Section four had been split into four separate smaller groups, each led by an Alpha player. Aella was near the middle of the group of twelve players, and she swallowed. Her breathing was quick, and she shifted every time someone bumped into her. Do they have to get so close?

The Alpha had brought them through a glass hallway with a canopy of trees crossing over the top to a different building, explaining what they were seeing every twenty feet they walked. The Game Center was composed of three sections--Assembly Hall, the museum, press center, and in the upper sections, the auditoriums and classrooms that squads could rent for hour-long sessions; Future Alley, the name affectionately given to the buildings that housed the pods they would use to immerse themselves into the Beta Game; and the living quarters, with a dorm building for the Alpha players and one for the Beta players, and a cafeteria building. If I'd wanted a tour, I'd have read the manual.

Aella stood on her toes to see the front of the group where her tour guide was still talking. They had entered the Beta Game pod building, and were standing in the Atrium. She turned her neck and looked up to the second floor where another group was standing, looking down at her group.

"This building has ten floors," the Alpha said. "Each floor holds twenty pod rooms. Each room has three numbers. The first number will denote which floor you are on. The other two will designate which room it is, whether it be 01 or 20. Your pods are located on the firstfloor. Please form a single-file line, and I will bring you to your rooms to begin the avatar creation process."

Aella shuffled into position and walked forward as the line of players followed the Alpha through a doorway that led into a curving hallway with doors along the right side of it.

"Another thing," the Alpha said. "The pod room you enter today will become your assigned pod. No one else will have access to your room, and it will be yours until you exit the Game."

Aella watched as, one by one, the players entered a room, then the next entered the next room, and so on. She glanced at her door, number 005, as the Alpha held out her hand to it.

This is it.

She put her hand on the handle and the door slid open and she stepped inside. The carpet beneath her feet was soft, and muffled the sounds of her footsteps. It was black, and contrasted with the white metal and marble that made up the Game Center.

"Name?"

She glanced up at the technician that was smiling at her from his seat in front of a row of monitors. He was middle-aged, with a kind smile and a low ponytail of black hair, edged with pure white. "Aella Rynnex, player number 200," she said, remembering the ID number that had been in her informational folder.

"Please, take a seat," he said, motioning to a stool sitting next to an eight foot long, egg-shaped machine on her right, it's massive insides filled with clear tubes and a green gel. "My name is Luke. I will be monitoring your activity in the pod while you are submerged."

She sat down and smiled at him, nodding to indicate that she had heard him.

He stood and pointed to the machine next to her. "This is the pod system. It's the tangible form of the I.L.S. system, and much more immersive than the uniform and head gear of the Alpha Game. This pod allows for full body simulation, rather than sensing your mental activity. Here, you will control every movement of your avatar with your own body, instead of relying just on mental focus. It is more efficient, and your reflexes are much more responsive than a computer algorithm. You will wear a headset that will act as your eyes, ears, and senses in the game. It will be duplicated in the game as your setup menu. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir," she answered.

He shook his head and smiled. "Please, call me Luke."

She nodded.

He pointed back at the computers behind him. "These monitors will keep me notified of your vital systems, as well as provide me a live feed of everything you see in the Game. You will be hooked up to tubes that will feed you, and let you relieve yourself. When you eat in the game, you will be fed in real life. When you sleep in the game, we will stop the simulation and your avatar will enter a state of suspended animation and you will exit the pod. You may stay in the game as long as you wish, however, we do recommend that you stay less than eighteen hours in the game at a time, with at least eight hours between each submersion."

"What about you?" she asked.

He tilted his head, then nodded. "I work in twelve-hour shifts. You will meet my assistant tonight, and it will be her that logs you into the game to see the tribute. You will be able to test your avatar out in the game and get used to its movements. Do you have any questions before we get started?"

Aella looked over the tubes and clear glass protrusions inside of the green gel and shook her head.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up into the caramel-colored eyes of the technician.

"I've been in it myself," he said. He handed her a thin helmet made of white metal with a glass visor for the entire front part. On the back were several round openings. "If you could put this on and lie down in the pod, please? I need to fit the harnesses to you."

Aella slid the helmet over head, pulling down the glass visor over her face, smiling as it perfectly.

"We constructed it based on the specifications sent to us by your Facility." Luke stepped forward and pressed a button on the side of the helmet, and Aella felt a thin sleeve of fabric pop out of the helmet and slide down her throat. "I'm connecting the helmet to your uniform. It will connect the nanocircuitry with the sensor fabric and allow the system to track your movements." He patted her on the shoulder. "You're good to go. Just sit down on top of the glass support platform and I'll get your wiring connected."

She scooted off of the chair and onto the side of the pod, then paused. "How does all of this work?"

Luke nodded, looking down at the pad in his hand. "The gel amplifies your electrochemical impulses and the sensor fabric transmits the information to the I.L.S. system. However, the gel is thick to prevent movement." He looked up at her and smiled. "That way you won't punch the side of the pod, or kick through it. Your limbs will twitch, but there is no danger of excessive movement unless you try something crazy."

"The visor is what I will see of the Game?"

Luke nodded. "The visor is your range of sight in the Game. When you move your head, you will be looking the same direction at your surroundings."

Aella nodded. Sounds fantastical; but if it works, I'm going to be spending most of my time staring at everything. "I understand."

He moved around her, pulling a tube from the pod and holding it up. "This is your oxygen tube, which will connect to the back of your helmet."

Aella nodded, moving her head so Luke could twist it into the helmet. A rush of cold air filled the helmet and she breathed deep of the slightly sweet air.

"Good?"

She smiled. "Yes, it seems to be working."

Luke glanced back at the display monitors and turned back to her, a smile on his own face. "Your microphone is working, and I'll test the speakers in a few minutes once you're submerged. Go ahead and get in and lay down."

