Create Space

Staring at the message and hearing the women's voice in her head begin to replay, Sara scowled. She gave up the idea of standing and trying to climb onto her bed and decided to just lie on the floor instead.

It already started the sign in process, so Sara didn't see any reason to move and interrupt it.

Sara quickly gave the system her actual name when it asked again.

"Sara Smith."

There was a pause before that woman's voice from before once again sounded in her ears.

-Welcome, Sara Smith.-

The message flashed as Modem's well known logo slowly faded into view in front of her and their accompanying music sounded in her ears.

During the start up, the person would not be immersed into the VR world; instead, they would first have to fill out their information first before the system would allow them to experience the full immersion.

The system asked for different information, her full name, her age, her district…Most of the information was merely confirming her identity to the system as it was already on file after she bought the VR set.

A while later, after Sara had successfully set up her personal profile, the screen flashed white, Sara closed her eyes at it's incredible brightness. When she opened them again, she found herself standing in a white space with nothing around her.

Looking down, she found no floor. Stepping forward, her steps seemed weightless, despite the fact that she could definitely tell she could in fact walk. It was as if she were flying and walking at the same time.

Unease began to fill her.

Looking around, Sara searched for something that looked solid. Something that could allow her to feel more at ease in this terribly black space.

Looking out, she saw a flash of color in the distance. Slowly, gingerly, Sara made her way toward whatever it was.

Running, she felt her anxiety increase. If she would have taken the time and read the manual that accompanied the VR set, Sara would have realized what she needed to do in this area. Of course, after a set amount of time the system was set up to give prompts to the players if they still were seen as "idle". But, Sara hadn't read the manual and didn't wait for the system to prompt her, instead taking matters into her own hands due to her own fear and trepidation at the unexpected situation.

Sara ran forward, feeling like she might fall through the nothingness below at any moment. Her feet seemed to sink into it just a bit every time she took a step. A couple times, she even felt herself fall ever so slightly down before jumping and continuing on her run to that solid structure.

Finally, as Sara felt the "ground" beneath giving way, she reached the structure, jumping and grasping onto it before the ground beneath her seemed to "disappear" completely.

Gasping for breath, Sara clung to the railing of whatever structure she had a hold of in an undignified manner.

Climbing up, Sara swung her leg over the structure's railing. Her foot touched down on what seemed to be a wooden floor.

Sara breathed a sigh of relief as she peered around her, trying to figure out just what this structure was.

It…seemed to be a gazebo?

Not just any gazebo….Sara had seen one just like it before.

A few blocks from the school, there was a park with a gazebo just like this one.

After school, she and her friends would sometimes hang out for a few hours there. Looking around, Sara found that this gazebo didn't just look like the one she and her friends would frequent….It was identical. Even to the carvings in the railing that she and her friends had left (before directly getting kicked out of the park by a passing adult for vandalism).

Sara ran her fingers over the letters etched into the railing that she'd clung to for dear life just moments before. Her brows pulled together as a question surfaced in her mind…

Why was this here?

As the question crossed her mind, a voice behind her spoke an answer.

"You brought it here."

Sara felt her mind go blank as fright gripped her. She spun around to face the voice….

A childlike entity floated before her. It had a light purple hair and big, cartoonish eyes. When she smiled her teeth could be seen, perfect pearly white without a gap or discrepancy able to be detected. Her skin was tanned, and her eyes were a golden hue. She wore a fluffy blue and purple dress that seemed to ripple in the wind, though Sara couldn't detect the wind that caused it to flow. The entities features may have been a bit exaggerated, but Sara had to admit, she was cute.

Sara stared wide eyed at the new "girl" that appeared in this strange space.

The entity continued to float in front of her, not saying anything, merely watching Sara with those big eyes, filled with cuteness.

Sara felt a weird urge to touch them.

Wait….no…why would she want to touch her eyes….

Finally, after a respectable about of time filled with awkward silence had passed, Sara swallowed her saliva and tried to speak.

"Um….uh-y-you-who….Who are you?" Sara wanted to pat herself on the back for getting the words out in a way that wasn't nearly as terrible as she had thought.

