The Outsider (Outsider #1) ✔️

Chapter 26 : Decision

Rosemary saw Luke distracted and then realised he was very angry about something. She looked in the direction or his gaze and saw Dusk Hale. She did not see what Dusk had done before, so she was confused as to why Luke was angry.

She smiled at Dusk and waved to her to come over. She saw Dusk wave back but found her looking very guilty. She wondered if something happened the previous night. Did Luke go and meet Dusk again in the middle of the night? No, surely, he would not try something with this innocent kid...

Dusk came over to them just as Thompson had finished explaining what they had been doing. All of them were nodding and agreeing with what Thompson was saying. Only Luke was looking alternately at Dusk and at the man standing at the other end.

"So, why don't you have a look at how this HRT works... Get a first-hand feel of the thing. Then you will understand how this affects us." Thompson continued.

He then led them to individual VR Stations and his team members helped them wear the VR goggles and gloves. The gloves were special ones that had been designed for new generation of VR Sensors, with hundreds of miniature motors built into them. These motors were powerful enough to actually move the gloves with the sheer force of air, similar perhaps to a jet engine but on a much lower power scale. Dusk had originally taken that functionality and linked them to her program engine. Her Program, later called HRT, would instruct individual motors on the glove to start or stop and even how much power each motor should generate. If the VR engine indicated there was an obstacle, the HRT module would power up certain motors to put pressure in direction reverse of what the sensor said it was originally moving.

If the hand was supposed to hold a rod, for example, once the fingers on the glove reached a certain point, the motors on the inside of the fingers would start and prevent the fingers from closing inwards any further. So, the user felt that there was a hard material in between the figure due to which the fingers cannot close further. She had programmed the HRT very accurately by which it would take data from the sensors to know when the user tried to bring the fingers closer and start the motors to stop them movement. When the user stopped trying and the pressure / motion sensors indicated so, the motors would stop.

The VR Glasses showed the eyes images that coincided with the feeling of touch, resistance or force that the gloves were giving. The brain automatically associated the two, making it look as if there were really physical things.

After 10 minutes of using the VR Tractors, Luke pulled his VR gear off and stopped. The others followed. Thompson and Dusk both felt their hearts drop as Luke's action was a clear indicator that he was not satisfied with the solution.

"Brigadier, call General Ruxati to the PG-Club. Bring there with Dusk Hale with you...By the way, who is that man standing there?" Luke asked.

"He is Rowdon. He and that girl there, worked with Dusk Hale on the project. They are good with VR and had originally made the tractor simulation. Dusk provided the engine that gives the feeling. But they built the rest of it. Therefore, we called them over to see if they could help us understand how to make these VR work."

Rosemary was immediately interested. "And they are willing to work with you?"

"Actually, we had called them for 3-4 days. But now we see what we can achieve. So, I am planning to extend their engagement to at least a month. Luckily, these 2 were from the original team who worked on the VR and did not have a job at this time. They can stay."

"Hire them permanently. They are the answer to a part of your problem." Rosemary told the Brigadier but when she looked at Luke, she was surprised to see his face had again become red with anger.