《The White Room》 1. Jeremy The sounds of combat filled his headset. Jeremy turned his head to look behind him and the virtual landscape rotated around him. He noticed in the distance the digital smoke trail of a rocket propelled grenade streak from his left to right, and the tat tat tat staccato of an automatic rifle erupt from his right. Two players were fighting each other, Jeremy was far enough away that hey probably wouldn¡¯t notice him unless he was stupid enough to start shooting in their direction. He wasn¡¯t of course. Jeremy glanced down at the bottom right corner of his UI and double checked his health and shield numbers. Both full. He turned and headed back in the direction he had been going, moving to the where he estimated that the center of the next safe area would be. A few moments later, two notices scrolled through the top left of his vision.
`xXx Kill Stealer 42 xXx` has defeated `Basic Grandpa` with an RPG.
`Basic Grandpa` has defeated `xXx Kill Stealer 42 xXx` with an AK-47.
With that, the player count dropped by two. Jeremy wondered if he would be able to win this attempt. The game had started 128 players at random locations on the map. Any time one died, there was no respawn, and the numbers were just whittling away smaller and smaller until there would be just one. Sweat trickled down the back of his neck. Jeremy leaned forward in his chair and risked pulling his hand away from the game controller to swipe at the annoying moisture. He was living in two worlds, having to deal with sensation from both. One, he was in a cartoony animated world with digital firearms and other weapons. The other, he was sitting on the couch in his family¡¯s living room with a VR headset on his head and a controller in his hands. The headset was rather lightweight, as far as Virtual Reality technology would allow. It looked like a pair of welders goggles, completely blacked out lenses, with heavy bells cupped over his ears. While the goggles were dark on the exterior, the entire interior of them were screens depicting a virtual landscape. The gyroscope [proper word?] in them monitered his head movements and adjusted his in game point of view appropriately. The large headphones served two purposes being so large, first they helped cancel out any background noise or sound around him, then there were speakers all throughout the bell shape to help generate 8d omnidirectional sound to help immersion. The maps the game put the players on were always large enough that all 128 of them were a generous distance away from each other when the round started. As players died, the outer borders of the map started to shrink, forcing the players to move in closer to each other. Despite the maps always being different and procedurally generated, and the map never shrinking in the exact same way twice, Jeremy had started to notice some patterns. He tried using what he noticed to his advantage. Certain things in the environment would clue Jeremy in to the map, letting him know where gear caches were or ¡°safe¡± locations when the map would re-configure itself. Jeremy kept his eyes peeled. With the last two players having died, the map was close to its next threshold for reduction. As Jeremy followed the signs he¡¯d noticed to a small cocoon of safety, a line of text popped up in the top left of his vision and Jeremy¡¯s stomach dropped.
`Basic Granny¡¯ was defeated by ¡®Basic Granny¡¯s` grenade.
¡°You¡¯ve got to be kidding me.¡± Jeremy groaned.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Immediately, the pastoral bed music that had been the backdrop of the gentle landscape suddenly shrieked to life with a chord from an electric guitar and the land started to pixelate and fuzz. Jeremy hadn¡¯t found a safe spot for the terrain transition yet, he swiveled his head from side to side looking for something, anything that might help him. There, just off to the right he saw what looked to be an old woodframe outhouse. It actually fit in nicely with the surrounding environment. Jeremy hit the sprint button on his controller as the pixilation pulsed larger and larger, foretelling an impending change. Jeremy reached the structure, swung open the door, and took a shotgun blast right in the face. There was a momentary silence as the screen went white and the message:
`Gyokuran¡¯ has defeated ¡®JER1CH0¡¯ with a Shotgun.
You have placed 8th out of 128th.
The white started to dim as Jeremy¡¯s death scene played out. UI options appeared letting him scroll through different points of view, from his point of view, the view of his killer, over the shoulder of both him and his killer, and then a free roam. The death screen kept re-playing the last 10 seconds of his time in that round over and over in a muted monotone black and white. He could back up longer, all the way back to the beginning of the round, but he didn¡¯t need to. It looked like the player that fragged him had been camping out in that safe-spot for the last few minutes. Definitely through at least the last few terrain shifts. Jeremy leapt from his chair, pulled off his headset and felt the urge to toss it across the room. He didn¡¯t, but his knuckle white grip of the device was ready to follow through with the instinct. ¡°No.¡± He told himself, ¡°I don¡¯t want to let this control me.¡± Jeremy took a few deep breathes. He wasn¡¯t going to fault the other player for using that tactic. He¡¯d used it himself on occasion. Best he could do was just chalk it up as a learning experience and move on. Take out some of that anger and aggression in the next round. He dropped back down into the couch. He just sat there for a moment, keeping up the deep breaths, trying to figure out if they relaxed him as his therapist said they should. As he was about to put the headset back on, an alarm on his watch chirped. Glancing at it, Jeremy saw it was an e-mail. He slid the headset on, and navigated out of the game. His avatar materialized in what was referred to as a White Room. Analogous to a 2D desktop or start screen in OS generations past. The White Room was essentially a small room that was the default starting point for the VROS. It could be customized easily, but started off as a three cubic meter room with the ceiling, walls, and flooring all in white. A single ¡°Log Out¡± door would be present, along one wall. Jeremy hadn¡¯t made many changes to his White Room. There was a second door, immediately across from the Exit, with a dial just to the right of it. The door held the same cartoony motif of the Battle Royale he¡¯d just been playing. Along the wall to his left, Jeremy had put a mirror, where it reflected back his avatar¡¯s appearance. The wall to his right had floating in front of it a persistent Holo-User Interface. Jeremy thumbed the movement stick on his controller to the right. From the Holo-UI, he pulled up his e-mail client and checked the message. It was addressed to both his real name and to his on-line alias. Two names he tried to keep as apart as much as he could. The from line said it was from a company, RMO Rex Mundi Operations. Skimming through it, it appeared to be a job offer. Contract work at best. ¡°Yeah, this looks too good to be true.