Chapter 13
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"According to the website, traditional pvp is almost nonexistent in TAP?" Tal sat comfortably on her couch, she wore snug leggings that she had cut above the knees. She had her leg crossed over her prosthetic as she was watched the hud in front of her scroll through information.
"Right, You can still kill other players in TAP, but they don't lose xp or drop items so it's basically a waste of time- unless you have some sort of grudge." Quinn typed away as he chatted with her, setting up a character manually was quite difficult.
"And that changes after you find 'The Assassin's Path?' " She wore a helmet on her head that had several wires running to it. It was part of the kit that Quinn had requested from TAP.
Quinn nodded as he typed, "lots of things change then. Successful kills can have rather large pay-outs. If you are on someone's TAP hit list and they manage to take you out, you lose five TAP Rank levels. Which is a huge deal because that represents fifty confirmed kills."
"That comes into effect after you reach TAP Rank 10?" She smiled at him as she used her metallic foot to itch her real one.
"I need you to stand up please, he picked up a large hand scanner and walked to the open space behind the couch."
She gave him a stern look, "hey, what can you see with that anyways?" She adjusted the long wires coming out of her helmet so she didn't step on them.
"Oh...well I can see everything Tal," he cleared his throat. *cough*
"Bullshit! ," she stared at him. He was ridiculously good at keeping a straight face when he wanted too. "What kind of tattoo do I have?"
"It's a dagger, inner thigh on the left leg." He gave her a deadpan look.
"....." Tal.
Quinn chuckled as she crossed her arms in front of her chest, "relax Tal, remember when I accidentally walked in on you in the bath.... like 7 years ago?"
"Bad, bad boy, " she scolded wagging her finger at him. "You said you didn't see anything!"
"Um... not exactly an accurate statement, " Quinn rolled his eyes at her.
Tal stepped closer and grabbed his ear pulling it slightly, "I'm beautiful right?"
"Ow, ow, ow... hey watch the ears...," he gave her a smile as she let go immediately. "You are a lovely woman Tal."
"Quinn..." She said softly while looking down at the floor, a tiny smile playing on her lips.
"Course that was 7 years ago, when you were still young," he teased giving her a pat on the shoulder.
"Bastard... I look even better now, go ahead and scan away!!" She gave him a stern look as she dropped her arms to her sides.
"Haha... sorry Tal," he smiled apologetically has he started scanning her, every few minutes he would rotate around her. The whole process took about fifteen minutes. He motioned for her to sit back down before going back to his keyboard.
"See anything nice then?" It was an old game that they played, mild innuendos aside, he was an important person to her.
He nodded, "fishing for a compliment? Forget it, I already said something nice earlier."
"Damn.. when did you get so stingy?" Wordlessly she sat down and gripped her prosthetic just below her knee and turned it, with a loud click it released and she sat it on the table. She peeled back the sleeve and removed it, just below the knee was rounded off into a stump. She grabbed a bottle of lotion from under the table.
"Let me Tal," he walked over and took a seat on the floor.
"Um... I don't know Quinn." It's not like she hid her injury, but it definitely wasn't attractive, and most of her friends tried to avoid looking at it.
"It's fine Tal, " he took the bottle from her and squeezed some lotion onto his hand, gently rubbing the stump.
"It gets a bit sore at times, and the skin chaps easily." She watched as he massaged her leg, reaching out a hand she ruffled his hair. " I love you little Q."
"Oh god, you haven't called me that in years," he grinned at her. "Love you too Tal."
"Geez.. what did I say about telling a woman that?" she scolded him while trying to keep a straight face.
"Pffft, you said it first! Hey need help putting this back on?" He gentle massaged the muscles above the knee.
"No, it feels good to let it breathe a bit, " she sighed contentedly. "Hey don't get carried away Mr. Handyman," she laid back on the couch eyes closed.
"Isn't this the perfect time to ambush you?" He grinned suggestively.
"Careful little Q," she grabbed her prosthetic by the ankle and waved it at him. "I'm armed!"
