By the time Justin breathed back out, his body sense returned, thankfully now free of the cloying gel. He opened his eyes to a small, simple room, the smooth white tiles of the floor rising to white walls which rose to a ceiling seemingly made of soft white light.

In front of him was the back of a chair remarkably like those from the waiting room, and behind the chair, a holovid screen displaying Imagitech's logo.

A quick glance down confirmed he was no longer naked and was wearing a white Imagitech jumpsuit and sneakers. He understood the need to push branding, but there really should be limits.

Looking back up, Justin spoke into the air, "Lobby, change floor to hardwood, chair to black leather recliner, clothes to jeans and a t-shirt." He watched as the floor and chair rippled as the changes rolled out, and looked down at the change in weight and fit of his clothes.

"Oh, come on!" He muttered, shaking his head at the large Imagitech logo blazoned across his t-shirt. "Lobby, plain white t-shirt, please."

Happy at last, he sat down in the comfortable chair, and with a smile, "Lobby, run 'A Time of Heroes".

The lobby bled away around him, leaving him and his chair floating in a black void.

The games logo appeared, spinning in front of him, each side representing the game's two main factions. On one side was the golden shield, the badge of the Heroes League, on the other, the scrawled black spider of the Villains Guild.

A man's deep voice spoke out of the void, resonant with power, "Welcome, newcomer. My name is Janus, and I will be your guide." The void seemed to pulse along with his words.

"There will be many decisions to make in the coming hours and days as you decide who you will be in this. But first, perhaps the most important decision of all." The voice paused, seeming to move within the void while still emanating from all around. "For what shall you fight?" His voice shifted timbre with ease, certainty, "For Justice?" Comfort, "Perhaps to protect the innocent?" Slick and coaxing, "For wealth and power?" Dark and devious, "Or perhaps for the simple joys of mayhem and destruction?"

Absorbed in the shift and play of Janus' voice, it took Justin a moment to speak. His answer was never in doubt. "I will fight with the Heroes." Justin declared seriously, as a hero should. Inside he was squealing with excitement.

He put his hand on his right leg to stop it vibrating with nervous excitement. Which, come to think of it, wasn't even his actual leg. He rubbed his hand over his thigh, feeling the weave of the denim.

He'd played in a VR capsule dozens of times at the community centre, but the full-immersion pod was something else. While he'd been distracted, the game logo had vanished and the void around him had slowly brightened into blue sky, in the distance he could see wispy clouds reflecting the warm yellow of the sun. Below him, vapour condensed, swirling out from his chair, solidifying into a mist-shrouded floor.

A man in a white toga walked out from behind Justin, his hands clasped behind his back like a professor.

Justin blinked in surprise as he spotted a sneering face amidst the hair on the back of the man's head, but when the figure turned to face him, his actual countenance was relaxed, and smiling.

"So," Janus said, his voice still deep and powerful, but no longer world shaking. "What sort of hero would you like to play?"

Janus, Justin remembered from the promotional material, was the name of one of the sixteen quantum-cluster AIs charged with administering the game in north america. Housed somewhere on the east coast, the server farm apparently ate as much power as a small city.

He couldn't remember what each AI did, but it was clear Janus was the welcoming committee.

Janus' smile widened, "You are correct newcomer, I am here to help you in creating your character." Justin frowned in confusion, "and yes, the interface allows me to read your surface thoughts, doing so allows me greater insight into who you truly wish to become."

Justin quickly closed his mouth. Isn't that a little invasive? He wondered.

"A little," Janus replied, answering his thoughts once again. "But please bear in mind that any character, player or not, could do the same with sufficiently advanced Telepathy."

"That can't be safe," Justin blurted, his mind already running over all the ways a power like that could be abused. Forget finding out someone's real identity, could a telepathic player go routing for someone's passwords or bank account details?

"Calm," Janus said, holding his hand up for peace. "The only reason I have drawn the ability to your attention is to allay your fears before encountering it in game. My brother Somnus serves as the conduit of thoughts both to, and from your mind. He is responsible for translating your intentions and for supplying your mind with sensory feedback for all you experience in this world. He is also responsible for stopping those thoughts relating to you or your identity from ever reaching the game. Please, try to think about your name, your parents name. Can you tell me your CID number?"

Justin frowned as his mind spun. He knew who he was, he knew he knew his name. But try as he might, he couldn't bring those answers to the front of his brain where concepts became words. "Huh," he said, "That's really weird."

"So I have been told." Janus replied with a smile. "All limiters are removed while players are in any of the downtime lobbies, and while no one there will be telepathic, please remember to guard your personal details from other players if you wish to remain anonymous."

"Now," he said, his smile becoming a grin. "Back to my initial question, what sort of Hero do you wish to play?"

Justin, mentally agreeing to table the issue of hidden thoughts, answered without having to think about it. "An inventor, a gadgeteer." Like his desire to play a hero, the answer was just there in his mind. Not only did Justin prefer to play a supporting role, he preferred an adaptable, slow-build character.

Why choose to throw lasers from your eyes when you can build a laser rifle? Why fly when you can build a rocket pack and then rain down lasers from the sky? Give an inventor enough time and resources and he could go toe to toe with just about anyone.

"Excellent," Janus replied, perhaps sharing in Justin's rosy image of raining down fire from above. "Allow me to present the top candidates." He said, stepping to one side and waving grandly towards four rising marble plinths.

"First, a human inventor," he said, as a man appeared on the first plinth. "Rated as average difficulty, you would begin play with a decent intelligence, a grounding in science and technology, and enough funds and resources to put that knowledge directly into play." Janus explained, before moving quickly on to the second plinth where a tall grey alien figure appeared.

"An alien Inventor, rated as challenging. Slightly above human intelligence, but with less initial resources." Nictitating membranes blinked over large black eyes, and Justin couldn't help shuddering as it smiled at him, revealing needle pointed teeth beneath thin lips.

Noticing Justin's preoccupation with the alien's smile, Janus shook his head sadly, "Please don't judge the Intorians by their looks, they are actually a rather peaceful, aquatic species, and have actually had a research station beneath Earth's oceans for a number of centuries. There are a number of other alien species available, we can go into further options later if you are interested."

"Option three," he said, as a humanoid robot appeared on the third plinth. Smooth chrome and glowing blue eyes, it looked high-tech and deadly. "An android. Also rated as challenging. Technically an AI housed in a single shell, its mind stats are restricted both by the necessarily processing core, and the cost of its body. Better suited to an assault character with a side of invention"

"And finally, a true AI." Janus said with a quirk of an eyebrow. "The truly superior choice, if I do say so myself." A glowing sphere of code appeared on the last plinth. "It is rated as extreme difficulty, and I only present it as an option given your excellent neuro-conduction scores."

"My what?" Justin asked, confused. Already cast adrift over the last three options, he found himself pulled from new dreams of underwater armies and villain crushing robots.

"How easily your mind interacts with our systems. Certain character abilities require either the rapid or expanded transfer of information, higher degrees of Intelligence, Acuity, and Super Speed for example. Your scores actually place you in the top 1% of users, opening possible avenues closed to other players."

"Huh, really? Then are AIs and Super-Speed characters rare?"

"Indeed, there are currently only thirty-four users in the North American shard playing characters whose Super-Speed can expand beyond third rank, and no one has yet chosen to play an AI." He sighed a little sadly, but with a mischievous twinkle in his eye, "I'm afraid Super Speed is just too big a draw to resist."

Dammit, he knew Justin was hooked, dirty mind-reading robot!