The Fourth Corridor

*“With adaptive character creation, full sensory immersion and an AI run script that adapts perfectly to your every choice, The Fourth Corridor will feel more real than anything you’ve played before!!”*

The Fourth Corridor - advertising blurb

Chapter 1 - Access Point

“Dad! You’re late!”

The clock on the mantelpiece ticked its way down to 9pm as Daniel Whitlock dashed into the streaming room. He was halfway to his gaming station before he responded.

“Nonsense! I have 5 minutes left… well almost.”

“It’s ok, Dad, I got you all set up.” His daughter pointed towards his PC. The monitor showed an intense space battle scene. “You’re at the game’s startup screen. This thing’s amazing! When you get the headset on you won’t see the real world, or hear it. There’s perfect noise cancellation. But you don’t need your keyboard and mouse for this, it’s all voice commands and motion controls.”

He gave her a quick hug in gratitude. “Thanks, Lilly!”

“Dad, for God’s sake don’t call me Lilly in stream, it’s LilA, with an A!”

“And a triple X before and after your name… I know you flirt with your viewers but did you have to do that? You’re still my little girl you know!”

She snorted. “LilA without anything else was taken, dad! It doesn’t mean anything. And I haven’t been your little girl for years.”

Daniel gave her a look. On the one hand she was right. She was 18, had hair as red as the fires of hell and a smile that could light the universe. She was a woman, and a streamer rapidly growing in popularity. In her second year she was bringing in five figures. But like any dad, he supposed, she’d always be his little girl. She might not get bounced on his knee anymore, but he swore he’d bounce anyone who touched her wrong hard enough to break them.

“So they really got that headset working right?” he said, changing the tone.

Lila nodded. “I’ve never seen anything like it. Even just setting it up has been eye opening. The ad blurb they sent is actually true for once!”

He laughed. “Good, we’re both sick of shitty games selling themselves like the new great thing. Glad the dev team and marketing are on the same page.”

“So why were you late anyhow?”

“It’s crunch time, honey. The game goes live tomorrow and they’re still recording end game stuff. Honestly, they’ve sent in so many rewrites I don’t think they even know how the thing’s going to finish yet. But they reckon they’ve got at least a week before even the fastest gamers reach that so they’re pushing out content updates daily to stay ahead of the curve. Honestly, it’s only Bill from marketing calling to remind them how important this voice actor stream is for pre-release hype that got me out of the studio at all.”

Lila nodded, aware from how his schedule had been for several months now that he wasn’t exaggerating. “Okay, dad, let’s get online. I checked your chat - even before you go live you’ve got a couple of hundred waiting.”

“A couple of… don’t be silly! Those are your numbers, not mine. I barely pull in 20 viewers when I’m an hour into a stream…”

His eyes flicked to the monitor as he argued with her. And there, overlaying the beautifully animated combat of the logon screen for The Fourth Corridor, was his chat. In the few months since he’d started streaming he’d never seen anything like it. There were now 416 people in there. He glanced at Lila’s. Hers was over 11,000.

“Holy shit,” he said. “I knew this game was big, but this is impossible!”

The gaming chair seemed to welcome him home as he dropped into it. It was smooth, cool and comfortable. A slight buzz heralded the start of the back massager as he leaned into it. The headset was new to him. Lila had unpacked it and set things up while he was in the studio today. It wasn’t large - just a wraparound visor and a hanging mic. But if she’d been telling the truth it was better than any 3D headset he’d tried before.

They shared a look as they geared up.

“Are you ready, Lilly?”

”LilA!” she snapped, playfully.

He rolled his eyes. “Lila… with an Attitude… I know. Good luck honey.”

“You too, dad!”

Daniel inhaled, slow and deep, feeling his lungs fill. He held it and counted to five, allowing the stresses of the day to ease out of him. Finally, stilled, he let the air ease out focused on the game.

