“The first thing we’re going to do once you’re back in is test your Emergency Egress System. I want you all to be totally sure we can get you back out safely. Anyone need a refresher on how it works?”

“I’m less concerned about the ‘how’, doc, than I am about the ‘if’ part.” Marcus answered for all of them.

“Fair enough. So far it’s tested out fine in The Sandbox, but this will be the first trial in The Sim.”

Grim faces stared back at her.

It had been three days since The Incident. Three days since Cpl O’Riley died when they got hacked. Three days that the rest of Sgt Marcus’ team had been trapped inside what was supposed to be a quick trial of the system. Three days of round the clock testing and evaluations prepping the rescue team that Sgt Marcus would lead inside.

Marcus looked over his scratch team. All of them Special Operations veterans, all of them combat tested. All of them on board with the program.

Well, all but one.

Marcus still objected to the ninth member of their team, but the Colonel had overruled him. The Colonel had agreed with the engineers on this one. They had to take a geek in with them. They needed to have someone who could look at The Sim’s code from the inside...and that geek was Samantha Neville.

Marcus shook his head as he tried to put it out of mind. The only upside he consoled himself with was that she didn’t have to meet Spec Ops physical fitness standards, because everything was going to happen in VR. All she had to do was look at the code...and not get in the way.

With that in mind, he’d be keeping her close to him and Sgt Rebecca Mathers. Mathers was a cool head, and Marcus figured Neville would take a female screaming at her better if things went as badly as they had the first time. Of course, he’d been wrong about things before. The rest of the team was paired off in their VR suits and ready to go.

“We’re going to be dropping you near the location of the...last trip. It’ll be inside a warehouse that is supposed to be empty, according to everything we can see. But we also couldn’t see what went wrong with the last trip, so be ready for anything. As soon as all of you are stable inside, Sgt Marcus will initiate the EES, and you will return. As soon as we confirm that it works as intended and you’re all safe, we can send you right back in. Any questions?” The doc looked at each of them in turn. Neville looked like she was trying her version of Resting Bitch Face, and the others were stone faced. Most of them had at least met Cpl O’Riley, and a few had served with him, so the usual joking was absent.

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“Okay then, into the tanks.”

They filed into the next room, where the VR tanks stood open.

Technically they were where AR and VR met and had a demon love-child. The system supposedly took the best of AR and laid it over the best of VR. They could use physical aids from The Sandbox, and the system was capable of overlaying multiple input options, but whole point of The Sim was make the system as virtual as possible and to step beyond the AR/VR meld of current games and the next-gen system in The Sandbox.

One by one they were hooked in and double checked. Marcus scanned the room and saw eight raised thumbs, before giving his own thumbs up to the doc.

They lowered their visors and the hatches closed on them. They...shifted.

The warehouse came into focus. Empty, just like it was supposed to be. Marcus looked around, counting his people. ...six, seven, eight plus him. Everyone accounted for.

“Are we all good?” he asked? “Check your gear, function tests, see if everything is working like it should.”

They all went through their equipment methodically. Half of them had M27/M320 combos and the other half were carrying the M38 DMW. Normally they would have years of ingrained muscle memory working for them, but this was where AR and VR met, so they double and triple checked. Neville had a chest mounted tablet geek-thing. The real life one was supposed to be rugged enough for the field, but this was electrons simulating electrons. Marcus didn’t know how that worked, but she seemed to be competent with it.

Shortly all of them finished and gave Marcus another thumbs up. He returned it and held up his EES. It looked like a fancy sports watch with a rugged cover. Everyone else raised their own and flipped open the covers. Marcus counted down with his fingers and they all stabbed the buttons.

Nothing happened.

Marcus flashed the countdown again and...

Nothing.