Free Continue Online (Part 3, Realities) by Stephan Morse Page B

them tomorrow.
     
    It was nearly four in the morning. Tomorrow there would be work for Trillium. Even though it was unneeded with Miz Riley's employment deal, I worked to keep a sense of independence. That and during my travels Hal Pal might answer some questions. My time cleaning the ship's hull gave me the time to think about what to say.
     
     
     

     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

Session Forty Three – Emotional Bundles
     
    Autopilot wasn't only a concept from the game world of Continue Online. For almost a year that very ability helped me survive a work day. Before my brain had fully processed what was going on I was at a customer's house dealing with the latest in an endless queue of repairs.
    "What do you mean you can't fix it until I pay?!" a woman around forty-five yelled in my face. The old Grant would have exited rapidly, but this woman was no [Frost Wolf] . She was no [Yeti] and less threatening than my sister.
    "Ms. Green, I'm not allowed to work on your unit unless the bill is paid," I said mechanically. Exhaustion from last night laced most of my mannerisms. Though there were a ton of questions to ask Hal Pal they had to wait until additional sleep was gained.
    Miz Riley said I no longer had to do this job. I worried that she may retract the job change offer since my sister had restricted me from Continue Online. It would be impossible to report on the Voices' actions if I couldn't send messages to them. No notice had shown up in my emails yet so there was hope.
    "The last person did." Ms. Green put one giant finger in my face and I barely blinked.
    "You refused to pay the last person until your ARC was cut off," I said while feeling too tired for this nonsense. Advance Online didn't have the same time compression. That meant I stayed up far later than expected cleaning the ship's hull and finally floating out into space.
    "That's because he didn't fix it right! You're all terrible and deserve to be fired!"
    I gave up dealing with her. Hal Pal could record this conversation for the sake of any actual review. I tried, honestly, to explain the policy to Ms. Green. My efforts were met with failure and raging denial.
    "Ms. Green, I am required to ask for payment, or move on to my next assignment," I said.
    "Go to hell!" The woman's body trembled with anger. It reminded me of a short [Bridge Troll] from Continue Online.
    "Have a nice day, Ms. Green. Please consider using Trillium's repair division again in the-" I was cut off by her screaming. Hal Pal kindly opened the door for me and we both left. Part of me felt shaky but pleased.
    My head, however, shook back and forth. Dealing with hostile customers while running on fumes didn't feel good. Our van was quiet and peaceful. I streamed videos of Advance Online while feeling pleased that something wasn't hidden from me. The game was, as Hal Pal said, very structured.
    Continue allowed for a certain amount of self-research to learn new skills. Part of me enjoyed picking up new abilities that could be applied in both the real world and in-game. Learning the basics of tanning hides during my last month had been awesome.
    I would never have expected urine to be useful. Take that high school history classes! Maybe they would have been easier to pay attention to had there been tidbits of information like that in them. That being said I didn't actually try tanning much in the game, it took quite awhile even with the dilation. Most of the time, if I cared, hides were skinned and shoved into the magic of player inventory.
    "So, Hal Pal," I said to the robot. Our van cruised down the road to another job thirty minutes away. We had time to talk.
    "User Legate," Hal Pal responded. Its voice was a gruff male of possibly Scottish origin. I chuckled for a moment then poked at my display. Somewhere on the Internet might be an answer to Advance Online's crafting system.
    "I picked a race called Mechanoids, in that