Morgan waved from the kerb in the bright morning sun. He watched as his dad drove the old and battered car away, standing out like a sore thumb against the sleek new vehicles in the traffic.

With his overnight bag in his lap, he wheeled his chair to the entrance of the building. As he approached the door, his wrist screen beeped lightly and started to deliver a message in the tinny tone of someone talking over an interphone. "Welcome to the Lab, Morgan. Please show your wrist screen to the door for access." Morgan obediently lifted his arm to show the screen side to the door.

"Verified. Please enter, and head to floor 3 via the elevator in front." The large metal doors receded quicky into their housing with the announcement, and Morgan moved into the spacious, darkly marbled lobby towards the elevator. When he was halfway across the lobby, he heard the large doors close together with a metallic sound that resonated through the space. There was no one manning the reception desk, and suddenly, he was starkly aware of how alone he felt. A dying man entering a mysterious lab, having signed his soul away. He paused for a second, then remembering that he didn't really have any other option he pressed forward into the elevator.

The elevator doors opened to a bright corridor, clean white panels with coloured strips along the wall. The contrast from the lobby was so great that Morgan wondered if he was in the same building. His wrist screen beeped once more.

"Please follow the blue line, and report to room number 17." the tinny voice intoned.

Morgan followed the line down a twisting series of corridors before finding a door labelled '17' and knocking on it.

"Come in" said a gruff voice through the door.

Morgan entered the room, noting the complex fixtures that looked like overcomplicated exercise machines. A man wearing a lab coat and sporting a well-groomed beard looked over his shoulder at Morgan as he held what looked like an electrode.

"Just one sec" the man proclaimed, as he fiddled with the electronic equipment. He set it down after a handful of seconds.

"Sorry about that. It's easier if I just do it than send for maintenance. Anyway, I'm doctor Octava. I'll be looking after you for the next few hours as we put you through your paces and get a proper measure on things. I've read your file and assure you that we'll be sending all the data we collect to the research team working on 'The Sickness'. I hear they're doing well; I've been trying to keep up with it. You're not the first case we've had. Can you walk?"

"Thank you, Doctor. Yes, I can, if a little unsteadily. I wanted to save my energy for the dance you're going to put me through." Morgan grinned at the doctor. "Where do we start?"

Doctor Octava smiled back, "We'll start with the basics, then we'll take some of this for a spin." he gestured expansively at the machines along the walls. "By the end of today we should have enough data on you to make the perfect digital counterpart, as well as the best approach to your stay in the capsule."

While Morgan had thought quite a lot about the game and his subsequent employment within it, he'd not really spared much thought about the actual capsule. He asked the doctor.

"What's the capsule like, do you know much about it? I'm finding it hard to believe I'll be physically out of commission in some kind of egg for a whole year."

Doctor Octava laughed. "You know, your egg comparison isn't too far off the mark. You'll be safely put in a gel and fed; your muscles stimulated electronically. Now, I'm certainly no expert in the field so can't provide details, but I've seen them working well in the last few years. I also do some of the post rehabilitation tests and everyone is fine, heck, most clients come out physically in better shape than when they went in. Anyway." He waved towards a side door. "As I hope you're aware we'll have to give you a shave so we can wire you up. But not in here with the machines, come with me next door quickly."

"No worries doctor." Morgan replied as he followed. "It's certainly not the first time I've been shaved for science."

The time passed quickly, and by the end Morgan was exhausted, and collapsed back into his wheelchair. He'd been poked and prodded, measured and weighed, stripped and scanned. He'd used up all his energy standing, jumping, biking, rowing, punching, and a hundred other charades. Either on the machines or on the mat, he was smothered in electrodes the entire time. The uncomfortable feeling of the adhesive pulling on his skin in a hundred directions at once was particularly unsettling. At the end of the session, he thanked all the gods for being largely hairless.

"Thank you, Morgan, you did well here today." The Doctor addressed him. "Doing it all in one sitting is impressive, even if you weren't ill. It's about three hundred meters to the cafeteria, you going to make it? I can call you some assistance if you like."

Morgan shook his head wearily.

"Thanks Doc, I think I've got enough to make it if there aren't any hills."

Doctor Octava smiled. "No hills. Follow the yellow line left as you go out the door. I'll catch up with you tomorrow."

Morgan slowly rolled his leaden body along the white panelled corridors, following the yellow line before coming to a set of doors, with one side mercifully propped open. Entering the room he found a couple of people who looked his age sat at one of the tables eating food from a tray and talking quietly, and an old lady with bone white hair in a net staring passively the other side of a steaming counter. He rolled up to the counter, and the lady snapped to attention, shooting him an embarrassed smile.

