วิศวะร้ายสุดท้ายก็รัก

Eva’s eyes blinked slowly as she woke in a light haze. As consciousness filled her mind, something told her that things just weren’t quite right. She realized that she wasn’t in her own bed, or even in her own clothes. Instead, she was wearing some kind of skin-tight, pressurized medical suit that covered every inch of her from the neck down.

And then, words materialized in her mind’s eye, as though there was a literal computer screen inside of it.

—

WELCOME

—

Eva shot upright in absolute alarm at the sight of it, but immediately hit something with a BANG!

“What the f…”

She rubbed her head after she hit the spotless clear canopy above her, which felt far more solid than glass.

“What in hell is going on here?” she cried out.

She looked around her frantically, and saw that she was in a cocoon-like, egg-shaped bed about the size of a twin. It was covered in sterile sheets that reminded her of beddings found in a hospital. To each of her sides, just where the glass canopy met the bed’s lower shell were a couple of touch displays with a handful of readouts.

Before she could be overwhelmed with absolute confusion, more words in her mind’s eye formed.

—

DO NOT WORRY

You have been regenerated at a Tetragrammaton Regeneration Facility after your untimely demise. This facility is specifically designated TRF-Theta, located in the Hades System of the Sol Federation.

—

“Demise?” Eva muttered. “You mean I died? That makes no sense!! And actually, who the hell are you, and why the hell are you in my head?!”

—

What you are seeing is a function of your Personal Digital Interface, a computerized assistant that has been installed into your biological system. A series of nanites have been implanted into your brain stem, nervous system, and sensory organs.

Would you like a tutorial on how to operate to its full potential?

—

“Wait, you’re my DI?” Eva muttered. “And you said we’re in the Sol Federation?”

She immediately relaxed on realizing what was actually happening. This was all a dream. In fact, she came to the conclusion that she was dreaming about Bellum Aeterna, a space combat VRMMO that she had been wholly addicted to for the past few years.

It was so completely immersive and exciting that it had practically taken over her life.

Of course she was dreaming about it. Not like it was the first time. She chuckled lightly to herself on realizing it all.

“Best dream I’ve had about the game yet,” she said with a chortle. “I mean, this time I’ve got the game menu in my head.”

I am more than a simple menu, her DI told her.

It then proceeded to reveal the actual interface in her mind’s eye. It overlaid on top of the world through her eyesight, and showed various technical aspects of whatever she was looking at. More than that, it opened up a series of tabs in the interface, which showed her the usual DI functions: Status, Friends list, Ledger, Assets, Maps, Calendar, Planner, Games, and so on.

But before it could get much further, Eva waved it all away.

“Yeah yeah,” she said. “I’ll get to it later. Right now, I’d rather just wake up and actually go play the game instead of, I dunno, dreaming about it. Get me outta this… pod thing.”

To leave the regeneration capsule, you can use the touch panel to the side, or connect to the capsule directly through your DI Network Neurolink, her DI replied.

“Riiight.”

Eva then turned to the touch panel to her side, which revealed her basic medical vitals. They mirrored what appeared on her DI.

—

Condition: Conscious, Stable

Affliction: None Detected

A.Metabolics: 99%

BPM: 63

—

She swiped the readouts to the side and revealed the canopy controls, and opened up her regen capsule. The canopy above her split straight down the middle and slid down both sides with a wholly satisfying PSSHH.

Eva sat up the moment the canopy had completely slid away, and looked up and around. She was in a large, metallic, circular room whose walls and floors met in smooth curves rather than hard edges. The design was sleek and uninterrupted, as though the entire room itself was formed out of a single slab of metal.

There were a dozen regeneration capsules around the room, including hers. And of course, there were people hibernating in each of them.

Each one was exactly the same, and appeared as though they had sprouted seamlessly out of the floor, with stems that curved upwards smoothly and elegantly.

All were arranged in a ring circling the center, where some kind of sleek control station stood.

“Alright, well, it was nice knowing you, DI, but now it’s time to wake up and get to actually playing,” she said. “All I gotta do is hop out, start falling, and wake up.”

So, she hopped out of the capsule quickly. But instead of falling awake as she expected, her feet simply landed solidly on the floor. The sensation of landing on solid flooring coursed up her legs and told her that this was, in fact, not a dream at all.

Somewhat shocked, Eva absentmindedly slapped herself to double-check. And sure enough, she immediately felt a sting on her cheek, followed by a spreading warmth.

“No goddamn way,” she muttered.

Her heart began to beat hard as the reality of her situation hit her. Was she stuck in a dream? Did she actually die and wake up in the game? Or was all this something completely different altogether?

