“The world isn’t ready to know DaCre are responsible for the disaster seven years ago. We’ve managed to convince the public and even the majority of the government, other than the Black Ops group PIT that helped us, that it was some sort of bio-terrorism/weapons test. The plain truth is that we need people to keep playing DaCre en masse, and if people learn the truth, they’ll stop. Without tamers, our future is in jeopardy. We will preserve the secrecy at any cost, even the most inalienable rights of our fellow man. We are men who chose to be damned, so that the Earth will not become Hell. We can and will take all means necessary to continue the masquerade, until our tests bear fruit.”
~CDC~
~~
It was a rather chilly morning in Kairik, overcast and dreary, a winter that had not yet born snow.
A lone woman slumped on a bench, bundled in layers and a scarf and hat. A weary expression, “He isn’t coming..”
~~
“She’s a suitable choice. Had a falling out with family, won’t mind our imposed secrecy. Needs a job, has some DaCre experience. No indications of believing the theorists. If she disappears, it’ll be assumed she eloped, as she had recently threatened to.”
~~
A ding on her watch, brought her to examine the small device on her arm. Pulling back her coat, she saw the display, her skunk-in-fedora DaCre, Felix, slyly grinning at her. Her finger brushed the flashing red mailbox, and the message displayed. “Congratulations! You’ve been selected for a paid position as an Alpha Tester for a new edition of DaCre. Position is full time, includes transportation and living expenses. We hope you’ll chose to join the dedicated team of Data Creatures, at our main branch in Kairik Central.”
She blinked. What? Now? Right when she’d had that final spat with her family, she’d stayed up all night waiting for her boyfriend. After everything caved in, everything just bounced back?
~~
“And what about her boyfriend?”
“He’s dead, and in a way no forensics team will identify. Operation Pancake Buffet had to pull out early, Alice was on the scene. That’s why we even knew about her, from checking his background.”
“…. Why didn’t we just name it ‘Wild Hunt’?”
“That’s more of a mission statement than a codename.”
“If your mission statement is short enough, why not use it?”
“It wouldn’t be much of a code then would it?”
“Would you two stop it? For awhile there I could pretend like we were some mysterious organizations who are the people that talk ominously in a dark room.”
“We could turn the lights off, I suppose. All of us can use keyboards by touch.”
“Naw, it isn’t good for your eyes to look at a screen in the dark.”
“I thought that was a myth?”
“SHUT UP!”
~~
Allie looked up at the sky. She could go back home, try to smooth things over, get back on track for a real job.. Or there was this easy golden ticket right in her hands. No school, no family, a fresh start, straight into a paying job..
Why not? She could always quit.
She sent her reply, and in a few minutes, a nice black company car came to whisk her away.
~~
“Ah, yes?” One of our mysterious voices of not-quite-doom turned from his computer as he was tapped on the shoulder. The fairly slight of build man turned up to face the largely built man whose hand rested on his shoulder now.
“Jeff, I’d like you to walk with me for a moment, we have something to discuss.” A moment’s pressure with his hand, then the man walked away, confident Jeff would follow.
"Of course, Mr. Elchanan. What do you need?" The slighter man straightened his poorly done tie as he got up and followed, his quick, short steps jerky in comparison to the confident pace of Mr. Elchanan.
"First off, I want you to know you're good at what you do, and I appreciate it. Not every new employee has your level of vigor. I'm going to let you in on a few secrets." Mr. Elchanan's eyes turned to Jeff over his shoulder for a few paces before returning to forward at the start of his second sentence.
"Sir? It's only my first day.." A nervous sweat, or perhaps a sweat from his pace started to gather on his forehead.
"And you already stick out." Mr. Elchanan kept up the pace, leading Jeff into a part of the facility he'd never seen before.
Several moments passed in silence.
"So, um.. I've been wondering about your last name..." Jeff spoke up for a moment until he was interrupted.
"You wouldn't have heard of the country. Unless you happen to be good at geography?"
"Ah.. No sir." Jeff smiled weakly.
"Anyway, I'm here to tell you that the DaCre hunters we employ, they aren't so much there to kill off the wilds as they are to gain strength. We've discovered that humans can gain strength from absorbing data and fighting DaCre and manifest DaCre like properties."
Jeff stopped, a giant gulp in his throat.
"Yes, a lot to take in isn't it?" Mr. Elchanan strongly put his hand on Jeff's shoulder and shepherded him into a room, fairly sterile looking with few extra doors, but otherwise nothing other than a strange black man with an enormous fro, white button down, whose cigarette was ruining the otherwise sterile environment. He didn't even raise his eyes as they entered.
"You see, we're about to enter several tests simultaneously, to see if we can make DaCre less liable to create Lords. The new "edition" so to speak, is an experiment in whether or not we change the very nature of DaCre from our end. But you already knew that, as that was the program you were part of. For all our talk about maintaining secrecy and "any means necessary" the main project should be no more dangerous for the test subjects than your average game of DaCre. I don't think anyone out there has actually had to do anything damning yet."
"But there are a few secret divisions to CDC, the creation of human soldiers, artificial tamer creation, wild DaCre recruitment... Things we don't tell your friends at PIT that we're doing." Mr. Elchanan backed Jeff into the corner, his frame, overshadowing the smaller man as the smoking man impassively.
"Ah yes, did I forget to mention we can read your mind, spy? That man over there happens to be a DaCre whose powers tend to revolve around the mind. It will be most tragic when you are dumped in an asylum, and we inform PIT's investigators that you volunteered for a test of the new Edition system and suffered some sort of brain damage."
Snapping his fingers, the DaCre in the room advanced forward to Jeff, plastered against the wall in silent horror.
"And one final thing to tell you before you go." Mr. Elchanan turned with a maniac smile. "I love my job."
~~
"So Miss...?"
"Allie, will be fine thanks." She had left her coat at the door as she was escorted by the slightly cutely eager geek.
"Allie, then. Right this way, we've got a big surprise for you. We've been developing new methods for tplayers to participate in battles, along with the balance changes we'll tell you about later. You see, with the advancements in AI, the DaCre can fight so well by themselves that some players are feeling left out. So, we're experimenting with methods to actually allow the player to play as themselves as an avatar on the battlefield, and actually have abilities to deploy in the fight."
"Wait, so are we talking a traditional control scheme for your character?"
"No. We're talking VR." The guy's smile widened. "A few of the guys are actually making this thing where there's a micro-transaction system for buying new outfits for your character in the game. So you get to play dress up to test it out too."
"Wait.. Wait.. Really? I don't have to get a plug in my brain do I?" Allie stopped.
"Just wait and see. It'll blow your mind!"
~~
The Fro DaCre was walking past the entrance hallway, running a hand over the cast off coats of all the new "testers". He seemed uninterested, before suddenly he stopped, his hand shivering as it drew something forth for his eyes.
A pink thread?
As a sudden data signal sprung into existence, he had time to turn, but not enough to scream.
Subject: Something New 
Sun Mar 25, 2012 11:35 am