Quinn eyed the metallic club in her hand and shook his head with regret. "Don't you mean you're legged?"
"Hahaha.. god, that's horrible,' she chuckled at him.
He shrugged at her, "best I could do." Standing up he moved back over to his keyboard. "You can remove the head gear now."
Tal removed the metal helmet and used the band around her wrist to put her hair back into a ponytail.
"Hey Tal... question for you." Quinn hesitated slightly.
"Hmm?" She noticed he seemed reluctant. "Speak up hun."
"Do you want a real leg in game?" Quinn knew the story behind her injury. Army Captain Talia Joki was injured when her vehicle drove over a IED. She had dragged herself and her driver from the wreckage, managing to stay conscious long enough to patch both of them up. On the toughness scale, she was beyond a doubt, completely off the chart.
"Guess I never really thought of that Quinn," she looked down and compared her two legs. "It was bad enough dealing with losing it the first time, if it's possible I'll keep it as it is."
Quinn nodded and finished up creating her character.
"Hey but I want a prosthetic with toes, so I can wiggle them and maybe scratch them a bit." Her full lips widened in a smile, "a girl misses toes you know?"
"Okay," he said punching a few keys. "I'm done with the stats, you'll be able to directly log in when you interface with TAP. Damn, you are a smart woman."
Tal
Level 1
Strength 28
Endurance 16
Intelligence 52
Agility 7
Luck 9
Charisma 13
"All settled then, I'll leave the equipment here and work up the old man's character next." Looking around ,"where is he anyways?"
"He took that data you gave him and went up to the roof, probably feeding the birds while he thinks." She gave Quinn a stern look, "what are you two hatching?"
"I gave him all the information on TAP economics I could find," Quinn rubbed his hands together greedily. "So he's devising a course of action for us."
Tal sighed, "you guys going to take over the world?"
Quinn smiled innocently, "I won't say, you may be forced to testify against me some day."
"Like I would do that little Q," she waved at him as he left her apartment.
Quinn leaned back in his recliner a few minutes later. He was holding an old headset in his hand. "It's just for a few minutes.... so I can get through the initial part of Renri's character building."
His apartment disappeared, and screen hovered in front of him, he held his hand out in front of him. "Damn, a transparent avatar. I love this look."
HYLO Systems Neural Overlay Menu
Scanning for Virtual Signals.....
TAP signal located...…..
Log On TAP?
"No, do not log on. Reset Bios to default."
Resetting Bios system defaults will result in the loss of 75 Terabytes of memory. Do you wish to proceed?
"That's too large for Bios load-ups, has to be a memory dump. What the hell? Display any file not part of default protocols."
HTG.VRP 75TB
"A VRP file? That's a display file. Show me HTG."
The bios menu disappeared, and Q found himself watching a video in POV. There were four people laying on hospital beds, they were smiling and chatting amiably with each other. Each of them were hooked up to an IV, Quinn didn't recognize the three closest to the camera, but the one furthest away was well known to him. It was Ella Riley.
"Mom? What the hell is this?"
The scene faded out and a new scene appeared in front of him. This one was an operating room; the patient was covered except for their head. A robotic arm was visible, a woman in full scrubs and mask was controlling it. The camera zoomed in on the end of the arm, there was a small, metallic electrode attached to it. Slowly it started to insert the electrode.
A split view popped up with the brain and the arm on separate screens. Quinn shuddered when the small electrode pushed into brain.
"Damn… What the hell is this?"
The video continued until after the electrode was completely inserted. Then the scene faded to black to be replaced with another.
This scene was an interview, with the only woman from the first group, Ella Riley.
"Ella, how are game interactions proceeding?" The voice was female, almost complete devoid of any emotion.
"The game environment is great! My reactions, physical abilities and situational judgement seemed to have been heightened." Her voice was ragged, her demeanor seemed like someone under stress.
"What side effects are you noticing?" Quinn cringed at her tone, it was how someone spoke to bad child.
