His eyes were squinting from the amount of damned natural light they let in here. On one end: white corridor. On the other were windows that looked out onto the great city of Los Angeles.
Josef was being wheeled through the facility and his eyes wandered across the boring hallways of white and grey. They had spared no detail, apparently.
'As you see here, we have an amazing and central location to the rest of the city, so you’ll never be without a view in the event you want to return to the real world.' A chirpy and beaming smile was the first thing Josef had noted about her. She was a perky and joyous woman, and probably hadn’t taken her Adderall. She was in a crisp and pressed dress: even adorning a blazer, and then a charismatic science coat over the top of that. Her glasses were reflecting the sun and glinting into his eyes by the way she leaned over him, causing him to glare.
'I haven’t much intention to leave.' Josef perhaps wasn’t in the best mood, but then he hadn’t been since being turned into a paraplegic. His hands rested in his wheelchair, scratching against the leather with an index finger while he was being wheeled - the repetition had since worn away from the leather and was causing cracks. He couldn’t do everything himself just yet.
'Just in case, of course.' She knew his reasons for being there, but she was still a salesman- even beneath the frenetic energy she held an edge of lawyership about her. The click of his right wheel finally came to a stop as Josef felt the brief sensation of turning from one side and the slight inertia of his body as it turned.
He no longer needed to glare at the least.
Finally at the end of a corridor, lacquered marble flooring and gaudy bright walls adorned with artwork of various meaningless nature - they stood astride to a black door, a beaming ‘6 13’ embossed into it in gold.
'Here we are!' the woman was beaming. She would step in front of the man to fiddle with the many items in her hands, various documents and the like. She was finally able to grasp on to a pair of keys, which would give way to a larger room that was reminiscent of a hotel room but had been kitted out a bit more. It was a living space.
Josef’s eyes didn’t seem any more enthused than he did on arriving here. But he relented, nonetheless.
The woman would move out of the way for him to be wheeled in. 'As you can see, everything here will be your own to rent. All bills, inclusive, game-time is included, the support package mentioned earlier is included. We don’t do things by half measures, of course.' The woman would call from behind Josef as they entered the room. The sales patter was creeping up his irate-ness.
It was a nice room; one long single pane was the first thing that he noticed: the lower half of the room was opaque but a window nonetheless and offering a fair view to some of the other areas in Los Angeles.
The room itself was a bit like a hotel room: The door on his left was already open as he was wheeled down the corridor but it looked like a wet room and shitter combo, a simple enough mirror and some drawers: a bit like he could sit himself there like he was sat at a vanity desk.
On the opposite side of that, was a large painting. An oil painting.
Pretentious.
From the corridor it opened into a full living quarter. In the centre of the room was the bed. They spared no detail; a dresser was just in front of the bed. Some feet in front of the dresser was a couch facing against a wall with a TV and coffee table. Dark wood. Josef liked the dark wood. Reminded him of the homestead. It had all been put in mind with someone of Josef’s… stature.
There was a cream rug beneath it, but as far as Josef knew, it was white. That’s pointless. His body did not have the aptitude to reflect the thoughts inside his mind.
‘We’ll have someone remove that.’ the woman smiled, noting his own dissatisfaction though he had not raised it.
To the left of the bed and up against the wall (of which on the opposite side was the shower room) was a desk, and drawers along the edge of the room and the back end: before finishing just before a door behind the bed. There was more than enough room for a few people to stand behind the bed and chat if they wanted to.
The big thing that caught Josef’s eyes was the lighting. There weren’t any lights on in the room. There were some circular hospital-looking ones in the centre of the room, but they were off.
'The light is great. The building was built in mind so as to not bother people with light – the side that people live on doesn’t get the sun directly until around the afternoon meaning you won’t get annoying sun rays to wake you up.' The woman veered around Josef and into the room, seeing what the man had first noticed and paid attention to.
Josef raised his hand to the man behind him, not bothering to even look back at him.
'Got it.'
He would push at the wheelchair himself, arms rolling around either side of the wheels as he could give the room a proper look around, and around the various things it offered.
