"Virtual Reality... hmm?" Ryan casually set the letter aside, focusing on the box in front of him without further thought. For him, that was the natural response.
"Alright… this is just a giant, three-dimensional puzzle with screws, nuts and… what the hell is this? That over there… does it really say r-a-d-i-o-a-c-t-i-v-e?" Ryan shook his head a few times in disbelief, then grabbed a metal box, handling it with a care and delicacy worthy of a hen tending to her precious egg.
This item, unlike the others, was clearly assembled, complete. It was a large, simple black box with a round display and an on/off switch. There were several wide ports lined with silver metal on its sides, meant for some kind of exotic cable rather than a simple USB.
Ryan briefly analyzed the item before placing it very carefully beside him, then pulled over the instruction manual. He sighed in discouragement as he looked at the hundreds of metal parts, cables still lacking connectors, and the many boards and chips spread out before him.
He knew this would take a long time, but even so, he put on a smile before picking up one piece after another, trying to make sense of the manual. When it didn't help, he searched online through forums of electricians and engineers, surprisingly far more useful than the manual itself.
Every now and then, he startled himself by realizing he had accidentally wandered into nuclear physicists' pages, he didn't even know you could find that kind of thing online.
Even so, little by little, Ryan began to understand what all those things were and how they communicated with one another.
"All done…" Ryan murmured, screwing in the final piece. "Well… I can't say it's pretty… but it certainly has its charm." He examined the helmet from various angles, noting the many wires that extended from its back like nerves, veins, and arteries. He wondered if, perhaps, it might actually be possible to connect it to the central nervous system, like some kind of technological extension.
Finally, he faced the Y-shaped visor head-on.
Ryan silently watched his reflection for a few moments before swallowing hard and checking the time.
"It's six in the evening. Geez, how time flies… but it's still quite early… and the Manhattan Café has John taking care of it… and I don't have classes yet since it's the beginning of the year… so I'm technically free…" Ryan's smile widened as he grabbed the main cable. "I guess I can allow myself to be a little indulgent today. But now… where do I plug this in?"
Ryan examined the cable head, it was exotic. He couldn't connect it to conventional outlets or computers. It was cylindrical, with hundreds of golden pins protruding outward and the cable itself was quite thick, making it clear it was made to draw a lot of power.
After a brief moment of thought, Ryan returned to the metal box from before and soon found a suitable port on its back. He immediately connected it and just as quickly discovered the function of that box. His eyes widened in surprise, though, not a pleasant one.
"That can't be it… can it?" Ryan hesitated to turn the box on, needing a few moments to gather the courage to flip the simple switch, as if it were his worst nightmare incarnate.
But when he did, the box immediately seemed to come alive, emitting a constant hiss, while through the display it was possible to see sparks upon sparks spinning in a perpetual wheel.
Suddenly, an explosion occurred inside the machine, turning the display completely blue, a shade of blue that made Ryan fall backward, knowing full well what that color was.
"Nuclear blue… is this a nuclear reactor?!" Ryan cursed in total shock. "How the hell did they make a nuclear reactor this small?!"
Before he could dwell too much on the reactor, a rising sound filled his ears, making him look toward its source.
The helmet was powering on, its visor filling with information, mostly alerts and errors. Two large Xs filled where the eyes should be, while a large triangle with an exclamation mark took the place of the mouth, blinking incessantly with an unnerving sound. The notifications made it seem as if the helmet was screaming in utter panic, desperately begging to be killed to relieve him of so much pain and suffering. While hundreds of similar symbols filled every empty space.
"Here we go then…"
Ryan swallowed hard before walking slowly toward the helmet, grabbing it, and placing it on his own head. Notably, the helmet was comfortable and well-ventilated, fitting perfectly. His eyes scanned the many messages on the visor while his ears were flooded with countless beeps that sounded like a crashing aircraft.
[ Error!!! User Not Defined! ]
[ Error!!! Gateway Not Defined! ]
[ Error!!! IP Not Defined! ]
[ Error!!! Core Files Corrupted! ]
[ Error!!! Vital Functions Compromised! ]
[ Error!!! Secure Boot Compromised! ]
[ Warning! Initialization Not Allowed! ]
"Okaaay… this is going to be harder than expected… What am I supposed to do about this? I can't use it if the system refuses to start." Ryan wondered, when the system responded.
[ The System Detected Alpha Model! ]
[ Developer Functions Enabled! ]
[ Do You Wish To Activate Developer Mode? ]
"Developer mode…" Ryan murmured. "That should mean absolute control over the system. It should let me force initialization." He agreed.
[ Developer Mode Activated! ]
[ Do You Wish To Ignore Errors And Proceed Anyway? ]
Reluctantly, Ryan accepted once more. Thousands of errors that filled his vision disappeared all at once, and he sighed in relief. Even so, the system continued displaying new windows as it initialized, these were far more user-friendly than the previous ones.
[ How Should I Refer To The User? ]
The system asked.
"How should you call me… well… for now, just call me Alpha User." he said, slightly embarrassed. He believed it was the natural choice since he was indeed the Alpha user, but still, calling himself the "Alpha" felt embarrassing, though at least he'd be the user, not just Alpha.
[ The word 'User' is unnecessary. ]
[ Welcome, Alpha. ]
"Damn it…" Ryan smacked the helmet as he felt his cheeks burn with growing embarrassment. "I hope no one ever finds out about this."
[ The Client Is Operational. ]
[ Initiating Connection To The Server… ]
[ Error!!! Server Cannot Be Found ]
[ Error!!! Connection Cannot Be Established ]
[ Warning! Operation Aborted! ]
"So the Unnamed Game is an online game that needs a server. That should be the end of the line for me… But, Well… I doubt he would give me this if there wasn't a solution… So I need to fix that too." Ryan frowned as he briefly considered how to proceed. "If it couldn't find the server, it's either inactive or doesn't exist. Either way… I need another server…maybe there are multiple test servers.… System, show me the list of known servers."
[ Loading Server List… ]
Soon, a list of a few dozen entries, composed only of numbers and dots, appeared on the visor. Ryan nodded, satisfied. "Start connecting to the first item; if it fails, try the next, and so on until one works."
[ Initiating Connection To Server… ]
[ Error… ]
[ Error… ]
Ryan waited patiently, one error after another.
[ List Completed! ]
He sighed, seeing that none of those servers were available. "Looks like the old man bought me a defective product… as expected of that cheapskate."
[ Do You Wish To Actively Search For Other Servers? ]
"And I can do that?!" His eyes lit up. "Yes! Until you find one!"
[ Are You Sure About That? ]
Ryan frowned. "Yes, Why wouldn't I be?"
[ Developer Confirmation Guaranteed. ]
[ Proceeding with Active Search... ]
Suddenly, a new window opened. A single number with dozens of zeros appeared; quickly, the last digit cycled from zero to nine, then the second digit began changing at lightning speed. One after another, the massive number started shifting and growing even larger.
Ryan's eyes became glued to the numbers racing at impossible speeds, like a slot machine. He swallowed hard in anticipation.
[ A New Server Has Been Founded! ]
[ The Client Is Operational. ]
[ Initiating Connection To The Server… ]
[ Connection Established. ]
[ Opening the Gateway. ]
Ryan took a deep breath, feeling his consciousness sink into an impossible dream.
[ Initiating Transfer… ]