Universe Online - Enter the Game: Complete Edition Read Online Free Page B
Author: Ryan 'Viken' Henning
Tags: Science-Fiction, adventure, Space Opera, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Teen & Young Adult
abilities still exist in Universe Online. Just not in the format most people would recognize.
The second reason was the scope. It isn't just a single large world, or even multiple 'realms' tied to the mortal world like in most of the fantasy games that have come and gone. No, Universe Online is one super-massive galaxy, with an estimated two hundred and fifty billion stars in a stellar formation shaped similarly to our very own Milky Way.
No one really knows for sure about the total number of stars, though.
There is also more being found and added all the time.
No two stars are the same. The planets, moons, asteroid fields and the potential for wealth and life are all unique and distinct. It is so realistic that it’s driving not only gamers crazy, but scientists, geologists, and cosmetologists crazy as well. Not to mention the spaceship fanatics or the alien 'lovers'.
If you thought the world was full of crazy, deranged people... You have no idea. Half of all people with -religion- are blasting Universe Online for being heretical in the extreme. While the other half are being tempted to worship it as the birth of a new god. Like I said, crazy peoples.
As for me... I just want the experience. The ability to move, to do what I want. To strive for something. To build and destroy and start all over again as my fancy takes me. To test myself with everything I can or could do.
It is why I blink at the TV, triggering the sensor that shuts it off while I lean back into the custom Dive Pod in my hospital room. While the vast majority of Dive Pods are oval egg-shaped machines with a sliding top door; mine is an open one without a door or most of the sides. It is also full of a slightly warmed gel that allows me to sink into it before hardening around my body. It was custom built with safety measures in case something goes wrong.
The truth of the matter is that my muscles are so atrophied that I have to use a full body brace in order to move even the tiniest bit; while being hooked up to all sorts of sensors and an IV in my rather useless left arm. A personal ventilator is also wrapped around my throat like a thick white and blue collar. The only thing missing is the 'WHHHHMSSSH' sound to make me Darth Vader, Jr..
Sad to say, I cannot even keep my own lungs inflated without the assistance.
But the real feature of this custom Dive Pod is how it’s wired directly for my neural pattern. Unlike most people, who move around and run and jump without ever really considering how or why they are able to do so; I know that the neurons in the brain connect and reconnect to form various patterns that the brain uses in sequence to perform bodily actions.
What happens when you've never been able to use them? Those patterns don't form. And it is the vast majority of those patterns that VR's tend to look for when reading the mental map they create by reading your brainwaves. I've jumped into quite a few games where once inside, I was unable to do much more than sit down, not able to move much at all.
To say it’s embarrassing is an understatement.
My new Dive Pod is different though, and it was one of the first things that I expressed my doubts about when I was chosen as a beta tester, six months ago. Solar Dynamics got back to me and did a full brain scan without showing even a hint of hesitation, and uploaded the data directly into the pod they'd delivered only hours before. I was able to jump in without any issues at all. It was... heavenly.
It's part of the reason why I was able to kick so much ass during the beta.
Just the memory of it brings a weak smile to my lips as I lean my head back slowly into the rest and close my eyes.
-Dive Begin-
-|- -|- -|-
-User Detected-
-Beta Tester Recognized-
-Loading Meeting Area-
The soft feminine voice sounds against my ear before the blackness clears from
The second reason was the scope. It isn't just a single large world, or even multiple 'realms' tied to the mortal world like in most of the fantasy games that have come and gone. No, Universe Online is one super-massive galaxy, with an estimated two hundred and fifty billion stars in a stellar formation shaped similarly to our very own Milky Way.
No one really knows for sure about the total number of stars, though.
There is also more being found and added all the time.
No two stars are the same. The planets, moons, asteroid fields and the potential for wealth and life are all unique and distinct. It is so realistic that it’s driving not only gamers crazy, but scientists, geologists, and cosmetologists crazy as well. Not to mention the spaceship fanatics or the alien 'lovers'.
If you thought the world was full of crazy, deranged people... You have no idea. Half of all people with -religion- are blasting Universe Online for being heretical in the extreme. While the other half are being tempted to worship it as the birth of a new god. Like I said, crazy peoples.
As for me... I just want the experience. The ability to move, to do what I want. To strive for something. To build and destroy and start all over again as my fancy takes me. To test myself with everything I can or could do.
It is why I blink at the TV, triggering the sensor that shuts it off while I lean back into the custom Dive Pod in my hospital room. While the vast majority of Dive Pods are oval egg-shaped machines with a sliding top door; mine is an open one without a door or most of the sides. It is also full of a slightly warmed gel that allows me to sink into it before hardening around my body. It was custom built with safety measures in case something goes wrong.
The truth of the matter is that my muscles are so atrophied that I have to use a full body brace in order to move even the tiniest bit; while being hooked up to all sorts of sensors and an IV in my rather useless left arm. A personal ventilator is also wrapped around my throat like a thick white and blue collar. The only thing missing is the 'WHHHHMSSSH' sound to make me Darth Vader, Jr..
Sad to say, I cannot even keep my own lungs inflated without the assistance.
But the real feature of this custom Dive Pod is how it’s wired directly for my neural pattern. Unlike most people, who move around and run and jump without ever really considering how or why they are able to do so; I know that the neurons in the brain connect and reconnect to form various patterns that the brain uses in sequence to perform bodily actions.
What happens when you've never been able to use them? Those patterns don't form. And it is the vast majority of those patterns that VR's tend to look for when reading the mental map they create by reading your brainwaves. I've jumped into quite a few games where once inside, I was unable to do much more than sit down, not able to move much at all.
To say it’s embarrassing is an understatement.
My new Dive Pod is different though, and it was one of the first things that I expressed my doubts about when I was chosen as a beta tester, six months ago. Solar Dynamics got back to me and did a full brain scan without showing even a hint of hesitation, and uploaded the data directly into the pod they'd delivered only hours before. I was able to jump in without any issues at all. It was... heavenly.
It's part of the reason why I was able to kick so much ass during the beta.
Just the memory of it brings a weak smile to my lips as I lean my head back slowly into the rest and close my eyes.
-Dive Begin-
-|- -|- -|-
-User Detected-
-Beta Tester Recognized-
-Loading Meeting Area-
The soft feminine voice sounds against my ear before the blackness clears from
Readers choose
Cleo Peitsche
Jodi Payne
Jeffrey A. Carver
Heather C. Myers
Ann Cleeves
Alice Duncan
Heather Long
Lucia Masciullo
Erik P. Harlow