“That was one of the best meals I can remember indulging in,” I said as I leaned back in the chair of Arnacript’s Treatment Wing Cafeteria and made a show of rubbing my abs.
I wouldn’t have really called it a cafeteria. The atmosphere, seating, waiters, and food made it feel like a one or two star Michelin restaurant. The sign above the place had indicated that it was a “Cafeteria” though, and I wondered if they did that to make it feel as if it was a workplace environment. They had served me Japanese style cuisine, and the miso soup had been so good that I’d asked for two bowls.
“Thank you for the compliment, Champ.” The chef was dressed in the full white uniform, including the puffy hat, and he bowed deeply after I spoke. He had a slight German accent, and I wondered if he had spent a lot of time in Japan to get the cuisine authentic.
“It is well deserved. I’ve had wonderful meals all over the world. That was really exceptional.”
“Now you are flattering me. Thank you, Champ. Since you seem to be in such a good mood, would you mind signing this for my son?” The man pulled out a hand-sized picture of me from inside his white jacket. It looked like it was taken during the celebration of last year’s World Championships.
“Sure. What’s his name?” I asked as I took the picture. I didn’t have a pen on me, but Casper handed me one from his seat across the table.
“Jason. Thanks, Champ.”
“Thank you for the meal,” I said as I handed him the signed picture.
“How about I take a look at your game?” I said to Zarra.
“Oh, I thought you would never ask,” the woman purred from her seat next to me. I’d been able to fight my attraction to her during our meal, but my resolve was starting to crumble, and I wanted a chance to escape from the woman.
It wasn’t just that Zarra was pretty, or beautiful, or sultry. She was unbelievably charming, and once our meal had come to an end, I realized that the conversation at the table had been mostly about me. Well, me and the treatment of the Alzheimer's patients.
Zarra had explained that her game helped the patients by creating new neuro pathways in their brain as they played. It was kind of like learning a new language, or a new skill. The experiences of the game world helped their brains regain the youthful vigor the disease had destroyed. I had heard experts speak on the effectiveness of brain training and mental exercise before, but most believed that this was only helpful as a preventative measure and would do little more than delay the progression of decline once the disease had already taken hold. Zarra's research and the experiences of her patients seemed to prove otherwise.
“We have the Ohlavar Quest VRIU ready for you in a private suite. Techs are standing by,” Casper said as he stood from the table with Zarra.
“VRIU?” I asked
“Virtual Reality Immersion Unit. You have never seen anything like this,” Zarra said as she led me out of the cafeteria.
“I’ve heard that before.”
“I know you have, but you are about to experience something that only a few have. Ohlavar is an amazing world,” Zarra said.
“Yep, yep, yep. Heard that too. Be ready for disappointment. I’ve broken many a game designer’s heart when I’ve told them that their baby was ugly.”
“It isn’t perfect; we have a lot of work to do on the interface. As I said before, it is in very early alpha phase. We would appreciate any feedback you could give us, but my goal is to have you work with us long term to develop something that can be both marketable as entertainment, as well as help cure mental illness.” The woman’s voice trailed off, and she turned away from me.
“Do you have family with Alzheimer's?” I asked the pretty woman. When we spoke to each other, it was as if Casper wasn’t even there.
“Yes, my grandmother. She passed a few years ago.”
“I see,” I said, and I felt my opinion of the young woman warm. It appeared that we were more similar than I had thought. This disease didn’t care if you were rich or poor.
“Here is your suite, Mr. Lennox,” Casper said as he opened a door with an ‘LL’ sign attached to the metal.
The three of us walked through the door and into the greenish-blue living room of the apartment.
It was a bit smaller than the penthouse of the hotel that I’d left a few hours ago, but it was probably five times the size of the tiny apartment in the Bronx that I had grown up in. The living room had a couch, TV projector and white wall, dining table with four chairs, coffee table, large kitchenette, fridge, dry bar, and a padded leather recliner chair. The furniture felt very contemporary, and I wondered if they had hired a designer to coordinate the pieces, teal paint, and artwork.
“Your bedroom is in there, along with the master bathroom,” Casper said as he pointed to the side room on the right. “Your luggage has already been placed on the bed, but they didn’t unpack it for you.”
“Thanks,” I said as I glanced into the room. My single suitcase sat atop a king sized canopy bed, and for a second I thought about asking Zarra to share the sheets with me tonight. Ugh. I needed to get her out of my blood.
“Through here is the lab room where the VRIU unit is kept. Let’s introduce you to the team,” Casper opened the door in the living room that was opposite my bedroom door, and gestured for me to enter.