"I-I… am angry all the time when I'm offline. I can't bear to be away." Ella lay her head on the table and started to cry.
"This will normalize after a short period, your brain is compensating for the transistor implant." The voice wasn't comforting, it was spoken like someone reading a book.
"I want it out.. Please take it out!" Ella sat up, her brown eyes staring at the interviewer.
"The procedure is irreversible. You knew this when we started, besides, isn't this what you wanted? Superior game performance for free, as part of the test group, you are receiving what others will be paying a lot of money for."
"I have a son. I'm always angry with him when I log-off, I've said terrible things." Ella put her head back on the table and wept.
"The emotional reactions to being offline will balance in a short time."
The scene faded immediately after that.
Delete HTG.VRP 75TB?
"No, decrease current VR immersion to 20 percent."
Quinn could feel his recliner under him again. He sat up and walked into his bedroom and grabbed a flashdrive. He inserted into the headset.
"Copy HTG.VRP 75TB to External drive." Quinn waited until the file downloaded and then removed the flashdrive and put it in his desk.
"Delete HTG.VRP 75TB, Revert Bios to Default settings."
Quinn sat on his bed, staring off into space for several minutes. "This seems a bit beyond someone like me."
He reached into his drawer and grabbed some tape, tearing off a piece he taped the flashdrive to the bottom of his drawer. He then removed the old headset and put it back in the box under his bed.
Renri, Tal and the old man, they were the only family he had left. "First, I will settle them. Leave it to me guys."
Please report us if you find any errors so we can fix it asap!
"According to the website, traditional pvp is almost nonexistent in TAP?" Tal sat comfortably on her couch, she wore snug leggings that she had cut above the knees. She had her leg crossed over her prosthetic as she was watched the hud in front of her scroll through information.
"Right, You can still kill other players in TAP, but they don't lose xp or drop items so it's basically a waste of time- unless you have some sort of grudge." Quinn typed away as he chatted with her, setting up a character manually was quite difficult.
"And that changes after you find 'The Assassin's Path?' " She wore a helmet on her head that had several wires running to it. It was part of the kit that Quinn had requested from TAP.
Quinn nodded as he typed, "lots of things change then. Successful kills can have rather large pay-outs. If you are on someone's TAP hit list and they manage to take you out, you lose five TAP Rank levels. Which is a huge deal because that represents fifty confirmed kills."
"That comes into effect after you reach TAP Rank 10?" She smiled at him as she used her metallic foot to itch her real one.
"I need you to stand up please, he picked up a large hand scanner and walked to the open space behind the couch."
She gave him a stern look, "hey, what can you see with that anyways?" She adjusted the long wires coming out of her helmet so she didn't step on them.
"Oh...well I can see everything Tal," he cleared his throat. *cough*
"Bullshit! ," she stared at him. He was ridiculously good at keeping a straight face when he wanted too. "What kind of tattoo do I have?"
"It's a dagger, inner thigh on the left leg." He gave her a deadpan look.
"....." Tal.
Quinn chuckled as she crossed her arms in front of her chest, "relax Tal, remember when I accidentally walked in on you in the bath.... like 7 years ago?"
"Bad, bad boy, " she scolded wagging her finger at him. "You said you didn't see anything!"
"Um... not exactly an accurate statement, " Quinn rolled his eyes at her.
Tal stepped closer and grabbed his ear pulling it slightly, "I'm beautiful right?"
"Ow, ow, ow... hey watch the ears...," he gave her a smile as she let go immediately. "You are a lovely woman Tal."
"Quinn..." She said softly while looking down at the floor, a tiny smile playing on her lips.
"Course that was 7 years ago, when you were still young," he teased giving her a pat on the shoulder.
"Bastard... I look even better now, go ahead and scan away!!" She gave him a stern look as she dropped her arms to her sides.
"Haha... sorry Tal," he smiled apologetically has he started scanning her, every few minutes he would rotate around her. The whole process took about fifteen minutes. He motioned for her to sit back down before going back to his keyboard.
