The Simulation

Carlie still wasn’t sure she was comfortable with this idea.  Jim had come to her with this new idea to make VR a “totally immersive experience.”

So that was how he got her in this skin-tight, completely covering thing all over her body that left her face free and had her about ready to jump into this water.  According to Jim, he had something that he knew she would want to experience, something that, he hoped, would relay to let her actually feel it, not just see it.

She had the VR goggles in one hand and already had the O2 attachment over the lower half of her face. She could use the radio to communicate to Jim and he’d talk into the earpiece that was now covered by this thing. “Anything wrong, Carlie?”

Carlie sighed, not sure again. “No, just not sure what to expect.”

He was trying to be reassuring. “There’s nothing wrong with this.  It’s just a simulation, nothing that happens to you in there is likely to come even close to what’ll be happening out here.  The suit’ll monitor your vitals and I’ll get you out if anything goes wrong.”

Carlie sighed again, slipped on the VR goggles, and let herself sink to just below the surface. She felt so surreal in this, like she wasn’t really in control. “Okay.”

Jim’s voice came back. “Activating in 3…2…1…”

The realism of the simulation hit her all at once.  She could actually hear people, even though she knew it was totally VR.  She twisted her head and the movement tracked with the camera as she felt herself experiencing something strange.

She was on a stage somewhere.  It seemed like a bit of Déjà vu as she looked around, recognizing some of the other things on the stage with her.  She had to smile. “Magician’s assistant, huh?”

It was a little weird. She knew she was in water, floating, but it really did feel like she was standing on the stage.  The magician, obviously a computer construct, raised a hand to her, so she gracefully took it, really feeling that she was holding his hand. “This is incredible.”

Jim’s voice came back. “Just wait.  If this works the way I think it will, you’ll experience something you’ve only wished for.”

As the magician led Carlie to a table in the middle of the stage, Carlie looked at the cg face.  He was smiling at her, inviting her to lay down on the table.  Carlie moved as if she would and could actually feel the table beneath her back. Carlie looked down, seeing the midriff-baring outfit she had on, a little thrilled at the prospect of what might happen.

For as long as she could remember, Carlie wanted to be sawn in half.  Many of her friends knew it, including Jim.  She looked down as the magician placed a large sawblade on her waist and she gasped.  She could feel the sawblade touching her skin, even the teeth.

Then the magician started to saw.  Carlie felt her heart racing as she could feel the saw cutting into her flesh, but that can’t be.  She was in a suit that mimicked what she might feel, but it was still just a simulation.

But she did feel the magician sawing into her.  It kept going, and she could feel some strange feelings coming from the virtual place she was being halved in.

All too quick, the magician finished cutting Carlie in halves and, for effect, separated her virtual body.  For added effect, the magician went to her lower half and stroked his finger along the sole of her foot.  Carlie couldn’t help it, she laughed.  She loved being tickled and assumed that Jim just added that in there as a surprise.

Even though Carlie knew she couldn’t really be in halves, the magician pulled her legs a little further away, then picked them up and sat them on the table.  Carlie looked around, wondering what the simulation would spit out next.

Sure enough, the magician brought out a guillotine.  Knowing what she’d feel, knowing that it was all make-believe, she placed her head in the stock, facing upward.  She kind of wanted to see the blade.

As it dropped, Carlie felt the blade on her neck, smiling at the strangeness of the realization…

The screen suddenly went dark as Jim pulled Carlie out of the water.  Carlie looked around, back in the real world, not really realizing what had happened before she realized something was definitely wrong.

Carlie couldn’t turn her head. “Are you okay?  Your heartrate looked like it was going to go through your chest.”

Carlie wasn’t sure why she couldn’t nod. “Wait, I think there’s…”

As she took the top of the suit off, Carlie had to scream.  Her head fell a short distance only to be caught by her own hands.  She felt it, felt it all, as she turned her head to look at Jim. “What…?”

Jim led her to a bench to where she sat her head to look at the rest of her.  She felt the fear and insecurity of not knowing what more to expect.  In the simulation, she was beheaded after she’d been sawn in half, but that was just the simulation.

As she started to take the suit off, glad that Jim allowed her to keep a bathing suit on underneath, Carlie felt it.  Somehow, she just knew.

Sure enough, as her waist was freed from the suit, she groaned in shock.  There, clearly dividing her waist, a smooth seam shown.  Shuddering breaths followed as she used her arms to push down beside her hips.

Her two halves came completely apart. “Jim?”

He had no idea.  He tried to put her back together, tried to get the suit back on and her back into the simulation to complete it, but it didn’t work.  Nothing worked.

Still, Jim did think of something, a patch of sorts.  He used Velcro to sort-of put her back together as he continued to research what might have gone wrong.

As the time passed, Carlie could think of only two possibilities.  Somehow, through that simulation, Jim harnessed real magical effects and pulled her out too early to get her back together again.  The idea was a good one, but the other idea was also worth looking at…

…That they were all in a simulation already.