by Isaac Stone
I wondered how Lane would make the transition. I could see him scrapping everything in the electronic side of his store and installing these VR chairs. How long could a person survive in one of them? Wouldn’t they have to eat or poop? Was this part of the attraction of the system?
Surely, the adult entertainment industry knew about this system. They were always the first ones to get new technology. I could see the end of adult stores too. Perhaps they would make chairs for their audience as well.
What would happen if these chairs were so cheap anyone could install them in the home?
The screens I read talked about the moral considerations the company wrestled with every day, but it didn’t say how they intended to resolve them. By this time, I didn’t care. I wanted to be part of the future. As far as I could tell, this was the way to make history. To be a tester for this system would make your name famous. If I could be hired as a temporary tester, perhaps they later might need someone with my knowledge of ancient history to develop their scenarios. Yes, there were many ways I could work this to my advantage.
The final screen was a release form for the company. They wanted me to fill out all kinds of information. General health, smoker/non-smoker, how much I drank, weight, blood type, it was enough to make me think I was entering a hospital. They even had a section on insurance. Although you were supposed to be fully insured as a VR game tester, they wanted to know if you had any other insurance so as to limit their liability. I had some now, but in the next month, I’d need to go to Uncle Sam to get health insurance when the benefits from my last job ran out.
I signed my electronic signature on every one of them. This was too good; I would be in the first wave of game testers. Even if they didn’t want to hire me as a developer down the road, there might be more I could do as a tester. If nothing else, I might be able to get one of the systems for my own use. None of my ideas was practical, I knew, but it didn’t stop me from dreaming.
I looked at the shelf across from me and admired the armies of 28mm figures I’d painted over the years. I’d entered some of them at gamer conventions. Never won anything of significance, but it was a lot of fun to do. Painting a tiny figure required the kind of hand and eye coordination few people could muster. At one point, I even tried to make my own miniature figures out of epoxy clay, but I didn’t have talent for sculpture.
My parents would be impressed. All these years pursuing a hobby my dad thought was a time waster. Hey, it resulted in this offer. It wasn’t the end of the road, but step to something much bigger. He had to see this.
I leaned back in my chair after the electronic forms were filled out. Sandstone Gems was supposed to get back with me “really soon”, but it could mean anything. I went to another job site and began to pursue openings. Best to plan for the worst-case scenario of them declining the offer.
I was surprised when I got up the next morning to learn I’d been accepted into the game tester program. The e-mail informed me the company was very impressed by my knowledge of their products. They felt I would be the ideal candidate to try the new VR unit they were about to install. I read the email over with care as I sipped my morning coffee. This was a shock; I didn’t expect to hear anything from them for another week, maybe longer.
I couldn’t help wonder if Lane had tipped them off to my current situation. I called his store the moment it was open. He was a stickler for opening on time. Some retail places are fined by the landlord if they open and close late as it makes their strip malls look cheesy. Lane never had the problem since he stayed late and made sure he was the first one in the store every morning. Supposedly, he had a wife and kid, but no one ever saw them.
“Hello, Vince,” he said to me when he picked up the phone. “Up early and ready to find another job I’d hope.” Lane was the kind of guy who’d never worked for anyone else. However, he understood not everyone had the guts to run their own company.
“I have a line on something,” I told him. “I’m going to be out of town for a few weeks to feel it out. Can you check my mail for me? I’ll leave you a key to the place and my mailbox number. Don’t worry about the rent and utilities, they’re paid in advance.” I waited to hear his response.
“No problem,” he replied. “You need me to feed any pets or let any girlfriends know you’re out of town?”
It wasn’t Lane who told Sandstone Gems I needed a job. I was forbidden by the contract to talk about the game tester work, but I thought he might let on a few hints. Lane was a big buyer from the distributors and I thought he might have phoned someone after I left his store.
“No on both accounts,” I let him know. “I’ll drop the keys off in a few hours.”
“Hope it all works out for you,” he told me before I broke the connection.
I packed a bag with a week’s worth of clothes and went to check the address of the location where they wanted me to go. It wasn’t in their Philadelphia location, but some place up in the mountains. The company had several locations in the United States. I entered the address into my smart phone and activated the GPS receiver. The phone told me it would be a two-hour drive with good traffic. Since the turnpike wasn’t too busy this time of day, I didn’t expect trouble.
The weather was warm for this time of the year. Early spring in Pennsylvania can be cold, but we were blessed with an early thaw and I dressed light. I took a leather jacket I’d worn around for years. After a quick fill-up from the local gas station, I took out some money from the bank and headed over to Lane’s store.
“You think you’ll be gone more than a few weeks?” Lane asked me as he took the keys from my hand. The store played 80’s rock on the PA system, another one of Lane’s obsessions. It was a credit to his popularity that he could play such cornball music and his customers would endure it.
“I might drive down to Florida and see my parents too,” I told him in response. “Did you let anyone special know I was out of work again?” I waited to see if he’d take the hint.
“Just the usual crowd around here. I didn’t think you’d want it to be common knowledge yet.”
