Jacob gunned the accelerator and flicked his right turn signal on as he raced down the highway. He ventured a quick glance at his blind spots before changing lanes. Jacob eased his foot off the accelerator letting his blue compact hatchback glide with the flow of traffic. His eyes darted to the clock on his dashboard noting the time of 5:50 P.M.

Jacob clicked his tongue and pressed his left thumb down on the steering wheel’s Bluetooth button. A simple digital beep notified him that the voice command features were active. Jacob cleared his throat, “Hey, Sam!”

A deep and smooth male voice answered, “Yes, Sir?”

Jacob carefully commanded, “Access maps. Route me home. Avoid traffic.”

“Routing. Optimal path found. Exit in 2 miles. You will arrive home in 5 minutes with current traffic conditions.” replied Sam.

Jacob released a sigh of relief, “Thank you, Sam.”

“My pleasure, Sir!” answered Jacob’s digital personal assistant with slight melodic tones.

I’m going to make the appointment! No delays just an installation and I’ll be ready to make my first character, Veralic. Mused Jacob. Now I just need the technician to be on time and not early.

Jacob’s car exited the highway and began to trek through several lights as Sam led him home. By the time 5:56 P.M. rolled around, Jacob’s car had pulled up to the curb of his small one-story home. Parked on front of his car and home was the neon green and sapphire blue van of the Trinity Game’s technician. A man in overalls of similar color to the van stood at Jacob’s front door knocking.

Jacob shifted his car into park and practically threw himself out of his car as he called to the beanpole of a technician, “I’m here! Right here!”

The red-haired technician turned and grinned at Jacob in amusement. “Excited about your new rig?”

Jacob mirrored the grin laughing. “Yes, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about Choice of Fate for the past month!”

The technician nodded knowingly and said, “Well you picked a good time as the first Apocalypse phase just ended in game.” The technician extended a hand towards Jacob. “I’m Robert your Trinity Games technician. You can just call me Bob though.”

Bob gestured towards the locked front door. “Would you like to show me in to where you want the mechanical umbilical cord set up for your rig?”

Jacob gave an enthusiastic nod as he quickly unlocked the door. As he opened the door he led the way through the entrance way into his living room. Jacob took a few steps forward and began to push his faux-leather couch forward to create a path. As he pushed he waved his right hand past himself to the spare bedroom that had been converted into his VR play room.

Bob gave Jacob a smile of thanks moving past Jacob and into the room. Jacob followed swiftly behind Bob and flipped the switch to better light up the room. Bob scanned the room stepping onto the black foam floor and made his way to a sectioned off portion of the wall. Bob bent down and examined the tubing as well as nearby tanks containing the hydraulic fluid necessary for the operation of the mechanical umbilical cord.

Bob gave a satisfied grunt as he stood back up and said, “Everything looks to be in order here. Set up should take no more than five minutes. Diagnostics should take another fifteen minutes. After that we can sync your suit up with the cord and have you in game in no time!”

Jacob glowed with Christmas like glee as he gave a short, “Thank you! I’ll be right back while you set up. I’m going to get into my haptic suit in the meantime.”

Bob nodded and made his way out to his van as Jacob ventured back across the living room to his bedroom. Once inside his room, Jacob quickly tore off his tie and unbuttoned his shirt tossing both garments onto his bed. Next came his dress pants and shoes as he unbuckled his belt while he wiggled out of his pants and kicked off his shoes. He dropped himself down onto his bed as he pulled off both socks. He then darted from the bed to his closet where he pulled out a bulky looking wet suit.

Jacob carefully laid his haptic feedback suit onto his bed. He smiled at the black matte metallic looking surface of his suit. Both of his hands reached down and traced the mechanical tubing that trailed down the spine of the suit branching off towards the limbs like a secondary nervous system. His hands stopped near the back-waist area next to the coupling mechanism attached to the support belt built into the suit.

Jacob flipped the suit over to the front and unbuckled the latches opening the suit up. Gingerly, Jacob stepped into the pants portion of the suit and shimmied into the toes of the suit until he felt a comforting tightness. He flexed his toes as he slid his arms into the upper torso of the suit. He then pulled on the suit like one would the lapels of a coat as he felt the fabric mold around him, cool to the touch.

Jacob grinned from ear to ear as he donned the suit’s gloves and boots. He then buckled up the front of his suit. His grin quickly fell as he sucked in his stomach to finish fastening the support belt around his waist.

Jacob steadied his breathing as he grabbed a towel to wipe away the bit of perspiration that had accumulated from his wardrobe change. Jacob sighed as he grabbed his phone and spoke, “Hey, Sam.”

“Yes, Sir?”

“Set a morning alarm titled ‘Jogging Time’ for six, repeat daily.” commanded Jacob.

“Daily six A.M. alarm titled ‘Jogging Time’ set.” affirmed the machine.

“Thanks again, Sam.” said Jacob languidly in the face of future exercise.

“My pleasure, Sir!” came the automatic reply from Sam.

Jacob plugged his phone onto the charger and opened his bedroom door to the living room. Bob looked up as Jacob entered and said, “The cord is installed, and diagnostics are about finished. Let me put up some of this gear and I’ll be right back for the range of motion test.”

