At the Verotech laboratory Newcastle-England, they were testing out a revolutionary new technology, a new virtual reality console with a neuropathic link. With this, the user would be fully immersed in the game the user played, making it feel almost as if they were really there.
In the monitoring room, dozens upon dozens of screens were displaying the users’ data. On some of the screens, their heartrates, brain signals and the game they were playing were all being monitored. Other screens were showing what the beta-testers were doing in the game, from either first-person or third-person perspectives.
“All of the beta-testers are showing no adverse effects from the QuinSense VR console.” One of the monitoring staff said.
“That’s a relief,” a man dressed in a black suit sighed, releasing the tension they had built up. “What about the non-human players?” He asked, holding his breath while waiting for a response.
“Only a handful of people selected games with non-human options,” another of the monitoring staff said. “We won’t be able to tell how it effects them until they get out of the console, but currently only a few of the testers have been able to adapt to non-human forms. Even then, it took them a good thirty minutes for them to get used to moving around and even with that, the players have difficulty playing.”
“As expected,” the black suit man responded. “We’ll have to code in a restriction into the console to prevent non-human forms form being playable. Is there anything these tests haven’t shown yet?”
“Other than the MMO planned to be released on the release day of the console, everything has been tested,” another staff member reported, pulling out a list. “Range of movements, customisation, ability to use super-natural powers, supernatural senses and even slight alterations to the players’ bodies such as weight, height and extra joints, eyes, ears and fingers have been tested.”
“Good, good.” Black suit man happily responded. “We’ll have some high profile gamers hired for beta-testing our game, so there’s no issue there. If the current testers develop no symptoms when they take off the gear, it’s safe to say we’ll make billions.”
Almost as if he had jinxed it, the whole six storey building shook. Alarm sirens droned and the monitoring screens switched off. Panic ensued as the monitoring staff were ordered to find out what happened. Half the staff left the room, moving to find out what happened to the beta-testers.
Half an hour passed before the report had been finalised, all the beta-testers currently using the QSVR console had passed away. In the following hours, news reporters, police cars and ambulances had surrounded the entrance to Verotech. In the following weeks, Verotech was the hottest topic to be talked about. Online, accross all forms of social media, Verotech was receiving constant harassment, including death threats.
After an exhaustive investigation into the incident, the 500 deceased beta-testers cause of death was determined. According to the report, when the power went out, the QSVR headset overloaded the brain with information, causing their brain to shut-down.
Finally, three months later, an investigation following Verotech's culpability for the 500 dead was ended in court. Verotech ended up paying all their money in compensation to the grieving families. Verotech still managed to recover, albeit with a terrible reputation.
However, unbeknownst to the entire world, the cause of the incident was a spatial tremor, disrupting the fabric of reality itself. The 500 souls, disconnected from their body due to the neuropathic transmitter, were pulled into the spatial folds that emerged during the tremor.
This spatial tremor was the result of the forming of a new dimension, one that held a new planet. A planet which some of the souls approached as they were pulled in by the spatial storms. Souls which had their memories intact due to the irregularity of their death.
