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C5 - Paid to have fun

“Beat you again, big bro; one hundred and eighty-three and lost only one Avatar today,” Emily says, proud of herself.

“How do you know how many you shot down?” James asks as he was not able to keep count.

“Check your card, the stats are on there,” Emce says, taking out his card to show James.

“You get paid for every intruder you shoot down, according to their size, minus the ammo you used and minus the Avatars you lost,” Emily says.

James takes out his card, “three hundred and seven, with one Avatar lost.”

“No way! Let me see that,” Emily says looking at James's card.

James gives her his card.

“No, your thumb needs to be on it for it to work,” Emily says, giving it back.

James takes the card back.

“Wow, and every shot was a hit, damn you are good,” Emily exclaims.

“Why did they only recruit me now if I am so good?” James asks.

“That is a good question.  Look here,” Emce says pointing at the side, “you made two hundred and seventy-eight dollars.  If you didn’t lose an Avatar, it would have been fifty dollars more.”

“So, we are actually getting paid?” James asks, still not sure.

“Hey, you three ow me fifty dollars, as I had to sacrifice an Avatar to save your asses,” a kid that looks no older than twelve walks up to them.

“Thanks, man, we ow you,” Emce says.

“How do we pay him? How do we access the money?” James asks.

Any atm, just don’t try to use it inside a grocery store or so, ATM’s only,” Emily says.

Emily stretches out her body, “I am tired, have a good evening, James.”

“Bye dude, see you tomorrow,” Emce says.

“See you guys,” James says, looking at the card in his hands, not believing that he actually has a paying job.

James got home and was stopped by his mother, “so how was your first day?”

“It was great,” James says, reaching to take an olive from the salad.

“Just another job you enjoy that doesn’t pay, just like this gaming YouTube nonsense,” his father says, standing up from the lazy boy to sit at the dinner table.

“Actually, I performed so well today that they offered me a permanent job.  It is a performance-based salary but going on by today, I am sure I will be able to afford my own place by the end of next week,” James says, walking away, as he is not in the mood for his father.

“What type of job pays you so much that you can afford your own place,” his father asks.

“Nothing you will approve of,” James says sarcastically.

“You better not be dealing drugs, young man,” his mother says, concerned.

James takes a deep breath, “I got a job at a company that develops games, I trial the games and give them feedback.”

“So, you get paid to have fun?” his father says with a disapproving tone as he grew up, being taught that work is not supposed to be fun.

“Father, get with the times, the world you come from has long gone, gaming and technology is the way forward,” James says, rolling his eyes.

After James left the room and went to his bedroom to get away from his father the urge to go to the bathroom caught up with him.

James felt hungry and cannot remember the last time he actually felt hungry.  James didn’t want to go back into the living areas of the house and decided to wait until later before getting something to eat.

James switches on his computer to let his fans know that he will be doing fewer updates.  James puts in his favored game and turns on the screen recorder to start recording his gameplay.  At the bottom of his screen, he can see a countdown clock that has never been there before.  It does not take him long to figure out that it is his new boss, or should he say, bosses?

‘Three hours and fourth six minutes’ James notes.  After two hours of gaming, he started to edit his video, and just as he was finished uploading it the clock ran out and text appeared across the screen; IF YOU ARE PLANNING TO SHOW UP TOMORROW YOU HAVE TO SWITCH OF YOUR COMPUTER.  IF YOU DO NOT PLAN TO JOIN US TOMORROW, PLEASE NOTE THAT YOU WON'T BE ALLOWED IN UNLESS EIGHT HOURS HAVE PASSED SINCE YOU LAST SWITCHED ON YOUR COMPUTER. GOOD NIGHT.

“So, I don’t have to show up every day?” James asks out loud, talking to himself.

James went to the kitchen and saw that his mother left his food with a plastic cover over it.  After scraping out the salad, James warms his food in the microwave.

James sits in the darkness with only the under-cupboard lights from the kitchen on.

After eating his salad first, he ate the rest of his food and can not believe just how hungry he is.  James goes and looks into the fridge for leftovers.

After warming up his second helping and eating it James went to bed.

The next day James was more alert and did not lose his first Avatar as he knew what to expect.   By the weekend James forgot that he is actually fighting another planet’s war as it felt just like game playing.

Friday evening after stepping out of the building Emce invited James to join him and some of the other gamers for drinks at a nearby pub.

“See you guys on Monday,” Emily says, walking off.

“Arnt you joining us?” James asks.

“No, I am too young,” Emily says.

“Why don’t you battle on weekends?” James wonders as he was planning on coming in.

“Too many kids. On Saturdays and Sundays, the younger kids are overwhelming.

“Makes sense, ok, see you Monday then,” James says, following Emce and the other gamers.