Then it definitely couldn’t be Lane who let them know. The offer had to be a coincidence unless this company had spies everywhere. Since they were a small company, I doubted they could afford an army of investigators. On the other hand, they did have this new VR system, which was odd for a small company that was less than three years old. Who funded their operation? And how did they know I needed a job a few hours after I was fired?
The drive up the turnpike extension wasn’t much to write about that day. The truckers plowed through everyone as usual and slowed down when they saw flashing lights. Young guys in fast cars tried to out-maneuver everyone else on the highway and pretended they were in the latest road rage movie. I stayed in the right lane and tried not to drive over the speed limit. I wanted this game tester job badly and showing up on time was a big part of the process.
I had no idea where I would stay, surely there had to be a cheap motel some place. Didn’t all of these companies have a local place they took their clients to when they were in town?
Two hours after I left, I pulled up to the old factory site Sandstone Gems took over for their research lab. At first, I was shocked. It didn’t appear to be what I thought. I expected a small one-story building with guys playing Frisbee out front and electric cars in the lot. Instead, the place still had the old chain link fence around it. I even had to sign in with a guard at the entrance. I didn’t think they still used human security guards. This guy even wore a uniform!
He walked out and wrote down my car’s license plate and model. “They’re expecting you in the lobby,” he told me as I was handed a pass badge on a lanyard. “Wear this at all times or the security system will flag you as an intruder.” I wanted to ask him what would happen if it did, but decided against it.
I stepped through a glass door and into a vestibule. This part of the building seemed to be left over from the previous factory. There was even a sma
ll box on the side of the door for the clock key a watchman would need. This building wasn’t that old, but appeared to be from the 60’s. I stood and waited for someone to unlock the second door into the lobby, which is what the sign on the door told me to do.
“Please come in,” a voice from a speaker said to me. There was a buzz and I pushed the door open and entered into the lobby.
I was greeted by a man in his forties with a mustache who wore a lab coat that had the name “Jack” on it. Next to him was a woman my age that held a folder and display pad.
“Vince Richards?” she asked me after a quick glance at the pad. She wore a pair of stylish glasses and a business suit.
“That’s me,” I responded. Weird. With all the paperwork I’d done on-line and the security guard check, who the hell else did they expect?
“Please look into the screen,” she instructed me after she walked up to me. “I’m Celia, human resources. We need to do a retina scan to make sure you are the person we hired to for the game test.”
Before I could ask her how they came by retinal images of my eyes, she’d stuck the pad in my face. There was a flash and she pulled the screen back to look at it. She seemed satisfied.
“We have to make sure,” she told me. “This system is confidential and any number of our competitors would do what they could to get at it.” I noticed both her and the man in the lab coat wore industrial safety shoes.
She had me sign a pile of documents and placed each one back in her folder while the man in the lab coat watched in silence. “The money you agreed to will be deposited into your bank account provided you follow the procedures which Jack here will give you. Thank you very much; I have a meeting to attend.” She turned on one heel and walked in the opposite direction down a hall to the left.
“Jack,” the man introduced himself as he extended a hand. “I’m sorry she was so curt, but Celia has a lot on her mind. There is an entire team of investors who plan to fly into town next week. She has to deal with them and make sure everything is going according to the business plan.”
“You have the edge on everyone else,” I told him. “If this system works out, that is. I’ve been a fan of your company for years, but I never expected a lay-out this elaborate.”
“Sandstone has a new division,” he explained. “I’m part of the new crew. None of this was here six months ago. A lot of money was poured into the VR project and the investors want to see results. Come along, we’ll get started.” I followed him down a hall to the left.
A few minutes later, we were inside a small conference room where two men and three women were seated. Jack had me sit down and opened a file in front of him. The others did the same, but I noticed several had the same kind of display pad that Celia carried. It was a mixed crew. Two of the women and one of the men were Asian. Another woman appeared to be African American. Jack was white and another man seated at the table appeared to be Indian from the name “Joshi” on his lab coat. All of them wore the same white lab coat.
“This is Vince,” Jack introduced me. “He’s our first game tester, so he gets to be the first person with Sandstone Gems to enter the VR chamber. We decided on him because he was between jobs and is an avid gamer. Do you have any questions, Vince? We need to get you in the chamber right away.”
“The only thing I want to know,” I responded, still a little overwhelmed by the committee, “is where will I stay once today’s session is over? Is there a motel or hotel around here where you’ve booked me a room?”
Two of the women exchanged glances. Finally, a lady with the name Yu-Ann on her lab coat turned to me.
“Didn’t anyone tell you the exact nature of his system?” she asked. She had a puzzled expression on her face.
“It’s a VR system,” I responded. “Or so I was told. You’re going to put me in a chair and I’ll have visions of the game, isn’t that correct?”
“The eventual goal is a portable chair anyone can purchase,” a man with the name “Chad” on his coat, explained. “However, right now, we are working with an enclosed chamber. You’ll be inside a capsule when the phase transfer takes place so we can monitor your health and the game in progress.”
