“Ah,” Colt yelped as he burned his top lip on the coffee he was sipping. “Damn, that’s hot.”

He placed the mug down on his desk as he continued to watch the countdown on his hologram monitor. There were only twenty minutes left on the timer. His gaming rig was currently downloading the passkey and software needed to connect to Pantheon Online. It was as though the developers had timed it so that it would be finished with only a minute or two left till launch.

Leaning back in his chair, he took a look around the room. The red carpet was old, and the walls were covered in flaking wallpaper. It was in complete contradiction to his computer, television and furniture. The house had once belonged to his grandparents. Since he inherited it, he could not bring himself to entirely remove everything related to them.

It helped to make him feel at home here but at the same time reminded him of the loss. Several years had already passed, but the pain was always fresh in his mind. It was why he loved getting lost in the games he played so much. It gave him time to escape from reality. At the same time, he made enough money from it to pay the upkeep for the house. The thing he was most scared of was being forced into a situation where he had to give it up, along with all of those dear memories.

Just then, he was startled out of his deep thoughts as his rig in the other room gave off an alarm. It was the sound he had set to alert him when the download was complete. ‘It can’t be done already!’ With panicked thoughts, he looked at his monitor again. Sure enough, the timer only had two minutes left on it. ‘Damn it!’

He silently cursed himself for getting lost in his thoughts as he quickly chugged down the now cool coffee. Slamming the empty mug down on the desk, he leapt from his seat and rushed to his rig. It was similar to a single bed, except it was curved instead of flat and had a lid that would close over the top. He began pulling at his clothes, stripping down to the skin-tight gaming suit that he wore underneath. Its design was reminiscent of a wetsuit, which was completely practical for what would happen.

He lay own inside the rig and got comfortable before flicking the switch to power it on. A rush of air escaped from the machine as the lid slowly closed, sealing him inside. A breathing mask appeared as a panel slid open. He took it in his hand and strapped it over his face. Next, a helmet appeared for him to place his head in. This was responsible for reading his brainwaves so that he could perform complex actions in-game.

Feeling ready and settled, he flicked the second switch and closed his eyes. He smiled as he felt the familiar feeling of the bio-gel rushing into the cabin. Wrapping his entire body in its embrace. It was cold against his skin but not enough to be uncomfortable. It was always a strange feeling. Apparently, it was designed like this to mimic the conditions unborn babies were in. This was found to be the most naturally calming thing that a human could experience.

He heard the usual buzz as the machine came to life, and a black space was projected into his mind. In his own perspective, he was hovering in this space in his own body. A few seconds later and extensive holograms began to appear around him. This was the selection menu for the gaming system. Each hologram displayed the cover art and title of a different game. He sighed internally as the evidence of how much time he spent gaming was displayed before him.

‘It has been worth every second.’ He smiled as he began to look around for the latest download. This was always the most frustrating part. He would have to search his library of games for any new ones that he had recently added. Once he found it, he would pin it to one of the ten favourite slots that appeared first.

It took him a few minutes, but he eventually discovered it, hidden away behind several other titles. ‘Hmm? What’s this?’ He thought as he noticed that its hologram only displayed the game title. ‘Don’t they already have a cover art for it?’ This situation had never happened before, so he found the whole thing sort of suspicious.

“System. Report Error. Missing Art Content.” Colt said that aloud, if he was going to beta test this game, then he would be serious about it. A lot of companies these days would pay rewards if you reported an unknown bug.

“Error Reported.” A female voice replied to him almost immediately. “Error Report has been met with an automated response. Would you like me to play the recording?”

“Yes.” Colt crossed his arms as he considered what it could be about. ‘Did they do this deliberately?’

“Message will now play.” The system responded.

“Hello there! Thank you for taking the time to report what you have suspected to be a bug in the software. We are grateful for your diligence. In this case, the error that you have flagged has been deemed as a non-error. The key words ‘Art Content’ and ‘Title Screen’ in the report has brought to our attention that you are possibly referring to the missing cover art. This is a deliberate act on our part until general release. We want the best response possible from the Beta test, and so we have deliberately withheld anything that may give you an idea of what to expect. Happy gaming.” A pleasant-sounding man’s voice played throughout the area.

‘Hmm, makes sense. I guess?’ Colt thought it was highly unusual, but there was no point in thinking about the matter any further. ‘There goes that sweet reward I was hoping for.’ He sighed as he placed his hand on the hologram titled ‘Pantheon Online’…