by Olivia Devon
Dear Ms. Martinez,
Color me star-struck. I just found out that not only are you the mastermind behind Quest of the Crystal Knight, but you are the genius responsible for my favorite planet in HyperLyfe, Celestia. As you know, I’m about to embark on a month of what my PR team is calling “adventures” in virtual reality. I’m so glad we’ll be kicking it all off with Celestia. To celebrate the launch of HL2, we’ve been sending out pop-up rig-bays (Insta-rigs) to some of HyperLyfe’s most celebrated creators, of which you are most certainly among. I hope you enjoy the rig, and I hope you’ll use it when we meet up today for our official live-streaming tour of your incredible creation.
Kindest regards,
Aaron Eldridge
Katie stifled a giggle. It was a really nice letter, if a bit goofy. Or maybe she just felt goofy because she was embarrassed, and kind of awed? Awed that Aaron Eldridge had said he was star-struck, by her.
Rupert meowed loudly from the bathroom behind her, and she turned her head to see the tips of his paws sticking out under the door, searching wildly for somebody to claw in retaliation for his unjust imprisonment.
“We’re done here,” said one of the workmen, wiping his hands on his overalls. “So you can let the little guy out in just a few minutes.” He grabbed a clipboard from his toolbox and crossed to her. “Sign right there, and we’ll be out of your way.”
Katie snuck a glance at the big black box that now took up nearly every square inch of her small spare bedroom.
“That sure didn’t take long,” she said, signing and handing the clipboard back. “When you showed up this morning I was skeptical that it would be ready in time but wow, I’m impressed.”
“Thank you,” said the workman. “We’ve got installation down to about…” He checked his watch. “Forty-two minutes, now. A new record.”
Katie thanked the crew and walked them to her front door, locking it behind them before returning to let Rupert out of the bathroom. He took one cautious step over the threshold of the spare room, hissed at the black box, and scampered away.
“Techno-phobe,” she muttered as she closed the bedroom door and took her own first steps toward the Insta-rig. Pressing her palm to a smooth glass plate on the side, she smiled when it lit up and a familiar voice greeted her.
“Bio-data received,” said Command. “Thank you. Welcome, Katie Martinez, to your personal HyperLyfe 2.0 rig-bay.”
The wall in front of her sprung an opening. Cool, teal-colored lights hummed softly to life as Katie stuck her head inside and looked around. It was the same as the rig-bays at Lux, just smaller.
“Shall we begin?”
“Are we still broadcasting?” Katie asked. Her rainbow feathered wings kept her hovering in mid-air, bobbing at eye level with Aaron’s giant mechanical robot avatar. “We’re not live still? It’s over, right?”
Yes!” Aaron laughed and rolled his shoulders, trying to work some of the tension out of his muscles. His avatar’s arms followed the movement, the sound of metal grinding as he moved. “And boy am I glad. Talk about stressful!”
“Oh my God, I know!” Katie grinned, and her avatar twirled in circles, platinum eyes shining as sparkles of light emitted from a wild cascade of golden hair. “There were a million questions coming in, faster than light. And so many people! I’ve never had that many visitors at Celestia at one time. You’re quite the crowd-pleaser Aaron.”
“Me?” Aaron scoffed. “It was your world they came to see. I just built the sandbox, you made the castle.”
Aaron’s first day live-streaming from virtual reality had gone exceedingly well. He and Katie had spent the whole day together hosting a guided exploration through the sights of Celestia that was broadcast in realtime all over the world. The response had been incredible. Not only had millions of people tuned in to watch, but HyperLyfe experienced an enormous surge in logins, with countless avatars pouring into the world to follow Aaron and Katie around as they explored.
“That’s kind of you to say,” said Katie. “But you’re the–”
“I’m sorry Katie,” Aaron said, holding up a hand. “Can you hang on one second? My PR team is messaging me.”
Aaron took the call, listened, thanked his team, and then returned to his private voice session with Katie.
“Well they’re happy,” he said, “Or at least as happy as they ever are with me.” Aaron chuckled. “This month-in-VR thing has kind of stressed everyone out.”
