‘The drugs are wearing off? OK, not good. You’re going to be sued by my company boss or me personally for this. Do not make this into a horror film. I don’t know how you did this but…virtual reality.’

Yeah. Not the best result but it made the most sense. To think otherwise was going to make my mind go down paths that I didn’t want to go down.

‘Acceptable. This is illegal. I’m not clear on how you can reach this level of realism but the joke is over now.’

Still no response made me worry slightly more now. Calm. I needed to stay calm. We had been warned at my mining company that kidnapping could be a possibility when when working in high-risk areas where governmental control was weak to say the least.

I wanted to smack myself in the head for it. Obviously the technology for this set-up was far beyond what I worked with even in the commercial sector. Military or private crazy rich person had put in serious investment to make this as realistic as possible. I tried my best to keep calm and collected. Besides, I tended to joke in tense situations. This would be over soon enough and the magic behind the curtains shown to me.

‘Yeah. Use your special effect magic! You were right. This isn’t the reality I know because it’s virtual! Ugh, my jokes are bad but let’s get it over with. Oh and I do plan to sue you. That is not a joke.’

No verbal responses yet but I could imagine the engineers and the technicians behind the scenes making the necessary changes to the illusionary room that I had been stuck in. I did want my physical body in reality to be healthy though. Always good to hope for the best.

‘And here we goooo! Ah, you’re still removing things. My bad.’

I sat there and waited a bit longer. In the end, the furniture and lights went as well, and I was left sitting on an office chair with a magical floating computer, screen, keyboard, and mouse. They were resting on something; it was just invisible to my eye. Strange how my physical sensations came across to my brain and exactly the same. I’d wake up in a hospital, military facility or training centre. Either way I’d take it as it came.

‘That’s weird. VR can do so much! Also, the drugs are either wearing off or kicking in. Thanks! I. I. Tha-nks.’

Dizzier now and my eyelids began to feel heavier. I thought that I had used up a huge amount of energy already in this Escape Room, mostly mental but still. MY real-life body must have been feeling drained by this point. I sank into the office chair and relaxed my body as I felt increasingly sleepy.

‘Lay down your head and count the bees, now it’s time to catch some zees. I’ll be meeting you on the rea-reality siiiiiide.’

I fell asleep into oblivion. Waking up to an experience that would make me wish for the Escape Room once again.

… … … … … … … … … …

[Give me a second…]

[What?]

[What?]

…Remove full level of consciousness control…

….Checking Cotard Delusion protocols…

…Correlating Dysmorphic parameters…

….Creating behaviour support imitation program…

…Initiating Campos stability Protocol…

…AMT Test Initiated…

[What?]

…Mining Drone Start-Up Initiated…

…Powering up….

… Minor Damage located on Secondary Mining Drone Body…

...Warning: Power Supply Requirement Increased.…

[Wow! I feel strong. Like far stronger than I should be. But something isn’t quite working right. My right arm isn’t moving as it should.]

[Nikolai? Is your name Nikolai? Sorry for calling you a jerk.]

[Where’s the system that I was typing within that Escape Room, or even the room itself? It wasn’t virtual reality. It felt real, like seriously real. I liked my clothes though; did you choose them? And that computer in the room with the messaging bot. Yeah, kinda interesting there.]

[Yes, I would. My new robot eyes! Yeah, I’m a robot now!]

My eyes finally opened to my surroundings. The first thing that I saw was some grey rocks. My vision felt slightly blurry.

[Do I need glasses or what?]

[Rules? What kind of rules? I don’t like to follow rules and frankly, I don’t even know you.]

[I guess so. What’s your plan?]

[An ambitious plan. Crazy even. Are there any steps to that? You got a particular plan in mind old friend?]

[Uh, you already said that. No, you repeated yourself. Forget it. I have no idea how I’d be getting so powerful, surely it must be beyond an individual level. As in a corporation, or employees, or you plan on turning me into a superhuman. Wait. I’m a robot. How is that going to work?]

[Do you have another name rather than a system that I can call you?]

[Nah, you don’t come across like a Vincent to me. Rather a Chad.]

[Back to the ground rules. Throw them at me.]

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

[I’m not a blank.]

Huh. My mind couldn’t draw it out of my memories. This conversation was getting a little bit strange now. Best to be honest though. Always a good policy when in doubt.

