The Greystone Chronicles: Book One: Io Online

by Dave Willmarth

  ****

  Just before 2:00pm Lainey joined him in the living room looking very businesslike in a white blouse and dark blue skirt and blazer, with her hair up in a style carefully arranged to look careless. “You look very urban professional today, Lainey!” he smiled and winked at her. “Shut up, rich boy. Some of us aren’t the boss’s son and can’t get away with slacker clothes like that!” she made an angry-pouty face at him. Then she smiled and ruffled his hair, “but you clean up ok for a nerd that spends all his time in a video game!”

  “The car has arrived,” Alfred informed them, so they both rose and headed toward the front door.

  The car waiting for them out front had picked up Sasha first, as she lived in apartment near the center of the city. Alexander and his father lived on a large estate in the foothills between the city center and the corporate compound up on the mountain. Sasha was waiting for them as they climbed into the car. She was wearing a very pretty blue summer dress and sandals.

  “I love your dress!” Lainey said as she car-hugged Sasha, sitting next to her.

  Alexander sat in the seat opposite them. “Hey. Listen, I know you’re upset. You know… Brick didn’t mean anything. He was trying to be nice.” He said by way of greeting.

  “I know” Sasha said with a long suffering sigh. “I know he meant well. He’s just so… ugh.” She shook her head.

  Alexander felt the need to promote the peace between his dwarf friend and their druidess. “You know the whole rough-edged dwarf thing is just his way of trying to fit in. He’s from a really poor family and grew up pretty rough,” Alexander reminded her.

  “I remember. And I do understand. I know he uses the money he makes in-game to support his family. I’ve offered to help lots of times, but he refuses. Says he won’t take charity,” Sasha replied.

  “Yeah, I offered to help as well. It got pretty uncomfortable, so I just let it drop,” said Alexander. “I know that Max offered to help as well. Even though he’s in basically the same boat, just without the family to support.”

  The remainder of the ride to the corporate compound was pretty quiet. Alexander thinking about the game, Lainey and Sasha talking about their outfits and similar girl things that he really wasn’t paying attention to.

  When they arrived at the gate, a deep voice echoed within the car. “Greetings young Alexander. Lady Sasha, Lady Elaine. Welcome back to Olympus!”

  His mother’s love of all things mythological was deeply ingrained within the corporate identity. She had hired a Norwegian architectural firm and coached them in designing their corporate headquarters. It took a year to construct, and would have taken longer except they paid a premium for extra crews of stone masons from around the world, at a ridiculous cost of nearly $2 billion. But they had the money, and had no stockholders to report to.

  The end result was a massive 5 storey castle keep straight out of Norse legends. There was a 20ft stone wall that completely surrounded the keep, which covered nearly 10 acres of land. There were 4 rounded towers, each with a diameter of 100 feet and rising 60 feet into the air, and with a depth of 40 feet underground. The main building was much the same, 50 feet high with multiple wings and courtyards, with 5 floors of underground “dungeons” that contained thousands of server blocks in climate controlled spaces as well as top secret R&D labs. There was a massive square central tower that rose up 80 feet from the ground floor. The top three floors contained offices for the founders, conference rooms, and small but elegant living spaces for when they worked through the night and didn’t have the time or energy to go home to sleep. The whole thing was made of granite, with windows that were both bulletproof and protected against electronic espionage. There were windmills and solar panels that fed into massive banks of batteries to provide backup power if necessary.

  The compound was built on a hill, in the center of a 500-acre meadow with a spring fed freshwater lake. The whole area was situated on the top of a rocky mountain, which in turn was surrounded by a 10,000 acre forested nature preserve. The company owned the entire thing. Purchased from the state at a discount in return for agreeing to maintain the preserve for all eternity. Or something like that. The drive that led to the front gate was dubbed “Bifrost Road”, and the AI that operated the building and security systems that included the front gate controls and all the video surveillance, was named “Heimdall”.

  “Thank you, Heimdall,” they said nearly in unison.

  Alexander added, “It has been too long. I hope you’ve been well?”

  “As always, I remain in good health and ever vigilant,” the AI responded. The gate was open now and the car had begun to move forward. “Odin has asked that I direct you to the southeast tower. He and your father will meet you and the other guests on the 5th dungeon level. May you all enjoy your visit to Olympus.”

  “Thank you, Heimdall!” Sasha actually waved at the small camera mounted to the gatehouse, as if the Bifrost Guardian were actually standing there.

  The car drove onto the compound and up Bifrost Rd. toward the main building before turning and stopping at the base of the southeastern tower. The driver opened the door, and Alexander allowed the ladies to depart before slowly stepping out himself. They made their way to the main level tower door, the ladies allowing Alexander to set the pace. Once inside, he waived at the receptionist before turning toward the elevator. A biometric scanner confirmed his identity, and of those of Sasha and Lainey, before the elevator door opened to admit them. Once they’d all filed in the doors closed behind them and the elevator descended. No need to push any buttons or speak, as Heimdall already knew their destination.