It was, however, without the lack of a proper kitchen.
'Is there a fridge?' Josef asked, turning his wheelchair to face the raven-haired woman. His eyes continued to scan the room in the meantime.
'Yes, it’s just here.' The woman would speak before going over to the side of the room. There were drawers and a desk sort of built into the wall, hidden by a wooden cabinet styled drawer. It was an under-counter fridge. Not that much room. She would open it up: there were drinks already loaded into it.
'Can we offer you a drink?' The woman wasn’t shy as to put down her things on the desk while she leaned down, pulling out a glass Coca-Cola bottle for herself.
'Another coke would be good.' Josef quipped simply. He was not afraid to stare at the woman’s ass as she retrieved a second bottle, fumbling through some other drawers to find a bottle opener.
He was a prospective client after all. In his eyes, she could afford to put up with his behaviour, while he internally knew it wrong - only averted his eyes after she turned back to him.
'We stock the fridges on a bi-weekly basis, and our kitchen staff are more than happy to take requests. This is your first visit, right?'
'Yes, Claire.' Josef responded, wheeling his way towards the woman to accept the drink. He wouldn’t have used her first name had she not already asked him the same question half an hour prior, almost swiping the glass bottle from her.
Josef would look over at the other carer who was sort of standing there.
'What?' The man asked as Josef had been staring.
'Your zip is undone.' Josef would smirk, prompting a quick yelp from the man as he turned.
‘Pah. Josefff.’ A joke - seeing that they were in fact in control of all of their denim functions.
Josef would take another sip from the bottle and twist at the hips back to face Claire, one hand absentmindedly guiding himself as he had learned to.
The salesman was still keen to continue with her pitch to the man.
'So, obviously you’re seeing a lack of virtua-room. Well, it’s actually just behind…here…' Claire would squeeze past Josef, and behind the bed – was even more room that revealed a sliding door: but also had a button that it could automatically open.
It opened into another open room. In the middle of that room was a cabled-up monstrosity of what appeared to be a life-support machine. Again, a very well-lit room, but this wasn’t for living in.
Or was it?
This was the reason that Josef had even come here in the first place. It was all everyone seemed to be talking about these days. The man took a deep breath as he leaned over, placed the half-empty bottle on the floor and began to wheel himself in.
White walls again, but then there was a large pod in the centre of the room. There was a cable running from the back of it and into the wall that was probably about the same size as Josef’s head- absolutely massive. And all of the rooms had this? It was an oblong pill-shaped capsule that almost looked like it should start humming and take off, with a very dark navy-blue coating and a white trim around it. On the left-hand side closest to the door was also a black screen: very likely a status screen.
The power I bet that baby needs... Josef thought to himself.
Claire, the woman moved over to it – there was a console embedded from the front side of the structure, protruding from it like an uninvited guest.
She would begin to tap at it, offering up a pass hung around her neck as authentication.
It would give some futuristic noise (to the esteemed guest) and sounds of pressure as it seemed to bisect horizontally down the middle of the capsule, unsealing and opening with a hinge on the right-hand side- it was like the comfiest casket someone could ask for.
'This is the most advanced technology money can buy now. Of course, it’ll be rented and again is included with our package price.'
The woman began listing off the various specifics that Josef couldn’t understand, the technical jargon was beyond him. All this about CPUs and GPUs and plugging in, the power needed to run it and the medical prerogative and whatnot.
'Just, bluntly-' Josef said, interrupting the woman, who would shut up like a puppy being reprimanded by a parent.
'I can plug in, play this game, and you’ll take care of my body whilst I play?' Josef wasn’t very good at playing politics - he was practical. Down to business.
'Uh, yes. That’s the jist of it. The equipment has been designed and modified by Vertigo to allow us constant surveillance of your health. Of course, that won’t be necessary, but it has the capability to hook you up, if you like, to the game without being interrupted. We can do the cleaning, ensure you’re in proper physical health, getting the correct nutrition: all while you’re plugged in. You don’t even need rest; we take care of that for you.' Claire said, giving a fair explanation of what their services were. It had been explained in the documents that he had been given, but the woman realised her usual sales techniques weren’t going to work on him, and had to work from his style - and Josef seemed to be paying well enough attention.
