This is that story where the blasted Kevin Johnson defeated me in ruthless combat!
I do not want to post this story but the only way I lived was to promise Kevin to publish his story in the many websites that I've dominated!
Imagine, if there was a world where all your fantasies became reality. Flying cars, robots and high tech gadgets. Innovations have made our lives easier and different. Though many of our current dangers are gone, new ones have arisen. This is what you’ll see, welcome to the 22nd century.
“Kevin, come here”, called Jack, my brother. We were in the National Organization of Virtual Reality Headquarters. Virtual Reality is a new technology created recently by a group of scientists. NOVR is the organization that’s developing the technology and trying to make it more reliable and helpful.
“What?”, I hollered back, and walked down the corridor into the transfer room. I entered a small, white room. On the right side of the room, there was five booths. Using these booths you could go in and out of Virtual Reality, or VR.
“I need to go check on something in Virtual Reality, I’ll be back in an hour”
“Can I come with you, please?”, I pleaded.
“No, It’s too dangerous for you. You should go home and do your homework, I’ll see you back home.” He ran into a telephone booth styled glass pod, typed in a few commands and disappeared. I waited a few moments and gazed at the wonders of virtual reality.
I left the building and ran down 32nd street back to our apartment. People are everywhere in New York, but it’s not like back then where people keep on bumping into each other. Since cars are now in the air there is more room to get around.
“Hi, Mom”, I said cheerily as I walked into our territory.
“Hi, where’s Jack?”
“He said that he had to check on something in VR and that he’ll be back soon”
“I see, you should go do your homework, It’s getting late”
“Fine”, I chuckled, “Homework, that’s what Jack said before I left.” I placed my stuff on top of the table and began the long process know as homework. After finishing my homework, I remembered that Jack should be home by then. From my pocket I produced my Xinctra Mobile. “Matt?”
“Yep”, replied a happy voice, and a face filled the vibrant screen.
“Call, NOVR, I need to ask Sam where Jack is.”
“Dialing…”
“Hello, this the National Organization of Virtual Reality Headquarters. This is Sam speaking, how may I help you?” Sam, is the “front desk guy” and he knows all about who went in and who went out.
“Yes, This is Kevin Johnson. I wanted to know if my brother left.”
“Oh, hi Kevin. You were here an hour ago.”
“I know, where is he?”
“I haven’t seen him leave the building”
“Okay, well give me a call back to this number when you see him”
“Fine, bye, Kevin”
“Matt, open WIRED magazine, January Issue 2108”
“Holographic, or on screen”
“ On Screen” Okay, you’re now wondering: why not holographic? Holographic is awkward to work with and the text isn’t very clear, so I just stick with the old fashioned way. Sometimes innovations don’t help. Hmm, interesting: are robots becoming human? I started to read about different AI projects, iRobot and Digibots are the leading producers.
“Kevin! It’s time to go to bed” My mom’s voice startled me.
“Yeah, okay” I picked up my mobile and headed to bed.
“Kevin! Kevin! Wake up, look on the news. Digibots just announced the arrival of Zachbot.”
I was suddenly wide awake. I quickly dressed and ran to the TV.
“Welcome to ABC news. This is Tom Mackron with creation manager at Digibots, Chris Hallution. So Chris we’ve heard that your six year project has finally come to an end, how do you feel?”
“One, a lot less stress. Zach just wasn’t cooperation for the last few months, but we have finally got it right. In fact I’ll give you a demo right now.” He smiled and called out, “Zach?” Then suddenly a person walked right onto the stage smiling and bowing.
“Oh my god, it that a person?” said mom in disbelief.
“And to all gasping to know, no he is not a human.”
“I am an intelligent robot created by Digibot’s creation group.” His voice sounded highly realistic.
“I bet if you saw him on the streets one day, you wouldn’t even know he was just a piece of high tech machinery.”
“So Zach, how do you feel being in front of an audience.” Asked Tom.
“You’re kidding” said my dad, robots don’t have feelings. There was an strange sound and then he replied.
“A very interesting question. I would have to say… different. I’ve never gone on a stage, or even outside, only in the lab.”
“Would you want to if you had a choice?”
“Sure, after this I would do it a million times!” My mom was so shocked, she almost fainted. The camera turned to the audience where they all stared hypnotized by the robot. My mom shut off the TV.
“It is the weekend, maybe you could go outside and play with your friends.”
“Nah, I’ll have breakfast first.” My mom smiled.
“I was just about to say that” she said. I grabbed a box of Cheerios and poured them into a bowl. I heard the TV being turned on again, and I poured milk onto the cereal.
Odd day, I thought to myself. I gazed out into the New York landscape. Tall buildings, cars flying past, people walking hurriedly to their destination. I soon finished my breakfast and headed back to my room.
“Turn on” I said. A wall of my room transformed into a screen. “Look up Zackbot on Wikipedia.”
My Internet browser started and Wikipedia instantly loaded with a large picture of Zackbot on the right side. “Interesting. Zachbot is a project that was previously rejected by the US government, but later bypassed. I wonder what made the US government hesitate to make it?
“Maybe they were afraid of the “robots taking over the world” thing”
“But that’s only in movies! There must be some other reason.” We sat there thinking.
“Kevin! Jack is missing, it is reported on CNN” I was startled by Dad’s sudden appearance. “Strangely enough so is Zackbot.”
“Wait, but didn’t we just see Zachbot? On TV”
“News reporters say that the person on stage was not the real Zachbot, but a person. It’s possible that Zack found someone that he looked like and forced him to act.”
“Why would he run away?” I suddenly was horror struck. “Could Zack have kidnapped Jack?”
“Now what would bring you to that conclusion?”
“See Dad? Zack kidnaps Jack. He forces him to make more of himself and takes over the world!”
“You’ve been watching too many science fiction movies”
“No I mean it”
“I’ll go out and look for him in my car” He ran out the door and outside.
“So, you are listening to my suggestion.” said Matt pleased.
“It makes more sense now after that news. What should we do?”
“Go to NOVR?” suggested Matt. I nodded and ran out the door too. Soon we were inside the glass dome.
“Sam! Did you hear on the news that Jack is missing?”
“Yes, of course. The only place he could be is in VR, since he never left since yesterday. I haven’t told anyone yet, but you.”
“Do you think I could go and search for him?”
“Sadly no, rules say that only members of NOVR can go in”
“What if I went in and you supervised me? I’m sure you could watch me, and pull me back as soon as you see any trouble.” Suddenly, the doors behind me opened and a cold breeze entered the building. John and Sara ran in.
“Kevin! I knew we could find you here,” said Sara.
“We heard that your brother is missing and we call your house. You mom picked up and told us that you went out. And Sara suggested that we should come here,” said John.
“What happened?” Sara had a worried look.
“Okay, here’s what happened. Yesterday, Jack went into VR and hasn’t come back since. So that means that he is still in there.”
“VR? There? What are we going to do?” asked John, “Go after him?”
“Well, I don’t think we can do anything else to help”
“Sam? Do you think you can watch over us three to find Jack.”
“I guess…” he said with concern, “but only because this is an emergency. Go into the transfer room and go into a pod. I’ll send you to the main control area, that’s where he should be.”
“Okay” we said and walked through the metal doors. Each of us went into the same kind of pod and were sent into VR.
World domination will continue soon...