Year: 2343

10 hours before Dreamscape Online is released.

*BEEEP BEEEP BEEEP BEEEP BE-*

Riley Grey blindly frantically waves his hand in the air until the alarm clock's motion sensor is triggered and deactivates, finally putting a stop to the incessant racket the infernal device created mere moments ago. He pulls the cover over his eyes to block out the sunlight from his bedroom window at the 76th floor of his apartment tower. After spending some time cursing the need to get up so early he reluctantly starts his morning routine before leaving for college. Getting up from the bed he eyes the cold black exterior of his Virtuo pod. The Virtuo pod itself had already been out for a couple years now and there were plenty of games being made for it, but the thing was that nothing felt... big enough.

There were plenty of FPS games for it. Hell, that genre probably makes up the majority of the games for the platform. Riley never got a Virtuo pod though for one reason. He hated being in the city. Over the last few decades, the human population had been growing outrageously, to the point that the world government had to revise entire cities across the globe to be more efficient. now almost every city was composed entirely of skyscrapers. Instead of large sprawling mansions like Riley saw in some of his history books, now rich people invested into the tallest structures. Often times they would rent out the lower portions of their buildings to the public as living quarters for a bit of extra pocket money to pad their already substantial wallets, but the gist of the problem was that there were so many tall structures that the streets below were almost always dark from having the sun blocked most of the day except around noon. No one gets a tan anymore unless they want to waste money.

Riley was sick and tired of skyscrapers. If he had to play another military shooter blowing up piles of concrete, he was going to start ripping out his hair. Then Dreamscape Online was announced. The first actual RPG for the Virtuo pod and it was gorgeous! Riley had never seen so many trees before, everything was so vast and spread out, and the buildings were so simplistic. For Riley, it was love at first sight. He instantly ordered his own Virtuo pod and had it set up in his bedroom a few days ago. He was afraid it wasn't going to make it in time to play the game, but he had it and tonight was the night he had been waiting for so eagerly.

Lovingly patting the pod on his way out the room he went into the bathroom and took care of his morning ablutions. He came out while brushing his teeth and got dressed for a day at college. Just as he threw a shirt on, Riley heard a shout from down the hall. "Hey, bro! Hurry up or you're going to be late for your classes! The bus is going to get here in a few minutes!" Grabbing his palm drive and dropping it into his pocket Riley replied "Sure thing Evan. I'm going now." He stepped out of his bedroom and walked through the living room to see his brother sitting on the couch wearing a game visor with haptic gloves. He had his hands out in front of him like he was riding a motorcycle. Riley glanced at the TV screen that was linked to his visor to see what Evan was playing.

It looked like it was one of his war games. If there was one thing Evan liked more than sports, it was war themed games. Right now it looked like he was mowing down an approaching platoon of soldiers from a turret. Riley reached over and tapped the hologram headphones Evan was wearing. The sound cup he tapped disappeared for a moment and he asked "Hey Evan, what are you playing? those look like other players" Evan didn't stop his murder spree but said "It's a new MMO I found. Pretty cool. Called Frontline or something like that." When Riley moved his finger away from Evan's ear, the hologram headphone covered the ear again and resumed with the surround sound audio Evan was surely enjoying.

Riley stepped out of the apartment and headed towards the elevator to get to the street level. While walking down the hallway he sees a familiar, if not enjoyable figure. Oscar Maladay. The most agitating man in this entire apartment complex. Oscar was the tower's mechanic for the top 25 floors and he certainly looked the part. wearing a tan jumpsuit, he had a tool belt at his waist and a thick mustache that seemed like it would fit in well with a porno. Unfortunately, Riley just happened to be on the last floor under this vile man's jurisdiction. As Riley walked past him they glared at each other, neither giving in until they were out of each other's sight. As Riley stepped around the corner and pushed the button for the elevator he could still hear Oscar mutter to himself. "Damn brat....... can't believe I....... got 'nuff to do........ shit to deal with." Riley ignored the man. he was always complaining about something, and Riley needed to get downstairs or he would miss the bus.

