Jim settled himself and watched as the blue gel-cells above him lowered until the top of the pod closed locks clicking securing itself to its bottom half. A moment later, a quiet hum and whirring could be heard as the micro-bots began to map his body. The gel lining started molding around him and adjusted to his form.
A feeling of claustrophobia welled up inside as the cold plastic-like material touched his nose and lips. He gasped in a moment of panic before his entire body was encapsulated by the gel-cells.
They backed off about 10 seconds later, creating a space around his face while remaining below to cradle his neck and the back of his head.
Cool air lightly circulated in the space around his face and he sighed in relief. He breathed experimentally, and each new breath was fresh.
“Jim? How are you feeling?”
“What the fuck, Bart!”
There was a pause. “Um, I know how uncomfortable this can be, especially the first time. Stay with me. In a moment, I’m going to load a live sim of this lab to help you get accustomed to the pod. Okay?”
“Okay Bart,” Jim said, impatience coloring his words.
He felt disoriented and then a little nauseous, so he closed his eyes. When he opened them again, the pod was gone, and he was on his back laying on an old army cot where the big machine had been moments before.
“Feeling better Jim? Bart asked?
“Amazing.”
“I’ll take that as a yes.“
“Yes,” Jim said. “Yes. This is amazing!”
“Go ahead and try to sit up. You’re free to walk around and interact with objects in the room, but stay in here. This simulation ends at the door.
“Understood,” Jim said.
He was impressed. Immediately, he noticed his peripheral vision. In that, he had it! Visually, the simulation was perfect. When using the SK8 generations (1 & 2), there were substantial peripheral blindspots.
He focused on his other senses. He could still feel the cool lining through his suit, and he smelled the same mixture of plastic and electronics. There are some limitations then, he thought.
The audio was surprisingly good. The room sounded as it had before upon entering the lab, like walking into a server room and hearing a hundred small fans running at the same time.
He tentatively tried to sit up and immediately jerked to a sitting position.
“Well done! It will take some getting used to, but remember less is more. The micro-bots surrounding the gel-cells have only so much room to move. Eventually, your brain will learn to compensate for the change.”
“Thanks,” Jim said.
More careful than before, he slid his legs off the cot and lowered his feet until they were on the floor. Then, he grasped the cot’s aluminum frame to either side of his knees and squeezed.
“Whoa!”
“Okay, that’s the pod giving direct feedback. It’s a self-regulating function meaning that the harder you squeeze, the harder the micro-bots respond and push back. Don’t worry, they aren’t strong enough to hurt you, but the effect is unbelievable. Try standing up.”
Jim didn’t pause to think and stood to his feet. No longer listening to Bart, he awkwardly moved about the room. At first, his legs would alternatively jerk forward, and he would be forced to compensate and bring his feet down in an equally quick motion. He looked like a North Korean Soldier performing one of those high-kick marches during a pass in review. After a few minutes, he started to get the hang of it and stopped thinking.
He walked around the lab with ease now and worked at using his hands. He picked up a notebook and flipped it over to see the back. It flew sideways spinning in the air and hit the window of the control room.
“Oops,” Jim said.
“Don’t worry about it,” Bart said. “It’s just a sim.”
Jim quickly moved to the notebook, bent down, and picked it up. Damn, he felt good. No pain. His real body had a series of Army-related injuries that he had almost forgotten until now. His lower back would be very angry with him if he bent over like that. It was like being 18 again.
He examined the notebook in his hands and tried flipping through the pages. Nothing happened. It looked like the real thing, a spiral bound notebook, but it was solid.
“Doesn’t open,” Jim said.
“Yeah. This is a complex simulation, and we haven’t programmed every detail. Part of what makes an AI so invaluable is their ability to adapt and provide details as necessary. That not only makes the experience more believable to the user, but it also takes a burden off the computing load. Additionally, an AI can make it possible for simulations to grow and evolve based on your decisions.”
“I see,” Jim said, and he looked up and through the window he had hit with the book moments ago. Bart and the other tech were there sitting in the control room looking at a monitor. They waved.
“Right,” Jim said. “I’m in that pod over there.” He looked over at the olive drab cot where he had started. “This is cool stuff, guys. You have really outdone yourselves.”
“Thank you, sir.” They both said.
“Are you ready for the real demonstration?”
“This wasn’t it?” Jim gestured around the lab.
“Nope. This was just so you could get used to things first. I have to say, your pretty good. Let’s see how you do with the real thing.” Bart grinned and continued. “Right now we’re running this sim locally powered by this computer. Nearly the entire floor above us houses one of the worlds’ largest and most powerful computer clusters, and once we bring the AI online, she’ll have access to all of it.
“This is going to be epic!” The other tech said.
“Definitely.” Bart agreed.
“If you would, go ahead and walk back to the cot and lay down. Once you’re ready, we’ll start the real simulation.”
“Can do.”
Jim walked back to the cot and got into the position where he started. He tried to stay calm. It didn’t work. He was too excited anticipating what was going to happen next.
The last five minutes were an answer to a dream that he had been striving towards for most of his life. His advancements with the Skarkraft Artificial Intelligence Tether and neural bridge coupled with the new contributions from Spelek Technologies had brought him here to this virtual cot.
“Okay, before we begin I’d like to go over a couple of things.” Bart paused and confirmed with the other tech who was pointing at a computer screen, then continued. “First off, we’ve got confirmation from Ella that she’s ready to go.”
“Ella, meet Jim. Jim, Ella.”
The credit for the photo above goes to Scott Webb. Click on the link below for more information.
Scott Webb
