“So you finally found the time to respond,” said Jakov, in his heavy Slovenian accent.

“Hey man.” Viren replied nervously. “Sorry about that. I honestly wanted to talk to you sooner.”

“No you didn’t.”

No I didn’t, but I’m calling now aren’t I? “Of course I did. So how have you been?”

Jakov gave a sigh. “Awful.”

Viren struggled for an appropriate response. “I can only imagine, after what you have been through.” Viren was referring to the incident where Jakov played the role of a ‘Survivor’ in The Anachron. It was Jakov’s first time and he was not prepared for the fate that all his AI companions (or Cold Friends) faced in the simulation. What had made it worse was that the experience was live-streamed publicly, for millions of people to watch a live horror show.

“Well at least you didn’t say anything,” Jakov said with a sigh. “That’s a lot better than the people who sent their... support.” 

It did not help that Jakov tended to keep his auto-translator off while speaking. It was designed to help everyone communicate a lot easier, so use it! Viren had his auto-translate on, so everything that he was saying was not only being translated to Slovenian, but also it was being recorded, as a mandate of his confinement. Unsure if he should address Jakov’s last comment, Viren tried to change the subject.

“Anyway… At least that was a good payday, right? So it wasn’t all bad.”

No! No! Idiot! Why do you always bring up money! He’s going to think that I only called him to pitch my scheme for him to invest in.

There was a pause.

“What made you get to your messages finally?” Jakov broke the silence.

Dodged a bullet there…

“About that. Do you remember a Cassidy?”

“Doesn’t ring a bell.”

“I’m pretty sure she was in your class. A brown-haired girl. Wanted to get into the music industry.”

“There were quite a few brown-haired girls in my class, but no one by that name. Why?”

That’s odd. The student batch sizes usually did not exceed 30, so it was quite easy to get acquainted with everyone.

“It’s just that I got a message from ‘Cassidy’. I thought she was from your class.”

Silence.

“Hello?” said Viren, wondering if the line had gone dead. For a moment he couldn’t even hear the sound of Jakov’s breathing.

“You should take the offer,” Jakov sounded quite enthusiastic all of a sudden.

“How do you know there was an offer?”

“That’s how I was recruited. They keep an eye on us. ‘Cassidy’ must have just been a bot that was visible only to you. It was specially developed to draw your attention by using certain cues.”

No way that was true.

“You mentioned she was interested in music, just as are you. Tell me, was she unusually pretty? Maybe even a bit too perfect?”

Well, she was… wait a second, a good number of girls were attractive. That could be purely coincidental.

“In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if Cassidy was a part of The Anachron. They are here with us.”

“What…?” Viren asked nervously.

“Look around.” Jakov said in an ominous tone.

Viren did, surveying his surroundings. The only camera that pointed at him was from atop the television. There was no other photographic or audio equipment in this room – Viren had in fact made sure of this a while back. He swung around and noticed the waist-high cleaning robot parked in the corner. Its red light in an otherwise black cylindrical body indicated that it was off. Surely it didn’t have a hidden camera, right? Viren fixed his gaze on the machine, which appeared to be hiding in the shadows; just far enough to not appear to be a conspicuous eaves-dropper.

“I’m talking about your phone.” Jakov’s voice snapped Viren out of his trance. “How do you know that I am the real Jakov you’re speaking to?”

Viren froze, considering the question. Jakov’s voice sounded exactly as he remembered; nuances and all.

“Are you intentionally trying to freak me out, Jakov?” Viren tried to remain calm.

“I’ll see you around, Viren. Goodbye.” There was a click and the call ended.

Viren stared at his cellphone, with Jakov’s details lit on the screen. He held his thumb against the lock button.

“That’s how I was recruited. They keep an eye on us." There would be no reason Jakov would intentionally push me into this, right? I mean, I get final say if I want my experience to be made public or not. I’ll possibly be paid much less, though.

Viren was aware, from the various online video essays, that Jakov had left on bad terms. He snickered, amused that other people took more of an interest in his friend than he did. Some friend I am… Viren lamented.

He read the email once more, pondering the right move. After a moment, he put away his phone and wrote a response to Cassidy’s email. He carefully considered every word as he typed, as the message would be processed by a filter bot and any excess information would serve as a beacon for targeted notices and ads. Another reason why Viren generally avoided correspondence.

“Hi Cassidy,

I hope this email finds you well.

I would be interested in taking up the offer as a beta tester for Dumah Interactive.

Please let me know if there is any information I need to provide from my end.

Thanks.

Kind regards,

Viren”

I think this is straight to the point. One automated grammar-check later, the email was ready to be sent. Viren considered if he may have written too much. After all, his information was mandatorily registered online, as was the requirement of all students entering into official academia. Should I ask Cassidy for more information about herself? Viren wondered if that would be appropriate given his situation. Nah.

Viren hit ‘send’. Then he went into the kitchen to get his lunch to pass the time and wait for a response.

According to the meal dispenser’s 600 calorie lunch rule and the corresponding VPLCM measures, he was provided with three nutritional blocks that covered the entire range of nutrients that his body required (vitamins, proteins, lipids, carbohydrates, minerals). The blocks were of pure nutrition value and had a slight hint of added flavouring so that they appealed differently to each individual. Viren’s preference was for strawberry.

Once long ago, when Viren’s mother had been allowed to live with him, she would prepare meals on the electric stove using ‘fresh’ ingredients. She would recount to him stories of how food was cooked back at the turn of the century, and of how there would be multiple authentic flavours that one could enjoy depending on their palate.

Viren always found this method of cooking food quite tedious and unnecessary. He would watch simulations in The Anachron where people had to prepare food, as most of the settings were in the past. Jakov was also there and he seemed to enjoy it. Viren however was more than happy with this simple diet plan. His sentiments were shared by a good number of teenagers these days, not that they had much of a choice.

The meal was quick, downed with some warm water to aid with the digestion.

A response to the email hadn’t yet arrived.

Let’s get back to the game. Maybe I can complete the mini-campaign.

In about an hour the message icon began blinking again. Viren had lost track of time, and the notification caught him by surprise.

That took longer than I expected. Usually the message would be taken instantly as a clearance to compare Viren’s education and other qualifications with Dumah’s Standard of Acceptance (SOA). The SOA comprised the guidelines laid out by each company for accepting employees and contractors. Being screened would not take too long, but being accepted would require a human to confirm the selection; much like a notary. This was merely a formality though.

Viren almost jumped with joy at the invite for an interview; his joy rapidly turned to dread at the details that followed – the message featured a time ‘4:15 p.m. IST’; but more importantly, it also listed the attendees: the presence of surnames along with the names of the attendees indicated that these were not bots.

Viren was to be interviewed by a human committee.