“I was wondering about that,” said Katie. “Are you literally spending all your time in world? I mean you’ve gotta sleep, shower, eat. They can’t expect you to be here a full twenty-four seven, what about private stuff, like with your business?”
“Well, thankfully, that reporter didn’t trick me into any details,” said Aaron. “But I know if we don’t make a good faith effort, we’ll get some bad press for it. To be honest, at this point I’m kind of curious. I’m looking at the whole thing as an experiment.”
“Still,” said Katie. “Everybody needs downtime.”
“Definitely,” he said. “And we’ve planned for that. When I’m not live streaming anything, whatever I’m doing is private. Our website shows that I’m logged in, but not exactly where I am or what I’m doing. That’s what we’re doing for business meetings and stuff. Staff is coming in-world with avatars and meeting me at my virtual office here in HL.”
“I bet that’s fun for them,” said Katie.
“They hate it,” Aaron groaned. “You know that saying, the cobbler’s children have no shoes? That’s my office. It’s just a giant, empty, white room with chairs. I’ve never really done much with it. Everybody keeps yelling at me that the environment is not conducive to creativity.”
Katie laughed. “Well it’s meant for business, not pleasure, not like your castle.”
She coughed and laughed and Aaron wondered if she was thinking what he was, that the last time they’d been in VR together they’d been alone, in a bedroom in that very same castle. He was delighted to think that she associated pleasure with her visit there.
“Hey,” he said, giving in to impulse. “I’m starving and in the mood for some great company and a bad movie. Would you care to join me? Tonight?”
“That would be very cool,” Katie said. “So uh, we’ll both go eat and then meet back here–”
“No no, don’t go anywhere,” said Aaron, the giant metal teeth of his robot breaking into a wide grin. “I’ve got dinner covered.”
“Aaron,” said Katie, her avatar’s brow furrowing in confusion. “As realistic as HyperLyfe is, we cannot eat virtual food.”
“Trust me,” he said. “I got this.”
Chapter Seven
Katie managed to negotiate a short break anyway. She and Aaron had been hanging out in HL for hours and when her avatar had started doing the pee-pee dance along with her, Aaron had taken pity on her. And then she laughed at him when he realized he had to go too.
Rupert eyed her warily as she rushed out of the spare room, pulled the S-suit halfway off and slammed the bathroom door. Minutes later, she returned, zipping the suit back up and humming to herself as she set out Rupert’s supper on a small dish. She scratched the back of his neck affectionately, and he swatted at her hand as if expressing his disapproval at her choice of pastime.
“Luddite,” she said, and kissed him on the head.
When she logged back in, there was a message waiting for her.
“Aaron has sent you a scenario request. Accept or Deny?”
“Accept.” Her avatar materialized in a bustling pizza joint on the corner of a busy urban block. “Ha!” she said when she spotted Aaron. He wasn’t wearing his robot avatar anymore. Instead he looked like himself. Tall, brown hair and blue eyes, wearing a pair of jeans with holes in the knees and a Yankees sweatshirt.
“Alright,” she said, and since she was still in her angel wings, she glided over to him. “I’m ready to be dazzled.”
“Good,” he grinned. “Because that’s wh
y we’re here.” He urged her forward. “Go on up and order whatever you want. In thirty minutes or less that exact order will arrive at your house in the real world.”
Katie gaped at him. “Say what now?”
“It’s a new program,” said Aaron. “Still in beta. So cross your fingers that everything works out, or we might actually starve to death.”
“But where does the pizza come from?” Katie asked.
“Well right now it comes from Gino’s, but in the future, users will fill out a shopping profile on their HyperLyfe accounts and they’ll be able to choose, check off their favorite local restaurants and stuff. Go on.” Aaron prodded her again. “My treat.”
Hovering in front of an NPC cashier Katie looked at the menu and placed her order. A large pepperoni with extra cheese, a side salad, a brownie for desert, and one liter of Coke to wash it all down. After she ordered, Aaron placed his own, and then he led her to a table in the back to sit down.
