Solonik's Game

3) The Unpackaging

Billy placed a gentle hand on each side of the box and lifted it slowly off the bed. The inner compartment of the box slid smoothly out, with a faint sighing sound as the air rushed into it. The inner case came to rest on the bed, and Billy set the lid aside. The interior of the box and the components it contained were as uniform and black as the exterior had been. Each component had its own little nest amongst a stenciled foam casing. Billy removed the pieces one by one.

First came the headset itself. It was surprisingly compact, large enough to cover the eyes and not much more. It felt light enough as to be imperceptible when worn. An adjustable, leather strap formed a loop at its rear. On each side, a liminal, flexible stalk protruded, carrying noise cancelling, full surround sound ear buds. Inside, behind eggshell-thin lenses lay twin ultra-high resolution screens, each driven by a powerful, miniaturized on-board computer with data stored on a microdrive. The device's connectivity was completely wireless.

A tracking obelisk sat in the box beside the headset. This would map any room with a matrix of complex lasers, tracking its contours and his every move within it. And then, perhaps the greatest innovation of the VRX-8; traditional handheld controllers were replaced by lightweight gloves that offered complete control via tracking of the hand movements. The gloves offered advanced tactile feedback to simulate the sense of grasping and manipulating objects. Advanced microfibers extended throughout the gloves offering simulation of a wide and finely tuned spectrum of heat, moisture and pain, if desired. Motion sickness was eliminated by the inclusion of epidermal microprobes within the gloves and headset. These collectively emulated the physical sensation of movement in tune with the visual display. The result was the most seamless and immersive virtual reality experience attained in the history of the technology.

Billy absorbed the sight of the sleek and revolutionary devices before him, his excitement rising to crescendo. He could bear to wait no longer. He placed the obelisk sensor on a high armoire, offering it an unencumbered view of the room. Carefully, he pushed his hands into the gloves, feeling them stretch easily and produce a skintight fit. He flexed two fists, nerve-endings barely registering the presence of the gloves upon him. He pulled the headset onto his face, positioned the ear buds within his ears and traced a finger across a barely visible power switch on its right side. There was a brief moment of nothingness, and he began to fear a fault, or even just the need to charge the components with one of the many cables nested in the box. Then, the components of the technology sprung simultaneously to life.

The gloves gave a brief pulse then cycled from hot to cold, arid to moist. There was a feeling of having each of his hands simultaneously squeezed gently, akin to a welcoming handshake. Atop the armoire, Billy heard the obelisk emit a brief electronic tone, and suddenly the room tracking began to unfold before his eyes.

At first his view contained only blackness, and then pulsing movements spread across his vision, oscillating rapidly from left to right and ceiling to floor of the room. The pulsing waves left a vectorized lattice of contours in their wake. With each cycle of the lasers across the room, further levels of detail appeared in the lattice, until it was dense and solid.

Next, the contours and objects were processed and colored, red appearing to demarcate areas of potential tripping or collision hazards and safe areas being colored in green. Billy himself was cast in black, standing amongst the landscape of reds and greens. Then, his vision again became black. There was a moment of nothingness, then a vague falling sensation. The gloves produced rapid signals beginning in the fingertips and pulsing upward to the wrist that seemed to emulate the passage of air over Billy's hands. Then, his vision jolted and darkness slowly began to take on shape and movement, like a man regaining sight after temporary blindness.

Billy watched in wonder as the scene before him unfolded.

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Thanks for reading! Remember to vote and share if you liked Part 3! Comment and let me know your thoughts! G.H.

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