for Bot Control for product or service advertising restrictions."

"We should hurry," Dex prodded when Hugh continued staring for over five minutes, trying to take everything in. There was just so much to see and all of it was perfectly visible from the base level, despite how it must have been half a mile or more between his location and the closest wall.

Pulling out his map, Hugh carefully inspected the city's layout to see where the prime real estate would be. At first glance, he would have said the center of the walls where the highway cut through. They were closest to the central Gateway Hub and seemed like the best place to stick a brand he wanted to keep visible, but that assumed a lot about how quickly common players would be able to make themselves mobile.

"We should go here," Hugh said, pointing to an access point leading to one of the base level's underground subway stations. "It'll get a lot of foot traffic. People who take the roads might or might not stop if they see something fast and cheap, but the people heading toward the monorail will be more inclined to grab a drink and look for a place to rest their feet. If I was working on behalf of a corporation, I'd want my building to be in this area."

"Won't corporations be thinking more long-term and want them around the highways?" Dex asked.

"Only the really stupid ones," Hugh replied. "People are used to using public transport. The age where everyone owned their own cars ended before I was ever born. Trust me. The area around the subway is where we want to be."

When Dex still didn't seem convinced, Hugh said, "Nexus is big, but it's not that big. Traffic will pile up fast. The common player won't see the sense in suffering through that, especially when buying a car means spending money on pixels. I understand the appeal because I'm a gamer, but the common man won't. It'll be a long time before driving cars becomes common practice—if ever. I think hoverboards and motor scooters will be a lot more common, and people will mostly use them to get from here to the subway."

"But why this station? There's one in every corner of the city. Why not the Southeast one instead of the Northwest?"

"Okay, so I'm assuming if you get on there, the first stop will be here," he said, pointing to the nearby station on level two. "It's a good chance any player on the Food Court level will be coming from the Hub, which means they're actually playing the game. Right? If I'm reading the map right, these shopping malls are electronics, clothes, consumables, and pets. Those malls will be big draws for people wanting to build up their worlds. It might seem smarter to aim for a spot near the station leading to weapon and gear, but I'm gambling more people will be drawn to the building aspect of Thrive than the combat or exploration aspects."

"What about this area? It has Hardware Supply, the Farmer's Depot, and the Furniture Mall."

"I thought about that, but those are places people visit once or twice every year. Okay, maybe every month in this game. Still, people won't visit there as often as they would over here. I really think this area will get the most traffic."

"In that case, you should break out the bikes. I'm too tired and hungry to walk."