Chapter 43: Viral Media

The reaction was mixed. In some places, people were taking the stance of 'wait and see'. In others, riots were taking place. At least two players had been killed by protesters who assaulted a police caravan en route to a safe zone and ripped open their Cryosis suits in a misguided attempt to free them. They were stopped before more players could be harmed, although the fallout wasn't pretty. The military had been called in to escort all caravans going forward and there was a general outcry calling for the head of Tryton Corp to answer for the deaths.

The World Council answered on his behalf with a formal statement denouncing the protesters' actions rather than Tryton Corp. They were firm, pointing out the numerous instances where people had logged out safely as an example showing every player had been given the choice whether to stay.

"How stupid can people be?" Hugh asked. "The suits use cryogenic stasis. Has no one ever heard of frostbite? Of course you can't just rip them open and pull people out. Even I know that."

"Mob mentality makes people do irrational things," Dex replied sadly.

Since Frankie's cubicle was still set to private, Hugh took the time to watch the full public announcement the rest of the world heard. It contained a lot of details he didn't actually need to know, since they only concerned people in the real world. For example, Hugh didn't remember anything in his announcement about how free Thrive starter kits would be made available to the homeless and destitute starting Monday. If it had been said, it'd been done in passing and he couldn't remember it.

And then there was the part that really made Hugh raise an eyebrow.

"I know many of you have probably lost interest in what I have to say or have already begun reaching out to family and friends, but please give me your full attention once more. I want this to be clear. Anyone who attempts to force the way inside the safe zone after the doors close will be met with deadly force. There will be no court of appeals. There will be no one there to hear your pleas to be allowed inside. A safety network of drones, mines, and classified technology will be released into the surrounding area. Anyone who steps past the warning fences, tries to dig under them, or tries to fly over them will be killed. We at Tryton Corp take the safety of all humanity very seriously. If you are too stubborn or misguided to get to safety in the allotted time, you only have yourselves to blame. You have three years to make arrangements and reach safety. That clock starts today."

"Holy shit," Hugh muttered. "They must have been planning this for a while."

"Fifteen years," Dex said. "Does that make you angry? They've known about this for nearly half your lifespan and said nothing."

"What would telling me have done?" Hugh asked with a shrug. "It's better they kept it under wraps between people who were actually trying to do something about it. Being raised by my parents was hard enough. I can't imagine what it would have been like with the end of the world hanging over their heads."

Hugh took control of the mouse and scrolled through reports on a mass suicide in Venezuela, a famous rapper in a stand-off with police who wanted to remand his little brother, and a few sensationalized reports asking, "Is it a hoax?" with supporting interviews pointing both ways.

He froze when he scrolled down a little further and saw his own face alongside the headline, "First Contact from Thrive. EXP Honey Tells All. Video link inside."

He could only stare in shock as the article bumped itself up over two other news reports, then bumped itself up again so it was off-screen. Hugh absentmindedly chased after it, following it as it raced all the way to the top of the World Net News site.

"Is that..."

"Hmm, it looks like you've gone viral. You might want to check your bank account. According to World Council regulations, Net News is required to report adclicks on any media they mirror on their site and they have to pay a standard hourly licensing fee."

"I'm too scared to look," Hugh said. "Can you just tell me if it's more money than I had an hour ago?"

Dex grinned. "It's a lot more. I don't think you'll have to worry about money for a long time."

He wrinkled his nose, finding it felt wrong in some way he couldn't put his finger on. "I kind of feel like I'm cheating when you say it like that."

"Why? You said for yourself gaming is a race. You just happened to be first in this instance and here is your reward. You're Net famous."

Hugh groaned. "I hope like hell they don't try to interview my mom. She'll find some way to either embarrass me, discredit me, or turn this around so she can claim it was all her idea. Actually, I kind of hope she tries that last part because people can just look at my old feeds and hear me talk about how much my family hates I'm a gamer. It'd be poetic justice. Anyway, go ahead and turn it off. I'm not interested in reading the comments and I don't really care about the fallout. We have bigger fish to fry."

"What's that?"

He chucked his thumb over his shoulder so Dex would look and see Frankie's cubicle was no longer set to Privacy mode. Frankie himself was standing stiffly inside, staring at the blank teleconference screen like he was trying to decide whether to punch it.

"It's time to go," Hugh said. "I don't know what has the Doc so riled up, but we should probably keep him from calling back whomever pissed him off so badly."

"You're probably right."