The Digital display of Dr Klink's home thermostat, read 47 degrees on this brisk September morning. The travel mug in his hand contained a light roast coffee, carefully prepared to standards that would make the popular franchise Stubucks give praise. His briefcase, was filled with documents well befitting a man having multiple PhDs in various research and technological fields. He was about 5 foot 9 inches tall, and a very thin man. He wore a light brown business suit, wingtipped shoes, and a receding hairline of brown, slightly curly, hair. He kissed his lovely wife goodbye, exited his home, and climbed into his expensive foreign car. He took a deep breath as he pressed the button to begin playing his copy of Wagner's 'Lohengrin', He was sure today would be a good day. Little more than two hours later, he was being used as a human shield in an undisclosed location.
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"Well, that's never gonna happen now, I knew you were trouble!" Dr Klink choked out desperately.
"I am well aware how the government 'asks', lady." I rejoined negotiations with Ms. Leibowitz, ignoring my struggling hostage.
"The government is not exactly the most trustworthy captor in these situations, just read... well, any book!" I asserted.
"Our methods are extreme, at first, and I assure you only necessary to keep our project classified. Additional information is provided to the 'testing engineers' upon induction. Those who do not join, sign a non disclosure and are returned to their original location. I was moments from explaining this, before events lead us to this futile, unwarranted..." She hesitated as if considering the role reversed scenario, "Albeit, bold escape plan."
Dr Klink gave the woman a glare as if to say 'how dare you praise this Gollumpus fool' but was unable to say anything due to the powerful arm pressing on his throat.
"So what I AM hearing is, 'oh shit, please don't crush Dr. Douche-nozzle's windpipe, because we fucked up!' And what I'm NOT hearing is, 'Sorry we withheld critical information, causing you to lose your shit.... oh and for kidnapping you." I provoked.
"A brief warning should have been given when you received your ticket, about the confidentiality of the project, as well as a vague explanation of what to expect." She contested.
I thought back to the lanky skateboarder, and his maddening overuse of Ebonics. I remembered Im basically here, because I lifted the invite from someone who owed my brother money. It was also now that I noticed the two sizeable goons in security uniforms had inched uncomfortably close, during my exchanges with the lady scientist. Rapidly my anger subsided and I was only left with angst, like a lone activist who's fellow protestors dispersed as the riot squad appeared. I couldn't see a plausible happy ending to this unfortunate predicament.
"So what do we do about this? Even though this guy was kinda rude earlier, I'd prefer not to crush his throat in a desperate coup de gras." I confessed, "Normally Im the 'rational discussion' and compromise type."
"I highly advocate for the wellbeing of Dr. Klink, ...the hostage. Because harm to him does drastically change the situation, for the worse, on your end. Also I remind you the odds are stacked very heavily against you, to begin with." Advised Ms. Leibowitz.
"He must be important, or I imagine Hans and Franz over here would'a put me down by now. But in the interest of conflict resolution, lets say I release him; what happens next?" I probed, gesturing to the very intimidating security guards.
"When you let Dr Klink go, he will be taken to the medical station and checked. Then Billy, and Jimmy Lee, will escort you back to my office, There you will sign a Non Disclosure Agreement or NDA, and either begin the process of returning home, OR we can discuss the terms of your contract as a 'Testing Engineer'." She proposed.
I felt my hostage squirm, as I imagined we both had a look of complete shock. His throat tightened in my arm, as if preparing to shout, situation be damned, but nothing followed. For an instant I was worried I had completely cut off his oxygen, but then he seemed to grunt in reluctance. Probably choking back his rage, until he's out of this situation, I thought. I took several moments to consider my options. If this were a movie, and I was Arnold Terminator, I would use Klink as a shield, (check) bulldoze the security... golems, (uuuuh, I don't think-) and dive in a trash or laundry chute. (Yeah right, my ass would get stuck in the opening, and carved like a turkey by the gun turrets. Not happening.) So I guess I have to drop the doc, and hope this lady is for real, I thought. At least if I die, I had a chance to choke this asshat for being rude earlier, although that was really just luck of the draw. Besides there are worse deaths than an epic last stand against a shady government plot to-.... what are they doing here anyway? Guess there is only one way to find out.
