Chapter 157
Earth
At eight am the lights in Brian's bedroom began to gradually brighten. At first it wasn't bright enough to notice but as the brightness increased it became impossible for Brian's brain to ignore. With a grumble he opened one eye and then the other as he wiped the sleep out of the corners of his eyes.
His bed was, in a word, heavenly, he thought to himself as he let out a wide yawn. The mattress was firm and supported his weight perfectly. His pillow was just firm enough to support his head without being too soft or too hard to sleep on. The room was slightly chilly but that just made him happy to be under the fluffy white sheets and bedspread.
He lay there and stared at the nondescript ceiling as he slowly woke up. After a few minutes he realized that the temperature in the room had risen enough that he felt a bit hot under the covers. He threw them off of himself and decided to get out of bed.
As his bare feet hit the floor his bladder sent a signal of urgency to his brain and Brian walked quickly to the bathroom to take care of things. Afterwards he washed his hands and face before he returned to the bedroom to get dressed.
He was looking forward to playing more Scavenger later that day. He changed in to a fresh pair of underwear and socks before taking a momentary break from getting dressed. He returned to the bathroom where there was a chute for dirty laundry. In all of his dirty clothes went.
As he got ready he considered how things had been going. He had hoped that he would be able to play in Eden. That hadn't happened. Instead he was playing a game called Scavenger – a VR game that ran on some of the same hardware and software that Eden did. The differences between the two however were rather large.
Brian wasn't disappointed to be playing Scavenger – it was a lot of fun and he couldn't wait to play more – but he had originally joined to play Eden, not Scavenger no matter how much fun it was to play. Brian was beginning to think that Scavenger would make a great commercial game in and of itself. Still, he preferred Eden.
Brian finished getting dressed in his jeans and white t-shirt. He sat on his bed uncertain of what to do next. A ding from his front door side display panel fixed that for him as the call button lit up brightly. He hopped off the bed and walked over to the panel and pressed the call button to answer the call.
“Good morning!” said the usual almost-female sounding voice. “Did you sleep well Brian?” the voice asked him kindly.
Brian nodded before he remembered that the disembodied voice couldn't see him.
“Wonderful!” the voice answered and Brian raised one eyebrow. Maybe the voice could see him?
“Wait – can you see me?” Brian asked hesitantly.
“Of course! You may be monitored during calls for medical purposes. Would you rather leave your room to visit a doctor's office or stay in your room and have a doctor view you remotely?” the voice answered as if Brian actually had a choice in the matter.
“I can choose?” Brian asked uncertainly. Brian liked the idea of not having to leave his room. He'd never been a big fan of the outside.
“Of course! You are a valuable member of our testing team. Your comfort and safety is of the utmost importance to us.” the voice responded and Brian found himself almost believing it.
“Ok. In that case I'd rather stay in my room and be remotely viewed during calls. What about in between calls?” Brian asked as he dove in to some of the fine print regarding his situation.
“You may be monitored during calls, during VR usage, immediately after VR usage, and at any other time the testing team receives any indications of medical distress. The purpose of the monitoring is to ensure that any unanticipated side effects receive immediate medical attention.” the voice said in an even tone before it paused and then continued.
“You may at any time leave the testing program by saying the words 'I quit' out loud. You should be aware that once you quit there is no returning to the program. Do you understand and authorize the continued monitoring of your person in accordance with the contract you have already signed?” the voice asked in a more business like tone.
“I do. You're not getting rid of me that easily,” Brian answered and joked.
“No one is trying to get rid of anyone. Speaking of which – how are you finding your accommodations? Your setup? Have you experienced any anxiety over your current living situation?” the voice asked, this time concerning his mental health rather than his physical health.
Brian shook his head, “I mean I've felt excited over being in the program. This is a dream come true for me! I don't feel bad anxiety though. I'm happy here, so far.”
“I'd like to ask you some questions about your mental state. Please answer the following questions on a scale of 0 to 3 where 0 is not at all and 3 is nearly every day. Question one, do you have little interest or pleasure in doing things?” the voice asked him.
Brian recognized the question. It was from a nine question form called the PHQ-9. It was designed to test and assign a value to a person's depression symptoms. Having suffered from depression since his early teen years he easily recognized the first question. He had filled out this form more times than he could count – it was given to a patient before every session.
“Zero. I've been intensely interested in things since I've arrived. I know your next question too, have I felt down, depressed or hopeless, right? Zero. Not at all since I've arrived here.” Brian answered with a grin.
The voice paused before it continued, “Your memory is impressive Brian! While I understand that you may be familiar with the questions it is your answers that I am most interested in. Have you had any trouble falling or staying asleep? Or sleeping too much?”
Brian shrugged, “Not at all since I've arrived here. Zero. I slept like an angel last night and I feel rested today.”
“Thank you for your response! Have you experienced poor appetite or overeating since your arrival?” the voice continued. It seemed that it was not going to stop until it had gotten through all nine questions.
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“No. Sorry, zero. The food here has been amazing and I'm looking forward,” Brian said as his stomach rumbled loud enough that it could be heard over the intercom, “sorry! I'm looking forward to breakfast.” he finished quickly.
“Wonderful! I can have breakfast delivered if you'd like to continue staying in your room?” the voice asked.
Brian shrugged, “I'm happy in my room, sure, bring it here.”
“Brian, have you felt bad about yourself, or that you are a failure or have let yourself or your family down, since you arrived here?” the voice asked in somewhat stilted tone of voice.
