“Stop!”

He heard her, but did not listen.  With an angry swing he smashed it onto the floor.  It shattered.  And countless pieces from it flew everywhere throughout the lab.  He then eyed the last big chunk that remained of it next to his shoe.  He raised his foot and crushed it.  He hated it, every last bit of it.

“Yoo Jin you need to control your anger.” said a calm voice.

He gave it one final twist and replied, “It doesn’t matter.  Once it burns out, nothing we can do will change it’s fate.  The chip is unusable.”

She had wanted to say something, but her colleague was right.  Once the chip burned out, it was done for.  They had tested numerous units and the results were always the same.  

Once scanned or probed the chip automatically self destructed and burned all of its internal components.  Not a single transistor was recognizable.  They had tried everything to examine it.  They used the most advanced scanners of every kind from X-Rays to high precision ultrasound, but the chip would not reveal its secrets.  Even when frozen solid in liquid nitrogen and carefully sliced one micron at a time, it still produced the same results, a burned out chip.  The chip was not even electrically powered during most tests, so it’s self-destruct function should not have worked, but it did.  It almost behaved as if it was alive.

“This was the last one in the batch.  What do we tell sajangnim?  He will certainly be pissed.  What about the President?  Yoo Jin you need to control your anger.”

Director Yoo Jin was angry.  He and his team of engineers and researchers had spent nearly a year trying to understand how it worked, but got nowhere.  He placed his hands behind his back and slowly began to walk around in a circle.  She was right and he knew it.  His sajangnim was the country’s Minister of Information, but he was her’s.  So as her boss, he had to calm himself.

“I’ll handle it.  We are not the only ones that can’t get anywhere.  How the hell did the Americans build it?”

***

“Yes!”  

Juan jumped for joy.  He finally had a TESS system. The gaming console that everyone raved about.  Even in the lower class side of San Paulo, Brazil one could be bought.  It was just restocked and put on sale at the local San Walmarti for $88.  And at that price, it was affordable to everyone.  But this was not a cheap knockoff.  It was the real deal and it contained the most advanced game system ever created.  The bundled system even came with the most popular game in the world commonly known as AHBR.  

Arcane Hunters Battle Royale was a competitive video game in the Battle Royale style.  A genre that gained popularity in the 2010’s where the goal of the game was for players to eliminate all opponents in the game until one player or team remained.  And unlike the traditional battle royale games AHBR's arena was an expansive game world filled with vibrant artificial lifeforms that significantly impacted gameplay.  Thus, it was not unheard of for matches to last for weeks.  

Juan unrolled the TESS mat and placed it on his bed.  Then he plugged it into the wall outlet and turned it on.  Soon the system’s built-in assistant greeted him.

“Congratulations on your purchase!  Welcome to the world of TESS.  Prepare to be amazed.”

He was surprised it was in Portuguese since he had improved his English in preparation for the purchase.  Then he remembered that they just added the universal translator module that significantly increased adoption.  He put aside his thoughts, he was too eager to get started.

“How can I be of service?” asked the assistant.

“I want to play AHBR.  I already watched online videos on power-ups, in game trading and spamming my Twitter account from inside.  So just put me in.  Game on baby.”

“The selected game is Arcane Hunters Battle Royale.  Please lie down on the mat and relax.  You will soon enter a dream-like state and join the game.  Please remember what you see and hear will feel very real.  But do not worry, you are safe.  Enjoy the game.“ 

Key to AHBRs success was the revolutionary TESS gaming platform that fully immersed players and spectators alike into the game world by stimulating their senses with game data.  

He shouted a few words as he entered his dream-like sleep.

“This is amazing.  I can even taste it.”

***

“Wrong!”

Dr. Schultz shook his head with genuine concern.

“Our American colleagues have failed us.  The U.S. FDA and FCC have failed us.  We can not stop it.  The EU is still debating on what to do.  Those fools!  What are they doing?”  

Dr. Shultz’s frustration was beginning to show.  He hated the fact that everything within him told him that this device was not safe, yet it could be bought in just about any store in the European Union.  He was appointed by the Chancellor herself and was Germany’s leading expert on it.  The True Essence Sensory System, also known as TESS, was his nightmare.  To him and many in the scientific community, it was an unregulated electronic medical device that affected the nervous system in an unknown way.  It circumvented medical device regulations since it was sold as a gaming console.  He and his colleagues had tried their best to slow down adoption but politics, egos, and money bogged them down.