¡± Jeremy laughed at himself. But rather than ask for further information, the e-mail just asked him to review their website and show up at an interest meeting. He shrugged and saved tagged it to his follow up on file. 2. Cecilia Ceci sat on a park bench with her phone in her hands. Where most people would be scrolling through social media or clickbait articles, she had already gotten her fill of that for the day. She glanced up from her screen periodically to make sure she could still see the kid she was nanny for. Isadora was running around the playground with the other kids, completely pre-occupied with enjoying life the way only a four-year-old could. Returning to the screen of her phone, she watched as the opponent of the virtual card game she was playing activated an ability from one of the cards they¡¯d played. The game showed an elven archer fire a bow from her opponents back ranks into the motley crew of defenders Ceci had been able to put into play. An Ogre barbarian took the damage and its red health gauge dropped, nearly to the bottom. The game indicated it was now Ceci¡¯s turn. In her mind¡¯s eye, she pictured herself standing on the gameboard depicted on her screen, the cards in her hand floating before her, practically life size. The mana pool she used as a resource for card abilities represented as a globe of swirling multi-colored light. She looked at the five cards in her hand. Two more unit cards, with attack, defense, and health statistics. An enhancement card, providing a bonus to the attack rating of which ever unit she used it on. A healing card, which she could use on her ogres before they died. Then finally a direct damage card that could be cast on her opponent her or their forces. Hmmmm, what to do? She pondered. After a quick glance to check on Isadora, Ceci slid the heal card over to her ogre¡¯s and then the fireball spell card on top of her opponent¡¯s archers. That wiped out nearly all of her mana pool, but also destroyed the archers, the only unit in the field on the other side of the board. There wasn¡¯t enough mana left to use any of the remaining cards she had, so Ceci drew a card to end her turn. Another healing spell. As her opponent decided what to spend their mana on, Ceci stood from the bench and took a step or two toward the playground. ¡°Izzy?¡± she called. She could see the girl, she just wanted to make sure the girl knew she was there. Isadora¡¯s head snapped toward the direction of her name and Ceci smiled. ¡°I¡¯m here!¡± the child called. Ceci made eye contact with the girl and nodded. Isadora turned her attention back to the other children on the playground and Ceci went back to her seat. When she looked back at her phone again, the turn was hers again. Her opponent had put out three more archers. Ceci¡¯s mana had grown from last turn, so she had more versatility now. She moved both of her unit cards into the field and watched as the game transformed the card graphic to that of a cyclops and a small gang of goblins. She took the enhancement card and applied it to the ogre she had. Its large wooden club burst into flames, and the Ogre chuckled. She then double tapped on the ogre and it started running across the battlefield on the screen, charging into the line of archers, knocking down two, and swinging the fiery club into the face of the third.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. All three archers died. Ceci smiled and wondered what else she¡¯d have to deal with. Taking another card from the draw pile ended her turn. Her opponent placed two cards into the field. One was another elf, from the appearance a stealthier roguish type rather than a distance archer. The other was an enchantment spell. The four archers returned from the graveyard, a translucent white. Then each of them in turn appeared to be sucked into the rogue, increasing its statistics with each archer apparition. It was now stronger than even the cyclops Ceci had played. The turn counter flipped over, showing the face of Ceci¡¯s avatar. Ceci looked at the card she¡¯d drawn to end the last turn. Another healing spell. Her tactic had been sound. A mix of medium to heavy units to field with lots of healing support. But now, looking at the enhanced rogue, it could easy take out any one of her units. A dead unit can¡¯t be healed. She tapped on all three of her creatures. Prompting them to attack, she expected at least one to be cut down by the rogue. All three units moved across the virtual battlefield, and Ceci looked up to check on Isadora. The girl was hanging off some monkey bars upside down, oblivious to the world outside her circle of friends. Looking back at the phone, Ceci saw the aftermath of her attack. The rogue was untouched, but all three units had dealt damage directly to her opponent. They were low on health, but not out yet. The card¡¯s stealth ability allowed it to be bypassed as a defender. Having only healing cards in her hand, and uninjured units, Ceci did the only thing she could do, drew a card to end her turn. Her eyes lit up when she saw her draw. It was another enhancement card that allowed all units in her end of the field to attack twice on a turn. It should easily allow her to take her opponent out on her next turn. Her opponent played another enhancement card themselves, granting the rogue the ability to attack each unit in their opponent¡¯s army that turn. The game showed the rogue slip into the shadows on their end of the field and then appear in the shadows behind each of Ceci¡¯s three units, killing them all. Then her opponent drew a card. Ceci shook her head. With only healing cards in her hand, and no units to play them on, she didn¡¯t have many options. She drew a card. It was another Cyclop unit, but she wouldn¡¯t have the mana to pay the activation on the card until next turn. Isadora walked up to the bench and poked her head into Ceci¡¯s view of the screen, ¡°I¡¯m getting cold. Should we go home?¡± ¡°Okay squirt.¡± Ceci said, looking up to see all the other kids on playground had left or were leaving. She stood up and grabbed Isadora¡¯s hand, tapping the resign button in the game with her other hand while her opponent¡¯s rogue was attacking her directly unimpeded. They started walking toward Isadora¡¯s apartment. The child spoke up, ¡°You loose your game? You usually win don¡¯t you?¡± Ceci smiled, ¡°Yeah, but that¡¯s okay. It¡¯s important to be a good loser sometimes.¡± She closed out the game and saw on her cellphone¡¯s default homepage an e-mail notification. All it listed as the sender and the subject line. RMO; Welcome to an Exciting Opportunity! 