  Upon reaching the “5th dungeon level” they all filed out and waited at the security desk while Heimdall’s scanners once again confirmed their identities, and that they were not carrying any electronic devices such as phones, jump drives, anything that might be used to copy and remove data from the sensitive area. The 5th dungeon was one of the R&D floors where Richard Greystone and his team worked on a range of very secret projects. When security waived them through, a young woman in a lab coat was waiting for them.

  “Good morning Alexander! Lainey! Sasha!” she beamed at them. “Richard is in Lab Delta. I’ll take you there! Just follow me!” She began to lead them down a wide hallway with light grey concrete floors and sanded bedrock walls cut right into the mountain itself. The ceiling was strung with long lines of LED lights.

  “Its nearly 3pm Melanie,” Alexander smiled at the enthusiastic young lady, “when was the last time dad let you out to get some sunshine?”

  “Oh!” Melanie glanced at her watch and blushed prettily, “Richard is always telling me to go take a walk outside… but I just assume he’s being grumpy and ignore him most of the time!” The others smiled knowingly at each other as they reached the lab door marked with a triangular “delta” symbol and were once again scanned to confirm their identities. Once through the door, Alexander observed another hallway, this one with finished and painted walls. Along the right side were a series of glass walls and doorways that suggest several small rooms. Melanie led them into the first of these rooms. Alexander’s father was there, standing behind one of his current research projects. It was an immersion pod prototype. Approximately 8 feet long, and 4 feet wide, the pod resembled an elongated egg sitting on its side on a 2 foot high base. The upper third of the egg was clear plexiglass, and had hinges at the back to allow it to open upward like the cockpit of a fighter jet. There were all sorts of wires and tubes leading from the pod across the floor to various tanks, electrical boxes, and servers. There was a four foot wide ramp leading up to the pod’s cockpit.

  As they approached, Richard walked around to meet them. Scooping Sasha into a big hug. “Sasha! It’s good to see you! It has been too long. You haven’t been to the house in, what? Six months?” He let her go and mock frowned at her.

  “More like 3 weeks!” Sasha responded, poking him in the belly, “but YOU are never home, Richard. So I don’t see you
as much.”

  “I miss the days when you just called me ‘pop’…” he looked down at her. “You would burst through the front door in your pigtails and ratty jeans, detour into the kitchen to rip open the fridge and grab a couple bottles of juice, then fly past us shouting ‘hi mom! Hi pop!’ headed for Alexander’s room. I’m not sure you even touched the floor the whole time. And you always forgot to close the fridge! Angela would get up, go to the kitchen to close the fridge, and bring me back a cookie.” The smile on his face was a bit melancholy.

  Sasha noticed and hugged him again. “Yeah, I miss her too, pop. She was the bestest ever!”

  Trying to lighten the mood, Lainey interjected, “this girl STILL leaves the fridge open every time. I had to change Alfred’s program so that he’d monitor her and shut the fridge himself!” causing everyone, including Sasha, to laugh.

  Richard changed the subject, becoming more serious and waving them toward the pod. “We have some time before our other guests arrive. I brought you here early so we could talk in private first.” He stepped to one side of the room and grabbed an office chair which he wheeled over for Alexander to sit in. Standing for prolonged periods became painful for him. “I’ve been working on this project since the week after you were diagnosed, Alexander. It started as a just a way for you to be able to play the game when your body reached the point where… well, you know.” He paused for a moment, and Lainey reached up to pat his shoulder. “But as I studied the mechanics of VR and the gear’s interface with the brain, an idea began to form. I talked it over with Michael, and he was behind me 100%. So we brought in some experts to talk it over further. We brought in neurologists, biologists, geneticists, mechanical engineers, bioengineers, even psychologists. The very best in the world in each field. We told them they were coming for a 1 week conference. When I had them all in a room, this very room, in fact, I told them my idea, and asked them if it was even possible. Initially there were mixed results. About half the group said ‘no’ while the other half started getting excited. Mostly the mechanical types. I asked them to take the rest of the day, to sleep on it, and reconvene in the morning. By breakfast, nearly all of them were willing to try. The rest were convinced when I told them money was no object.” He shook his head, remembering.

  Patting the pod as he spoke, he continued “Several billion dollars and nearly a decade later, we have this baby here! I call her Eir.”

  “The Norse goddess of healing,” Alexander automatically supplied. He was his mother’s son. She had taught him the entire Greek, Roman, and Norse pantheons as a child. No Harry Potter or Winnie with the Pooh for him. His bedtime stories were filled with the adventures of the powerful, often angry and jealous gods. Tamed down a bit, obviously, so as not to terrify the boy. Later, he’d studied them further. Partly because he had a passion for mythology, and partly in tribute to his mom. He sometimes imagined her reading over his shoulder as he studied.

