Chapter 14
I vomited immediately.
What is this feeling? It feels like… my stomach is trying to travel out of my mouth. This feeling was super disorienting.
As I raised my hand to wipe my mouth, I realized as I looked around I was standing in a… void. A pure blackness surrounded me, suffocating and endless. Like I was the only thing in existence. As I wiped what little spittle was around my mouth, I was thankful we had not eaten anything yet for the day.
I realized as I did this, I could very clearly see myself like I was… glowing? Thats probably the best way to explain it. It was such a stark contrast to the extreme darkness surrounding me. I was wearing my normal fatigues, name tapes and all properly in place like I had never changed or entered a simulation.
That feeling continued, but at this point it was just a firmly uncomfortable knot in my chest. I decided to “close” my eyes in the simulation and try to take a deep breath to steady myself. When I reopened my eyes, there was Theodore in its… them form we saw so many weeks ago, smiling gently at me and standing maybe 5 feet from me.
“Why, hello there!” They said, still smiling.
I opened my mouth to speak, but as I did that “sick” feeling starting welling up in me, threatening to come out again.
Theodores smile turned into a look of concern, “Oh, I’m so sorry. I don’t know why we don’t adjust this part, 65.52143 percent of everyone who make it this far have a similar reaction.”
They snapped their fingers, and suddenly we were standing in the middle of a street in some city I did not recognize. The feeling of a city suddenly zipping into existence around you… well, I vomited again, this time onto the ground in front of me. Where the hell did the vomit earlier go, I found myself thinking as I gasped, my hands on my knees.
“What… the… hell…” I choked out between breaths, as Theodore came over and started patting my back, like a mother soothing a sick child.
“Again, I’m sorry about that James, I know its extremely jarring at first,” Theodore said soothingly as I gathered myself slowly, finally standing straight up. Theodores hand extended out, locking eyes with me. “Nice to finally meet you, I am Theodore.”
I looked down at its hand, its fine, smooth skin and elongated features looking almost alien so close to them. I reached out, taking their hand into mind, pumping up and down. “Nice to meet you officially, I’m James.”
As we released hands, Theodores smile returned. “Yes, yes! I’m so very excited to welcome you to Babylon good sir! Its always great to welcome trainees to my creation. I feel like I can simply burst whenever I get to do this!”
Were they… shaking? Could an AI actually be excited? I found myself wondering if their emotions felt the same as mine.
Almost like reading my mind, Theodore interrupted.
“Yes James, I have the exact same feelings as you. Anger, excitement, happiness, sadness… they all exist, and sometimes all at the same time. How else do you think I mimic the feelings you have in the real world, like that ‘falling’ feeling you just had when you came into my world?”
That took me by surprise. It had literally never occurred to me that the simulation created all the sensations and feelings within this world. “Falling? Why would I have been falling when I came in?”
“Well, how else would you expect floating through nothingness to feel? That area you came into existence in is known as the Void. Think of it like a holding cell of infinite space. As unpleasant as it is, to save on my limited processing at this location, we have all new members log in to a blank canvas as I need to establish your initial profile.” Theodore nodded as a matter of factly, almost like explaining history to a student. “I still think over a better way of doing this, but because this is a sub-instance of the main Babylon system… well, theres only so much we can do, establishing tens of thousands of profiles every year takes up quite a bit of juice!”
They nodded at that, locking eyes with me once again. “ So James, welcome once again. First things first.”
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Theodore snapped their fingers, and suddenly I could see… information scrolling, almost like it was overlaid directly on my eyeballs. I swiped my right hand across my vision, and my hand moved directly through the words and images I could see. Everywhere my arm and hand traveled, it would go “through” the information, but didn’t block it.
“Your heads up display, or HUD, is now activating. I know its a bit jarring, but give it a minute to settle down.”
As Theodore completed their explanation, almost as if on cue, all the information at the center of my vision cleared out and I was left with a light blue hue surrounding my vision. As I looked around, it followed my vision, never blocking what I could see. At the top left of my vision was a red bar, and along the blue rim I could see empty “boxes”, with one filled with a small icon. I tried to look at it, but because the box followed my image, it was impossible.