I walked past the older man with Zarra, and almost skidded to a halt. The door that Casper had opened looked like wood from the side of my suite’s living room, but in reality, it was a four-inch thick piece of steel. I saw several locking mechanisms on the edges of the door jamb, and the holes on them dug deeply into the matching steel walls.
“Shit, you have some security here.” I pointed to the locking holes as I stepped through. It looked like bars could come out of the wall and then slide into the door to keep it sealed shut. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up again. I knew that megacorps often had extreme security measures, but this seemed a bit heavy handed for a hospital. Then again, if Zarra did have a working cure for Alzheimer's, it would be worth billions of dollars. I could understand why she would want to keep information, or patients, from spreading the word until their testing was done.
“As I mentioned earlier, we work with some younger patients that have extreme cases. We have to be able to quarantine areas until we can get someone to calm them down. I’m sure you’ve had that experience before? Where someone with Alzheimer's became violent because of a memory or because they were disorientated?” Zarra sighed as she spoke, and I nodded at her words.
My parents were sometimes violent when they didn’t believe that I was their son.
I tried to push the memories of my last visit with them out of my head but failed. My dad couldn’t remember me at all, but my mother only recalled me at five and she screamed at me not to force myself on her. She’d tried to claw at my face, but the orderlies had rushed into the visiting room and sedated her before she could do any damage. It was one of the worst visits, but that was how it tended to work with Alzheimer's. There were good days and bad ones.
But even good days could go sour in a few minutes when they suddenly lost their memories.
“Hello team, we’ve brought you Mr. Lennox,” Casper said after he closed the door to my suite.
There were three other people in the room: two women and a man. The man was standing over a metal container that looked like a large coffin. I realized it was actually a small pool, and it was filled with a dark liquid that he appeared to be analyzing with some sort of probing device.
The two women were sitting behind a thick glass wall. One of them wore glasses, and I could see the light of a dozen computer screens reflect on the lenses she wore. Part of the glass wall was actually an open door, and as soon as they saw us, they shuffled out from behind their computer terminals with shy smiles.
“Hey Champ, My name is Ky Witta. I’m a VRIU service tech. I was just getting this baby ready for your first game experience.” The man had almost leapt in front of the two women so that he could introduce himself to me. He wore thick metal glasses, had a shaved head, and gave a firm, but sweaty, handshake.
“Nice to meet you,” I said as I returned his smile.
“Hello Leo, I’m Doctor Dimopoulos. I’ll be performing a short medical examination on you, and monitoring your vitals during your game session,” the first woman said. She was older, maybe in her fifties, and her olive skin combined with her curly brown hair made her Greek name fitting.
“Nice to meet you. Why do I need my vitals maintained during the game?” I raised an eyebrow and looked between Zarra and the doctor.
“It’s just our procedure for the first dozen times that someone logs into Ohlavar Quest through our VRIU. It is a new technology that we are still testing. If there is an equipment failure we want to ensure that no ocular damage occurs,” Dr. Dimopoulos spoke the words with practiced ease, and I wondered how many times she had said them.
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“Hi Leo, I’m Jennifer Green. I’m a software engineer. My job is to ensure that our AI is following scripted quests, and to pass the feedback onto our development team.” This was the girl who wore glasses. She had a cute face, blonde hair that was tied back in a tight bun, and she wore a gray tailored pencil skirt suit combination under her white lab coat.
“Nice to meet you,” I said as I shook her hand. “I’m probably going to be breaking Zarra and your hearts today.”
“Oh? Why?” I guessed that the blonde woman was my age; maybe a year or two younger, and she pushed up her glasses and scrunched her nose when she asked her question.
“Leo is convinced that our game is terrible.” Zarra smiled at us and let out a short laugh. “But I think he’s about to have a change of heart. Are you ready?”
“First I need to take his vitals,” the doc said as she pulled a stethoscope and digital tablet out of her coat. “Leo, can I have you sit on this stool over here?”
“Yep. No problem,” I said as I sat on the stool next to the strange coffin container.
“I’ll need a few more minutes to calibrate the VRIU juice.” Ky took a few steps back to his previous position and inserted the strange rod into the liquid.
“Juice?” I asked him as he stirred the inky liquid.
“It’s a Newtonian fluid, especially balanced to match body temperature and create resistance.” He looked up to me briefly when he spoke, and then he made a sharp jerking motion with the rod. Glanced at a display on the end of the handle, and then glanced at the glowing side panel of the large coffin container.
“Lean forward please,” the doc commanded. She lifted up my shirt and put the cold pad of the stethoscope against my back. “Breathe in deeply and exhale all the way.” I followed her instructions while I watched Ky make another few slashing motions with the submerged paddle.
“Wait. I need to be inside of that coffin?” I asked after I breathed in again.