I thought about what he said and shrugged. “I don’t have claustrophobia, if that’s what concerns you. I would like some background on the scenario before you drop me into the game.”
“The 1920’s,” responded a woman named Rhonda. “You’re going into a scenario which takes place in the years before the Great Depression. Everything inside it will be appropriate to the historical frame.”
“We are pushed for time,” Jack explained. “Everyone to their station. We need to get Vince into the chamber right now.”
As the meeting disbanded, I was led to the VR room by Jack and Ronda. It consisted of a device that did its best not to resemble a coffin. The chamber lay on the floor and had plenty of cables that led out of it. The entire room was scrubbed clean and painted white with a smooth epoxy floor beneath us. I noted a window from it to another room, where several members of the team who’d talked to me sat and watched. Each stared at a computer screen beneath them and waited for something.
“Reminds me of an isolation tank,” I told them. “Tried one of those years ago and ended up sticky from the salt they used in the water. Do I have to take off my clothes?”
“Just your shoes,” Rhonda told me as she trigged a switch on the side of the chamber. The lid rose on its own power to reveal a comfortable bed underneath it.
I peeled off my jacket and handed it to Jack.
“Go ahead and lay down,” Jack instructed. “There aren’t any connections we have to hook you up to. The system is self-contained and we will monitor everything. Next to your right hand is a red switch you can push if anything goes wrong. The lid will open instantly if you feel the need to use it.”
I sat my shoes down on the floor and stretched out in the chamber. It felt comfortable. Next to my right hand was the red switch he mentioned. I felt a little apprehensive, but there wasn’t a thing going on in my life at the moment. Now I was about to take the first voyage into a completely new world.
“You ready, Vince?” Jack asked me. He seemed anxious for some reason.
“Go ahead and shut me in,” I informed him. “Let’s see how the game is played.
I saw Rhonda turn to the window and make a downward gesture. The lid descended on me and I was locked into the chamber.
3
I saw a faint light from inside the chamber as the lid sealed. It smelled of new cars and recycled air. There wasn’t much room inside it and I could see how someone with closeness issues would go into an instant panic attack. I wasn’t bothered; this was what I expected.
The light began to fade. For a second I thought the machine had issues and almost touched the red panic switch. But I waited. Best to give the crew a chance to get this machine into full operation before I hit the ejection button. The recycled air began to pump through the chamber and I felt calm. Soon I was ready to fall asleep. The very same thing that happened to me the one time I tried one of those isolation units.
I felt as if I was in a dream state. I saw the world spin around me and the air become cloudy. I was no longer in the VR chamber, but high above forest covered mountains. I felt exalted! I‘d always wanted to fly as a kid and once read you could make yourself dream about anything if you tried. I’d tried to dream about flying over the seas, but it never happened. Every time my dream went back to its regular scheduled program.
The fog about me cleared and I stood in a forest clearing. The air smelled of pine needles and dirt. It was humid, by the look of the sky; I could see a storm passed through not long ago. The ground felt spongy beneath my feet and the suspenders were tight on my shoulders. The rest of my clothes felt comfortable, even the broad brim hat on my head fit to perfection.
I was inside the game.
I wore a wide brimmed hat with a sturdy white shirt covered by a brown vest. The vest was under a darker
shade of brown waist jacket. I reached up and touched a bow tie under my chin. God, I’d always hated those things, impossible to tie properly. My pants where wool and also brown in color. They tucked into a pair of engineer boots. Well, this was a beginning and they did tell me everything was specific to the period.
I had to give them points for the reality part of the VR. This still seemed to be a dream, but it was the most vivid one I’d ever experienced. I stretched my arms and noted my gut was gone. Damn, I felt better than ever before. This body would be hard to give up.
Something caught my eye in the clearing. It was a backpack. Not the kind I used to see kids in school cart around, but a backpack just the same. My curiosity aroused, I walked over to it and looked inside. The top flap was open so it had to be placed there for me.
The first thing I found was a brown paper sack, which contained three sandwiches that had their crust removed. Good, they realized I would need to eat, but what about my body in the chamber? I made a mental note to ask the crew about it. Beneath the paper sack was a knife in a holster. I pulled it out. This was no small whittling knife; they’d give me big hunting knife, a Jim Bowie special.
There was also a mirror that I used to look my new self over. Oh, wow, I looked like a legit pulp adventure hero from one of those old school magazines in the 40's. This was something I could get used to! I had a square jaw and was ripped!
I dug around deeper in the backpack and found a compass. Good thing I’d learned how to read one in the scouts. I noted it was made of glass and tin. The needle swung and stayed in one direction. This simulated world even had magnetic north. The crew was thorough, I had to admit.
At the very bottom of the backpack was an old ledger. The paper was fresh, but I’d only seen ledgers of this sort in museums. The name “Sandstone” was on the ornate cover and the letters were six inches in height. This was the old kind that accountants used while they chased loose change for the company all day. But it was brand new, this was no antique purchased from a supply store for movie props. Once again, I was impressed.