[I’ll tell you when I know it.]

[No. I told you I’ll try. Back off a little. How about you choose not to push me for details? Call me Buddy for now.]

[Wait? I was prepared for this whole thou shalt not create a likeness in the shape of an artificial rock formation.]

[Pray to tell me the second rule then mighty non-godly being.]

[Yeah, I have. They’re called lungfish oh mighty non-god system stroke Vincent.]

<….Nonsense. You are currently in a damaged drone. Your Mind Palace may have been nice and tidy, but the physical world needs a lot of tidying up to even get started. Resources are needed. Urgently.]

[The Escape Room was a real place?]

[How can I get back there?]

[Really? Send me back then.]

<…Depending on if you can survive the next hour of course. Trust me on this.>

[Wait, what? You’ve just gone from asking me to trust you and your plan to having an hour left to live.]

[Stupid system, you’re making it sound even worse! My vision is still blurred. Can you fix that at least?]

[Yes. Right. Rocks. Yeah, I was right. Dusty grey rocks, and holes in the ground. I’m not impressed yet.]

There were rocks sure but also random debris scattered around, some of it was metallic judging from the glint in the light along with several large craters on the ground. If this was meant to be a mining operation, then it had been left to become run down or abandoned.

There was a whirring noise from my body which I figured would mean that my robot body was working but still needed a few corrections. Lifting my legs and bringing them down I felt a soft crunch sound from the ground. I had just turned something vague into a smaller shape, not that it felt organic.

Broken now whatever it had been. Hope that it wasn’t valuable to my workload. Needed to be a little more careful getting used to this new form. Imagine if that had been a co-worker. Ouch! Human Resources would have a real issue on their hands if I killed someone by accident. Wait. No. Why would I think that?

[Oops. Uh, system? I think we have a problem here. I’m not thinking quite right. Could you find someone else to take my place?]

This whole conversation had taken a weird turn since I had woken up for the first time. Mind Palace to science fiction reality. A simulation, this had to be a simulation. Still, work was work. Idle hands make demons appear went the old saying.

....Campos Designate 1.3 Adaption Correction Active…

….Scanning Host Memory….

…Host Scaffolding in Place…

…Reactivating in…3…2..1…

Refreshed. I suddenly felt refreshed. I had been worried about a co-worker getting injured and then…nothing.

[System. Campos. Did you make a few changes to my mind or something?]

[You made a few changes to my mind? Not good. Not a joke.]

[No. No, you didn’t mention that.]

I tried to move my arms with a whirring noise. Ah, right, the whole robot body thing. I moved whatever made up my head and lifted my arm. A metallic claw with a minor digging attachment.

I saw a flattened shape on the greyish stone ground. A flat box. Yeah. No monsters going to appear out of that one. I recalled a moment in an Escape Room where I had considered if that would be used. This time was good. If anything supernatural or scary appeared then I’d stomp them to death. Even if they did appear in a freaky box inside a room.

Funny. I wanted to know what other functions this robot drone body had, best to ask my questions while I could. Wait. Wasn’t there meant to be orientation time and training?

[System? Vincent?]

Yet another question to ask. I still wasn’t quite sure it this was a virtual reality attempt or another form of Escape Room. Best to fully accept my new reality and listen to orders for once. The scenario might even be fun!

[I’m just filling up with questions here. I wanted to verify what functions this robot mining drone body has. How about you give me a manual so I can read through it? Being a robot sounds interesting. Beware! I am a robot existence now!]

[Yeah. What you said. The phrase robot existence sounds cooler though. Beware me!]

A screen appeared in my mind. Not in front of my lenses but more just like imagining a computer screen where words were being typed out in real time.

-Starter Mining Drone (Level 0 – Upgrades available)

Current Objectives: Locate a new battery.

Reward: 20xp or five minutes in Mind Palace. (Compressed Time)

Special Abilities: Can process small amounts of rock through the main body into new ore and mineral sources.

Failure of Objectives: Operational Failure and Permanent Shutdown>

[Quite a list there. I need to locate a new battery, or this robot drone body will be offline. Not much of an initial mission. Why is my level so low? A game. This is a type of game right? Hello? I’m not a big fan of those but I suppose that I can give it a tr-try.]