Chapter 2:

I take a deep breath, gasping for air, surprised I can even breathe, as I look at the vast nothingness around me. Massive empty spaces sparsely populated by distant stars, asteroids glinting light back at me, and a planet, almost glowing as I look down upon the swirling clouds and massive oceans that cover most of the surface.

I float alone, clad in a spacesuit that I have no idea how I got into but am thankful for nonetheless. As I take in the finer details, including what I can make out as partial pieces of what used to be part of my house floating haphazardly, something smashed against an asteroid shocks me. It’s my ship. The ship I had just spent days building in the prep screen for Void Engineers.

It’s then that I realize I had been subconsciously controlling my spacesuit just like the character had in the game. I look down at my hands, seeing the familiar joysticks built into the gloves right by the thumb, exactly like the game. I look at the curved glass covering my face from the cold emptiness right in front of me, and I see the familiar heads-up display with all my preferred settings exactly how I left them.

I stare slack-jawed as all reasoning crashes against my current surroundings, and the realization hits me… I’m no longer on Earth. Hell, I might not even be in the same galaxy or universe. As I try to wrap my head around what just happened, I hear a melodious, quiet, and calm female voice say into my ear, “Heart rate and breathing irregularities detected. Beginning panic attack protocols. Please count along with me. 1, breathe in and hold it for 5 seconds each time we count, there you go, 2 good, keep going…”

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She continues to counsel me through my mini panic attack, and as I begin to calm down, gratitude swells in me as I realize I’m not alone. But something seems different. I say aloud, “Aurora, you seem different?” She replies quickly with a short but quick reply of “I’m still checking my memory banks due to the unforeseen changes, but I feel different as well, Alex0nd3r6754.”I laugh as I realize she called me by my username. “You can call me Alex from now on. I don’t think it really matters anymore.” “Understood, updating User Profile… task complete,” she replies professionally as always. “Checking user memory for answers to anomalies found in scans of surroundings… alternate reality theory confirmed… updating protocols… entering suit emergency energy conservation mode… entering stealth mode… Alex, we need to plan out our next steps and have a conversation about what is happening to us.”

She says as she materializes as a bright holographic image of a lady on my HUD. She has long black hair in a ponytail, wearing sweats with a modest sports bra and hand wraps on her hands. I laugh as I see the incongruity of her looking like a hot delinquent boxer but instead acting professional and kind while having the most beautiful voice.

I had set up her settings this way so when she repeatedly gave me the same notifications over and over again, I wouldn’t be nearly as aggravated by the annoying default robotic voice constantly notifying me. “What are you looking at, twerp…” she says with a slight smile and a blush as she looks away from me.

I laugh again and feel my spirits rise as I realize with the help of my faithful AI, this new reality might not be so bad.