Prologue

The man speaking was a lawyer sent by a new gaming company that popped up. I had my state appointed guardian answer the ad for game testers for a newly developed virtual reality system a few months ago. It was supposed to be the first of its kind but was at the moment untested which is where I come in.

I had spent over a half hour listening to the long list of risks that ranged from headaches to death and everything in between. The fact is I do not mind the risks they had mentioned. After the accident that left me paralyzed from the neck down and my family dead; I went from a normal everyday teen playing with my friends and dreading school to a person that needed machines to even speak with a good case of depression. Their offer to cover all my medical expenses for the next few years and the chance to move again, even if it was virtually, was too enticing for me so without much thought about the risks and chance to be a little normal I had him sign me up.

After having to wait a couple of months, I was now of legal age so here I sit in an office listening to their lawyer drone on and on about risks I did not care about by myself. Things like you may see spots to becoming a vegetable were brought up and I nodded when he paused as if I cared about what he was saying. "Alright John all you have to do is look at the camera and give your ok," The lawyer said and with that I looked at the camera which sadly took longer than it should I shakily spoke " I… A.. agree", and with that the contract was done. I could not sign my name, so this video agreement was made.

After the lawyer made sure that everything was recorded and sealed away, I was taken away by a young lady in scrubs; a nurse perhaps or maybe they just were making sure that everything was sanitary. They might have said but sadly I kind of tuned them out about halfway through dreaming about just being able to feed myself again. It is such a sad dream when you think about it but it is what I thought of the most after two years of being fed by tubes.

I was wheeled around corridors, down into a basement by elevator and into one of the rooms that lined the hall. Inside there appeared to be a fiberglass pod with wires coming out and going into machines that were set off to the side.

"Alright Mr. Allister, I am going to put you into the interface pod and then go over how everything works." She smiled and continued, "don't worry it is pretty simple" Finishing her statement she did not give me a chance to reply before she deftly opened the pod, picked up my skinny figure and arranged me into a prone position.

"…" I just stared at her with confusion in my eyes, my mouth opening and then closing while I tried to think of the right question to ask. Finally I gave up. I was told I was the first to be tested but her actions were as if she did it a hundred times. Maybe I was overthinking it and even if I wasn't, I would not have changed my mind. I just wondered why they would lie about something so stupid. After all, whether I was first or the fiftieth it would not matter to me. I guess I was too young or too eager to realize that the law might care even if I did not if multiple people did not come back up from the basement.

She busied herself with clipping, pasting pads onto me and once or twice inserting IV lines into me. At least, I think that is what they were. After about twenty minutes of her fiddling around she took out a black case, opened it and very carefully held up a black square that seemed to eat the light around it for me to see. "After I put this onto the back of your neck you can begin. All you should need to do is think about starting the um game and it should start." The way she stuttered over her wording made me pity her a little after all I was the first guy trying this and they have her here all alone setting it up. Which if you think about it is a little weird considering all the money in medical payments, they promised us if something went wrong. Not to mention the machines that also looked like they cost a pretty penny.

My head was lifted a little and then placed back down "ok that will about do it, all you need to do now is think about starting and follow the prompts. Remember you only have one avatar you can create and world to enter since we are trying to test the system," she said.

I eagerly think START and as my vision starts to fade I see the nurse give me a smile that never reached her pretty eyes and then my vision finally faded to black.

***

In a expensive office across town, a man with devilishly handsome face watched video after video of crippled men agreeing to his contract. An evil smile flashed across his face followed by a chuckle. Looking up he smirked, "The time is coming for some payback!"