The entity's smile remained as it answered. "Modem Model Tinted 741 is equipped with an avatar that can be named by the user. Said Avatar is to be used for easier navigation of the system by the user and to help report any system errors that the user encounters to help develop for future equipment and software to be created by Modem's team of experts and sold and copyrighted by Modem. Any changes made to the Avatar are only to be done within certain guidelines, such as but not entirely limited to name, clothing, sex, age-"

"Okay, okay, okay, okay. I get it now." Sara said as she realized the avatar in front of her would probably continue on for a long while if she didn't stop it.

The girl immediately cut off her explanation and continued to smile and watch Sara.

Sara couldn't help but feel a little uncomfortable under the unblinking-no, wait…it just blinked….

The point is…it seemed so…lifelike.

Sara shifted uncomfortable before remember what the avatar had said in the beginning.

"What did you mean, I brought this"-she motioned to the gazebo she was standing on-"here."

The avatar giggled. "This space is a space created by the developers of the Modem VR set Model Tinted741 in order to allow data collection from users. Here, everything the user can think of, can be created, though there are some restrictions that apply."

Sara gave a look as if she understood.

"Ah…."

The entity blinked twice, then gave a laugh.

Sara couldn't help but feel as if it were able to see through her. She coughed to try to cover up the fact that she wasn't actually sure what the avatar was talking about.

"Ahem….Well…that explains that…."

Sara nodded, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. She narrowed her eyes as she trained her gaze back onto the avatar.

"I can make anything here?"

The avatar nodded. "Within certain restrictions."

Sara nodded. "What are the restrictions?"

"Anything that violates code 17 of the Humanitarian Law Offices of the 14 district, put in place in the year 1743 after public outcry, which states-"

Sara waved her hand. "Ah, I'm not that familiar with law speak…can you just put it into …easier to understand…language…."

The avatar immediately paused, then began again. "There can be nothing that will violate another's right to privacy."

Sara felt her confusion just growing further. How could something she created violate another's right to privacy?

"Can you…give an example?"

The avatar immediately began listing off examples that made Sara balk.

"A window that sees into someone's bedroom, bathroom, living room, kitchen or any room of their home. You cannot create a virtual person that is the exact replica of someone else, nor can you create an exact replica of someone else's body parts. You cannot create a window that can see into another's work or create a replica of their work. You cannot create a replica of something another owns with the intention of creating it because they own it with the intention of using it for something other than it's intended purpose-"

Sara waved her off again, this time more rapidly. "Okay, okay! I get it, don't be a perv."

The world was currently under watchful eyes. Satellite and video technology had developed to the point that if someone had the ability, they could hack into the government's watch dog programs and watch whoever they wanted. They could see every aspect of that person's life without that person ever being any the wiser. Some of the few "beings" with the ability to accomplish such a feat were the various Artificial Intelligences that were created by the VR companies. This being the case, each VR artificial intelligence was given strict guidelines and restrictions. Basically, they could think and act as if they were human after learning for a time, but the restrictions placed on them would not allow them to ever do anything other than help or interact with the user in regards to the game.

If these restrictions were not in place, then some perv could have an exact replica created of their favorite celeb and then come into the space and have intercourse with the replica as often as they wanted. Or, they could literally watch that person in real time while they showered. Or took a dump. Or slept….

They could probably record all of it and even black mail the person into doing what they wanted.

Sara pursed her lips as she thought over what the avatar had told her. For most people, they would be elated at being able to create basically an entire world of their own. Of course, this wasn't something entirely new, these spaces were for both data collection, but also for when you wanted to have a friend play with you in game. You could meet in each other's spaces before entering the game. Sara, however, was focused on something different at the moment.

"So…I can name you, right?"

The avatar nodded enthusiastically.

Sara's lips turned up in what she thought was a mild and comforting grin….

At the sight of the mocking and sinister smile breaking out on Sara's face, the avatar felt a shiver run down her spine.

"Shit yeah!" Sara screamed as she thrust her arms in the air.

The avatar ducked back, its smile frozen in uncertainty.