Free Video Game Recruiting (Corporate Marines Book 1) by Tom Germann

together to slice the incoming landers one at a time based on the evaluated strengths and threats of each one. Some landers will usually get through, but they won’t do much good if they are support troops or just the armoured elements of the invasion force.
    Now? The aliens are going to kill some soldiers. But most are going to hit the ground, and this has increased the chances of success for the entire invasion.
    Everything blacks out again and the red letters come up. “Game Over. Mission Successful.”
    We only have like two minutes left, but the next scenario starts loading automatically, and then everything stops.
    We’re all on an assault shuttle heading for the space station, and about to dock and blow a hole in the super-huge, evil alien base for a doomsday weapon.
    We’re on the shuttle, but everything freezes. I can move and everyone else can, but their movements are jerky. The system is lagging so badly, it’s like the old Internet used to be, according to my grandpa.
    The radios aren’t working, either, so we can gesture to each other but can’t do anything else. I can hear voices muffled in the background, but that’s Tina calling out in the real-world room we are in. I am getting pissed. We spent money and booked this in advance, and are getting scammed out of what we paid for. We won’t be able to get back in to the game zone for almost a month. I start yelling with lots of profanity.
    Analyzing data. Section has done well. Synergy of a full ten-person section has allowed the group to win the scenario in less time than normal for untrained personnel.
    These personnel are in the top five hundred ranked subjects across the Earth. The criteria for evaluation will need to be revisited and fine-tuned, as most of the section does not meet the level that new recruits need to be operating at.
    Subject Tina is a perfect match for corporate testing. More data would be necessary to confirm, but subject will be passed on for dedicated AI evaluation. Shutting down current test game for resetting. Corporate will issue a full credit to the subjects.

    We were stuck in the lagging sucky game for over a minute and then it shut down. It turned out that there had been a glitch that popped up in the program because we did so well and were so fast completing the mission. The current computer connections were having difficulty with all the rapid decisions that needed to be made.
    We were issued a free gamer pass with three full games on it, so I couldn’t complain as we only had like two minutes left in game. We were able to get ahold of the rest of the guys we gamed with and sent them messages. We would play again in the future, when we could all get in again.
    We had just gone for a drink in the food court when Tina got another message on her phone.
    You know, I’m sixteen now, and she has been fiLling out and looks good.
    Hardcore gamers have to work out now so their cardio is good enough for the current generation of virtual games.
    Unfortunately, everyone at school is noticing how good she looks too, and she gets tons of attention. But she’s not really into it. She blows most of it off, but that’s okay with me ‘cause we game together. Hormones are bad, though, and she is pretty cool, if still cold in a lot of ways.
    I can tell we are all feeling it, though. The game requires you to move a lot with all that gear, and by the end of a game, anyone who is really playing is soaked in sweat. It’s an awesome workout all on its own. So getting a lot more liquid in after the game is important if you don’t want to collapse.
    And that last game was the most intense ever.
    I was only halfway through my energy drink (it really is a “meal in a bottle”) when Tina suddenly stood up and looked at me. “I’ve gotta go, Tim. I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”
    I was still waiting for my mom to show and she was going to give both of us a lift, but I didn’t mind. She probably had to run off to go to her Dad’s work or