“Been a while since these saw any use. Should still have some juice left.” Amos, hands clasped behind his back, nodded encouragingly at Fritz and I who stood in what served as the arcade’s back room.

This near-empty area wasn’t what I’d imagined would be right behind The Gap. Though there were a few random boxes lying around, most of the interior was bare. Wooden floorboards covered over half of the huge space, while a desk and shelves sat in the far corner. Behind the desk there was just enough room for a bed. That, and a laptop right on top of a pillow.

I almost asked the obvious question, deciding it best not to intrude. Fritz wasn’t so silent.

“Uhh, sir, do you live here?” Fritz said, glancing around every corner. “Not that it isn’t a fine bedroom and all. I guess I figured everyone liked to separate home from work.”

“What, scared of a few cobwebs kid?” Amos said, leaning toward my friend. “The spiders? Best roommates I’ve ever had. Hard to beat free pest control.”

I couldn’t say I agreed. Not only were the insects constantly prowling around my house, what with the trees surrounding it, I was also hard-pressed to keep letting them outside. Every week found me waking up to eight tiny legs crawling across my room’s carpet. Didn’t they have somewhere else they could live?

We stood next to the desk, hands at our sides. No chairs for either of us; Amos said they’d only interfere when maneuvering around with the headsets on. I felt like a blind man taking his first hesitant step.

“Before you get started, there’s a few things I should mention first,” Amos said. “First, and the thing I’m most proud of, is that these have a few upgrades built in. Nothing you probably haven’t seen when you were growing up.”

Though I’d played around with most every game on a VR headset, Fritz and I were always eager to learn something new. Anyone visiting the arcade when we were around usually ended up asking questions. More often than not we had an answer ready. When it came to games, both modern and old, we were practically experts.

It helped that many of them were created by Millennium Games. The games they made always sold like hotcakes, and, barring Battlebond, I’d played them all.

“Every game has that spark, that sense of distraction which pulls you in and blocks out anything around you,” Amos said, breaking me out of my train of thought. “Take Dragon’s Fire for example. What made it special?”

“The challenge,” Fritz immediately retorted.

“The animation,” I said. Truth be told, the game’s difficulty was a close second.

“Both fair points, and I’m inclined to agree with Kage here,” the man said. “Those headsets you’re holding are a temporary portal of sorts. To any game your brain can think of. Controlling Dirk against the dragon Singe will seem like a piece of cake in comparison.”

I stared, openmouthed, Fritz right alongside me. That kind of tech was, well, rare. And outrageously expensive.

Millennium along with a few other developers had advertised similar products in the past. Most people could have slaved away at their job for years and not come close to purchasing one of the devices, much less two. While not as immersive as Battlebond, this sure beat playing through Galaga or Pacman for the fifth time in a row.

“Sir, how the hell did you score something like that!” Fritz said.

“It’s only Amos, Fritz. And let’s just say I cashed in a few favors from one of my old friends.” Amos chuckled to himself, running his hands through his shaved head. “Put them on. I’ll give you the basics once they’ve calibrated.”

Fastening the headset’s elastic band around my head I pulled it over my eyes. As I powered it on, I blinked hard. While I’d used many of these in the past, the actual process of it scanning my eyes to send images to my mind was never pleasant. There were lines of text that popped up along the way, determining my height, weight, and body structure- a digitized doppelganger created in under a minute.

I nearly shouted in surprise as a voice blared in my ear. That was completely out of left field. AI assistants had never been a part of this technology.

“INITIAL BOOTUP PROCEDURES INITIATED,” a female voice said, as if she was directly in my right ear. It spoke with a strange, clipped accent, the words drawn out and distorted. “UNIT 001 HAS BEEN ACTIVATED, AND TEST SUBJECT SCANNED.”

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Whoa hold on a minute. Test subject?

“Good morning!” the voice said, softer now, growing less...robotic with each word. “Based on my recent diagnostic, you are a young male of approximately 17 years of age. Would you kindly state your name so that I might better understand my new host?”

“I…” I scratched my head. “Fritz, you hearing this?”