'Have you ever played Sanctity?' Claire asked the man, suspiciously finding herself with her hands clasped behind her back now that she was without her documents and a drink in hand.
'No.' The man shook his head in response.
'I see.' Claire seemed disappointed. Josef did take it into consideration.
It was a relatively new thing in the scheme of things. But it was something that had taken over the world as the new fad. In the space of over a year, Alcatraz Co had somehow expanded the market and taken over as a titan of the world’s new game.
600 million nerds and growing - this games company rivalled nation in size of the virtual universe, whatever that means. Their claims had been true to life and delivered on all promises.
'That’s what this is primarily for, so if you’ve never played it, I can’t give you a fair example. But in saying that, we have many clients like yourself who enjoy our benefits and features. As a subsidiary of Alcatraz’s funding, we enjoy the latest technologies and advancements in the field…' Claire was trying to pre-emptively handle any objections he might have, where he didn’t have any. He’d had two years to mull over the idea.
'I haven’t changed my mind yet.' Josef shrugged as he spoke again. Her words were only echoing into the room so far, as if he hadn’t just said he’d tried it in the past.
'So, what are your thoughts?' Claire asked of the prospective client. He wasn’t giving anything away.
'It’s a couple of grand a month?' Josef asked as he crossed his arms, which served little purpose considering he was in a wheelchair and had arm rests if he wanted to.
Perhaps it was just his human nature at work.
'The package we spoke about is $11,000 a month for the room, capsule rental, food and drink arrangements and then the support is $3,000 on top of that, plus taxes. The minimum contract is 12 months, and you can stay as long as you like.' Claire said as she would move her body for them to exit the room.
As long as the money was rolling, the man thought gingerly.
The woman beamed once more, getting down the core of the conversation. As far as she had cared, her part was done.
'Well, I gotta peek at the documents first of course, but yeah. I’m happy to go ahead as of right now.' The man made the executive decision easily.
'Of course! We wouldn’t expect anything different.' The woman seemed confident in the man’s decision and propped open her folder and left a few documents on the side for Josef to grab himself.
'There is one matter I’d like to ask.' Josef would lean over as he flicked through them, lazily going through what he had already read, opening up to a specific page and pointing to one of the paragraphs while it sat in his lap, and the woman leant over as she looked at what it was he asked.
Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.
'You recommend that we take breaks out of the machine? Is there a limit?' It says in the next couple of pages… or so - here. Josef asked the woman, he could see the open capsule from his position in the opposite room, staring at him in the face. His teeth would grind against one another lightly.
Claire didn’t need to look down - keeping her trained gaze on Josef.
'Yes. We recommend that through our surveys and dedicated research teams we advise taking one day out of the capsule for every two and a third days. An in-game week, if you will.' She reverted to the state of jargon that Josef knew from the techier types of people: she was just regurgitating information.
'Aight. And how often do people listen to that warning?' Josef crossed his arms again, putting the woman on the spot, his right hand pinching the skin underneath his left arm with an index finger and thumb
'Well...' She would start, and the man could see how she worked under pressure. 'The reason we have a fourty page waiver for the Vertigo pod as is … Yes. It’s listed in the waiver on your documents. We can’t force you out of the capsule ourselves safely, but we’re also not liable for misuse against our advice, which is what you’re suggesting.'
Josef had remembered the information he had been bombarded with, infused with his own thoughts on the subject. Safely. After the fact, he snorted a little bit.
‘And what of a natural disaster?’ Josef shrugged his shoulders. Tornado, Tsunami - shitty building structure with inadequate forcing? They weren’t exactly on the ground floor.
It was a long drop.
The technology they used was on another level. By both in ball ache and futurism that he had never been privy to. Hooking someone up to the capsule, which Josef had been forced to watch took around twenty-five minutes long: fitting people up to the equipment.
‘The game system has methods to do something akin to that, yes.’ A voice from behind the two of them: the man that Josef had made fun of earlier.
