The DataStream Dynamics building sits on a quiet block in Long Island City, a five-story brick warehouse that Tony's people gutted and rebuilt in three weeks. The ground floor is still bare concrete and exposed ductwork. The third through fifth floors are empty, waiting for a future that hasn't arrived yet. But the second floor is alive.
Four EDEN terminals line the far wall, each one a sleek reclining pod with a curved visor and haptic feedback panels. The hardware team from YGD flew in last week to install the data flow systems. Peter and Tony handled the power integration, running a dedicated arc reactor line from the basement. Gwen spent three days calibrating the interface layer, making sure the spatial encoding doesn't make people nauseous on entry.
I stand in the center of the room and turn in a slow circle. The windows face east, overlooking the East River. Morning light cuts through the glass and pools on the floor.
"This is it," Peter says, running his hand along one of the terminal pods. "This is actually it."
"Don't get sentimental yet," Gwen says, but she's smiling. She's got her tablet out, running final diagnostics on each terminal. "We haven't even booted it up."
Jessica stands near the door, arms crossed, watching everything with careful eyes. She hasn't said much since we arrived. I catch her gaze and she looks away quickly, then looks back, like she's trying to decide if she's allowed to be excited.
"Jess. You okay?"
"I'm fine." She uncrosses her arms. Crosses them again. "It's just... a lot."
"It's supposed to be a lot."
Gwen looks up from her tablet. "All four terminals are green. Power flow is stable. Data throughput is within parameters. Interface layer is loaded." She looks at me. "We're ready when you are."
I pull out my Digivice and check the time. 9:47 AM. A Monday. The city is going about its business, completely unaware that four teenagers and a bunch of digital monsters are about to step inside a new world.
"Alright." I tuck the Digivice back into my pocket. "Let's do this."
We each take a terminal. I settle into the pod on the far left. The padding is firm but comfortable. The visor lowers over my eyes and the world goes dark for a moment. Then a soft blue light fills the display, and Gwen's interface appears — a simple menu with a single prompt.
WELCOME TO EDEN.
INITIATE CONNECTION?
I tap YES.
The sensation is like Connect Jump but different. When I use Connect Jump, I feel myself dissolve into data, like being pulled apart and reassembled. This is gentler. Like stepping through a door. One moment I'm in the pod, and the next moment I'm standing in a white room.
The room is empty. White floor, white walls, white ceiling. No seams, no texture, just clean blank space stretching about twenty feet in each direction. The lighting comes from everywhere and nowhere at once.
I look down at myself. My avatar is featureless — a smooth humanoid shape with no facial features, no hair, no clothing details. Like a mannequin made of pale light.
"Everyone in?" Gwen's voice comes through clearly, like she's standing next to me even though I can't see her.
"I'm in," I say.
"Me too," Peter says. "Whoa. This is... this is wild."
"Confirmed," Gwen says. "All four connections are stable. Latency is under ten milliseconds. Spatial encoding is holding."
Jessica's voice is quieter. "I'm here."
I turn and see three other featureless avatars standing in the white room. One is slightly taller than the others — Peter. One is shorter and more compact — Gwen. One is standing very still, hands at her sides — Jessica.
Peter's avatar takes a tentative step forward. Then another. Then he jumps.
He goes about ten feet in the air and comes down slowly, like the gravity is turned down.
"THIS IS AMAZING!" His voice cracks with excitement. "Gwen, did you see that? I just jumped like ten feet!"
"I saw it," Gwen says, but her tone is analytical. "The physics engine is defaulting to low gravity. I need to adjust that. And the floor texture is missing. There's no shadow rendering either."
"Gwen. We've been in here for thirty seconds. Let him have fun."
"I'm cataloging issues. That's my job."
Peter is already bouncing around the room like a kid on a trampoline. He leaps, twists, lands on his feet. He tries a backflip and nearly hits the ceiling. "Ethan, you have to try this!"
I crouch and jump. The sensation is strange — my body feels light, responsive, like the rules of physics are suggestions rather than laws. I land easily, absorbing the impact without any strain.
"It needs work," Gwen says, but I can hear the smile in her voice. Her avatar is walking the perimeter of the room, stopping at intervals to examine the walls. "The collision detection is soft. I'm passing through the boundary by about two inches before the system pushes back. And the rendering distance is too close — the walls fade out at about fifteen meters."
"Noted," I say. "We'll fix it."
I turn to Jessica. She hasn't moved from where she materialized. Her avatar stands motionless, head tilted slightly, like she's listening to something far away.
"Jess?"
"It's so quiet," she says softly. "I can hear you, but it's not like hearing you in a room. It's like... the sound is inside my head. And I can't feel my feet on the floor. I know I'm standing, but there's no pressure. No texture."
"That's the haptic feedback," Gwen says. "It's still in beta. I'll tune the sensory input for the next session."
Jessica takes a step. Then another. She raises her hands and turns them over, studying the featureless palms. "This is what it's like for you? When you use Connect Jump?"
"Similar," I say. "But Connect Jump is raw data. This is curated. Gwen built this space to feel safe, to feel neutral. It's a starting point."
Jessica lowers her hands. Her avatar turns toward me, and even without facial features, I can tell she's overwhelmed.
"Ethan... this is what you're building? A whole world like this?"
"A bigger one. With textures and colors and buildings and weather. This is just the empty room. The canvas."
She's quiet for a long moment. Then she nods, a small, careful motion.
"Show me more."
***
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