Virtuality Part 2

Chapter 2

Ben had thought about very little else other than Outside since he was a small child. He remembered the journey from the prepubescent block to the adolescent block. He could see nothing, but the very knowledge that he was travelling thrilled him. The idea of somewhere new excited him far more than anything that he had experienced in Virtuality. When he had discussed these feelings with his colleagues and tutors in Virtuality, they had said that he would grow out of them.

He did not, however, grow out of these feelings, and so, soon after his installation into his adult block, he ventured through the door which led outside his apartment and found himself in a small room. This he recognised as the Block Transport that had delivered him to his apartment. A Sim in a smart uniform stood by the door to the room.

“I am your transport attendant. Where would you like to go to?”

“Outside” said Ben, not without some concerns as to what this might mean to the “attendant”, or indeed whether this request would be granted.

The Sim disappeared, and Ben felt the sensation of motion as the room moved through the block laterally and vertically before slowing and stopping.

As the block transport came to a halt, a kindly lady of middle age appeared before him.

“Welcome” she said, “You are about to leave the sanctuary of the block. The System may not be able to protect you while you are outside. Are you sure you wish to leave?”

Ben was very far from sure. He knew that the only thing he had ever wanted to do was to leave the block and investigate the outside, but now that he was actually nearly there, and confronted by the certainty of lack of protection by the System, he was very unsure.

“I just want to look outside, to see what it’s like” he said. “What am I likely to find?”

The kindly lady smiled at him

“I don’t know,” she said “I have never wanted to find out. I am told that the air is polluted and full of smoke and filth, that the oxygen in the air that we rely on to live is so low that you cannot survive for longer than an hour, and that the sun is so harsh as to burn any exposed skin within five minutes of exposure to it. Nothing lives out there. The only things you will see are the System’s vehicles and machines going about their business.

“If you still wish to leave, I cannot stop you. You are free to come and go as you like. I merely want to warn you of the dangers that await you outside”

“Can I return if I leave?” Ben asked.

“Of course. Simply approach the outer door and the System will recognise your chip and let you in. I told you, you are free to come and go as you like. I just felt that you may be unaware of what awaits you”

“Thank you” said Ben “I would like to just look outside for a minute”

“Very well. I will open the outer door”

Virtuality ceased, and Ben found himself in the small room again with the outer door opening to expose a brightness that he had never experienced before. He stepped nervously through the door, unconsciously holding his breath, and took two more steps outside the block. Ben took a breath, and the richness of the air made him cough uncontrollably. Tears were forming in his eyes and he thought he would die out here without the protection of the System. The door had closed behind him as soon as he had stepped away from it. He turned back to it, still coughing uncontrollably.

As he approached the door it opened and he staggered into the small room. The door closed behind him, and once again he found himself with the kindly lady.

“Well, what did you think?”

“It was different from what I had expected”

“I did warn you didn’t I?”

“Yes but it was still different from what I expected, even after your description.”

“While we are talking, the System is decontaminating you, and checking you for any illnesses you may have picked up. You see how the System looks after you?”

“You have no illnesses.” She continued. “Your coughing fit was just a result of breathing the unpurified air of the outside. Will you be going out again?”

I don’t think so,” said Ben “At least not for a little while”

That was the first of many trips out, each of which became longer and longer, until he was out for hours at a time without any problems. He began to find out how the System operated between blocks, by observing the traffic that travelled to the block along the prepared highways. He noticed that he was able to board the transports, and that each transport had accommodation for people to travel as if there had once been a need for people to travel and the System had not changed the design. The transports travelled from block to block delivering and picking up, but always waiting for Ben to enter or leave.

Each of the blocks was huge, rising high into the sky, and measuring many kilometres wide and deep. Fields of green grass and shrubs surrounded them. Scattered here and there were trees in which birds perched and nested, and between which they flew. The only other activity was found in the constant traffic of the System transport.

Ben began to spend more and more time outside, venturing further and further afield. Each trip he would take different transports to different places, seeking out the routes of the transports and finding out the functions of each transport. He began to understand how the System worked, how it fed the people in the blocks, how it removed the waste, how it fixed or replaced machinery and property that had ceased to function properly and how it continued to serve its people.

