The Chrysalis Engine By Doug Klein
The alarm had gone off two hours prior. The sleep button had been struck a few times before the whole clock had been unplugged from the wall. Ronnie Gallard did not want to wake up and face the day. It would be just like every other day, which for Ronnie meant it was going to be the worst day ever. Again. He peered out from under his blanket, a furrowed brow greeting the sun’s late morning rays. He succumbed to the pull of the morning routine and swung his legs out of bed. His tiny studio apartment reeked of unwashed clothes and old food just a few days past expiration.
“Gotta really get my shit together, man." He said aloud to no one in particular. Early complaints used to fall upon the ears of Meridian, his on-again off-again girlfriend who was now back in the off-again category. A recent firing from his last seemingly steady job lead her to find her way back to her sister’s place, leaving only a note on the table, and a few records on the floor.
Ronnie,
I love you. But for fucks sake I can't deal with this anymore. We could be doing all the things we ever talked about and more if you could just stop going to the Chrysalis Engine. Believe me, I know how great it can make you feel, but we can't keep spending all of OUR money on digital thrills. Get help. For you. For me. For us.
Love,
Meridian xoxo
She was right. She was always fucking right, and Ronnie hated himself even more because of it. This was it. His chance. Today was the day he would start the change. Not some half-assed attempt, not some empty promise. No, today he would do right by her. He looked to the table to his left. On it sat one last coupon he had scrounged up for the Chrysalis Engine.
"One last ride. Then I'm done. Then I'm here for you, baby." He stood and began to dress himself. Just the act of saying it aloud had given him a slight boost of confidence. He brushed his teeth and put on some cologne, and headed out. First to cash out at the Chrysalis Engine, then to the temp agency to see if he could get on a waiting list for some kind of job.
The Chrysalis Engine was a digital and virtual experience. One could hook into it and experience any type of terror, horror, or death. The fear, the pain, all simulated through the machine and into the thrill seeker's brain. They could literally feel themselves die, and yet the immediate release of the machine would bring on a new sort of high. The adrenaline, dopamine, and serotonin released would give the user a huge boost of euphoria all day. Some had said it was just an addiction machine, but no formal studies had been done yet. All anyone really knew was they were the hottest new trend, and pricey at that. Ronnie had done so many runs that he couldn't even remember them all. They had helped with his fears, his anxiety. The drawback was he always diverted whatever funds he could to hit it up and spend hours hooked in. The feeling he had afterwards was almost unexplainable. He could smile, laugh, and not let the pile of shit that was his day drag him down. It was there he had met Meridian, so it couldn't all be bad, right?
Ronnie walked in through the door and headed up to the front counter. The coupon he had was good for one free run, which usually meant a short selection. Something to get a rise out of you, but leave you wanting more. Might as well get one last hurrah. Ronnie nodded at the clerk behind the glass and put the coupon on the counter. The clerk slid a small portion of the glass open and reeled in the paper. He looked it over and scanned it. A moment of anxiety rushed into Ronnie, but it cleared and he was good to go.
"Station Six. Hook in and wait until the light turns green to engage." The monotone voice of the clerk told Ronnie he was just waiting for his shift to be over. He knew how that felt.
"I got it man. Ain't my first time." Ronnie smiled and gave an awkward half wave half salute and headed down the corridor. He shook off his social clumsiness and got seated in the large machine. The machine felt like a large cockpit that was nearly dark inside, save for the red lights that signaled the machine was not yet ready to engage. Ronnie got himself comfortable, and strapped on the helmet. Tingling sensations, like walking through spider webs, cascaded over his body. He knew this feeling well. He gripped onto a joystick device, with a button on top. Once the light turned green he would press it and be off on some mental ride. The room's crimson illumination flashed to a bright emerald hue. The button clicked in and Ronnie was off.
