Prisoners of VR

Chapter 1: Pressure Cooker VR

Screech!

A minivan arrived at an abrupt halt, scraping a sedan as they fought for the sole parking spot in a middle-class apartment facility.

“Are you blind or what?” A curse boomed out of the sedan as the driver rolled down the window. He was a youth in his early twenties, hot-blooded. He got down and approached the van that took his parking space, intending to give the driver a piece of his mind when the door burst open and slammed into his face.

“Quick, we need to interview him before the other reporters.” A middle-aged woman dressed in a suit said as she slung a camera on her shoulder and rushed out, pushing the youth aside, glossing over his collapse.

Following her was a cameraman that hurriedly grabbed the camera from her, thanking his ancestors when it wasn’t damaged from her rough handling of the instrument. The duo rushed to the elevator and pressed the button, staring awkwardly a moment later.

The lift had malfunctioned, a customary routine in such apartments.

“Where…is his house?” The middle-aged lady asked the cameraman, wiping her sweat with a kerchief.

“Fourth floor,” The cameraman wished to just drop dead and avoid such stress.

“…Fuck!” After a shout, the middle-aged lady rushed the flight of stairs, “Our necks are on the line for this interview. Pray that we’re the first.”

“We’re the first,” The cameraman said with confidence as he kept pace with her, “I…used my contacts to mess up their information. The other reporters should currently be butting heads in the wrong apartment next street.”

“Great work!” The middle-aged lady gasped like a dying zebra as she hurriedly fixed her appearance, pulling out a ton of items from her tiny handbag. She then pressed the bell and whispered, “Don’t expect a raise though.”

“I hate my job.” The cameraman fixed the camera on his shoulder and began to record.

The door opened as a lady draped in a churidar stared at them in confusion.

The reporter lady hurriedly introduced themselves, “We’re from W-News. I talked with you on the phone ten minutes ago.”

“You’re…fast.” The lady in a churidar said in surprise, “It has only been twenty minutes since the results were announced.”

She beckoned them to enter the house, staring at one of the bedrooms to shout mildly, “Saurav! The reporters are here. Come out for a minute.”

A wide-grinned boy exited the bedroom, elated at the joyous occasion. In their country, the 10th Standard—Board Exam—results were accompanied by a lot of fanfare, since it decided the student’s future. Among them, his curriculum, CBSE received the most attention.

The reporter lady smiled professionally as she shook hands with the boy, Saurav, “I’m Deepthi from W-News. So, Saurav Tiwari, how are you feeling?”

“With a score of 499/500, you ranked first in the entire country. I’m sure you must be proud, right?”

“Yes, I’m happy.” Saurav couldn’t articulate himself well, for it had just been twenty minutes since the result was announced. His excitement was still at its zenith.

The reporter lady, Deepthi seemed experienced with the situation as she asked with a smile, “You lost one mark in Maths. Did you expect that? Usually, the top rankers lose marks in English.”

“I messed up with the units for one answer. I’m afraid that’s where I lost the mark.” Saurav seemed like if he was asked to write his paper, he would be able to produce a carbon copy instantly, fully aware of what he wrote where, and why.

After a few questions, Deepthi faced the mike to Saurav’s mother, Anubha Tiwari, “I can see from your expression that you’re the happiest mother today. Are you having any plans for Saurav’s future education?”

“Please, he just got his results.” Anubha Tiwari smiled wryly, “Right after his exams concluded, we had him undergo surgery to be implanted with the Neural Connector. He’s been recuperating for the past month and had just been discharged from the hospital yesterday.”

“So, the mother has already prepared her son’s present.” Deepthi laughed and changed her question, “A Neural Connector costs an exorbitant sum. That’s an expensive present.”

“It’s just an investment for his future.” Anubha laughed along with Deepthi, “VR is the trend these days. I want my son to stay relevant with the times, especially since he plans to pursue science further.”

“Then, after school, he’ll join…” Deepthi trailed off, expecting to hear the answer that she was fed up with, having interviewed toppers all along.

“IIT, of course.” Anubha’s eyes turned serious for a moment, “A mother is slightly biased towards her son, but still, someone with his smarts should definitely be in an institution created to nurture geniuses, the IIT.”

Indian Institute of Technology, the most prestigious university in India where the cream of the crop entered, with the graduates instantly joining the elite circle of society. Being an IIT alumnus was a symbol of pride, irrespective of one’s wealth class.

