Paul Baker

Paul was once the seducer of Jake's gang of nerds.

He worked in the same VRGF Center as Jake.

## Appearance

From his 190 cm height, he was the classic handsome dark-haired man who made the ladies fall in love with him. He had a charming smile and knew how to be helpful. Given that he was also a professional VR player, he was the perfect charismatic employee.

But that was all in the past. After Oracle was introduced on Earth, Paul had lost weight in an alarming way. The once robust fellow was now almost too scrawny for his own good.

His eyes were sunken in their sockets, with large bags underneath showing how sleep-deprived he was.

## History

His parents were among the fortunate few who owned an old villa prior to the construction of New Paris.

It was originally an old cottage lost in the middle of nowhere, but after the site was chosen to become the new capital, it became a popular piece of real estate.

Refusing to sell, the old residence had remained the same throughout the years, sticking out like a sore thumb among all the skyscrapers in the city center.

Besides being located in the heart of the business district with all amenities nearby, the police station was in the same street, ensuring optimal security.

## Plot

Paul wished to survive all the strange and dangerous things happening on Earth to which his oracle suggested a path which led him to meet Jake in the barber's shop. Following his path he invited Jake to a party he organised at his home.

In the party, Camille Ells, his and Jake's superior as well as Harry Stilinsky and Thiru Abimbola were also invited.

Besides Paul's co-workers and superior, there were about twenty people more invited in the party, all of them Paul's friends or acquaintances.

The girls were all gorgeous, dressed like models posing for a parade, while the men were elegant and athletic. Their trendy clothes, plus the few luxury brands, reflected their affluent social backgrounds.

There were, however, three people in this group who stood out for their gloomy faces. Like Paul, they were pale and emaciated, and seemed to have lost a lot of weight in a short time.

All these people were probably all longtime friends of Paul's, sharing the same hobbies.

The fact that Camille was invited was not a surprise in itself. She was hot after all and in the same age bracket as them. That Paul took the initiative to invite Thiru, Harry and Jake was a real surprise, though. Before today, their relationship had been limited to work, remaining cordial at best, at worst with barely concealed contempt.

Apparently, there was a hidden reason behind this party. After the some drinks were consumed Paul signalled Jake to follow him to the his house's kitchen. When Jake followed Paul to the kitchen, Kanye, Elisa and Sarah also fill them. The reason was he wanted to tell Jake about something involving him, Kanye, Elisa and Sarah.

Paul's story in his own words:

The reason I invited you here tonight is that I'm following a Path. Now, let me tell you what I've been going through in the last month, so you can understand why the four of us are in this mess.
It began a month ago, a week before the alien ship arrived. To put things in context, none of us were in New Paris when the Oracles appeared. We were on vacation in the Alps, planning to go camping and hiking in the mountains. It was sunny, it was hot, the weather was perfect for that.
Our first three days of camping went well. We tested the mountain restaurants, we bathed in the lake after a good day's walk. Everything turned into a nightmare from the fourth day on.
We got lost...
We decided to camp out under the stars and we got drunk. Still, it wasn't our first night camping, and we thought we knew where we were.
Except that the next day on waking, we no longer recognized the landscape around us. We remembered a waterfall not far away, which we couldn't find again, and some rocks with painted signs that were supposed to serve as landmarks for the hikers. On top of that, we had barely left the trail when we pitched our tents.
Of course, there was no network, which was supposed to be impossible. The next three days were an ordeal. We wandered up and down the mountain among the fir trees and brush, not finding our way back. We had supplies, but not enough, so it quickly became complicated.
Sometimes we'd find a signpost indicatingthe right road, but we'd end up at dead ends when we followed it. It was the arrival of the Oracles that unblocked the situation.
When the drones appeared out of nowhere like a cloud of bugs covering the sky, we panicked and tried to escape. As you can imagine, we got caught.
At first we were pretty excited. We wanted to go home and the Oracles gave us a Path to follow. We thought the Path would lead us to our car, and then we'd go home safely with it. Unfortunately, it didn't turn out as we had hoped.
We walked for days. At first through the mountains and woods, then one day we reached a good old asphalt road. We all cried that day. After that, we finally reached a small town where we rented a car and we were able to go back to New Paris.
I mean, we should have... We had the same problem as when we were at the campsite. We got lost again. The roads led nowhere, stopping in front of rivers or cliffs. The traffic signs didn't match the cities we were stopping at. A real ordeal!
By following the Path, we were still getting closer to the goal and the AIs on our bracelets were adamant, reminding us over and over again that the Oracle could not be wrong. Seeing the town sign of a city we knew gave us hope, knowing that we were on the right path.
This last week was the worst for us. Just so you know, we only made it to New Paris a few days ago...
Not only is it true, but there are far worse things. We finally understood why we got lost when we started getting paranoid. By not closing our eyes, we ended up witnessing a disturbing scene, to say the least.
We noticed that our landmarks were moving away from us, if not disappearing completely. It was really discreet, the kind of difference you only notice after several hours. When we did notice it, though, it was all we could see.
So, as I said, the landmarks we chose were moving. Simply put, our environment was changing all the time, but too slowly for us to notice. At least at first.
We finally figured out why the Oracle was making us take all these weird, crazy detours. Basically, all the detours were just to get us back on the normal road.
We soon realized that every time our route was abnormally blocked, it meant unknown territory.
Indeed. There's one thing I can vouch for after all we've been through. Every time we ventured into one of these lands, not by choice of course, but because the Path demanded it, we left France.
Of course the government knows about it...
But the situation is more complicated than it seems. You have no idea the interrogation we were subjected to by the military in order to get back to New Paris.
We told them the same story we told you, but they weren't surprised or shocked. They just made us sign a contract that we would keep it secret and one of the generals even answered some of our questions.
Yeah, we aslo got in a lot of trouble. At first, it was nothing bad. It was scary, but it was still within the realm of possibility. We ran into a bear on our hike that totally ignored us, and then a female boar charged us a few days later.
We had no luck, but we never thought anything was wrong. It was only afterwards that it got worse.
About a week after the Oracles arrived, we came across our first nightmare. We came across a wolf carcass split in two on the roadside. We thought of all kinds of possibilities, like getting run over or being attacked by a bear, but it didn't look like that. Anyway, we got the hell out of there.
The second weirdness was when we tried to fill up the gas tank. With the environment making no sense, we were in constant fear of running out of gas. We'd fill up at any station that we saw.
In the beginning, everything was normal. The small towns or villages where we stopped were normally inhabited, often with a gas station attendant present to greet us when we filled up. Unfortunately, that didn't last.
To be frank, during the last week we spent on the roads, all the villages we stopped in were deserted. Not a living soul for miles around. We even came across a small town that was missing half of its buildings.
The last few days, we literally didn't run into anyone. We really thought for a while that we were the last human beings left alive. Luckily, we ran into an army escorted transport truck and followed them all the way to New Paris.
There are still two more things to tell you. The first is that, as with the ghost towns, there were no more animals towards the end. No insects, no birds, nothing. Oh, we did come across a few beasts, but we all decided it was best to stay as far away from those horrors as possible.
Ah, the latest scoop, this is a piece of information we managed to scrape together from the general who interrogated us.
You see, even though we realized that pieces of roads or cities were disappearing, we unconsciously thought that somehow the planet was growing.