"I'm afraid it's terminal," Dr. Jonson told Stephen's father. At his words, Stephen, Pear to his friends, tried not to let the tears that were building in the corners of his eyes fall. What a cruel trick Fate had pulled on his father with this latest hand he'd been dealt.

"What are the options?" Mrs. Pearson asked as she gripped her husband's hand on her shoulder.

"I'm afraid that at this point we don't have many," Dr. Jonson told her. "The medications are expensive and there tend to be many severe side effects from them. These side effects often include partial, or even full, paralysis of the body and many of the patients have suffered an increased risk of heart attack and stroke as a result of the medicines."

"What about Astrana?" Pear asked quietly. His parents and his father's doctor turned to look at him and he tried not to squirm. He didn't like the attention. "I remember one of the ads that C99 sent out said that they had developed their VR Pod technology with input from doctors so that they could be used for therapy and to help coma patients. All the Pods are supposed to come with built in monitors and stuff so that someone's heart rate and brain signal can be checked by doctors and stuff. Could one of those be used so that Dad doesn't have to worry about any side effects from the meds?"

"It's an idea," the doctor eventually said after thinking further about it. "We'd likely have to place you into a medical coma and keep you close by so that we can monitor your condition. The C99 company has already made several publications on the use of their Pod technologies in the treatment of coma patients and even patients that have been paralyzed. All of their findings show good things. This is an option that I hadn't even considered."

"What about the pricing of it?" Mr. Pearson asked. "I've seen the prices of the basic models of those, it's all Stephen's been going on about since the whole thing was announced. They aren't cheap and what I'll need for this idea will shoot the price higher since I'll probably need the whole thing made custom."

"We don't need to worry about the money," Mrs. Pearson said looking at her husband. "I'll talk to my parents if I have to. Anything so I don't lose you like this."

"Marie," Mr. Pearson said softly looking at her, "don't do that for me. Your parents already don't like me, if you go to them asking for money for this, then they're liable to cut you off entirely. I'd hate to be the cause of that."

"I can make some calls and send some messages to see about getting grants for research that would be used to help make this a reality," Dr. Jonson interjected before Mrs. Pearson could speak. "All the research that C99 did was almost solely for the development of the technology. If I can get the right grants and permissions, they'll be happy to have a new avenue for research using their Pods. If this works out well, then they'll probably end up paying you George."

"You think so?" Mr. Pearson asked.

"It's happened before," Dr. Jonson said with a shrug.

"Then we'll leave you to make the arrangements for that for now," Mrs. Pearson said, "right now let's continue with the other options."

As the doctor and his parents continued to discuss treatment plans for his father's condition, Pear tuned them out to consider how he might be able to help. He was barely twenty-two and couldn't imagine what he would do if his father passed away now.

As he thought, he didn't notice that the other adults had finished speaking until his father tapped him on the shoulder, startling him and sending him shooting to his feet.

"Come on, son," Mr. Pearson said, "I could use some ice cream after all this. How 'bout you?"

"Yeah, sure Dad," Pear smiled nervously at the taller, larger man. "Some mint chocolate chip sounds great right now."

"Then let's go before your mother starts asking Dr. Jonson about whether or not I can actually eat ice cream anymore," Mr. Pearson chuckled before putting his arm around his wife and leading her and their son out of the doctor's office.

"How did things go yesterday with your dad's appointment, Pear," Axel asked as they waited in the lobby for the C99 techs to call them into the rooms used to adjust the Pods to the user's criteria.

"Not good," Pear sighed, "It's all come up terminal. The doctor's not sure what to do, but he's got a few ideas."

"Damn, that sucks," Axel said quietly as he tried to think of a way to cheer up his friend. "What sort of options did the doc talk about?"

"Mostly the medication and the side effects," Pear answered him. "Some of that stuff causes paralysis and it all increases heart attack and stroke risk."

"Oh shit," Axel swore. "What's your mom and dad gonna do?"

"Dad's starting the medications and Mom's going to try to get her parents on her side with this stuff," Pear told him. "I offered an idea and the doctor said that it was worth a shot but it's a long one and there's no telling if it'll work out."

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

"What's the idea?" Axel asked as a technician approached them.

"Excuse me, but are either of you gentlemen 'Stephen Pearson?'" she asked.

"That's me," Pear said, standing and hoping he wouldn't make a fool of himself during the process.

"Please follow me," she said before turning and striding briskly to the door that led deeper into the building.

"Good luck Pear," Axel said with a smile and a wave. "Try to have some fun in there."

Pear ignored his friend as he followed after the technician and tried not to be left behind as she moved quickly toward and then through the doors that lead out of the waiting area.

"Do you have any allergies to any of these chemicals or items?" the tech asked as she grabbed a clipboard from one of the wall mounts and offered it to him. Pear carefully read through the list as he followed after the woman and did his best not to trip on his own feet before he answered her.

"Not that I know of," he finally said. "What's all this stuff for?"