With that Bob carted his moving dolly to his van while Jacob practically bounded into the VR room. Where before a portion of the wall had been sectioned off revealing pipes and machinery, now stood a thick bundle of cords that would aide in the motion sensation of the game.

Jacob edged forward as Bob returned. Bob pointed to Jacob’s computer in the corner next to the mechanical umbilical cord and said, “You’ll want to access the first time set up portion of Choice of Fate.”

Jacob nodded and accessed his computer bringing up the relevant program. A new window popped up on the flat screen flashing Connect M.U.C. to proceed with range of motion test!

Jacob looked up to Bob and inquired, “M.U.C.?”

Bob gestured for Jacob to stand in front of the collection of mechanical hoses. “Mechanical Umbilical Cord. I guess someone thought abbreviating that to sound like muck was a good idea. Who knows?” Shrugged Bob as Jacob stood in front of the M.U.C.

“Now I need you to turn around. Yup, just like that. Now open your palms towards me and take a slow step back. I want you to stop when you feel your support belt bump back into you.” ordered Bob.

Jacob complied and slowly stepped back as instructed until he felt the bump. Immediately clamps closed onto the support belt from behind and a high-pitched whirring sound could be heard as several hoses rotated into position. A few more snaps echoed out as the hose locked into various ports along the suit. Jacob twisted his head into awkward positions trying to see everything that was happening while Bob let out a gentle laugh. Bob stepped forward and picked up the thin almost biker like helmet next to the computer on the desk. Bob placed the helmet into Jacob’s hands and said, “Go ahead and wear this. There is a tutorial video that will guide you through the motions. You’ll basically be doing old stretches like the ones from Physical Education classes.”

Jacob slid the helmet over his head and was soon engulfed in darkness. Jacob was about to ask why the helmet was showing him darkness when he heard the familiar whirring of the hoses again. This time Jacob had felt a soft bump followed by a snap as another hose hooked into the helmet. The soft hum of power accompanied the sight of light flooding dimly into his vision.

Jacob now stood in a mirrored room like a dance room with another man smiling at him. An ethereal voice commanded, “Mimic the motions of the instructor please!”

On cue, the man standing across from Jacob began a series of movements starting with his hands touching his head. The man paused and held the position until Jacob mimicked the motion. As Jacob attempted to touch his head he felt subtle resistance from the hoses attached to the back of his suit.

Jacob didn’t take much time to register this resistance as the man across from him suddenly returned his hands to his hips and began some torso rotations. Again, Jacob followed the motion and felt resistance give way from the hoses.

Again, without pause, the motion instructor proceeded to tap various parts of his body while repeating the sequence until Jacob completed the motions. Several minutes passed as Jacob did his best imitation of the instructor. The last section involved toe touches which left Jacob flustered and out of breath as he was barely able to touch his ankles.

As Jacob came up for air, the same ethereal voice called out, “Range of motion test complete for user, Pythag3. Setting saved and uploaded to Choice of Fate: Online.” With that the room faded away into black as Jacob felt himself lifted lightly into the air as a blue earth-like planet came into view. Just as Jacob was about to reach out for the planet, Bob’s voice sounded out from the void of space, “Everything checked out on this end. The M.U.C. is operating smoothly. Now I need you to demonstrate the log out procedure by pushing your hands palm down from shoulder height towards your support belt while saying, ‘Log out.’”

Jacob nodded his head and carried out the motion as he said, “Log out!” As the motion finished, Jacob felt himself being returned to an upright standing position as blue words played across the visor with the message: See you next time! This message was followed by the snapping and whirring sounds as the M.U.C. disengaged from his suit. Jacob pulled off his helmet with a grin as Bob smiled at him.

“I always find this weird to see as the M.U.C. makes everyone look like a puppet on strings when in action.” remarked Bob. He then pushed a tablet towards Jacob. “Go ahead and sign here if you’re satisfied with your installation.”

Jacob set down his helmet as he accepted the tablet and read over the document before signing off. Jacob clicked verify on the tablet and handed it back to Bob as he said, “Thanks for setting this up!”

“Not a problem at all!” said Bob as he tucked his tablet away and leaned forward, “Can I give you some advice?”

Jacob cocked his head in curiosity as he said, “Sure...?”

“Though C.F. has built in skills for defense, there are ways to dodge certain skills if you can move in certain ways. So, I would recommend getting your range of motion up and recalibrated as much as you can.” Bob slapped Jacob lightly on the shoulder. “Do that and you’ll find yourself better positioned in battle.”

Jacob’s face reddened at the reminder of his pudge as he said, “Yeah, thanks… I had a feeling I would need to get in better shape to properly utilize the rig.”

Bob grinned oblivious to Jacob’s discomfort as he turned. “No problem, man! Enjoy your gaming session!”

Jacob mumbled his thanks as he followed Bob to his front door. With a final wave to Bob, Jacob closed his front door and turned back to his VR room.

“Time to play…” whispered Jacob to himself as he positioned himself in front of the M.U.C. As Jacob returned to the space with the earth-like planet, he reached forward and clearly said, “Log in!”