It was 24 hours since the meeting had ended. Viren sat alone, looking through the video recommendations on VidSpace, occasionally scratching his calf, becoming more focussed on the anklet now that he was considering the prospect of a role in The Anachron.

He had tried calling Jakov again, after the meeting, but the line was ‘unavailable’. Viren had wanted to give Jakov the good news about the job. He tried three times, with no success. He never tried calling anyone more than that, unless it was really urgent. Viren shrugged; as far as he was concerned, the onus of calling back was now on Jakov.

Viren looked around his room, imagining how things would be different in the virtual world. He deliberately kept his curtains drawn so that a stray drone did not pass by his window at the wrong moment capturing ‘undesired’ activities - one of which was displayed on his VidSpace recommendations at that very moment.

126 recommendations! Viren almost never went through them all each day. He stopped once he found a video he wanted to watch; he wasn’t really keen to scroll through the list again. The first few on the list were:

Cloning my pet for the final time

~ Speedster Roy

Speedster Roy was a competitive speedrunner, who was notorious for challenging AI runners to beat his ‘best time’ on the games he played. Although that was how he got his fame, there were 2-3 occasions since, when the bot beat his record. Now, his career was basically on life support: he lost the title of ‘The one who stood against the machines’, as did countless other professionals. From what Viren had heard in the forums, Speedster Roy was helping programmers develop improved automation systems, and in-game AI to behave more ‘human-like’.

Hasn’t he cloned his dog, like five times by now? I bet he’s only doing this for the last time because of the complaints launched by the animal rights activists. Seriously, I wish this guy would stop wasting time on cheap thrills (Viren was referring to the cloning). You certainly take time a lot more seriously in your speedruns!

Delete.

WHEN I DIED IN THE ANACHRON, DID I DIE IN REAL LIFE!!??

~ VGArtiface

VGArtiface was an experience analyst. Much like Jakov, he too was sent an early invite to test The Anachron back in its alpha stage. Now, he just makes videos living off the fact that he has contacts in the escapism industry. Viren understood the joke in the title, as that was the brand of VGArtiface. They were clickbait, but were obvious; that was appreciated.

Hmm… I don’t feel like checking this out right now. It’s probably some more of his usual philosophical.

Delete.

PARADIGM 24 - No One Lives Forever

~ PARADIGM 24 OFFICIAL

This was one of Viren's favourite bands. It was formed back in 2030. A band staying together for two decades was quite the accomplishment. These guys, however, did not follow the trend of releasing new music each month to compete with ‘cyberpop groups’ (bands and artists of non-human origins). That form of music was a good imitation of the pop of the early 2000s, but over time was panned as being derivative and uninspired; despite being catchy and spanning a range of themes. PARADIGM 24 was also featured in an article that mentioned that they had worked with Dumah Interactive.

Viren had already heard their sample releases. This was their headline track.

Add to Favourites… Music Playlists… Mellow…

What does the motto of The Shadow Republic mean?

~ AgelessTheories

DELETE! Damn it!

How did this get into my recommendations? I didn’t watch their videos outside Safe Mode did I? No, I would never do that.

The ‘Safe Mode’ Viren referred to was more of a hardware modification that prevented any transmission of user data. In the modern day, data encryption and privacy were addressed at an individual level. The legalities of such were still being debated, however, nothing was truly private if it was connected to a network. The best way was to encrypt the data before the network link was even established.

It must have been recommended because of all the Anachron transmissions I have been doing lately: talking to Jakov, the emails to the company, the searching for beta tester experience video on VidSpace. Definitely from all that.

It was for reasons such as this that Viren was glad that the curtains were drawn. If any video recording drones noted the fact that I was watching Shadow Republic content, I would be on an even stricter watch.

Which reminds me, I need to report my employment to my ‘lawyer’. 

By ‘report’ Viren meant going online and submitting a form with the necessary details. He had been told that an attorney was in charge of his action, but, to date, he had not had any contact with such a person, about where his mother was or how long he had until his surveillance ended. In the year 2040, a law was passed making it legal for artificial humans to be defenders of the law as they showed true impartiality; at least in the eyes of the supreme court.

It was not like I have given them a reason to suspect that I will end up like my father.

Just as his online formalities were over, the doorbell rang.

Ring-Ring!

The delivery person was clearly not expecting Viren to answer: outside the door, there was a sign that read: “Subject Under Lockdown.” Whoever was outside wanted me to release the seal for the mail slot; the slot was large enough for most food items and medium-sized parcels.

As expected, a parcel was dropped off. The package from Dumah Interactive had arrived.