After stepping out of the elevator on the ground floor Riley brought out his palm drive and connected it to the speaker in one of the molars in the back of his mouth. He played some rhythmic music through the bone conductor in his speaker. To anyone else, he was just bobbing his head to nothing, but tooth mics were a common enough occurrence that no one seemed bothered with the motion. Shortly after he got to the bus stop, the vehicle pulled up alongside him and with a hum and clank, the Rotary wheels on the bus settled onto the ground and locked with the magnetic grid underneath the pavement. Riley filed in with the other passengers waiting there and took his seat near the back of the bus. After getting comfortable, he settled down for a long nap. His apartment wasn't at the edge of the city, but the city was still pretty massive, and the 20-minute bus drive to college was always a good time to catch up on some much-needed rest.

Riley woke up to a buzzing in his head. He opened his eyes to see a floating message in front of him. "GPS Destination: College, Reached. 150 credits have been deducted from your account. Have a nice day!" Riley blinked to dismiss the message his contacts displayed. Back in the Retro Age, people used to have massive screens just to display a bit of text from a website or something. Now technology had improved enough that the screens could be implemented into a set of glasses or in Riley's case his contacts. Riley couldn't imagine how they could get along without out this kind of tech. It must have been miserable for them to not be able to see anything at a glance.

After checking his palm drive to make sure the credits really were deducted from his account, he got off the bus and went to the cafeteria to grab a bite of breakfast before heading off to class. Once inside, he pressed his thumb to the palm drive and brought up the menu while heading to the counter. He ordered a bit of protein infused scrambled eggs and vitamin rich wheat toast. The lunch lady held up her receiver and Riley pushed his palm drive into the slot to pay for the meal and ate everything on his way to class.

......

AAGGGHHH!!! I'M SO BOOOOOREED!!!! So close, yet so far! I still have a whole hour before I can go home! Riley was sitting in the last class of the day, unfortunately, it was also the most boring class. History. For Riley, nothing bugged Riley more than listening to something that's already happened. He wanted to hear something new! Not learn about something that happened almost two whole centuries ago! In desperation, Riley checked the clock again. yup. still one hour. He checked to see if his teacher, Mr. Vale was paying attention to him. seeing his back was turned to him Riley quickly activated his palm drive and connected to the internet. bringing up the screen into his contacts and linking the cursor to his eye movements, he went to his favorite website. Dreamscape Online's forums!

He checked the most recent tab to see if anything new came up. Seeing a new tab for starting races, Riley opened the link and barely held back his gasp. There were so many races. He didn't know which one he wanted to pick. After spending most of the remaining class time checking out some of the information on the new races Riley saved the tab for more thorough browsing when he went home.

After closing the tab, Riley looked at the front page for the umpteenth time and religiously read the summary of the game: Be who you want, Do what you want, Go Where you want. Dreamscape Online is your world of sword and sorcery! Riley smiled and said the game motto. "Dreamscape Online! Don't just sleep through dreams, Live them!"

Riley Jumped when he heard his teacher loudly clear his throat in a way that clearly meant he was seeking someone's attention. Quickly blinking the window closed he looked up to see Mr. Vale was staring straight at him. "Is there something you would like to share with the rest of the class, Mr. Grey?" Riley blushed furiously as he stuttered out a response "Um. Uh. N-no sir." Mr. Vale crossed his arms "Well then perhaps you would like to answer my question for the rest of the class?" Riley floundered for an answer that wouldn't come and sweated bullets until Mr. Vale saved him from further struggles after squeezing the bridge of his nose between thumb and index finger. "Ms. Overidge. Would you be so kind as to remind Mr. Grey of my question and answer for him?"

A well-dressed girl practically popped up from her chair and stood stiff as a board. Riley groaned internally as he saw the girl. Of COURSE, it had to be her. Little miss perfect ALWAYS has the right answer and is always happy to suck up to the teachers as well. "Thank you, Mr. Vale! You were asking if we could tell you what event happened that led to breaking the scientific roadblock from the Retro age back in the twenty-first century and allowed us as a human race to bloom into the technical marvel of society we are today!" GOD! You could practically hear the smiley faces in that sentence! Riley dropped his head into his arms to avoid looking at such shameful flattery. "Err. Yes. Ms. Overidge. Maybe not quite as... eloquently as you put it, but correct. Now please tell me your answer." Mr. Vale was probably one of the only teachers that didn't really enjoy such heavy handed boot licking and it was evident in the discomfort displayed on his face. Nevertheless, Miley Overidge plodded on. Completely oblivious to the grimace plain as day in Mr. Vale's expression.

