Paradise

Neon Heights - Delilah (a.k.a. Katya)

For five years, Delilah’s daily routine stayed the same. She woke up at 6:00am, fed her cat, drank a cup of synthkaffe, and made her way to the VR Bar close to her high rise apartment to be the first customer in at 7:00am sharp. Her apartment was a pit, not uncommon in Neon Heights where your living space was more a place to change clothes and rest before heading back into the district for as much entertainment and stimulation as one’s brain could handle.

She always got her favorite spot in the bar, a small corner nook with plush pillows and a couch she’d practically made an imprint on by sitting in the same spot everyday. There she would spend the day in her favorite VR life sim planting and harvesting vegetables, pickling items, and socializing with other residents of the peaceful virtual town. She would remain there until 23:00pm when the bar owner shut off the VR signal and ordered her to clear out for the day. The end of her day was always the hardest part, made better only when she returned in the morning.

She’d had two bladder infections and a myriad of other health complications stemming from dehydration and malnourishment as a result of her near-limitless hours spent in the virtual world rather than the real one, but with a pharmacy close by medications were cheap and easy to deal with the problem and keep her plugged in. Two days per month she would donate enough blood and plasma to keep her fed, watered, healthy enough to live and, most importantly, plugged in as she favored life away from Vargos and instead in the peaceful virtual village she felt was more of a home than any place she’d ever known.

Delilah’s circumstances were not unique. She was, if anything, a typical example of VR addicts in Vargos that spent most of their time, free or not, in the digital neuroscape of various simulations offered by Robins Co. via the BRZY app.

She’d paid the monthly subscription fee at first but after only a year in the digital world she signed away her subconscious rights to ad space to guarantee lifelong access to the virtual world. Granted, this made her real life even less desirable by comparison than it already had been, since almost all of her waking moments were spent with her vision plagued by neural-linked ads and the only words she could say out loud were catch-phrases and product slogans from the commercials.

She’d been turned into a living billboard for whatever company paid for the living ad space she now embodied. This exhausted most of the people she interacted with on a regular basis, but the bar owner was kind at least. He was used to VR addicts like her, and she was at least polite and paid her tab regularly even if she stayed in the bar from open to close. He was unable to say that about many of his patrons.

On the day that marked her five year anniversary in the digital world as a “daily logger,” those that had a perfect attendance record of logging everyday into the life sim and keeping their virtual farm in tip-top shape, she was greeted by the mayor of the small village. He was a non-playable character that had set up a celebration for her on the server. Many of the other VR players were set to attend as their characters along with all of the NPCs in the virtual town square to ring in her five years.

Delilah was ecstatic, this was a milestone she’d waited to reach for a long time. In this life sim, those who played everyday for five years were granted a house upgrade that added a whole new floor to their digital abode in addition to new pet and livestock options, should they have enough digital currency to pay for it of course. This was no problem for Delilah, her virtual pickling business made her a well-known success in the town.

Delilah walked into the VR bar that morning and settled into her usual couch spot, the bar owner bringing her a glass of water and plate of small cookies and setting them on the stand near her preferred seat. She smiled and thanked him as best she could.

“Balance Bars, now with less sugar and more protein supplement! Quang Xi - Blackfoot, where health matters most!” She said with a smile.

“Yeah, you’re welcome,” the bar owner responded with a chuckle. “Try to drink the whole glass today. A two minute break to hydrate and eat isn’t the end of the world.”

“Fountainhead Arms: Where deadly force meets invincible protection,” she said in her attempt at reassuring him she would take the break. The bar owner smiled and wandered away, leaving her to the peace of her real world.

Delilah pulled the datajack from her temple, the cord warm and wet after resting in her cranium overnight and linked it to the VR visor and affixed it over her eyes. She activated the program and in a brief flash of blue code, she opened her eyes to the warm wooden cabin she called home.

She pulled off the soft flannel sheets and greeted her dog, Melon, who barked excitedly and licked her hands as she wandered slowly to the kitchen. She boiled water and poured it over the coffee grounds in her french press coffee maker and settled in with a hot cup on the swinging bench on her front porch.

She looked out over her small farm and took pride in her growing vegetables and fruit trees spread across the property. She would be ready to harvest tomorrow and start jarring and pickling the items for sale in no time.

Delilah looked over as a figure wandered toward her property from the cabin next door, a man she’d come to know as “Ralph,” though what his name was in the outside world was unknown to her. Not that it mattered. As far as Delilah was concerned this was the only world that mattered. He stopped by her porch stairs and gave her a large smile.