The strange thing was that there was no sign of the wholesale abuse of nature that was indicated in the histories or television tapes, or indeed the warning given by the kindly lady Sim. Instead, nature seemed to be blossoming. Everywhere Ben looked there were animals and vegetation. The animals had no fear of him, merely nervous that he may be a new kind of predator. The air, once he became used to its rich oxygenation, was invigorating and tasted sweet compared to the treated air of the blocks. This to Ben was the way life should be. He found the ways of Virtuality dull in comparison. Even the most exciting world could no longer hold his interest. The Virtual worlds lacked any sort of realism to him.

The System did not fail to notice these aberrations in Ben, and on one of his brief and infrequent visits to Virtuality, it introduced a Psych to him. The Psych was, of course, only a Sim, and was the System’s way of attending to those few amongst its flock who it considered to be mentally unstable. The Psych’s job was to make the patient aware that his or her life could be improved by treatment, and to offer whatever treatment was appropriate. As with physical medical health, once the patient was aware that the symptoms were treatable and could improve his life, he could refuse treatment. Ben listened to the Psych and, though recognising that his behaviour was abnormal, decided that he liked it that way, and refused treatment.

Gradually, Ben became a loner, rarely contacting his friends, preferring to “live outside with nature” as he put it. He visited Virtuality only for research into the outside world, finding out what he could eat and drink, what differentiated day from night, and generally how nature worked to manage its natural balance.

Ben’s biggest problem had been hunger and tiredness. He had started with short journeys at first, but would come back to the apartment exhausted and hungry, waking the next day still hungry and aching in his legs and shoulders. As he continued to venture out, the aches in his body had decreased, but the hunger had not gone away. In his studies at the Virtual Library, he had learned of the need of the body to convert food to energy, and had realised that the System would not provide enough food for him to exist Outside for any significant periods. The System provided enough food to sustain the levels of activity that would normally arise from operating in Virtuality, and to gradually replenish lost energy over a period of days. He spent nearly all his time in the Virtual Library learning about nutritious vegetables and other substances that would sustain him while away, and during his trips out, tried to identify them from memory.

His efforts at self sufficiency were not always successful, and on more than one occasion he returned to the block early, suffering from vomiting and diarrhoea. The kindly lady Sim was not impressed, and reminded him that the System would look after him if only he would let it. She also told him that he was not used to the stuff that he was “putting into himself”, that the System knew exactly what was good for him, and if it had thought that it was proper to put leaves and berries into humans, it would have done so. Gradually, stubbornly, Ben became resistant to the diet, and started to build strength and stamina, allowing him to stay out longer.

The range of temperature was another major factor that he had to overcome. At first, he only left the blocks or the transports when the temperature outside felt like the temperature inside. This meant that he would travel around in the transports for many hours at nights, staying warm until it was daytime and warm again. This policy was fine until the winter came, and the days were also cold. He thought about staying in until it became warm again, but soon got bored, and dissatisfied with the System diet. What he needed was clothes, but how to find them, or make them. All he had to wear was the System supplied shift that was unsatisfactory for the colder weather of the Outside. He had tried collecting shifts so that he could wear more than one at a time. He tried leaving one outside the block when he came back from a trip, but when he returned to the place the next day, the shift had gone, presumably collected by the System.

He read up on the clothes of the pre-System era, and managed to work out how they were made, and what materials they were made of, but he realised that he had no materials to make clothes from, and no tools to form them. There seemed to be two types of materials used in clothing, the first, and earliest was animal skin, and the more recent, woven threads. The System issued shift was made from woven threads. Ben had no idea how to weave threads to make clothes, and had no intention of killing an animal for its skin, even if he knew how. If he was right that the System was removing the shifts that he had left outside, then if that was going to work, he would have to leave the shifts beyond the reach of the System, in true Outsider country.

It was with great trepidation that Ben deviated from the route taken by the transports and into what he considered to be true Outsider country. He had noticed that the vegetation away from the transport routes or blocks was lusher somehow, trees were taller and generally the vegetation was taller and greener, and of course, there were the animals. Beyond the blocks, the country appeared to be alive with movement and noise. The noise struck him almost forcibly. He had never heard so much noise in his life. The other instant impression was the vividness of the colours; the different shades of green and the blues and reds and myriad of other colours assaulted his eyes. Strange furry animals ran and bounced nibbling grass or chasing each other, birds massed in the air raising a cacophony of shrill whistling sounds, even the air breathed into his ears. On the one hand, it was terrifying, and on the other, it was unlike anything he had experienced in Virtuality or even in his imagination.

