A Nice Distraction

Paul was doubled over, his head pounding, dizzy. He had heard about this before over taxing yourself in VR produced a nasty side effect and it was in full swing.

After a few minutes when his head was less like a blender in a thunderstorm Holly spoke up, "Thank you for not vomiting in me," the habitat module was ready, "come in, have a shower and eat something, i also recommend a few hours sleep, according to the net that should abate the symptoms of VR strain," she explained,

Paul didn't complain, what she had suggested seemed like heaven right now.

After a good meal, shower, and 2 hours or so sleep Paul felt much better, Holly explained that the strain of rushing so much to get the quest complete, and doing so much in such a short period of time had over taxed his brain, which had cause the rig's safety system to force logout, the only thing he was worried about at the moment was if he had completed the quest, after all an entire city depended on it.

After another half an hour the rig scanned his brain and found no problems and allowed him to log back in. He braced himself expecting an attack as soon as he logged in, he planned to run away and try to use a gem to teleport, maybe he could use a building to hide in so he could teleport away? could he die right away and have to re spawn at a city? all these thoughts ran through his head until the login completed and has was greeted with the familiar silence of the city, looking around it was just as empty as before, the generator was now glowing brightly.

Relief washed over Ulric at least he wasn't gonna have to run for his life that's when he remembered Blair and Smith were waiting for him and he had been a very long time from their point of view, feeling a little guilty he took out a gem and crushed it.

Blair and Smith were waiting in the main foyer nervously looking at the doors, what was taking so long? had something gone wrong? was he trapped? and many other bad things running through their heads until he walked through the door to their great relief Ulric apologized for the delay saying he needed a rest, which was true, and explained the city was empty and safe as long as you didn't switch off the generator,

"why don't you go see for yourselves?" he asked and handed them the extra destination crystals,

Blair began to visibly vibrate on the spot before everything froze as a notification popped up, Ulric waved it away cause he wanted to see Blair's reaction, she unfroze and began jumping up and down squealing like an excited teenage girl on helium, she then began bombarding Smith with suggestions and questions,

"Who should we bring? what should we bring? what could we find? should i wear a dress or overalls for the weather?" Smith had no chance to respond,

Ulric began to chuckle which drew her attention, she pulled him into a hug and kissed him on the mouth, her taught well defined muscles and body pressed against him, she smelled like flowers and oil, and then she was gone dragging Smith away, Ulric just stood there his brain running like a slow slug trapped in glue.