“Hi Ralph!” She said with a bright grin. She liked him. She’d been waiting the last year for him to propose so they could combine their properties and get a digital currency bonus as newlyweds, but he was still new to the game and hadn’t established himself enough in the system to clearly see the benefits of more in-game currency. That was okay though, he’d understand soon. He looked around her property then back at her, his warm smile practically stapled between his cheeks.

“Hi Katya,” he said, using her in-game name. She liked not having her real name attached to the game, it helped with immersion. “I’m excited for the celebration today! It starts in a half-hour and I thought, I don’t know, we could walk there together?” He asked, nervousness betrayed in his voice and body as he scratched his head and cast his gaze towards his boots.

“Of course!” She said, hopping off the bench and making her way down the steps. Melon whined before bolting around the property in fits of happy barks and tail wags. He could tell she was happy to finally be asked somewhere by Ralph. Ralph extended his arm to Katya with an eager smile and she noticed his cheeks turning red. He was bashful and Katya felt herself melting. The two locked arms and made their way off the property towards the town square.

They arrived in the digital town square and took in the sights: banners with her username across them, various produce and other artisan goods stands set up across the plaza, her neighbors–a mix of other users on the server and NPCs–and the mayor of the town perched on a small wooden stage in the center of it all. He clapped his hands upon her and Ralph’s arrival, gesturing for her to get on the stage as he beamed brightly at the gathering.

“Ladies and gentlemen! Our guest of honor has arrived! Miss Katya has worked in our town diligently for five years, logging on everyday and ensuring our town remains stocked with delicious canned goods grown from her very own garden. She has also helped many of you start your own journeys in this town as well, ensuring new players always have a welcome place in our town. Let’s give her a hand!” The crowd applauded and whooped for her, making Katya’s face turn warm as she smiled and felt tears well up in the corners of her eyes.

“Miss Katya, would you like to say a few words?” The mayor said, gesturing for her to approach the center of the small stage. She wandered over and waved her hands to greet the crowd.

“Thank you so much everyone! Being a part of this community for the last five years has truly been a dream! It’s been my pleasure to help new players and keep this server the welcoming and lovely place it is!” The crowd cheered enthusiastically, their voices spiking in a crescendo of noise. Katya took in the sound and smiled brightly. She felt better today than she had any other day in the town. She truly loved this place.

Then all went black. The noise cut in tandem with her vision and Delilah’s vision suddenly flooded with the blurred sight of the VR bar obscured by her VR goggles.

She unplugged her data jack and removed the headset, checking the connection light and seeing a green dot indicating it was still active. She plugged back in and was greeted again by silence and blackness. She shot up from her seat, knocking the glass of water and plate of cookies over and ran over to the bar owner’s desk, slamming the headset down and looking at him with desperation in her eyes.

“Taste-E Noodles! A tasty treat!” She shouted, shaking the VR headset in front of him. He nodded and took the headset, looking it over then plugging the headset into his main console. He scrolled through some windows before a shadow took over his face. He slowly unplugged the headset and pushed it gently back towards her side of the counter.

“Delilah, um, I’m sorry. The server has been discontinued. There’s an alert for this server as well as twenty others managed by Robin’s Co. that they have been discontinued. I don’t know what to say, this is the third time they’ve done this without warning this year. Consolidation or something, I don’t know.” He spoke quietly, unable to meet her eyes. How had Delilah not heard about this? She tried to recall the news alerts related to her server that had been sent her way over the last few weeks, but couldn’t remember any clearly. All she could remember with perfect clarity were hundreds of ads. She took the headset and wandered back to her seat, resistant to plugging it back in.

Katya. Ralph. Her house. The Mayor. All of the other villagers. Their world was gone. It happened in a split second, an entire ecosystem and lifetime of existence gone as if none of it meant a thing. How could these other VR users in the bar keep playing on their headsets after such a tragedy? Where was she to go now? What would happen to Ralph and the future they were supposed to have together? Her in-game currency? All of her virtual work?

Delilah pressed her face into her hands and wept uncontrollably, unheard by everyone in the bar but the bar owner across the room. He approached her slowly and began cleaning up the spilled water and food. He rubbed her shoulder gently and sat beside her.

“Can I get you anything?” He asked, his voice kind and empathetic. Delilah wondered how often he had to provide comfort to VR users who lost their servers so suddenly. She wanted to ask for her server back. For her life back. For her world to be whole again. She spoke the only way she knew how.

“Robin’s Company: Our users are our first and last priority.” She whispered into her hands.