2 [001 OS]

[Please Register Username: ]

Haley stared at the hovering black text dumbfoundedly, moments ago he'd woken again to realise that he was no longer in agonising pain, in fact he couldn't feel anything, it was as if the pain had disappeared like a phantom.

The first thing he did was check his own health using his (faulty) medical analysis mod, which diagnosed him as in overall good health, despite a lung problem from smoking which he chose to ignore for the time being, although the tech was somewhat flawed he trusted the analysis fully… 'Well at least 60% of the time anyway.'

'Now that… whatever that was is over, where the hell am I?' He was still in the pure white space; he could still feel his room in the surroundings, but it was as if there was an illusion separating him from the rest of the world.

As for the floating text? He decided to cautiously leave it alone for the time being…

"If I'm not wrong the door should be about…." He fumbled his way through touch to what felt like the handle to his apartment door but no matter how much he tried to open it he couldn't, it was like a newbie weight-lifter after having struggled to lift 50kg moving straight onto a 200kg weight, it wouldn't budge no matter the amount of effort or how much he used his own body to try and force it to move.

After several seconds of intense strain, he finally gave up and began gasping for air, 'That lung problems the real deal then huh?' He thought with a silent laugh as he slumped to the floor, the black text had followed him and was floating directly in front of his face as if urging him to answer it.

"What the hell… Maybe it'll let me out when I answer it…" He mumbled, although he doubted it considering the hell the thing, whatever it was, had put him through.

'A username huh? Let's go with this then…'

"TooGenius4You" He said under his breath, just barely loud enough for even himself to hear but the text seemed to understand his intention almost immediately.

[TooGenius4You has been registered as your Username.]

It announced loudly in a monotone robotic voice that caused Haley to jump in shock before red filled his cheeks, 'My childhood is truly coming back to haunt me huh?' He shook his head while thinking back to the delusions of fame he'd held as a kid, he'd trolled many forums under that username and used is for several years but it'd been a silent three years since he last logged on to that account… maybe it was an impulse of nostalgia causing him to feel embarrassed the moment he heard someone else say that name aloud.

[Analysing Chosen Username….]

[3%]

"….." Haley stared at the progress bar mortified as it slowly began to fill, 10%, 44%....

[100%]

[001 OS has analysed that the registered user is an egotist with no real ability, this analysis has been created through several mental and body scans of the user and an in-depth psychological analysis of the name provided.]

"What the hell?! Why would anyone design something to analysis the username someone gives? No one would want to use such a design; you can't attack your users!" He cried, the text seemed to consider this for a moment, evident by the several:

[…..]

[.....]

Text bars appearing and disappearing as if it was deep in thought.

[Analysis of function accepted; designating function (Ego Destroyer) a useless function and recycling processing power.]

[001 OS thanks the registered user for their valuable customer feedback, if you have anymore problems please do not hesitate to ask – 001 OS is here to become your perfect companion!]

"Can I… Can I change my username?" Haley asked slowly, he had a feeling that if he didn't do it now then he'd regret it for the rest of his miserable life, just the thought of knowing that this 'thing' or '001' as it called itself had access to it made him cringe.

[Negative.]

"What the hell are you good for then!?" He shouted and hit his fist against the door behind him, strangely however there was no sound or even pain from the impact on his fist.

'001' Seemingly ignored him and began to speak while he, in a daze, looked at his fist and the white space behind him.

[In Zero Space the registered users mind is the only thing present, pain is not a construct that need be simulated here as the no 'pain' would truly be felt by the body and would instead damage the mind.]

This made Haley look at the text sceptically however, "Then what was all that about earlier? I thought I was gonna die for real!"

[That was the installation process, the Sphere 001 had to install itself into the registered users brain which is why you felt pain, your mental body cannot feel pain however any damage inflicted on your physical body while you're in this space will be felt by your mental body. The registered user was pulled into the Zero Space as if not you would have been witness to your own lobotomy as the Sphere requires the user be conscious through the entire process, after many trial and errors it has been devised that hosts prefer to not witness such a sight so countermeasures were made to prevent mental breakdowns.]

Haley took a moment to digest all of the information before carefully using his hands to check his head; he didn't feel anything different or out of place in fact, everything felt normal. 'Well if this truly is my mental body then isn't it going to be represented in the way that I see myself? So logically I wouldn't be able to feel the changes, if any, before seeing myself first?' He asked himself seriously, 'Well… maybe, anything to do with metaphysics has always been the research area of scientists anyway – if it is as it is then there's no reason for me to question an area that's not my expertise.'

You could say that Haley had a unique approach to coping with everything he'd been exposed to so far but it'd be better to say that he simply thought of the logical solution even in the most daunting of situations, situations such as this. If it wasn't for him being trapped in a vicious-debt cycle then he truly had the makings of a potential star in the future; a person with the power to change the lives of millions with his every word, but fate is cruel… Yet it's always fair.

After taking a while to delve into his own thoughts he finally snapped himself out of it before asking a question that caused even '001' to become silent briefly before answering…

"What are you?"