An email and a reply

After submitting his report, he sat down at the computer. He hadn't chosen any games, so he could take a well-deserved vacation. That was freelancing, organizing himself, setting his own times, and now it was time to rest unless a juicy offer made him change his mind...

For many, a vacation meant traveling far away, to some paradise, doing some sightseeing or at least going to visit a dear friend. But Ikky didn't care about all that in the slightest.

He lived in Andalusia, which was already a paradise in itself, he only had to leave home to find himself in the dream destination of anyone with two brain cells. He didn't need to go to a place with sticky heat and statuesque people who would look at him as if he were a plague victim. 

He didn't have many active friends at that time either; that simple life was all he needed.

His idea of ​​what a good vacation should be was limited to going to some weird fair or convention nearby, and spending the rest of the time on the couch reading or enjoying, as the Italians would say, the beautiful pleasure of doing nothing.

His computer inbox lit up, an email had just arrived: "Recruitment offer for Ikky the cheater"

Although I wasn't really looking forward to getting involved in new projects, he was struck by the fact that the sender wasn't a video game company he knew. Sender:

recruitment@athair.com. He immediately typed the name into the internet and it took him to the strangest website he had ever seen for a gaming company, because it really wasn't one. The company and its website were for a startup working on immersive virtual reality devices. Not much data, nothing clear, and much less a game behind it, or so it seemed...

The only thing he could see from the data was that it was an Icelandic company and that didn't say much, but hey, if the money was good and given his limited vacation plans he could take a look and see what these newbies wanted. He read the content of the email with more curiosity than anything else, because what would these people want from him?:

"Dear Mr. Ikky,

First of all, thank you for your attention in reading these lines. We are aware of your multiple talents and that is why we would like to count on your services in the pre-test phase of our big release, the video game "World of Athair".

This will be the first immersive reality game with a neural transposition device on the market, and to satisfy our future players, we require testers of your caliber.

For this beta tester phase, only 2,000 players will participate. The test period will be a maximum of 3 months, during which total and absolute availability is required. Knowing the inconveniences that this may entail, the salary will be set at 50,000 euros plus bonuses.

Reply to this email to arrange the interview.

Sincerely, The Athair Recruitment Team."

50,000 euros for 3 months of work??? That was about 1 year of work with his current salary... It was not an unusual amount, at least not from the point of view of the big professional players, who between companies, sponsors and earnings from streaming could far exceed this amount, but for him, it made him rethink his vacations...

The general public had been waiting for years for a "real" virtual reality game, without 3D glasses and hands, a game where you felt everything, and had direct control of your body... This would change its development a lot, but it would also make it even more dependent on the player's real skills...

Attempts to create a truly immersive game had taken up a large part of the investment that had not been affected by those who intended to sell games that, despite seeming hyperrealistic, had the entertainment of a snail race. However, I had not heard until now that any company had achieved it.

However, these people said they had an immersive game ready, and even if it was crap, it wouldn't hurt to check it out, at least as a preview for being the first one. The problem was that his skills weren't the most suitable for a game of that nature, and his lack of skill and coordination was what didn't fit. What would he do if he couldn't figure out how to hack this game? He had to figure out what to do before he went and made a fool of himself in front of the pro gamers who were eager to settle scores with him.

He made himself a coffee and went out to the backyard to ponder the matter when a creepy rat, huge as a cat, ran across the backyard. He tried to climb on top of the patio table, but his usual clumsiness ended up tripping as he climbed onto the first chair, slipping and falling off it with the boiling hot coffee on top of him. He had scalded half his face, and the rat bastard seemed to be mocking him.

It was clear that he tried to scare it away, but the damn rat just kept running around him, even trying to bite him more than once. He screamed and ran around the backyard, but there was no way to scare it away or scare it away. Between the two of them, it was clear that Ikky was the one who was more scared.

He had never killed even the smallest animal in his life, and not because he didn't hate cats, dogs and all kinds of beasts. He wasn't exactly an animal lover, it was simply out of clumsiness; any vermin would find him good bait.

His father even took him hunting once, they almost ended up in the emergency room when the shotgun went off right between his feet... after that, his father never tried it again, he gave it up as a lost cause.

Finally, he ran out of the yard as best he could and locked himself in the house. Luckily, the rat didn't follow him and it stayed walking around the garden as if it were its domain and not the human's. Ikky went straight to the garage, grabbed his small utility vehicle and headed to the nearest hardware store. They must have poison or rat traps...

When he came back, after leaving rat poison traps all over the backyard and preparing dinner, he was calmer and in a better mood, and he also had his response to this strange job offer ready.

"Dear Athair Recruitment Team.

Thank you for sending me your kind job offer; however, the novelty and unusual nature of your project requires more information in order to make an appropriate decision.

I would appreciate it if we could arrange some kind of interview, either online or in person, so we can discuss different aspects of your offer.

Sincerely

Ikky the Cheater"

The email didn't really commit him to anything, but thinking about it a little more it wouldn't be a bad idea if they paid for his ticket to Iceland, it wasn't the first company that did it to have an interview with him, and anyway, after all, he was on vacation, it's true that it would be hard for him to move me from his comfortable sofa, but what the hell, maybe it was worth a try.