3. Charles Chuck ran his hands over the keyboard of his custom gaming rig, typing out a series of instructions for the boss fight the raid group he was in was about to pull. He grinned to himself about the fact that despite the instructions, he knew that at least one, probably two or three people from this group of sixteen would mess up on the instructions. But that was okay. This was Noob Night Friday. The guild he was in for this MMORPG was a large and welcoming group that always had people who had never done a lot of the raid content. Raid content had been designed to be the high pinnacle of end-game content, and unless you got a dedicated group of players that stayed on top of things, random pick up groups just wouldn¡¯t be able to get far in a raid. Because of that, a good number of people had never even tried the older raids, from the game¡¯s prior expansions, which people were typically over-leveled and over-geared for. As a minor officer in the guild, he had designed NNF¡¯s as a weekly event that welcomed anyone to try the older content. He would walk them through the content and even if the group made no progress, no blaming or complaints were allowed at all. A much different environment from the typical raid scene. As he finished the typed explanation, he hit the push to talk button for his headset. ¡°Alright chickadee¡¯s, instructions are posted in raid chat. To briefly sum up what it says, this is your typical tank and spank. I¡¯ll head in and grab his attention. Then everyone just start burning him down. When he¡¯s at two thirds, one third, and one fourth health adds will spawn that the Off tank will grab. Once they¡¯re gathered, burn the adds before returning to the big boy¡¯s gluteal cleft. Remember Raid Rule Zero, and above all else, have fun!¡± He popped the command for a ready check and a small window on his computer screen started showing green checkmarks next to each person¡¯s name. once he had all sixteen. He initiated a count down timer. Numbers appeared the middle of his screen, counting down from five. At zero he moved his character forward on his screen and hit the hotkey for his agro-grab, wanting to make sure he pulled the raid bosses attention before anyone else. A torrent of ice shards shot out of his character¡¯s hand as the beefy titan of a superhero headed straight at the Godzilla-like kaiju. The fighting area was made out to be a middle of a downtown metropolis. Once he got the huge lizard¡¯s attention, he ran to a position between two of the taller skyscrapers. Letting the kaiju face his character, Chocolate Frosting, and not the rest of the raid group. With the boss in position, he stopped cycling through his rotation to type into chat, ¡°Engage¡±, but a split second after hitting enter, saw it really wasn¡¯t needed because the group was attacking. Be it fire blasts, arrow, bullets, ice projectiles . . . or even a few of the more melee style characters had run in at Chocolate Frosting¡¯s feet to begin pointing on the giant lizard with feet, fists, and all manner or weapons.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. He watched the boss¡¯s health drop slowly. This particular fight¡¯s biggest challenge was merely how much health the monster had. It was just an endurance slog to actually chew through enough health before the enrage timer hit. That would start to exponentially increase both the bosses¡¯ damage and damage resistance, making the fight nigh impossible. A flashing red and orange marker appeared on the ground directly behind the lizard. Despite it being faced away from the main group, there was still a tail sweep attack it had that would be very dangerous. He watched as most of the damage dealers moved out of the marked in area, not wanting to be hit. Chuck closed his eyes as the marker disappeared and the kaiju¡¯s tail appeared to swipe through the few remaining characters that hadn¡¯t moved. Their health bars in the raid frames emptied and the tiles in the UI Chuck was looking at greyed out. Immediately the healing and support characters started rezzing those that fell. Chuck just kept his rotation up, concentrating more on keeping agro than dealing damage. Granted, at this point, he didn¡¯t think anyone had the stats to be able to pull the kaiju¡¯s attention off of his ice tank. Glancing at the boss¡¯s health bar he hit the push to talk button and said, ¡°First group of add in coming, Tee, you got those?¡± ¡°Yup.¡± He heard a voice in his head and he saw one of characters directly behind the boss peel off and move to a point nearly on the other end of the map. Just as he got there, what appeared to be a wild pack of velociraptors jumped into the fight. Tee¡¯s character, a girl with fire or lava-based powers, set off a series of miniature volcanic eruptions right in the middle of the group. Chuck typed into raid chat, ¡°Stop on the boss, hit the babies.¡± And was surprised that most everyone did. As they did, the kaiju¡¯s eyes lit up and the ground at Chocolate Frosting¡¯s feet lit up with the red orange damage marker. Now, whereas the First Rule of Raiding is ¡°Don¡¯t Stand in Stupid.¡± As the Tank, he needed to take this TankBuster attack so as to make sure no one else got hit with it. It would definitely be an instant kill to anyone else. A radioactive laser beam shot out of the eyes and mouth of the kaiju, merging into one at the point of impact . . Chocolate Frosting. As he was hit, Chuck glanced at the raid frames and saw that all of the support heroes were depleted of endurance, the resource they had to use their healing abilities. Therefore they had no means to apply extra protection to him, or rez him once he did, indeed, fall from the damage. Chuck watched the quick remainder of the fight as the momma kaiju turned and stomped toward the remaining members of the raid. Without Chuck¡¯s tank to keep her attention . . . it was a wipe very quickly. Despite his rule or no blaming for Noob Night Fridays, having the night end on a wipe was always depressing. People had thanked him as they always did, and started logging off. Chuck did the same, starting through his nightly routine of doublechecking his social media and e-mail. One particular e-mail caught his notice. 4. Mr. King Jeremy got out of the cab and walked into the office complex. He¡¯d double checked the address he¡¯d been provided and the office it directed him to was in a nice part of town. Not the rich upper crust area where only the one percenters did their work, but maybe just shy of that ballpark. Pushing open the double doors he saw a reception desk that instead of having a person sitting at the other end, instead just had a computer monitor with the image of a cartoon woman¡¯s head. Red hair and green eyes, she invoked nostalgia for sci-fi anime of the eighties. The animated woman looked at Jeremy and smiled. ¡°Welcome to Rex Mundi Operations. Please have a seat, someone will be with you shortly.¡± He slowly nodded. Glancing around the room he saw a line of chairs against one of the walls. Two other people were sitting and waiting. He moved to an empty seat and looked at the two. The first was a woman, he estimated she was in her early twenties, shoulder length wavy brown hair with brown eyes behind designer glasses. She was very conservatively dressed with a turtleneck sweater and long skirt. A demin backpack sat at her feet. She appeared to be engrossed in a paperback copy of Frank Herbert¡¯s Dune. The other occupant of the waiting room was a slightly over-weight fellow with a fidgety leg. Bright red hair that matched the freckles on his cheeks. He wore jeans and t-shirt under a very old and worn out high school letterman jacket, listing a graduation year almost twenty years ago. Jeremy assumed it was their parent¡¯s jacket, a hand-me-down. Looking over at Jeremy he said, ¡°and then there were three.