The club lights flashed and waved to the beating music. They washed the dancefloor in neon colors, in time to the heavy vibrations of the giant speakers. Surprisingly, Toby admired the bright lights, how they illuminated the huge space and modern architecture. Though he found himself nursing a headache at the bar.
Jan from accounting had organized the “bonding time” for the office, saying how it’d bring everyone closer together. Toby had been devoid of any good excuse, so now he was stuck between a beer, clubbers, and Jan, with her volume louder than the pounding speakers.
“And so that’s when I said, ‘Kevin, that’s the wrong variable!’” She snorted in laughter at her own joke. Toby managed a smile. “You see, he made a simple mistake!”
“No, I get it. I think Susan’s around here somewhere, she’d appreciate hearing it too.”
“That’s a good idea, but I can tell her on Monday!”
Toby took another drink. He liked Jan well-enough at work, but tonight was proving a little more difficult.
“That does bring up a good point, though. I haven’t seen many people from the office here." Scanning the room, she asked, "Do you think they're stuck in traffic?”
“Yeah, maybe,” Toby answered, knowing full well it was more a case of empty promises. Still, there was something about the disappointment in her eyes that struck him. “But hey, you got some of us here.”
She gave a small smile and looked around again, this time lingering towards the lights.
“Hey, let’s go dance!”
Before Toby could gently protest, she’d swept him onto the floor, beer and all.
My continuation…
Grimes's new song rattled in the nightclub. A mass of young cheerful bodies on the dance floor, eager for passion and adventure, absorbed Toby and Jan.
‘She set it all up to seduce me,’ Toby thought, ‘well, at the end of the day - I don't mind.’
He relaxed and allowed music and lights to carry him "downstream." A couple of minutes later, Toby fell into a strange state – he as if saw himself from the distance. No, he wasn't in some sort of stupor. He saw his body twitching in the rhythm of the dance. Here it was - he and Jan held hands, parted, hugged, and parted again. He saw all this from the outside, not being able to return his consciousness back into his body.
‘Did she put something in my cocktail?’ Toby thought.
He tried to make himself talk to Jan but in vain. The music changed to something incredulous – much different from the usual sounds of disco or dubstep. Apparently, it was an entirely new genre, similar to "space music."
Flashes of club lights and these strange sounds merged into a common ornament resembling something familiar but long forgotten. Something from childhood. It was big and beautiful, indigenous to him...
Finally, Toby passed out. At first, there was a feeling of very rapid movement - as if a hurricane had picked him up and carried him through space at incredible speed. Finally, he felt his body again. Not the human body - but his own, the familiar one. The one he has completely forgotten.
Pain. This always happens when returning from immersion to virtual reality... The pain was in his entire body, but it was especially acute in his head. Everything got mixed up in his memory - the life of Earthman Toby and his own; both are so different but intertwined together in his consciousness for the duration of the immersion.
"Ouch!" he moaned.
"Welcome back, T. B.," he heard a voice.
‘Voice … Ah…This is S.K., his assistant...’ Memory came back with great difficulty, through pain and a feeling similar to a strong hangover. Only a few minutes later T.B. managed to open his eyes. ‘White lab, the smell of ozone - how marvelous!’
A few more minutes - and he was able to sit down, drink a cup of invigorating juice of Ti-U tree fruit... He looked out the window and saw dear to his heart Diamond Mountains.
"The technology still needs much work," S.K. said. "The immersing was indeed complete; I even feared that you would stay there forever. As if you lived another life.”
"That's for sure. I lived the life of an office clerk on a simulated Earth that we reconstructed,” T.B. nodded.
"I had to put some serious work into the illusion, and carefully introduce a character who would take you out of the immersion," said S.K. "I designed Jan, to whom you sympathized. Remember, she gave you the clues to "space music" collections, and fantastic films about false memory, aliens, virtual reality...
“Oh, yes,” T.B. took a large sip of invigorating juice. “So, is this your job? It worked out really well. You must include this in the product description. Customers will love it - a built-in mechanism that encourages awakening; just in case if the player would get suspended thoroughly, the way I was.”
“The mechanism is not built in just yet,” S.K. said cautiously, “I sort of winged it, used it only once and... I was afraid it wouldn't work, and I wouldn't be able to bring you back.”
“Yet things worked out well! Great job!” T.B. praised his assistant, “Well when I will fully recover, together we will bring the algorithm to perfection. Now, though, I need an ion shower and a good massage...”
P.S. Thank you 