Winning the Game
How Humanity Copes at The End
Winning the Game
By J.A. Helling
Like most people in the world, I carry that vague sense of nausea and fear in the pit of my stomach everywhere I go. Even though I have my dream job—game technician at MicroGoo—and spend my days on quest creation, monster calibration and weapon design, that feeling in the pit of my stomach never goes away.
If I concentrate I can remember walking to convenience stores for comic books and bike rides with no helmet, just racing the wind as a child. Not a cell phone in sight and yet somehow we survived roaming for hours on a sunny day with parents who had no idea where we were.
Today parents give their children cell phones for safety against the violent stranger, but it may allow their kid to be cyberbullied all the way to panic attacks and depression and even suicide.
With the current attacks on democracy, it often feels like the forces are aligning for the final showdown—climate change, racism and misogyny, inequitable wealth distribution, the rise of AI, and outright violence at all levels, from within the family to genocide. If there ever was a quest worth undertaking, it is leading humanity to a kinder, more just reality.
I pressed my tech pass to the door pad and it turned green so I could open the door. MicroGoo had scrupulous security measures so I came to HQ in the middle of the night when the campus was mostly deserted. I crept into this storage room, clicking on a small flashlight and gripping it between my teeth while I eased the grate covering to the floor gently.
Years ago I had realized that the ventilation system traversed all of the campus buildings, providing an easy method of traveling between areas. I hopped into the vent, pulling my legs up, and began crawling through the walls.
After enough time so that my knees began to hurt, I reached the Inner Sanctum of HQ—that was what the tech nerds had actually titled the space. I took a deep breath to psyche myself up, then kicked out the vent cover, which hit the floor, metal on metal. I waited a minute to see if it alerted anyone, then hopped down and flicked the light switch.
The light turned on many overhead panels, illuminating a huge room without any windows but lots of computers, desks, desk chairs and sofas in front of coffee tables. There was a pop machine tucked discreetly by the one doorway.
Along the longest wall was a series of whiteboards that were clearly magnetic because a number of them held papers posted on them. There mathematical equations scrawled on the boards as well as words that seemed ominous: The End, Fight to the Death, Who is the Enemy?, and so on. Someone had drawn a machine gun next to a fighter jet next to a sword.
I approached the whiteboards with hesitation. They reminded me of the whiteboards on the wall of the large meetingroom in the Quest Creation section that filled up quickly when the team was crackling with creativity. Every idea, no matter how insufficient, was captured on the whiteboard so it could perhaps spark another, better idea.
I enjoyed the back and forth of these meetings, the outrageous and even grandiose ideas. My favorite quests had started in a small team meeting process. I smiled as I recalled the video games I had been a part of that had blossomed into true masterpieces that re-defined the field of quest-based videogames.
I heard the click of a keypad and froze, so I was just standing there when the CEO of MicroGoo, Hans Schimdt, entered, staring right at me. The Chief of Security and another security officer were right behind him.
I put my hands in the air.
CEO Schmidt chuckled. “No one is pointing a gun at you.”
The Security Chief, Roger Feckle, grunted, “I think you can put your arms down now, McAllister.”
I lowered my arms slowly, hesitantly, testing that no one was going to whip out a gun. Then my hands hung down once again without my sustaining any bullet holes. I slid a palm down my shirt front to confirm I was unharmed.
“I can explain this, Mr. Schmidt,” I said, trying to widen my eyes and look innocent.
“I’ll bet you can,” Security Chief Feckle snorted.
CEO Schmidt had a cold, thin smile. “I don’t need a gun, you know, Lakshmi.”
He raised one hand. “I can just snap…my…fingers…”
Everything was pitch black following the sound of the snap.
I could not move because I did not have a body. I wondered how I could be thinking anything without a body. And then…
Light returned and I was kicking out the vent cover, which crashed nosily to the floor of the Inner Sanctum. I hopped down from the vent and all the overhead lights came on in the cavernous room.
I walked to the wall covered in magnetic whiteboards. There was a machine gun, a fighter plane and a sword drawn on one of the boards. Words were interspersed with equations: The End, Fight to the Death, Who is the Enemy?. They seemed like important hints, but my thinking slipped away from me like a waterfall, rushing forward with no ability to hold the past.
I wondered why I had come to the Inner Sanctum and stood still while I tried to reason it through. It was nighttime and I decided to sneak in because I had begun seeing code that did not make any sense, that somehow described the reality of the world.