¡± Jeremy nodded, ¡°Three what though? You guys responding to the same e-mail I got? Has the creepy cartoon lady said anything more?¡± The redhead smiled, ¡°Maxette Headron? Nope. Told each of us just to sit. I asked her a ton of questions when I got here, but then it just felt like I was talking to a wall.¡± ¡°You were.¡± The woman said, not even glancing up from her book. Jeremy extended his hand, ¡°Looks like we might be in this together. Jeremy.¡± ¡°Chuck.¡± The redhead answered back, taking Jeremy¡¯s offered hand. Jeremy then offered his hand to the woman. It hung there for a few awkward moments, eventually she looked up from her book after turning a page. ¡°Well, we don¡¯t know that we¡¯ll be together. Just that we¡¯re all here now. Cecilia, but everyone calls me Ceci.¡± She said without shaking hands, she just looked back down to her book. Jeremy took his hand back, and looked over at Chuck, giving up on Ceci being a part of their conversation. ¡°So, you got an e-mail?¡± Chuck nodded. ¡°it said something about a possible job offer or whatever?¡± ¡°Maybe, it was kinda vague, but I guess I showed up. Not sure what it says about me.¡± A new voice came from across the room, ¡°It says that we were right about you.¡± The three turned to see an impeccably dressed man in his late 30¡¯s to early 40¡¯s standing in the doorway of a previously closed door. Maybe five foot ten with blonde hair and a neatly trimmed full beard, clear blue eyes, with a black suit with red tie. ¡°Allow me to introduce myself and welcome you to RMO. I am Ryan King. Here, we are working on developing the next generation of technology and are looking for people to help us test it.¡± He walked across the room and shook each of their hands, even Ceci¡¯s, as the stood. ¡°Ms Hayes¡± he motioned to the receptionist ¡®girl¡¯, ¡°told me that you¡¯d arrived.¡± Mr King paused, with a slight frown on his face, ¡°I¡¯d actually expected one or two more, but . . . I guess they¡¯ll just have to play catch up when they show.¡±A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡°Regardless, let me show you a little bit of what we do. Then if I¡¯ve piqued your interest, we can talk about what we would like from you.¡± Ceci reached down and grabbed her backpack, sliding her paperback into one of the pockets. The four walked across the room and through the door that Mr. King Had come through. It led to a large room with desk cubicles spread throughout. Despite having probably close to sixty or so cubicles, the room was empty. ¡°We¡¯re much more active on the weekdays, this is really just where the digital paper pushers sit and crunch the numbers and such. Despite being a company trying to be at the forefront of innovation, we still have to have people to move through the red tape.¡± ¡°And what exactly is it you do here?¡± Jeremy asked as they walked through the desks. Jeremy noted that each desk had various amounts of personal items and decoration. The office space definitely looked well worked in. ¡°Ah well, that . . . Here at Rex Mundi Operations, we work on developing, patenting, and selling the latest VR and AR technology.¡± He lead them into another room that looked like a photographers studio, complete with a green screen backdrop and detailed camera set up. ¡°This is where we do some of the basic motion capture work for the animation we do. But what I really want to show you is in the next room.¡± Mr King stopped before another set of doors and turned to face them. ¡°Now I know from the background profile that we used to develop the mailing list we sent out our invites to that you all have at least some exposure to and use of virtual reality. What would you say is the biggest drawback to current VR technology?¡± ¡°It¡¯s inability to completely suppress our natural sensory input while trying to generate a new set of input for us to interact with.¡± Ceci replied with slight clinical detachment. ¡°Oh, you are a smart one Cecilia.¡± Mr King answered back with a wink, ¡°But, we knew that. Jeremy, Charles? Thoughts boys?¡± ¡°Bandwith.¡± Chuck said with a grin, ¡°The way I look at it, all the sci-fi and fantasy stories you read or watch depict people using Alternative Reality with systems that are just processing way too much information to be able to be handled feasibly from our current set of technology. But, that¡¯s just a matter of time, wait long enough and we¡¯ll be able to increase that capacity.¡± Jeremy nodded along with Chuck¡¯s answer. It what he¡¯d have said. ¡°You¡¯ve got the gist of it. We are constantly working on trying to improve both of those issues. Now, this is where you¡¯ll come in. With the latest batch of developments, we¡¯re ready for human testing. There¡¯s many ways we could¡¯ve gone about finding volunteers, but in an effort to not get deluged with options, some of whom would only just report back to our competitors . . . the method we choose lead us to you.¡± He extended his hands, the promptly turned and opened the doors behind him, letting them enter the new room and look at what it held. The room looked like a hospital room. A large, over-sized hospital room. There were four set ups for patients, set up in a row. Instead of beds, there were four large tanks, filled with water, or some type of liquid, it had a blueish green tint to it. There were monitors and cords attached to each of the set ups. Mr King lead them to the closest of the tanks. ¡°This a SD tank. Sensory Deprivation tank. Putting on one of our newest VR gear in combination with one of these tanks provides the highest possible synchronization rate with whatever virtual environment you want to experience.¡± Chuck looked back and for the between Mr King and the tank, ¡°You want me to get in there?¡± he asked incredulously, ¡°Man . . . I hope you pay well. That doesn¡¯t look very big, and in case you haven¡¯t noticed,¡± Chuck grabbed his belly from either side. ¡°I take up a bit of space.¡± Mr King grinned politely, ¡°Yes, well we figured we¡¯d at least gauge your interest before discussing compensation. We¡¯ve found that anyone that does this type of work strictly for the money doesn¡¯t really have their whole soul in the game. They¡¯re just looking out for number one. We chose you all because we felt you all would be interested in helping advance society first, and then get paid for it.¡± Ceci spoke up, ¡°In certainly intrigued. Of course, I do have other obligations and a job so scheduling might be an issue.¡± ¡°Oh, we can figure out logistics and schedules later. I¡¯m just happy to hear you¡¯re on board.¡± Mr King replied. ¡°Maybe.¡± Ceci corrected. ¡°On board, tentatively.¡± Mr King said with a smile, then he turned to Jeremy, who had walked over to one of the tanks and was about to dip his hand into the greenish-blue contents in the tank. There were sparkly granules of something or other in it, ¡°how about you, Jeremy?¡± ¡°You know this stuff looks like shampoo? Not the cheap stuff either.¡± Jeremy said somewhat skeptically. Mr King burst out in a hearty chuckle, ¡°Well, that¡¯s not a no. Sounds like all three of you are on board? Or at least enough to start looking at paperwork and contracts?