“Much better,” Andy nodded as Jake walked awkwardly out of the bathroom, which turned out to be behind the third door in the apartment, “Now I won’t have to worry about losing my appetite around you anymore!”

“Thanks,” Jake sighed as he rubbed his arms, the brand-new clothes Andy had insisted he buy feeling scratchy and stiff against his now overly clean skin.

Jake had been shoved into the tiny one-by-one metre bathroom almost as soon as he’d finished forcing down the synthetic burger, looking around in confusion before he’d figured out the shower function. By simply waving his right hand over a small screen, he was able to select what kind of cleaning regime he wanted, courtesy of the biochip implanted in his palm. Andy had told him to take the most expensive, which had resulted in his being sprayed down with chemicals, before a neutralizing agent was dumped over him, washing it all off. Moments later, he was dry and clean, the new clothes he’d ordered dropping into a small chamber on the one wall.

“So, what now?” he asked as Andy shuffled around the small room, squeezing past him to get back to the couch.

“Now we teach you the basics of gaming,” Andy hummed, opening a bottle of recycled water as he patted the cushion beside him, “Get your butt back down here, we have a lot to cover. Oh! But before that, I know my old man said you’d be good for rent for the next six months, but how much do you actually have in your account?”

“My account?” Jake shrugged, “I don’t know. I seldom check it and use it even less.”

“Well, let’s see then,” Andy huffed as Jake slid onto the couch beside him, blinking as a massive holo-screen that took up the entirety of the upper wall appeared in front of them, “Pretty swish, right? Cost me a small fortune to get it, but so worth it!”

“Uhm…yeah,” Jake nodded as he looked at the screen, “So what do I do now?”

“Just wave you hand at it,” Andy said, “It’ll give you a few options to choose from. Pick ‘Check account’.”

“Right,” Jake nodded as he followed the instructions, watching as the screen changed to show his credit balance.

Andy choked beside him as the number appeared, almost spitting water all over the floor and wall as he forced himself to swallow, staring at the screen in front of them.

“Four…four hundred…four hundred and sixty thousand?” the large man shouted, grabbing Jake by the shoulder, “You have over four hundred and sixty thousand credits and you’re staying in a shit hole like this?!”

“Is that a lot?” Jake blinked in surprise, Andy just staring back at him in disbelief.

“You could rent a place twice this size above ground for a whole year with that much, man!” Andy said, “Like, seriously! Why are you down here? Upgrade now!”

“Why?” Jake asked, “I’m fine where I am. But if you want to go above ground then I’ll pay for a better place for both of us.”

“For…what?” Andy blinked, before shaking his head and sighing as he let go of the other man’s shoulder, “No. No way, dude. I can’t do that to you. It’s your money, and I’m not about to leech off a new friend. Forget I said anything.”

“Okay,” Jake nodded, “So, how do I pay for rent here? Do I have to send you the money or something?”

“Huh? Oh, no,” Andy said as he grabbed a strangely shaped object from beside one of the boxes on the shelf, “It’s all automatic, stay here a week and you’ll be automatically billed. It’s convenient, but also a bit of a bitch if you can’t afford a week, cause you get kicked out immediately, but it’s one of the better places in Twelve.”

“I see,” Jake hummed as he watched the holo-screen light up, “So, what now? If it’s alright with you, I’d like to rest a bit.”

“Rest? Oh shit, yeah, you must be tired after such a hectic day!” the man laughed, “Sorry, got a bit carried away. Your room is the second door, I set up my old rig in there for you to use and…”

“And?” Jake said as Andy trailed off, “And what?”

“You have a bunch of credits, right?” Andy said quietly, a small grin spreading across his face, “That means you could buy a bunch of stuff.”

“I mean, yes?” Jake shrugged, “That’s how credits work, right?”

“Yeah,” Andy grinned, staring at Jake with wild eyes, “That means you’d be able to afford a top of the range rig! In fact, I bet you could easily afford two new rigs!”

“Rigs? Top of the range?” Jake asked as Andy quickly swiped at the holo-screen, navigating through a number of screens with practiced ease, “What are you talking about, Andy?”

“FD, brother,” the man cackled as he reached his goal, the image of a sleek black tower and a helmet on the screen, “Oh, we’re going to have such a great time!”