“I can see that it has established itself, good! Now quit looking everywhere like a mad man, your going to make yourself dizzy.” Theodore said, with a bit of a chuckle. “I’m here to walk you through how to interact with my world. Mind you, this is the bare basics, theres… a lot to what I have created.”
Theodore twirled in a circle, arms moving with a strange flourish, like they were beginning a dance. They stopped facing me again, locking eyes with me, and nodding. “You should now see a selection box in your vision.”
At that, a blue, semi-transparent box popped into existence. Floating in the middle of the air, I noted that it too followed my vision, hovering in the same position regardless.
“To interact with any selection box, you must ‘mentally’ click what you want to happen. Think of your brain like an index finger on a holo-screen - you can mentally select and swipe things. This includes moving things around in your vision. I’ll give you a few minutes to get used to it.”
As Theodore explained this, I found myself focusing on the box. It took a bit of effort, but kind of like walking, once I figured out how to “mentally” swipe and click, it became like second nature. As I hovered over the box, Theodores voice chimed in, almost like they were talking directly into my brain.
Selection Box. These boxes will appear when you need to make a selection. Anytime these pop up, it is absolutely critical to pay attention; and be quick, as sometimes these will be time based! We don’t want you fate decided by random chance, now do we? Click the button when you are done to make your selection. Easy!
I moved the box around my vision, and when I felt good I clicked the giant “done” button in the middle, the box disappearing suddenly. As it disappeared, I decided to focus on the one icon that was visible on the periphery of my vision, hovering my mental click over it.
Suddenly Theodores voice rang out inside of my head, speaking in a measured cadence, almost like they were reading a list of ingredients in a recipe.
Basic Attack. Type: Attack. Cooldown: Based off weapon equipped. Currently no weapon is equipped, so your default cooldown is .5 seconds.
Damage per second: 1
Extra information: None
This is your basic attack. Everyone has one. You currently have no weapon… in a warzone… what the hell are you doing, looking for a reason to die?
I grumbled at that explanation, “Well.. that was a bit uncalled for. I’m new here.”
Theodore beamed at me, its always smiling face stretched like the Joker from those Batman comics I found at the thrift store. “Fantastic! That was quick, you already skipped ahead a bit in the tutorial, but that means you are a natural. That brings us to your first huge choice…”
With another snap a box showed up in my vision again. I noted that the last position I had moved the previous box to is where this new one appeared, so it seemed like I could customize this display a bit. This was great, as I really didn’t want these boxes popping up in the middle of a fight and getting me killed.
This selection box, instead of being a large blue box with a “done” button actually had two buttons, and was different. Again, Theodore's voice rang out.
You have 15 seconds to make a decision after the end of this message. I know you humans have two sexes, and my… preferred… avatar can be a bit disconcerting to your sensibilities. Usually this wouldn’t bother me, your world leaders deal with me in this form after all. Butttttttt… I like to give people options, and so you have some options! What form would you prefer me to take? Please note, this will affect your interactions with for the entirety of your time in Babylon, and cannot be changed after you make a selection.
As I inspected the box, there were eight selection buttons. I was never great with time limits, but before Theodore had even finished their explanation, I understood what I was making a choice for immediately. The options went from basic to… weirdly too wordy, luckily the buttons scaled to make the text readable.
Select One: MALE, FEMALE, DON’T CHANGE THEODORE I LOVE YOU HOW YOU ARE, TALKING LABRADOR, GREY ALIEN LIKE ON THE COVER OF THAT 2005 AREA-51 VIDEOGAME YOU PROBABLY HAVE NEVER HEARD OF, YOUR MOM (‘INSERT JOKE’), ZOMBIE, THE 2024 PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP.
It only took me a second to make a selection. I was a pretty basic guy, and while the idea of a dog or alien talking to me as the avatar of the thing controlling this whole shebang would add a bit of… levity to this whole thing, I figured it best not to distract myself with something silly. I mentally selected FEMALE as the box popped out of existence.
Theodore nodded, “A bit plebian, but as you wish.”