"OK, lets get his blood pressure and heart rate."

"Start an IV."

"BP is fine, heart rate is 200bpm, Pupils are dilated."

"Get him to neurology."

Those few sentences, are the foggy scraps of memory I had after fighting the Condensed Slime. The bright fluorescent light stung my eye's when I attempted to open them. I concentrated on equipping my AVA, but nothing happened. I pushed myself up in the bed I currently occupied. My mouth was so dry, I could strike a match off my tongue. On the nightstand, was a bottle of water and a sample of aspirin.

"Bless you, oh intuitive angel! Whoever you are." I croaked.

The cool water was a welcome guest, to the desert wasteland in my mouth. Then the door opened,

"Glad to see you're awake!" Ned exclaimed, in a concerned tone, "How are you feeling?"

"Bit of a migraine, but other than that I feel fine." I lied.

Ned smiled at the welcome reply, then walked over and pressed the button on the wall near the bed.

"Better let Dr. Vock have a look at you."

"Sure. I've got time to play doctor, with the doctor." I chuckled.

"Only a healthy person, could be that corny." Ned laughed. "Oh you're brother went to your apartment, to get your things. Well I'll see you later. Feel better!"

Ned stepped to the side as Dr.Vock walked in, then exited the small makeshift-recovery room.

"And how is my patient today?" The Doctor surveyed.

"Doc you gotta help me! I'm suffering from a severe case of unreciprocated sexual attraction. You're the only one who can help me." I grinned

"Mr. Jenkins, please compensate for your insecurities some other time. This is no laughing matter." She replied dryly.

"Ok, ouch. Honestly I have a bit of a migraine... and I'm a little lightheaded." The lying continued.

"Your tests showed highly unusual electrical activity in your brain. The odd thing is, their was no distinguishable neurobehavior to prove epileptic spasms." She proclaimed while leafing through my charts.

"So it looks like I had a seizure, but there is no solid evidence of a seizure?" I pondered.

"Essentially. ...yes." The Doctor frowned, "There was also some undefined stimulation of the central nervous system. That's the real issue here."

"Any lasting damage?" I asked sullenly.

"None we found or can predict. But there is no way to be certain at this point."

"Are you removing me from the beta?" I asked with equal concern.

"What?! You're worried about that game? Do you underst-" She started.

"I was aware of the risks when I signed the paper's Doc. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, though. So are you pulling me from the beta?" I repeated.

"I am recommending for you to voluntarily resign. But I have no presentable evidence to support mandatory termination. I am ordering 3 days of rehabilitation, for you to recover. I will be monitoring your progress personally.

I suppressed a mischievous grin, and an inappropriate comment.

"But I need to be sure you're aware. This is new technology, and a new biological phenomenon we're talking about here. The consequences could be unimaginable." She warned, " I'm here, because I'm the best at what I do, and am ethically obligated to keep the tester's safe. I Believe you're, producing significant quantities of intracellular "Mana" in your CNS. Intracellular reactions Like that can result in cytotoxic injury, cell death and likely PVS."

"You think I'm likely to end up in a Persistent Vegetative State." I sighed deeply.

"If You continue to dive, under these circumstances... Yes. It's very likely." She admitted.

"Well If I do, tell Randy that I said to pull the plug." I instructed, "But you know... wait a few day's. Just incase."

-----

My first day in recovery was actually great. I lazed around in bed marathoning Dragon Sphere Z, and I "compensated for my insecurities" everytime the beautiful Doctor came to check on me. Maybe the game was real, and Earth was a dream! Maybe I died and went to heaven, or whatever Methusian's believed in. On the second day I was proven wrong with the mandatory physical therapy. Compliments of my lovely Doctor. During the mandatory PT, I discovered, My top speeds and stamina limits, were all slightly higher than normal. Then while weightlifting I noticed my usual 250lbs felt a little lighter than usual. I began to lift 280 at 10 repetitions, then 20. I was no Mr Multiverse, but I was faster. stronger. better. On day three, I was surprised to be summoned into the conference room. There was a long table placed parallel to a very large TV screen. AUX was visible in the top left corner of the otherwise empty screen. Sitting on the table was an office phone, the kind with multiple lines and conference calls. 3 small lights were lit up, on its front side. On the other side of the table was Dr. Klink and Ms Raven, sitting far apart from each other. The room was purposefully set up like a courtroom, in order to intimidate me I assume. I knew what this was.

"Have a seat, Mr Jenkins," An unfamiliar, intern looking young man said, before taking a stance by the door.

"Nah, Im a die on my feet kinda guy." I refused, and stood next to where Ms Raven was seated. "So why the tribunal?"

"This isn't a tribunal. ...Its a review, requested by our head researcher Dr Klink." She hesitated before finishing..

"Oh good, for a sec, I thought y'all were voting me off the island." I joked.

"Today I will see to it you're actions are reviewed and evaluated, before the very people at the head of this project. To believe I had to go to such lengths." He bellowed.

At this time the T.V. screen buzzed and a Silhouette appeared on its massive surface.

Ms. Raven looked annoyed, "Can we begin?"