Lilly had been right, this was amazing. He was suddenly inside the battle scene, seemingly watching it from the deck of a pleasure cruiser. Smaller ships picked apart larger ones. Pirates, he thought, preying on civilian ships on their way to the entertainment section of the Fourth Corridor. It was the excitement of danger and forbidden thrills that drew people to the area according to the storyline. He’d never seen, or heard, a game so real before. This wasn’t 4K, this was true to life.

The chat was rolling as an overlay at the top right of the screen. Mostly quiet as they waited for the stream to begin, but some were joking around together. Even a small streamer like him had gained a few loyal viewers who formed the core of a community.

Down at the bottom of his vision he saw a logon box, both password and user id already completed. Lilly really had made sure he was set. He took a moment to marvel once more at the realism and hoped the voice control was as good as the hype claimed.

“Camera on,” he said. “Go live.”

And he was. At once, his webcam lit up at the bottom of his vision and a half dozen people greeted him. This felt good, friendly. It was something he’d come to appreciate, a fun way of relaxing at the end of a busy day.

“Ok, friends, welcome to The Fourth Corridor, the latest in gaming tech from Arc Interactive. This is a special pre-release stream they’ve set up for four of us who have done voice acting in the game and are streamers. My daughter LilA will be joining us too.”

Already there were several people asking him about who he’d voiced, and what he could tell them about the game.

“I can’t, sorry,” he said. “Even if I knew what happened I couldn’t tell you because of the non-disclosure agreement. I can tell you that the character I voiced was Diamond Price, but he doesn’t appear until at least 900 hours into the main arc of the game. So I have no idea what happens before that, and very little about what happens afterwards.”

That had got their attention. And the question was expected.

“Yes, I said 900 hours. The whole main arc alone takes over 1000 hours to play through, but don’t worry about that. As soon as the game starts you’ll find yourself engrossed in a personal storyline tailored specifically to whatever character you set up. Personal stories are deep narratives taking between 10 and 100 hours, essentially even if you ignore the main storyline, you can enjoy the equivalent of numerous games set up just for you. I know, it sounds impossible right? Well, let’s get in there and see what happens!”

He flexed his fingers across the enter button next to the account information. Immediately he was standing in front of a terminal which showed the generic outline of a human being against a green grid. Around it were fields for job, religion, hobbies, and a variety of psychological and sociological aspects that make up a person.

A sudden explosion seemed to shake the ground beneath his feet. He couldn’t even work out how that happened, but guessed that it was a trick of the brain since everything looked and sounded so good.

“Passenger, please provide any and all information you deem necessary to allow the crew and computer of this pleasure vessel to recognize you and provide for all your personal needs and comforts.”

“Full voice character creation,” he said, glancing at his chat. “Let’s see… I’m a white guy, about 45 years old. Five foot ten, weatherbeaten complexion, short dark hair—no, shorter. That’s good.”

As he spoke the image of a person was being created and adjusted on the terminal to reflect his every description.

“Blue eyes, I suppose, startlingly clear but still human. Permanent frown lines. I guess my hobbies are an obsession with film noir, especially the detective genre so dress me like one of them. That’d be cool. Oh wow, I love that trenchcoat and the fedora looks good too. Drop the cigarette though.”

His chat was rolling so fast he could only pick out occasional words. There wasn’t one of them who had created a character like this, or had one be presented to them that was so lifelike. They were making suggestions, requests for how they wanted the character to appear. Several such requests were accompanied by donations.

“Ohh, yes, a silver necklace with a charm he clutches for luck. What should it be? Any suggestions? A crucifix… nah, let’s not make him religious actually. I see him more as the hard boiled skeptic, you know? Oh, a dog tag? Great idea, yeah a dog tag from when he fought in the last war. Let’s give him some tattoos too. Maybe one for the Earther Marines? Another showing a tree of life to represent his family?”

The tattoos were unseen He guessed they’d been placed on arms or legs which were covered by clothing. Given how good everything had been, he wasn’t worried, And still the requests came in.

