Immersion (Level 3)
Level-3 Immersion - Wetware Implant, Brain Directly Connected
Alder woke up to the sound of the children's cartoon theme playing from his networker. He had the complete collection of title tracks for the old weekday afternoon cartoons and the device picked one at random when calls came in. The intent of the esoteric rings was that when he was in public, another equally esoteric person might recognize the ring and comment on it. This would break the social awkwardness and perhaps allow the two of them to become friends. It was one of the many overly complex schemes Alder had to increase the chance of meeting other people. It rarely worked.
Alder's neck and back hurt. He had come home the night before and instead of going to the comfortable reclining chair he usually slept in, had chosen to punish himself by shoveling off what was suppose to be a bed and sleeping there. The apparatus was mostly a piece of wood with and old worn-out futon lying on top of it. It usually served as a place to hold large stacks of dirty clothing. Yet Alder had wanted to castigate himself for his social awkwardness with Elisa, and the thought of lying on his real bed, which he knew would give him a sleepless night to think over everything he had done wrong, had seemed like a good one.
The networker continues to serenade him with the cartoon theme. Alder sat up slowly and got out of bed. His joints creaked loudly and he found the soreness in his legs and back exquisite. Reluctantly he forced his body to move to the table and pick up the device. It was a voice call from a coworker. He also noticed it was past ten in the morning. Neither of those were good things. He answered.
"Hey Alder, it's Jack from work. We're prepping Elisa for level-2 immersion and she asked if you could be here for her first time into the wired. Guess she wants you to be the godfather at her online baptismal or something. Can you swing down to the office?"
Alder groaned softly. He still had no clean clothes in the apartment. He felt like hell from a night of almost no sleep. He was in pain. "I don't think I can make it in. How about this: put her into the public training lab and I'll dive in from home. I can meet her on the other side once she's in. Is she doing the full suit?"
"Nope, just gloves and goggles. We couldn't convince her to do the full suit for her first time in. It may just be me, but I think your girl is a bit of a technophobe."
"For God's sakes, don't call her my girl. We're just old friends." The words hit Alder with the sting of truth, but also the longing for what he didn't have. "You're right though; she's a major technophobe. She loves studying the negative effects of technology on people. I'm still amazed she's thinking of using her wetware. Anyway, I'm going to go dive in so I'll be waiting on the other side."
Alder ended the call and went over to his nice comfortable chair. He sat down and turned on the massage settings. By the time he came up from his dive, his muscles would be relaxed and jelly-like. He pulled the cable from the nearby machine and plugged it into the back of his skull behind his right ear.
The dive started. One of the effects of diving with the wetware implant was a rush of neurotransmitters. The brain released serotonin, dopamine, adrenaline and many others. It meant that when a person first appeared in the wired, she was a complete zombie. Being zombied was a bad state, because a person did not have any of the mental firewalls up yet, and it meant mind hackers could attack. The average person zombied for somewhere between two and five minutes before they could gain control of their senses.
Today it took Alder ten seconds to become aware in the wired. His personal record was start to awareness in six seconds. It was the best anyone had ever done. There was something about Alder's brain that made him unusually adept when it came to the wired. Though she didn't know it, Elisa had similar brain chemistry to Alder. It was one of the reasons the company had gone to such trouble to make their offer the only one she would want to accept.
Alder was in the public training lab. It was square room with no doors or windows and light blue walls. Alder conjured up a chair and took a seat. He had no clue how long it would be before Elisa appeared. He conjured up a technical magazine and started reading.
Ten minutes later Elisa materialized. Alder couldn't help laughing at her appearance.
"What's so funny?"
"Jack clearly just slapped your image onto the standard wire frame. Your avatar is all disproportioned compared to what you really look like. Let me clean it up."
Alder walked over to her, touched her arm, and started making changes to the wire frame that represented her. He re-proportioned her based on his memory. He may have made her height a little taller than it really was, he may have made her body a little thinner than it really was, and he may even have made her breasts a little bigger than they really were, but he did all this unconsciously. He was simply making her look like how he pictured her in his mind. When he finished he stepped back and admired her with the eye of an artist.
"Now that's how you're suppose to look, beautiful."
"Okay, now can I take a moment to analyze your avatar?"
"Sure, but I'm level-3. That means my image is coming from my mind not from a computer program."
"I know. Your avatar is taller than you really are. It's also skinnier and more muscular. Your hair isn't thinning at all. You're completely clean-shaven. I'll bet your finger nails are even nicely trimmed. I don't mean to be mean or anything, but it's not what I would have expected."
"So I guess what you're saying is that I'm pretty hot, eh?" Alder gave Elisa a big grin and winked at her. Being only level-2, Elisa's avatar made no actual response, but Alder could almost feel her blushing in that room so far away.
"I didn't always look like this in the wired. It's just what slowly matured after all my time here. You probably assumed that I'd have an incredibly low self-esteem and that would reflect itself here. It did at first, but I got over it. Now this is how I picture I myself on this side. I don't really see myself as the same person here."
"I guess it'll just take some time for me to get used to the nuances of how this place interacts with the real world."