“So, Saurav,” Deepthi stared at the star of the day and asked, “Have you set your sights on any IIT campus?”

“IIT Bombay,” Anubha was the one to answer, her reply spontaneous. Even petroleum ignition would have been a tad slower than the speed of her reply.

‘That’s also expected.’ Deepthi sighed mentally but still finished the interview professionally. Once they returned to their van, she groaned, complaining in irritation, “Man, it pisses me off!”

“Is the fact that Saurav’s probably a hundred times smarter than you that upsetting?” The cameraman muttered under his breath, shutting up once he received her glare.

“These fucking geniuses! I mean, they’re not satisfied with topping the Board Exams. They want to get into IIT. Well, even that is fine. But usually, a student will gratefully thank the good karma accumulated by all his ancestors even if he gets into the worst stream on the worst IIT campus. But this guy…” She raged, “Freaking IIT Bombay? Really? You need to get into the best of the literal best?”

“Well…let’s rest once we deliver the footage.” The cameraman began to unpack as the van plied the road, “Buy me a drink tonight.”

“I’ll get you a coke.” Deepthi snorted.

“Miser.” The cameraman groaned.

“What?”

“…Nothing.”

Swoosh!

Peering from the balcony was Anubha Tiwari as she watched the van leave. But soon after, a couple more vans arrived. With a smile, she laughed, “Saurav, these reporters keep coming.”

“Mom, I want to sleep.” Saurav said with a tired expression, “That interview was nerve-wracking.”

“You should get used to the attention.” Anubha said before she pinched his cheeks, “By the way, your Nerve Gear will arrive in the evening.”

“Seriously?” Saurav was excited as he jumped around the house, breaking into a dance. It was a series of good news, kind of overwhelming, but in a good way.

It was evening by the time the reporters stopped coming to their house. But, Tiwari was instead excited, sitting right next to the door in anticipation. He almost pounced on the courier guy, barely calming himself as he received the package.

“Open it!”

At his mother’s gentle voice, he opened the package and stared at the pair of horns inside, each fin-shaped, five centimetres in length. The material resembled marble that was polished to the extreme, glowing with soft, monochromatic blue circuit lines that gave it a sleek, futuristic look.

In excitement, he screwed them on his head. The Neural Connection was the bridge between man and machine, permanently integrated into his brain, seamlessly through the surgery. It created a socket in which the Nerve Gear—the pair of horns—had to be screwed respectively.

uVR Earth!

A cutting-edge gear produced by Pomegranate Corporation that the wearer could control through his thoughts, like an extension of his limb, and access Virtual Reality.

[Welcome, Saurav Tiwari!]

A voice resounded in his head as a screen appeared before him, mystical in nature, causing Saurav to jump around in joy. “So cool!”

[Do you wish to access your private Virtual Space?]

‘Yes!’ He thought, instantly falling asleep in reality. His brainwaves gradually synchronised with the uVR Earth, taking a few minutes to do so. Soon after, Saurav woke up, not in reality, but in his Virtual Space.

“This is…beautiful!” He teared up at the sight.

A gentle river stream flowed across a mountain range, at the end of which it cascaded to the ground as a waterfall, creating a moist atmosphere. The grass was lush, brimming with vitality to an intoxicating level.

A gentle breeze blew past, occasionally sprinkling a few microdroplets of water on him, an overwhelmingly enjoyable experience, one that instantly erased all his exhaustion and made him feel healthier.

A hundred metres inland from the waterfall was a double-storeyed house, situated alongside the river. Seated on the bench at its portico was Saurav.

Growl!

Just as he enjoyed the scenery, a feline sound alarmed him, causing him to turn around in a hurry to stare at a tiger sprawled right behind the bench.

“T-T-T-Tiger!” Saurav leaped in fright at the appearance of the big cat.

“Relax, it’s a tamed product.” His mother’s voice resounded as a couple of seconds later, Anubha materialised next to him, “Since you like animals, I bought the Tiger Pack Membership. It’s a tamed tiger that likes to play with humans, so don’t be afraid…”

She hadn’t even finished her sentence when Saurav pounced on the tiger and snuggled it. He was crazy about tigers but didn’t have the guts to approach a real one. But as the one before him was a virtual one customised to be friendly to humans, he could freely play with it.

“Ehh…hehe…hahaha!” He laughed every time the tiger licked his face.

Anubha watched his enjoyment with a smile for ten minutes. Her smile deepened when the tiger turned into digital code and vanished.