"See anything nice then?" It was an old game that they played, mild innuendos aside, he was an important person to her.
He nodded, "fishing for a compliment? Forget it, I already said something nice earlier."
"Damn.. when did you get so stingy?" Wordlessly she sat down and gripped her prosthetic just below her knee and turned it, with a loud click it released and she sat it on the table. She peeled back the sleeve and removed it, just below the knee was rounded off into a stump. She grabbed a bottle of lotion from under the table.
"Let me Tal," he walked over and took a seat on the floor.
"Um... I don't know Quinn." It's not like she hid her injury, but it definitely wasn't attractive, and most of her friends tried to avoid looking at it.
"It's fine Tal, " he took the bottle from her and squeezed some lotion onto his hand, gently rubbing the stump.
"It gets a bit sore at times, and the skin chaps easily." She watched as he massaged her leg, reaching out a hand she ruffled his hair. " I love you little Q."
"Oh god, you haven't called me that in years," he grinned at her. "Love you too Tal."
"Geez.. what did I say about telling a woman that?" she scolded him while trying to keep a straight face.
"Pffft, you said it first! Hey need help putting this back on?" He gentle massaged the muscles above the knee.
"No, it feels good to let it breathe a bit, " she sighed contentedly. "Hey don't get carried away Mr. Handyman," she laid back on the couch eyes closed.
"Isn't this the perfect time to ambush you?" He grinned suggestively.
"Careful little Q," she grabbed her prosthetic by the ankle and waved it at him. "I'm armed!"
Quinn eyed the metallic club in her hand and shook his head with regret. "Don't you mean you're legged?"
"Hahaha.. god, that's horrible,' she chuckled at him.
He shrugged at her, "best I could do." Standing up he moved back over to his keyboard. "You can remove the head gear now."
Tal removed the metal helmet and used the band around her wrist to put her hair back into a ponytail.
"Hey Tal... question for you." Quinn hesitated slightly.
"Hmm?" She noticed he seemed reluctant. "Speak up hun."
"Do you want a real leg in game?" Quinn knew the story behind her injury. Army Captain Talia Joki was injured when her vehicle drove over a IED. She had dragged herself and her driver from the wreckage, managing to stay conscious long enough to patch both of them up. On the toughness scale, she was beyond a doubt, completely off the chart.
"Guess I never really thought of that Quinn," she looked down and compared her two legs. "It was bad enough dealing with losing it the first time, if it's possible I'll keep it as it is."
Quinn nodded and finished up creating her character.
"Hey but I want a prosthetic with toes, so I can wiggle them and maybe scratch them a bit." Her full lips widened in a smile, "a girl misses toes you know?"
"Okay," he said punching a few keys. "I'm done with the stats, you'll be able to directly log in when you interface with TAP. Damn, you are a smart woman."
Tal
Level 1
Strength 28
Endurance 16
Intelligence 52
Agility 7
Luck 9
Charisma 13
"All settled then, I'll leave the equipment here and work up the old man's character next." Looking around ,"where is he anyways?"
"He took that data you gave him and went up to the roof, probably feeding the birds while he thinks." She gave Quinn a stern look, "what are you two hatching?"
"I gave him all the information on TAP economics I could find," Quinn rubbed his hands together greedily. "So he's devising a course of action for us."
Tal sighed, "you guys going to take over the world?"
Quinn smiled innocently, "I won't say, you may be forced to testify against me some day."
"Like I would do that little Q," she waved at him as he left her apartment.
Quinn leaned back in his recliner a few minutes later. He was holding an old headset in his hand. "It's just for a few minutes.... so I can get through the initial part of Renri's character building."
His apartment disappeared, and screen hovered in front of him, he held his hand out in front of him. "Damn, a transparent avatar. I love this look."
HYLO Systems Neural Overlay Menu
Scanning for Virtual Signals.....
TAP signal located...…..
Log On TAP?
"No, do not log on. Reset Bios to default."
Resetting Bios system defaults will result in the loss of 75 Terabytes of memory. Do you wish to proceed?
