A Virtual Start - Chasing Normal, Arc 6

Scene 32: Virtually Tactile

"He didn't even try to kiss you good night? "

Travis shook her head.

"Is he blind? You're hot!"

Travis shrugged. "Maybe it's a first date thing."

"It's not," the cousins said together.

"You have to introduce us," Rose begged. "We'll get to the root of this."

"You really don't have to," Travis pulled her bag's strap tighter across herself.

The trio arrived at a building covered in neon lights. "We're here!" Rose dropped her quest to meet Noel and skipped up to the door.

"It figures your favorite pod arcade is the one that can be seen across the river," Gloria rolled her eyes as she walked in past her cousin.

Travis tried to blink away the spots swimming in front of her eyes and stumbled into Rose as she tried to get through the doorway. "That's worse than a disco."

Rose laughed and linked arms with Travis, "You'll get over it. Come on."

The scene before Travis looked like something out of a futuristic interactive. Escape pod-sized chambers were lined up in rows, back to back, with all manner of pipes and wires running to them from various columns around the room. I'm going to be eaten by an alien. "I've passed out, right? From the technicolor assault outside?"

"These are pods. They let you actually be in the virtual world."

"What do you mean?" Travis looked more closely at the one closest to them. Through the window, she could see a padded chair and consoles.

"Like, instead of looking at a screen, you're actually in the world. You can move around and see things and feel things. The rain is kind of weird, but other than that it's pretty awesome!"

"So...it's like an interactive?" Travis walked around the pod as much as she could. Interactive theatres have nothing like this.

"Sort of. Except it's better. You can actually smell things."

"Okay." Travis wrinkled her nose, thinking of some of the more potent items in her inventory. "How does it work?"

"Well, you take your card and swipe it in the door of the pod you want to use." Rose walked back to a pod next to one Gloria was waiting next to and inserted her card in a slot. The pod's door, which consisted of the window and the lower metal panel, swung open. "Then you sit down in the chair, log in, and slide your hands into the cuffs." She sat in the chair. "The door closes. The helmet lowers over your head, and off you go."

Gloria handed Travis a card and then swiped into the pod she'd been standing beside. Within moments, she'd vanished into the pod and the door had closed behind her. Travis walked over and looked in. Sure enough, a helmet with no visible visor rested on Gloria's shoulders.

Travis walked back to the pod on the other side of Rose's. No one was inside, so she swiped her card. The door swung open, and Travis couldn't shake the feeling she was about to climb into an escape pod. Rose flashed a thumbs up at her before vanishing into her own pod. Travis sat down on the chair's edge. She found the cuffs at the end of the arm rests, and a small keyboard to the right of the chair. She looked up and saw the helmet dangling there, waiting.

It's like interactives. That's what Rose said. She started keying in her credentials. What if Mom's in here? She finished logging in and sat back in the seat. That's silly. Mom doesn't do the virtual world. She's never even mentioned it before. I guess they didn't have it when she was a kid. The helmet lowered over Travis' head, and she felt a brief moment of panic as she felt her breath reflected off the metal onto her chin.

The screen lit up with a message to put her hands in the cuffs. She did. A heartbeat later, she felt a cool sensation on her skin, and suddenly she was standing in her home. It looked like she'd been dropped into a cartoon, except she looked down and saw that she herself had become animated. Whoa!

She traced her hands over her clothes, amazed at how each material had its own texture. This is amazing. Why can't interactives be like this?

She heard her home's door open and turned around, seeing the details of the home pass her just as they would if she were in her apartment. Rose and Gloria, or more correctly Aurabella and Elenaria, walked into her home. Travis, now Drea, got a whiff of something as her friends got close.

"What is that?" Travis paused for a moment, and then shook her head. "I can talk in here."

Rose grinned. "It's better, right? Just wait!"

"Let's teleport. It's quicker." Gloria stood with one hand on her hip.

"It's always quicker with you," Rose snapped. "Drea, you access your inventory by waving your right hand." Then, she giggled. "Not in game. Your real right hand."

"Oh!" A moment later, a familiar screen appeared in front of Travis.

"The system can read where you're looking. Find your teleport and follow us."

It took a few tries to get the hang of surfing menus by glance, but soon Travis found herself at a city's edge with her friends. I may never be willing to play on the tablet again.