Before she could gather herself together, the entire facility shook violently with such strength that she was nearly thrown down to her knees. The lights all around her turned low and red as klaxons blared around her.

A computerized, yet oddly pleasant voice suddenly filled the room. It spoke in a calm, yet firm manner.

“Emergency,” it said. “This facility is under heavy attack. Please head to the nearest Emergency Lifeboat Chamber in a calm and orderly fashion. We at Tetragrammaton Technologies thank you for using our facilities for your continued Regeneration. Have a pleasant cycle!”

“W-what’s going on now?” Eva cried out.

You should probably leave as instructed, her DI told her.

Just as she collected herself, all of the capsules around her decompressed and beeped loudly. Their occupants were woken forcefully, no doubt part of the station’s emergency protocols. One of them was so utterly confused where he was that he began to bang on the canopy. He caught Eva’s gaze and begged her to help him. His shouts were muffled greatly by the canopy itself.

Not that Eva was particularly moved, and scowled lightly in response.

“Figure it out yourself!” she said flatly.

She then glanced around the circular room and ran out of one of the open doorways that led further to the rest of the facility. Out there, the lights were also low and red. The same klaxon echoed up and down the passageways around her.

Out of nowhere, there was a muffled boom followed by a shock wave that violently shook the station. This time it was clear that something rather large had struck it. After a third immense impact shortly after, she was absolutely sure what they were - cannon shells.

Someone was bombarding the station.

She had heard that sound hundreds, if not thousands of times before in Bellum Aeterna. It was the game that she played religiously, and often stayed in-game for multiple days straight, with only a few hours in between as breaks.

It was her only escape from a world that failed her. Her life had pretty much collapsed: Fired from her retail job. Broke up with her boyfriend. Abusive parents. No money. No friends. No social life. No nothing.

All she had were her grandparents, but they were getting sicker and sicker by the day. And their medical bills were piling up higher and higher. They took care of her as much as they could, but she couldn’t do anything to take care of them in return.

And so, Bellum Aeterna became her whole-hearted escape from reality in every sense of the word. She hoped to eke out a living by streaming the game, but she never found much success. What little she could make went to food, but not much else.

Depression and addiction were printed on both sides of her life’s coin. In the end, the game consumed her more than she consumed it, to her own detriment. To the point where she dreamt of it at night.

She had played it so much that she practically knew everything there was to know about it. Including how cannons sounded hitting armored stations. But this felt way too real. The game was only sounds and lights, after all.

Here, she felt every impact course through the station, and into her body. They all shook her to her core.

“Show the path to the closest emergency… place… thing,” she told her DI. “And quickly now!”

After a moment, the interface in her mind’s eye traced a glowing digital line across the floor towards her destination.

Eva’s heart beat faster and heavier as she ran down the passageway to the escape pods. As her blood pumped through her system, she realized that she was living in the game she loved, that she had been reborn into it. And for the first time in years, she smiled genuinely.

With every step she took, she realized that she had gotten away from that crap life. That this was all her chance to make things anew, and make something of herself.

She salivated at the thought of flying all her jets and piloting all her mechs. She dreamt of squeezing their triggers and ripping her enemies to shreds. She dreamt of rolling in piles and piles of credits. And she dreamt of having a bevy of dreamy hunks to…

Hold on, she thought to herself. In the game, we players had infinite lives, right? So what the hell am I worrying for? If I get killed now, I’ll just pop back in the regen room with a fresh body!

This is not a game, her DI refuted. And only the wealthiest citizens of the Federation have access to the Regeneration Facilities. You are far from wealthy. How you even regenerated here is a mystery.

“What do you mean I’m not rich?!” Eva cried out. “I’ve got millions in my ledger!”

As she ran, her DI opened up her digital ledger, and revealed that she did, indeed, have exactly zero credits to her name.

The sight shocked Eva so much that she practically skidded to a halt. It was so abrupt that she nearly tumbled over herself and clattered to the floor. But she caught herself just in the nick of time.

“I’m broke?!” she cried out. “Again?!!”

And you do not have another body to regenerate into, her DI reiterated. So if you wish to make something of yourself, you had better keep running.

Eva’s heart leapt up into her throat and threatened to choke her. But instead of allowing despair to hit her, this time she put one foot in front of the other and hopped back into a run.

So what if she was broke? She had a whole new life now! And she was a pretty good pilot in the game - she could make that money back no problem. Even if she had to steal it from other pilots and people.

Eva pushed away the negativity and instead embraced the limitless possibilities ahead of her. There was a whole galaxy out there waiting for her, and she wasn’t going to waste a single second of it any longer.

And so, she ran headlong into the wild unknown.