"That's too large for Bios load-ups, has to be a memory dump. What the hell? Display any file not part of default protocols."
HTG.VRP 75TB
"A VRP file? That's a display file. Show me HTG."
The bios menu disappeared, and Q found himself watching a video in POV. There were four people laying on hospital beds, they were smiling and chatting amiably with each other. Each of them were hooked up to an IV, Quinn didn't recognize the three closest to the camera, but the one furthest away was well known to him. It was Ella Riley.
"Mom? What the hell is this?"
The scene faded out and a new scene appeared in front of him. This one was an operating room; the patient was covered except for their head. A robotic arm was visible, a woman in full scrubs and mask was controlling it. The camera zoomed in on the end of the arm, there was a small, metallic electrode attached to it. Slowly it started to insert the electrode.
A split view popped up with the brain and the arm on separate screens. Quinn shuddered when the small electrode pushed into brain.
"Damn… What the hell is this?"
The video continued until after the electrode was completely inserted. Then the scene faded to black to be replaced with another.
This scene was an interview, with the only woman from the first group, Ella Riley.
"Ella, how are game interactions proceeding?" The voice was female, almost complete devoid of any emotion.
"The game environment is great! My reactions, physical abilities and situational judgement seemed to have been heightened." Her voice was ragged, her demeanor seemed like someone under stress.
"What side effects are you noticing?" Quinn cringed at her tone, it was how someone spoke to bad child.
"I-I… am angry all the time when I'm offline. I can't bear to be away." Ella lay her head on the table and started to cry.
"This will normalize after a short period, your brain is compensating for the transistor implant." The voice wasn't comforting, it was spoken like someone reading a book.
"I want it out.. Please take it out!" Ella sat up, her brown eyes staring at the interviewer.
"The procedure is irreversible. You knew this when we started, besides, isn't this what you wanted? Superior game performance for free, as part of the test group, you are receiving what others will be paying a lot of money for."
"I have a son. I'm always angry with him when I log-off, I've said terrible things." Ella put her head back on the table and wept.
"The emotional reactions to being offline will balance in a short time."
The scene faded immediately after that.
Delete HTG.VRP 75TB?
"No, decrease current VR immersion to 20 percent."
Quinn could feel his recliner under him again. He sat up and walked into his bedroom and grabbed a flashdrive. He inserted into the headset.
"Copy HTG.VRP 75TB to External drive." Quinn waited until the file downloaded and then removed the flashdrive and put it in his desk.
"Delete HTG.VRP 75TB, Revert Bios to Default settings."
Quinn sat on his bed, staring off into space for several minutes. "This seems a bit beyond someone like me."
He reached into his drawer and grabbed some tape, tearing off a piece he taped the flashdrive to the bottom of his drawer. He then removed the old headset and put it back in the box under his bed.
Renri, Tal and the old man, they were the only family he had left. "First, I will settle them. Leave it to me guys."