"Yes, please begin Dr Klink." A dry voice commanded from the phone.

"Yes I'm here to question the behavior and evaluate the employment of Mr. Jenkins, a Tester from Sector 8!" Dr. Klink said dramatically.

"For what reason has my employment or even my behavior come into question?" I asked.

Dr. Klink scoffed loudly and shouted, "The person who took me hostage, dares to ask why his behavior is being questioned. Unbelievable!"

"You are well aware that was extraordinary circumstances. I believed my life to be in danger. I've exhibited no violent behavior or tendencies since, I even sincerely apologized to you afterward. My conscience is clear, dude." I stated calmly.

"There is no record of the circumstances, or even the apology, in your report Dr Klink." a different mysterious voice noted.

"I was present for the induction of Mr. Jenkins, and he did believe that his life was in danger." Ms Raven advocated.

"Noted. Mr Jenkins induction mishap appears to be an incident of misunderstanding." the phone announced.

Dr. Klinks face showed his feelings of shock and frustration. "Fine, How about this then, I personally checked the invitation list for the project, and Mr. Jenkins name is nowhere to be found! Because he was never invited to be a Tester in the first place."

Dr Klink now wore an expression of satisfaction, and Ms Raven had one of surprise.

"Yeah and?" I asked without a hint of denial in my voice.

"Hu-What? W-Well obviously this Is a big problem!" Dr Klink stammered.

"Were you aware of this Ms Leibowitz?" A new feminine voice asked through the phone.

"I was unaware." Ms Raven reported.

"The tickets were not personalized. I received one, I presented one at your outpost. You failed to run a background check before knocking me out and dragging me here."

I stood up and walked around the table, Dr Klinks face converted into a look of fear. I walked past my "would be" prosecutor and over to the TV screen. I then unplugged it.

"Oh and this 2-bit intimidation tactic is only running up your electric bill." I added, "Why project an image if it's only going to be anonymous. Makes no sense."

I thought I heard a feminine chuckle turn into a coughing cover up, broadcast through the phone.

The intern started to head for the TV, I assume to plug it back in, but was stopped by a voice on the phone,"Its fine, Gerald. Leave it off."

Now I knew that the people on the phone, could see in the room. There were no gun turrets with camera's in this room, so it must have been a hidden one.

"Please refrain from touching the equipment Mr. Jenkins." the feminine voice admonished.

"He's even mocking the review, he has no respect for authority. He's incapable of taking this project seriously!" Dr Klink slandered.

"No. Correction I recognize potential in this project. I even risk my physical well being to be a Tester, Because I believe in it. ...And I'm a big ol' nerd, but that's not in question here. I am impertinent to vindictive little Man-babies, who get butt-hurt at the slightest waywardness, and respond with tantrums and reviews." I orated.

Dr Klinks face advertised his outrage and disgust at my speech.

"It appears Mr. Jenkins is classified as a Gold ranked tester, this will be downgraded to Silver rank. Security will be reviewed, and increased for the induction process. Is that all we have to discuss?" the voice over the phone, sounded impatient.

Dr. Klink's Frustrated face fell into a cruel sneer. "What about the stolen disk?! He obviously stole the disk to sell or to spy or something!"

"What disk?" I asked skeptically.

Ms Raven interjected, "There is a backup disk, missing. There is no evidence It was stolen at all. The loss of sensitive data is unfortunate, but replaceable."

I looked at Ms ravens notes and recalled my alibi for the date. "Oh, I was a dragon that day."

"Excuse me?" The dry voice on the phone sounded over-interested.

"I was in-game that day, my avatars a Dragonkin." I corrected, feeling unsettled by the man's reaction. "I'm sure your cameras and tech's can support my innocence."

"Do you have any evidence that Mr Jenkins is involved with the missing disk?" The feminine voice asked Dr Klink.

"No not yet, but I will." He replied.

Then the review of security will extend to administration, and an Investigation will be started immediately. This concludes the heari- aghm.. review" The lady's voice cough-corrected.

Dr Klink stood with a grumble, and stormed off. The phone was disconnected and removed from the room.

"He will not stop there, he's really pissed off, and petty." Ms Raven referred to Dr Klink.

"Oh, he's not what I'm worried about, his little tantrum taught me some things about who's in charge here." I confessed

"Like what?" She inquired.

"1, Those were wealthy private citizens, and this isn't the military operation I assumed it was.

2. They were watching us, obviously. Gerald also seemed off. Suddenly I feel like eyes are everywhere now. Like they could terminate me anytime. I'm not talking about my job either.

3. Just a hunch, but one of the 'big 3' seemed overly interested in my alibi. I have no Idea why." I explained.

She dismissed my other comments, and gave my first some thought, "How do you know they're not military?"

"You and I both know the military doesn't use silhouettes. They send muscle. I expected a Lieutenant General to be there with a General on the phone. instead I got business executives, and Gerald was probably private security." I added. "Well The military wouldn't take the chance on me, they value money and loyalty almost equally. Executives wouldn't throw away my dollar potential. So If I'm alive tomorrow, I guess I'm right."