¡± 5. Adam & Shannon Adam grinned as he let his thumbs guide through the muscle memory of the combination attack he wanted to use to take down his opponent. On his television screen there was a simple 2d Fighter he was playing. Two characters, shown in profile, with health gauges at the top, and a count down timer in between the bars. The games background and characters had a futuristic theme to them, with lots of transhumanist and cybernetic enhancement. Adam¡¯s character, Shin-ryu, was one of the lesser used characters in the roster of 34 due to being viewed by the public too much of a clone of the simple martial artist archetype of so many other fighting games, but Adam didn¡¯t mind. Finishing the Combo, Adam watched as the gi clad character started throwing kicks and punches onto his opponent for that round, a robot named Wendigo that had moves which would shift the character between a large humanoid figure to that of a wolf with a completely different move set. When Wendigo recovered from and countered the last few strikes of Shin-Ryu¡¯s combo Adam could tell that whomever it was that he¡¯d been matched against had some skill. Going on the defensive, Adam scooted forward in his sitting position on the couch. Shin-Ryu pulled his hands up to block any potential attacks. The robotic opponent initiated their own combo, which involved a few strikes, transforming into the wolf form, a bite, and then with Ryu still in it¡¯s maw shifting back into it¡¯s original form. The animation for the robot reverting back to the default, while still holding it¡¯s opponent displayed Adam¡¯s character getting smashed in a very unpleasant manner. Shin-Ryu was eventually knocked back away from Wendigo and stood on the screen stunned momentarily. Adam heard the door to his apartment open and he noticed out of his peripheral vision his girlfriend walk in, ¡°Hey babe!¡± she called, carrying in some bags of groceries, ¡°You ready for tonight?¡± He tried to split his attention between Windego and Shannon, ¡°Uh, tonight?¡± he asked as he moved in again with a series of multiple swift strikes. He heard her walk into the kitchenette area and drop the groceries on the counter. ¡°Yeah, you know, the- Wait . . . did you forget?¡± Shannon asked as she walked back into the living room where Adam had his gaming set up.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. His mind raced trying to think of what event could possibly be going on that night that he had forgotten. It wasn¡¯t their anniversary. Her birthday was in the next month. None of their out of town friends were visiting . . . He was at a loss. He barely hit the block button in enough time to stop Wendigo from finishing him off. Shannon leaned over the back of the couch to look at his face. ¡°Oh my gosh, you did forget didn¡¯t you!¡± a hint of anger crept into her voice, ¡°I can¡¯t believe this!¡± Adam wracked his brain. His mind completely off the game at that point. The last thing he wanted to do was get Shannon upset. What was it that he¡¯d forgotten? He decided to come clean and admit he honestly had no clue. The television screen announced in a deep sonorous voice, ¡°You Lose!¡± ¡°Sorry hun, I¡¯m not sure what it is you¡¯re referring to.¡± Adam admitted sheepishly. Shannon walked around the side of the couch and stood over him with cold stare. She slowly and carefully reached for the controller in his hand. Not wanting to upset her further he put up no resistance to her taking it from him. Once she¡¯d pulled it away from him, the look on her face changed drastically. Shannon grinned at him impishly and winked, ¡°Tonight, is the night that you put away the groceries while I work on unlocking the next Vault.¡± And with the controller in her hand, she quickly logged out of Adam¡¯s gaming profile and logged into her own, then switched the game that was booted up on the console. He couldn¡¯t believe that he¡¯d been hoodwinked. ¡°Oh, is that so?¡± he asked as he saw her sit down on the couch, snuggling a little bit next to him. He chuckled a little internally. Banter like this was one of the things that he loved about his girlfriend. She was just as much of a gamer as he was, but not always on the same games or even the same style of games. He stood up from the couch as the looter-shooter that was her game du jour booted up. He leaned down and kissed her forehead. ¡°So, given any thought on food for the night? Or were you just thinking about VaultRaider.¡± He asked as he headed for the groceries. ¡°I got something at the deli after the groceries. It¡¯s there with it.¡± Shannon called over her shoulder, ¡°Depending on how long this takes we could Netflix and Chill.¡± Adam grinned, and found the sandwiches she was referring to with the groceries. He started unpacking and putting away the groceries when his phone from the kitchen counter charging station pinged with an e-mail notification. As he moved back and forth from groceries to fridge to pantry and back, he raised an eyebrow at the contents of the email from RMO. 6. Rex Mundi Operations A few days had passed since Chuck had met with RMO, and after passing the contract they¡¯d asked him to sign which was combination job contract and NDA to a guildmate that was pre-law, he was walking back into their offices with the printed out paperwork signed. Despite it no longer being the weekend, when he walked into the reception lobby, the anime receptionist smiled at him from the screen hanging behind the reception desk, ¡°Greetings Mr. Wallace, It is good to see you. Are you here with the paperwork?¡± It felt somewhat strange to be talking to a cartoon character, but Chuck figured that it was no less weird than interacting with some of the game streamers on Twitch or Youtube. He patted the bag he was carrying, the papers inside it, ¡°Uh, yeah?¡± ¡°Wonderful. Mr Rose is already in the back getting a walkthrough of the process. Someone will be up to escort you shortly.¡± Chuck only nodded, then realized that there was probably no point in nodding to the screen. He looked around the lobby area again and was about to sit down in one of the chairs, when a man in a white lab coat came through one of the interior doors. ¡°Charles Wallace?¡± he asked, extending a hand. Chuck took it, ¡°Chuck is fine.¡± The lab tech smiled and nodded, ¡°Mmmhmm. This way please.¡± And turned back around to lead Chuck back through the door he¡¯d come through. Chuck followed the lab tech back through the office space he¡¯d gone through a few days prior. Instead of being empty of people, the space was full of men and women. Each sat at a cubicle and were either talking on the phone, working on their desktop, or some combination of both. Not knowing much about the technical aspect of computer programming Chuck didn¡¯t even try to understand what was on the computer screen more than being able to recognize when one person or another was using Excel, or Outlook, or some other program he was familiar with. Most of the office workers paid Chuck and the lab tech no mind. A few smiled politely as Chuck walked by. Soon enough, the pair had crossed the room and entered the studio with the VR Tanks. Chuck saw Mr King leaning against one of the tanks speaking to Jeremy. The tall bald black man was sitting on top of one of the tanks and looked unusual compared to the day before. Jeremy¡¯s polo and khaki¡¯s had been replaced with what Chuck could only describe as a skin-tight body suit, like the ones used for motion capture. Mr King saw the two enter and waved them over. ¡°Charles, Chuck . . . glad you could make it. Glad you decided to join us on this little venture. I assume you have the paperwork all signed and ready? Did you e-mail it? Cecilia did, she¡¯ll be in later.