Virtual Reality : Dystopian Tales Online

007.3 | The Real World

It should be shocking news to everyone. Or at least it would give a sense of surprise. They are still absorbing information that seems easy to understand but difficult to accept. Carter is telling them that they were able to find the door of the other dimension. 

Isn't it a bit skeptical?

Thinking about it, how could such a thing be announced so carelessly? Crossing dimensions is not a game. It is a universal thing. Shouldn't this be discussed together with the federation? Even if they only discovered the way of crossing dimensions without complete evidence, it is still considered a universal concern. 

It could give humanity another leap of fate.

Or, it will be the grim reaper that will end the whole race. 

"This..." Aries slightly raised his hand. He pursed his lips, pondering on how to arrange his words. After thinking for a while, he said, "I don't understand."

His words gathered the attention of the other people. But nobody dared to laugh or mock him. All of them are still in a state of confusion. Now that someone said it, they also did not understand anything at all. They are aware of the plan of opening a new world, but when they're only a few steps towards that goal, they suddenly blanked. 

It feels a bit magical. 

"What is it that you were not able to understand?" Carter asked. He wasn't flustered with Aries' words but instead looked more confident. It is as if there are no questions he could not answer. 

"Everything," Aries honestly said. "Actually, I could not see any connection. The game expansion, the finding of our neurological assessments, and crossing dimensions - how are they related? It has been in my mind ever since the start of the game."

Many years ago, the players are still children. Even though they are aware of the experiment, they never thought seriously about it. In their minds, they are just playing a game with proceeds. If there is any other cause, it will not matter as long as they could keep their safety. The majority of the VR players have this mindset. 

But Aries is different. His paranoia always made him overthink. Once he discovers something interesting, he will look and investigate it until the end - until he is satisfied. This is the reason why learning languages is easy for him. Once he decided to learn a language, he won't stop until he could speak proficiently. 

So, when he was chosen as a player and learned about the project, he had become obsessed with it. He has the website of the company on his bookmarks and would always read whatever article they release. He even knows the names of each developer and other staff. You could say that aside from the scientists, Aries is the next person knowledgeable about the project. 

But he could not understand it. He thinks that everything about this project is pointless. He could not comprehend the relationship of each variable. Everything doesn't make any sense.

"The environment utilized in the experiment is already an unstable variable. Even if we did successfully opened the other dimension, then how could we cross it?" Aries raised the question. "What is the use of your findings? Could it really determine the existence of another dimension?"

"To answer your last question, I could guarantee that we were able to realize the other world. Your rational ability to determine the real world from the imaginary world is through the laws that you are able to identify," Carter replied. "Then, when I said that your ability to detect the reality where we are now and the reality in the virtual game is getting weaker, what could be the possible answer?"

"How were you able to assure that our dimensions and the other dimension follow the same laws? The physics that we know is generated from the assumed reality of this world. Then, it is also possible that the other dimension will have their own set of rules," Leon stated. 

"That is true," Carter acknowledged. "That's why I said that we choose people that could easily detect unreal objects. Instead of just trusting your senses, you also consider why you perceive such existence. I am very sure that no matter how long you stay inside the game, you won't be confused between the virtual world and the real world."

"However," he continued. "This is under the condition that the environment is indeed a virtual world. But what if it wasn't? What if you really indeed encountered a new form of reality? But because it is different from our world, your main senses assumed that it is still the virtual world. Then, here's the catch, your brain says the otherwise."

It is quite a question on how the brain could show a different response action. The difficulty of the experiment comes with the variable of creating false data. After all, memories and such are easy to tamper with. The dream simulator proved that one could recreate the dream to the extent of using it to play games. 

But what if it wasn't used in a good way? 

This is the situation Aries didn't want to happen. Well, nobody wanted it to happen. The developers must have a way to keep them safe. As for the details, Aries knows that he is not legible to know it. 

"As for your first question about crossing dimensions, you don't have to worry at all," Carter heaved a sigh. "Even though we would be successful in discovering the door, we are still a small team of scientists. After we open the next server, we will give our findings to the federation. After all, this thing is still dangerous."

Aries seems to be satisfied by the answer. Of course, he still has many questions, but it wasn't the time to ask them. Still, he made a last-ditch before shutting up, "The use of dreams... is it really acceptable? It is unstable at all."

"Even though we still don't know the reason why us humans dream, it is still a fact that our brain generates it. The dream simulator clarified this fact. By manipulating the electrochemical signals, we were able to incorporate the virtual world in your dreams."

There is a more detailed explanation for that, but Carter only disclosed the most basic answer. If he would show the process from how the machine could create the illusion up to the collection of data, one day is not enough. The creator, Tristan Foster, took about a decade and a half to complete the system. It wasn't something that could be put in a lecture for a few hours. 

Carter could still remember that day when Tristan Foster proposed the idea. He is also skeptical about it. Many people from the board thought that their owner is just joking. But it seems that it is indeed feasible. They only needed time and perseverance as they thoroughly assess and analyze the data. 

Unfortunately, after all the hard work, the very person that proposed the idea suddenly went missing. 

"It is the world where everything is deviant of the current physics," he once remembered. "Or if not, then magic is part of physics."

Carter moved the slides again. This revelation showed that the project is moving smoothly and somehow getting deeper than they imagined. If they did ever open a new dimension, humankind would recognize this as the most significant achievement after a millennium of stagnant growth. However, it's normal to have doubts.

