ASRA LOVELL || ASSELL

  The hall was packed. Nothing out of the ordinary though as lines of people shuffled through the entry where just beyond staff in bright colors scanned their QRs to allow them in. She’d expected the numbers, though it still seemed odd with the laws since the laws had been passed that banned all large gatherings without viable permits. The Game Center had been hosting this convention for years; longer than she’d ever worked there and Asra pushing her sixth year.

  Of course, the first several years hadn’t technically been on the payroll. It wasn’t like under the table gigs hadn’t been around for centuries, still if they asked Asra was new to the whole convention rodeo. Most current and former labor laws didn’t allow hiring eleven year olds, after all. Unless they were granted special permission from parents and local authorities. The former being the biggest issue.

  A large clump of people was forming at one of the lanes, causing a grumbling crowd to clog the entry and prevent others from entering the hall. Spotting this, Asra hopped down from the stage where she was stationed and ushered a few into the lanes on either side. She understood their unease as they gave her a look, their tickets stated that was their lane.

  “Pods can be gotten into from both sides,” Asra called to the crowd. “The pamphlet that was sent to you had a map in which you can see the exact location of your Immersion gear. Please pick a lane on either side that looks clear and use that to find your seat. Full immersion will be beginning soon.”

  Asra motioned over two of the newer kids who stood near the doorways. “Keep the crowd moving,” she said. “Show them how to find their maps and get people out of the way so others can come into the hall.”

  Perhaps it was the confidence in her tone but the teens who were probably around her age jumped into action at her words. She knew what she was doing, they knew that she did, it made things easier when they just listened. After all, Asra had been working the D&D cons every few months for six years. Back when she was below the working age it’d been a much different job but she still knew her stuff either way.

  Taking her spot back at the podium, she ran her eyes over the convention hall once more. A lot had changed since she’d been what the upper management called ‘sneaky PR’. Back then she’d skirt around the nearby malls, scrawny and dark haired, slapping QR codes on everything and planting ideas about how cool D&D VR sounded in other kids’ heads. Of course, with well to do families they’d had the money to take their kids to expensive things like this.

  She eyes a couple kids as their parents led them past to find their Immersion Pods. Perhaps not much had actually changed besides the fact that she’d moved from a QR runner to one of the stooges running the show. Or at least the metaphorical show, as all she basically did was direct people to their pods and make sure they were hooked up properly to the VR gear. The tech would take it from there.

  Her eyes moved across the hall once more as she swept for disturbances in the flow of the crowd. People were moving through the large white pods that ran in fifteen long rows down the length of the hall. There were one hundred and fifty pods in that room. With thirty other rooms identical to this making up a total of 4,500 immersion pods in one place. The first time she’d seen it, the bean like white machines all standing ready for the convention, she’d been shocked. Now she just felt tired. The convention had just started too. Meaning she had four days left until she’d get time off.

  Though time off only meant going back to classes and cram school. She’d taken leave from those for the event since her role essentially made it impossible to attend anything outside of the convention. It was her team's job to monitor the 150 pods in that room, after all, and with around 6 of them it meant long hours to be able to monitor them all during the five day event. Especially when it went around the clock. The money would be worth it, not the best but at least she’d be able to pay off her cram tuition and put a bit away for bills later on.

  “It’s almost like you aren’t having a good time.”

  Asra glanced sideways, eyes fixing on Yash as he came to stand next to her on the platform. He passed her a pair of new addition moniglasses which she took. Fighting back the urge to roll her eyes.

  “I’m having a blast,” she said. “Can’t you tell?”

  “Definitely.Your voice is dripping with excitement.”

  An elbow poked at her arm gently as the lights overhead dimmed and the lane lights flickered on so that the remaining people could find their pods. The hall looked similar to a landing strip at night. Long, pale yellow lights ran along each lane and the pods themselves flickered on with their own gentle white glow. It was showtime.

  Putting on her moniglasses, Asra blinked a couple of times as her eyes adjusted to the bombardment of augmented reality around them. Tons of screens flickered into existence in the space in front of her like the whole room had gone from the plain, boring convention hall to a city with flashing lights. To the naked eye there was nothing special about the hall or the center. It was large and empty besides the pods. Most didn’t look at it without moniglasses though, and aug gear brought another layer of life to the mix. She couldn’t see them all because of the company issued tech, but she knew the hall was painted in QRs. Probably thousands that were all scanned at a glance of the eye, popping up ads into a person’s view.