“So now, I’m going to show you what VR outside the Insta-rig is like.”
“Without the harness and the omni-directional treadmill thing-a-majingy?”
“Yeah, HL2 also works with just the suit and the visor. It’s pretty cool, but I’ll have to guide you through a few simple steps so you can go from virtual reality to augmented reality.”
“Augmented,” she echoed. “Like virtual reality layered over the real world. Animated billboards and signs over people’s heads. Like Roger Rabbit.”
Aaron chuckled. “Kind of, yeah. Augmented reality will allow us to spend time together in virtual space, while also being aware of our real space. You can leave the rig and the treadmill, and go sit on your comfy couch at home, instead of hanging out in the harness all night. The Insta-rig is great for what we did today, hiking and flying but–”
“It gets tiring after a while,” Katie admitted.
“Exactly. So, first…” Aaron’s avatar tapped the side of his face. “On the left side of the visor, there’s a button. Push it once.”
She did and the scene in front of her, the pizza joint and Aaron’s avatar went transparent. She could see beyond the transparency, to the black box she was in, and when she looked down, could see the harness that held her.
“Okay so now you can unbuckle your harness and climb out. When you do, the treadmill will deactivate. So don’t worry about falling down.”
Katie unbuckled from the harness and felt her feet touch the floor. In virtual reality her avatar was still sitting, but in reality, she was standing now. It was disconcerting, and she wobbled, reaching out for something to steady her.
Aaron jumped up and grabbed her. “Here, let me help you.”
She took his hand, and let him guide her avatar to standing. They walked together through the restaurant, Aaron leading Katie’s avatar out of the door of the pizza place at the same time that, in the real world, she stepped carefully through the insta-rig’s open door and into the spare bedroom.
“Oh man that was so trippy,” she said, looking down at their entwined fingers. “I could really feel you holding me up. It’s like you’re here.” She grinned and looked up at him. “You feel warm.”
“Yeah,” he nodded and smiled. “The S-suit transfers a ton of sensory information. Pressure, mass, friction, temperature. You feel warm to me too.”
“Ouch!” Katie’s avatar rubbed her head at the same time the real Katie did. “I bumped into the wall.”
“Oh shoot.” Aaron pointed to his head again. “Push the button and the view will get more transparent. One hundred percent if you need it to, that way you can see around your apartment as you’re walking.”
“What do you keep it set to?” Katie asked.
“Only about twenty-five percent transparency,” said Aaron. “But I just moved into this place, I literally don’t have any furniture yet.” He laughed. “Nothing to bump into.”
The pizzas arrived at their respective apartments, and Katie laughed when the delivery guy looked at her like she had three heads. She made herself a plate, and then at Aaron’s suggestion, propped up on her bed with a stack of fluffy pillows at her back.
“Okay,” he said, talking around a mouthful of pizza. “I’ve got like every movie you could possibly want. So we just gotta pick one and then decide where we want to watch it.”
“Where?” said Katie. She took a bite of pepperoni and saw her avatar’s hand lift a slice of pizza to its mouth at the same time.
“Yeah you want to watch in a movie theater? Or on the moon, or in a space ship, or we could go to Celestia, or–”
“Not Celestia,” she said. “We spent all day there. Oh! The Scottish Highlands. I loved that.”
“Coming right up,” said Aaron, and before she could swallow her pizza the scene in front of her changed and she was sitting on a pallet of warm, woolen blankets under a canopy of stars, at night, on lush deep green hills.
“If you’re sitting still, go ahead and set your visor to say at least seventy percent opaque, otherwise it will be hard to see the movie.”
She did and noticed with some pleasure that Aaron was back in his kilt. He stood over her, one hand on his hips, another holding a slice of pizza. Katie stole a glance down at herself and she was back in the same outfit she’d worn the last time they were here, the corset and layered skirt. She shivered in the night air and smiled up at Aaron.
“This is really, beautif–Hey!”
“What?” Aaron asked, joining her on the blankets. “Something wrong?”