By opening this world, does it mean that the laws that they already know are false? Or if ever it opened, will it bring goodness to everyone?

Well, there must be a reason why these dimensions are divided from the first place, right?

A cough from the end of the table suddenly caught the attention of the players. The laptop is still there, connected through the internet with the light blinking telling everyone that somebody is on the other line.

"I'm sorry," Clover quickly apologized. The people on the other line could not see him, but he has a full view of the conference room. Feeling the gazes directed to him, he apologized once again. 

"It's okay, don't worry," Carter reassured. "Would you like to ask something?"

"No, not really..." Clover slowly asserted. "I could pretty much understand everything... probably."

He said the word probably because he wasn't listening to the conference at all. He is wandering around his room doing other things while letting the connection on stand by. It is on a loudspeaker anyway, so there is no need for him to stay in front of the computer. 

About the matters of the meeting, he knows it beforehand. The first part of the discussion is just to inform the players about the data. It is just part of the standard operations as they were the subjects of the experiment. This is also to show that what they're doing is safe. 

Suddenly in a daze again, Clover heard his stomach grumble. He quickly covered his belly, afraid that the people on the other line heard it. But with the faint voice of Carter continuing the discussion, his posture easily slackened. He lazily slumped his arms to the table, slowly getting sleepy. 

He was awoken by a short beeping sound when he is almost gone to dreamland. The beeping sound is accompanied by a flashing green light that followed the beat of the sound. Clover could not see it clearly since his supercomputer is installed right above his right ear. He reached a handover and pressed a button. 

He has specific tones for notifications in his supercomputer. The beeping sound means that he received a message. A holographic interface appeared in front of him, showing a couple of icons and a message notification. The sender is a person very familiar to him. 

[Aries]: You still there?

Clover stared at the message for a while, his thoughts unknown. The reflection coming from the computer glazed his dazed eyes as if he is a dead fish floating in the water. He has no intention to move, yet the sender seems to know his habit. Another message came in. 

[Aries]: I am very concerned. I still don't understand the idea. 

[Aries]: What can you say? You're unusually quiet.

[Aries]: Are you asleep?

Aries wanted to let off some steam after thinking a lot of stuff, so the first thing he did is to share it with his closest person. He opened his supercomputer, which is in the form of a ring, then secretly messaged the person under the cloak. His position, plus the shaded area, allowed him to do his thing without getting exposed. 

There are only a few people that know about Clover's personal terminal. Aries being able to send the message to the person means that he is someone Clover trusted very well. Amongst all, he also has the basic idea of how Clover looks in real life. They haven't met, but by just knowing Clover's real name, one can easily see the connection. 

He sent the messages, but the other person seems to have no intention to reply. He is already used to it, so it didn't bother him. This is much better than the first time where Clover blocked him a dozen times. Getting a seen status is good enough. 

There is no expectation, so nobody got bothered by the ignored messages. Anyways, it all depends on the enthusiasm of the other person. There is no obligation to reciprocate the idea. Aries, understanding this fact, is about to close his terminal when a message popped up. His hand swiftly opened it without second thoughts.

That person rarely replies, so catch the opportunity quickly!

[Adrian]: What is difficult to understand?

[Aries]: This matter in the game. Do you think it would be alright?

[Adrian]: It's okay, I guess. It's not that it is something terrible. 

[Aries]: You're not interested. I can feel it.

[Adrian]: What is there to be interested? Just let Carter go straight to the point. It is boring to talk about stuff like this. 

[Aries]: *snickers* Abusing your employees, is that acceptable?

Aries pursed his lips to stop himself from smiling. He glanced around and found the people still discussing the data. The people under the sciences studies were asking a lot after Aries. The group is currently in a heated discussion.

[Aries]: You doing well? You caught a nasty cold again.

[Aries]: Did you sneak out to eat something again?

[Adrian]: En, and it is worth it.

Clover is still slumped onto the desk. Thinking about the stuff he ate last night, he could not help but want to try and go at it again. But the people guarding outside his room will never allow him to take even a glance at it. Such merciless people-

A new message coming from another person beeped on his terminal. Since he is opening the chat, the new message is automatically opened. 

[Xavier]: Are you feeling okay? What happened?

Clover did not want to answer. While he is on the brink of closing the terminal and act like he didn't read it, Carter's voice fleeted past his ears. The first part of the discussion seems to have concluded to the final stage. 

Closing the projection of all the data and graphs, Clover closed his terminal and started listening. The information about the project is something he had read many times to the point of wanting to cut his ears whenever he hears it. 

Inside the dim-lit room, the image of a youth facing the projection showed massive disinterest in life. It is to the point where he questioned why he is alive. The top player of the game, in-game name: Clover, real name: Adrian Foster, is the current universe's most intelligent person. 

Yet, he doesn't understand anything. 

Once he realized all the things that could be discovered, he started to doubt life. The questions that once shrouded the minds of the ancestors filled his head that almost made him insane. But there is nothing that he could do. He just tried existing.

"This is a new world..." Carter said at the conference. "What we might have known is different... The discovery of humanity's next adventure..."

A smile crept out from his bare face. For the first time in his life, he found something he wanted to do. It must have been brought by his inner desire of wanting to change. The world had stopped moving. There is nothing to learn in this dormant state. 

"Then, should I become a god?" 

It must have been just a careless thought. But who would have known that this idea is very close? He could just reach at it by hand.