13:53 GMT. Near Vilnius. {Which hasn’t moved from Lithuania.}

  The data showed that test server 03 was likely to be completed in the next seven or eight minutes, which would have them done about 45 minutes earlier than expected. It wasn’t ideal, but perhaps the data from test server 08 would skew the data significantly in the other direction unless the standard was modified to identify the number of characters versus the challenge. Sung made a note to figure out how best to summarize that data when she compiled the alpha test report.

  She jumped when a hand tapped her on the shoulder. She turned quickly to see Mica standing beside her.

  Mica said, “I also get tunnel vision when I deal with unusual circumstances. Any big changes?”

  Sung shook her head. “No. Enough of a no that I had switched over to see the status of server three, which should wrap up any minute now.”

  “I’ve informed Wambli {the Solar Cell COO} of the situation.”

  “Did we get any additional steering orders?”

  “We’re to monitor and report the status every half hour. We should have initial and follow-on directions from the Executive level by 15:00. I’m here now to get your take on the situation and to let you know that I’ll be monitoring from my office,” said Mica.

  “Well, one unusual thing to note is that the couple that started in the city separated. The logs show that they played side-by-side through completing the city, but they’ve now gone separate ways. It looks like one of them is going north and the other is going east, so maybe they’ve decided they can accomplish the easier challenges solo and then join back up. I won’t know until I get the post-analysis logs.”

  “Maybe that counts as progress. One question that Wambli asked that I don’t know the answer to is specifically regarding these rollover servers. Shouldn’t the test include a set of automatons with which the players can party?”

  “You mean, like ghost players that would work roughly independently alongside the actual players?” asked Sung. “We didn’t allocate resources to that. The alpha was the first composite run of the challenge, so we don’t have many good examples of non-aggregate play.”

  “Would it break your test to add the non-aggregates?”

  “Statistically, no. Or probably no.”

  “But possible.”

  Mica must have known the insult when recommending a course of action that might affect the numbers or the playtest. Sung considered that running a test that resulted in the possibly permanent mental and physical handicapping of players would be a worse news story than the timeline derailment.

  “I’m not even sure if we could add and activate the code while the code is running. That would be akin to adding an update during an update, for lack of a better way to describe it.”

  “We’ve done it in the past. Live patching. I know we could implement it, technically, so don’t be concerned about that aspect.”

  Sung thought about the problem at hand. It wasn’t altogether different from the other recommendations. But maybe live patching would benefit the server 8 players enough to get to the exit threshold. She considered the normal curve of the other test servers, even in completing their challenges early. An idea formed, slowly. “What if, instead of adding the non-aggregate data, we took summary data from the other playtests and used that as the ghost data? It would get them across the finish line, and if the curve is skewed as expected, they could get the boon they need to meet exit criteria, maybe not on time, but at least well within the normal allocated time. Minus any play time they had before the alpha test, that is.”

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  Mica smiled at her. “I’ll run it up to Wambli. You get your team to get the ghost additions ready to patch in. If we get approval, we’ll attempt to patch live in an hour,” she looked at her watch, “roughly at 15:05, but starting at the day reset.” She rested her hand on Sung’s shoulder and said, “This is unusual. But you’re doing well in such a stressful situation. You’ll get through this.”

  Sung sent out a system note to the other alpha members to come online. Then she texted Anna.

  Sung->Anna: Still in a bind. Be busy for a bit.

  One by one her team popped up on her screen. Eventually, they were all there, except for Devin and Brett. Brett wasn’t vital, and Sung was a bit happy that Devin wasn’t there either.

  “What are we doing now?” said Paco.

  “COO is considering doing a live patch to help out the players in server 8. We need a patch ready in less than an hour.”

  George said, “Live patch the alpha? Just shut it down. It’s the same risk, right?”

  “I know you missed most of the discussion and are probably still getting caught up, George, but there might be residual damage to the actual players if they get cut from the system mid-stream. It’s not something we’re going to risk. A live patch gives them a better than fighting chance to meet the exit criteria within a reasonable time frame,” said Sung.

  “So what goes into this patch?” said Liliya.

  “Take a statistical average of test servers numbers 1 to 6. We need fifty-four ghosts spread throughout the starting locations with the internal objective of completing the keep.”

  “Fifty-four? Shouldn’t it be fifty-five?” said Liliya.

  “I’ve already got one in mind - I’m going to inject Fausta into the simulation at the next overnight with orders to head to the Keep.”

  “Fausta the AI? What? Why?” said Liliya.

  “We need to try to save the player in the Tower, and I can’t think of another way to get there?”

  “Should the other ghosts also start with any boons?” said Liliya.

  “In a sense, this is akin to an extraction, so supercharge them. Match them to the max player level that is currently on server 8. Which is Brawler 3 with six health. Plan to run the ghost spread on an isolated server in thirty minutes, give or take five minutes. Any other questions?”

  Paco said, “Uh, boss? This is a PvP server instance. How do we prevent the ghosts from attacking the other players, if they did statistically in the other servers?”

  Sung thought. “I have no idea. I’ll look up those instances and hopefully, it’s not an overwhelming issue. But, great point. If any of you come up with other vital questions, I’ll be here online. It’s crunch time - to do great work!” Sung kept the channel open while the others went out to figure out their new task.

  We can do this! We’ll rescue these nine players!

  Brett ran a hand along the server rack, lovingly. The cold metal warmed his heart in a manner that no person had ever done. Server three hummed along quietly, just now finishing the test and almost ready for the standard reboot. The server radiated a warm yellow light. It had taken Brett a long time to realize that other people couldn’t see auras from electronics. He eventually realized he was seeing outside the human visual range, but only just. And that gave him an edge when troubleshooting equipment.

  He turned from server three and looked at the rack running test eight. A blackness radiated from the server.

  Brett knew, inherently, that he didn’t understand the connection between servers and the human participants using the equipment. He knew, also, that the leadership considered the lives of those participants over the health of the servers. At least, they did so where money was involved. But they couldn’t see those participants, locked away in whatever home they had to play the game, the way he could see the server and know its health.

  Server eight was not healthy. Oh, it was capable of chugging along, but the data running on it was ugly and needed to be removed. And soon, before the blackness infected his other servers.

  He just had to convince the leadership that nine lives were a small price to pay compared to the server farm.