“That’s because Zee Eye gave additional research funds directly to Italy, Greece, and Spain to conduct more tests.  With a billion dollars in hand, they now claim that they need to conduct a two year study and examine specimens before they can make any decisions about banning TESS.”

It was not publicly considered a bribe, but everyone knew it was.  Zee Eye cleverly capitalized on the EU’s fragmented decision process and used cash to sway opinion.  The EU as a whole was uncertain of the dangers caused by TESS, if any.   Its rapid rate of adoption by the masses and impact to the leading economic sectors raised a larger concern to the EU and the world.  Researchers, technologists and government agencies alike were late to understand the far reaching impact of sensory gaming systems.

TESS projected the game world into the users’ minds by stimulating synaptic connections to breach the neuromorphic hardware wall that separated the virtual game world from reality.  When users experienced TESS they saw, heard, smelled, tasted, and felt the game world. TESS perfectly emulated the real world.

***

“Go!”

Yue Yue yelled in excitement as she waved on her friend.  Mingxi stood up from a kneeling position and ran across the busy market.  It was rumored that the central government was cracking down on the units and blocking all futures sales.  He knew that there was no way that was true since some of the most popular players and streamers of AHBR were Chinese.  Mingxi just assumed that his local city government was just trying to monopolize the sales of the device since it was cheap.  Far cheaper than any game system produced from Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo or Xiaomi.

Mingxi moved into the lead position while Yue Yue followed from behind and guided him.  Her job was to keep an eye out for security officials since Mingxi had just purchased TESS from a black market seller.  If they got caught, they would be punished.

The pair quickly ran past the extremely large poster of An-Fei wearing his glorious red robe that was embroidered with golden dragons.  His pose was striking and the words written on it were encouraging.  He was a popular Chinese AHBR streamer and Yue Yue’s favorite.

“We are almost home.  I can’t wait to play with you.  Let’s make an AHBR group when we get home.  We need to call our classmates.”

Yue Yue happily replied.  She already had her own system and used it often.

“You will be amazed.  It’s like getting a second life.”

They both smiled.  The gaming experience was wondrous, nothing in the world could compare to it.  No video game experience had ever made a player or spectator really feel like they were transported into another world until it came along.   Mingxi was the happiest.  Since everyone who was anyone at his school or at any other school in his city played AHBR.  Now he would be one of them.

However, not everyone was happy with AHBR and TESS’s success.  The leaders in Beijing were worried.  The company that created both was  Zee Eye Gamers’ Guild.  A U.S. based company from Silicon Valley.  And that company had successfully created a borderless means to affect the philosophy of the masses and a tool that wielded unregulated control over a regional economy.  It was a new unforeseen power that shook the authoritarians of the world’s governments to their core. 

***

“No!”

They screamed in unison.  Their favorite player, Riley, was performing her ultimate attack when a blinding white explosion blanketed the screen.

John stood up and Alice jumped.  Their popcorn spilled onto the floor.  Their mom had forced them out of TESS since they played too much.   So the best they could do was sit down in front of the TV and watch the sports channel’s live stream of Riley’s match together on the couch.

Arcane Hunters Battle Royale made professional video gaming the ultimate spectator sport.  It was highly immersive and when combined with TESS it unleashed the true potential of the video gaming experience as a spectator sport.  It redefined professional sports forever.

"What happened?  Did the stream lag out?  They were the last two.  I wanted to see the final moves."

John complained.  He loved a good fight.  He had two laptops open so he could watch multiple streams at the same time.  And even his smartphone was running the official AHBR app that streamed in game statistics.  He had watched the match for 13 hours straight.

When the video feed returned, a series of advertisements followed.  Most featured popular AHBR personalities.  The last one featured a talking gecko that costarred with Riley while talking about affordable insurance.  They were too young to drive, but it still gave the two a good laugh.

Once the show resumed, the host informed the audience that the Riley and An-Fei battle was deemed a draw.  And that both players were currently recuperating and will return to the stream at a later time.

“Oh crap! I spilled nacho cheese on my Riley T-shirt.” yelled Alice.  In the excitement, she had lost track of her food and as a consequence her favorite shirt was punished in her stead.

Suddenly a familiar voice yelled at the pair.  It was their older brother, the family’s self-professed professional streamer for strategy games.  He was the lone hold out that did not use TESS or play AHBR.

“Will you two shut up!  I’m playing a serious game over here.  If you don’t quiet down, I’m gonna lose to Redcapt again.  So shut up!”