Virtuality part 1

Virtuality

By

Mike Keeble

Part One

Ben

Chapter 1

Ben did not use Virtuality much. That is he used it, but only in a functional sense. He did not stay in his bedroom all day and stare at the walls, but he did not use Virtuality as others might; spending all day in the Virtuality room socialising or playing.

When he was young in his adolescent quarters, bombarded as he was with educational worlds, Ben had much preferred those worlds that dealt with life as it had been, and as it might have been. He became horrified by the damage that mankind had done to the real world, and the pressure that it had put upon itself to develop. The System pulled no punches when it came to explaining the rationale behind Virtuality, and the severe and irreparable damage that mankind had done to his own and other creatures’ environment. Ben often wondered during these adolescent times what life must have been like without the System. He found himself dreaming of the Outside as it had been before it had become uninhabitable. The apparent variety of birds and animals and the colours of trees and plants fascinated him. He would watch history films from the ancient television system. Some of these would show strange creatures in strange habitats unknown to Virtuality, while others would depict scenes of violence and sex, not dissimilar to some of the worlds in Virtuality.

In all cases, the world depicted was one that was totally different from the one in which mankind now lived, and had lived for some time. His history lessons at school taught him that the air and climate Outside had become impossible for mankind to live in and increasingly, people had moved into blocks that were more or less self-contained. Computers managed the functioning of the building, and telecommunications allowed people to work from their living quarters. Developments in Virtual Reality technology had allowed people to work in a virtual environment, and still retain social intercourse with their peers. Further developments in technology had allowed computers to manage not only the building, but also the life support systems of the people in the blocks.

Telecommunications had long since created a developed world that was ungovernable by national governments except in particularly local issues. Global corporations carried on trade internationally, and increasingly work was organised on a global scale. Major corporations managed their own markets according to what was known as “market forces”, although in reality, they controlled vast numbers of the people of the world simply by dominating the buying habits of the population. As a result, an international currency had developed which, unlike the previous tokens in coins and paper, was purely electronic, and involved no tokens, but a system of credits, which were allocated to people on the basis of work done. These tokens were exchangeable for goods and services offered by the global operators, and soon came to transcend the currencies offered by national governments.

Without a national currency, national governments themselves became obsolete, and the systems set in place by the global operators took over the governance of the people. In order to live in the environments created in the blocks, and to benefit from the virtual environments and comforts afforded by them, people had to conform to the rules set by the system. This was generally considered to be favourable to living in an unbreatheable atmosphere in a direct sunshine that would burn a pale Caucasian skin inside five minutes.

The System became the only way to live, and in time became the rules by which people lived. The System provided everything to those within its purview. It was benign and allowed freedom of movement, together with the choice of whether to work or not to work. It provided housing, food, cleaning services, comprehensive health care to age 100, education to age 20, and enough credits to live on whether you worked or not. The alternative did not bear thinking about.

Seasonal offering

It must be a year since I last posted anything here, because I suspect that the last thing I posted was a Christmas ditty.

Here is another Seasonal ditty which owes a bit to Charles Dickens:

Master of the Universe

Mark’s seven figure bonus burned the pockets of his jeans

Another Aston Martin now came well within his means.

His penthouse flat deposit came from last year’s bonus pack

His options and his pension fund kept future plans on track.

“Life is good this Christmas”, thought the banker looking down

From off his lofty balcony upon the dirty town.

“Tonight I’ll worship Mammon and give thanks for all my gains

And toast the banking system in plentiful champagnes”

The night was cold and wet and grey, but Mark just didn’t care

He’d spent a fortune getting drunk and barely had the fare

To catch a taxi home to bed to sleep the night away

And dream of all the stuff to buy with his inflated pay.

