Eight Days of Ether: every day a new theme and only 24 hours to submit.

Day 7 – Family

Daniel’s Level. ‘The army? Him?’ Jacqui is stunned. Sophie though, is intrigued. Steve doesn’t look army, he looks – gamey.

A little bit sci fi but with some fancy reality underpinning it – the US army really has been recruiting via online video games (MMOGs[1]). Virtual reality is being used in all sorts of ways – including treating soldiers for PTSD, and training doctors and paramedics in both basic and emergency medicine[2]. Sadly, Ether Books is no longer with us so here’s the full story:

Daniel’s Level

The man at the door says, ‘Major Dillon, can I come in?’ He’s tall, muscular, and oddly symmetrical, and he doesn’t wait for an answer. ‘Hey,’ Jacqui says, and chases after him to the back room where her son Daniel is playing one of his games instead of getting off his backside and looking for work.

‘Hi Daniel,’ the man says. ‘Hi Steve,’ Daniel says.
Daniel’s sister Sophie, tucked with her school books into a corner by the door, closes her laptop in case things kick off.
‘Hey you, Captain Scarlet,’ Jacqui says. But Steve is focused on Daniel, ‘What level?’ he says. ‘Twelve,’ says Daniel. He looks smug and he blasts two more players out of a bunker, bouncing in his seat as he fires.

‘How do you know this man?’ Jacqui says to Daniel.
‘He’s from the game, stupid.’ Daniel spits the words out. Steve pulls himself to attention, ‘Daniel’s a soldier,’ he says. ‘You can be proud of him.’ Jacqui’s mouth dangles, waiting for a word to fill it, but Steve turns back to Daniel and leans in, ‘Think you’re ready for level thirteen?’
‘Course I am.’ Daniel snorts; he beat those morons in that dumb test hands down.
‘Good man.’ Steve straightens up, ‘Go get your stuff then.’ Daniel stands, lolls against the wall for a moment, then pushes away and thumps up the stairs.

‘Stuff – what stuff?’ says Jacqui. She gets out her phone and starts swiping, ‘I’m calling the police.’
‘No, please,’ Steve says, putting his hands round hers, wrapping up the phone. ‘National security.’ He lowers his voice, ‘Army’s been recruiting from MMOGs a while now; some of our best secret operatives are ex-gamers.’
‘The army? Him?’ Jacqui is stunned. Sophie though, is intrigued. Steve doesn’t look army, he looks – gamey. ‘Daniel kills the avie he made of me over and over, if it’s bad-loser psychopaths you want, bingo, you’ve got one.’

‘And you’ve been tinkering with the code, messing with his game points and trophies.’

‘Bloody hell, man – he’ll kill me for real if he finds out!’ She studies Steve, ‘But you know that, don’t you – you came out of there.’ She glances at Daniel’s screen and Steve’s mouth makes a ssh shape. Sophie nods a slow nod, ‘And you’re taking him back with you, right?’

‘Right,’ says Steve.

Jacqui stares at each of them in turn, ‘Out of what? Back where?’

Sophie says, ‘Why Daniel? I mean, great, but why?’

‘You found level thirteen?’

‘Dead easy.’

‘For you, it is.’

Her cheeks go pink, she’s embarrassed at the unexpected compliment, ‘There’s some weird code in there,’ she says, ‘skitters about – now you see it, now you don’t. It bends things.’

‘You wrote that. Will write that. It’s brilliant.’ Steve pulls a little-boy grin, ‘and I’m watching when you do.’

‘You’re watching? How?’

‘I’m – there.’

‘But if Daniel stays?’

‘No code.’

‘Because no me.’ She nods, getting it.

‘Right.’

‘And so no you, either?’ She pauses, ‘Is there a level fourteen yet?’

Suzanne Conboy-Hill, 2014.

[1] Massive Multiplayer Online Games.

[2] Imperial College London. Dave Taylor – a research colleague – is head of Virtual Worlds and Medical Media and if that isn’t a job title to die for, I don’t know what is! http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/newsandeventspggrp/imperialcollege/alumni/newssummary/news_22-4-2008-14-24-37