------

“Sorry again, Jakey,” Andy sighed as they sat on the couch, the large man tapping away at the controller in his hands, commanding the character on screen to move expertly around the enemy and stab them in the back, “I got seriously over excited and cost you a bunch of credits.”

“It’s fine,” Jake said as he watched the images on the screen in fascination, amazed by Andy’s skill, “It simply came out to a little more than you expected.”

“Fifty thousand isn’t a little anything, man!” Andy groaned, “And I just had to get the one-hour delivery option as well! That added another ten thousand to the price!”

“It’s really not that bad,” Jake tried to console the large man as his character passed through a barrier made of red mist, immediately jumping to the side to avoid the massive hammer that slammed down on the section of floor it’d been standing on moments before.

“Oh, yeah,” Andy huffed, “Sixty thousand credits aren’t that bad when you spend it on yourself, but I made you buy two! I feel like a real bastard now! It’d only be worse if I’d made you get FD chairs instead!”

“Just think of it as a gift to say thank you for letting me stay with you then,” Jake said, Andy glancing at him with near reverence in his eyes, before they shot back to the screen, avoiding another attack from the boss.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“You’re a real friend, Jakey,” Andy sniffed, “Just you wait! Soon as the new rigs arrive and I have them set up, I’ll show you the wonders of FDVR!”

“I’ll take you up on that,” Jake laughed as he watched the larger man perk up, “Anyway, how does this game you want us to play work? Is it like this one?”

“Oh, no! Well, not entirely,” Andy chuckled, “It’s an MMORPG, so it has some features similar to this one, but is very different. The biggest difference is that you play with other people.”

“Other people?” Jake hummed, “So we’ll be playing together as well?”

“That’s the plan,” Andy nodded, “Oh, by the way, what version did you get?”

“Version?” Jake blinked, “What do you mean?”

“Of the game,” Andy replied, “Of GNW. Wait, have you not bought a copy yet? Dude! Why didn’t you say so! Let’s do that right now!”

“But your game…” Jake said as Andy hit the massive boss monster one more time, defeating it before quickly touching the save point that appeared, “Oh.”

“Yeah,” Andy nodded, closing the game and pulling up the screen for the game store, navigating to the page for Grande New World, showing the version packages you could buy, “So, which one do you want? I mean, you could totally get the most expensive one if you wanted, as it’s only thirty thousand credits and…damn, listen to me. Only thirty thousand credits. I come into some cash and I’m already thinking stuff like that is small! And it’s not even my money!”

“It’s fine, I’ll get that one,” Jake said as he tapped the screen, selecting a package in the middle, a moment passing before the purchase was confirmed.

“Damn,” Andy chuckled weakly, “Seeing you throw that many credits around is a little weird. But whatever, you should get some good bonuses from that one. Probably some experience boosts and stuff.”

“I see,” Jake nodded as he watched Andy return to his game, “So…is this FD thing popular?”

“Popular?” Andy hummed as he continued playing, directing his character towards a group of enemies, “Sort of? It’s been around for about ten years now, though it’s seen as a luxury for the elites and hardcore. It’s only recently that it’s become more common place due to Neurotech developing some new tech that made producing the rigs cheaper.”

“Neurotech?” Jake asked, “Isn’t that the name of the company making the game we’re going to play?”

“Yep,” Andy grinned as his character dispatched the last of the enemies in the group, walking over to the next floating crystal, “And with these new rigs, we’ll be able to play for the full twelve hours, rather than the four or so my old ones would have let us.”

“I see,” Jake nodded slowly, looking up as Andy leapt to his feet, the doorbell buzzing.

------

Jake looked at the sleek black box sitting on the floor beside his sleeping cubby. It was about half a metre tall and thirty centimetres on the sides, a long cable coming out of a port on the top leading to a featureless black helmet that rested on the thin mattress of his bed. It had been about an hour since the machines had arrived, brought by a delivery drone. Andy had rushed around excitedly as he set up the two boxes, one in each of their rooms, before almost slamming his door shut, only giving Jake a basic rundown of how to use the device.

Jake gingerly picked up the helmet, which felt almost impossibly light in his hands, inspecting it for any clues as to how it worked. The only feature on the outside of the helmet was the port into which the cable was plugged, a small glowing symbol just above it, indicating where the activation switch was. The inside was lined with soft foam, except for a few metal plates that Andy had said were part of the neural interface, whatever that was. Andy had told Jake all it would take was him putting on the helmet, lying down, and touching the small glowing symbol on the side to start the calibration process. Swallowing nervously, he slipped the helmet on.

