Reticulating Splines, Part 1

In his hand, Sam held the world. Specifically, in the USB drive in his hand, he held the world he’d be spending the next week in. Seven days of vacation, and the beta-version software on the drive was going to be Sam’s escape from his tedious life.

The software was titled SimNation, although that was just a working title since it was unlikely this black market game would ever be sanctioned under the Sim games title. Jeannot said the entire game was next level, featuring some cutting edge design. “Never seen a system so detailed and expensive in all my years of game-testing,” Jeannot said as he handed over the drive. “A lot of beta testers said it fried their setups, so be careful,” he had warned.

“Hyper-realistic,” Jeannot had said. “So subversive you’ll completely forget your real life.”

All Sam had to do for the guy was upgrade his flight to Europe to first class–one of the small perks Sam’s job as a flight attendant allowed him–and the software was his. Sam’s vacation officially began half an hour before he snagged the portable storage device and headed home to his condo.

Sam was dismayed to find his little brother Daniel–and, at the moment, his roommate–on the couch with an open pizza box on his lap. His dreams of a silent, peaceful beginning to his week off from work were shattered.

“No work?” Sam asked his 18-year old brother, who was a few inches taller and a bit more athletic but infinitely less motivated.

“Work got shut down,” Daniel explained without breaking eye contact with the reality show on TV. “Covid stuff. By the way I found some weird shit on your computer earlier.” He took another bite of pizza without seeing the shock on Sam’s face.

“You–you did what? On MY computer?” Sam said. He hadn’t even set his keys down from walking in the door and he was about to enter a fight. His terror subsided as he realized he was always careful to do his porn-browsing in incognito mode. His fears of having his younger brother discover the numerous muscle-worship sites, images of massively muscled men in bondage, and recorded sessions with roided-out cam boys. As far as Daniel, and Sam’s parents, knew, Sam was still recovering over a broken heart from his ex-girlfriend Taryn. Sam wasn’t ready for the world to know otherwise.

“Wi-Fi went down and your computer’s the only one configured to the router,” Daniel explained. “Jeez, chill out. I was talking about some weird games I found. You a hacker or something? Cuz those things did not look like legal programs.”

There was a hidden folder on Sam’s computer of off-beat software he’d gotten from Jeannot over the past few years. “Look, we talked about this, Daniel,” he said in a fatherly tone. “You’re not allowed in my room, PERIOD, when I’m gone.”

Daniel nodded mutely, then smiled. He hopped to his feet, hands on his hips, leering down at Sam. “Or what? You gonna put me in time out?”

Sam swallowed hard, then pulled out his phone. “You think mom and dad would be so willing to give you your monthly stipend if I told them you dropped out of school and started crashing on my couch?”

Daniel shrugged. “Well, it’d be a lot easier than me telling him,” he said, flopping back on the couch.

Sam retreated to the sanctity of his bedroom, pausing as he noticed a bright pink thong in the open bathroom doorway. He gritted his teeth, furious, and marched back to the living room. “And I said no GUESTS, Daniel!” he said, slingshotting the discarded underwear at his brother.

“Oh, she wasn’t a guest,” Daniel said, sniffing the thong and smirking. “Trust me, she wasn’t here long at all. Dirty skank.”

Sam opened his mouth to deliver a lecture but his brother’s dismissive attitude reminded him of his powerlessness in this situation. It’s my vacation, Sam reminded himself. Nothing can take that from me. He gripped the USB drive in his pocket and ran to his room.

Sam’s eyes lit up as the software installed. “Jesus Christ… 47 minutes for installation?” he marvelled. His gaming PC was top-of-the-line and brand new. This game had to be MASSIVE. Luckily it was enough time to Grubhub some Chinese food. Daniel asked for some crab rangoon as Sam returned to his room, dinner in tow, but Sam just slammed the door in response.

Once the game booted, Sam’s eyes lit up at the sliders governing the generation of his world. “Fuck,” he said as he realized he could customize this Sim-planet’s core, alter its ancient history, completely customize its continent formation and world-wide ecologies… The detail was staggering. Seven days wouldn’t be enough.

Sam clicked, Randomize Planet. “Reticulating Splines,” the SimNation UA voice said in a sultry voice as the world was suddenly generated. He set the year to 2021 (he could choose to play the game in any era, it seemed) and found a continent that seemed reasonably well-developed.

Sam couldn’t believe he had, before running into Jeannot with the promise of this hot new game, planned to do another playthrough of Skyrim. If this SimNation turned out to be as all-encompassing as it seemed, he may never play another game again. It was the perfect way to subsume himself in another life, to forget about his tedious job, his bullying younger brother and the strong urges for well-built men he had to publicly deny.

Sam adjusted the sliders as he customized his character. He chomped on an egg roll and smiled as he adjusted his character’s skin-tone to be darker than the pale complexion he wore in real life. “Hell yeah,” he said as his avatar’s muscles bloomed, nice thick legs and a broad chest, a chiseled abdomen, big arms… the kind of guy whose physique would instantly impress, while not being so bulky he could barely move. “And some package here,” he said, thinking of his own modest-sized cock as he plumped up his avatar’s bulge. “And some BODY-hair,” he said with a chuckle. His own chest had just a smattering of tiny hairs in the center, so he gave his avatar a thick pelt on his beautifully muscled pecs and abs, as well as a thick beard.

The playboy on the screen was PERFECT. “Holy shit, personality sliders,” he said as he realized he could customize the way his avatar was seen in this virtual world. He maxed out the confidence levels, as well as his charisma, his public image, his IQ…

Then it was time to pick a job. “Scientist would be cool,” he said aloud as he scanned his list. “Oh, racecar driver! Football star…” He finally selected, “CEO.” He was delighted to realize he could check off multiple professions, so he continued by checking off, “Influencer,” “Real Estate Tycoon,” “Professional Bodybuilder,” “Superhero,” “Mayor of SimNation,” and, “Playboy.”

As soon as he clicked that final box, the options for designing a boyfriend darkened. “Looks like I’ll be playing the field,” he chuckled. A few clicks on his avatar’s bank account revealed the fact that this beta version had “god mode” enabled. His avatar would be starting off as a trillionaire. “Who wants a challenge? This is my vacation.”

After submitting those specifications, he was confronted with a new set of menus where he got to customize even more of his avatar’s world. “Samir” (as Sam named his avatar) would have been son of a wealthy oil tycoon. At a young age, Samir would have won his first bodybuilding competition, getting jobs as a model and some small acting gigs before he started his first small business owning a supplement company. In the meantime, in private, he would don a mask and a skin-tight costume and fight crime. “So cool,” Sam said as he designed Samir’s navy-and-gold caped hero uniform. By the time he was 35, Samir would be in the prime physical shape of his life, wealthy beyond his wildest dreams and loved by everyone in Sim-Nation.

“Fuck… yes…” he said as he reached for another spoonful of General Tso’s chicken to find the container empty. “Damn, I’ve been doing character creation for three hours!” he said with a glance at the clock. Time for a pee break. He shook his head and clicked, “Save.”

“Damnit!” he said. The screen had locked up. He clicked a few more times. The screen went blue. “Fuck!” he said. If this software had corrupted his system…

The blue screen flashed. An ear-splitting screech came from the speakers. Sam reached for the power button. His finger never touched it. A blinding white light filled the room and Sam felt like he was falling…