Chapter Three

Roland led me into the building, going past empty offices before we walked into a large room with eight people working on computers. They all looked at me up and down and I realised that this was what I would have to get used to as I could see a couple of the guys undressing me in their minds.

Roland said “Guys and girls, this is Shirley and we are going to see if she will fit in with us.” They all said hello and a couple even smiled when they did so. There were four guys and four girls and a couple of the girls looked at me as if I was going to upset the status quo. Years of meetings had given me insight into these situations. Firstly Roland took me into his office and we went through my details and experience. We then went back into the outer room and I was sat in front of a computer screen with the rest of crew standing behind me. Roland told me that I was now going to see a five minute segment of a ‘point and shoot’ game that they were developing. It was provisionally called ‘Swat Raid’ and was supposed to take the gamer into a house of criminals and clear the place out.

I had never seen this type of game and nor had Shirley. All I could do is look at the content on its merit. When they played it I made some mental notes and as it finished Roland asked me what I thought of it. I knew that this was the point where a young girl would blow her chances by telling them something they wanted to hear but my viewing of the clip had given me a chance to tell them the truth, no matter how hard they were going to take it.

I started by asking if all the games on the market were cartoons like this and immediately I sensed a split in the group as four looked sour and the other four smiled. Roland asked me why this was a problem and I told them that I thought graphics had come further than that and, at least, it should have the characters looking a bit more like real people. “And?” he asked. I said that the whole thing was not at all realistic. Having a gun sight in front of you all the time would never happen and that I had counted at least thirty five shots without any loading which was impossible. “And then?” he smiled as he said it, so I said that the corridors that the attacker went down had no furniture which would allow he, or others, a place to shelter. One of the team asked why this was important so I told them that the players would be getting more discerning as time went on and that if they kept churning out something as childish as this they would lose their standing.

I also pointed out that memory and speeds will continue to evolve and that they should be writing for the future, not what was around now. I sat back, fully expecting to be torn to shreds when one guy, who seemed to be the leader of the smiling group, said “What did we tell the upper floors last week and got howled down? Here we have a newbie straight out of college telling some of us something we already knew.” The sour half didn’t say anything and I could see that this was an argument that had been taking place for a while.

Roland asked me what I would do if I had the chance and I told him that there needed to be a move to draw the characters like real people first and then work with motion capture experts to record true life movements. Then there should be a selection process to make the gamer choose a genuine weapon and limit them to the amount of ammunition they could carry. I said that when the shooter has to reload, that’s the time they are vulnerable so it would force the gamer to think about tactics and the use of cover. That way they will capture the market and everyone will make lots of money.

He asked me to go and sit in his office while he spoke to his crew. I could see as I waited that the two groups had a different point of view. I guessed that the sour ones were the old guard who were happy just to continue as they had been while there was a forward thinking section. I wondered how long they had taken to produce the five minutes that I had watched. As I watched I saw that the forward thinkers had achieved some sort of result and they had smiles on their faces. Roland beckoned me to come back out to find out what my future held.

He told me that I could start as soon as I wanted and that I would be working with the four forward thinkers and that we would be moving our operation to a remote site where we could make progress without any interruption. He said that our task would be to redo the clip I had seen but in the new format. We had two months and a good budget and that Geoff, the leader, was in charge. The four in the group included one of the girls and she volunteered to take me through the induction and lead me to the remote site. I was told that there was a small group of cabins there where I could stay for the two months.

I then was properly greeted by Janet, Geoff, Terry and Butch and Janet led me through the building to HR where all my details were entered on the employee data base. They gave me a Motorola flip phone which I was told was standard issue as well as a photo ID on a lanyard and a sticker for the camper. Janet told me that I was unlikely to be coming back to the main office before we had achieved our task and then she got me to drive the camper to stop near the exit and to follow her pink Toyota to the remote site.

She led me to an enclosed group of buildings on the outskirts of the city and we pulled into a car parking area after a guard had let us in. I was shown the cabins and told to pick one and was given the keys to my choice. We then went to the main building where I saw a room filled with computing equipment and another set up as a photographic studio. There was also a kitchen and off-duty room with a TV set. She said she had to get back to the head office to tidy up her workspace and that she would see me here in the morning.

Left to my own devices I turned on one of the computers to find that I had use of the latest in technology and was pleased about that. Back at the camper I turned on the Nokia and called my father at work. When he answered I told him that I had got the job and would be leaving the Nokia turned off for the next few months as I needed to concentrate on the project I had been given. I gave him the number of the Motorola and asked him to keep it to himself and only use it in an emergency. I told him I loved him and to tell my mother that I really loved her as well and that she should not worry about me. He then told me that my mother did not speak about me at all in the last few days and had started to clear out my room. I was not surprised or upset at this as I didn’t intend going there again.

I dismantled the Nokia and put the battery into a separate drawer in the back of the camper, which I then drove close to my new home. When I opened up the cabin I found that it was pretty big with two bedrooms, a kitchen / diner and a comfortable lounge. I had a bit of a shock when I went to transfer my luggage out of the camper and properly hang things up. Shirley had obviously emptied her bedroom as there were loads of clothes, underwear, cosmetics and jewellery. I did find her stash of weed which I put in the bin to be disposed of. I also found a small bag full of money. I guess she had emptied her bank account to fund her elopement. The last thing I did was to take the communication device that the aliens had supplied, with orders to let them know the result of my interview, and press the button to speak to them.

When one answered I spoke in the alien language that I now knew and told it that I was employed to write a new point and shoot game with a project to make it more realistic. It told me that they were very happy and that they would start kidnapping likely teenagers to instil a desire to kill at the right time. It said that I need not use the device unless I had anything important to report, so I put it away in the bottom drawer of the bedside cupboard, under my feminine hygiene products. I then turned on the Motorola and put it on charge.

After clearing the camper of foodstuffs I could see that I needed to get some supplies in so took the camper out to a supermarket that the guard had told me was only a few blocks away. There was also a diner nearby so I treated myself to a cooked dinner before going back to the cabin. As I was driving in the guard told me that he went off duty at eight and the day guy started at six in the morning so I will be effectively locked in for ten hours at night. That was all right by me as I did not intend to go out partying.

That evening I made up the bed with sheets I found in the linen cupboard, put what I had been wearing the last few days into the washer for tomorrow and had a long, hot, shower and hair wash. It did feel good and I topped it off by finding a soft nightie and robe among my things. When I was dry I put these on and sat on the settee brushing my hair and watching some mindless drivel on the TV.

That night I slept well in a decent size bed and realised that I was enjoying being Shirley and that anyone who knew her before would be surprised at the girl she now was. That she was to be the catalyst in changing gamers into killers did not bother me in the slightest; the world deserved all that was coming to it.

Marianne G2020