1 Prologe

A lot of people in my town, including me, keep doing the same things every day... I mean things relating to their work and home. By the time I was thirty years old, I'd bought a one-bedroom apartment on the outskirts of town.

After five years of hard work, I finally managed to take a vacation lasting three of the summer months. I had so much free time that I didn't know how to spend it. I didn't have any relatives or friends, and I didn't want to go away. I was too lazy to do anything.

I managed a good night's sleep on the first day of my vacation for the first time in a good while. Then my life began to change rapidly. I still didn't know whether these changes were for the better or for worse.

Surfing the Internet, I made up my mind to try playing a full immersion online game. After reading plenty of forums, I discovered a lot of interesting information.

Most of the players wrote that the game 'Rainea', was absolutely indistinguishable from the real world and even surpassed it. I highly doubted that, and I wanted to see for myself. I stopped being so skeptical after looking at a couple of player-made landscapes.

This game interested me—despite my prejudice against full immersion games. I decided to remember my youth; the best games seemed to be released at the beginning of the century. I felt nostalgic for those wonderful days when I had so much fun and so many friends…

***

The capsule was delivered and installed the next day. I spent half of my savings on it; it was enough to purchase a good car. I bought an average-priced capsule as I couldn't afford luxury appliances. However, even this capsule was a miracle of engineering. I wished I'd paid more attention to the development of virtual reality.

When the movers left, I locked my door securely and lay down in the capsule. It adjusted to all the parameters of my body automatically and became so comfortable that I decided I could sleep in it.

As I found out from the instructions and the technical staff's words, this capsule fully supported bodily functions: electrical impulses didn't allow the muscles to atrophy, and the bed was made of a special material ensuring the absence of bedsores during prolonged immersion.

Systems supplying the body with nutrients were also installed in the capsule. It was even equipped with a method of toileting so as not to interrupt the game. It was a kind of container for keeping my body in a perfect condition. Before starting to play the most popular game on the planet, I remembered some peculiar messages emerging on different forums periodically.

These messages reported that some players weren't able to return to the real world, staying in the game forever. This matter was discussed in the news, but then it was soon forgotten. I didn't think much of it earlier, but now, for some reason, I recalled it.

I don't care. These messages have appeared rarely. I'm unlikely to stay in the game. Besides, my real life isn't so interesting anyway…

Your state of consciousness while staying in the capsule had a special name. Syndrome... was it? … No... hmm... a phenomenon! The Phenomenon of Consciousness Transference, or PCT in short. The theory of virtual worlds was developed on its basis if I hadn't confused anything.

In general, it doesn't matter, I'd better just relax and look at the new world without thinking about some random scientific theory. I activated the capsule with a voice command; the lid shielded me from the real world with a few smooth movements, and my heart started racing. It's okay, I'll have time to get used to it. I closed my eyes and a nice white light filled the whole space.