Staring at her son’s startled expression, she beckoned him to enter the house, “The membership only allows ten minutes of use per day. I could only afford the cheapest subscription, sorry.”

“That’s fine, Mom,” Saurav said and casually followed her into the house, stunned when he saw that it resembled a library, filled with hundreds of books, from eleventh standard to graduate level in the PCMB (Physics, Chemistry, Maths, and Biology) stream.

“Mom…what’s this?” Saurav felt overwhelmed by the sheer stack of books.

“Study materials, what else?” Anubha flashed a calm smile and continued, “What do you think is the biggest advantage of Virtual Reality?”

“Its sense of realism?” Saurav tilted his head.

“No, it’s the time dilation.” Anubha stressed curtly, “One second in reality is ten seconds here. This means, if you were to study here, you’ll be able to cover ten times the portion in the same time.”

“More than two million students would apply for the over 10,000 IIT seats. Among them, only the top 300 of JEE rank would have a chance of getting a Computer Science seat at IIT Bombay. The competition will be insane, so you need to prepare, starting now!” Anubha said in a flurry.

“Can’t I have fun today?” Saurav asked weakly.

“You can enjoy life at IIT Bombay. Every second wasted now will cost you your rank. There are many geniuses in our overpopulated country. So,” Anubha forced him to sit at the study table and opened the math textbook, “Let’s start studying.”

“…Yes,” Saurav said dispiritedly as he began to solve the math questions. Any course, lecture, or reference material he needed was instantly available to download in the Virtual Space.

But unlike before, math no longer seemed fun since he was studying it for 12-14 hours at a stretch in the Virtual Space. A short break later, he had to move to physics, then chemistry, and finally, biology.

The more he studied, the less his mental capacity became. His brain was unable to handle the high-intensity study sessions at ten times the speed in reality, causing degradation in his neurons, which affected his attention span.

Worst of all, his mother watched him like a hawk, using her guardian rights to enter his Virtual Space, which was supposed to be private.

He only returned to reality to eat and take a bath, spending no more than two hours per day in the real world. Even during that time, his mother claimed the spent time was a waste, for that two hours equated to twenty hours in the Virtual Space.

She urged him to hurry, forcing him back to the Virtual Space to study, pressuring him by comparing him to his peers.

“Look at your classmate, Raghav. He only scored 487 as compared to your 499, but he has already finished studying eleventh-standard physics. If you don’t stay in the lead, others would surpass you.” She nagged him, bringing in data regarding his peers and their ‘progress’ in IIT preparation.

The ten minutes of playtime with the tiger daily was his solace. Somehow, he endured thanks to it.

But even that was no more when after a month of service, the tiger vanished; Anubha hadn’t renewed the subscription. She felt it was too expensive and only served as a distraction to Saurav.

In routine the next day, to heal his sanity, Saurav intended to summon the tiger after a head-breaking study session.

[Subscription terminated. Please add a payment plan to renew its use…]

“Ha…haha…hahaha.” Saurav laughed like a broken tape recorder as he logged out from his Virtual Space and returned to reality. He looked around his house, realising that his mother had gone to work.

No one was at home.

It had been a while since he used his smartphone, noticing that its battery had died out. The uVR Earth came equipped with a call function, but to avoid distractions, his mother had used her guardian rights to block it.

Saurav plugged in the charging cable, distressed, and irritated for no reason. He watched with trembling hands as the smartphone switched on, hurriedly dialing his mother’s number. He wanted her to renew the subscription.

Without the guardian’s permission, he couldn’t even use the funds stored in his bank account, since he wasn’t an earning member.

“The subscriber you’re calling is currently busy, please call again later…”

A minute later, he called again, receiving the same voice message. When he called a third time, the voice message changed.

“The subscriber you’re calling is either switched off or not reachable…”

“Fuck it…” Saurav threw his smartphone with force, ignoring when it shattered from the impact. He arrived at the balcony and climbed over the rails, staring at the road far below. He didn’t even hesitate and leaped.

Plop!

His head splattered from the impact as blood dyed the street. The onlookers hurriedly crowded around and called the ambulance. The street became chaotic as even the media people arrived before long. It hadn’t been long since they came for the interviews, but Saurav Tiwari made the headlines again. This time, it wasn’t a good occasion.

As Saurav’s corpse was loaded onto the ambulance, a horn, one of the uVR Earth, fell to the ground, barely sporting a scratch. It was more durable than the human body.