The bar had closed, his friends had gone, and now he stood again

Weaving gently on the kerb of this deserted lane

As if to make his night complete he saw with bleary sight

A taxi cab approaching him, “For Hire” sign alight

He slumped himself into the seat and gently closed his eyes,

Opened up his eyes again and there to his surprise

Sat Jacob, friend from student days, who’d made a pile in Law

But had succumbed to early death, but now sat there before

The puzzled and bewildered Mark who couldn’t quite recall

If he had asked this ghost along, he wasn’t sure at all

What actually was going on until the spectre spoke

And reassured his banker chum that this was not a joke

“I died” he said “before I could enjoy the fruits of wealth

“My sole concern was money; I cared not for my health

“And so it was one day as I was thinking what to buy

“The reaper came with sharpened scythe and told me I would die

“And now I am condemned to ride in this my ghostly cab

“Until I can convince one more that life is more than grab

“Up all the money and the things that it can get.

“I sit here ev’ry Christmas but I haven’t done it yet”

“Don’t think I’m the one to change” said Mark “what’s mine stays mine”

“And anyway I’ve set my sights upon a DB9”

The cab came to a stop beside a place Mark didn’t know

A wasteland by the riverside where desp’rate people go.

Figures shuffled aimlessly or simply stood around

Their clothes were ragged, pride had gone; they stared upon the ground

Having seen more than enough Mark slowly turned his head

To speak to Jacob opposite but, shockingly, instead

An image of himself stared back, unwashed and dressed in rags

A bottle clutched in dirty hands, his stuff in plastic bags.

“Hi Mark” this vision said at last and took another drink

“You don’t know me yet” he said “but just in case you think

“That bankers only give it out and are themselves immune

“I’ll draw you a scenario that hums a diff’rent tune.

“Your bank collapsed from dodgy deals and you were thus deposed.

“You couldn’t pay your debts and so your creditors foreclosed

“And here you are a year ahead, you’re homeless and bereft

“You’ve taken to the bottle ‘cos there’s simply nothing left”

He paused and stared at Mark awhile then spoke again at last

“You know they say when going up take care of those you pass

“‘cause when you’re going down you may be grateful for their aid,

“Well here I am already down and you’re already made.

“You never gave a single thought beyond your greedy self”

He winked and then ironic’lly he drank the banker’s health.

In guilt Mark closed his eyes to shut his other self away

And when he opened them again the night had turned to day

“Just a nasty dream” he thought.  He was lying in his bed

But he couldn’t lose the awful feeling running through his head.

Hungover from the night before, he turned the TV on

To idly watch the news unfold but knowing all along

That Masters of the Universe like him could not be caught

By pestilence or poverty, that all things could be bought;

But then upon the screen appeared a face he’d seen before

Looking from a taxi parked before his own front door.

“I’ve come to take you back” he said “there’s very little time

For you to make amends for greed before the church bells chime

The blessings of the Christmastide, and peace, goodwill to all.

Or wallow in your cosy bed and see what will befall

You when you’re on your way to gutter land and begging in the streets

And cardboard packing keeps you warm instead of silken sheets.

The screen then switched to show the place the scene so desolate

That Mark had seen the night before depicting what his fate

Would be if he should not give up his greedy selfish ways;

The likelihood was that this could be how he ends his days.

What thoughts went through Mark’s mind just then will never now be known

But soon he turned the TV off and reached out for his ‘phone,

Speed dialled the Aston Martin sales and when they came on line

“Enquiring for my order for my bright red DB9

“I’ve come to a decision and I thought I’d let you know

“That I’m cancelling the order and instead will now bestow

“My yearly bonus from the bank upon those most in need

“Christmas is a time to give and not for selfish greed”

Trainers

I must have started this story many months ago, in an attempt to write something to match the popularity of "Screamer", but it just wouldn't write.  In fact I have revisited it so many times that I'm not sure if it is the same story I originally envisaged.  The strange thing is that I had the story fixed firmly in my head.  I knew exactly what was going to happen and I felt the fear, panic and (worst of all) the hope that Johnny Sillitoe felt.  It just wouldn't get itself down on the paper.

Anyway I have finally finished it so maybe I can get on with something else now.

Trainers

Johnny Sillitoe knelt down in the hallway to lace up his brand new trainers.  This was going to be their very first outing; just a gentle run to break them in.  They had cost him a lot of money, but he hoped they would be worth it in the end.  They felt comfortable and he was really rather proud of them. 

