Chapter Text
“And this is our technology research lab, where you’ll be testing the new program. That concludes our tour. While we wait for our Imagineers finish setting up the interface, I’ll be here to answer any questions you have.”
David smiled, or at least tried to smile, at the four guests he’d been guiding around the development center. He was a software developer, not a tour guide, but this place didn’t get visitors often, and he’d drawn the short straw.
A short girl with glasses and space buns excitedly raised her hand … again. She was clearly the most excited to be there, and had been asking questions nonstop since she got there. David had done his best to answer them, although his limited security clearance and contractual obligations meant he couldn’t quite answer everything.
“*sigh* Yes, Aria?”
“When do we get to play the video game?”
David facepalmed. This was the third time she’d asked this. One more time and he was going to bail.
“Whenever they finish setting up the hardware,” he said through his teeth. “This is very experimental technology and it’s very finicky. We don’t want anything to go horribly wrong now, would we?”
A taller visitor with green hair and a scar on their face, Aria’s older sibling, Sam, jabbed her in the side with their elbow. David could have sworn he heard them muttering about their sister being an embarrassment.
Aria was only here because she won a contest, but her being only fifteen meant that Sam was begrudgingly dragged along to be a chaperone.
“Any other questions? From someone else, perhaps.”
A boy with dark skin and bangs covering his left eye shyly raised his hand.
“Yes, Connor.”
“So we’re testing this on proprietary hardware? Is Disney making a games console? Is this for the parks? I guess, what I’m trying to say is… what exactly are we getting into here?”
Connor was a college student who had gained a sizable following on YouTube for game reviews and mods, among other projects. He was a programmer, an artist, and a tinkerer, and it was truly impressive the number of projects he was able to manage at one time, especially taking classes into account. David had noticed that Connor came off a lot more anxious and reserved in-person compared to in his videos, but it was clear from their interactions that he had a passion for gaming and an appreciation for intricate details.
“And why is there a no cameras rule?”
A girl with a long, pink ponytail and a lanyard covered in collectable pins chimed in.
“I NEED to keep my followers updated. When I learned I was invited to this top-secret game-testing thing or whatever, I promised I’d show them everything!”
This was Sakura, a high-school dropout who found success with her cosplay blog and gaming livestreams. David had looked-up her Instagram page before the visit. When he met her he was surprised at how optimistic and friendly she was, and she genuinely seemed to care about her fanbase. He honestly felt bad for her, unsure if she knew about the seedy underbelly of the internet that was surely jerking-off to her Instagram posts and fantasizing unsavory things about her. Such a nice person didn’t deserve to be treated like that by complete strangers.
“Wellll,” said David. “This project IS top-secret, and we don’t necessarily want key information being leaked to the public until it’s fully ready. To answer your first question though, is… complicated. “
The large, steel doors suddenly slid open behind him, as a colleague in a lab coat, Dr. Amanda Heartland, stepped out to greet the tour group.
“Alright,” she said perkily. “We’re ready for you now!”
David didn’t like Dr Heartland much. He found her unsettling. She had a reputation for being ruthless, for demanding anyone who refused her orders EXACTLY be fired. In the programming offices, at least, they called her Dr Heartless. No one knew exactly what she was a doctor of, or why she had been hired, but everyone knew she was a perfectionist and a two-faced bitch. Under her lab coats, rubber gloves, and goggles, she always wore carefully ironed shirts and clean pants. Her glasses never had a smudge or smear on them, and her long, brown hair was always tied back in a tight bun.
Dr Heartland led the group into a massive, white room. Every inch of every wall was lined with computers. Carefully organized wires were everywhere. A console was set against one of the walls of hard drives and servers, where a small team was stationed. Another was configuring some medical equipment, and another was carefully monitoring the components making up the electronic mass engulfing the room. Six feet away from the console were four hospital beds.
The four visitors stared, in awe, in confusion, in fear, at the strange environment they had just entered. David stared to. He had never actually SEEN this thing before. He had heard rumors, sure, but he was the guy that programmed enemies, all anyone had told him was that it was a VR project of some kind.
“That doesn’t look like any game system I’ve ever seen,” said Connor.
Dr Heartland giggled.
“Not exactly, no. You see, here at Walt Disney Imagineering we’ve been experimenting with new methods of communicating with the virtual world. Sure controllers do the job and headsets make things more immersive, but here, we believe there’s only one way to create a truly immersive digital experience.”
She smiled. It made David uncomfortable. It made Sam and Connor uncomfortable too.
“Today, the four of you will be testing the world’s first-ever neural-link gaming system. By reading your brainwaves and sending electrical impulses back into your body, you’ll be able to feel every virtual sensation, taste and smell the digital air, and control your avatar easier than breathing.”
“Are you sure this is safe?” asked Sam. “How do we know this isn’t some kind of brainwashing technique demanded by your corporate overlords? I didn’t come here to be someone’s lab rat, and neither will my sister unless you-”
“I can assure you that you have absolutely nothing to worry about,” the doctor interrupted. “We’ve performed several animal trials and some of our own staff have already tested it out. There are no invasive procedures involved, we simply stick these nodes to your forehead and you have complete control over what happens next.”
“But why do you need a bunch of teenagers to be your new test subjects, huh?”
“Demographics research.”
Sam opened their mouth to argue, but Aria tugged on their sleeve and gave them what was certainly an attempt at puppy-dog eyes, as close to puppy-dog eyes as a fifteen-year-old could achieve.
“Fine, we’ll do your stupid brainwave-scanner-thing.”
“Excellent! Before we get started, you’ll all need to take a seat while we hook you up to the system,” Dr Heartless looked at David with an almost sinister grin. “You can leave now, Mr Green. I can assure you everything will be just fine.”
David turned and left. The doors closed behind him. He didn’t know what else to do.
“Something isn’t right here,” he muttered to himself. “And I hope to god that witch doesn’t lay a finger on those kids.”
Then he went back to work. He was a software developer, not a psychic, but he knew something was about to go horribly wrong.
-End Chapter One-