The full-body numbness of the sensual connection receding, Isaac looked around at his surroundings. He mentally blinked a few times, still not used to this odd perspective of the virtual reality.
Gone was the familiar BRYZ world, a rainbow of colours, an orchestra of sounds, warm and inviting and packed with every physical and intellectual desire. The world before him was stark black and white, a hollow outline of BRYZ, green text flashing in small windows across countless polygon walls. Moving all around him, long grey reversed cones floated throughout the monochrome streets, representing the other denizens of BRYZ. Reaching out, Isaac let out a sigh of relief as the cones passed right through him, not noticing him in the least.
“Right, this is a completely different digital plane” Isaac reminded himself. “I can see them, but they can’t see me, nor can we interact at all. That saves me having to sneak around.”
To put it poetically, this world was something like the backstage of BRYZ. Ordinary citizens went about their daily lives on the main stage of the artificial world, seeing only in front of the curtains. Here, the inner workings of BRYZ could be viewed, and even edited, if one knew how.
Fortunately, no dweller of this digital plane could see another, at least unless you were on the same testing layer. The Cryovisions being an in-house design for Lynx’s own developers, the user could select a layer to test on, and would only be able to interact with others on the same layer.
Opening his menu, Isaac double-checked his layer; fours were his lucky number since childhood, so naturally he had picked TEST444. Verifying his selection was still active, Isaac set out to accomplish his objective.
Walking a short distance, he tapped on one of the green display-like windows, entering the coordinates into the waiting console, preceded by a basic movement command. Pressing the enter key, he took a slow breath to calm himself as his digital body warped and shrunk, slipping into the window and reappearing thousands of digital miles away in an unused, obsolete corner of the space.
“Man, it’s pretty low-key out here.” Isaac looked around. No grey cones were visible, nor hardly any outlines representing digital assets. Only one green window was discernible in his line of sight, flickering emptily to the darkness. “Kinda makes me wonder what this region was originally…”
Isaac stopped. Was that… movement? In here? It couldn’t be…
His heart pounding, Isaac poked his head around the monochrome corner. All was stillness, the same greyscale 3D render of solid shapes, not a soul in sight.
Sighing with relief, Isaac made his way towards the terminal. Entering a complicated string of commands, he smiled in relief when the resulting two-dimensional cord popped out of the terminal.
“I’ll be honest, I didn’t think it’d be this easy!” Isaac commented to himself. “I was all set for a long night of trying to break into the system, but this terminal’s already logged in as a service admin. I wonder if that’s one of the effects of using a Cryovision?
Connecting the cord to his N-LiFe, Isaac moved over to a small ledge sticking out from a protruding asset, sitting down.
“All right,” Isaac muttered to himself, “time to complete the mental connection.” Swiping his menu, he typed a small command sequence into the Cryovision’s internal console, wincing as his program activated the mental siphoning. He couldn’t quite describe the feeling in physical terms, as it was a completely psychological sensation. In words, it felt like something intruding where it should never go. He felt like a wall had collapsed, and behind it was a great abyss, hungry and waiting.
Shaking the feeling out of his thoughts, he swiped his menu to the connection options, disabling his visual override, feeling immensely more comfortable as his own room faded into view. Picking up his papers, he flipped through them slowly, growing accustomed to the bizarre feeling of having his thoughts drawn out of his mind by the connection as soon as he had conjured them.
Going through his binder once, he swapped over to his notepad of sketches, willing the world he had imagined into being. Every tree and lake, every hill and valley, every city and creature, imagine them all.
Imagine…
Imagine…
Imagine…
*******
*SMACK!*
Isaac was jolted awake by a sharp blow to the cheek. Sitting up in bed, he looked over to see his little sister standing next to his bed.
*SMACK!*
A backhand connected with his other cheek, knocking the N-LiFe off his head.
“What the heck was that for, sis?!” Isaac exclaimed, grabbing his Cryovision protectively and rolling out of bed onto his feet. “I was clearly awake after the first one! Actually, for that matter, who even slaps someone awake? What is this, Friday the 13th?”
“I just wanted to make sure you wouldn’t go back to sleep again” she returned. “Also, the second slap was for falling asleep with my drawings. You’re lucky you didn’t wrinkle them, or you’d never have to worry about waking up again.”
“Bruh.” Isaac shuddered, looking down at the Cryovision in his hands. The small screen on it was flashing “Disconnected Internally”.
“The heck? Did I really log myself out?” Isaac muttered to himself. “I guess I must’ve finished and gone to sleep right after. You’d think I’d remember it, though.”
“You can stop talking, I already stopped listening” Celica called after him from the hallway. “Honestly, you monologue more than a comic book villain. Just get dressed and meet me downstairs.”