¡±The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. Chuck opened his bag and took the papers out. ¡°No, I printed it out and had a lawyer look it over. Can never been too careful about what you sign. He said it was fairly standard. Tighter NDA than he¡¯d seen, but he also said he doesn¡¯t typically deal with many NDA¡¯s with his focus.¡± Mr King nodded politely and took the accepted paperwork, then thumbed through the pages and verified appropriate signatures were in the proper spots. ¡°Well, it looks like it¡¯s all in order. We¡¯ll get this over to the Records department so that it can be filed, and then we¡¯ll get you started up.¡± Jeremy, who had moved to the side of one of the tanks as Mr King had been talking and reached his hand down into the green tinted translucent goo that comprised it¡¯s contents. There was something floating in the solution that sparkled as if it were filled with actual glitter. The tank itself was six and a half feet tall and six feet in diameter. The top was opened and able to be reached from a catwalk that ran along the back of all four tanks in the room. Each was filled two thirds full with the translucent substance. Jeremy called down to the men on the floor, ¡°What exactly is this stuff and why are we going to be swimming in it?¡± A lab tech looked up at Jeremy, ¡°The tanks are devised to help nullify any and all feeling and sensation your body feels. It¡¯s a buoyant solution with anesthesia agent and relaxant. The theory is that you should be able to float in the tank and not need to worry about tactile input while under the VR environment.¡± ¡°There¡¯s not enough in there for me to float. I¡¯m a pretty tall dude.¡± ¡°Well, displacement. The level will rise once you get in. And of course, if need be, we can add or drain the amount as needed.¡± Jeremy shrugged and slipped into the tank. The solution inside the tank rose to just under the black man¡¯s shoulders. The lab tech walked up and around to the side of the tank and opened a panel on its side. A small keypad and display were revealed and the tech started punching a few keys. The liquid level rose to just under Jeremy¡¯s chin. ¡°Don¡¯t be alarmed.¡± The tech said calmly. The level appeared to drop slightly, but actually was just adjusting to compensate for the bottom lowering inside the tank to stop Jeremy from standing, forcing him to float in the goo. ¡°This is weird.¡± Jeremy said once he was completely floating. The tech chuckled, ¡°That¡¯s not the part I was referring to.¡± Jeremy cocked his head and raised an eyebrow. Chuck noticed before Jeremy what the tech must have been referencing as a cover for the tank started closing from either side of it, right at neck height for Jeremy. The edges of the cover appeared padded, and as the two half circles met in the center of the tank, instead of crushing or cutting into Jeremy¡¯s neck, the padding just adjusted to allow the neck and head to remain. The tank appeared at that point like a wedding cake with a head cake topper. ¡°What is this?¡± Jeremy asked with some serious concern in his voice. ¡°I said don¡¯t worry.¡± The lab tech repeated. ¡°it¡¯s to help stabilize you is all. You won¡¯t even notice once you¡¯re logged in.¡± ¡°Man, you¡¯d better fix this right now.¡± Jeremy insisted, starting to panic, ¡°That or get me out of here!¡± Mr King moved up to the the top of the tank and took something from just off to the side. He moved over to Jeremy¡¯s head from behind, ¡°Jeremy, it¡¯s okay. I¡¯m going to put the VR Helmet on you. It¡¯ll be okay.¡± Mr King slid what looked like a motorcycle helmet on top of Jeremy¡¯s head. Once it was in place, he glared at the lab tech, ¡°Maybe next time, let him get the helmet on and get accustomed to the tank before closing it off?¡± he whispered. The tech nodded and turned to continue getting Jeremy set. 7. The White Room Jeremy floated in black nothingness. Everything from his shoulders down had no feeling, no sensation. Objectively, he knew that he was floating in the sensory deprivation pod. But the fact that the only thing he could feel was his head was a little unnerving. He tried turning and shifting his head and could feel the helmet he wore slide across the top of the pod. It wasn¡¯t necessarily uncomfortable, being just a head but the blackness, the lack of sound was starting to generate concern in the pit of his stomach. Well, area that he figured his stomach would be. ¡°Okay Jeremy,¡± he heard the voice of the tech through a speaker next to his ears, ¡°we¡¯re going to ease you into this. Can you hear me?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Jeremy replied to the darkness, ¡°It¡¯s all black and I¡¯ve literally got no sensation below my neck.¡± ¡°Hmm,¡± came the response, ¡°let me make some adjustments.¡± A few seconds went by and he began to register some sensation below his neck. As if his entire body was being stuck with pins and needles, the same as when an arm or leg would fall asleep, except this was his entire body. It was dim at first, the feeling, but then grew in intensity to where Jeremy just tried waving his arms and legs to try to fend off the prickliness. There wasn¡¯t any pain, really. Having your foot or arm asleep didn¡¯t do that. But it was definite sensation that could chalk up to being a new virtual reality experience. Eventually his body finished waking up and he could feel his entire body. Rather, he was aware of the haptic suit he was wearing and how it felt against his skin. He had stripped down naked to put it on, and it was pressed against every centimeter of his body. Jeremy didn¡¯t want to dwell on certain aspects of that. Jeremy had heard stories of different VR accessories that attached to and stimulated different area of the body, and those were things that he had no desire to try testing. The haptic suit, as form fitting as it was, was still only as anatomically correct as a ken doll. Jeremy was fine with that. While the feeling of having an actual body came back to him, Jeremy hadn¡¯t noticed that the enveloping darkness had started to lighten. It was a murky grey around him, like an overcast sky. With no sensation below his feet, it felt like Jeremy was floating in that sky. There was no chill to the air, or warmth. No humidity or dryness. Just a boring blandness that felt completely artificial and completely appropriate in the digital environment.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. ¡°How¡¯s that?¡± the tech¡¯s voice came again, ¡°Better?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± Jeremy replied, ¡°There¡¯s no white room?¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± The tech asked, ¡°Oh, I guess we could . . .