Virtuality
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

“I call her Pandora,” said Felix. “Get used to her. This is why I need you. This kind of interaction has to be a two-person thing.”

Jake was used to virtual reality. It was his thing after all. But here he was in their apartment. The only thing different was that he was in another body. When he held his hand up he could see that it was not his hand at all, it was a slender feminine hand, with manicured nails.

Virtually Feminine - Part 7 - Consequences


Now that I've made my choice, what does that mean? How do I start to come to terms with what that means, and what happens when my ex finds out?

T'aa Onasi knows everything that is going to happen as she finds herself on the way to Tython.
However, she just got forced to switch with the real owner of this body, and wonders how she is going to cope. Can she change things? Will she be fighting against a fate that she does not want and how far will she be forced to follow the script? Not at all, a little, or the entire script?

Suddenly everything is not as it seems. What is real is slowly not real. Real is relative.

Kilby is an aficionado of virtual reality games.
What would be more perfect than to work on the development of one such game?

When he manages to get a job interview for the game "Gates Of Echo Online" he doesn't know yet how much trouble it will land him in.
Soon, he will stand before a decision that might alter the lives of hundreds of people.
But most of all his own.

Chapter 1

I sat in what was obviously an interrogation room, staring at my fingers. I was pretty sure that what I was experiencing was real life, despite the silver or light grey colouration of my skin. I was moving my elegant hands marvelling at the realism. Truthfully, I couldn't tell from sensation the difference between my digital life and my real one.

Several hours have gone by as the engineers and slicers worked on the Gree computer recovered from Taral V. My friends were celebrating behind me as I looked out on the rolling clouds of the Maelstrom. A violent mixture of gas and plasma much like a thunder cloud, but colorful from the mixture of different gasses. Hidden in those gasses were tiny grains of sand to planet sized asteroids. If the plasma didn't get you the debris would and if not that the fluctuating gravity would.

I could not wrap my head around what I just read, for the third time, as I closed the back cover of Jan’s journal, for the third time. Jan and I had been partners in Jan’s Portfolio LLC for sixteen years, and I loved the girl dearly. But this…how can this be? Her full name is Janelle Mathew, she and I are the same age. And she is our daughter! But our Janelle Mather is only, five-years-old!

Chapter 1- The Boy Next Door

--- Alexis, December 23rd, 2022. 7:53 AM ---

“Class,” our teacher’s voice somehow managed to break through the chaos and anarchy that is an elementary school classroom the day before Christmas vacation. “Before we begin, I’d like to announce our new transfer student, Gabriel Morris.”

The rest of the room started up in hushed whispers, and even I couldn’t help it.

“Who moves at this time of year?” I had asked the question quietly and rhetorically, only to get an answer back anyway.

“Seriously?”

Prologue- Those 3 Years

Even now, after three long years, her words were still engraved in my memory.

‘I’m gonna be honest with you,’ she had said to me that day. ‘It won’t always be easy. And it won’t always be fun and games. But if this is truly what you want, if this is truly what you believe you need, then it’ll all be worth it. You’ll always have my love and support. You only get one chance at life, you have to live it your way.’

And that’s how the best 3 years of my life began.

I don't know who to blame it on this time, but I couldn't resist doing a 'Staycation' story. So I decided to whip this little ditty out when I should have been sleeping.

This story takes place in my Sweet Sixteen universe.

It all happened when my family went to the annual Blessed Temple training camp.

Chapter 2 Tia's POV

Another three days fun in Lagbit's World and another six elves transformed. I woke up on the air mattress with Vee beside me and started the next part of my routine. “No one take off your headsets until you are told to do so.” I called out. I'm pretty sure everyone knew it was me, but if they didn't actually see me, they could still honestly say that they had no idea where I was. Vee and I removed our headsets and left the tent.

Chapter 1 General Pearson's POV

I watched the recorded press conference and subsequent kidnapping footage from the beginning. This was looking like a clusterfuck and I wanted nothing to do with it. Rule number one, if you are going to make someone disappear, no one must know about it.

Chapter 2

Some time later, I have no idea how much, there are no clocks after all, the high priestess visited me. My room only consisted of a bed with a chest at the end that had my clothes, a small table with a chair. I sat on the bed and the high priestess sat on the chair, but turned around so that she was facing me.

“I have done my research and we should still be on for tonight, there were a couple of things that came up that we need to discuss.”

“OK, priestess.”