After what felt like years trapped in a dark and silent void, the sound of rhythmic beeping was jarring. Realizing he could feel his body again, a strange sensation, Logan Randall slowly opened his eyes. Bright light assaulted him, forcing him to squeeze his eyes shut for a while.

He tried to figure out what was around him by using his other senses, since his eyes were almost useless at the moment. The beeping continued, near the head of the bed Logan was on. The bed itself was soft, and the top part under his torso was angled upward. The slight chill to the room, and the smell of disinfectant combined with everything else, led him to one conclusion; he was in a hospital.

A shift to his environment, the clicking of shoes on the tile, was a startle. He slowly, even more slowly than before, opened his eyes.

Standing before Logan was a tall man standing around six foot four, slender but still healthy looking. A clean shaven face on a strong jaw sat under short and stylish hair, with a pair of bright green eyes sitting perfectly symmetrical in the center. Dressed in a perfectly pressed navy suit, but without a tie or other accessories, he stood with his hands clasped in front of him, a slight smile upon his lips.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Randall,” the man said, in a light voice, backed with a posh English accent. “In case you were wondering, yes, you are in a hospital. Even further than that, though, you’ve been in a coma for the last four years, and your insurance policy from the government is about to expire.”

Logan’s expression grew grim, it sounded like he was in dire straits. Something was bothering him, though.

“You said I’ve been in a coma,” Logan said. “If I’m awake now, why is it a problem if my insurance expires? I think I’ve pulled the luckiest card of my life getting out of a coma at the last minute.”

The man in the suit looked down, nodded, and then lifted his head back up to look Logan in the eyes. “You are still in a coma, sir. You are currently in a simulated room in a virtual reality environment that is based on the hospital room your physical body inhabits. I am here to offer you a chance to continue living, and hopefully a way to allow doctors to study the mind of coma patients and try to develop a treatment that will allow others to be brought back to the world of the living”

Logan having not expected that answer, felt pressure building on his entire body. A chill spread across the inside of his torso. He wasn’t sure how the VR setup worked while he was laying slumped in the bed, but he knew he didn’t want to die. Logan might not have a family, or a good job, or anything to look forward to anymore, but he didn’t want to die. The reality of his life came crashing down on him, and he was just barely aware that the beeping had sped up and was rapid and off beat.

The man in the suit held his hand out, and said; “Please, sir, don’t worry too much about the world outside. Things will work themselves out.” At this Logan felt a calming wave of warmth spread throughout his body.

“What did you do?” Logan worked himself up and he could feel himself fighting between being angry and staying calm. “Why shouldn’t I worry, my whole life doesn’t exist anymore outside of this room anymore. And this isn’t even a real room!” Logan started to yell, although without the emphasis he tried to put behind it. “What can you possibly offer that can help me deal with that?”

“I asked the doctor to give you something to lower your heart rate and calm you down.” A look of worry crossed the man’s face before it returned to a blank stare with a slight smile. “As to your other question, we will pay for your medical expenses and give you unlimited access to the Internet and a series of worlds that our company manages.”

The man’s words sounded great, but Logan wasn’t sure what to expect. He closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths.

Access to the Internet would be nice, since he didn’t have a job anymore. A series of worlds, though? What could that mean? Logan opened his eyes, seeing the man still standing exactly where he was, standing still like a statue.

“Okay.” Logan sighed, letting out the calming breath he had been holding on to before he nodded. “I’ll need some answers before I agree to anything.”

“I would expect nothing less, sir.”

With a deep breath Logan a look around the room. A large window on the left wall let light into the room, but it had no details beyond it. There was a door on the right wall in the corner. The machine that provided the beeping sound that was now at a steady rhythm again, stood next to his bed. The room was bare otherwise.

“Who are you, and who do you represent?” Logan asked after his pause.

“I don’t have a name, sir, but I represent the System Administrator of Prestige Entertainment,” the man replied. He looked slightly left, as if something got his attention. He nodded once, and looked back to Logan in the bed. “I stand corrected. I am to be called Archibald, sir.”

Logan stared at the newly named Archibald, trying to get his head around the information. “Why would the System Admin be interested in helping me?” He asked more to himself than to Archibald.

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

“If it helps you at all, the System Admin has extended this offer to a dozen people. They have done a deep analysis into the various coma patients in the hospitals in this state, and they’re working on a dozen people right now, using myself and a few other assistants to not only try to assuage your fears, but to explain the deal in full. You’re not required to say yes, and you’re certainly more than welcome to decline, as we have no right to your bodily autonomy, but I am here to answer every question you have before I bring out the contract to be signed.”

“A dozen people? Wow,” Logan felt a little better, knowing he wasn’t being singled out. He wasn’t a genius, he wasn’t rich, and he certainly didn’t have any special skills to justify being treated so well, but if he was just one of the random patients that was picked, he felt better.

“What did you mean when you said I would have access to a ‘series of worlds’? I don’t know what that means.”

Archibald nodded his head. “Prestige Entertainment has released the VR technology that is allowing this conversation and a quartet of game worlds around three years ago, so it makes sense that you wouldn’t know about it. There are four worlds total, with a few extras popping up as special events happen. They are fully functional worlds, completely simulating life, the universe, and everything. Each has a different theme though, and they all have rules that are mostly the same, but each has something special to itself.”

All of that made sense so far. Logan enjoyed playing games in his downtime, before whatever happened to put him here. Getting to live in games while in a special program to try to help other people in comas? That sounded pretty good, especially since it came with the benefit of not dying. After thinking about things for a while, Logan spoke up while lifting his right hand.