The haptic suits that transmitted information directly to someone’s brain meant that you could feel anything and everything. It did seem unusual that they couldn’t be pushed out of it, though. He doubted it.
That meant no limits, with some obvious barriers and privacy options in the game. It also included the parts of the machine that not only let them play the game but play in peace. They were fixed up to catheters, fixed up to tubes that could feed them and keep them alive. They were almost perfectly preserved and protected inside it.
They were so perfectly integrated with the amount of equipment that it was almost nigh impossible to wake someone up once they were in. Terrible for parents. Perfect for no lifers. People who quit their jobs to play Sanctity Online, no matter their problems so long as they had the funds or the capital to get hooked up.
Even then the capsules had their own power and internet networks so that they could continue to work even in a blackout because the idea that it could malfunction and affect someone was dangerous. It didn’t matter to Josef - as high up he was, if something was going to happen to him, it might’ve well been doing something more enjoyable. An earthquake wouldn’t save him.
Some people couldn’t afford to stay in the world, and so people had their day jobs.
Josef was different.
Josef was a good man, and he knew that. He had been a labourer. A builder: good with his hands, simple of heart and mind and ultimately a simple man. He enjoyed the lonely life where he could go home, stick on a vinyl and open a carton of cigarettes.
Sometimes he would jam out to a guitar owned by his dad. An old acoustic that had been strung several times over and was caked in stickers and rust along the turning pegs.
He was frugal as a person: probably doing better than most with no debts, no convictions, no aspirations. Women were a bygone fantasy – he’d had them come in and out of his life at sporadic points. He figured it was himself.
He had a moderate apartment of fair sizing that he rented monthly, with an extra bedroom to boot that ended up becoming a shrine of tools and unfinished ideas.
That changed when he had been hit by a car on his worksite, and by no other than his boss, who had lost his temper with the man, pinned between a wall and a bonnet - there wasn’t really much to salvage.
It rendered him a paraplegic. Josef was a simple man but now the only thing he had been good at was wrenched from him. His maths and academic studies were flawed, he was too stoic for arts and too emotional for stem subjects. His own claim to fame was sharing a cigarette with a B-list celebrity. He wasn't special.
That had been about two years ago and his insurance had only just paid out. His lawsuit completed to where he would be coming in to a large sum of money to keep him going for a good few years just yet, considering he had been stripped of his livelihood: his only skill.
Games hadn’t really been his thing either but living in an apartment that needed stairs to get up – and a year of stubbornly refusing to move meant he had to move on in his life.
That’s where he had been told about Sanctity Online: he already knew of the game and the company but didn’t realize that physical defects would never be an issue. That was one way he could walk and run again. It hooked him in instantly.
Some people were even lucky enough to make careers of it. A game? Preposterous.
Its revenue was larger than any company to date - and it hadn’t taken long for people to translate that into real world benefit. It had taken a pervasive grasp on the roots of the world. It was only growing larger and even more impressively the game had only been around for just over a year. It began initially with science doing the impossible.
Scientists had managed to break the size barrier that prevented humanity from building small enough processors. They were hurtling towards the inevitable technological boom that came after the discovery. People were able to build computers and invent the quantum core processors needed that brought maths into a new level of ease: solving puzzles that evaded the human mind for centuries. In turn, technology surged.
One slightly invasive surgical procedure, and the world had ‘meta-humans’ - those capable of being hooked up to machines which sped up their human synapses, introduced a big of audio-visual trickery and you had time dilation.
Gaming was no different: eventually there were inventions that allowed for the realistic touch of a game world. Soon enough there were haptic suits that would emulate a world: but the problem was that people knew they were in it.
Alcatraz came along, but the word was that they’d existed under pseudonyms, generally using the technology for war and consumerist related purposes.. The name itself was a thing of intrigue as it was known to be named after the prison. It was later found out it referred to the main thing that everybody associated with it: the escape. It was known for being the great escape, and Sanctity Online was the next great escape. Sanctity Online was Alcatraz’ one and only child. After five years of hushed secrets and the next best kept secret, it somehow managed to garner the attention and funding of companies- but kept its secrets.