A soft whirring filled Jake’s ears as the foam padding suddenly shifted around his head, adjusting itself to be more comfortable as Jake lay down on the hard mattress, shifting to get comfortable before reaching up to tap at the location of the symbol. A moment later, the visor in front of his face darkened and a small holo-screen was projected onto it as the system started up. The tower beside him suddenly hummed loudly, making Jake panic for a moment as he wondered if something had gone wrong, before a sudden tiredness washed over him, his body relaxing as he felt a strange prickling sensation run down the back of his skull.

------

Calibrating, please be patient…

Jake blinked as he appeared in the dark void, looking around in confusion as his feet touched an invisible floor. Lifting his hands, Jake gaped at the limbs in front of him, looking to be made entirely out of light rather than flesh and bone. A quick check revealed that his entire body was made of the same substance, freaking Jake out slightly even if it seemed to react to his instructions as intended.

Base calibration complete.

Please perform the following actions for advanced calibration.

Jake watched as the screen appeared in the air in front of him, looking a lot like a free standing holo-screen, showing a series of basic stretches and movements that the system wanted him to do. Not knowing what else to do, he quickly followed the instructions, getting a new screen as he completed the final one.

Calibration complete.

Please select your profile.

No profiles detected for current user…

Creating new profile, please wait…

Jake just stared at the screen in confusion, not sure what any of it meant before a new line of text appeared.

Profile created.

Please select Avatar.

Jake stared as three images appeared in front of him, each showing a humanoid figure. The first was a simple ball jointed white doll, entirely featureless and devoid of detail. The second was a black android, its sleek mechanical body lined with glowing lines that reminded Jake slightly of the box he was currently plugged into. The third option was greyed out but had the words “Biometric Avatar” over the image. Curious, Jake selected the third option.

Purchase Biometric Avatar?

5 000 credits.

Yes/No?

Note: You will be required to provide access to Biometric Data.

Jake shrugged as he selected yes, figuring that if he had already spent over a hundred thousand credits on the machines, another five thousand wasn’t so bad. A short while later, after logging in to the Global Health System to grant access to his latest scan, Jake watched as his glowing body slowly faded away, leaving him standing in his own body once again, though he was only dressed in a pair of tight white shorts. A quick check revealed that there was a shop for buying clothes for his new Avatar, among other things, so he quickly purchased the cheapest items he could find.

Now Jake stood in the void wearing a plain white t-shirt and blue pants, with a pair of simple boots on his feet. Looking around, Jake wondered what else he was supposed to do, about to investigate more of the shop when a message appeared in his vision.

Andrew Wheeler has invited you to his Hub.

Accept?

Yes/No?

Jake stared at the screen for a moment, before selecting yes, the darkness around him vanishing as he suddenly found himself standing in the middle of a glass dome, looking out at a massive verdant rainforest around him.

“What on Earth?’ he breathed, walking over to the glass, and laying his hand on it, “Where am I?”

“My Hub,” Andy’s voice said from behind him, Jake turning to look at his friend, eyebrows raising in surprise.

“Andy?”

“Yep, that’s me,” the tall and muscular man said, looking for all intents and purposes like his father but without a beard, “Oh, sorry, you’re probably a little confused. This is the Avatar I usually use in my Hub and games, so I forgot that I would look different to you. I see you splurged on the Biometric Avatar as well.”

“Oh, okay,” Jake said slowly, looking around the small dome in wonder. Apart from the gorgeous outside, the inside was as sparsely furnished as the apartment, only a beaten up looking leather sofa and a coffee table in the centre of the dome standing on top of a plush circular rug.

“Pretty swish, right?” Andy laughed, walking over to stand beside Jake, “I saved up for months to afford this Hub look. Guess it’s because there’s a bit of the old man in me, right?”

“Right,” Jake nodded as he looked out at the rainforest that surrounded them, “Do you have to pay for everything here?”

“Yeah, pretty much,” Andy shrugged, “But that’s beside the point. We’re both in FD now, which means there’s only one thing to do!”

“There is?” Jake asked, Andy just grinning at him as he spoke.

“Well, duh,” the man said, “Let’s play some games!”