“My cat, Rupert, just stole a piece of pepperoni off my pizza!” Katie said, laughter in her voice. “I’m usually on the lookout for his thieving paws, but I guess with the visor, he’s tough to spot.”
“Mmm. I have a solution for that.” Aaron’s avatar raised one hand and conjured a ball of pink light in the palm. He held the ball out to Katie. “Take this. It’s a little program that will calibrate your visor to recognize Rupert, and highlight him whenever he comes into your field of vision.”
Katie took the ball of pink light from Aaron’s hands, and as soon as she did, her visor flashed and a bull’s eye appeared right where she could see Rupert. A half a second later he was much more visible…as an adorable, bright pink baby dragon.
“Oh man,” she giggled. “Look at you Mr. Crankypants. You’re so cute.” Katie cooed and tickled Rupert under the chin, picking him up and cuddling him in her lap. “Can you see him too?” she asked Aaron.
“Yeah, with this program I can, actually. Cute little guy.”
Rupert growled menacingly, loud enough that Katie’s mic picked it up and Aaron heard the sound.
“Think he’ll forgive me for turning him into a pink baby dragon?” Aaron said, laughing.
“Probably not.”
“So what’ll it be?” he asked, taking another bite of pizza. “Rocky Horror Picture Show? Harry Potter? Star Wars? Mystery Science Theater 3000?”
“I’m such a MST3K fan,” said Katie. “Anything with Joel, play it. Whatever you want.”
“I’ll surprise you. Just gotta do one thing before I can hit play.”
Katie watched as Aaron’s avatar pulled a bright silver rope from his sporran, made a loop and threw it at the moon that hung far overhead. The rope stretched high into the night sky, lassoing the orb easily. Aaron grinned at her, spit on one palm, then the other, and pulled hard on the rope. Katie gazed wide-eyed as the glowing sphere of digital rock coasted easily through the stars and came to a gentle stop, just over the crest of the hill they were sitting on.
“There,” said Aaron, his tone quite pleased. “Movie screen.” Aaron’s avatar put the rope back in his sporran and removed a remote control.
“What else you got in there?” Katie asked. “Marching band and a hockey team?”
Aaron chuckled and pushed a button. A rectangle of light appeared on the moon, images danced on its surface, and the opening theme song for Mystery Science Theater 3ooo surrounded them as if the hills themselves were speakers.
“I can hardly believe this is happening,” said Katie. “I’ve always loved HyperLyfe, but before now, it was always just me watching my avatar do things. Like in a dream, where you’re sort of up above yourself, observing everything. This, this is just incredible. I know, logically that I’m sitting on my bed at home with a cat in my lap. But damned if it doesn’t feel like I’m sitting in the beautiful Scottish Highlands with a baby dragon and a…” she stopped herself. She’d almost said, “a hottie in a kilt”.
“And great company,” Aaron said, and she swore she could see a twinkle of flirtation in his avatar’s eye.
Katie shivered.
“Cold?” asked Aaron. “C’mere. I’ll warm you up.”
Somehow, by the time the credits rolled, after the laughing and the talking and the silliness, they’d ended up together under a stack of blankets, gazing up at the stars.
Rupert was snoring in Katie’s lap, and Katie was curled up against Aaron’s large, muscly frame.
“Hey,” he whispered. “You asleep?”
“No,” she said, smiling even though her eyes were closed. “Not sleepy really, just relaxed.”
“That’s nice,” said Aaron. “Same here.”
“The suit is pretty crazy.” Katie opened her eyes, and tilted her head up at Aaron. “I feel toasty warm,” she said. “And I can feel the weight of the blankets on me too. Just incredible.”
“I’m glad you like it,” said Aaron, he snaked an arm around her waist and shifted a little.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “Is your leg falling asleep? I’ve been practically sitting on you for two hours.”
“I’m fine,” said Aaron. “I just needed to change my position a bit.”
“No really, I’ll move over–” Katie shifted and winced, her face contorting with pain as she reached for her neck.
“Uh-oh,” said Aaron.
“Yeah,” she said. “Old injury. Nothing I’m not used to, it’s just–” Katie winced again.