I booted up one of the master consoles, computers in the Inner Sanctum that gave full access to all of MicroGoo. It came to life with a cheery graphic demanding a password, and with a few expert key strokes the whole of the console was mine to access.
I pulled up the videogames that were close to release and scanned their code quickly, finding a hodgepodge of regular code and a new, higher order code with unfamiliar characters. As I strolled through the streams of code, I felt the fear and nausea in the pit of my stomach, then it would disappear as I scanned the patch of higher order code, then the sinking feeling would return with the regular code. It was like a light switch going on and off in my belly.
Turning away, I was violently ill, retching on the floor. I spit several times, trying to get the awful taste out of my mouth.
There was a noise from the keypad near the one door but I just stayed bent over. The same three men entered as before. (Before? Before what?)
CEO Schmidt looked at me with impatience. “You need to get past this level and level up.”
I stood upright carefully. “Level? What level?”
“This level is The End. Democracy under attack all over the world, climate change, racism and misogyny, inequitable wealth distribution, the rise of AI, and outright violence at all levels, from within the family to genocide. This is the Final Showdown, and you have to level up to move on.”
A thought struck me. “Oh my god, I’m in the Matrix, aren’t I? I’m just a human battery to power the machines! It’s the Matrix!”
CEO Schmidt looked annoyed. “Why does everyone think they’re in the Matrix? You are NOT in the Matrix.”
I focused on his mouth, which I had seen lie in press conferences any number of times. His teeth seemed unnaturally white. “Are you all machines? Are you our machine overlords?”
Security Chief Feckle gave a low grunt that I think was supposed to be a short chuckle. “It would be pretty boring to be overlords to a species who have had so many chances but keep messing it up.”
“So you’re not Artificial Intelligence Overlords?”
Feckle paused. “I think a title like “guide” or “support” would be more accurate.”
“Am I tapped into a global game network? Where I on Earth am I hooked into the game?”
Security Chief Feckle and CEO Schmidt exchanged glances.
CEO Schmidt said, “In point of fact, you’re not even on Earth.”
This made me shut my mouth as I gathered my thoughts. I looked at each man in turn and the trio looked real enough.
I cleared my throat and then regretted it because I could taste vomit again. “Then where am I?”
CEO Schmidt flung his arms wide. “You are on Earth Transport Alpha, a spaceship designed to take as many humans as possible—and a few of the species that were left at the end—to the planet deemed most Earth-like and thereby most compatible for humans. You are one of millions of humans lying in a huge stasis field. The trip will take centuries, so by putting you in stasis your body will not disintegrate, and your minds will hopefully be kept intact.”
“But this is Earth.” I waved an arm to take it all in. “I have a job and everything.”
“This is the most complex videogame ever crafted.”
“But why? Why make us go through these hoops?”
Security Chief Feckle took a step closer. “Because we were losing too many people who had bodies in stasis. They were leaving Earth in such a state of trauma, their minds would go around and around the Loop and eventually destroy itself. So we crafted this videogame for humans who needed to work through the trauma of The End. It’s quest-based and they are the hero who has to find the ways to level up to each new level.”
CEO Schmidt said, “Don’t you think it’s odd that a company that has some of the brightest people that humanity has would allow a vent system that is easy to get into and just happens to go to all of the buildings?”
“Or that you discovered that amazing password hack from a colleague so easily?” Security Chief Feckle added.
Thinking about it, it did seem like the sort of shortcuts I put in quest-based videogames. But a videogame to help humanity work through its trauma so we could truly sleep on the way to our new home? Could it be true?
I said in a low tone, “What was The End? What finally did humanity in?”
CEO Schmidt shook his finger at me. “No. You have to level up through your own knowledge and skills. At the last level you will find out.”
“But won’t seeing The End again re-traumatize me?”
CEO Schmidt smiled. “To win, you have face The End again, and level up to finally find rest. Yes, we have re-created The End, but with the accessories of videogames—shortcuts, puzzles, allies, and useful weapons. When you finally break your Loop by achieving the final Level Up, then you can rest knowing you have won the game.”
“Well, that might be a stretch—I mean, I am in stasis, working through trauma and humanity is fleeing to a new planet—”
Darkness fell, then light returned and I was kicking out the vent cover, which crashed nosily to the floor of the Inner Sanctum. I hopped down from the vent and all the overhead lights came on in the cavernous room.
I sighed. If there ever was a quest worth undertaking, it was leading humanity to a kinder, more just reality, even if that was just processing the deep sadness and guilt we all carried. I hoped to do just that as soon as we arrived at our new home.
But first I had to Level Up.