“His name, right. Hah, Flint Steel? And I thought I was the one who used tired tropes for names, but that came in with a hundred quid request so I’m down. Flint Steel it is. Ok, I’m gonna drop into the foyer. That’s a special area set up so you can link with friend accounts. My daughter, LilA, set up links for me and the others. Oh, right, i didn’t tell you who did I? Drumroll please…”

He paused, dramatically, letting their excitement build.

“First, we’ve got the biggest joker in the pack, SnarkBite, from Ireland. You probably know him most for his streaming of survival games.”

Chat got more excited. He was an established entity in the streaming world, not least for the several Christmas charity group streams he’d been involved in over the last decade.

“Then from Norway, there’s JustinTime. He mostly streams battlegrounds and fps games, but you probably know him most as the voice of Tommy Tickle from the kid’s show TickleTime.”

There was buzz about him too. Younger viewers remembered the show from their childhood. Parents, from seeing their kids watch it today. And a few were celebrating his team's last regionals win in some MOBA or other.

“And finally, in addition to me and my daughter, xxxLilAxxx, there’s the biggest game streamer on the planet, the Caribbean goddess herself, AlwaysGame from America.”

He took a glance at the chat and groaned. It was a question that always came in that glowed brightly under a donation.

“For what feels like the hundredth time, yes my stream name IS VOIP, unfortunately the IP stands for Irritating Parent, not Internet Protocol. My dear daughter set my account up…”

Laughter mixed with cries of PWNED!!! rang through the chat, but at least it brought in several new donations too.

“One more thing. For one day only, the company is offering a 20% launch discount and next day delivery worldwide. Don’t ask me how they’re doing it or why, I have no idea. But they are. So, check out the store page any time you want. And now let’s get into the foyer and see what characters everyone’s come up with.”

A second later Daniel stood in a spacious lounge. Holoscreens, computer ports, and a well-stocked bar provided for the entertainment needs of patrons. There weren’t many present right now though - just him and four others, the avatars of the others he was streaming with, each wearing a nametag as a means of letting people know who they were. But these weren’t like normal avatars, it looked, sounded and felt exactly like he was in the room with these characters. His chat was bouncing with guesses about who was who.

“Let me guess,” he said. “Ivan Bane… rough looking guy in high tech armor. That’s GOTTA be you, Justin, right?”

“Of course,” said JustinTime, but even his voice was deeper, his normal Norwegian accent replaced by something more guttural. “On my way to the Fourth Corridor Coliseum!"

Daniel nodded, “And I don’t even need to think who Jax Callaghan is - Snarkbite - that has to be you. Dressed in your sneaky, vagabond best.”

“Ah, sure old man,” said a voice more stereotypically “Irish” than Snarkbite could ever have sounded. “Lovable rogue, you mean. You up for a game of Find The Lady later?”

“Not likely,” Daniel replied. “I still haven’t recovered from playing you at Online Poker last month. Ok, that leaves our two ladies…”

He looked at them. They were both embracing their sensuality, but in very different ways. Violet Vixen was dressed in a sheer purple halter top, hot pants and thigh boots. She shimmered when she moved. If she wasn’t an exotic dancer, he hated to think just what she was. On the other hand, Marisa del Astra was a wealthy looking woman in black satin. Dressed to the nines she was ready to make a killing in the boardroom or the gambling den.

“Ah,” he said. “LilA, that must be you, right Marisa?”

Violet Vixen snorted. “Oh you wish! No, dad, this is me. I figured if we’ve only got one night to go wild, why not go really wild?”

Daniel bit his lip. This wasn’t her normal flirtiness with chat, this was far beyond that. Too far perhaps, but what could he do? She was 18 now and this was legal.

“Damn, girl,” said Jax, “You look like a hooker! In front of your daddy too!”

“That’s my little girl you’re talking about, Snark!” snapped Daniel.

“Not so little anymore. Think she might be all grown up.”