This was a perfect day for the run.  It was early spring and the sun was bright but not particularly warm.  It hadn’t rained for a few days, so the ground was soft but not soggy.  No one was likely to want to contact him and he intended to leave his phone at home.  This was going to be between him and nature; exactly how he liked it. 

He performed a few stretches in front of the mirror in the hallway watching himself critically as he did so.  Not bad he thought, but then a pretty abstemious life had led to a pretty fit body and one that his last girlfriend had found desirable.  It was a shame that Sarah had been so clingy; if she had simply enjoyed his company for what it was and what it offered, they might still be together instead of breaking up as they had last weekend.  There were tears of course but they couldn’t be helped and now he had this wonderful day to break in his new trainers with no worries about anyone getting in his way.

He stepped outside the front door, turned his face towards the sun feeling its gentle heat on him and started to run towards the nearby woods.

By the time he had reached the edge of the woods he was already in rhythm.  He could hear his breathing in time with the pad of his new trainers.  They were feeling good on his feet.  

He paused at the edge of the wood to fix his MP3 player earphones into his ears, selected a rock playlist and set it to loud.  Right, he thought, here we go, let’s see how the shoes manage off road.  He entered the wood following the rutted track into the heart of this 30 acre patch of greenery.  He became totally absorbed in his running and his thoughts.  The music shut out the rest of the world and he was only vaguely aware of his surroundings.  His thoughts flitted to the relationship that he had just ended.  It was for the best.  People just got in the way.  He hardly got in touch with anyone these days except electronically and even email and the social networking sites got on his nerves now.  He was happiest working from home on his computer and only meeting with real people when he absolutely had to, and at the end of a day with his computer, his nightly runs were the perfect relaxation.

He was really into his rhythm now and hardly felt the ground beneath his feet.  The gentle breeze blew against his face cooling his sweat before it had time to gather on his brow.  His feet seemed to automatically jump over the ruts in the dirt track through the woods landing perfectly on the other side.  He had run this way many times in his old trainers but they had become so worn that they had begun to hurt his feet.  It was with great reluctance that he had gone to buy new trainers, hoping that he could buy an identical pair but inevitably finding that the manufacturers had stopped making that design.  The specialist shop had recommended a pair at a considerable cost, but the assistant had reminded him that they would be worth every penny if they worked well.  The thought had crossed his mind that they would be a waste of every penny if they hadn’t worked but they had felt very good on his feet in the shop and he was secretly proud of the fact that he was such a committed runner that he needed to buy such an expensive pair.

As he ran his thoughts were interrupted by a niggling irritation in his right trainer.  He had somehow picked up a stone and it was grinding against his heel.  He ran on for a while hoping that it would somehow dislodge, but it was no good, it had ruined his mood.  He stopped by the road, crouched down and took his trainer off.

*******

Mary was really taken with Jake.  She’d been twocking with other guys, but that had usually been at night and all they had done was drive around the estate in some beat up Escort or Fiesta or something.  Jake was different, he knew how to drive fast; he could even handbrake turn.  The last car before this one was a BMW and that could really travel.  She loved the buzz of going fast and racing round corners.  Jake always had some great stuff with him as well.  When they’d finished with the car Jake always torched it in some out of the way place so that the law couldn’t identify them.  That meant a bit of a walk back but with Jake that was OK. 

Mary had skipped out of school today and met up with Jake in the town.  They had taken some stuff and hung around for a bit until Jake had suddenly said he was bored and that they should do something different.  We need to nick a car he said, but not the usual crap, something else.  He must have been thinking about it for a while because he said he knew what he wanted and where he could get it.  He led her out of town a short way until they came to a tree lined street with cars parked all along it.  There was no one about and he walked up the middle of the road in that confident way he had.  Mary walked on the pavement keeping pace with him saying nothing.  She’d done this before.  She kept an eye open for anyone coming up the pavement.  Jake stopped opposite what looked like an old Land Rover that had been stripped of some of its body panels.  It had an exhaust that pointed into the air and had very fat chunky tyres.  Almost before she knew it, Jake was in the car with the engine running.  She climbed up into the passenger seat and Jake let in the clutch and sped away down the road.