It was one Ronnie did recall. Driving fast in a random sports car down a winding mountain road, he knew what was coming. He took one turn after another, his speed increasing and his car narrowly missing the unfenced edge of the road, the rocky canyon sprawling out below him. Then, without warning, one of his tires blew out. The car fishtailed for a moment, and then went careening off the edge. Ronnie could not stop himself from bracing for the impact. The car smashed into the rocks, Ronnie felt his arms shatter into the dashboard and his chest cave in. His last sight was being thrown through the windshield and the car tumbled down the hill. Then instantaneous darkness.
Ronnie lurched in his seat and gasped loudly. He was breathing extremely fast and the end game attendant was there with a plethora of items to help calm you down or clean you up. A loud siren rang once, and the attendant hit the "All Clear" button as Ronnie pulled off the helmet and gave a thumbs up. He was smiling now, and his breathing was slowing now.
"Damn. What a fucking rush." Ronnie set the helmet back in its place and headed to the exit. For being a sample run, it was still a good one to end on. He felt real good now, and was ready to present the best version of himself for the temp agency. As he walked passed the clerk and gave a much more confident wave goodbye, a man with the Chrysalis Engine logo on his shirt stepped in front of him.
"Leaving? Don't want to try some of the new releases we got out? Grizzly Attack? Tsunami? I hear the big hit right now is Space Airlock Malfunction!" The man was trying just a little too hard to sell Ronnie on those new runs, and his annoyance at it helped his rebuttal.
"I can't man. Got no job and no credits. Just used my last coupon and now I'm off to the temp agency. But thanks for the recap." Ronnie patted his shoulder and moved past him. The man turned and trotted after him. Ronnie's eyes rolled. This guy was going to kill his buzz before he got to the door.
"Hey! Hey wait. If it's work you are looking for, have you ever heard of our tester positions?" Ronnie stopped. He looked at the door. It was only a few feet away. He should walk out. He needed to walk out. But, tester position?
"Alright, go on." Ronnie turned his head to speak, but didn't go all the away around. He was still trying to will himself out the door.
"Yeah, see we have started expanding the experiences so much, that we have a test site just a few miles from here. You are, uh, well versed with the simulations, correct?" The look of questioning within his eyes dug deep into Ronnie, who had now spun around and taken a step towards the man.
"Man, I've been on almost every sim possible and then some. But, listen, I'm looking for real work, not some volunteer..."
"It's paid. And paid well. You have to go down there though and prove you can give us good input, and you might have to deal with simulations under performing, or, well, over performing. But it’s legit. Here, take this card and bring it to the address on it. Say Bradley sent you. They'll give you a sort of tryout and if you pass, you're on the team." The man was holding a card in his hand, outstretched toward Ronnie. He looked at it for a moment, and then reluctantly grabbed it. The man threw on an ugly grin, smug with himself and his sell. Ronnie finally made it out the door.
He took a bus that stopped off a few blocks from the address. It was an industrial area, full of welding plants and gravel pits, but deep within stood a large old office building. Ronnie double checked the address. No pomp and circumstance here, just a large gray building with black windows and a small printed sign on a door reading "Chrysalis Engine, INC." Ronnie shrugged his shoulders and walked inside.
It looked a lot like a doctor’s office. Two other people were waiting in chairs at the other side of the room, reading magazines. Ronnie walked up to the front desk and produced the card he had gotten earlier. The front desk clerk took it and looked at it, then peered upward at Ronnie.
"Bradley sent me here. Said you guys have, like a tester position." He was running on the fumes of the Engine and he didn't quite have the confidence he would have hoped for. The clerk smiled and grabbed a clipboard with document on it.
"We do actually. To fully apply, fill this out and return it here. Take a seat, and once a test station is ready, we will call you in and evaluate your ability within the program." She had a beautiful smile, and Ronnie couldn't help but grin ear to ear as well.
“How much does it pay, if you don't mind me asking?" Ronnie could not hide the optimism that was now painted across his face.
"Twenty credits an hour, and you should get anywhere from thirty to forty hours a week. And there always is a chance to advance if you are deemed to be a superior candidate." She reached over the desk and handed the clipboard to Ronnie, who tried to play it cool and not let the tremor in his hands be noticeable. This could be life changing.