“Yeah, yeah…” Isaac called back absently, picking up a change of clothes from a pile in a corner. “Wait, why am I supposed to get dressed again?”
“I’m pretty sure normal people get dressed after waking up” Celica responded, re-entering his room. “But normalcy aside, Mom and Dad left some money so we can go out for lunch.”
“Don’t you mean breakfast?” Isaac asked, walking past her towards the hallway.
“Maybe for you” Celica replied. “It’s past eleven, most people eat lunch at this time of day.”
“Did I sleep in that much?” Isaac mused to himself, holding his head as if that would dislodge a memory. “My plan must’ve succeeded, if it took that long… right?”
*******
Noon found them outside the nearby Jim Mortons.
“Hey, that’s Nicole’s bike!” Celica exclaimed, pointing to a bright red bicycle parked outside the store’s staff entrance. “I forgot she worked here!”
“Nicole who?” Isaac asked, curious.
“A friend of mine” Celica replied off-handedly. “She works part-time at Jim Mortons when she’s not busy with school, so she can save up to put herself through college. She’s also really good with knives!”
“What do you mean by “good with knives” anyway?” Isaac asked. “And for that matter, you have friends?”
“Self defense is important in this day and age!” Celica returned. “And of course I have friends, I’m not you.”
“I really don’t think a knife is terribly necessary in this day and age” Isaac shot back, ignoring her jab.
“That’s just the kind of thinking that’ll wind you up dead in a gutter, Isaac” Celica shook her head pityingly.
Rolling his eyes, Isaac pushed the door open, entering the restaurant.
“Wow, they changed the place up since I last came here” Isaac commented, checking over the new menu items.
“You say that, but you’re just going to order the same thing you always do” Celica shrugged.
“You can’t improve on perfection” Isaac preached. “You see, once you’ve discovered the optimum combination, everything…”
“Lemme stop you right there” Celica held up her hand. “I know you think you’re being really profound, but you’ve explained this to me like six times. This month.”
“And I’ll keep repeating it until you agree with me” Isaac smiled unflappably, approaching the front counter.
“WelcometoJimMortonsmayItakeyourorder?” The employee slurred, tapping the touch-screen register with a glassy-eyed expression of boredom.
“Right, now I remember why I don’t come here more often” Isaac muttered to himself. “Right, well, one ham n’ cheddar/wedges/peach drink combo please,” he listed. “For here.”
“Hey, it’s Nicole!” Celica announced loudly, pushing Isaac out of the way to talk to her friend. “How’s the new job?”
“Oh, you know, living the dream.” She chuckled sarcastically. “That’s about all I can say about it on company property.”
“Er… my sandwich?” Isaac held up a $20 bill.
“I hear ya.” Celica laughed along with her friend. “I sure can’t wait to graduate, so I can get paid minimum wage to have old folks yell at me all day.”
“I regret everything.” Nicole laughed.
“Can I… can I just get my sandwich?” Isaac tried to cut in.
“Anyway, what can I get for you, girl?” Nicole asked, clearing Isaac’s order off the screen.
“Damnit!” Isaac cursed under his breath.
“Chicken Caesar wrap with a Boston Cream and peach drink,” Celica ordered. “Only idiots order wedges instead of a doughnut side at Jim Mortons.”
“Damn straight,” Nicole agreed sagely.
I swear I’ll kill this girl someday Isaac glared daggers at his sister, making his way to the other ordering window.
Meal in hand, Isaac sat himself down at a booth, checking the news on his phone while he waited. “Three major Japanese, German, and Italian corporations are collaborating on their long-awaited "Tripartite Project" to design a solid hologram generator?” he noted to himself. “We really are living the future.”
His reading was interrupted by Celica’s approach, as she slipped into the booth next to him.
“Now that I know Nicole works here, we should come more often!” Celica commented, unwrapping her food.
“Well, as long as you're buying, we can come here any time you want,” Isaac replied sweetly.
Celica rolled her eyes, sinking her teeth into her wrap.
“By the way,” Isaac commented, gesturing at her with a potato wedge. “Did you know there are four ways to eat a fast-food combo meal?”
Celica ignored him, hoping he would give up.
“The first two are the Opener and the Closer” Isaac continued, undaunted. “These are the people who eat their side first, then their main, or vice versa.”
Of course, that was a vain hope.
“Next is the Bookender, who eats half of their side before the main dish, and the other half after.”
“If I pay you, will you stop talking?”
“Last but not least is the Snacker, who eats a little of their side at a time, alternating between it and the main dish.”
“Please, spare me.”
“But can you guess which of the four I fall in to?”
“I really can’t adequately convey how little I care.”
“I alternate between Opener, Closer, and Bookender, depending on my mood for the day,” Isaac pontificated, his eyes serious. “But never Snacker.”
“I’m never eating with you again” Celica promised.
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