This was so different to the other cars that they had ridden in.  It was very high off the ground and the ride was uncomfortably bouncy.  Jake drove out of town towards the woods in the distance.  He said that this car needed to be off road.  Mary sat in the passenger seat mesmerised by Jake’s handling of this strange vehicle.  They drove along until they came to a ninety degree bend in the road beyond which were the woods.  Instead of following the road Jake carried on at the same speed and crashed through the old wooden fence that bordered the wood.  Mary screamed in delight and glanced over at Jake.  He was grinning madly and fighting the steering wheel as the car bucked over the rough ground.  He tried to maintain the speed, but realised that he could not manoeuvre round the trees unless he slowed down a bit.  After a few minutes he came upon a track and steered the Land Rover onto it.  He could get his speed up now and pushed the car as fast as he could, crashing through undergrowth and breaking saplings as he went.  The car hit a large tree a glancing blow and shook them both about a bit but they weren’t hurt.  Mary took out two cigarettes and lit one of them with a lot of difficulty, partly because of the bouncing of the car and partly because she couldn’t stop giggling.  When she had managed to light the first cigarette she leaned over to place it in Jake’s mouth, but just as he opened his mouth for it, the car gave a huge jolt and she dropped the cigarette in his lap.  Jake took his hands of the wheel and patted at his lap to knock the burning cigarette onto the floor.  Mary joined in, giggling.  Without Jake’s hands on the wheel the car bucked and weaved all over the track bouncing off trees and throwing them all over the cabin of the car.  Jake managed to get a grip on the wildly spinning steering wheel and slowed the Land Rover to a stop.  He clambered out of the cab and looked back where they had been.  They had rutted the soft earth and there were signs of damage on a number of the trees and rather absurdly, a single trainer lying by the side of the track.  He got back into the Land Rover and joined Mary who was still giggling.  He drove more carefully out of the woods and headed for a country lane not far from the town.  He set fire to the car and they started to walk back.

******

Johnny never heard the Land Rover coming and never felt the impact as it flung him through the trees and scrub to lie half in and half out of a ditch some ten feet from the edge of the track.  When he came to, he felt the pain in his head but couldn’t seem to move.  He passed out again.

When he came round again darkness had fallen.  He felt no real pain, but was cold and frightened.  He was thirsty.  How long was it you could live without water?  Someone would find him.  This was the UK for goodness sake; people didn’t have accidents and then not get found.  But how will anyone know he was here.  He wasn’t on the track and there may be no sign that he had ever been in these woods. There was his trainer.  He remembered.  He had stopped to shake a stone from his shoe.  He had taken his shoe off and then whatever happened had happened.  His trainer will be out there; a brand new expensive trainer.  Someone will notice it and investigate.  He drifted off into unconsciousness again.

When he came round again it was day.  He was aware of how dry his mouth felt, and how disorientated he felt.  His mind wandered into the most bizarre daydreams.  All he could see was the branches of the trees above him.  He watched the birds and could hear them talking to each other.  He could see two magpies talking to each other.  Was it two for joy?  Someone would come.  He could hear the rooks in the trees above him cawing as if they were a concert orchestra.  He imagined that he could hear the melody as it washed over him.  They were all calling for help for him.  Why was no one listening?  The magpies had come down from the tree and were walking towards him.  Magpies have such purposeful walks.  One came right up to his head.  He could just see him if he turned his eyes to the extreme left.  The other one hopped onto his chest and cocked his head sideways to look at him.  He couldn’t watch both of them together.  He felt a sharp peck on his left ear.  He turned his eyes to the left again and the magpie moved away cautiously.  He felt a peck on his chin.  He turned his eyes on the magpie on his chest which moved to the right side of his head.  This wasn’t really happening, he was just imagining it.  A peck on his left ear, then on his right ear.  Moving his eyes kept them back.  He must keep moving his eyes.  They were afraid to attack him while he was alive.  He kept his eyes open and watched the magpies.

*******

He was found a few hours later by a man walking his dog who called for an ambulance.  He was still alive, but died later in hospital of multiple wounds consistent with being struck by a vehicle.   Two things puzzled the paramedics who attended him: how unlikely it was to have been run over by a vehicle in the woods, and how and why both eyes had been removed.