She swiveled and slowly bent her knees into the gel, holding onto the side of the pod as she moved herself onto the glass platform. She laid back and slowly let herself sink into the gel. It oozed over her helmet and she took a deep breath of the oxygen, making sure to keep her breathing steady. She moved her arms out to the side and into the gel, frowning at how hard it was to move.

Out of the corner of her eye, Luke moved over to his computers. "Can you hear me?" His voice blared into her ears.

She jerked, and winced. "Can you turn the volume down a little?"

"Yeah, sorry about that. Give me one minute," he said. She heard a faint typing in the background of the speakers. "How is that?"

"Better," she answered.

"I'm going to be closing the lid and adding the rest of the gel. Let me know at any point if you need something, alright?"

"Yes." She turned her head, watching as the curved lid to the pod started to move over her, blocking out the light. When it closed, she gulped at the darkness.

"The video will come on once the pod is filled" Luke told her. "It won't be dark for long."

Something cold moved past her body, tickling her as it created slight currents. She floated slightly as the gel became liquid, her legs and arms feeling weightless. Only the slight pressure from the glass platform reminded her that she wasn't totally weightless.

"Aella?" Luke asked.

She opened her eyes, noticing a two foot by two foot square floating in front of her, with Luke's face smiling at her. He was standing in front of the displays, a smaller one in his hands.

"Can you see me?" he asked.

"Yes."

He activated something on his display, looking down for a moment. "We are going to move on to the scan" he told her. "I need you to remain as still as you can. The platform should help."

He typed into his display again.

Aella froze, trying to be as still as possible.

"All done," he told her a few seconds later. "Ready to make your avatar?"

Aella sighed. She was in the game, about to make the character the world would see. Better late than never. "Yes."

"Have you decided on a name?"

She nodded. "Aella Rynnex."

"It's a pretty name." He typed for a moment. "Is that how you want it spelled?"

She watched as the floating letters appeared above the square screen and nodded.

"Now on to your avatar. Would you like to use your own measurements or build your avatar from scratch?"

"Same measurements." She would fall over herself in the game if she made herself taller, not to mention lose her coordination. And if she were smaller, she would think she had more range when she didn't.

A figure appeared in a second screen, off to the right of Luke's face. It was gray, all color removed from it and wore a pod suit.

He typed into his display. "This how you want her to look?"

Aella nodded.

Luke glanced upward, nodding as well. "Now, in the Beta Game, you can change your skin to any color you want, as well as eye and hair color. You can change any of your features actually. You are allowed one tattoo as well, if you desire. We will start with skin; would you like to see the color ranges?"

She shook her head. That's what I was doing all last night. "I want the darkest one there is."

Luke tapped on his display. "This one?"

She looked at the avatar, the screen filling the entire front of the pod so the avatar was the same size as she. Skin so dark the light seem to disappear into it, yet be smooth and shimmering at the same time appeared, black as a dark hole.

"That's perfect," she answered, turning to look at the screen where Luke was. It had moved to the left so the avatar could be in full view. He nodded to himself.

"Eye color is next," Luke told her, tapping at his display. "Same or change it?"

"Change,"

"What color range?"

"Gray," she answered.

He tapped on the display and the avatar's face zoomed in. The eyes changed to a soft gray, the color of ice in an alley at dusk.

"Yes," she answered.

"Hair?"

"White,"

Luke looked up at her. "White?" he asked.

"It isn't so strange, is it?" She asked. "I've seen pictures of players with blue or pink or fire-orange hair."

"But white?" He asked. "If you are trying to go for stealth, which is why I'm assuming you chose so dark a color of skin, you don't want to alert everyone where you are by having white hair."

"White hair."

Luke shrugged. "Your choice."

A burst of white hair came from the avatar. It glistened in the light, shining like a milky crystal. The hair reached the avatar's shoulders, unlike her own curly bob.

"Longer, please," Aella asked.

"How long?" Luke asked, shaking his head.

"Waist length."

He tapped on his screen and the hair grew, falling around the avatar's waist like a small cape.

Aella smiled.

"May I ask why?" Luke asked again.

"I'm not sure whether I want to be light or dark yet" Aella told him. "So I want an avatar that could be both."

Black for the Consortium, white for Trinity. I will remember, Founder, what your soldiers did to my home. And what that boy did to save me, and that soldier as well.

"That's pretty smart" Luke admitted. "Any way you want the hair styled?"

Aella thought for a minute. "I want lots of braids on the top, falling over the loose hair at the bottom. It will keep it out of my way, yet still be long and loose. As you can see, I have short hair. I've always wanted longer hair to play with."

"Do you want me to put it up until after the tests? It will still be long, and when you are in the game, you can let it down. Until you get used to the pod system, you don't need any extra distractions."

"That will be fine."

She watched as the hair twisted and curled, braiding itself into an elaborate updo that accentuated her cheekbones.

"Do you want to keep your own features or change them?"

"I'm fine with my own face. Changing to a darker skin tone and the hair is enough change for now."

"Any tattoos?" He asked. "It can by anything, and anywhere. I can make it any color and any size as well. If you don't want it now, I can always add it later. There will be opportunities for you to gain specific tattoos in the game based on your affiliation, ranking, and guild."

"None right now," she answered.

"Is this how you want your avatar to look? Once I sign the confirmation, you will be unable to change your avatar except with in-game modifications."

Aella stared at the avatar, the grey eyes seeming to pierce through her. It looked confident, and strong, with it's inky skin. And regal with the glittering hair.

"I accept the avatar."

Luke smiled. "Welcome to the Beta Game, Aella Rynnex. You will be put into the queue for testing, and to see which of the Professions you will be placed into. Good luck."