I had an 8K VR rig, which I used mostly for porn. Indeed, my guess was that pretty much everyone who had a rig that nice on hand used it for porn at least as much as they used it for games. Having a top-of-the-line rig wasn’t prohibitively expensive for me.
I started the download.
I went back to the “Big News” chat to say my first words.
Twelve: Hello everyone, I’m sorry to show up on a day like today. I’ll be trying the Space out soon as well.
There was a chorus of hellos and apologies that no one was introducing themselves properly as they gathered information about the return of the Dream, however neutered and suddenly capitalistic.
And then Five DM’d me.
Five: Hi Twelve. Welcome to The Thread. I’ve been doing research on how to go into the Space and I wanted to make sure you play it safe along with me. Most important thing is that you are lying down somewhere stable and comfortable when you go in. Apparently it can be dangerous if your headset gets knocked around while you’re in the Space. The headset doesn’t actually show you the Space, it shows you images that activate the region of our brains the Carls created, or activated, or whatever, to make the Dream possible. It feeds information to the brain, but the eyes are just the pipe the information flows through. It’s like encoding digital information in an analog format . . . if that makes any sense.
Twelve: Yes. I mean, no. Not really. I get that it isn’t a VR experience, only that the VR headset sends you into the Space. How it does it . . . I don’t understand.
Five: Yeah, well, no one does. Maybe not even the people at Altus. In any case, follow the instructions to the letter. There are already reports of some people having very negative experiences. There’s a thread on a private forum I have access to called “bad trips,” and it sounds like the kind of thing you want to avoid at all costs.
Twelve: Is it dangerous? They wouldn’t release it if it was dangerous, right?
Five: Who the hell knows. It’s nice to have you going in as well, Twelve. Two points of view on this experience will be better for The Thread than one. When are you going?
Twelve: As soon as my download completes. Looks like about 20 minutes still.
Five: My download is finished . . . I’ll see you on the other side.
Finally, the download hit 100 percent, and I installed the software. As always, there were licenses and notifications, but in among them was a pop-up that said, very clearly, “This software is known to cause upsetting visions in less than 1 percent of the population. These visions are extremely intense and unpleasant. Do not enter the Altus Space if you are not willing to take this risk.”
It felt like an alternate reality game. I guess, in its way, it was. I clicked OK.
The display switched to the headset. I put it on, adjusting the knobs slightly from the last time I’d worn it. The display showed an open white room that said “Click OK to Begin.”
I laid myself down on my bed with my headset on and the controller in my hand and clicked OK.
A crisp, female voice filled my ear.
“Welcome to Altus version 0.4. I am Alta, your assistant. You are about to enter the Open Access area of the Altus Space. This area is designed for us to help you help us develop a more robust experience for the world. In it, you will be able to create experiences and objects for other users. You will be able to buy and sell these creations using AltaCoin. Every week, the fifty users in Open Access who have earned the most AltaCoin selling their creations will be given access to the Premium Space. If at any point you want to leave the Space, just say the word ‘Exit.’ If this makes sense, please nod.”
I nodded.
“Good, now we will enter the Open Access Space.”
A gray field appeared in front of me with black crosshairs in the center.
“Please look at the X in the center of your screen. Do not look away.”
I looked intently at the X as swirls of color began flowing through my field of view. My instinct was to follow them, of course, but I didn’t. I kept my eyes locked on the X as the colors became more vibrant and distinct. It was intense, and even a little beautiful, and then, suddenly . . .
I do not know how to properly describe this first moment. We all have a sense that our minds and our bodies are different things, but outside of a dream, this is the only way I know how to actually experience it. The feeling of the hair on your head, gone. All of the aches and pains of everyday existence, vanished. You are a presence with senses, but no body through which to sense. My heart was racing. Peter Petrawicki was a shithead, but this was amazing.
“Excellent,” the voice said, now coming not through headphones but from everywhere. “Welcome to the Open Access Altus Space. We will now give you your body. If anything goes wrong, please say the word ‘Exit.’”
In a blink, I had arms and legs again. And I was completely nude.
“Congratulations on joining the next step in human history with Altus,” Alta said. There was nothing here but my body standing on a gray floor that extended forever in every direction. The sky or ceiling or whatever was white and infinite. “In this space, you can come and think. You can rest here instead of sleeping, and you will wake up feeling completely refreshed. But there is also nothing to do. That is because you have not created or purchased any objects to exist in