Daniel took a deep breath, his knuckles flexing automatically. Forcing himself to remain calm, he rubbed his temples. “I’m afraid to ask, but what’s your story?”

“I’m an exotic dancer, dad. You know… a STRIPPER. On my way to the clubs in the Fourth Corridor where the real money’s made.”

“Oh god… We are SO going to talk about this when we’re back home. Okay all, shall we get into the game?”

A loud explosion from outside shook the entire room. Lights blinked off and computer screens near where it happened sizzled.

“What the hell was that?” asked JustinTime.

“I have no ide—”

The damaged wall glowed red and began to melt. The five of them stared in shock as a large section began to fall away. A second later, it was chaos.

Armed mercenaries, dressed in umber armor, burst through the wall. They moved fast, guns swaying for anybody they needed to shoot. Daniel barely had time to move before the first dart hit him in the face. He screamed as the toxin pierced his skin, burning as it pumped deep inside. He grabbed one of his friends, his vision darkening at a seemingly impossible rate. Already everything felt numb. His mind buzzed. His head throbbed. And the ground came up to meet him.

…

…

His head felt like it was about to explode. Something was pounding inside his skull, like it was inside a speaker at the loudest rock concert ever. His stomach churned painfully. His cheek seemed to be pasted to the floor. Breath tore at his lungs every time he inhaled. He pushed at the ground beneath him, which did nothing more than make his muscles scream for mercy. Bile burned at his throat, its fire waking him to the vile taste in his mouth. Slowly, he pushed upwards and managed to lift his shoulders off the ground.

“You’re alive!”

The voice sounded familiar, but wrong. Daniel **** his crusted eyes open and looked towards the woman who had spoken to him. AlwaysGame stood there… and it took him a while to realize that was wrong. It SHOULD have been Marisa del Astra, the character she’d set up, but this was the actual person.

“AG?” he said. “What happened?”

She helped him sit up and gave him a glass of water. It was cold, the chill feeling good against his hand. Daniel raised it to his lips, taking a deep draught of the clear liquid.

“My mouth feels like crap,” he said, wincing as he moved. “Actually, scratch that. I feel like crap!”

“I’m not surprised,” said AlwaysGame. “You’ve been out for around 24 hours if the ship’s computer’s to be believed. I thought I’d lost you for a while, but I managed to find some stim packs and stabilize you.”

Daniel looked around. The place was a mess. Smashed furniture and computers, lights flickering off intermittently, and the hole in the far wall was big enough for several people to have passed through at once.

“Dear god! It looks like this place is barely hanging on.”

AlwaysGame shrugged. “It’s not. I was about to leave you here, the computer keeps giving off a warning about…”

WARNING: HULL INTEGRITY CRITICAL. COMPLETE STRUCTURAL COLLAPSE EXPECTED IN FIFTEEN MINUTES.

“...yeah, that.”

Daniel glanced around, trying to work out what was wrong as he recovered from whatever the hell the dart which hit him had been loaded with. His fogged mind struggled to identify what was out of place. Finally, it hit him. He shouldn’t be able to feel any of this. Or smell or taste it either. Yet he was fuzzy from a ****, he could smell the burnt air, and even his sense of balance was tied to the increasingly unstable ship he was on. And that was the point. He was HERE. Impossible as it seemed, he was on the ship in the game, and not in his streaming room at home.

“AG…” he said, fear slowing down his words in case he could stop them from being true. “We’re on the ship.”

“Of course we are,” she said. “This is the start of the game. And it does seem our stories are amazingly tailored to our characters. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“No, I mean we’re really here. Every sensation, every experience. We’re actually in the game. It’s real!”

“It is,” she said. “Totally lifelike. I figure the visuals and audio from the headset must be so good it just convinces us.”

Daniel stared at her. She couldn’t possibly think that was an explanation. Could she?

“Visuals and audio… sure. But that wouldn’t explain everything else. I’d be able to feel my chair and the headset. And look at you! You’re not your character any more, you’re AlwaysGame!”

