Full-immersion Substitutive Reality

The next step in virtual reality.

F.S.R. is the latest thing; very expensive tech. It requires a lot of floorspace for the equipment, which includes a large computer, a specialized chair, and a very sophisticated helmet suspended from a support structure.

When the system engages, the user effectively goes under to a state of semi-consciousness. Completely unaware of their own body, the nervous system is arrested and redirected into the F.S.R. system. The user is able to move around as if really in the substituted reality and receive simulated nervous feedback indistinguishable from the real thing.

For all intents and purposes to user, what happens in the F.S.R. system is 100% real.

Leaving the system will return them to their body and only the memory of the experience will remain.

It had finally arrived.

The brand new F.S.R. system. John had had to call in some favors and cut a deal with a buddy of his who worked for the manufacturing company to use his discount but it would all be worth it. John had been reading the technical specs on this system for weeks. It was insane. He couldn't wait to get it all set up and take it for a spin.

He hauled the components to a cozy basement room he'd cleared out. That whole room would be just for F.S.R. dives for the foreseeable future; it wouldn't need many furnishings—if any—besides the chair.

It took nearly an hour to unbox, build, and connect everything. The model wasn't the fully-assembled retail model most consumers would get; John had to do a lot of the work himself. But having worked as an electrical and mechanical engineer for over a decade, he knew his way around technology. Even so, he had to take a few breaks to read the sheet of fairly technical installation instructions that had been included.

By the time it was all finished, he was giddy. He flipped the power switch and the room was filled with a soft hum of fans as the system gradually lit up and came online.

He was dressed for comfort, in brand new fleece pajama pants and a favorite old t-shirt. This thing could build whole worlds. He could live any fantasy with it; It was the key to innumerable realities. He laughed.

Too excited to make up his mind, he just hopped in the seat and decided to wing it.

There was a control panel positioned by my right hand and he flipped the switch to engage.

A few rods popped up around {frst_name}'s arms and legs to serve as guard-rails so nothing moved and a series of round nodes rolled up the back of his neck, tingling softly as the bioelectric currents of his nervous system were tapped into.

The helmet came down over his entire face and everything went black for a moment.

Then he was standing in an empty gray room all by himself. Some kind of system lobby, he guessed. A few floating objects surrounded him and as he reached towards one he realized it was a program he could run.