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"During the Retro Age Technology started stagnating at around the year 2078. People simply couldn't make technology any smaller than it already was. That all changed as soon as we Discovered NanoTechnology though! Once people started making Nanobots, they wondered about applying the same technique to circuitry and wiring, and thus Nanotechnology was born! After that, we were able to create entire circuit boards on microscopic levels. This spread out to everything we use today and now the only reason things are bigger is that we want them to be!" With that Miley sat down in her seat and clasped her hands together on her desk. Riley couldn't see her face because he was sorta behind her, but Riley was sure she was smiling.

Mr. Vale nodded and said "Thank you Ms. Overidge. That was a... uh. very well thought out explanation." Mr. Vale looked at the clock and frowned. "Well, class. it looks like time is up. Pack your things and go. Class is over." Riley started to leave but Mr. Vale stopped him. "Mr. Grey, you stay. I want you here for detention. I want you to write a brief essay on today's topic before you go. I need to be sure you fully understand the importance of our history" He stared meaningfully at me until I grudgingly sat back down and brought out a holopad and Digipen to start writing.

......

Riley stepped out of the college building and reached for the sky in victory. "Freedom!!! Hahahaha! Take THAT oppressive atmosphere!" Smiling at his exuberance, Riley made his way back home to his apartment complex. He couldn't wait at the bus stop because the bus had long since come and gone. Instead, he set a ground eating pace in the direction of home. It wasn't late in the day, only about 4:00 in the afternoon, but because of the nature of the city, it was already dark enough to need the street lights. as time passed Riley picked up his pace a bit. He didn't want to be outside at curfew.

As if to counter those thoughts, one of the many surveillance drones patrolling the city approached him and spoke in a both authoritative and monotone voice. "Civilian. please present identification." Riley wordlessly pulled out his palm drive and inserted it into the slot near the lower half of the floating orb. "Identification received. Riley Grey. Identity confirmed. Riley Grey, you are an unregistered adult not allowed out during curfew. The curfew will be initiated soon. Please state the reason for being outside when the curfew is imminent."

Riley took a deep breath to calm himself before replying. "I was at college. My teacher had me stay behind to write an essay for detention. Because of that, I was unable to get to the bus in time. Right now I am going back home." The drone paused for a moment analyzing the data. "Alibi corroborated with college faculty. Detention for: Riley Grey has indeed been logged in the college records. The route that your GPS recorded for today indicates you have attempted to travel the most direct route from college to your designated rest area and have not deviated from this path. I will escort you the rest of your journey to avoid any further issues due to imminent curfew." With that said, the surveillance drone ejected Riley's palm drive and after he got it back the drone floated off in the direction Riley was going. He shrugged his shoulders and followed behind it.

After a minute Riley looked around puzzled. "Hey, uh, Mister drone, sir? where is your partner? I thought drones always went in pairs." The drone didn't slow down but still replied. "Mission objective is currently deemed safe for singular travel. The synchronized drone is currently maintaining surveillance protocol in my absence." Riley nodded. That made sense. Sure, drones often worked in pairs, but that didn't mean they couldn't work independently. Riley remembered one time he saw a man holding a poor woman hostage at gunpoint. surveillance drones don't have any lethal weaponry but that doesn't mean they are completely helpless. when a drone pair found the situation they had split apart. The first went up to the man and activated its siren and light show. it started making demands for the man to release the woman unharmed.

The man, having his attention focused on the drone in front of him failed to notice the drone that had circled behind the building and was approaching from the guy's back. Once the second drone was close enough it fired a Tesla gun into him. the man instantly dropped to the ground spasming from the ranged taser fire. After a second, the drone stopped and the woman was able to get away. unfortunately, the Old man had a bad heart and that Tesla gun had given the man a heart attack. When the drone noticed the abnormal heart rate after it scanned him it used the Tesla gun as an improvised defibrillator to get his heart beating at the right rhythm again. The police arrived on the scene at that moment and after checking the man took him into custody.

