The day was long, and the hours were slow at work as Joe waited until the moment he could begin integrating his new Veil Drive. Emily didn't stop by, and so he settled on periodically sending her links throughout the day. They consisted mainly of game details and Drive features he’d dredged up during his downtime.
There was a slight distance between his mother and himself. Their talk had been an emotional roller coaster for both of them, and it felt as though neither seemed to know how to broach the subject of what Joe was about to do. They both knew their difference of opinion had very little to do with the gaming and everything to do with the risks he was taking. Joe firmly believed in controlled risks – with himself in control – over the oxymoronic idea of a ‘benevolent’, for-profit organization handing out scraps to the least objectionable of the undesirables. A scholarship was out of reach, frankly out of touch, and what he was doing was working already.
If he wanted to truly branch into the next level of bio-mech tech, then Veil Drive was the way to go. It would already provide him with a vAIA or virtual Artificial Intelligence Assistant. Sure, he had a dAIA or a digital AIA, but this would be a qualitative upgrade on a whole new level. That alone was cutting-edge technology that only the truly wealthy, or extremely lucky could get their hands on. If he could do his experiments and play a videogame, all the better. Unfortunately, his mother didn’t agree.
Joe seized upon the unspoken stalemate between him and his mother, and played into it any time she looked like she would broach the topic throughout the day. He realized that if he used enough jargon and spouted enough tech-talk she was derailed from the arguments that she had initially brought up. Childish? Maybe, but effective. He felt bad about it, but also, her version of a best-case-scenario would mean a complete cessation of all his experiments at the whim of whatever institution had deigned to allow him admittance, during which time he would be unable to continue progressing, the tech he was using would be woefully out of date, and he would be relegated to an assistant on his own projects... This outcome was absolutely unacceptable to Joe.
Joe would rather be a little childish as he forged ever onward along his path to true mastery of neurotech and enlightenment through dangerous and unregulated self-modification and experimentation. Okay, when he put it like that, he could definitely see where his mother was coming from. Except, it was working. Hadn’t someone once said ‘the only difference between lunacy and brilliance was failure’ or something like that? Well, so far, Joe wasn’t failing, he was succeeding.
So, that night, as mother and son ate their fabricated meal in silence, Joe smiled at his mom. They had come to an accord. He'd already briefed her on safety protocols for while he was using the new tech. Things like not yanking him out of full immersion lest it truly damage him neurologically, or following proper emergency logout procedure in case of, well, an emergency. She’d agreed, conditional upon him wearing a device that would monitor his vitals while he was in full immersion, and allowing her access to his brain scans. She’d also insisted he subject himself to occasional checkups, and that he keep his grades up. She’d added a few additional stipulations, but he readily agreed to everything so long as he could keep his mother’s support. As much as Joe was doing this for himself, he was also doing it for her. Because she deserved better. They both did.
Joe took a painkiller before he began the implant procedure. Their tiny kitchen table was littered in medical and first aid equipment, as well as several tools and screens.
"You should have gone to a physician to see this done,” his mother told him, pressing a cool cloth to the back of his neck. Joe gave her a look. “A proper doctor. Somebody with actual qualifications for full chip replacements.”
They both knew he really couldn’t do that. Installations done by Chip-Docs (more formally known as Surgical Biomechanical Medical Technologists) were prohibitively expensive because, while the installation technically counted as only a ‘minor’ surgical procedure, it was incredibly invasive. He could neither afford the medical fees to get the subdermal upgraded, nor could he legally explain where he got the Veil Drive. It wouldn’t have just been the authorities who’d be interested, but the media. It’s why groups like ARMS hired people like Joe after all.
Joe hadn’t truly appreciated the amount of hype surrounding Beyond the Veil until he’d been convinced to play. Sure, he’d been interested in the Veil Drive itself, but his interest had been almost purely on the specs, the medical applications of how it would help him further his research. Once he’d decided he’d play the game on its limited initial release with Emily instead of just waiting for the mass market release when Emily could reliably get him a Drive, he’d immediately begun his usual relentless digging for information.
He was now aware of just how insanely popular this new game was supposed to be. The Drive itself had sold out during the pre-sale announcement just on the hype of the game alone. People with a Drive were being found out, and hounded by everyone from the curious to the dangerous, all with the hopes of getting their hands on the drive itself, or being the first to release new information to the world.
Sure, people could technically play the game without the drive, but a huge part of the excitement was about the immersive experience. Realistic textures, smells, even tastes and sensations. It was the closest humanity had come to true virtual reality, all linked through the Veil Drive and the accompanying Drive gear. The Drive itself was supposed to enhance day-to-day activities in real life by acting not just as a minicomputer like current chips did, but as a true vAIA, and reality enhancer - whatever that meant.
