Kira

Chapter 5: The Simulation

When the Internet was wiped out by a virus, a group of scientists discovered a strange signal coming from an unknown location. They deciphered it and interpreted the signals. One scientist, named Bob Richards, discovered a way to interact with the signal by adapting a virtual reality system and 'entering' the signal or what we now know as the Simulation.

When Dr. Richards did this, the signal or 'Simulation' scanned his mind and brain waves. It then created an exact replica of the world around him. The image was so realistic, Dr. Richards couldn't tell the difference between the Simulation and reality.

In the real world, he was monitored by the other scientists and after a few hours, they attempted to bring him back out. In their first attempt, they failed so badly that Dr. Richards went into a coma. For days and days, they ran every conceivable test to figure out what happened. His brain waves were very active and in fact, were quite normal. Except try as hard as they could he would not wake.

The team decided to do tests on mice and monkeys for ways to interact with the signal and come back from it. Many failed experiments sent the animals into a downward spiral of madness. They continued to study the signal and further tests were done until they were able to successfully bring them out of the Simulation, using nanites injected into the bloodstream. These nanites where revolutionary technology that was basically tiny robots programmed to interface biological material with that of the signal. This allowed them to enter the brain and replicate merging the brainwaves with the signal.

They eventually decided to use this new technique on Dr. Richards in the coma. However, after injecting him with the nanites soon they had a link to his mind upon their screens and could watch what he saw. To Bob, the test subject, everything in the simulation was real. The results were so remarkable that the team decided to keep him in for an extended study.

Weeks went by as they gathered enough data before sending another one into the simulation. This time the subject was aware of the simulation. Upon entering it he was given several tests to complete in order to learn more about this signal.

The first test was exploring the limits of this simulated world. He first attempted to travel to a foreign country that he had never traveled to before in the real world. He had no idea what it would look like so the simulation used his imagination and created a fictional place from a tv show he watched as a kid. When he arrived in this far away land, he was greeted by an alien race that his mind created. He and the other scientists couldn't comprehend how this was possible. The alien's attempted to 'Upgrade' him or at least that is what they said but He was pulled out just before he made contact.

Questions not only stirred in his mind but the other scientist as well. Had they just found a way to transfer anything in their imaginations into reality? What was this place and how could it be used to better humanity and advance science? What were the dangers? Many more questions where asked that day and while some may have answers still there is so much more to discover.

After more and more tests they discovered many properties of the simulation.

They learned that devices they connected to the Simulation were able to be controlled remotely no matter how far away they were. If multiple users were in the same area both would see the creation and be able to interact with it as if it was real. This gave them the power to do massive experiments in the simulation and test the results in the 'real' world. Everything seemed to be wonderful until they had to bring their discovery to the New World Council.

The council was formed after the collapse of the Internet. On it, sat huge corporate CEOs from the few remaining companies that kept humanity alive during these dark times.