The two rolled their eyes at their elder brother's words.  It was not like their behavior would change the outcome.   He was playing a real pro, so the outcome was obvious to anyone.

With its unique immersive nature and sudden rise in popularity, it changed the perception of esports with the majority of brands, advertisers and business model think tanks.  The prejudice against accepting competitive video gaming as a true sport disappeared.  It unleashed a torrent of corporate sponsorships and investments, multi-billion dollar professional leagues, dedicated media programs and next generation streaming personalities that played, watched and praised the game.

***

“Right?”

The officer just gave his explanation of the events that had taken place an hour earlier and inquired to see how they would respond.  He paused and stared at the trio.  They were all covered in black from head to toe.  They wore black ski masks, black jumpsuits, and black boots.  He had arrested the trio that was just picked up at the Zee Eye industrial compound.  He also looked at the pile of electronic devices that were nicely packed in a cardboard box that came along with them.

The trio said nothing.  Officer Williams took off their ski masks to reveal their faces.  Three faces, three different colors.  A black haired man, a red haired man and a blonde haired man. 

“Mr. Detroit you are the Darknet hacker.  Mr Red, your hair color won’t fool me, you are the taiwanese agent.  And Mr. Blonde, you are the Russian agent.  What the heck is going on?  When do two international spies and an American kid get together to spy on a game company?”

They all looked at him with disdain.  He was just going through the dossier provided to him by Zee Eye.  He knew their real names, but he liked to tease them with their code names since it seemed to annoy them more.  They had caught several spies over the past year, so this was nothing new to him.

“Don’t look at me like that.  I’m just doing my job.  Plus, you idiots are the ones that got caught trespassing.  They even provided me with video footage and a dossier of your real identities.  Was it really worth it?”

Officer Williams shook his head as he left the holding room.  He couldn’t wait to put these jokers away and go back to watching the match.  He knew once he expedited the prosecution of the industrial spies he would be once again awarded by Zee Eye at the year end Christmas party.

Once he knew officer Williams was gone Mr. Blonde began to interrogate his teammates.

“Mr. Detroit, how the hell do they know about us?  You’re the Darknet agent right?”

“How am I supposed to know that the U.S. Army is helping them out?  Those were special forces soldiers we faced and not security guards.”

Mr. Detroit joined the team since it was a chance to answer a few questions about the secrets of AHBR and TESS.  It was rumored across the net that TESS had incorporated secret DARPA funded technology.  Given the soldiers they ran into, that rumor was likely true.  He smiled smugly since he had confirmed one rumor and got paid to do it.  And now he thought it likely that a secret counter espionage agency was working for them as well.  Once he put that in, everything that had occurred started to make sense.  But he was not paid to share that opinion,  so he decided to hide it and pushed blame to his teammate.

“Mr. Red your satellite photos showed nothing like this.  What is going on?”

“I don’t know.  I hacked into a Chinese spy satellite that monitored this location and when we examined the latest images four hours ago there were no armored vehicles and soldiers here.  I have no idea where these guys came from.”

Mr. Red paused.  He secretly hid his smile.  He was a triple agent.  He worked for both the Taiwanese and the Chinese governments as well as for the culture of the Darknet.  He prided himself on his hacking ability and was never caught until now.  But he couldn’t help it, it was the opportunity of a lifetime so he took it.  He did not worry about it much however since once he was released he was confident that he would just delete all records of this incident from every server and database in the world.

“Mr. Blonde, care to share anything from the Kremlin?”

Mr. Blonde remained silent.  He was frustrated.  The operation was planned for over nine months.  They had even hired two agents from the Darknet to work with him, an American and a Taiwanese.  All other official Russian agents prior to this team had disappeared and never reported back.  And when they probed around, they discovered that spies from several other countries had the same fate.  So this time, they brought two eager wannabe agents from the Darknet and convinced them to join him on this all expense paid journey to find the truth.  They got caught, but this time the real spy did not die.  It seems that Zee Eye or whoever guarded them did not dispose of civilians.

Officer Williams sat in his chair, took a sip of his instant coffee and bit into his Oreos.  He tapped the keys on his keyboard lightly and accidentally launched a YouTube video featuring Zee Eye Gamers’ Guild CEO Zax Solari.

“AHBR became the first game in history to breach one billion simultaneous active users.  By the end of the year, the vast majority of households worldwide will own multiple TESS systems.  Join us.  See the future and empower yourself.  

TESS has brought us all to the dawn of a new era that will change mankind forever.”