"According to the website, traditional pvp is almost nonexistent in TAP?" Tal sat comfortably on her couch, she wore snug leggings that she had cut above the knees. She had her leg crossed over her prosthetic as she was watched the hud in front of her scroll through information."Right, You can still kill other players in TAP, but they don't lose xp or drop items so it's basically a waste of time- unless you have some sort of grudge." Quinn typed away as he chatted with her, setting up a character manually was quite difficult."And that changes after you find 'The Assassin's Path?' " She wore a helmet on her head that had several wires running to it. It was part of the kit that Quinn had requested from TAP.Quinn nodded as he typed, "lots of things change then. Successful kills can have rather large pay-outs. If you are on someone's TAP hit list and they manage to take you out, you lose five TAP Rank levels. Which is a huge deal because that represents fifty confirmed kills.""That comes into effect after you reach TAP Rank 10?" She smiled at him as she used her metallic foot to itch her real one."I need you to stand up please, he picked up a large hand scanner and walked to the open space behind the couch."She gave him a stern look, "hey, what can you see with that anyways?" She adjusted the long wires coming out of her helmet so she didn't step on them."Oh...well I can see everything Tal," he cleared his throat. *cough*"Bullshit! ," she stared at him. He was ridiculously good at keeping a straight face when he wanted too. "What kind of tattoo do I have?""It's a dagger, inner thigh on the left leg." He gave her a deadpan look."....." Tal.Quinn chuckled as she crossed her arms in front of her chest, "relax Tal, remember when I accidentally walked in on you in the bath.... like 7 years ago?""Bad, bad boy, " she scolded wagging her finger at him. "You said you didn't see anything!""Um... not exactly an accurate statement, " Quinn rolled his eyes at her.Tal stepped closer and grabbed his ear pulling it slightly, "I'm beautiful right?""Ow, ow, ow... hey watch the ears...," he gave her a smile as she let go immediately. "You are a lovely woman Tal.""Quinn..." She said softly while looking down at the floor, a tiny smile playing on her lips."Course that was 7 years ago, when you were still young," he teased giving her a pat on the shoulder."Bastard... I look even better now, go ahead and scan away!!" She gave him a stern look as she dropped her arms to her sides."Haha... sorry Tal," he smiled apologetically has he started scanning her, every few minutes he would rotate around her. The whole process took about fifteen minutes. He motioned for her to sit back down before going back to his keyboard."See anything nice then?" It was an old game that they played, mild innuendos aside, he was an important person to her.He nodded, "fishing for a compliment? Forget it, I already said something nice earlier.""Damn.. when did you get so stingy?" Wordlessly she sat down and gripped her prosthetic just below her knee and turned it, with a loud click it released and she sat it on the table. She peeled back the sleeve and removed it, just below the knee was rounded off into a stump. She grabbed a bottle of lotion from under the table."Let me Tal," he walked over and took a seat on the floor."Um... I don't know Quinn." It's not like she hid her injury, but it definitely wasn't attractive, and most of her friends tried to avoid looking at it."It's fine Tal, " he took the bottle from her and squeezed some lotion onto his hand, gently rubbing the stump."It gets a bit sore at times, and the skin chaps easily." She watched as he massaged her leg, reaching out a hand she ruffled his hair. " I love you little Q.""Oh god, you haven't called me that in years," he grinned at her. "Love you too Tal.""Geez.. what did I say about telling a woman that?" she scolded him while trying to keep a straight face."Pffft, you said it first! Hey need help putting this back on?" He gentle massaged the muscles above the knee."No, it feels good to let it breathe a bit, " she sighed contentedly. "Hey don't get carried away Mr. Handyman," she laid back on the couch eyes closed."Isn't this the perfect time to ambush you?" He grinned suggestively."Careful little Q," she grabbed her prosthetic by the ankle and waved it at him. "I'm armed!"Quinn eyed the metallic club in her hand and shook his head with regret. "Don't you mean you're legged?""Hahaha.. god, that's horrible,' she chuckled at him.He shrugged at her, "best I could do." Standing up he moved back over to his keyboard. "You can remove the head gear now."Tal removed the metal helmet and used the band around her wrist to put her hair back into a ponytail."Hey Tal... question for you." Quinn hesitated slightly."Hmm?" She noticed he seemed reluctant. "Speak up hun.""Do you want a real leg in game?" Quinn knew the story behind her injury. Army Captain Talia Joki was injured when her vehicle drove over a IED. She had dragged herself and her driver from the wreckage, managing to stay conscious long enough to patch both of them up. On the toughness scale, she was beyond a doubt, completely off the chart."Guess I never