Jason swiped his key pass three times before the damn thing finally beeped and he heard the tell-tale click of the office door unlocking. Letting it go to snap back against his belt, he pushed on the door and paused as the fluorescent lighting flickered on, illuminating the expansive room.
Transcount was a global accounting firm based in Cobar, a once remote town in Australia, and now a thriving tech hub for virtual workers. Originally housed in a slender glass spire in the heart of Sydney, now its workers commuted to an underground bunker built in a former coal mine.
In front of Jason stretched several dozen spherical grey pods, evenly spaced out and arranged in neat rows. As usual he was the first to arrive for the day, and the room was quiet and empty. He adjusted his backpack up onto his shoulder and walked down the central aisle towards his pod. He unconsciously counted five pods as he passed them, took a right turn, and then settled at the third pod he reached. He set his bag down and pressed his hand to the glowing access panel on the pod door. It beeped once then slid upwards, rolling slightly forward, revealing a reclined leather seat, strewn with crumbs.
"Goddamnit Terrence", Jason uttered, looking around in a vain hope of seeing his hot-pod partner, or perhaps a cleaner to fix up the mess. Of course he was still the only one in the office, so with a sigh, he leaned into the pod, cupping one hand and scooping bits of Pringles into it with the other. He stood up, and with another quick look around threw them behind the pod where they would never be seen again until some day in the distant future when the pod was eventually removed.
He climbed into the pod, pulling his backpack up off the floor and into his lap. He pressed a key on the console next to the seat, and the door slid shut behind him. Dim lights turned on automatically, providing enough light for him to unzip his bag and pull out a pair of haptic gloves and a streamlined black VR mask. With practiced ease, he slipped his hands into the thin gloves, then reached behind him to plug in the cable that connected his visor to the pod. Finally, lowering the headset onto his eyes, he made a thumbs up gesture, and the rushing sensation of logging in engulfed him for a moment before he appeared in the middle of a verdant meadow beneath a starry purple sky.
The world he found himself was one of the three that his company would allow him to choose. The others were a comfy cottage overlooking the ocean, and the third was a realistic rendering of the old company headquarters. He liked this one though. It was supposed to be some sort of alien planet with two moons and a sun that only rose partway into the sky before dipping back down to the horizon once each day. It reminded him of the games he used to play as a teenager before the demands of work and family well and truly took over.
With a few quick gestures, Jason pulled up his daily calendar. It wasn't quite nine in the morning in Vancouver, so he ordered himself a coffee, which appeared a moment later in front of him. Outside of the VR world a coffee also appeared in a small compartment in front of him. Food replication was far from perfected at this point, but most pods these days could produce a passable coffee or tea. He reached for a fine china cup of swirling brown liquid in the virtual world while simultaneously grasping a disposable paper cup in the real world. The taste was the same in both.
Within a few minutes he had started to plunge into work, scrolling through his messages, keeping a weather eye on his news feed, and pulling up several spreadsheets that he had left unsaved the night before. It didn't take long for the beautiful alien world that was his office to be totally obscured by dozens of windows and virtual objects.
Before long, a soft alarm went off, letting him know that the Australian and Canadian time zones had finally overlapped, and he mimed picking up a phone and dialling. A large video screen appeared in front of him displaying the text dialling. He smiled to himself as he heard the different ringtone that the Canadian system used, reminding him of his time spent overseas in the real world.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
After a few rings there was a click as the other line engaged. Jason listened for his colleague to speak, but instead there was just static.
"Hello?" he asked, taking a sit from his now-cold coffee. No answer. "Helll-ooo?" he said again. Again, no answer. Jason reached forward to press the End button on the virtual phone in front of him, when there was suddenly an ear-splitting screech, and the world in front of him exploded with a bright blue pulse. It was so quick and unexpected that Jason didn't even have time to react. The world went instantly black as his mind was blown backwards into unconsciousness
Jason heard himself utter a low groan as the world swam back into view, slowly opening his eyes. As his mind tried to put together what had just happened, he became aware of a spreading cold in his lap where the coffee he had held had fallen. He tried to reach down to pick up the cup, but his body wouldn't react. He tried again, but his hand was frozen in place. He tried leaning forward, but it was as though his body was frozen in place. His pulse jumped up a little as panic started to grip him. He tried again, forcing both his hands up as he tried to stand. Still nothing. He breathed out, the exertion and panic wearing him down already. It was then that he finally noticed the face.
In front of him, looking out from between two floating spreadsheets, was a black face with two tiny eyes, set high on its forehead. It was looking straight at him, and even if he hadn't been paralysed, he would have found it impossible to tear his gaze away. The face moved slowly towards him. Long, thin fingers emerged through the gap now as well, sharp nails clicking lightly together as the spidery appendages twisted their way forward. The faced drew closer, a lithe body sliding into view behind it.
When the full creature emerged, Jason could see that it was vaguely human-shaped. It had two legs, two arms, fingers, and all the rest of it. It was dressed from head to toe in black, with thin silvery highlights at various spots along its body. It moved strangely, crouching down and slinking its way towards him. He tried to speak but no sound would escape his throat.
All he could do was watch as the creature reached behind its back and pulled out a small blue stone. It brought the stone up to its face then reached its other hand over to squeeze it between two slender fingers. Jason watched as the fingers rotated and the stone split into two, the top half swivelling around. As it turned, thin spikes slid out from between an expanding crack that formed down the equator of the stone. Once the stones had been rotated around 360 degrees, the little spikes stood out an inch around each side.
The black creature shifted its grip slightly, then with a violent shove it pushed the stone into Jason's chest. He screamed as a massive electric shock tore into him. His heart sped up, doubling in speed in an instant and beating so fast it felt as though it would explode. Jason's eyes went wide as his body bucked and fought the current that surged through him.
His ears began to register a sound that grew louder and louder, gaining in pitch as it increased in volume. It became a shard of sound that penetrated directly into his brain. His muscles clenched in spasm as they tried to cope with the overload that threatened to tear him apart. Blood ran down his mouth and throat as he bit into his own tongue, teeth grinding into each other as his jaw slammed shut. His body started to bend forward, the power of the seizure that was taking over his body breaking through the paralysis.
Horrible, tearing sounds, followed by muffled pops and cracks began to emanate from his battered body. His fingers broke against his hands, tearing through his gloves as they clamped down into his bloody palms. Jason lost consciousness as his body forced itself inwards. When he finally died, his body was contorted into a ball of broken flesh and bone. It was held above the floor of the pod by the cable that stretched from the back of the visor towards the headrest of the pod’s seat. When the weight of the body finally pulled the cord from the visor, the two small eye screens began to dim black; two images of the retreating black creature shrunk down to the size of a pin then winked out.