Brian shook his head, “Not at all. My family would go nuts if they knew I was here.” He held his hands up, “I know I'm not allowed to tell anyone about any of this but they'd love it if I could. So – zero. I haven't felt like that at all since I got here.”
“How about your concentration? Any trouble with concentrating while reading?” the voice asked happily.
Brian shook his head again, “Zero. I can read just fine. I managed to find some forum posts that actually helped me out a bit, so no worries there either.”
“Have others noticed you speaking or moving slower than normal, or fidgeting and being more restless than usual?” the voice pressed him.
Brian shrugged, “Not that I know of? Then again I've barely spoken to anyone since I've arrived.”
“Last question,” the voice assured him, “have you had any thoughts of hurting yourself or others?”
“Oh absolutely!” Brian exclaimed, “Not hurting myself – but hurting that player that hurt the VR dog. I was rather happy to be able to give him some payback.”
“Did this feeling remain even after you had logged out of VR?” the voice asked. The tone had changed to one of intense interest.
Brian tilted his head to the side as he thought about it.
“Brian?” the voice asked again.
“I'm thinking about the question,” Brian answered. “It didn't remain. I felt anger at his actions but no desire to hurt him myself out of the game, if that is what you are asking.”
“Yes, thank you. That was indeed what I was asking.” the voice responded in a sweet tone of voice.
“How'd I do?” Brian asked with a smile.
“Excellent. You show no signs of depression or suicidal impairment. You are cleared to continue testing.” the voice assured him.
The door dinged.
“That should be your breakfast. After breakfast you have a physical workout session scheduled. Afterwards you have free time and then the noon session of Scavenger. Will there be anything else?” the voice inquired politely.
“No, thank you.” Brian said as he tapped the button to open the door.
“Great! Then enjoy your breakfast and we will speak again soon!” the voice signed off in a cheery manner.
In front of Brian was the usual delivery robot which carried a covered tray and beverage. Brian took them and walked them over to his desk. The door shut behind him and he could hear the delivery robot trundle off down the hallway.
He lifted the lid on his tray and was thrilled to find a stack of cinnamon french toast, a side of cheesy scrambled eggs, and five slices of crispy bacon. Brian's mouth watered as he took the included container of maple syrup and drizzled it over each slice of french toast before placing the next slice on top of it.
Brian took a bite of the french toast and the taste practically popped in his mouth. The sugary syrup mixed wonderfully with the cinnamon and buttery toast. He ate a little of everything rather than eat all of one thing at once. He ate a salty and crispy slice of bacon before he washed it down with some tart orange juice.
The eggs were buttery and cheesy all at once and tasted incredibly. The meal was amazing and Brian had a tough time picturing anyone having trouble eating a meal like it, depression or no.
He ate slowly and took his time but eventually he ran out of food and was forced to stare sadly at his plate. He was full, there was no more room for food in his belly, but he wanted to taste more of the delicious breakfast. Perhaps he'd have more tomorrow morning? He'd have to wait and see.
He gathered up everything from breakfast and set it outside his room neatly on the tray. He did not feel like working out at that moment and decided to spend some time on the computer so he could digest everything properly.
He sat down and gave the computer's mouse a wiggle to remove the active screensaver. His desktop replaced the screensaver and he double clicked on Scavenger Forums.
Plenty of new posts to read.
“Anyone figure out how to enter the main library?” read one. It was full of non-responsive replies but Brian found one on page 4 of the replies that was interesting. It seemed that there was a hidden entrance in the rear of the building but it was locked and no one had been able to find a key so far.
Brian thought about his new class, Scout. One of the abilities was Thievery – he wondered if that skill would be able to unlock the door? He scribbled down the description of the location of the hidden entrance and set it aside on his desk. He continued to look through the posts.
“Boss Mob! Anyone else find it?” read another. Brian smiled at the old gaming term for a wandering monster – mob. Originally in text-only games called MUDS or MUSHS some monsters were referred to as mobs, short for mobiles. Mobs were monsters that were mobile and moved about as opposed to static objects that stayed stationary. As time progressed the word mob ended up meaning any creature in a game that you fought.
Brian read the description and was intrigued. It seemed that the player had found a large troll that patrolled an area at the southern border of the map. He was big, dark, and deadly. The player that had found him said that he had been killed in one hit of the troll's club. Brian decided to stay away from the southern border for the time being.
“How do you upgrade your escape case?” asked another poster.
Brian was a bit confused by that one. He hadn't read anywhere else about an 'escape case' and he did not have one either as far as he knew. The post wasn't helpful either as whoever responded to it already knew what it was. It only had five replies and two of those were people asking what the hell an escape case was. No one had answered them with an explanation.
The last response mentioned that it required an additional module to upgrade the case. Brian had two upgrade modules installed in his bunker so far, the basic lighting module and the comms module. It seemed that there was at least one other module that had something to do with an escape case. It really wasn't all that helpful and Brian came away more confused than when he had started reading the thread.
His door dinged and Brian closed down his computer and pushed away from the desk before walking over to the door's side panel and hitting the call button.
“Hello Brian, I hope you had a good breakfast. The time for your scheduled workout session has arrived. Please exit your room and follow the glowing green line.” the somewhat female voice informed him.
Brian shrugged and stepped out in to the hallway and followed the glowing band to the left and around a corner. He hated working out but if that was the price he had to pay to get in to Eden then so be it.