No matter what it was before they had even marketed a single product, it was a common name and had gone viral with people using the term 'Going Alcatraz' to associate it with being hidden. The world was eagerly awaiting it: all that was known is that it was an entertainment product.
A year before the release of Sanctity Online, Alcatraz made a statement saying its name and calling it a game that was completely and utterly immersive.
Josef had not paid attention till that point.
The game formed Alcatraz’s motto: 'It’s impossible until it isn’t.' as the game grew to a new level of height, it was predictable that issues would arise from the level of play testing involved: the yet unknown implications of what it could do to someone – and yet they were somehow relieved of their moral and ethical obligations. No matter what had been thrown at Alcatraz, they beat it twice over and had energy to spare.
That’s why Josef thought this was the way to go.
A few appointments later and a visit: and here he was.
He was currently sitting over the documents as he read them over. He was going to be forking over a lot of money for it, so he was going to get his damned money’s worth.
Why on earth do people have all these conditions. Jesus. Josef thought to himself in vexation.
'Pass me a pen,' Josef held out his hand for the woman, who was surprised to see his sudden and quick judgement, but quickly pulled one from her smart jacket.
Josef signed the paper there and then, filling out a few of his own bank details as he did so, folding it back over itself.
'Don’t spend it all at once. Kyle. Can you get someone to grab my shit?' Josef said again, the other man who was now known as Kyle had been standing around, waiting to be told to do something.
'Sur’ thing.' Kyle had a stereotypically deep, deep voice that contrasted against his nice and caring personality. He spoke with a Midwest accent. Wisconsin. Something that Josef found amusing.
'So, non’ the furniture but like the posters and vinyl’s and stuff?' Kyle said, referencing an earlier conversation when he had to sort through his stuff. Kyle had been through the difficult stuff.
'Yeah. Fuck off.' Josef spoke jokingly.
They were friends.
The woman was ecstatic meanwhile that he had signed there and then and was stuffing stuff away.
'Well, I’m very glad, nonetheless. That was painless, eh? Most people want to think about it.' She could drop some of the act now that her money had been made. She only had Josef’s nonchalant look to contend with.
'Either way, we can sort out anything and everything for you. Just for note, there’s a button near the door, in the capsule and on the coffee table: they work off the Wi-Fi. Click it and you’ll get someone calling you for whatever you need.' It was good to shell out and have people do things for him.
It was also fucking frustrating since Josef had been very independent, and to suddenly rely on a host of people had been a new learning experience. But two years of aid with Kyle had made a difference he’d begrudgingly admit.
'Yea. Can you go grab people and set up the… capsule…. I wanna get plugged in.' It was a simple enough request.
'Of course. We just need to wait for payment to come through, which now you’ve signed - we can complete escrow.' The woman nodded and would pull out a mobile phone. His carer had disappeared, and it left him to sort of wait around. He would wheel himself over to the desk, pulling out a wallet, keys, and phone – leaving them on the table.
He would pick up the phone again to start going through it while he waited, being unsociable.
The light of the phone was bright.
'I think it’s exciting, I’ve never seen someone get plugged in before.' Claire would say as she finally returned to chat with Josef.
'I only wore a haptic suit once myself, it was hard to put on. So tight.'
'Ah, yes. They’re good value for money, though.' Claire said.
'Yeah.' Josef was doing a good job of being unamiable.
So, they waited.
As they waited, Josef sipped on his drink, scrolling through his phone.
'Are you looking forward to being able to run again?' Claire asked tentatively during the silences they were having.
The question was a fair one and had perked him a bit more than he had been earlier.
'Yeah.' He would sniff a few times and rub his nose. His phone was rotating as his hand rolled it alongside his thigh. 'I hadn’t thought of it, but yeah, I guess I am.'
He had been thinking about it.
'I haven’t even thought of a name yet.' Josef would scoff. The woman would delightedly share his brief enthusiasm.
