11-08-2009, 11:13 AM
“Hey, be careful with those!” Victor instructed to his inferior as the worker dropped another limp body into the room.
Victor pulled all the gray sheets away from the machines, revealing about fifty individual chambers backlit by a sickly green light. Each chamber had thick Plexiglas panes, revealing the complex machinery housed within each one. As he ripped the sheet off one, Victor jumped as he was startled by the body of Lawrence Scott still hooked up to one.
“Remind me to fire that fuckin’ janitor,” Victor cursed, opening the hatch to the chamber. He unhooked Lawrence and unceremoniously pushed him out. Lawrence’s eyes bulged out of his head, staring into nothingness, and his body began to tremor uncontrollably whilst he started mumbling something unintelligible. “Can somebody come pick this guy up? And make sure he gets paid.” Victor paused a moment, watching Larry’s seizing figure. “Not that he’ll be able to do anything with it,” he added.
One by one, each unconscious fighter was loaded into a chamber, and a team of medical personnel began to hook them carefully up to the machines. A tube was inserted intravenously into each arm, and a cold, clear liquid flowed through the plastic almost immediately. Gel was applied in specific locations on the body, and wired patches were stuck to each primed spot. Oxygen masks were carefully fitted over the bottom half of their faces. Twin needles carefully drilled into the center of each temple. REM-13 required a custom setup, although his was much easier. A cracker program was uploaded into his circuitry by a computer technician.
“Sleepin’ like babies,” Victor chuckled, ribbing one of his fellow Syntex employees. “Though I wouldn’t want to be dreaming if I were them.”
“How the hell does this thing work, exactly? The last few Abyss tournaments they were just teleported to an island. Even before that, they still used an island. Why not anymore?” the companion asked.
“Think of it like their mind is being uploaded into a computer program. This gives Dukes complete control, over the players, and over the environment. He can change the time of day, the weather, everything, all with the touch of a button. He can make what they feel and see seem completely real. We have them completely hardwired into the system. Each player’s consciousness has a unique IP signal, and all the data associated with that signal is housed in a string of code that is physically manifested in the program as the collar that has always been used.”
“How…how did he manage to do all of this?”
“There have been similar programs used before. Dukes happens to be head of the R&D department at Syntex. He got hold of those programs, engineered the concept to apply to an Abyss tournament, and had Audric write the code. He wants a shot at a seat on the board, and he figures if this tournament goes successfully, he’ll get it.”
“And what happens if he doesn’t?”
Victor smiled cynically. “We’re all going to wish we’d picked a different career.”
-----
A beep went off on Audric’s monitor when the last contestant was completely prepped. “Ready, Damon?”
Damon’s heart pounded in his chest as he gripped the armrests of his chair. “Activate the program.”
Audric flashed another grin, and he flipped open a plastic cover that protected a large, red button. “And here…we…go.”
He jabbed the button with a fingertip, and his console hummed anew as the tournament of Dante’s Abyss began.
Victor pulled all the gray sheets away from the machines, revealing about fifty individual chambers backlit by a sickly green light. Each chamber had thick Plexiglas panes, revealing the complex machinery housed within each one. As he ripped the sheet off one, Victor jumped as he was startled by the body of Lawrence Scott still hooked up to one.
“Remind me to fire that fuckin’ janitor,” Victor cursed, opening the hatch to the chamber. He unhooked Lawrence and unceremoniously pushed him out. Lawrence’s eyes bulged out of his head, staring into nothingness, and his body began to tremor uncontrollably whilst he started mumbling something unintelligible. “Can somebody come pick this guy up? And make sure he gets paid.” Victor paused a moment, watching Larry’s seizing figure. “Not that he’ll be able to do anything with it,” he added.
One by one, each unconscious fighter was loaded into a chamber, and a team of medical personnel began to hook them carefully up to the machines. A tube was inserted intravenously into each arm, and a cold, clear liquid flowed through the plastic almost immediately. Gel was applied in specific locations on the body, and wired patches were stuck to each primed spot. Oxygen masks were carefully fitted over the bottom half of their faces. Twin needles carefully drilled into the center of each temple. REM-13 required a custom setup, although his was much easier. A cracker program was uploaded into his circuitry by a computer technician.
“Sleepin’ like babies,” Victor chuckled, ribbing one of his fellow Syntex employees. “Though I wouldn’t want to be dreaming if I were them.”
“How the hell does this thing work, exactly? The last few Abyss tournaments they were just teleported to an island. Even before that, they still used an island. Why not anymore?” the companion asked.
“Think of it like their mind is being uploaded into a computer program. This gives Dukes complete control, over the players, and over the environment. He can change the time of day, the weather, everything, all with the touch of a button. He can make what they feel and see seem completely real. We have them completely hardwired into the system. Each player’s consciousness has a unique IP signal, and all the data associated with that signal is housed in a string of code that is physically manifested in the program as the collar that has always been used.”
“How…how did he manage to do all of this?”
“There have been similar programs used before. Dukes happens to be head of the R&D department at Syntex. He got hold of those programs, engineered the concept to apply to an Abyss tournament, and had Audric write the code. He wants a shot at a seat on the board, and he figures if this tournament goes successfully, he’ll get it.”
“And what happens if he doesn’t?”
Victor smiled cynically. “We’re all going to wish we’d picked a different career.”
-----
A beep went off on Audric’s monitor when the last contestant was completely prepped. “Ready, Damon?”
Damon’s heart pounded in his chest as he gripped the armrests of his chair. “Activate the program.”
Audric flashed another grin, and he flipped open a plastic cover that protected a large, red button. “And here…we…go.”
He jabbed the button with a fingertip, and his console hummed anew as the tournament of Dante’s Abyss began.