Chapter Forty-three (Patreon)

Dr. Veralt led Ava into the room directly in front of the nurse’s station. The room was a slightly more personalized version of the rooms Molly spent so much time in. The bed looked far more comfortable than the standard one, but it still had collapsible railings and motors to raise and lower it. The blanket was purple and blue, instead of white, and the curtains around the broad bay window were gauzy and colorful. The bed itself was empty, since the room’s occupant sat in a chair by the window, gazing blankly out over the small enclosed garden visible beyond the glass.

It was Amy, but not Amy. This woman looked more like Amythyst’s sister than her twin. Amythyst had shown Ava the crime-scene photos taken after the hit and run that had led to Amy’s hospitalization, and the woman’s face had been badly injured. Clearly, she had had reconstructive surgery, and while she still looked like herself, her eyes were less hooded than they had been, the shape of her jaw and cheekbones was different, and the tip of her nose was narrower. She was thin almost to the point of being gaunt, while Ava knew from photos and Amythyst’s avatar that she’d always been ‘pleasantly plump’, rather than model slim.

As Ava and Dr. Veralt entered, Amy blinked slowly, but she didn’t turn or look at them. Her expression remained blank even as the doctor briskly crossed the room and picked up her thin wrist, checking her pulse.

“Amy,” he said, almost gently, “this is Ava. Ava’s going to be working with you from now on.” He waited, but Amy didn’t respond, and he released her wrist, sighing as he turned away. “She spends most of her time in a minimally conscious state. She can follow simple instructions, though you may need to repeat yourself, and she’ll sometimes respond with simple phrases. Her speech is, ah, somewhat slurred, but understandable.”

He looked directly into Ava’s eyes. “One of your duties will be to let me know immediately if she seems to be more aware than usual. It happens rarely, but no matter what else is going on, Mr. Landon will return to be with her whenever she becomes mindful of her surroundings. If he misses an episode of lucidity, he will not be pleased. Understood?”

Ava nodded, but the doctor just kept staring at her until she said, “Yes, I understand.”

Nodding in satisfaction, Dr. Veralt turned to exit the room, even as he said, “Do be aware that she sometimes becomes agitated and even hostile when she does regain awareness.” He paused by the nurse’s desk and tapped a small red box. “There is a sedative in here. If she seems likely to injure herself, you may use it, but only in an emergency. Again, Mr. Landon wishes to see her whenever she seems fully conscious, and he will not be pleased with anyone who cuts that time short.”

Ava nodded. So, it doesn’t matter if she’s endangering someone else, only herself. Got it.

Dr. Veralt turned and entered the room next to Amy’s. A VR pod sat there. One of the standard models, albeit a very nice one, not one of the new models like Amythyst had. “We tried putting Amy in VR, but she didn’t respond until we sent someone in with her. She actually does seem to regain more awareness of her surroundings when she’s in the game, though she still won’t speak or initiate actions by herself.”

He opened an adjoining door, and through it, Ava saw what she’d been expecting. A brand new, mostly-assembled pod sat there. Then Ava followed Veralt into the room and saw she was wrong. The room held two pods, not just one.

Veralt set a proprietary hand on the top of the nearest pod. “This is a brand new model of VR pod. It allows not only full immersion, but long-term immersion of up to three months. I helped design it.” His chest actually puffed up and he smiled as Ava attempted to look properly impressed, in spite of knowing that his pod design had actually been rejected in favor of a better one.

“Your job,” Veralt continued, “is to not only care for Amy in real life, but also to join her in-game. You’ll be given missions, or ‘quests’, as they’re called, and you’ll do them together, encouraging her to do as much as possible on her own.”

Ava didn’t have to pretend to be nervous. “I’m going to be in a pod for three months straight? But what about eating, and-”

Veralt waved away her words. “It’ll all be taken care of. Do you think Mr. Landon would allow his daughter to use untested technology?” Since the man had falsified his daughter’s death, supposedly in order to prevent exactly that from happening, the answer was a resounding no, but Ava just shook her head mutely.

“Exactly,” Dr. Veralt said, as if he’d actually answered all the questions someone in Ava’s position could possibly have. “You’ll only be in for two days at first. If all goes well, we’ll increase the time you spend immersed, so you’ll have plenty of opportunities to get used to it.”

Ava forced back a grimace. She hadn’t been looking forward to repeating her intentional drowning, and she certainly wasn’t looking forward to doing it on a regular basis. “Yes, sir, I understand. Ah, I do wonder, though,” she hesitated, wondering if it was too soon to press him for more details, but decided to try. “My character isn’t even in a town right now. Do I need to bring her to a particular city so I can join, um, Ms. Landon?”

Veralt balked, but then said, “You needn’t worry about that. Mr. Landon is actually running his own private Veritas server. It has no link to the public servers at all. You’ll be playing a new character that was already created for you, and your avatar and Amy’s are in the same place.”

Ava nodded, trying to look pleased, though she said, “I brought my gloves and headset, for my downtime. If I log on with those, will I be able to access my usual character?”