"What'll you be having, love?"

She organised him a plateful of meat and vegetables with gravy, loaded a glass of water onto his tray and after thanking her, Morgan headed over to the occupied table.

The man and woman both turned their heads as he approached.

"Mind if I join you?" Morgan asked the pair

The woman gestured to a chair. "Be my guest. I'm Angie, this is Ryan."

Ryan inclined his head in greeting. Morgan could see that Angie, a small mousy brunette, looked as ill and fatigued as he knew he must have looked. In contrast, Ryan, a large man sporting glossy curls looked fresh faced and healthy. Morgan set his tray down and got to his food. "Thanks Angie, and hi Ryan. I'm Morgan. Forgive me, I'm absolutely famished. I feel like I've run a dozen marathons." He started to speak between mouthfuls. "You guys got invited here?"

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Angie raised her eyebrow. "Invited? Yeah, we got the golden ticket to play Oneiroi. Don't mean to be rude, but are you suffering from the same thing as me?"

Morgan nodded in confirmation and she continued.

"'The Sickness.' God, I hate that name. Sucks to be us, eh."

"Yeah, sucks to be us." Morgan repeated. He turned to Ryan.

"If you don't mind me asking, what they got you in for?"

Ryan looked up from his food shyly and shrugged.

"I, uh, was invited out of nowhere to a six-month capsule trial, to work for Eleos in Oneiroi. It's all so much. In a nutshell, my parents died when I was really young." He waved away their concern." It's old news. But I've just scraped through graduating college, and with no parents - I'm basically a ward of the state with zero prospects unless I can find a job at the factories, and I'm not sure that's a life at all. And now this, it's more than I could have dreamed. Doesn't Oneiroi look great?"

Morgan and Angie shared a look, before Morgan replied. "Yeah, I guess it does. And I'm in for an entire year. I've got 'The Sickness', and they're basically hoping to put me on ice until its curable."

Angie chipped in. "I'm the same way. Do you guys have any idea what we'll be doing in game? I couldn't find much in the way of clues, even after going over the contract. Just that we must perform their tasks and objectives. What the hell does that even mean, tasks and objectives?"

Ryan cocked his head as his enthusiasm rapidly died. "My contract was a bit more specific. I'm to report to a settlement called Holmsgrath be a miner, 10 hours a day, 6 days a week. I'll have an option to switch profession after 3 months, apparently, and I can back out at any time, but there is a severance fee it'd take me decades to pay off. So, it's all or nothing really, and I've nothing to lose." He shrugged and looked dejected. "Let's hope it's better than the factories."

The three shared a moment of silence that was interrupted by a beeping sound. They all looked at their wrists at once.

"Hi Ryan, would you please follow the blue line to report to room 114."

"That's me. Good to meet you both. See you soon." The large man waved them goodbye as he left the canteen.

The two who remained followed his progress around the tables and out the door.

Angie broke the silence.

"They're conscripting orphans to mine in a game? Let alone us no hopers. Sorry." She looked apologetically at Morgan.

He grinned and shrugged before replying. "Yeah, it's pretty odd. Why can't the company just magic the resources they need with their code or something? Or maybe even just magic, after all. Maybe it's some kind of virtual community service thing they got going."

Angie looked at him thoughtfully.

"I don't know; that Ryan guy looked like a good sort, though of course looks can be deceiving. You know, there have been rumours going around about the recent disappearance of not only the CEO of Eleos, but also the lead game architect. Nothing definitive, but enough smoke that there's a fire somewhere.”

"I'd heard that the CEO was having health problems that may explain his absence, and at his age that's not surprising, but I'd not heard anything about the lead game guy." Morgan replied. "At least the game seems to be in good health, nothing but positive reports from those who have played, so I hear. How was your testing?"

Angie grimaced. "It was hardcore. I made it to the second machine, the one like a bike before I had to throw in the towel. The 'throw your hands in the air like you just don't care' part really wore me out. I am going to hurt all over tomorrow."

"Sounded like you must have cared too much." Morgan quipped.

A beeping sounded.

"Hi Angie, would you please follow the blue line to room number 15."

Angie rose from the table. "It was great to meet you, Morgan. Maybe I'll see you around. Look me up in game if you can, and I'll try the same."

Morgan nodded his assent and waved goodbye. "Likewise, I'll catch you soon."

Now alone, he sat at the table slowly drifting off to sleep until his wrist screen interrupted him. "Hi Morgan, you're almost done for the day, please follow the green line to the rec room while we finalise your sleeping arrangements."

