"You know, if you make that face so long it'll be stuck like that."
Theo would force his face to be like this forever anyways. He was offended at what he was seeing.
"Mornin', I made some bacon and eggs..." Theo told her passively, still scowling at the article he had read. 'Lux Machina' wasn't renewed for another season. But Bigmouth got a hundredth and fifth season! Whoever made this decision needed to be beheaded in the street yesterday.
The old woman with dyed red hair walked over to where he sat. A cushioned set of chairs around a table. Their dining room, somewhat connected to a kitchen.
"I can't eat that shit." she said as she starred hungrily at the pile of bacon. Then plopped down across from him.
She was nearly 80, but modern medicine is a marvel. She moved with a spryness and sass of someone decades younger. Her skin, hair, all of it defied her age.
"If you took your pills you could.", she shook her head. "Nah, They make my head all weird." his grandmother pointed at her temples and made circles.
"You don't say..." he barely looked up from his phone at her.
But she slapped him on the shoulder and he to fumbled it. "Careful! This is the latest model!" Theo shielded his phone from the dangerous offender.
She scoffed at him- "Every year they come out with one! I remember when I was your age, they were in the single digits!"
"This is the Iphone 'Odyssey'. Thank you very much." he gestured to it grandly.
She laughed.
Which, after a moment- caused him to laugh. Sometimes he felt like the grandparent.
Samantha Lemont, renowned photographer. Mostly retired.
They were in her apartment - if you could call it that. It was a building many people lived in, but each one was the size of a house. Grand.
He moved in when he lost his job a few months ago. Not that it was his fault. It was automated. Damned robots.
"Odyssey- they make it sound like an adventure! That marketing department I swear..." she sprung forward energetically- "Marketing!" She framed hard hands in front of her as if she was pitching an idea.
"Marketing, never changes." she said seriously.
"Is that some kind of reference or something?" Theo asked.
"Your generation suuuucks." she deflated into her cushioned seat. Head lulling back.
Theo just shook his head and sighed. Scrolling down the article, apparently the showrunners of 'Lux Machina' were holding out hope someone else would pick up the series for another season.
*Ting-Tingaling*
The padding of little feet come into the room.
A little Pomeranian puffball starred at the two, a tiny bell hanging from her neck.
"What?" Theo asked. But she just starred at the two expectantly. "Outside?", she tilted her head. "Foo-?" The dog peed.
"Wha- No! Bad dog! No!", Theo went to chastise her.
His grandmother stopped him; "Don't you tell at her!", "She's ruining the floor! This place costs like a billion dollars!", "It's laminated hardwood! She's a dog! And besides... The drone will get it."
The two argued as the dog padded off to cause trouble elsewhere, seemingly satisfied.
After arguing for awhile longer, Theo accepted defeat. Sighing and frustrated.
"Forget it. Let's go for a walk.", he said. Immediately Samantha deflated again into her cushion, head lulling back. "Don't wanna."
"Come on, there's a nice sprinkle out there, let's go see the park. Maybe Ed will be playing chess again?"
"No.", she was adamant. It was early morning, but that's the best time for her. Theo pinched the ridge of his nose. "What if we passed by the game store?"
She looked up from the cushioned seat.
---
So there they were. After a brief trip to the park, they had made their way to the game shop.
"Ed was cranky today." Theo said listlessly as he examined some of the games on the shelves.
There was a resurgence of this kind of thing, 'physical copies' were once again a thing.
See- a few online platforms rescinded ownership of some products and now people wanted physical evidence of ownership. And other legal stuff. So now, you had to buy these.
"It's cause you mentioned the games. I told you not to. I had to listen to Ed explain for the millionth time; 'Chess never gets an update or a patch! That's a real game, back from when people finished things!' bah!"
She said that, but she herself was an adept chess player. Board games were apart of her gaming obsession. She even hosted DnD campaigns with some of the other seniors in the building.
The woman was excitedly browsing as she explained how video games were very bit as valid as chess. "Oooh~ saucy. Hey Theo, look at this."
"No." he said instantly. The old woman grimaced. "Look." she pushed the game in front of him but he turned his head.
"I'll guess. Is it a dating sim?", "Nope.", "Sex thing in anyway?", "You're no fun. - I Can't believe they just put this on the shelves."
Theo grabbed up a game. "What about this one? You play as a cop. Hey- they haven't automated that yet-" before he finished his sentence his grandmother was snickering.
"What? I could be a cop!", "Sure, sure." they browsed awhile longer, Theo liked games but he wasn't as enamored as his grandmother.
He wanted to DO something real. But what could he do? 90% of work is done by robots. Welfare is so good a person could live in dignity on it. But it didn't give a person purpose or meaning.