When Riley finally got home he thanked the drone and went inside. Riley quickly went to the elevator, excited to get ready for Dreamscape Online. After stepping off the elevator he walked around the corner and froze. There was a woman in the hallway. She must have been a new tenant because he had never seen her before. She was pretty and wearing a business dress, but that wasn't what made him stop in his tracks. She clearly had a look of discomfort on her face as Oscar 'fucking' Maladay was hitting on her. The disgusting pig was casually leaning against the wall blocking her path to the elevator with his back to Riley.

As Riley watched Oscar reached up and cupped the lady's chin in his hand in a way he probably thought was supposed to be seductive but instead came out as fucking creepy to the extreme. As the woman looked up she noticed Riley standing there and was practically begging him to help her out with how hard she was staring at him. She started to open her mouth to say something. Probably a polite excuse to spare Oscars feelings or something, but that doesn't work with Oscar. He doesn't take no for an answer. You have to smack him upside the head with a rock to get him to admit the possibility of there maybe being a "no" somewhere out there.

As she opens her mouth Riley cuts her off "Hey Oscar. Can't you see you gross her the fuck out? why don't you go terrorize some cockroaches with that wad of fuzz you call a mustache?" Oscar turns around when he started talking and his face morphed from surprise to anger as Riley finished his sentence. While Oscar has his back to her the woman quickly takes advantage of his momentary distraction and rushes past him to the elevator. Once the elevator dings and closes behind the woman, guaranteeing her safety, Oscar goes from anger to pure rage. His face turns beet red. "Careful there, buddy. would hate to have someone mistake you for a cherry and pop your head onto a sundae or something." Riley says while walking past him to open the door to his apartment.

"Get your scrawny fucking ass over here you thrice damned piss-ant!!" Oscar yells. Riley turns and smiles smugly at him. "Nah, Just got a new Virtuo pod the other day. I'm gonna go break this baby in before I play a new game coming out tonight." and without a moment of hesitation Riley steps through the apartment door and closes it behind himself. Immediately after closing the door, Riley pauses and listens carefully with his ear pressed to the wood counting down on his fingers. 3... 2... 1... "RRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHGGH!!!!!!!" laughing to himself, Riley leaves Oscar to fume impotently in the hallway.

*Riley Stops to check the living room to see his brother is holding onto some weird looking controller playing a football game... wait, what? Walking up and tapping Evan on his shoulder Riley asks the most blatantly obvious question on his mind. "What the fuck kind of monstrosity is that? Did you go on an archeological dig and find that in some tar pits?! You can tell where the model's skeleton was! The Players are moving like cardboard!" Evan laughs and pauses the game. "Whoa there! chill out for a second. I have a friend that collects old game consoles as a hobby. He let me play some of the old sports games that he had. Check this shit out! This game was made back in the year 2045!" Riley's jaw dropped. "No way! How is that thing able to even run! it looks like it's barely even 10k resolution!" Evan picks up the controller and hands it to Riley. "Not even that much! it's just at the edge of 4k. Here feel this controller it's so damn weird!" Riley takes the controller and for a moment is so confused he can't even figure out how to hold the thing. After a moment of fumbling, he finally figures it out. "What?! they don't even use your pinky or ring finger, and they make the thumbs do 90% of the work!"

"I know right? I was just getting the hang of it but I don't think I'll ever be good with it. I was just about to pack all this stuff up and go back to Frontline." Evan took the controller and starts carefully packing away the ancient console to give back to his friend. Riley helps him out before getting back up. "Alright, I'm gonna go boot up my Virtuo pod and get ready for Dreamscape Online. see you in a couple months" Riley gives a mischievous grin. Evan frowns and points at Riley in an authoritative way to drive his statement home. "I know you can play in your sleep, but that doesn't mean you can keep playing all you want. You have responsibilities outside that game." Riley crosses his arms in a way that is clearly stubborn. "like what?"

"like bro hugs? and munchies? and don't forget about snoresville" Riley pauses a moment thinking about how he should interpret his brothers odd choice of words. As a moment of realization strikes him he holds up his index finger as a sign of victory. "Fist bumps, breakfast lunch and dinner, and college!" Evan smiles at him and says "Got it in one! Go on then. Have some fun!" Riley smiles and quickly runs into his room and jumps into the Virtuo pod. Excited for what the future will bring, the pod's lid couldn’t close fast enough for Riley Grey. As soon as the lid is sealed, he says the three magic words.

"Initiate Virtual Immersion!"