He followed the instructions, travelling through more featureless corridors before coming to a large room equipped plushily with sofas and entertainment. A pool table sat in one corner; a large TV adorned the wall. Morgan picked a sofa and staggered out of his wheelchair, collapsing onto the soft seat. After staring at the ceiling in fatigue for a minute, he decided to phone home. He hit the home hub option on his wrist screen. After a quick chat with his parents where he updated them on the day's events, he was interrupted by the wrist screen once more. "Hi Morgan, please follow the pink line to room 3."

Excusing himself from the call, he forced himself to his feet. Upon arriving at the room, he saw the door was open and he headed in. A technician stood over a capsule with its lid extended on metal supports. "Hi, you must be Morgan, I'm Steve Burton, capsule engineer. This baby is for you for tonight." he tapped the metallic side of the tube lovingly.

"Hi Mr Burton." greeted Morgan. "I wasn't expecting this." He gestured to the capsule.

"Call me Steve." the engineer said. "It'll only take us ten minutes to get you strapped in, you ready?"

Morgan gave his assent, and Steve started covering him with more electrodes, their wires trailing into the goo in the pod.

"It looks far worse than it is, I assure you." reassured Steve. "Trust me, I sleep in one of these most nights now. The gel is nice and warm, dip your hand in. This is different from the full version you'll be experiencing; this doesn't cover your head for a start. Your night in here will help us calibrate the big pod, hence the extreme number of electrodes." He shook his bundle of electrodes to punctuate his point. "If you don't mind me saying, you look tired enough to sleep in a fire, so I doubt it'll bother you."

Morgan chuckled weakly. "I feel like I've spent the day hauling rocks up a mountain. I'm ready for sure."

When Morgan was sufficiently wired, Steve helped him into the capsule. The pleasant sensation of the warm gel flowed up his body as he was lowered in. It tingled slightly as it covered him, a pleasant sensation. His head had barely come to rest on the cushion of the unit before he was asleep.

The next day Morgan awoke to a beeping from his wrist screen. He checked it to see he'd been allowed to sleep late into the morning, and it as now almost midday. A minute later, Steve bustled into the room.

"Good morning to you, Morgan. how did you sleep?" he asked as he moved to check the display on the capsule console.

"Wow." Morgan started to reply around a yawn. "I feel like I've slept for days. I don't even think my muscles hurt from yesterday." he moved his arms and legs around experimentally, the attached cables drifting in the gel.

Steve smiled broadly at him as he started removing electrodes from Morgan. "It's amazing, isn't it. My uncle is responsible for a large part of the electronic stimulation the capsule provides. Revolutionary stuff. You ok to get out?"

Morgan nodded at him

"Step on out if you would."

Steve removed the rest of the wiring and pointed Morgan to a door on the side of the room.

"You can have a shower in there and get yourself together. I'm off for now. Follow the black line left of the door to get back to the canteen for breakfast. They'll let you know what's next through the wrist screen."

"Thanks for your help, Steve." Morgan replied gratefully, as he walked towards the door.

The rest of the day passed quickly, with Morgan being directed to follow various coloured lines as they continued testing. He felt great after his night in the capsule, he hadn't felt so energetic in recent memory. After a brief lunch, he raced down the corridors, being subjected in turn to various intelligence, maths and memory tests by a series of people in lab coats.

Morgan ended up back outside the door of blue 17, to be greeted by Doctor Octava. "Welcome back, Morgan. I hope you've enjoyed your stay?"

Morgan smiled at the doctor. "Enjoyed is probably a strong word, especially once they got a maths test out. But it hasn't been unpleasant for sure."

"You're looking spritely today." the doctor commented.

"That capsule bed thing is amazing." Exclaimed Morgan. "I feel a decade younger. Now I'm ready for yesterday's tests." The doctor grinned at him expansively. "Cool, isn't it. We had to do the tests yesterday to get the capsule configured to you. We can do the tests again if you insist."

Morgan rapidly backpedalled. "Oh no, thanks doc, I think I'm done, I feel like I've done more testing than a clinic in a pandemic."

Doctor Octava laughed. "Alright, I'll let you off this time then. We've called your family to come pick you up, they should arrive in the next half hour. You got any questions for me?"

Morgan and the doctor chatted amicably for a while, until it was time for Morgan to leave.

"Subject to a further review of the test results, we'll be seeing you again in a couple of days." The doctor said to him as he checked his few belongings. He thanked the doctor and left, heading to the front and the waiting car.