  “Let’s head back to the office,” Yash told the team of six that all stood on the stage. “Those who aren’t on until the next shift get some sleep in the bunkroom, you’ll need it.”

  Asra was first shift, something that was designated for the more seasoned stooges because generally the most issues happened at the start. Especially when all the people who skipped proper medical advice came out of the woodworks. Spotting fast was the utmost importance because, whether people liked to admit it or not, immersion could be deadly.

  The office was meant for several things. The first was that it provided a place for the watchers to keep an eye on screens where it was out of sight and distraction less. During the kickoff, it wasn’t often that people got out of their pods. However, as the convention wore on the pods had mandatory eight hour limits. At the eight hour mark people had to get out and move around. There were halls for food, stalls to buy memorabilia, and all the other things that one might expect at such events. Which meant it could get loud and chaotic with that many people around. Having the watchers tucked away in an office prevented issues that might keep them from doing their jobs.

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  The second use for the office was for security and first responders. They took care of things if issues arose that called for medical intervention or a more stern hand. They were generally a larger team so they didn’t work as rough shifts but they did have to do the grunt work. Asra had spent a full convention season as a security, she’d traded it in for being a watcher as soon as she could.

  Her eyes moved over the screens that glowed before her. Flickering and zooming past, some zooming in based on if she wanted a closer look or not. The cool thing about the newest augment gear was that it responded entirely to thought processes. A new wave of technology that could monitor brain activity and predict what you wanted from it. It was causing waves of issues in the political front, many wondering if such technology needed to be invented in the first place. Ito Co had made it though and they didn’t seem to show signs of slowing down.

  “VR gear is so commonplace now,” Asra fell back into a chair, “they could do this at home.”

  Yash’s voice hummed for a moment as he thought. She could feel him shifting around the room behind her. Likely crossing his arms over his chest in the usual thoughtful way. She’d seen it many times in the years they’d worked together. Hundreds. No, thousands of times even. He’d worked there longer than she had. That came with being related to the Ito Co founders though. Yash had been enlisted to work even younger than she had, perhaps to learn the family business.

  “We’re upgrading consoles this year,” he stated. “I’m sure some are here because the pods are included in their ticket price.”

  Asra nodded as her eyes roamed more screens. “True.”

  “People don’t gather in large numbers anymore too.” She knew the voice without have to look as Tommy join them in the office. “I read conventions were a very big thing before the pandemic.”

  “Back when they didn’t wear masks and stuff,” Yash asked.

  “Mhmm, the very time.”

  Habit brought her hand up to the mask that covered the bottom half of her face. It was a work model, one with decent filters and a company logo painted across the translucent glass. Of course it matched the company owned aug gear she wore with it and the earpiece that she’d been given upon arrival. All the same black metal casing and translucent white moniglass.

  “I wonder what it was like back then,” Tommy was muttering as a flashing image moved across Asra’s eyes. She’d nearly missed it in the chaos of screens flashing around in her view. Still as her conscience caught it, the moniglasses responded in time and pulled the monitor wide in front of her so she could get a better look.

  Her curse brought the other two out of their conversation.

  “What,” Yash asked as he came to stand behind her.

  “Pod342,” she said as she slide the glasses from her face and headed in the direction of the door. Most of the security would still be out on the floor because they were still in the first 24 hours of the con. Including the burly man she passed her glasses to when she’d stepped outside the office and flagged him down.

  In all honesty, Asra probably could have handled the pervert alone. Most of the time when people learned they’d been caught doing the dirty VR style, they felt so embarrassed they fled the scene. Her sister and company policy said she had to bring backup. Especially after a few unpleasant situations.

  “Think man or woman,” Yash asked as he came up beside her. She’d just reached the pod in question, her toe tapping on the external power button near the bottom of the machine.

  “Woman,” Grant, the security guard she’d flagged down, answered.

  “Nope.” Polk shook his head from beside him. “Has to be a dude. No way a girl would get her socks off in a game.”

  Asra raised her brow in his direction. “Why would you say that?”