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He could have just patched his old chip using the new tech. It would’ve been less invasive, and much less painful, but he’d worked hard to get the equipment, and he was going all in. Plus, the New Horizon’s gear was leagues better than even the newest stuff their competitors had come out with, let alone any Frankenstein he’d be able to create. He was good, but he wasn’t at the level of their CEO, Sage. Yes, that was his real name, and yes, Joe was sporting a bit of very stoic hero worship for the enigmatic genius who’d started New Horizon. He’d get to his level someday, he promised himself as he gritted his teeth through the transition pain of the Veil Drive installation. His mother hovering over him like, well, like a concerned mother as he pulled his old chip out of the port near his temple, watching the dozens of tiny, hair-thin (and thinner) filaments as they were extruded from his body.
His old chip had been with him for nearly five years, since he’d begun his experiments at the age of 12. Since before his father had- Well, over the years, his brain had significantly deviated from standard. The old implant was advertised as working at the speed of thought, the Veil Drive’s specs were supposed to be faster. Unfortunately, none of this introspection was helping him dampen the excruciating pain of the installation process as the Veil Drive’s own filaments dug new channels into his skin and bone, carving out a space to support the new hardware, and ensuring direct access to Joe, and his mind.
In retrospect, the swap had probably saved his life. His mind had been getting faster, and while the side of his head had sometimes gotten warm, he hadn’t realized how hard he was pushing his old tech until he put the tiny hard drive under a zoom lens, and saw the microscopic wear on its body and filaments. If his speed of thought had ever gotten fast enough to fry his old chip, he knew that there was a real possibility a chunk of his brain could’ve gone with it. He embraced the pain in that moment, as a blinking notification in the corner of his vision alerted him that the installation had been completed.
His mother glared at him as he wiped a single drop of blood from the corner of his eye. Instead of saying anything, she opted to begin cleaning up the table while Joe tapped away at his data pad, completing the calibration processes. Joe watched his mother as she rubbed at her aching eyes. She’d had her visual node in for almost 14 hours at this point. Joe wondered if they had matching headaches now. He touched the artificially smooth patch of Derma Dupe, the industry-standard brand of synthetic skin underneath which his new subdermal rested.
Logically he knew that if they wanted to afford food, and a roof over their heads they couldn’t afford the expensive optical sequencing that would allow her to get permanent corrective implants that wouldn’t cause her pain. He also knew that subpar sequencing wasn’t the only reason her eyes hurt. Joe’s mother caught him watching her and slowly lowered her hands.
Neither of them said anything as they cleaned up and left the table, silently going about their evening routines.
"Goodnight," Joe said, watching his mother carefully climb into her own little pod.
"Goodnight, Joseph," his mother said, giving him a tired smile before she shut the little privacy screen and dimmed the lights in her area.
“Thank you,” he murmured, before turning around and crawling into his own little bunk.
As he lay down in his cot, he finally put on the Drive rig. It was a full coverage half mask that slipped comfortably over his eyes and forehead while interfacing directly with his new chip. He then wriggled into the incredibly thin, but remarkably durable bodysuit that came with the rig. It was one of the most comfortable things he’d ever worn.
Apparently, the gear, and with it his vAIA, wouldn’t fully integrate until 'first-login', and that wouldn’t be for another hour when the game launched. That gave Joe a moment to get his bearings before the game went live. He took that moment to log on to his usual forums and see if he couldn't divine any new information about the potential synaptic processing speed applications of his new headgear.
He lurked in chat rooms, scrolled through comments, and marveled at the speed and smoothness of his new chip. It was surreal. For the first time, he realized that his tech had been holding him back. Before, when he’d overclock while searching the web, it had felt like he was thinking through mud. Except having never known anything but mud he’d thought that was normal. Like the proverbial frog in a well, he’d truly never realized how limited he’d been. Then, the Veil Drive had come in and removed the resistance, cleared the way forward, and showed him the world outside the narrow confines of his old limitations. He hadn’t known he could think this fast, this clearly. Suddenly he wanted to push, to experiment, to see if he couldn’t go faster, sharper, clearer. Just, more.
Mind spinning, a strange tingling warmth creeping up the base of his neck, Joe tapped his dAIA. It was a version of one of the publicly available AI’s that Joe had downloaded and customized early on in his experimentation process. The AI made sure that none of the information he gave out could be leaked and that all of his code and notes were secure, encrypted, and untraceable. Now, he wanted to dig into the code, to uncover the framework and start poking around. He wanted to see how much better he could make it with the New Horizon upgrades. He was about to dive in when he realized it was 5 minutes to launch.
Joe settled into his bed more deeply. Having already informed his mother and their work that he would be out for the next day, Joe allowed the game to run. Like before, he got a loading screen with the pearlescent New Horizon logo. Unlike before, the screen didn’t just cover his vision, instead, it felt like it pulled him in. His entire being was now, impossibly, inside the screen. No, the world. The loading screen was the world, and in this world, no matter where he looked, no matter how he tried to move, there was nothing but Joseph and the glowing logo. It floated faintly in his vision for a while until... Was the glow getting brighter?
Then Joe was in a void.