He was thinking of jobs and work when he saw it.
A grand display. An advertisement centered in the large store magnificiently.
A knight in shining armor stood with a sword impaling stone, the words; "The Real Fantasy" scrawled across the bottom in a regal old english font.
"That's a bit... On this nose?" Theo said looking at the white platform it stood on. There were pictures and descriptions of gameplay features.
If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
'Live in a land of fantasy! Be a bard, a tavern keeper! A king or a peasant! Live out your fantasy dream in the first REAL fantasy!'
"Whow! Look at those graphics - it looks so real! And this is a VR game? Theo- VR games can't do this yet." she said studiously as she flipped through a pamphlet that came from the display.
"Looks like this one does." Theo said, looking for actual gameplay, but there were no actual displays. Like screens.
"Oh, I see. This is new!" she slapped the page in the pamphlet. "No wonder it's so generic! It's made by the company that made the new VR system, it launches with it!" she showed him the pamphlet and Theo took it.
'The Real Fantasy', developed inhouse by the neurolink team using generative artificial intelligence.
Theo perused the pages, getting the gist of it.
Instead of using graphics cards, ram, and all these things, the system transmits directly to the brain using precise arcs of electricity and nano-technology to utilize the brains natural sensory capabilities to generate an environment indistinguishable from reality. Which connected to a private internet source provided by the company.
An environment with cities and questlines generated by A.i. which studied every fantasy accessible.
Before he got to the next section of the pamphlet his grandmother snatched it back. "This- I was worried I would die before getting to see it..." her eyes were glistening with held back tears.
"I wouldn't get too excited... Sounds too good to be true." he said.
She looked at him with an ire. "Don't spit on my dreams. I'm buying this."
Other people were noticing the commotion and approaching it now. Some of them seemed almost as excited as Theos grandmother. "Mom I want it!", "I don't know, it seems violent."
"You'd think something like this would have some kind of use besides video games... Why are we hearing about it now? And where was the advertising for it?" Theo was puzzled.
"You can stand here all day and think about it. I'm going home and getting weird with this." she held the pamphlet close to her chest as she walked to one of the many store clerks.
"One of these please."
---
The headset was... Massive. To say the least. It was like wearing a cat-scan on your head. It was on wheels, and the person had to lay down to get in it.
No wonder they didn't have a trial system at the store, they had to get it delivered like a piano. The deliverymen were anxious to leave as quickly as possible - who knows how many orders they were getting...
"Grandma... I think I should test it first. What if it has a weird affect on old people brains?", she just gave him a coy look in response- "Pfft, no way! I'm living the rest of my life in this thing! Look, it says right here; 'FDA approved'!" slapping a sticker on the side of the giant 1980's styled microwave helmet.
The fact that the FDA had to approve a video game console alone made Theo anxious, but he felt that his grandmother might actually attack him if he showed any more skepticism.
They wheeled it over to a bed in one of the guest rooms. So that a person could lay with their head hanging from the bed and... Slot themselves in?
"There are over twenty playable races! Though half of them seem anthropomorphic. Kinky." she had the game manual and was studying it.
"How do you uh... 'Do it'?", Theo was looking at the entrance to it. It was heavily padded.
"It says right here just push your head in and say 'Game start'." She slapped the book closed and tossed it on a dresser.
"I still think we should wait for reviews and stuff." Theo was still worried, this thing could scramble brains if it could simulate realities...
"Stop being such a worrywort! I've seen gameplay, people have uploaded it! Though, there's this weird privacy thing where you can't share gameplay footage until you're outside the game... Again- kinky. Me likey." she giddily pulled the machine towards her head.
Theo couldn't believe how willing she was, but before he knew it the machine hummed to life and she said; "Don't wait up for me! Game start!".
Her body went still, hand flopping onto the mattress.
"Grandma!" he grabbed her hand frantically- but he felt a pulse. "Oh... Yeah. But still- that's freaky as hell." it did clearly say it would render the user immobile. In the same way sleep paralysis did, apparently. But it would awake the user if certain conditions are met.
Theo wished he could see her gameplay to make sure everything was alright, but beside some displays on the outside of the machine showing heartrate and things, he had no way of knowing what she was doing.
---
After a few hours, he started to get antsy. Of course, she was just enjoying the game he was sure. Theo did browse some gameplay, and it was reality bending to see.
There were different trends, like messing with the NPCs that used machine learning to remember players and react to them dynamically.
One player stole an apple from a vendor and ran down the street only to be clotheslined by a guard who was expecting his behavior. His friends laughing at him as they jailed him.
The organic quest system, the way property worked - it was all so complex but worked seamlessly. The Ai set it up and let it run wild. Like a little contained world.