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I took a deep breath and I released the rear naked choke I had on the Doctor, and put my hands above my head. Two things happened at this time, Dr Klink fell to his knees and coughed while grabbing his throat, and Billy and Jimmy took me down. Hard. Except for the coughing and swearing coming from Dr.Klink PhD and a rare whisper of the staff, the lab was reticent. Their reaction tells me that the situation had shocked or frightened most of the workers, so I assume a majority of the staff was civilian, because soldiers and government agents etc. would be far less skittish. Billy and Jimmy dropped me on my original starting point, the floor of Ms Leibowitz's office, like a sack of potatoes. Then took position standing guard on either side of me. Moments later the dark haired Ms. Leibowitz stormed in, past the goons, reached in her desk and pulled out a bottle of pills. After downing a couple of what I hope was aspirin, and chasing them with water, she sighed heavily and turned to address the disaster on her office floor.
"We have to stop meeting like this, Ms. Raven" I smirked.
"How do you know my first name, and did I tell you it was ok to be so familiar?" She scorned.
"I've always been bad with names. So if I don't know, or cant remember, I have a habit of putting Mr/Mrs in front of what I remember or notice about someone, in your case your beautiful black hair. If you keep blushing, I'll think you're Tsundere." I grinned.
"What is that?" She scowled unsure if I was insulting her.
"Its a new term for and old cliche." I began, "Basically when a girl pretends to not like, the person she likes."
"Ok, I'll add delusional to your charts. That's not the first inappropriately timed reference Ive heard form you either, are you taking this seriously?!" She asked, obviously agitated.
"I'm a laugh to keep from crying kinda guy, I guess." I tried to sound sarcastic, but my sincerity betrayed me.
"Lets talk about your situation, what have you decided?" She inquired.
"I'm kinda shocked to be alive right now, to be honest. When I thought I would die as a lab rat, the only things I was fighting for were a couple of friends I'd like to see again, Finishing that samurai shampoo anime, and I was seriously pissed I'd never finish my tenth playthrough of The Elder Tales 3: Borrowind." I ranted, realizing I must sound like a super nerd, "Point is, I have a small, empty apartment, and I've lived paycheck to paycheck since I was 16 years old. Your ticket said 'Claim your place in gaming history.' So here I am."
"I see..." She replied, staring at me with a discerning eye.
"And if your place in that history comes with great risk, and many challenges. Would you still be this determined. This is not something you can quit, undo, or run away from. You must be tenacious in the face of danger, much like you were today, Only not as hasty."
"In the neighborhood I live in, waiting for the bus is being tenacious in the face of danger. Besides I'm Use to challenges, I worked a full time job, got a high school diploma, while living on my own, in that same neighborhood. But those are trivial compared to playing Frikkin' fantasy 7 with out a memory card." I boasted.
After a few moments of thought she handed me a terrifyingly intimidating legal document to pour over. After reading it I signed it with a heavy sigh.
"Since I'm signing over my soul, can you at least teach me how to play guitar?!" I said sarcastically.
She took the document sealed it in an envelope, then locked it in a file cabinet.
"That's not the least bit ominous, nope." I joked
She ignored me, again, and turned to me with a serious face. Now she was legally allowed to tell me a few things about the project, and what she said sounded like pure science fiction.
"This technology that we are testing, It may revolutionize the world. You will be one of the first people to virtually live in a game world simulation. Where living, growing and feeling has a physical effect on your actual body. But also, hurting suffering and/or dying in-game has real physical world consequences" She spoke somberly.
"That sounds REALLY famili-" I said.
"No. No it does not! It's not anything like whatever nerd-thing, you were about to reference. This is cutting edge technology, that can have major implementations in education, science and medicine someday. So please have a little respect for my job." She interrupted.
"...As I was saying" She continued, in an annoyed tone.
"You will be fitted with a device that will tap into the energy flowing through your Brain and central nervous system. You will feel real joy, and pain, on a ratio that is theorized to be safe for your body and mind. Dying in-game, can result in your physical body, enduring a trauma, commonly ranging from intense chronic migraines to a transient ischemic attack, possibly an acute stroke."
...What did I sign up for, I wondered.
-----
Down several corridors of the extensive secret laboratory was a room I had no idea, at this moment, even existed. The floor was a cold sheet of stainless steel, matching the walls and ceiling. Along the walls were intricate networks of wires run to consoles, with various sized tubes running to four large contraptions. The only way to describe them would be by comparing them to the one person escape pods on the spaceship's from science fiction TV shows, On the Northern wall, was this statement:
Full Body Illusion in Immersive Virtual Reality with Physical Avatars.