¡± The murky sky started brightening quickly. Jeremy moved his hand to cover his eyes and half a second later stopped and tried to reason how he was able to move his arm and hand through the pod cover that only his head was poking out of. The arm and hand he saw in his vision was that of what he would expect from a department store mannequin. Dark grey and without detail. His feet started to feel the traction of ground underneath them and he lowered his hand to look around. He found himself in a generic white room. Walls, ceiling and floor all in a dull off-white. Bland and plain with no adornments whatsoever, not even an exit door. Jeremy walked the few steps over to the wall and he pushed his hand against it. The glove of his haptic suit responded with the sensation of a very solid wall. He gently tested the wall with his left foot. Pressing against the edge where the wall met the floor, he felt the same solid resistance to the VR environment. ¡°Interesting.¡± He said. ¡°Oh we haven¡¯t even gotten started yet.¡± The tech¡¯s voice said. From the way it sounded, it was as if the tech was standing behind him, Jeremy turned to look, and yet the room was empty. He was still alone in this virtual room. ¡°Where¡¯s the exit?¡± Jeremy asked, noticing a lack of door along any of the four walls of the cubic room. The tech chuckled, ¡°Does anyone ever use those things? I mean, come on, usually people just pull off their headsets, and hit the power button. When was the last time you did a proper log off of a VR session?¡± Jeremy rolled his eyes, starting to get upset, ¡°When was the last time I a guinea pig for new technology that didn¡¯t give me the option of pulling off my headset?!¡± A door popped into existence right in front of him, then he heard a new voice. ¡°Jeremy,¡± Mr King¡¯s sounded calm next to his ears, ¡°I apologize for the abruptness of that technician. He¡¯ll be re-assigned to some other tasks from now on and you won¡¯t have to deal with him. As it is right now, I would think that this is a successful test. If you want to log out now, we can do that.¡± Jeremy looked at the exit door, and then around the barren room. He glances down at the featureless mannequin avatar that represented his self. He took a calming breath and shook his head, ¡°Nah, I¡¯m good.¡± ¡°There is so much we need to do,¡± Mr King said, ¡°Trust me when I say we don¡¯t need to do it all at once.¡± ¡°I understand Mr King.¡± Jeremy said, ¡°But, it took me a while to get into this get up. Let¡¯s not waste that time.¡± ¡°Understood,¡± Mr King replied, a note of approval in his voice. I¡¯m turning you back over to a technician again . . . a different technician.¡± Jeremy nodded and it dawned on him that he could no longer feel the helmet or the pod cover like he had only moments before. 8. LiSA Chuck marveled at the White Room surrounding him. He¡¯d watched form outside Jeremy¡¯s pod as they walked him through the acclimation process to their VR system. The system tech¡¯s had apparently picked up a few tricks quickly from that experience and Chuck¡¯s first exposure to the digital world was from standing inside the white construct, complete with exit door along one wall, a regulation exit sign with green lettering the only color in the room. Chuckling, he started rubbing his hands along his chest, arms, legs and stomach. It was incredible the amount of tactile feedback the haptic suit he wore gave. The suit applied pressure to his hands as the system registered their movement to the other parts of himself. It also worked along whatever part of his body he hands touched. He took one finger and poked as hard as he could into his belly. Surprisingly, the suit mimicked his digital actions exactly and he felt the finger poking his belly. ¡°What type of pain threshold is there for this suit?¡± he wondered idly. ¡°Safety protocols are currently in place and pain levels are at 00.0%¡± a female voice responded. It was vaguely familiar. ¡°Who¡¯s that?¡± Chuck asked in surprise. ¡°I believe you referred to me as Maxette Headron?¡± the voice said, with a note of derision in her voice, ¡°But I¡¯ll have you know My name is Lisa H¡ª¡± ¡°Yeah, I figured it out. I know who you¡¯re based on.¡± Chuck said, cutting her off, ¡°So, I get to chat with you while in here?¡± ¡°If you¡¯d like, yes.¡± The voice of the anime receptionist replied. ¡°So, I gotta figure, if there are tests, and other things that the company wants me to do while in this digital environment, then they expect me to be here for a while. If that¡¯s the case, what options do I have to make this more comfortable?¡± ¡°Would you like some color and some furniture?¡± Lisa asked as the appearance of the White Room begun to pixelate. The effect sped up rapidly and then stopped. The pixilation faded and in the White Room¡¯s place was a 32bit sprite rendition of RMO¡¯s reception area, complete with a monitor along one wall with Lisa gazing out at Chuck from. ¡°Not quite what I was thinking of, but it¡¯s a good start.¡± Chuck looked down at himself and saw that the pixilation had adjusted his appearance as well. Instead of the dull white nothingness of a mannequin body, he now looked like himself. Keeping the same sprite motif of the room, but he appeared as how he had when he walked into the building that first day and met Lisa and Mr. King.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°While I love me some old school JRPG¡¯s, is there a particular reason for the sprite style?¡± From the monitor, Lisa shook her head, ¡°No. there were a few different varieties to choose from. It was selected at random. Would you like me to adjust it?¡± Chuck thought about it a while, ¡°Nah, let¡¯s leave it this style for now. But maybe switch it up from the reception room, to maybe something a little more . . . homey. A den, or a study?¡± The pixilation affect started over and when it finished, the room appeared quite cozy. The room appeared to have filled bookshelves along three of the four walls, a break in them only for the exit door along the back wall. There was hardwood floor throughout with a bearskin rug sitting in front of a lit fireplace. A Highbacked chair sat off to the sit, facing the fireplace with a end table sitting next to it. Above the fireplace, on the mantle was a portrait of a Chuck, decked out in Victorian era clothes. The sprite-based aesthetic was maintained throughout and Chuck couldn¡¯t help himself but to laugh. ¡°To your liking?¡± Lisa¡¯s voice asked him from behind his back. He turned around to see the back of the room, Chuck noticed along one of the bookshelves there was a sculpture of a woman¡¯s head. It sat along the back wall, on a shelf just above the door knob of the exit door. It looked exactly like the virtual assistant. ¡°So, what exactly are you?¡± Chuck asked. The bust turned it¡¯s head slightly and stated, ¡°I am LiSA. Lifeform interfacing Systems Assistant. While technically I am only a prototype version of the software that is expected to be offered for retail release once testing is finished, I have been programed with a desire to see the tests and trials finished as safely and quickly as possible. My job is to work as a liaison between the individual test subjects,¡± the bust nodded toward Chuck, ¡°and the over-all system mainframe.