Though of course, it wasn't little at all, the size and scope of it dwarfed the actual Earth.
It was getting late, Theo was getting worried and so he went to press the failsafe button on the machine.
She could yell at him all she wanted, he just had to make sure.
"Sorry Grandma, just a quick break..." He pressed the button.
"Grandma?" He pressed it again. "You awake yet?"
'Oh shit.' he scrambled for the book and opened it. Frantically flipping through it he came upon the page about leaving the game.
The player could say 'Fantasy Game Off' or select from a drop down menu but from the outside the failsafe button was supposed to disconnect them.
As well as jostling their body a lot like waking them from a dream.
He had tried both.
He started to hyperventilate. "No... No..", he called 911.
'All available lines are occupied, please remain on the line and if you have a medical emergency-'
"FUCK!", he tossed the phone across the room.
Theo ran over to the TV in the corner of the room and turned it over to the news. A beautiful latina in a dress suit appeared.
"-illions of players are currently comatose and trapped inside of the product. Legal representatives of Neurolink claims they're not aware of what's causing the issue and are working desperately to fix it, authorities are pressing them on the issue but unfortunately they're the only ones that understand the technology enough to rectify it."
Another news anchors voice chimed in; "What does this mean if users are stuck in for several hours, or even days? Can't we just pull them out?"
The woman flipped through her papers nervously and then brought a hand up to a ear piece, nodding and listening then saying;
"Neurolink enterprises claims that they can fix the bug before anything like that, but if necessary, they're covering the medical costs of anyone who is trapped for so long as they need medical attention. As for 'pulling them out', well- they say that if the failsafe isn't working that it likely won't trigger in any case meaning..."
"They'll be comatosed.", "Yes. And possibly worse."
The remote clattered to the ground from Theos hands.
He looked back at his grandmother, tears in his eyes. He grabbed one of her hands into his and held it gently. Feeling the warmth to remind himself, she's probably having the time of her life in there.
---
Neurolink didn't fix the bug, and people became skeptical if they ever would after the first few days.
As hundreds of thousands of people around the country were put into hospitals. The huge visors being wheeled in alongside their IV drips.
Theo sat next to his grandma. She was wealthy herself, and with the Neurolinks medical compensation, she afforded one of the most advanced facilities for comatose patients.
He shuddered at the thought of the people who were shuttled into the warehouses instead.
A knock at their door- a nurse stood there. Joyce, a large woman with dark hair and hazel eyes.
"Hey..." She spoke gently, "Do you need anything? Coffee?"
Theo wiped at his face, embarrassed. "Uh, no thank you. How much longer are visiting hours?" He forgot how long he's sat here. Studying his phone for any progress on fixing... Whatever this is.
"No worries. You have a few more hours." Theo nodded, and she turned to leave but stopped- "I'm so sorry... This is all so strange and terrible..." she seemed unsure what to say- she had a bit of anger in her eyes, despite how sullenly she said it.
Theo felt that same anger, everyone did.
"It is." is all he said. Fury smoldering in his eyes as he starred at the machine.
---
Theo was on his phone the next day. New cracks running along the screen.
"So you didn't use it? Great! I can't find them anywhere-"
*Ting-aling*
Theo was feeding Princess. She starred up at him from the food, offended. He didn't know what she usually ate. Samantha did.
Probably something fancy, but for now, she got wet dog food and that was fancy for most. But evidently, not for Princess.
"I don't care, I'll pay four times!" apparently many people had the same idea he did.
If you can't fix it from the outside... Maybe you can on the inside.
"Alright Alright! Relax Theo- it's your funeral. Like I said, the police tried to reclaim it. And I got a bunch of offers from other people, I don't know how they figured out I have it! I would say I don't need the money, with your grandmother being laid up and all that but... I'm not doing too great, like financially. After buying this thing."
"It's no problem, Samantha can afford it."
Getting it to the apartment would be a problem. And then alerting authorities to pick him up, it's all a crazy plan.
But his grandmother was in his corner when he needed her, he couldn't let her waste away in there.
He rented a moving truck instead and set it up in there. The VR machines had a temporary battery you could charge, almost as if they planned for this eventuality...
It was like a shady back alley deal how it went down. He backed up to his friends house, in the suburbs outside the big city and loaded it up.
His heart was in his throat as he looked at the thing - but he couldn't procrastinate long. His friend would be calling the police soon to tell them about this 'mysterious van'.
"...How will I even find her? If we're all trapped in there, how does it work?" he couldn't know. The game only let you share gameplay after disconnecting, and no one has disconnected for days.
He took a breath of real air, then slotted his head into the bulky device. "Fuck me... game start."