“Yes. I told you it is the latest in full immersion. When you are inside of the VRIU, you’ll have full use of your body. The liquid will sense your movements and translate them into the game. I don’t want to reveal any more of the technology until you get your first taste, but you’ll understand how it works as soon as you enter the game world,” Zarra smiled reassuringly as she spoke, but I didn’t particularly like the idea of lying in the strange black liquid.
“How will I breathe?”
“We have an air mask that also serves as the visual and audio feed. You are going to love it.” The lavender eyed woman nodded as she spoke, and I thought again about the note.
Don’t trust the purple eyes.
“Okay, blood pressure time. Please relax.” The doc attached a digital blood pressure monitor that wrapped around my bicep like a live snake and then started squeezing. Thinking about dunking myself in the pool didn’t sound very relaxing to me, but after fifteen seconds the device relaxed and let out a tired beep.
“Okay, the last step is that I need to attach a monitor to your wrist,” the doctor asked as she placed the watch-like device to my arm. As soon as she tightened the strap, I saw lights glow on the small screen.
“The VRIU juice also gives us some biofeedback, but we like to have a second source of data to ensure there is nothing out of the ordinary,” the doctor said.
“Is there a suit that you want me to wear?” I asked the five of them. I couldn’t smell anything from the liquid in the tub that Ky stirred, but I imagined that the black looking ooze would stain my clothes.
Sal would be freaking out right now, and tell these people that there was no way I would be dipping a toe into that vat of juice. I should probably be doing the same, but the five of them seemed extremely excited that I was here, and while I sensed some weirdness with Jacob’s note, I didn’t get a gut feeling that these people were trying to hurt me. Even the dour Casper had a smile on his face.
“That is something we are working on. The VRIU works best when the user is naked,” Zarra said the words quickly, and her amethyst eyes glanced back to the strange vat.
“You can’t be serious,” I said.
“I’m afraid I am, we have a privacy alcove you may use to disrobe, and a switch on the VRIU controls the tint of the glass where we will be monitoring you. Once you are ready, Ky will help you get the headset on.” The five of them had tensed with Zarra’s words.
“That is really weird, I don’t think th--”
“Look, Leo,” Zarra put her hand on my arm, and I was conscious of the fact that I actually wasn’t naked, but they all wanted me to get naked.
“I realize that I’m asking you to get out of your comfort zone with this. I will guarantee that you will enjoy this experience. This is the future of video games.”
“Fuck it,” I sighed. “I’ve come this far already, and you’ve all been more than hospitable. Show me where this modesty wall is.”
“Fantastic, you won’t be disappointed,” Zarra said again.
“Yeah, okay. Let’s do this.”
The tension in the room relaxed, and the three women, along with Casper, moved behind the glass wall where the long computer terminal sat. Ky pointed to a side area a few steps past what they called the VRIU. I saw that part of the room was kind of an optical illusion. The walls looked like they were made of steel, but their surfaces were brushed, and the corner by the dark liquid was actually an alcove with mirrored walls on the outside. Unless someone stepped past the VRIU, they wouldn’t be able to tell that the changing area was back here.
“You can stack your clothes on the shelf there. Then you can come out, and I’ll help you step into the VRIU,” Ky said as he gave a last stir of the strange liquid.
“Sounds good,” I said as I started to take off my shirt.
I wasn’t actually too worried about being naked in front of everyone. The skin tight omni suit I wore left little to the imagination, and Jax had once shown me a tabloid magazine that had us standing on a team victory podium. The magazine had highlighted our junk so that the readers could see how big we were. I also had a tidal wave of paparazzi following me everywhere, and there were dozens of photographs of me stepping out of a shower when I’d forgotten to close the blinds to a window.
“Alright. I’m ready.” I stepped out of the alcove and noticed that the glass door of the next room was now opaque.
“Okay, I’m going to have you step into the unit first. Grab onto the handrails. Yeah I know, you’re probably the fittest dude in the entire world, but I don’t want you to slip and smash your head against the side.”
“Got it. What is this ‘juice’ made out of again? It doesn’t smell of anything.” I grabbed the dark metal tubes on the side of the tank and then put my foot inside of the black liquid.
“The specific mixture is about to be patented, so I can’t share the secret with you, but the quicker you move, the harder it resists you. It is what gives us the--”
“That’s enough, Ky,” Zarra’s voice came over the speaker in the room.
“Yes, Ms. Zerne.” The man smiled sheepishly.
The liquid was strange. I thought that it would have been like water, but it was much thicker. Not quite mud, but the strange goop did seem to resist my movement into the tank. The other sensation that felt odd was its temperature. I almost couldn’t feel the stuff because it was set at exactly the same heat as my body.