“You too, VOIP! And the chat’s gone too. It’s incredible. Of course, that means we better hope our mods are keeping control of things.”

He glanced to the upper right and saw only the ceiling of the room he was in. The chat scroll being missing shouldn’t be the strangest thing, not compared to everything else, but somehow it made it all the more clear that everything had changed.

“I don’t think you’re getting it,” he said. “We’re actually here. This is no game and if we can’t remove the headsets maybe that’s because we’re not even in the bodies we had. This is really real, AG.”

She laughed. “Don’t be silly, VOIP, that’s impossible. I mean, I’ll admit I have no idea how they’re doing it but it’s still a game - just an ultrarealistic one.”

WARNING: HULL INTEGRITY CRITICAL. COMPLETE STRUCTURAL COLLAPSE EXPECTED IN TEN MINUTES.

“Oh god!”

Daniel **** himself upright, his legs threatening to collapse beneath him. His breath hurt in his chest like his lungs barely had the strength to breathe. AlwaysGame stood up and put her arm around him for stability.

“Easy there, old timer. You look like you’re going to fall over. Or throw up again.”

“We have to get out of here before the ship breaks apart!”

“Relax,” she said. “It’s a game, remember! It’s not like anything can actually happen to us.”

He stared at her. How could she not be getting this? But then, she was right that this couldn’t be reality. This couldn’t be truly happening, at least according to anything he’d ever heard about before. Yet it was. And there was no way to convince her.

“Look, let’s say it’s the game,” he tried. “If so, we need to get out of here anyhow to continue the story, right?”

“Sure.”

“Then we need to find out where the escape pods are.”

“I already did,” said AlwaysGame. “The pod bay is quite close. Even you can make there fairly quickly. Let’s go.”

Slowly she led him through the lounge towards one of the few doors that still seemed to be intact. He leaned on her heavily, his head swimming with every step. His throat burned with the acidic retching of pain and nausea, but he had to continue. If they stayed it was all over. And worse, what had happened to his daughter? The thought hit him suddenly, bringing the need to escape into immediate focus. She’d been captured, and if she was herself and not some character, then that meant his little girl was in danger. They could be doing anything to her right now and he had to find a way to save her.

He pushed harder, fighting past every part of him that so wanted to give up, to collapse into the blackness once more. It didn’t matter what he had to do, Lilly needed him.

AlwaysGame slammed her hand against the door release button when it failed to open automatically and together they pushed their way down the corridor beyond. He leaned against the wall, taking a second to catch a ragged lung of air before pressing on. Another turn and AlwaysGame indicated a door on the left.

“We’re here, VOIP,” she said. “This is the pod bay, at least for this level of the ship.”

The door opened as they reached it and she helped him through to where two dozen escape pods sat in rows.

“I checked with the ship,” she said. “It’ll release the external hatch as soon as we’re locked into our pods since we’re the last ones on this level.”

Daniel nodded and pressed a panel to open one of the pods. He thanked AlwaysGame as she helped him inside and fastened his safety harness. In truth, the short walk had taken everything he had. If she hadn’t been there, he doubted he could have gotten inside the thing at all. Once he was secured, AlwaysGame climbed into the one beside him and the bay’s hatch opened.

Blackness filled his vision. A message appeared in front of him in stark white capitals.

“Extraction Successful. Save and Exit Here? Select Yes or No.”

“YES!” Daniel cried out.

He could get out. And if he could get out then so could Lilly. It was over. It was finally over. And the blackness closed in.

—----------------------------------

…Daddy… Oh my god, daddy! Where are you?...

;;;Let me go your bastards!...

…Those are my fucking clothes, you fucking perverts!...

…Oh god, what’s happening? Why are there people making bids?!...

---

(I welcome all comments, in particular feel free to have your say about whether AlwaysGaming accepts an extraction event or just Daniel. I have ideas for both possibilities.)