¡± Chuck walked around the room and sat down in the chair, adjusting it¡¯s placement to let him talk to Lisa. ¡°So explain something to me Lisa. Why does your appearance look like that of an anime character from the eighties? Default setting? Programmed by one of the techs in the company?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Lisa responded. ¡°I can change my appearance to suit whatever needs you want. My main purpose is to assist your efforts in interacting with the system.¡± ¡°What does that entail?¡± Chuck asked. ¡°I have to say, I¡¯ve never had a chance to try out much in the ways of VR gaming, it¡¯s still rather expensive.¡± ¡°Most virtual reality systems come with a White Room like the one you are in now. Consider it a loading bay for any program you would want to run. Typically, once a program is installed into the operating system, a new door will appear in the white room. One would merely need to walk through the door to reach the VR program that had been loaded.¡± ¡°So, basically, Mr. King will have different programs loaded up that we will try? Let us try to break and see how we handle digital environment? What works well, what¡¯s buggy, that sort of thing?¡± The bust on the wall nodded, ¡°Yes. Something like that.¡± 9. Briefing Cici walked through the doorway out of her White Room into . . . she stopped short at what she saw. What was laid out in front of her triggered numerous different feelings. Surprise of course being one, but a longing and memories of her youth were another. The door to her White Room slid shut almost silently as she tried to comprehend the photo-realistic detail that RMO has replicated one of her childhood memories. She had spent hours upon hours huddled on the couch with her father watching old re-runs of TV shows. Before her was a scene practically taken out of one of the science fiction series about space exploration among the stars. She was in a ship, a space ship. It appeared that she was in one of the officer conference rooms of one of the Galaxy-class Capital ships. Sleek and refined walls framed the room with a sturdy conference table in the middle. Along one wall were large windows, open to the vastness of space, and the view of a planet they were in orbit of. She could smell the slight chill in the air of the room. She crossed over to the window and placed her hands on the glass. Smooth and cold to her touch. The view of the earth below them, There was too much green. She tried to suppress a smile. Finally turning to address the other occupants in the room, already sitting at the table, she said, ¡°This is a fantastic replication, Mr. King. But it¡¯s not quite accurate. In the timeframe of this series, the Earth,¡± she pointed down through the windows, ¡°hade such population density that there was hardly any natural or rural land left in the sprawling metroplexes covering the surface. So much so that it was noticeable from orbit.¡± Mr. King was sitting at the head of the conference table, in the captain¡¯s chair so to speak. He was dressed to match the setting, in the captain¡¯s uniform of the Space Expeditionary Force. He smiled politely and nodded, ¡°Noted Cici. I doubt we¡¯d need to worry about that much detail unless our marketing division were to secure the licensing right to this franchise. But for now, we can definitely make any adjustments you feel are appropriate.¡± Mr King tilted his head toward the window and the Earth below and Cici turned to look again and there was a drastic difference to it¡¯s appearance. She could see the massive urban sprawls talked about in the show by the characters when they reminisced of home. The ship they were on had never actually been depicted as orbiting earth in the series, so Cici thought that could be why the detail may have been over-looked. ¡°I¡¯d call you out as a nerd for that, but honestly,¡± Chuck said from his seat at the table, ¡°I¡¯m not one to judge. There¡¯s probably any number of nits I could pick about things if this meeting room was set up with a setting I loved.¡±This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. Cici didn¡¯t sense and animosity in her fellow tester¡¯s voice and took her time walking around the rest of the room, taking it all in. The drab walls in neutral colors, the faux-wood trophy case with models of different era space ships within the setting leading up from the Apollo Shuttle to the ship they were standing in. The three men were sitting at the table, waiting patiently for her. Mr. King in his captain¡¯s attire. Chuck dressed like he had just stepped out of an Edgar Allen Poe novel, or maybe something from Lovecraft? Something simple, rugged, yet comfortable. Jeremy, looked somewhat anachronistic, being a tall bald black man dressed as a Edo period samurai. She couldn¡¯t really blame them for customizing their avatars however they wanted. She looked down at how she had customized her avatar. A few minor adjustments in regard to height and proportions, lightened her hair color a bit, dressed herself in virtual knock-off of the best designer clothes, things she wouldn¡¯t be able to afford. She wore a simple blue jeans and black t-shirt, loose hanging leather jacket, and some sturdy boots. She sat down and Mr. King began speaking, ¡°Now that we¡¯re all here and settled. I wanted to touch base with you all and establish some ground rules and expectations. Because this is the very inception of human trials for this system. For the first few days we¡¯re just going to be taking readings as you go about exploring the system. We need to make sure nothing unexpected happens with the system or with you all. ¡°I think you¡¯ve all met LiSA? You should be able to make any request to her for anything you need. This room is very similar to your individual loading areas. You all have carte blanche to make changes or to how it looks or feels . . . within reason. It¡¯s a communal space for the group of you.¡± Jeremy spoke up, ¡°Wait, you don¡¯t have anything for us to work on? Just be in VR and let you watch us?¡± ¡°Essentially, yes. There are any number of programs we can have accessible for you. Just ask for it and we¡¯ll do what we can to accommodate.¡± Mr. King said, ¡°We do ask that you keep yourselves to the in-house network while using the VR system for now.¡± ¡°You¡¯re wanting to establish a full on isolationist quarantine?¡± Chuck asked apprehensively. Mr King shook his head, ¡°No, you can still have contact with the outside world. Phone calls, texts messages . . . you could even set up a virtual desktop console,¡± he waved a hand and a desk with a PC tower and three monitor set up just appeared next to the wall in the room. ¡°and do anything on it that you would from home . . .¡± ¡°Keeping to your NDA in regard to our location and activities.¡± Jeremy interjected during his pause. Mr. King nodded to Jeremy. ¡°Quite.¡± Then returned to addressing them all, ¡°We ask that when you are accessing the actual VR system, you keep it confined to the RMO network.¡± The three nodded in agreement and then Mr King stood. ¡°Well, with all that established, I have some other matters that need attention. I will bid you all a good day. This is your playground. Enjoy.¡± Then Mr. King teleported away using the special effects of the television series they were sitting in. ¡°Alright, so what do we want to do?¡± Jeremy asked them with a grin.