“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life,” (Confucius).

Zach works in a half-deserted strip mall. One interesting place was Thai place that he likes to call, “Thai Fighter”. The store is called Starbase Ace. It game store, so it sells consoles, controllers, and hardware but with a twist, zero mark up. The owner of the store, Ray, says he runs it “for kicks” since he made a lot of money in the dot-com boom.

Ray’s nickname for Zack is Zack attack. He was an alien believer and thought that everything in the world was related to Roswell. Ray plays video games during work hours and allows Zach to play as well. This leads to the checkout line is long sometimes because they can’t pause an online game.

Chaos Terrain is the creator of Armada, Zach’s favorite game. They also made a game called Terra Firma, which is part of the same universe. The story in the game takes place in an alien invasion world. The aliens are called the “Sobrukia”. They appear to be squid-like creatures. They want to take over the world so they can remove all humans. They both fight with drones remotely, so the species has zero actual casualties. They use aerospace fighters, mechs, tanks, subs, and other robotic ground troops. Armada is the first-person cockpit game that takes place in the Atmosphere while Terra Firma is the first-person shooter. They are vastly different but go hand in hand. They charged a low monthly subscription fee to play the game. However, they would wave it if you are a high rank. They also don’t use microtransactions as games do now and days.

Ray is playing the Terra Firma game when Zach walks in late. A new shipment had just arrived. It had the new Armada Interceptor Flight Control System (IFCS), which is a VR system with a flight controller that can be used in each game. Ray lets him keep it as “early graduation gift”. Ray plays with a mouse and keyboard with a 2D monitor, which is considered odd at this time.

Zach started to load the game but never join. He realized that the plotline of the Chaos Terrain’s games and the conspiracy theory outlined in his father’s journals might be linked. The government may be training the average citizen to operate the drones in combat.

The chapter ends with Consumers walking in. “Welcome to Starbase Ace where the game is never over.”