In the last several years, the genre of Old Earth Fantasy has skyrocketed in popularity among the Federation-aligned regions of the Galaxy. Holographic novels, interactive exhibitions, thousands of pages of heated debates beaming through space to the deepest corners of the known world, with the latest craze quickly evolving into several subscription based games popping up to cash in on the fad. Stranger still, those who are most interested in the genre are rarely human themselves.
Samantha put the crumb-covered plate and fork back into the replicator to get recycled and made her way down the corridor and into her living room. She picked up a red elastic band from a bowl on the counter and tied her dark brown hair into the neatest ponytail she could be bothered to make. The automatic sliding doors opened before her, and she stepped into the simulated environment, currently displaying a busy rural street between a comically small castle, and a river running along the road.
Several player characters (resembling humans, elves, and golem-like stone dwarves), all wearing mismatched clothing and accessories, ran just past the arch through which Sam had stepped through. The moment her foot crossed the invisible boundary, her in-game avatar began to manifest around her. If what stepped in was a spritely, if a little sleepy, woman, then what stepped out was a wizened, balding old man in a blue speckled robe and a flaming staff attached to his back. She pulled her right hand behind herself to access a floating, glass-like display only visible to her, and pressed her finger onto one of the green names in her friend list. For a brief moment a green, dazzling glow enveloped her vision, where after she found herself standing in the middle of the Mycotic Forest, where the ground was covered in a dense, dark moss, and all the trees replaced with towering mushrooms, clouding the air above with a thick layer of floating spores.
In the distance, two figures stood next to one of these gigantic fungi: a short, finely-crafted living dolomite statue of a dwarf, with thin, purple vines binding the space between the cracks of their skin and rough-cut blue gemstones set where their eyes would be, and a tall, dashing rogue of a swashbuckler with a flintlock in his sash and a twinkle in his eye. Despite not being the one made out of stone, the pirate looked considerably more stiff than his dense companion.
"I bet she used up all her pots on the first stage and is just frantically dodging the attacks on the second one now," the dwarf said in a high pitched tone.
The pirate replied, in a soft, somber voice, "Whatever she's doing, I wish she'd do it faster. My forelimbs are starting to ache, and this rig is incredibly uncomfortable when you're standing still." His limbs slightly readjusted themselves, as if someone briefly straightened his whole body out like a towel before putting it back on the rack. "I still can't find a decent holo-emitter that doesn't break after a week."
"Well, most of them aren't designed to be used underwater, you know."
Just as the pirate was about to reply, both saw the old wizard approach them, staff in hand.
"Jan! Aska! Hope you didn't get too far without me!" Sam shouted out, running up to her friends before directing her attention to the tall fungus before them, "I assume Yana is—"
Before she could finish, a loud screech broke through the mycelial canopy and the bruised body of a feral elven berserker fell onto the ground before them, with two comically large bandoliers full of knives going across her chest, encrusted golden bracelets, and remarkably unkempt, golden hair, "...not up there anymore."
The tall woman groaned, slowly regaining her footing as she dusted off a cloud of spores off her shorts. "I hate High Fae quests." Deciding to ignore the two giggling figures next to the mushroom, she instead focused on the colourful wizard standing in front of her. She took no time to wrap her arms around the avatar and squeezed it tight, the full force of which Samantha felt as she was lifted up a foot into the air. "Don't you start laughing too you old prick."
Samantha protested, both physically (as much as she could without accidentally summoning a fireball) and verbally, "Let me gooo! Just because you decided to not also be a tiny baby in-game doesn't mean I have to suffer for it—"
The grip around her body got noticeably tighter. "What, afraid I'll crush your old man bones?"
"Those daggers are gonna turn me into a pincushion—"
Yana scoffed and let Samantha fall gracefully on the cushioned ground, instead turning her head to stare at the pirate to her side, whose head was now bent almost entirely backwards.
"Aska? You good?"
His head instantly snapped back on as he adjusted his position, flustered. "Oh, apologies, I was simply resting my head. I can't bear standing around for too long."
Samantha grabbed Yana's belt, using it as leverage to get off the ground, if only to join the conversation. "I think they added a new mapping option for an Araqoch rig. Should be under 'limb projection' in the accessibility menu."
"Really? Let me see." Almost as soon as Aska said that, his head began to drift away from his body, neck polygons stretching out at a sharp angle. His legs and arms bent backwards, making him float midair as his limbs contorted. Just as his forearms began to stretch and split in two, the entire avatar snapped back into place, now looking considerably more relaxed, which couldn't be said for the rest of the group.
"How do I look?"
Yana snickered, "Like you weren't just possessed by Cthulhu."
"That... what is that. That feels insulting."
"It is, you should be very insulted."
"Oh shut up."
Jan, playing the masterfully crafted dwarf, turned to look over Samantha's avatar, their face portraying a mix of 66 million year old sedimentary deposits and disgust. "I still can't believe you chose that as your avatar. I'm glad to see you on, but, uh... aren't you on the clock right now?"
Sam flicked her hand aside, in a manner entirely unbecoming of a level 15 Elemental Wyzard. "Nah, got an extra day off. Plus I've saved up quite a few after my trip to the research station last month, since they'll be dragging the main computer core to the array for at least two more months, I've been doing odd-jobs in the Solar System ever since. Felt like a break is in order."
"Aye, can't argue there. So, ready to cut and burn giant mushrooms for the next 8 hours?"
"You bet I'm—" The speakers in her living room came alive, spitting out a message mid thought. "Incoming audio message from: Chief Martin. Do you wish to pause the simulation?"
The forest fell silent. Clearly this wasn't the first time a message such as this was heard by her friends. While Sam was busy mentally going through all ways she could get away with murder in an alphabetic order, Yana spoke up. "So much for adventuring. That sucks."
The rock formation gently nudged the elf in her shins for being insensitive. "It's alright Sam, you can join us later— We were gonna go fish after Yana was done fighting the boss anyway."
Aska straightened himself out, trying to look as polite as a pirate could. "Burning down a mushroom forest simply isn't the same without your magics. I think it's best you answer that message."
Samantha sighed, waving for the computer to summon an exit arch while contemplating if she could clobber someone over the head with a xylophone. "It's fine. I didn't think they'd let me just take a day off at the start of the week anyway. You guys have fun, just send me a list of the stuff you did so I can catch up in my free time. Bye bye."
She waved her friends goodbye and stepped back into reality, with the doors to the fictional world automatically closing behind her. By the time she thought about multiplying the Chief by zero, she remembered that murder was still frowned upon in most societies. "Computer, disconnect and play the message."
The interface beeped in response and the doors once again opened, now revealing a busy room full of electronics stacked along the far wall, ranging from centuries old hard disk drives she had restored to working order to the aforementioned holographic projectors installed into makeshift metal panels. Samantha walked back in and planted herself on the couch, preparing for the worst.
The voice of an older man came through the speakers, one which was used to commanding authority, and much less used to being apologetic about it. "Hi Sam, I'm really sorry for messaging you on your day off, I really am, but there's been a little incident back on Earth. There's a new panel opening at the Informatics Museum in San Francisco, and while they tried to get this old console in working order, some idiot— Look, just get there as soon as you can and take a look, I promise to get you another day off as soon as you're back, on top of the rest of this one. Thank you. You're a lifesaver."
Click. "End of message. No reply is expected."
Samantha slowly pulled her fingers up to her temples and took a deep breath. "Computer, please book a seat to the next scheduled commuter ship to Earth."
"Booked passage onto a C class vessel on the Jupiter - Mars - Earth line. Departure scheduled for 9:30 SST."
"Thank you. Now, please, replicate me something for the headache."