Veralt shook his head, not looking regretful at all. “I’m afraid not. The house is on its own separate network, and our game server is actually separate from that. While the LandonHome app allows calls and messages sent via the linked device, I’m afraid you’ll find that nothing else works. All of the large screens built into the suites are on the network, though, so you shouldn’t even notice unless you do something like try to play Veritas Online. You can watch all of your usual shows and browse the internet exactly as usual. Even non-VR games will function normally.”

“Oh,” she said, looking crestfallen, “Can’t I add the app to the headset or something so I can play? My friends will wonder what happened to me.”

He shrugged, dismissing her concern. “Let them know via messaging, and you can always leave the grounds and play at a gaming cafe on your days off. Now,” he patted the pod again, “your first stint in the new pod will be tomorrow. While I approve of your current professionalism,” he nodded toward her suit, “you’ll need to wear a special bodysuit and remove any cosmetics before entering the pod, so you may as well dress comfortably. In fact, we’ll be running some simple tests today, to make sure you have no underlying health issues that might affect your ability to endure long-term immersion, so you’ll need to change into this.” He turned and took a small bundle from a table by the door and handed it to her.

Ava looked down at it, plucking it apart. The bundle held a pair of simple cotton drawstring pants, one size fits most, and a short hospital gown. “Sir, what kind of tests-”

Dr. Veralt waved off her questions and pointed toward the bathroom across the hall. “There’s a changing room and a shower in there. Meet me back here in five minutes. We have a great deal to do.”

Ava clutched the clothes to her chest and hurried to the bathroom.

The tests were simple, but physically challenging. Or they would be if Ava hadn’t just spent three weeks having her muscles, stamina, and reflexes trained during long-term immersion. Mostly, the activities were things like push-ups and jogging, so she limited herself to what she had been able to do when she was a fairly fit teenager. Fooling the heart rate monitors was a lot harder, but all she had to do was think hard enough about what would happen if she was caught, and her pulse jumped as if she was a gazelle who’d suddenly noticed a cheetah hot on her heels.

The good news was that Dr. Veralt went away, leaving Ava with LeeAn and Quinn, the other two nurses on the day shift. LeeAn was in her mid-thirties, and seemed friendly enough, though she was all business as they went through the tests. The bad news was that Quinn, a man in his mid to late twenties, wasn’t nearly as cordial, and in fact seemed to go out of his way to try to trip Ava up.

At one point, when LeeAn was on break, he told Ava she needed to do a hundred situps, and it was only thanks to LeeAn returning to grab her screen that the older woman was there to correct that to twenty-five. Of course, that was after Ava had already done forty-three. When it was Quinn’s turn for break, LeeAn was helping Ava get into the straps of a machine that looked like its original purpose was to aid in physical therapy.

“Quinn applied for your job,” the woman murmured, expert fingers flicking buckles closed. “Met all the qualifications except that he’s not female, and,” her eyes flickered around the room, “the big cheese said that was non-negotiable. Give him a chance to come around.” She tapped the last buckle and stepped back.

“All right, Ava. This is the last test. Now, I just need you to pull against these straps as hard as you can, and hold that level of force for as long as you can. Ready?” Ava nodded, and they were off again.

Once the tests were complete, Dr. Veralt returned and checked over the results LeeAn sent to his screen. His frown worried Ava until he looked up and said, “Well, you’re obviously in perfect health, Ms. Shaw. I told Mr. Landon we should have performed these tests prior to making a final decision, but clearly I was being unnecessarily cautious.” And he obviously would have preferred to have something to show that he’d been at least partially correct. Dr. Veralt was obviously not the type that handled being wrong well, even when it was something so trivial.

“Well then, Ms. Shaw,” he said at last, tapping the screen so it rolled up and tucking it into his pocket. “I’ll see you here on time tomorrow morning. Remember to wear comfortable clothes and no cosmetics.”

Ava gritted her teeth at the unnecessary reminder and the implication that she’d been late, when she hadn’t, but just nodded. “Yes, sir.”

Again, the honorific soothed the doctor’s ego, and he unbent enough to offer her a tight smile. “Very well, then. Have a pleasant evening.” Turning on his heel, he walked out of the exam room, leaving Ava with LeeAn, since Quinn had ducked out the moment the tests were complete.

LeeAn smiled, her expression slightly warmer now that they were back on the footing of co-workers rather than examiner and examinee. “He likes us all to be here at least ten minutes early. He says he expects us to be working when our shift begins, not putting our things away or chatting.” She rolled her eyes. “Not that we have much to put away, since we don’t need coats or umbrellas. And we all see each other in the shared section of the living quarters, so there’s not usually anything new to talk about either.”

Just a few weeks before, Ava would have brushed off this tentative overture, but now she needed all the friends and information she could get, and ‘Ava Shaw’ would undoubtedly ask, so Ava said, “What’s the communal area like? I was too tired to check it out last night.” She hesitated. “And I’m not really comfortable being the center of attention.”

LeeAn paused, but said, “I’ll be there for dinner around seven. Would you care to join me? I can help keep you from being overwhelmed, because you’re right, not much changes around here, so every little thing is big news.”

Ava nodded and smiled. “Perfect,” she said.