By David C. Daoust
Hugo Lions was best known for his music. In fact, most of his life was one long tour of the Solar System. Album after album, he rocked the system like none other before, and many would agree, like none other ever since- at least thus far. Despite the rigors and ever present pressures of being a famous Troubadour, he managed to maintain one of his oldest and most beloved hobbies, which quite simply was gaming.
He started gaming, long before he even became a Troubadour. Before he even learned what a Jinn was, truly. Which meant the shapely Sprite, he currently controlled on his latest console game, had been with him for a very long time.
A ‘Sprite’ was a player’s in-game avatar.
Sprites could be imported from game to game- a lot of the abilities changed, but the figure was ever present. Hugo’s Sprite was a sleek sexy female version with elaborately detailed movements and curves in all the right places.
He remembered in his youth, when people would ask him about his preference to play a female, he would jokingly explain, that if he was going to be forced to watch someone’s backside -while he toured the latest gamescape— why not make sure it was a compelling backside to watch. Of course, as he got older- it became much more commonplace to play the opposite gender, or rather, he just discovered he was not alone.
The truth was he loved the avatar- he’d spent hour after hour with her, fighting orcs, zombies- clearing dungeons and, depending which game he was playing, bringing down evil Star Emperors from the fictional planet Zolar 3.
Whether this was a healthy love or not, really never mattered, not to Hugo. She had been there through all his life. More so than his absentee parents- she was there when he was virtually alone throughout his schooldays, and she was there when he started altering himself. And, of course, she was there waiting after all his shows, but more importantly, she was there after all his failed relationships- Just waiting to get back into the Hub, into the latest games.
This was actually an old fashioned Sprite, which had at one time been discontinued- declared obsolete compared to the latest models. Hugo was at his peak of fame, rolling in coin, when this was announced. He bought the whole thing, all the code related to her program—then he made it public.
This was the other thing he was famous for, as what started as a bit of Consortium owned code, was bought-out, thrown to the Royal Alliance, and made open source. This was now one of the most popular of all sprites used in the Hub, though Hugo never saw a coin.
Hugo never regretted it, not for a second. He was not much for coding, though he knew, only people that loved the original, as much as he, would keep doing her justice- which meant other fans, like him, only- with the ability to code. They added little things over the years, kept her up to date. His sprite, of course, was unique. Each sprite that originated from the code was each unique in turn, but there were little quirks and functions that were shared throughout each iteration. New abilities, and emotes. Like, for example, the frustrated look on her face as he guided her back up through the same area they had already scoured, at least five times.
Depicted on his Farwall, the form of the scantily clad Sprite leapt from craggy outcropping to craggy outcropping. Pearl white skin with gleaming sapphire eyes, two fox-like ears protruded from her head, often times mixed within her lush silvery hair. Notably, she had one cybernetic arm, which replaced the arm she lost in the Great Gravnax Raid to a rather obnoxious Ogre that slammed her Jetfighter right out of the air with a broad sweep of a tree it was currently using to attack the raid.
He always felt bad about that loss, though he had updated the arm from time to time over the years and it had become one of his favorite aspects of customizing her. Unfortunately, it was not the only damage she had taken, and game developers loved to find ways to leave their mark. For example, where she once had an arctic fox tail, waving hypnotically behind her, now she just had a fluffy white stump. This was thanks to a particularly nasty crocodile she hadn’t quite ‘cleared’ as she attempted to swing over it on a rope- at least that was how he remembered it. He was about eight years old at the time, though.
He controlled her movements with the small controller in his hands. The more he explored the same areas, the more her attitude became ‘impatient’.
Hugo was beginning to feel the same way.
The frustration was building, they’d been trapped in this same level for most of the morning- all the mobs were slain, yet he had heard rumor that there was a hidden bonus level somewhere in this canyon. He wasn’t going to leave the level ‘til he found it.
Though of course as the frustration built, so did the urge to go scour the forums for hints, or even dig deeper and hope someone posted a blatant cheat. He really didn’t like to cheat, ruined the whole game in his opinion, though he’d taken a peek from time to time in the past.
Once she cast back a particularly nasty look at him, he finally gave up and just called up the forums; he saw her smirk a bit as she copped a squat on that craggy outcropping. He stifled the urge to stick his tongue out at her; she wasn’t really sentient, just coded to the nines.
The forums opened in a smaller window over the game. The list was endless; there were just so many games out there. He was on the latest, so at least the threads were hot. He was a bit surprised to see his game was not at the very top, however. There was one game over it, ‘Arachnoid’- He’d never heard of it, its thread was blowing up though. No sooner had he clicked it open, to find more information about it, than he heard a scuffle in the hall outside of his apartment.
He felt it was too loud to be one of the younger girls, though maybe Harper was moving something. Hugo knew she was doing chores, or was supposed to be. Or maybe it was the Laurens- who had temporarily moved into one of the empty apartments nearby.
‘Well, I’d better check,’ he said aloud with a sigh as he cast his controller to the table and unhooked the cane from the arm of his chair.
The cane made standing up- so much easier. He took a minute to get his balance before he started to make his way for the door. His knees were messed up, more so than usual; Racing to Sadie’s side had wrenched his muscles, and good, so that cane was staying with him for a long while- if not a permanent companion.
He’d actually lifted the cane from the Medical Facilities in the Starport. It was some form of personal rebellion from getting old. Some part of him felt ‘needing a cane’ didn’t seem so bad- as long as that cane was stolen!
As he walked to the door, he could hear even more noises. He hurriedly opened the door, just in time, to be barreled over by a huge bulbous levitating sphere.
Hugo went down hard on his backside. A small old fashioned bot, suddenly dropped down from the sphere. Hugo was immediately alarmed- the tiny bot was on fire!
Hugo, still sitting, immediately tore his house jacket from his back and threw it over the bot’s head, scooting closer he began to pat at it, trying to extinguish the flames– despite the protests from the bot itself.
Amongst the ruckus of the equally alarmed bot and the levitating sphere, it had ridden into his apartment, he could see the old couple, the Laurens, peeking wide-eyed from the door across the hall, just as the sand crawler’s engine roared to life, and the roving home was suddenly mobile!
Hugo had no idea who was driving!
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