“Isn’t it awesome! Mine even has a British accent. Think I’ll call him Alfred; every Batman needs a butler,” Fritzz said, grinning wide beneath his headset.

“My name is Kage, uhh, voice in my head.”

“Kage,” she said silently, as if committing it to memory. “Excellent. The one who talked with me before had a name even I had difficulty pronouncing. Forgive this next question - which may be a little presumptuous - but I would like you to choose one for me, please. I’ve found it helps make me seem more...human.”

Fritz had already decided on one, and I probably should have just picked something off the top of my head. Yet a part of me felt this was important, a task that shouldn’t be so readily ignored. I wanted her name to be unique.

Amanda was one possibility. I listed off a dozen other names in my head, but none of them seemed to stick out. Instead I found myself coming back the one that I’d first brushed off.

“Lovi,” I said. “I think I’ll call you Lovi.”

I had to stifle a laugh as she enthusiastically agreed.

“Mind the desk Fritz!” Amos said. “Don’t recall Batman having such poor coordination.” I couldn’t see Fritz next to me, only heard him stumbling around yelling profanities. He must have dived into a preselected game. The fact that there were apparently limitless options to choose from made this too good to be true.

“Kage,” Amos said, quieter, right to my left. “Wanted to speak to you while your friend was oblivious.”

I braced myself for the question he was about to ask. This had been a long time coming. Only our first week at The Gap and I had damaged one of the machines, too overeager in an attempt to pass up Fritz on the scoreboard. Amos had just brushed it aside, telling me it would have fallen apart soon anyways.

“I hear,” Amos said, “that you’re chomping at the bit to become an immortal.”

I opened my mouth to to tell him I’d pay for a new machine, then bit it off. What?

“Your brother got himself named,” he continued, “and you want to join him?”

“Um, yes,” I said hesitantly. “Amos, how did you know that?”

“Fritz flaps his lips any chance he gets. Surprised it took this long to come up,” Amos said.

“I thought you didn’t know what Battlebond was?”

“When it comes to games, kid, you should expect I know almost as many as you. That one in particular I have some...personal history with. Tried my best to leave it all behind me when I quit.”

Wait, Amos quit? From Battlebond?

“You’re an Unplugged,” I blurted out.

“I haven’t heard that title in a while,” Amos said. “Yeah, you hit the nail on the head kid. Chose to live the rest of my life out here on Earth, rather than stuck inside there. Best decision I ever made.”

“Can I ask why?” I pulled off the headset, holding it down at my side.

Amos shrugged and began walking, motioning me to follow. My potential future boss was an Unplugged! Why would he want to keep something like that a secret? Amos could have waltzed his way up to any news station covering Battlebond in the nation, offering up insider details. Cash deals, a new home, a full scholarship for a child, he could have it all.

“He wanted to tell you days ago. Couldn’t find the right time till now,” a familiar voice said in my mind.

I almost yelled out loud as Lovi made her presence known. Amos grinned at my response, leaning against the wall. Had he been expecting that?

“She can’t help it you know. Meeting a new face doesn’t happen all that often,” he said to me. “If it makes you feel any better she still manages to surprise me from time to time.”

“He’s just being modest,” Lovi said. “I’ve been keeping a tally over the past month. Surprises are one of my specialties.”

I glanced at Amos, bewildered. I’d taken the headset off, hadn’t I? How exactly was she able to talk? The code built into any type of VR was advanced, no doubt about it, but adding in a fully-functional, chattering AI? Not to mention Lovi being present even after I’d taken off the headset. Something like that should have only existed in the virtual world. Battlebond’s world.

“You have no idea how many questions are running through my mind,” I said. “There’s no way this should be possible.”

“That’s just it, Kage. The gap between our world and the one that Millennium made isn’t so wide anymore. You think that tech is special? I know people who brought extraordinary things out when they unplugged, others still that took something from Earth in.” Amos paused, letting out a long breath.

“I’m telling you this because, out of anyone that’s come into my arcade, you deserve to experience that world firsthand.”

“And I can show you how to get there.”