“There are some steps where your feet are, Champ. Just walk down them a bit to get into the deeper part,” Ky said, and I followed his instructions.
“This isn’t bad.” I laughed as I settled into the resistant sludge. It was much deeper than I expected, and the top of the liquid came up a bit past my shoulders as I stepped to the bottom.
“Yeah. It is kind of therapeutic. Helps relax the mind. So here is the switch to return the observation wall to normal glass.” He pointed at an electronic dial on the top area of the pool. “Press it now please.”
I followed his instructions and then turned to see Zarra and her employees standing behind the glass.
“The idea is that you’ll be able to do all this yourself after I show you the procedure. Here is the VRIU mask,” Ky said as he lifted the black metal half helmet from behind the steel lip of the pool. It looked similar to what I’d wear when using an omni station for Astafar Unlimited, only those were a smaller goggle shape.
“Alright, so you want to bite onto the mouthpiece. You’ll still be able to talk into it, but it will take a bit of getting used to.”
Ky put the helmet over my head, and then he tightened a bottom piece over my jaw. I’d been snorkeling a handful of times, and the mouthpiece fit into my mouth in a similar fashion.
I couldn’t see anything. Or really feel anything. The liquid in which I stood felt as if it was part of my body. I was suddenly disoriented, and I heard my heart begin to pick up tempo through my ears.
“Test, test, test. Champ, can you hear us?” Jennifer asked through the helmet.
“Yeeehhaam,” I tried to say around the mouthpiece.
“We are almost ready to get started. Just thirty seconds.”
“Oak ayyye. I finnk I ale red hay see a proogggame ith errr gaay meee.”
“What was that, Leo?” Zarra asked.
“I already see a problem with your game.” I had to move my mouth differently to speak into the tube.
“What is that?”
“This whole set up seems expensive and complicated. It takes me less than a minute to suit myself up for the omni station. How much is this tub? How about the liquid? You’ve got a doctor monitoring my vital signs. How are you going to mass market this?”
“People will buy once they play, Leo,” Zarra purred into my ear through my helmet. “Just wait until you play.”
“I’m ready. I’ll read him through the starting procedures,” Jennifer said.
“Don’t bother. He’ll be just fine,” Zarra said.
“But, Ms. Zerne. He isn’t starting at the temple. He’ll be out--” the blonde woman’s voice cut off suddenly, and there were about ten seconds of silence. It was a little disorienting because I couldn’t see anything out of my helmet, and I couldn’t feel anything around my body. It was as if I was suddenly robbed of my senses.
“Sorry about that, Leo. When you spawn, you will be in a small grove of trees outside of one of the small cities of the game world. You won’t have any clothes on, but there will be a chest near you with some starter equipment.” Zarra sounded like she was smiling through her voice.
“Okay. How does class selection work? Do I get skills or magic?” I asked.
“I want you to just experience the game. Oh, but one thing, and this is important. As I said before, the game is in early alpha stage. It is really just a huge sandbox where the AI has built the world and managed the characters. We haven’t incorporated much of the battle system in yet. So try not to fight. It just isn’t balanced properly, and you’ll probably lose. Just put on your clothes, and walk out of the trees. You’ll see the city about half a mile in the distance down a dirt road. You can walk there, talk to the people, and when you want to logout of the game, you can come back to the grove of trees and lay down by the chest. Then we will turn off the VRIU. Understand?”
“Yes. I get it.”
“You can actually log out by laying down anywhere and closing your eyes for twenty seconds, but we would prefer you do it in the grove,” Zarra instructed.
“Okay. Let’s get this over with,” I said. I felt like I was starting to go insane with no other sensation than Zarra’s sultry voice in my ear. I couldn’t even feel if I was getting aroused or not.
“Okay. Champ. Get ready for Ohlavar Quest,” Jennifer said.
“Five, four, three, two, one, logging in.” Her voice seemed to become more distant with each number, but after she said her last word nothing happened.
I waited for what felt like a minute, but I only saw the darkness of the inside of my helmet.
“Is something supposed to happen? Did your game crash?” I sighed. Figures. All that build up and then it breaks. They were probably going to try and convince me to try tomorrow morning. After they made their programmers work all night to fix whatever was wrong with the system.
“Hello? Zarra?”
There was no answer, but I heard something strange. It sounded like wind, and leaves, and birds. The game’s visuals must have broken, but the audio was starting to come in. I reached up to touch the helmet and gasped. It wasn’t on my head anymore, and the only reason I couldn’t see anything was because my eyes were closed. I opened them, and all of my breath left my body as if I’d been hit in the stomach.
I was in the game world, and it was like nothing I had ever seen before.