THE MOMENT
"Alternate what?" That question hung permanently in Marie's mind for a decade; now she finally had an answer. One night returning from a club, she came across a dying stranger in an alleyway. When she tried to help he grabbed her and slipped a glass rectangle into her hand.
"This is what I get for being cocky," the strange man smiled with bloodied teeth; he wheezed a light chuckle. "Promise me, please," he squeezed Marie's hand around the rectangle. "This isn't a server but, I can still respawn; take this to the AlterNet." He coughed blood onto her face. The warm, wet splatter and surreal situation were too much for Marie's tipsy brain. She had no idea what he was talking about. Marie screamed, fled, and regretted it for the next 10 years.
She carried the transparent rectangle around in her purse; it helped remind her to take an extra moment to be kind. Guilt over the stranger's death kept her from being too curious about it over the years. Then at the mall, she saw a new shop opened since the last time she was there. 'AlterNet Access'.
"That's not how you spell 'alternate'," was Marie's first, sarcastic thought. Then, she had a minor epiphany about that night 10 years ago. Without hesitation, she rushed into the store.
The shop had a very new-age feel with pleasant scents and soft music filling the air. The thing that stood out as very different to Marie was that there were no shelves. No products, nor anything to display those products on. Instead, the store was filled with what appeared to be eight grave-sized holes dug into the ground, and a single countertop. One of the holes was filled by a sleeping man in swimming trunks.
"Hi, welcome to the AlterNet, can I help you?" A young woman with curly blond hair and a name tag that said: 'Sharyl' approached Marie from behind the counter.
"This is a little bit weird, and I'm not even sure if you can help me," Marie replied and put her bag on the counter to dig through it. After a moment she pulled out the clear rectangle. "Do you know what this is?" she asked. Sharyl nodded.
"That's a node. It's how we send your consciousness into the AlterNet. You have one but don't know what it is?"
"I found it," Marie replied. "Ten years ago... on a dying man," Marie expected some sort of reaction from Sharyl, but she continued to listen intently. "He said something about this wasn't a server but he could still respawn in the AlterNet," Marie sighed. "Then I ran away," she admitted. She thought she'd more or less gotten over the event except for minor guilt here and there; but, she had to admit it felt good to get it off her chest. It kind of helped that it was a stranger that Marie wouldn't have to see again.
"Wow," Sharyl grinned and carried the node to the closest hole in the ground. "You held on to this for 10 years, that's something," she said as she knelt and pushed the node into the dirt. Then, she stood back up. "So you don't have a node of your own?" she asked. Marie shook her head.
"Well I think after your good deed, you deserve a small reward," Sharyl replied. She reached under the counter, then produced another node for Marie.
"Good deed? I don't even know what I did," she didn't reach up to take the node. Sharyl pointed past Marie at the hole they were just at. She turned in time to see the same stranger from 10 years ago step out of a black portal.
"You saved my life!" The man immediately spotted Marie and ran over to scoop her up in a tight hug. Luckily, he put her down before she could think enough to complain. He tilted his head when he set her back down. "You look a little older. How long has it been?" he asked.
"10 years," Marie admitted with downcast eyes.
"Whoa," the man sighed. "Well let's hope that teaches me not to start trouble on non-servers," he laughed a moment, then stopped and looked down at his hands. "Is this a server now?" he asked almost absent-mindedly. Sharyl spoke up from behind the counter.
"As of two months ago," she said.
"Awesome, thanks!" the man waved at Sharyl and Marie and walked out of the store to take a look around.
"How did he come back to life 10 years later?" Marie asked. Sharyl held up the node she was offering.
"This can store souls. In the AlterNet, nanos can make you a new body no problem. As long as we can put your soul in a new body, you're alive."
"That sounds... expensive," Marie said. "You're not going to get in trouble for giving me that, are you?" Sharyl grinned and shook her head.
"Not one bit. I just need you to sign your soul over to us and you're good to go."