New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

Once everyone was seated, the woman at the tip of the table rose and straightened her blouse.

"Welcome, Ladies and Gentlemen. I think we need here no presentations, so let us get to the matter at hand." The woman said in a confident voice.

"In this meeting, we will discuss the latest developments on New Eden and what needs to be done to further assure our success with the title." She added.

She then used a small remote to dim the lights in the meeting room. Simultaneously to that, some blinds descended over the large windows, blocking most of the light.

With another tap of her remote, a projector lowered from the ceiling and hummed to life. A chart then projected on the wall behind the woman.

On the chart, one could see a line going up and down while traveling from left to right. To the left of the chart the word 'Popularity' was written, and under the chart, one could see dates.

From the start to the middle of the chart the line zig-zagged up and down, but from the middle to the end it just rose.

Everyone present showed smiles at the chart. For most of them, that meant more money in their pockets.

The woman next to the chart let them all look at it for a few more seconds before clicking her remote again.

The chart that was present, shrunk and then elongated. The word predictions appeared over it too.

This chart was a lot less flattering. Where the line originally stopped, it rose a bit more, then fell off.

It oscillated up and down a few times, always going lower and lower. The investors and shareholders started frowning at the sight.

"What is this farce, Chairwoman Constantine?" An old man with a baritone voice said.

Dan recognized the old man. He was a powerful and rich land tycoon.

The man possessed half the city if you believed the words on the street. His name was Jack Boudreau.

He was a hunk of a man like he had trained all his life. The man was an ex-military and had used his pension to launch his real estate empire.

One could tell by looking at him he was from the army. His shoulders were square, his back straight, and an aura of authority permeated off of him.

He also had a large gash on his right cheek, apparently from being shot at.

"This is not a farce, Mr. Boudreau. These are the projections for the coming weeks." The chairwoman replied, keeping a straight face.

"Have you heard of the recent events happening with our title?" She then asked.

"Enlighten us, chairwoman." Jack said, leaning on the table and joining his hands together.

The woman smiled and clicked her remote again. On the wall behind her, the image changed to an article.

The article's image was a man in the ER, tubed up and comatose. The title was 'New-Eden, a game, or a danger to our kids?'.

She then clicked again a few times, showing many similar articles with different photos of young adults in the hospital, with different degrees of sickness.

"There are many cases like these being reported. Kids log in to our game and forget it's not real life. They forget to log out of the game for extensive durations, prompting the emergency log outs and calls." The woman said, before laying the remote down on the table.

"This is becoming increasingly problematic for our scores. Parents and family members are asking us to restrain the game time. Others are asking for compensation for their children or siblings ending up in the hospital." She continued, crossing her arms behind her back.

The old men around the table started talking to each other, all at the same time. The room became a jumbled mess of voices.

The woman didn't let it devolve into chaos for too long and eventually clapped her hands together.

"Gentlemen! Please show some restraint. EG already has a solution." She said, her voice not accepting talk back.

After letting the men all calm down, she nodded slightly and kept talking.

"That is the reason there is a less known face among us today." The woman stated.

Dan knew who she was referring to and his blood drained from his face. She then immediately pointed his way.

"This man there, is Dan Bergeron, our Technology Safety Manager. He is the one that makes sure our products don't kill anyone." Chairwoman Constantine presented him.

Dan got up from his chair, white as a piece of chalk. He did a slight bow and sat back down.

"He is here today to announce something good." She continued after he sat down.

"I am?" Dan asked, confused.

"Oh, don't be modest, Dan. Tell them how you have finally made the pod safe for use." The woman said, gazing him.

At that moment, Dan felt like he was being watched by a predator. He gulped audibly.

Unfortunately, he couldn't talk, since he despised lying, and he didn't want to go against his boss either.

Dan kept his mouth shut. Seeing this, Constantine chuckled.

"Excuse his shyness, I believe he has never been in the spotlight. What he is here to announce is that the techies have finally secured the use of our primary tool for New Eden." She announced.

"The pod has finally cleared all the tests for distribution, which will stop this trend from continuing. The hardcore customers will now be able to stay longer in the game, without negatively affecting their health." She said, pacing.

"With this tech released, our bad press will instantly disappear, making us go back up in the goodwill of our clients." She continued, still walking around the table.

"We will also price the pod at different ranges for different models, assuring we cover most wealth ranges." She finished, as she came back to the front after a full circle.

The men and women in the room clapped. Most were back to being happy.

Dan had his head down the whole time. He was torn between stopping her lies and keeping his job.

He eventually waited for the end of the meeting before bringing up his qualms to the chairwoman.

The meeting lasted for another hour before the men eventually left one after another.

Dan stayed seated until everyone had left. Chairwoman Constantine had seen him so she also stayed with her assistant.

Once everyone was gone, she walked towards him and sat next to him, cross-legged.

"What is wrong, Mr. Bergeron?" The woman asked, smiling gently.

"Ma'am, if I may. The product is not ready yet. We still have weeks of testing before we are certain it is secure." Dan eventually said, after gathering his courage.

The woman next to him never stopped smiling.

"Oh but Dan, your supervisor assured me it was safe. Are you saying he is wrong?" She said, almost tauntingly.

"No ma'am, the product is theoretically safe. But we still have many minor issues that need resolving. The safety is not one hundred percent yet." He replied, clenching his fists.

"Don't worry about those details, Dan. We can still do program hot fixes after the release, so there is nothing to worry about." She said, leaning on her hand, which was propped on the table with her elbow.

"But ma'am…" Dan tried insisting.

"Don't worry. We have the situation under control. You should go home. Take the day off, paid of course. Go rest." The woman said, smiling warmly.

"... Okay…" Dan said, giving up.

The man got up, with crumpled shoulders, and left the meeting room. He walked towards the elevator and went down, heading back home.

As soon as the elevator doors closed, the smile left Constantine's face.

"Get rid of him. Make it look clean." She said, getting up and taking a private elevator up to her penthouse.

She owned the building so her home was in it, to reduce travel.

Her assistant nodded silently before leaving the room separately.

That day, Dan Bergeron never made it home. He lost control of his car near the St-Laurent's and dove into it, drowning before rescues made it to the scene.