Gary's eyes opened slowly, and his back pain prompted him to sit up. He looked around the dimly lit room. It seemed like another living area he had initially woken up in. A screen was offset from the wall. "Klescher Rehabilitation Facilities: Try our work release program, earn a shorter sentence!" Unsure where he was, he decided not to sign anything quite yet. He pushed the button on the door, and it promptly slid open. The floors were super dusty, and the air was heavy with yellow haze.
He looked over a nearby railing to see a big central area, with tables with seating, a large object in the center reminded him of a monolith from a television show he once watched. As Gary reached the center area, he noticed a bunch of his friends. He was relieved, and he felt safer with them. In a group, he was safe. Before he could say a word to them, they rushed towards him. He lost his footing and stumbled to the ground. As he lay there on his back, he felt a cold breeze on his neck. A man stood above him with a knife in hand. "Welcome to Klescher, freshie." A pain rose from the right side of his neck. One of the girls he had a class with screamed. "W-wh-ats wr-wrong?" Gary could barely get the words out, he began to get lightheaded. His friend Amos had blood all over his hands. "What is happening… to me…"
Everything went black.
Everything went silent.
Like dust settling for the last time.
Jack was waiting for Everus Harbor to let him land. He decided to check back in with JP to see how everyone was holding up. After a while of ringing, the call dropped. "Must be busy." Jack rested his head on the yoke. His friends must be so scared, deep down, he felt like he could feel their fear. "I know I would be terrified, scratch that. I AM TERRIFIED." Jack knew this game, It can kill you at any moment.
"You are free to land." A ping on the ship's ui showed which hangar was open. Jack was distracted when landing, he almost forgot to put down the landing gear. "Come on, Jack, get your head in the game." That wasn't Jack's voice. He looked around the bridge after standing up. "Hello? Is anyone there?" No one responded. But Jack wasn't on edge like he would have been normally. No, the voice comforted him a bit. Jack lowered the ship to store it away. The sound of his footsteps echoed through the hangar as he walked to the elevator. He felt so alone, his guilt eating away at him. "I shouldn't have left them behind, I should have known that something was going to happen. I'm so stupid-"
"Yo! Are you going to get on or not?"
Jack whipped his head up, the voice startled him. "Sorry, lost in thought. One of those days, you know?"
"Yeah, I feel that, especially today of all days."
The two men stood there in the elevator waiting for the ride to finish. Jack broke the silence, "So, what brings you to the station?"
The other man turned his head to Jack. His face portrayed a sense of shock. "Uh, I came to set my respawn-" He coughed, trying to cover up the fact he said more than he wanted to. "Sorry, I had a frog in my throat. I have a doctor's appointment. What about you?"
"Just trying to figure out where to go next. Needed to make a stop."
"Well, if you need help with that, please let me know. I'm a good brainstormer, or so I've heard."
The elevator door opened, showing the ship terminals. "Finally," Jack thought, he felt bad about making the man wait for him when we were at my hangar. Jack walked towards the Everus Harbor Clinic. Upon his arrival walked over to the regen area to set his "respawn." "I don't even know why I'm doing this. I NEED TO FIND MY FRIENDS." He put his hand over the screen to log in. After a quick second, the screen told him to consult a nurse. "Odd," Jack leaned over to see around the corner to find a nurse. Fortunately, one was tending the lobby counter. "Hello Sir, how may I help you today?" The lady was nice, which was funny. Back when he played in his world, the dialogue you would get sounded like the person running the counter was always dead inside.
"Hi, yeah, the respawn terminal told me to ask a nurse to help me."
The nurse nodded slightly, "Ah, yes, so the system is recognizing that this is your first time using our regen system. So we would like you to have a quick consultation with one of our top-rated physicians. They will also go over what regen is and how it works. Give me one second," the nurse quickly typed something into the computer that was in front of her. "So the next available physician will be about a five-minute wait. While you wait, please feel free to sit in our waiting room."
"Thank you for your help, ma'am."
The nurse nodded, "It was my pleasure."
Jack sat down on one of the waiting room benches. As he sat there, he watched his surroundings; the people walking around had purpose and life to them. They were not just some simple NPCs, they were real people. "What is this place?" Jack noticed, the man from the elevator was at the lobby counter talking to the nurse, just as he had. "Jack Thorne?" The call of his name turned his attention away. "Yes?"
"Hi, I'm Dr. Carter. I'll be the physician today." The man held out his hand for a handshake.
After the two shook hands, they went to a hospital room to talk. "So, it's your first time trying to use our regen system. Is that correct?"
Jack nodded, "Yes, sir."
"Alright, so you must be from far away, huh? We have many facilities across the UEE."
With a heavy sigh and a bit of a laugh, Jack responded. "Yeah, one could say I'm a little far from home."
"Well, the way regen works is we use the Ibrahim Sphere, which is an advanced scanner. With the sphere, we can copy your genetic material, memories, and so on. Your genetic copy will be saved on the sphere and will update constantly. Once you die then your copy will be made. Don't worry, you won't lose much 'data'.
Jack was puzzled; that isn't what the Janitor told him. He explained what the Janitor had told him back at Lorville.
"Ah yes, there is a bit of regen that is misunderstood widely amongst the general populous. This is because most people in poorer areas, since it is too expensive for them." Dr. Carter went on to explain how getting set up with the regen program would work. Jack had to lie down on the medical bed as the Ibrahim Sphere scanned him. After a bit, Dr. Carter gave him the go-ahead to leave. The whole process was easy.
Jack was leaving the Everus Harbor Clinic as someone approached him. It was the same man that Jack had met previously in the elevator.
"Hey, so I was sitting in the waiting room and I heard the doctor call your name. So you're Jack Throne, right?"
Jack was a little taken aback. "Yeah… are you needing something?"
"Yeah… well, kind of. I know a guy named Jack Throne. He was a part of a group named The Guardians of the Verse."
Jack's eyes widened! "Dude, how does he know about the Guardians of the Verse?" Jack calmed himself, "Yeah, that's me. Have we met before?" The second he said that, he realized that this guy seemed familiar; he was someone that he knew.
"Yeah, Jack, it's me; Captain!"
Jaxon Vark or also known as Captain. A friend of Jack's, he wasn't a part of Jack's organization, but he played with them often. He was labeled as an affiliate of their org. Jack pulled him aside.
"Dude, how are you here too? I thought it was just me and the people at my school." Jack said with a hushed tone.
"Oh, more people are here. Some of the kids you go to college with? It's not just me here. Lieutenant Fiddlesticks is here as well."
Jack got nervous, not because he was scared, but because he was realizing something. He was meeting more people from his world, and they were not from the same location.
"So you mean to tell me that it's not just me and my friends who have been brought here?"