Loki

With the release of the matrix: reloaded soon, i thought i'd make a series of short "logs" regarding a cyberpunkesque future. Let me know if you like, and ill make some more =)

Ch 1: Inception

Part 1
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Timestamp: 2050-21-03 4:43PM GMT
Authentication Protocol:Unknown
User: Unknown
Acquisition Method: Unknown
Priority: Date delayed
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{Begin entry}


Vict, if you are reading this, then my actions have not succeeded. The sins of the father do carry on, and you shall have to live with this burden that i place on you for the rest of your life. These entries that i have implanted into your neural net should at least aid you in your understanding of what i have done in my past, and why i had to attempt to rectify it, when you are old enough to understand.

Let me begin by telling you a story from my youth. 20 years ago, i sentenced humanity to doom. I was an engineer working for Veritech, and together with the Symbiosis R&D unit, developed the first true virtual reality interface. You would better know this as a Portal. It sounds like arrogance to take the blame entirely upon myself, but without me, the project would have been impossible. I developed the Human Machine Interface Module system, and the appropriate protocols to make the Construct. Without either of those, Portals would never have succeeded.

I should have realised what would happen when the Portals went into closed testing. We hired a group of bums, and offered them food and clothing in exchange for them to test the Portals, and several Constructs that we had prepared. Each tester selected the Construct they wanted, entered into the Portal, and then their mind experienced whatever they chose. We had prepared a few stock Constructs to begin with: a Millionaire with unlimited sex appeal, a member of the opposite sex, a superhero, and the Universal-Construct, where the tester was free to create whatever they pleased.

From Veritech's point of view, the tests were an incredible success. Each tester loved it, and needed more. Often they would become agressive and had to be forcibly removed when told that their time was finished. Who wanted to exist in the real world, when they could be a false god in a virtual one?

In due time, the appropriate bribes were paid to the appropriate governmental officials, and a small shop containing approximately fifteen portals was opened in downtown New York, planning to lease out time with the Portals, as well as take orders for Portals from clients. The fee for a day's usage was prohibitively expensive, and the cost of a portal enough to drive most bankrupt, and so our initial clients were the rich and the successful. At first, a few curious thrillseekers came, followed by a torrent of all that could afford it. Within a month of opening, we were booked out for a year, and orders for the Portals skyrocketed.

The expected profits of Veritech quadrupled, and plans were made to lower the cost of usage and ownership and increase the number of shops.

Even with the price lowered, the cost of usage, let alone ownership, restricted it to the very wealthy. This was bought to an end when Veritech introduced a affordable home version of the Portal. Generic manufactorers were quick to copy the idea, and market dynamics pushed the prices down to within the grasp of the average worker. The average worker, eager to experience what they had heard celebrities rave about on the media, seized the chance to buy it and try it.

It was at this time when we noticed an alarming trend... the wealthy were dying out. They did not want to leave thier Constructs for even enough time to eat and to sleep, and voluntarially sacrificed this for more time with the Portal. Their bodies, only human, could not survive this for long.

{end entry}

End of Part 1.