'Oh, that’s so cool! I won’t spill much, but the guide pretty much helps for all of it. In simple terms, it’s just an AI, people call it ‘Book’ informally but it’s the game’s guide. Since we’re putting you in the capsule, it’ll do everything while we synchronise the capsule for you and by that time, you’ll get into the game swinging and everything!' She gave a brief explanation; which Josef had gone through already albeit rushed since he wasn’t that bothered about it.
A few knocks on the door would pretty much signify what he was expecting to have happen. Two carers dressed in a lime-blue kind of garment entered, two chatty birds. A thrum of excitement burst in his chest and he felt the adrenaline run.
'Alright, well I think it’s time we get you in!' Claire said, stepping out of the way for them to offer moving Josef who simply shrugged his shoulders. But she obviously wasn’t going to do anything herself.
Over the course of the next half hour, they began to set him up. Claire had opted for a standing position in the corner of the room whilst she watched the nurses do their work.
'Fuck catheters.' Josef said, wincing as the experience as a helmet was being fit to his head.
The sound was also resonating, causing a small feedback as he spoke. From his position sat inside the capsule, in a reclined sofa-like ornament he was currently sat up in but was soon due to lay himself down. It was average as far as insides went but were full of panelling and wires.
His feet had been tied down to keep him in, not that his legs were going anywhere, and he was sitting just sort of… waiting. The adrenaline had worn off - this was an annoyingly long process.
'It’s unnerving the first time someone is put in, don’t worry about it.' Claire would say from her position; she was fidgeting with her hands tapping against the glass of the aforementioned bottle.
They were about to turn it on properly. There was a hum and buzz of feedback in his ears that was growing louder, then vibrations in the seat itself. The machine gurgled into life and hit a steady beat and resonation.
YOU HAVE ENTERED THE VIRTUA-CAPSULE. A booming voice over all the ambient sounds provided, causing Josef to blink and his head shift.
'Don’t worry, it’s just the synchronising!' Claire would call out; it was likely something that she had heard about.
SYNCHRONIZING. PLEASE DO NOT MOVE WHILE YOU ARE BEING SCANNED.
Josef had been covered head to toe in a skin-tight suit, then on top of those suits were sockets in which he had been plugged into the machine: the machine was able to deliver electrical currents to stimulate his muscles and keep them healthy, track his overall health and keep him alive.
On top of the helmet, Josef waited as his vision in front of him turned an opaque blue where he could see his surroundings.
'Oh… Josef commented as a copy of his appearance was being created from top to toes. It was what he was paying for, but neat nonetheless.
Josef was a short brown-haired man, when he had stood at full height was just shy of six foot. His hair was a mess, with enough length to cover parts of his large forehead and across his eyes if he allowed it: it was unkempt and that’s how it had always looked. He had dark brown eyes that he didn’t realise ended up looking even darker when light shone on it. Shit tended to deteriorate when you paid little attention to your own physical health.
He had strong features and was gruff: short stubble crossing around his face: an oval face with a cleft chin, and a moderately strong jawline.
His main feature was his body, and as a labourer had always been stocky, aside from scratches and small scars adorning his body – he had the build of a rugby player. Albeit, he had lost weight and muscle now that he didn’t use his legs.
He also had large ears which was why he had long hair.
It was intentional.
'What is it?' Claire asked, wondering what phase he was at.
'My appearance. I didn’t realize my head looks like a reverse egg from the back.' Josef said, prompting a chuckle from the woman. She was like someone else when it came to the deal being done.
'Well, not much longer then!' Claire started speaking but it got drowned out half way through by the console now speaking.
SYNCHRONIZING COMPLETE. READY TO START.
'Well, it says it’s ready to start.' Josef said, and as if on cue the chair would begin to straighten itself and he would find himself looking to the lid of the capsule.
'Well. Enjoy your stay, sir, and may I personally welcome you to Sanctity Online!' Claire would cheerfully say. The capsule would begin to come down and finally close - popping his ears from the pressure, and with it, his vision began to blacken.
INITIALIZING.
…
…
...
WELCOME TO SANCTITY ONLINE.