"The chemicals make up the slurry that will keep your body suspended while you use the Pod," she answered him as they moved past several closed doors. "The rest of it makes up the suits and masks that will be worn in the Pod. There are also some few items listed that are used in the construction of your Pod and the creation of the nutrient slurry that you will have options to purchase to allow for longer, multi-day sessions in the pod."

"Is that sort of thing safe?" Pear asked nervously as the tech stopped at a door and input a code into the keypad to unlock the door.

"Perfectly," she answered as she opened the door and motioned for him to enter. "Our researchers spent several years perfecting the formulas to allow you the needed nutritions and to keep any unwanted side effects from prolonged use of them from occurring."

"What sort of side effects?" Pear asked as he stepped into the room that looked surprisingly like a doctor's examination room.

"The largest one they were worried about was something about rotting teeth," the tech said. "The rest wasn't as big a worry until after they solved that one. Now the slurries will keep your teeth intact and have even been able to aid enamel in repair and even regrowth."

"That's cool," Pear said as he tried to swallow past the lump that had formed in his throat. Quietly he wondered if he could leave and forget about the whole thing that was going on.

"Please change into this," the tech said, grabbing a package and handing it to him before he could muster up the courage to bolt from the building. "It's your preference if you'd like to keep your underwear on, but several people have said that it's much better to go without while wearing the suit. That curtain will give you privacy while you change."

With no other visible choice, Pear approached the curtain and pulled it into place to give himself privacy while he changed into the blank suit that would be adjusted.

"While you're doing that, I have some questions for you," the technician said. "Do you think you can answer them?"

"If you answer one of mine," Pear said. "Why did they say that it was better to go commando in the suit?"

"The Pods stop a lot of things, but they don't stop any of your bodily functions," she answered. "The slurry will help dissolve anything and filter it out so that you don't make yourself sick, but that does mean that things can apparently get uncomfortable until that happens. Anything else?"

"Uh, no," Pear said as he began to remove his boxers. "Thanks."

"No problem," the tech said before launching into a comprehensive and exhaustive questionnaire that would supposedly be used to make the Pod's settings more comfortable for Pear since he had gone with the more expensive option that gave him a personalized Pod for the new game.

"The last thing that we'll need to do is adjust the suit to your measurements," the technician said as she put her clipboard aside. "Please lay on the bed there, so I can make the appropriate adjustments to the suit. While I'm working let me know if the suit is pinching you anywhere, or if you're feeling itchy."

"Okay," Pear said, climbing onto the bed as the tech moved around him and began to tug the ends of the sleeves over his body before cutting excess fabric from them. Frowning, she turned to his torso and began pinching and clipping the fabric so that it fit him well enough that he wouldn't have any of it bunch weirdly or hang loosely.

"I tried to give you the smallest one we have for men, but you're a lot smaller than I thought," she said frankly, as she observed her handiwork. "How old are you? Do you expect to grow anymore?"

"I'm twenty-two," Pear said quietly, trying not to hunch into himself in embarrassment and fear. "And no, I've always been small, so I don't think I'll get any bigger?"

"If you do end up getting bigger in any way, then you'll have to come back and be fitted for another suit," she told him as she began to mark more things on her clipboard. "If you were expecting to grow anymore, then we'd make your Pod a little larger so that you can continue to use it as your body grows bigger."

"That sounds like it would be more expensive," Pear said awkwardly as the tech nodded and continued to make more marks.

"It would be," she told him. "Not too much more, but it would be worth it in the long run since paying to adjust your Pod to a new size would be more expensive."

"Now," she said, looking directly at Pear. "We're going to need to calibrate the Pods readers to you. This will also allow you to feel what basic Pod users will be dealing with and help you understand the advantage that being in a custom Pod brings you. If you'll follow me to the calibration room, we'll be done here and you can move onto the fun stuff and design your Pod's decorations."

Before Pear could say anything, the tech was already turning and moving out the door, leaving him to scramble and catch up to her.

"Calliope! So good of you to visit me here!" the man outside the calibration room greeted the tech as she lead Pear toward the room.

"It's good to see you, Dr. Sier," the tech greeted him. "I've got someone that needs a custom calibration for his Pod."

"Well, I'd never have guessed," the older man said with a chuckle. "It's only what we've been doing for the last two weeks."

"Come along, son," he said, turning his attention to Pear. "Let's get you sorted out. Now Calliope and I will monitor you out here 'in the real' as some of my younger colleagues say, and you will go through a series of exercises that the program will use to better determine your specific brainwaves. The exercises will start simple enough out here, toe touches, find the color, so on. Once you're in the virtual, you'll be sent through a veritable gauntlet of challenges designed to push your body to its limits and confirm the calibrations of the readers. Once you're done with that, you're done with me. Understand?"

"Oh, yeah, I think I get it," Pear said.

"Excellent," the man said with a smile. "Let's begin, shall we?"