"Well alright." Ronnie sat down and looked over the paperwork. Simple as could be. Name, address, income, health history, the works. He filled it out as quickly as he could and handed back to the clerk. He got another smile in return and then sat down and picked up a magazine. He was only halfway through an article on new food synthesizers when his name was called.
He was escorted into a back room where in the corner stood a Chrysalis Engine. A technician of sorts came in and started to go over some details with him.
"These are new sims that have not been tested. The sims may go on too long, or short, and you might experience some extreme discomfort, but we will have someone monitoring you at all times to pull you out if it gets too hairy. Now just sit in the machine and we can begin in just a few moments." The technician gestured to the machine, and Ronnie went though the motions. Sat down, got comfy, and put the helmet on. There was no red light in this one, and he figured they would just count him in or something. A sudden burning sensation in his arm jolted him, and pressure clamped down on his arms and legs. He tried to move, but could not. Struggling as much as he could, he still could not move.
"Hey! Hey! Something...is..." Ronnie could not finish what he was saying. Darkness had swallowed all he knew. He drifted through a dream state for what felt like an eternity before he fell from the void.
Ronnie awoke with a start. Confused and panicked, he found himself underwater. A dim blue glow surrounded him, but only giving him a few feet of visibility. A device hooked into his mouth was delivering air, so he tried to swim towards a surface he could not see. He only got a few strokes in before his leg felt snagged. He turned and saw a chain around his ankle, descending into the darkness. He reached to it and tugged, but it had no give. He could see now he was also stripped nearly nude, with only his briefs on. This was a weird fucking sim.
A sound then reverberated through the water, and Ronnie could see lights, a bit of a distance away, coming on, brightening the water he was in. They accelerated and reached him in such a rush that he had to close his eyes as the sudden brightness had sent daggers of pain into his head. Once he had them open again, he could see he was in a gigantic pool of sorts. A pool full of small jellyfish. Everywhere he looked, he would see the ominous jellies hovering, like a ghost above a grave. His heart was hammering in his chest and he had tried to minimize his movements as there were jellyfish just meters away, flickering in the bluish light of the pool.
Suddenly a humming sound began to resonate all around him. He spun in place, looking for a source. He could not see one, but he could feel what was happening. The water was moving. A tide was being created within the pool. The pace of his heart somehow quickened as he realized his fate. The jellyfish began to float towards him with the tide. He swam back as far as the chain would let him, but he had backed into one rogue jellyfish. The tentacles caressed his arms and released their venom. As if burning oil had been lashed across his arm, Ronnie wailed into the breathing apparatus, causing a flurry of bubbles. He kicked and swam away from the sting and as the bubble cleared from his vision he found himself within the swarm. He could see the wave of the tide coming all but too late, and several jellyfish crashed into him. Like whips of fire, their tentacles wrapped around his exposed body. His stomach became lacerated and envenomed, the pain had caused him to bite through the apparatus, shattering teeth and tasting blood. He swung his arms only to catch more jellyfish on his palms and forearms. He went to scream and just got a mouthful of water. His eyes bulged and the veins in his neck were protruding, and in one last violent thrash, Ronnie's heart stopped and his body became still.
On a monitor in one of the rooms of the large gray building, the technician who had spoken to Ronnie earlier looked at his lifeless body and jotted down a few notes. He then turned to his computer and began firing away at keystrokes. He had made sure to make copies of the recording, saved under the filename "Box Jellyfish 1". There was a knock at the door and the clerk from the front counter walked in.
"Everything go alright?" She said as she came in to collect a few documents. The technician swung around in his chair and put his hand behind his head.
"Yeah that one is going to be great. Got a great recording. Guy lasted longer than I thought. Call Bradley and tell him drinks on me. The boss is going to just love this." He smiled and turned back to his work. He then called over his shoulder before the clerk had left.
"Oh, call in a cleanup too. I'll start processing the termination papers." The clerk gave him a wave of acknowledgement and headed back out the front desk. There were more people waiting, after all.
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