Game Alive: A Science Fiction Adventure Novel Read Online Free PDF Page A

and Kari stepped closer to Jake.
    “Did you plan this?” Des asked, looking slyly toward Jake. “Did you set it up so we’d get hooked in right away and have to play it through?”
    “No,” Jake answered, holding up his hands. “It’s actually kind of weird. I don’t remember putting dread wolves anywhere near this area. They should all be up around the Great Fissure.” He looked at his friends sheepishly. “I don’t know what they’re doing here.”
    “Could you have placed a few of them here by accident, or forgotten about it?” asked Kari. Jake’s eyes fell, and he wasn’t sure why the suggestion stung coming from her. But he shook his head.
    “I doubt it,” he said, although he was not completely sure. “Anyway, let’s get you guys some gear. I put a character customization node in Everheart, so we don’t have far to go.” Jake led the way to a roughly built, wooden lean-to around the back of the town hall. “In here.”
    They were both old hands at VR gaming, even if Des’s preferences ran more toward sports games. Kari and Des needed little time to build their Xalorian personas. Kari stepped out wearing a red jumpsuit of flowing, voluminous fabric. A bright orange shawl draped over her shoulders and hung down her back like a clock. An incredibly thin, twisted circlet of shining gold wove round her head and through the short, blonde hair that had replaced her real-world brown ponytail. She carried an onyx staff barely shorter than she was, one end fashioned into a claw which clutched a shimmering ruby that seemed to pulse with its own inner light.
    “I thought you said you wanted to be a princess,” Des teased her.
    “Elemental sorceress,” Jake said approvingly. “Nice choice.”
    “Who says I can’t be both,” asked Kari with a grin that she quickly suppressed, getting into character. “You may call me Lady Alista.”
    Des had chosen tight-fitting but light-weight, padded leather armor that resembled the pads he wore in his preferred sim. The lacrosse pads looked a little silly when reproduced this way, but Des didn’t seem to have noticed. Slung over his shoulders was a two-foot staff ending in a sling. Jake had to admit, as a sling-shot style weapon the lacrosse stick just might work. He nodded approvingly.
    “Ranger or thief?” he asked musingly, still studying Des’s get-up. Then he held his hand up to stop Des from answering. “Nevermind, you’re totally a thief. Why did I even ask that question?”
    “Why should my completely made-up alter ego worry about rules and consequences?” Des shot back with a cheeky grin. “I can get into this too, you know.” He said that with a brief but meaningful glance that flashed to Kari and back to Jake, who reddened slightly. Des laughed, letting him off the hook, and swept a low, flourishing bow to “Lady Alista.”
    “Your elemental wizardy highness, may I present myself; the prince among all thieves, Des the Hand.”
    Jake groaned loudly, though he was secretly pleased that they both seemed to be enjoying themselves in his virtual world. “Alright, you two, be serious,” he said. “I don’t want you clowning around and ruining my good name in Xaloria.” He drew himself up proudly. “I am a knight, after all.”
    They both grinned at him. “Sure thing,” said Des. “So what do we do now?”
    “Pause Xaloria,” said Jake, and everything around the three friends froze in place. Jake looked to his friend expectantly. “First of all, what do you think? Do you like it? The game?”
    “It’s really amazing,” Kari said, looking around at the square before the town hall again. “It seems so natural. It really feels real, Jake.” She turned back to look at him with bright eyes, smiling widely.
    Des nodded. “Yeah, even the way that guy talked to you seemed really normal. He acted like you had really just gotten back from a trip and he was catching you up on the local news.”
    “The NPCs always think I’m traveling and