Cici walked through the doorway out of her White Room into . . . she stopped short at what she saw. What was laid out in front of her triggered numerous different feelings. Surprise of course being one, but a longing and memories of her youth were another.

The door to her White Room slid shut almost silently as she tried to comprehend the photo-realistic detail that RMO has replicated one of her childhood memories. She had spent hours upon hours huddled on the couch with her father watching old re-runs of TV shows. Before her was a scene practically taken out of one of the science fiction series about space exploration among the stars. She was in a ship, a space ship. It appeared that she was in one of the officer conference rooms of one of the Galaxy-class Capital ships. Sleek and refined walls framed the room with a sturdy conference table in the middle. Along one wall were large windows, open to the vastness of space, and the view of a planet they were in orbit of. She could smell the slight chill in the air of the room.

She crossed over to the window and placed her hands on the glass. Smooth and cold to her touch. The view of the earth below them, There was too much green. She tried to suppress a smile. Finally turning to address the other occupants in the room, already sitting at the table, she said, “This is a fantastic replication, Mr. King. But it’s not quite accurate. In the timeframe of this series, the Earth,” she pointed down through the windows, “hade such population density that there was hardly any natural or rural land left in the sprawling metroplexes covering the surface. So much so that it was noticeable from orbit.”

Mr. King was sitting at the head of the conference table, in the captain’s chair so to speak. He was dressed to match the setting, in the captain’s uniform of the Space Expeditionary Force. He smiled politely and nodded, “Noted Cici. I doubt we’d need to worry about that much detail unless our marketing division were to secure the licensing right to this franchise. But for now, we can definitely make any adjustments you feel are appropriate.”

Mr King tilted his head toward the window and the Earth below and Cici turned to look again and there was a drastic difference to it’s appearance. She could see the massive urban sprawls talked about in the show by the characters when they reminisced of home. The ship they were on had never actually been depicted as orbiting earth in the series, so Cici thought that could be why the detail may have been over-looked.

“I’d call you out as a nerd for that, but honestly,” Chuck said from his seat at the table, “I’m not one to judge. There’s probably any number of nits I could pick about things if this meeting room was set up with a setting I loved.”

Cici didn’t sense and animosity in her fellow tester’s voice and took her time walking around the rest of the room, taking it all in. The drab walls in neutral colors, the faux-wood trophy case with models of different era space ships within the setting leading up from the Apollo Shuttle to the ship they were standing in.

The three men were sitting at the table, waiting patiently for her. Mr. King in his captain’s attire. Chuck dressed like he had just stepped out of an Edgar Allen Poe novel, or maybe something from Lovecraft? Something simple, rugged, yet comfortable. Jeremy, looked somewhat anachronistic, being a tall bald black man dressed as a Edo period samurai. She couldn’t really blame them for customizing their avatars however they wanted. She looked down at how she had customized her avatar. A few minor adjustments in regard to height and proportions, lightened her hair color a bit, dressed herself in virtual knock-off of the best designer clothes, things she wouldn’t be able to afford. She wore a simple blue jeans and black t-shirt, loose hanging leather jacket, and some sturdy boots.

She sat down and Mr. King began speaking, “Now that we’re all here and settled. I wanted to touch base with you all and establish some ground rules and expectations. Because this is the very inception of human trials for this system. For the first few days we’re just going to be taking readings as you go about exploring the system. We need to make sure nothing unexpected happens with the system or with you all.

“I think you’ve all met LiSA? You should be able to make any request to her for anything you need. This room is very similar to your individual loading areas. You all have carte blanche to make changes or to how it looks or feels . . . within reason. It’s a communal space for the group of you.”

Jeremy spoke up, “Wait, you don’t have anything for us to work on? Just be in VR and let you watch us?”

“Essentially, yes. There are any number of programs we can have accessible for you. Just ask for it and we’ll do what we can to accommodate.” Mr. King said, “We do ask that you keep yourselves to the in-house network while using the VR system for now.”

“You’re wanting to establish a full on isolationist quarantine?” Chuck asked apprehensively.

Mr King shook his head, “No, you can still have contact with the outside world. Phone calls, texts messages . . . you could even set up a virtual desktop console,” he waved a hand and a desk with a PC tower and three monitor set up just appeared next to the wall in the room. “and do anything on it that you would from home . . .”

“Keeping to your NDA in regard to our location and activities.” Jeremy interjected during his pause.

Mr. King nodded to Jeremy. “Quite.” Then returned to addressing them all, “We ask that when you are accessing the actual VR system, you keep it confined to the RMO network.”

The three nodded in agreement and then Mr King stood. “Well, with all that established, I have some other matters that need attention. I will bid you all a good day. This is your playground. Enjoy.” Then Mr. King teleported away using the special effects of the television series they were sitting in.

“Alright, so what do we want to do?” Jeremy asked them with a grin.