“I can get more information later, but I don’t think I have much of a choice, do I? I don’t want to die, and you’re offering that and more. Where do I sign?” A smile broke out on Logan’s face while he imagined what might be waiting for him on the other side.

Archibald also broke out in a smile. Almost too large, his bright perfect teeth cutting a wide crescent across his strong features. He lifted a hand and a deep green screen with light green text opened in front of Logan’s eyes, taking up most of his vision. The text was miniscule, filled with legalese and bullet pointed lists that he didn’t understand. At the bottom were two buttons with Accept and Decline written on them. He glanced again at the wall of legalese and gently pressed the Accept button with a finger. The whole screen winked out, and a new door was set into the wall directly opposite his bed. Archibald was joined by an older gentleman in a white coat, who looked around with a confused look on his face.

“Mr. Randall, this is Dr. Masters.” Archibald waved his hand in a motion of polite introduction. “He has been responsible for keeping you alive these last four years. He has been allowed in here by the contract you just signed, and will be conversing with you on a regular basis. He will also assign a psychologist to join you in here as well, to help you get a better grasp of what happened to you and to assist in maintaining your mental health while you traverse your new worlds.”

Dr. Masters settled on looking at Logan after he inspected the room they were in. Looking to be around fifty years old, Dr. Masters’ hair was a short mess of wild curls that were the color of an oncoming storm; a mix of greys and black. Thick rimmed glasses, also black, sat in front of his eyes. There was also a well trimmed and full beard that had completely given way to being grey. The look of excitement in Dr. Masterseyes was hard to ignore, and he was practically bouncing on his heels.

“Mr. Randall, I’m so very excited to get to finally meet you. Thank you for accepting the deal that Prestige has presented, it will be very exciting to get to know you and understand what’s going on in your mind. Would you mind if we started our sessions today? Right now, maybe?” The doctor was very enthusiastic, and while he was talking, he motioned into the air. stool appeared out of nothing allowing him to sit as he finished talking.

“For as much as I would love to start helping you, doc, I think I’m going to need some time. I still have to get some more info from Archibald here about what exactly our deal means for me.” Logan held up his hands in a placating manner, trying to let the doctor down easily.

The look of excitement died down a bit in Dr. Masters’ eyes, but he nodded. “I understand. I’m sorry I got ahead of myself. I’ll leave you two to get settled and situated, and I’ll start working on a plan of action for myself and the rest of the staff!” He quickly rose to his feet, pushing the stool against the wall where it broke into a cloud of smoke. He made a few swiping motions with his left hand and poked the air a few times before breaking apart into small digital blocks made of a dark green glowing material.

“Mr. Randall,” Archibald said. “As I mentioned, there are four worlds that Prestige Entertainment has created, and you will be allowed to choose one to permanently reside in. You can freely come and go into the hospital room as you wish, and when the servers for your world are brought down for maintenance you may visit the others as you see fit, but overall, you will be confined to one world at this point in time.”

Archibald was very detailed in his descriptions on the different worlds and how they worked, the rules behind them all and the special rules that each had that the others didn’t. Logan forgot most of what had been said as soon as he heard that there was a world based on science fiction, his favorite genre. Something about fantasy, post apocalypse zombies, and cowboys was mentioned, but he focused on sci-fi, the greatest out of them all. The chance to explore space, in his own spaceship, fighting alien monsters and winning the hearts of alien ladies is what instantly came to mind.

Logan’s choice was an obvious one. He listened briefly to the fact that while these were fully simulated worlds, they were also meant to be the basis for games so there were a few concessions toward that. He would start in a space suit that couldn’t be broken or stolen, with a gun that couldn’t break or completely run out of ammo, and a ship that also couldn’t be stolen or completely broken. All of them were the bottom of the barrel, meant to be starting gear for level one characters and were to be used only in emergencies if you ran out of or broke everything else.

Archibald went on to explain that the program he had joined was called the Human Experiment, which sounded worse than it was. The System Admin would shorten it to HEx and each of the members would be assigned a number, Logan’s being HEx#5.

Logan wouldn’t be able to join his new world, which was called The Far Reaches of Space, until the member count was finalized but he was able to stay in his hospital room and browse the Internet to his heart's content.

  ---

Four days would go by, a binge of entertainment content making it a quick affair, until Archibald would appear again. A genuine smile on his face, reaching his bright green eyes.

“Good news, Mr. Randall! Everyone that has been accepted into the HEx Program has been brought up to speed and allowed plenty of time to put their affairs in order. In an hour, you will be allowed to enter the new world you have chosen for yourself!” At those words, a small cloud of confetti fell from the ceiling. Archibald looked disappointed, his smile faltering. “Apologies. That was supposed to bring more fanfare and excitement. I will try better next time.”

Logan smiled at the attempt. “Don’t worry, Archibald. I appreciate it all the same. I’m just excited to be able to fly through space!”

His imagination had been going wild, until he remembered that he could look up videos of people playing the game. He took a lot of information in while looking up a few guides to try to help beginners in the game, but one of the biggest things that had been repeated across every video and article he read was that no two people have had the same successes in getting everything to work the way they wanted. Two players could start the same way, do the same series of tasks, killing the same types of aliens and monsters, and yet only one would be offered a special class while the other got nothing.

While Logan was mentally getting ready, he realized that Archibald had been talking about something. He felt it would be rude to interrupt, so he tried to catch the rest of what was being said.

“-and I think that you’ll enjoy what they’ve done!” Archibald finished, looking quite pleased.

“I’m certain I will, Archibald. No worries about that!”