really thought of that Quinn," she looked down and compared her two legs. "It was bad enough dealing with losing it the first time, if it's possible I'll keep it as it is."Quinn nodded and finished up creating her character."Hey but I want a prosthetic with toes, so I can wiggle them and maybe scratch them a bit." Her full lips widened in a smile, "a girl misses toes you know?""Okay," he said punching a few keys. "I'm done with the stats, you'll be able to directly log in when you interface with TAP. Damn, you are a smart woman."TalLevel 1Strength 28Endurance 16Intelligence 52Agility 7Luck 9Charisma 13"All settled then, I'll leave the equipment here and work up the old man's character next." Looking around ,"where is he anyways?""He took that data you gave him and went up to the roof, probably feeding the birds while he thinks." She gave Quinn a stern look, "what are you two hatching?""I gave him all the information on TAP economics I could find," Quinn rubbed his hands together greedily. "So he's devising a course of action for us."Tal sighed, "you guys going to take over the world?"Quinn smiled innocently, "I won't say, you may be forced to testify against me some day.""Like I would do that little Q," she waved at him as he left her apartment.Quinn leaned back in his recliner a few minutes later. He was holding an old headset in his hand. "It's just for a few minutes.... so I can get through the initial part of Renri's character building."His apartment disappeared, and screen hovered in front of him, he held his hand out in front of him. "Damn, a transparent avatar. I love this look."HYLO Systems Neural Overlay MenuScanning for Virtual Signals.....TAP signal located.....Log On TAP?"No, do not log on. Reset Bios to default."Resetting Bios system defaults will result in the loss of 75 Terabytes of memory. Do you wish to proceed?"That's too large for Bios load-ups, has to be a memory dump. What the hell? Display any file not part of default protocols."HTG.VRP 75TB"A VRP file? That's a display file. Show me HTG."The bios menu disappeared, and Q found himself watching a video in POV. There were four people laying on hospital beds, they were smiling and chatting amiably with each other. Each of them were hooked up to an IV, Quinn didn't recognize the three closest to the camera, but the one furthest away was well known to him. It was Ella Riley."Mom? What the hell is this?"The scene faded out and a new scene appeared in front of him. This one was an operating room; the patient was covered except for their head. A robotic arm was visible, a woman in full scrubs and mask was controlling it. The camera zoomed in on the end of the arm, there was a small, metallic electrode attached to it. Slowly it started to insert the electrode.A split view popped up with the brain and the arm on separate screens. Quinn shuddered when the small electrode pushed into brain."Damn What the hell is this?"The video continued until after the electrode was completely inserted. Then the scene faded to black to be replaced with another.This scene was an interview, with the only woman from the first group, Ella Riley."Ella, how are game interactions proceeding?" The voice was female, almost complete devoid of any emotion."The game environment is great! My reactions, physical abilities and situational judgement seemed to have been heightened." Her voice was ragged, her demeanor seemed like someone under stress."What side effects are you noticing?" Quinn cringed at her tone, it was how someone spoke to bad child."I-I am angry all the time when I'm offline. I can't bear to be away." Ella lay her head on the table and started to cry."This will normalize after a short period, your brain is compensating for the transistor implant." The voice wasn't comforting, it was spoken like someone reading a book."I want it out.. Please take it out!" Ella sat up, her brown eyes staring at the interviewer."The procedure is irreversible. You knew this when we started, besides, isn't this what you wanted? Superior game performance for free, as part of the test group, you are receiving what others will be paying a lot of money for.""I have a son. I'm always angry with him when I log-off, I've said terrible things." Ella put her head back on the table and wept."The emotional reactions to being offline will balance in a short time."The scene faded immediately after that.Delete HTG.VRP 75TB?"No, decrease current VR immersion to 20 percent."Quinn could feel his recliner under him again. He sat up and walked into his bedroom and grabbed a flashdrive. He inserted into the headset."Copy HTG.VRP 75TB to External drive." Quinn waited until the file downloaded and then removed the flashdrive and put it in his desk."Delete HTG.VRP 75TB, Revert Bios to Default settings."Quinn sat on his bed, staring off into space for several minutes. "This seems a bit beyond someone like me."He reached into his drawer and grabbed some tape, tearing off a piece he taped the flashdrive to the bottom of his drawer. He then removed the old headset and put it back in the box under his bed.Renri, Tal and the old man, they were the only family he had left. "First, I will settle them. Leave it to me guys."
