“April,” she said.

“No, I’ve got a whole thing prepared, let me do it. I’m sorry because I was terrible to you, but I was also terrible to myself. I know I’ve got self-worth issues. I just found out I was chosen as an emissary by an alien envoy to represent and protect the human race, and still I spent the afternoon searching for validation on Twitter. But I know that you are a good, strong, beautiful, talented person, and you loved me, and literally if that isn’t enough, nothing is. So, thank you for loving me, and I’m sorry.”

“Thank you, April.”

And then I realized that she might think that I thought that if I said the right words we’d get back together. I didn’t want her to think that, so I stood up.

“I just couldn’t sleep.” I started walking out the door.

“They were good words,” she said. “Good night, April.”

“Good night.”

AN EXCERPT FROM THE BOOK OF GOOD TIMES

There isn’t anything I can say that will prevent you from skipping this week’s recording of Slainspotting. It’s a shame. You shouldn’t, but I’ve run the simulations and you now value your new mission too much, so you’re going to make a bunch of bad decisions. This is what he’s counting on. And who am I to say that you shouldn’t? You need to work hard right now. You are going to spend the day lying on your bed with a VR headset on instead of maintaining your relationships. Please do not forget, however, that you are a person and not just a tool. The Good Times are about more than just getting stuff done.

Oh, also, it’s time. Sell everything and buy AltaCoin. Right now.

ANDY

That week I canceled our recording of Slainspotting.

Jason was pissed, but he was nice about it. “I know, you’re obsessed with this Altus thing, you’ve got a chance at Premium access … Go for it. But if you skip next week, I’m gonna be mean about it.”

But I couldn’t record Slainspotting. April was back, The Thread was relying on me, and humanity was at stake, so I had to lie in my bed completely still while constructing objects to make my breezy spring day more appealing than other people’s breezy spring days! I had a sun that moved through the sky, rising and setting if you wanted it to. I had some starter trees that came with the pack, but other people were specializing in trees, so people mostly bought other trees and put them into my environment. The wonderful thing was, there ultimately wasn’t that much I could do to make the environment better.

When I wasn’t in the Altus Space, I was in The Thread, where, with one day left before the Premium selection, I had good news.

Twelve: Hello all, there’s less than twenty-four hours left before the week ends and the first fifty are selected. I have good news, I’m in the top fifty and things look strong.

Five: What? I’ve barely left the Space and I haven’t cracked the top 200.

Twelve: I got in early with a good idea. Can’t tell you more without threatening to give away my identity.

One: @Twelve, congratulations, this is amazing news. Please do not share any more if you think your identity may be compromised. But having someone who has access to the Premium Space will be extremely helpful. I haven’t been able to gather any intel about what makes it so appealing, though it seems a number of people who played Fish have access. Fish players seem like they would practically kill to get in.

It was a big deal when One dropped in on a conversation, and it felt good to have their approval. One was the only person in The Thread who had no identifying details attached to them. But after that quick chat, I logged back into the Altus Space to find that I was no longer in the top twenty-five. In fact, I was getting terrifyingly close to not being in the top fifty at all.

I started checking new entrants to the top list. I was keeping track of the bestseller ranks just in case there was something I needed to be aware of. People tended to focus on homes, clothes, decor, or natural settings. But suddenly, there was a solid dozen people in the top fifty who were selling what appeared to be cheap little trinkets. Small statues, pins, coins, badges, that kind of thing. They didn’t look appealing for any particular reason, and any of them would be fairly easy to re-create, so I didn’t see why they would be doing so well.

I immediately started freaking out. How were these shitty little objects doing so well? The back of my neck was getting sweaty. I was panicking. That’s when I started realizing how much this meant to me. Fifty people in the whole world were going to get selected for an experience that was, if the people playing Fish were to be believed, a kind of nirvana.

I logged out of the Space and logged into The Thread.

Twelve: Does anyone know what’s going on with the new chintzy trinkets in the Altus Space Store?

Eight: Celebrities. People with big internet audiences are asking their fans to buy cheap items to get them into the Space.

Five: They’re billing them as “Limited Edition” items. They’re available “Only today and tomorrow!” So, like, exactly the days they need to sell stuff to get into the Premium Space.

Twelve: Fuuuuuck. That’s shitty. The whole idea was that it would be available to the people who added the most value to the Open Access Space.

Eight: Well, yeah, I mean … have you met capitalism? The whole idea of everything is to reward people who create value and yet …

Twelve: Fuck. Why doesn’t Altus ban this?

Eight: At a guess, probably because it’s getting them lots of users and free marketing and money.

I was about to log back out when I got a private message from One.

One: I need you to experience the Premium Space, and it’s possible you won’t need the help getting there. But can you tell me what your object is? I might be able to give you a bump at the last second if you need it.

Twelve: It’s Breezy Spring Day.

One: Hah, amazing. Breezy Spring Day is a genius object. Thinking to make wind! I love it.

It was amazing how good it felt to have them compliment me. All anybody wants is to be appreciated by the people they think are cool, and it turns out I kinda idolized One.

Twelve: I could also just tell my audience to buy it. It’s not like I don’t have an audience. Hell, I could just start selling custom limited-edition socks and it would put me over the edge.

One: If you do that, you’ll get in, but you won’t be taken seriously. You’ll just be another rich person who bought their way in. You need to work for it, you need to really care.

Twelve: OK, I’m going back into the Space, I think I’ll make a limited-edition Breezy Spring Day to make fun of the weblebrities. Some of the people who check on my work will find it funny at least. But maybe I can sell a few.

One: This is such a great video topic. An open market rewards people who work hard and think critically at first, but once real value is at stake, the market rapidly transforms to reward those with access to capital. The fact that, in this case, the capital is fame and not money only makes it that much more universal and interesting.

Twelve: Yes. The top 50 today compared to the top 50 yesterday shows directly that people who aren’t adding value have bumped out at least 10 people who are.

One: And by the time the top 50 are selected, I wouldn’t be surprised if that number doubled.