REVENANT REVELATION
Will breathed in deeply from an oxygen mask as he ran on the treadmill. He was in his silver-grey CAD suit with an array of sensors attached to it. Remy and Becca stood to the side, slates out, monitoring his progress.
"Two more minutes to go," said Remy. "Keep up the pace."
Will stared straight ahead at the far wall as his legs moved in a blur. While his body moved, his mind was elsewhere. Uncle John's burnt-out shop flashed in front of his eyes. He remembered the moment he held the old man's hand and the crestfallen look on Angus's face at the belief that they had lost everything. He remembered his sister huddled in fear as they hid in their small apartment while their city burned.
Will let out an angry breath and ran faster. Two minutes went by in a blur, and Will barely registered it.
"Time," said Remy, and the treadmill slowed to a stop. Will clutched at its handlebars and steadied himself. He breathed in great lungfuls of air as Remy tabulated the results.
"Alright, the numbers look good. O2 levels check. Blood pressure check. Channel flow, field strength, looks good," said Remy. "Check, check, and check."
Becca put down her tab and turned to Will. "How are you feeling, Will?"
Will blinked the visions away as he gasped for breath. "I'm... fine... Other than feeling like a bloated whale." He gestured towards the large round device attached to his right knee. It was a hideous mess of cobbled-together electronic parts. The extra weight of the sequencer threw off his gait, and the first time he put it on, he could barely walk, much less run with it on. But the device had to stay on if they wanted to get their measurements right.
"Well, fortunately, that won't matter once you are in VR," said Remy. He held out his hand, and Will handed over the two vials of Recypnol. Remy slotted the drugs into the VR, and there was a telltale hiss as the medication was registered by the machine.
"Everything is in place," said Remy. "We are ready to go."
Will straightened up. His heart raced in his chest, and he suspected it had nothing to do with his earlier run. Fists clenched, he strode towards the machine and hoisted himself onto the VR pod. He swung his metal leg over the lip using his hands and carefully placed his foot onto the paddles. He experimentally stepped on them, remembering the last time he was here. Will let out a breath and laid down.
Becca appeared at his side. "We will be with you every step of the way. Just keep an ear out," she said as she tapped her headset.
Will smiled and gave her a thumbs-up.
"Your cousin brews some good shit. The Recypnol is very pure." Remy tapped on his slate and gave a low whistle. "Hope you packed your bags, Will, 'cause you're going on a trip!"
"Yeah." Will winced, thinking about the drug. "Let's hope I get a return flight home."
"Alright, is that everything?" asked Remy. "Bags packed, got your toothbrush and towels?"
"Yes, I'm ready," Will rolled his eyes.
"How about an extra set of underwear?" asked Remy.
Will flipped him the bird, and Remy laughed.
"Closing now!"
The top cover slowly slid closed, and soon Will was encased in darkness.
"Welcome, user," a smooth feminine voice addressed him. "Would you like to start the simulation?"
"Yes," said Will as he gripped the armrest.
"Establishing machine-human interface. Please hold."
The VR helmet slid into place, followed by the respirator. Both sealed around his head.
"CAD connection established. Commencing pre-interface diagnostics."
The machine hummed as it tested his CAD suit, and Will felt the cold air being pumped through the respirator. There was the strange scent of mint as he inhaled the aerosolized Recypnol.
"Neural interface checked. Biometrics checked. G-class prosthetic limb interface detected. Device 'sequencer' detected. Analyzing."
The drugs went through his system in a flash, and his psion channels went into overdrive. His pupils shrank to pinpricks, and weird geometric shapes appeared in the darkness along with all the colors of the rainbow.
Will silently cursed his cousin in his head and reached for his locket to center himself.
"Neural dive in 5, 4, 3..."
The world expanded anew, and he was a tiny mote in the infinite river of time.
"2, 1..."
Will placed his hand back on the armrest and gripped it tightly.
"Launch."
Will was sent hurtling through a tube of light. It swept him forward with a roar as he ascended, and his body vanished altogether, and the blinding light was all he could see.
The radiance faded a moment later, and the world unwound in front of him.
The ground underneath him swayed with the wind, and he felt the rough wooden boards under his fingers.
Will gasped for breath and snapped his eyes open. He was in the middle of a large wooden rope bridge. It swayed with the wind as mists roiled around him, illuminated by the large moon in the sky.
Will clutched at the rope as the bridge swayed violently. Through the mists, he saw hundreds of other bridges swaying in the distance, all heading in the same direction as the one he stood on.
Will looked at the bridges, confused. Was there a point in making so many bridges and that too so close together?
"Wi1L!" a distorted voice called for him. "C@n y0u h3ar me?"
"Huh?" said Will, distracted. Something fluttered across the edge of his vision, and he caught sight of an old torn shirt falling from the sky, followed by more clothes.
Will blinked, and the clothes transformed into dead birds. They struck the rope bridge, and a tremor ran through it. Will blinked again, and the birds vanished.
"What the fu—" Will whispered.
"Will?"
"Yeah, I can hear you," said Will. "Are you seeing any of this?"
"Good, finally you can hear us," said Becca. "And no, I can't see anything. The simulation is freeform and directed by you and the etherite crystal. The crystal is giving you signals which your mind interprets as a world. The VR is just here to stabilize it and keep the render coherent. But in all senses, Remy and I are blind."
"Basically, you are tripping balls, mate," said Remy. "It's all in your head."
"Well, I must have a really vivid imagination," muttered Will.
"What you are seeing is all representative," said Becca. "It isn't real but a translation of what the crystal is trying to tell you."
"Okay. So, what now?" asked Will as he gazed at the swaying bridges.
"Start off just like we practiced," said Becca. "Align your signature with the shard. Slowly connect with it while the sequencer tries different combinations. I'll trigger the connection when you are ready."
Will nodded and breathed in deep as he went through the exercise. He fell into a trance, and his heart rate slowed. His psion field smoothed out and cocooned around the etherite shard. The shard's field resisted him as usual, but the rejection faded as he slowly harmonized with it.
A few minutes later, he formed a subtle connection with the shard, and his field skirted along the edges of the crystal.
"I'm ready," said Will.
"Okay," said Becca. "Sequencer being turned on in three, two, one..."
The crystal buzzed as it was bombarded with pulses. The shard rebuffed the sequencer's attempts to connect to it, but Will noticed its weak points. He treaded those areas with his psions until he felt his field click into place. Will grinned as he connected with the shard, and the world around him shifted.
Gravity inverted, and Will felt himself being pulled apart from several directions.
"The crystal is responding," said Becca. "There is a spike in its field."
"We are locked in. Analyzing field patterns," said Remy.
"The VR has begun the render," said Becca. "Prepare yourself, Will."
There was a wrenching sensation, and Will found himself standing in the middle of a flat desert that stretched as far as the eye could see. The moon was full in the sky, and the white sand glinted under its light.
Will looked around; there was nothing in sight other than the flat ground. He took a step forward and immediately lurched to a stop. The sand underneath him rippled like water, and concentric circles of dunes raced from him as if he had stepped on a still lake.
The ripples soon turned turbulent as the sand rose like tides, and Will was swept off his feet. Where he had been standing earlier, something rose up from the depths of the desert sand.
Will stared up in wonder as a eight-story building rose up from within the dunes until it towered over him.