  “Have you ever had your folds fondler in a-”

  She shot him a warning look that caused his sentence to trail off. She had no intention of continuing that conversation, even if the machine wasn’t shutting off. Yash, on the other hand, cackled with laughter beside her.

  “You’re such a child,” she said to him. The pill-like pod whistled and twinkled its likes as it let its occupant know it was being shut down. Then it’s lid popped back with a shhh of chilled air and swung up to reveal the roly-poly looking fellow inside. His face was the color of red handed guilt, his attention on covering the problem he had below his belt.

  A little known fact. Unlike commercial grade equipment, VR pods acted as sleep simulators, everything that happened was the closest state one could get to a dream while still being conscious. She didn’t know the technicals, just that this meant that there were obvious overlaps in some things. Including emotional reactions like that of attraction or fear. Basically if someone popped a boner in the VR, it was safe to say they were feeling it IRL also. It was also why everyone had to sign a contract and have doctors permission to use the pods. Heart attacks were a very real risk of the VR Pods as well and what they watched out for closely in the first few hours of the convention.

  “Afternoon.” Asra forced a smile. “Why don’t we go somewhere a bit less public and talk about the contract you signed to use our pods.”

  The man did not fight, nor did he look anyone in the eyes as she went over the user agreement he’d signed when buying his ticket. Reading him the clause of termination as well, she watched as he turned especially red at the bits about indecent in-game content like sexual indecency and other things that would break ToS of their public events.

  “Since it's a first offense,” Yash stated, pushing the contract toward him. “We’ll go with a warning and let you enjoy the rest of the festivities. However, I will note this has been added to your profile for our company and punishment next time will not be so light.”

  Asra’s eyes flicked from the man to Yash. He looked collected, something she always found so odd from having grown up with him. It wasn’t often he looked professional so whenever he did she felt like she needed to take as much in as she could. At least before the usual Yash was back. The one that liked to dish his work onto her and was often found in increasingly odd situations.

  “Oh,” Yash continued, “I’m going to assume that you also broke user agreement about being physically well enough to use the pods after looking at your health monitoring during your time immersed. As it’s against company rules and the law stated we would be liable should I give you the pod, I’m going to have to remove the pod from your ticket package. I will make sure to remove the fee from your price and refund that charge.”

  Yash was the son of Ito Co at that moment. A proud businessman willing to put people in their place if they stepped over his line. This man hadn’t quite crossed into dangerous territory, but he was close. If he weren’t careful he’d see a side of Yash Asra had only seen a handful of times before. Then Yash turned to her and stuck out his tongue to ruin every aura of business that he’d built when the rule breaker was busy rising from his chair.

  “You were so close to being cool.”

  “I’m always cool,” Yash whispered as he leaned toward her.

  Asra sighed. “No one who is actually cool would ever call themselves cool.”

  Shoving her chair back under the table, she pocketed the VR glasses that’d been left on the table and followed them out of the room. The door was clicking closed behind her when the speaker in her ear chimed a few times.

  “Vince Franklin is calling,” the AI of her company gear stated. “Would you like me to record his message?”

  “Answer.” Asra trailed behind the group ahead of her, just enough for they voices to be dull. It was unusual for Vince to call her on a normal day, let alone when she was at work. Her whole family knew that she was working the convention for the next five days.

  “As mandated by Corporate Contract : Section 532, Clause #222871 I must remind you that company gear is not to be used for personal busi-.”

  “I know,” she cut across the AI though the machine only paused momentarily.

  “… business unless it is stated as an emergency or of equal importance. Do you understand this?”

  “I understand.” Asra eyed the passage that appeared ahead of her. Looking down the hall for anyone close enough who might overhear. They lead off to the offices in one direction where a sturdy door locked behind company issued passkeys and the other back toward the halls hosting the pods.

  “To ensure that you are not abusing your power the first 30 seconds of your call will be recorded and sent into the human relations offices for inspection. For personal privacy it will be viewed by one official and deleted if deemed appropriate use of the company gear.”

  “Fine, will you just answer it please?”

  “Answering Vince Franklin’s call.” The AI chimed a few times before there was a hum of connection between two lines.

  “Asra?” Vince’s voice cracked, causing her gut to twist. “Olivia collapsed.”