Alder shook his finger at her. "Using the term 'real world' is a policy violation. Remember, the company doesn't want people to think of the wired as any less real the physical world. So call it 'the physical world' or 'the other side' and make them happy.
"I assume Jack gave you a rundown of the basics for level-2. Trying walking around a bit. It's going to feel unnatural and weird. The controls are all setup like a first-person video game, but I don't assume you have a lot of experience with those. Don't worry too hard about getting good at it. Once you get yourself into level-3 it'll be no different than interaction in the physical world."
Elisa's avatar did some basic movement around the room. Her actions were slow and deliberate. She walked into the wall at one point to see what would happen.
"How come I don't get any feedback when I hit the wall?"
"Because you opted not to wear the feedback suit. The headset only gives visual and audio feedback and the gloves are purely input so you won't feel anything in them. You've got nearly the most boring interaction possible."
"I'm good with it. I need to slide into this slowly. I don't want something going wrong where I end up a vegetable. Still, I think I'm ready to go somewhere with other people. Let's interact."
"I've been trying to 'interact' with you since we were teenagers. Let's make it a party." Alder smiled at Elisa and then conjured up a door in the room. Elisa moved toward the door, but Alder instinctively intercepted her. "Please, allow me." He opened it waving Elisa through. On the other side was a clearly the inside of a coffee house. It was filled with a dozen or so people doing various activities. "After you."
When Elisa walked in, Alder gently placed his hand on her back and followed her in. Most of the patrons looked up and many started to greet Alder. Alder gave a wave to them and spoke loudly, "Hello everyone. I'd like to introduce my friend Elisa. She just joined the company. She's currently at level-2 but should be up to level-3 with us sometime in the next couple weeks. Make sure to treat her well or I'll remind you how real things can feel at level-3." The room gave a laugh that sounded similar to room full of employees when the president of a company repeats an old joke. As he finished many people offered greetings up to Elisa.
Alder led Elisa over to a table where two men were playing a game with black and white stones on a grid board. They waved him over.
"Hey Superman, come take a seat an introduce your new friend."
"Hey Alex and Jason, this is Elisa's first time in the wired and she wants to interact with it. So I figured a good game of Go with experts like you would be perfect."
Elisa cut in, "I've never heard of Go. What is this?"
Alex smiled broadly, "Go is the game played by pompous intellectuals who want to appear intelligent. Contrary to what your friend Alder may say, we're not experts at all. Luckily, most people in the world are like you and have no clue how to play. That allows us, even with our mediocre playing ability, to appear quite smart and strategic."
Jason looked over, "I think I'm going to pass my turn as well. That ends the game, right? Let's score up." The two of them explained the basic rules to Elisa while they scored their points. Jason had won by three. It was a close game.
The four of them sat around the table chatting while Elisa and Jason started and played a new game. Jason and Alex were both paid beta-testers of the wired. They spent their days jacked-in doing whatever they wanted and looking for flaws in the system. Elisa asked about Alder's nickname.
Alex responded, "Superman? It's because the normal system works pretty much like the other side for most people. I can't fire laser beams from my eyes. I can't fly. But Alder works for the company, and he's setup as a super user in the system. He can basically bend and break any rule he feels like. That makes him faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, and so on. Though, I would say his most enviable talent is to conjure stuff up. If I want a cup of coffee, I have to go order it, Alder can make it just appear in front of him with a thought."
Alder grinned broadly as a fresh cup of coffee appeared in front of him. "I throw the best parties too. Anything your heart desires can be there. The business plan is to offer the basic world free to people, and charge them for the worlds tailored to make-believe."
While they were speaking a new person appeared out of thin air in the middle of the room.
"That's not good etiquette," said Alder. "You're supposed to load in private and then join the crowds. No one wants to see a zombie just standing around for a few minutes."
A few seconds later, someone ran into the shop and was absorbed into the zombie. Alder swore loudly. He was out of his chair in a second across the room and also absorbed in.
"What's going on?" asked Elisa in a panicked voice.
Alex responded, "Have you heard of mind hackers? When you're zombied, it's very easy for a mind hacker to jump into your head. They're generally trying to pull financial information like bank account numbers, SSN, etc. Or they're looking for personal information they can blackmail you with. It's a pretty dangerous game. If a mind hacker is in you when you become aware, you've got a lot of power over them. Alder is pretty sure he could kill a mind hacker if he caught them in his head. Anyway, one of Alder's main jobs is tracking down and stopping these guys. It's especially problematic right now because there's a hacker who's sending people into comas. There are even rumors there may have been one or two deaths. They're not sure if it's intentional or just ineptness. We nicknamed him Coma Boy, and I think the guy we just saw fits the description perfectly."
"So what's Alder going to do?"
"Catch and identify him. Then we can prosecute in the physical world and lock him out of this one."
Less than two minutes passed before they saw Alder ejected from the zombie. Almost instantly Alder faded from the wired. Only a few seconds later and the zombie exploded in a burst of light.
Alder had lost the confrontation and been ejected from the wired unharmed. The zombie had also lost, and he was now dead.