  “That’s right, son.” Richard smiled proudly. “My idea all those years ago, was to create a way for you to develop new neural pathways. New connections that would allow you to, at least for awhile, bypass damaged areas and retain control of your muscles. I wasn’t optimistic enough to think we could find a cure back then. I just wanted a way to have as much time with you as possible.” Seeing tears in his father’s eyes, Alexander stepped closer and embraced him. Squeezing as hard as he could manage before letting go and stepping back to sit again.

  “Anyway,” Richard sniffed, then continued, “that first week we decided on a two-pronged approach. The first was chemical. We had to find a way to slow the deterioration of your neural connections. To give your brain time to correct itself. The second was to find a way to enable the correction, even encouraging your brain to do so. There had already been rumors of patients with certain palsies, or with traumatic neuromuscular damage, seeing improvements in their conditions after multiple periods of VR game play. The fringe theory being that being able to move their avatars in the game, with all the running and jumping and moving about, their brains were beginning to re-establish lost or unused connections. Or to create them for the first time in those who were born with their conditions.”

  “I actually think I’ve noticed that myself, some,” Alexander unintentionally said out loud.

  “Well, likely you have,” his father said, “though any improvements you’ve seen now are actually a combination of game play, Lainey’s efforts with diet and physical therapy, and the drugs you’ve been taking.” When Alexander looked at him with a question on his face, he added, “About 3 years ago we finally developed a drug that slows, or even stops the deterioration caused by your condition, and others that are similar. We are still going through the clinical trials, and FDA approval process. Once we have that, we’ll be able to get it out to the general public!” Richard’s eyes shone with hope, and Melanie actually squealed, clapping her hands and bouncing with joy. “You’ve been a sort of a guinea pig, son, but based on our testing the progression of your condition has slowed by about 40%!”

  Sasha let out a sob and launched herself at Alexander. The impact caused the chair to roll backward, but she clung to him while he used the support of her body to stand himself up. At which point Lainey latched on too. Alexander quickly found himself in the center of a group hug that involved everybody in the room, including Melanie. All of them crying.

  “Why… why didn’t you tell me, dad?” Alexander eventually said, as the hug broke apart and Sasha went to fetch the chair.

  “I didn’t want to get your hopes up until I had something that actually works,” his father said very quietly. “You’ve studied the medicine as much as I have, son. Hell, you could teach a neuroscience course at Johns Hopkins at this point. You know the odds were stacked heavily against us. Even some of our own team told me I was a fool wasting his money on a pipe dream. Right before I fired them.” He grinned a bit at this. “Never underestimate a man with a dream, and ridiculous amounts of disposable income!”

  Alexander, still a little shaken and trying to absorb all he’d heard in the last few minutes, laughed. It came out a bit shaky and slightly hysterical, like a man who’d just survived a horrific battle. “So the drug is helping. And I’m only dying half as quickly as I was. Where does Eir come in?” he motioned toward the pod. His father looked a bit hurt, and Lainey smacked the back of his head. “I’m sorry, dad,” he said, “I’m a little overwhelmed right now. Thank you. For all of this.”

  “Well, as I was saying, there is some truth to the rumors of improvement from VR activity. But it occurred to us that the improvement would be limited by the body’s physical limitations in the real world. In your case, sitting strapped into a chair, even though your brain is likely sending micro-signals to your arm and leg muscles as you move, gravity and inertia are acting against them. Ideally, we’d have created a zero gravity space for you to live and work in. But that wasn’t really feasible, and came with its own problems. Then we talked about my idea, which was basically a sensory deprivation tank. A big tank filled with water adjusted to the exact temperature and salinization to allow you to be buoyant, and freely move your arms and legs to mimic your in-game movements.” His father continued his explanation, “But that wasn’t practical either. At least not for long term use. So we tried other things. Then other things after that. Nothing worked, and I just kept coming back to my original idea.”

  Richard reached into the pod and produced a handful of blue gelatin. “Then we came up with THIS!” he said as he held his hand out for them to inspect.

  “Blue slime?” Sasha asked. Making her ‘it’s icky’ face and making Melanie giggle.

  “That’s what I call it, too!” she said.

  Richard smiled at Sasha, before explaining. “This is what we are calling sensory gel. It has several functions that I won’t get into now, but it has 3 main jobs. First, it can be programmed, using electric impulses, to have enough density that it can keep a body suspended within the space of a pod rather th
an a thousand-gallon water tank. So these units can be much more compact. Second it is highly conductive, so that it can transmit micro-pulses generated by your brain through the pod and assist in the movement of your muscles. Nanobots within the gel are able to translate the transmitted signals to target specific muscles or muscle groups, simultaneously or in an ascending order for movements that require it. Like opening or closing your hand. Lastly, it allows enough oxygen to reach your skin to keep it healthy over long periods of immersion. It also can be programmed to remove body waste. Not just the waste from your digestive system...”