SAO
Infiltration
I was surrounded by...nothing. No sights, no sounds, no sensation. Only thought. Like sleep. Perhaps I was sleeping, perhaps I was just waiting, waiting to wake up, waiting for my alarm to go off, to send me to school.
I decided then that if I was, it was a very boring dream. I had not done anything, I was not walking anywhere. I simply was.
Then, there was a flash. And then things started to happen, images passing before my vision, occurring around me. Slowly, sensation came to me, images rushed into my mind, feelings of air brushing against my skin.
I took a breath, chest heaving as I snapped my eyes open to see stars. Pain shot through my mind and I screamed, my hands flying to my head. I sat up, stumbling in the dark, and fell again to my knees. I groaned, and felt like my head was expanding.
And I began to remember. A train, light, a sound, the car not starting.
A sudden feeling of disconnection. Separation.
I remembered, most importantly, one very important fact.
I remembered that my name was Jason Webb, fourth brother in a family, athlete, and academic star.
I remembered that I should have died. I remembered watching the frame of a car buckle towards me in an instant.
The sounds of a stream reached my ears, and I crawled through the grass, ignoring the pain in my head, and looking into the water. Starlight was all I saw, pinpoints of crystal far above, and the faint outline that was my head. I groaned, hitting the dirt in frustration, and sat up, looking for the train tracks, looking for the wreck of my car, for anything at all.
I saw only trees.
I gritted my teeth. I had been in a city when the train hit, and the only explanation that made sense to me was that I was indeed dreaming, and now, the dream had started to get interesting.
I found my way through the dense forest to find myself on the edge of a town of some kind, and I relaxed as the sight of the lights in the windows came into view. There were people in the town, off in the distance, the shadows passing in front of the window's gave that much away, and I desperately wanted answers.
I got them, when a red disk started blinking to my right.
I stepped back, only to find that the disk had moved with me, and I hesitantly reached out a hand, touching the disk. It felt warm, and hard, and suddenly, with a flash, a hole in the world seemed to tear open, as a screen snapped into being in front of me.
I was startled to see a pristine laboratory, and a scientist in front of some kind of web-cam. He sighed in releif when he saw me, then seemed to steel himself for something, against something he didn't want.
He ran a hand through his graying hair, and greeted me coldly.
"Hello Jason, good to see that you made it in alive."
I blinked. "What do you mean? What's going on?"
The scientist leaned towards whatever screen he was watching me on. I figured it was a normal computer, I could see a mouse over to his right.
"How much do you remember, Jason?"
I hesitated. "I-I remember my name, that I have six brothers, two parents, I come from the desert somewhere, and, and I remember a train crash, I think. I also think that I'm dreaming."
He chuckled, but there was no joy or mirth in that laugh, only a strange sort of pity, that made my hair stand on end.
"No Jason, you're not dreaming. You crashed. Almost none of your body was salvageable."
I glanced at my hands in disbelief, and the scientist, or psychologist, or whatever he was, grimaced.
"Listen carefully Jason. When your car crashed, the vast majority of your body was shattered, broken, and, in short, it looked like you had absolutely no chance of survival. There were only three things that were still functioning, your heart, your lungs, and your brain. Out of everything. Some of the police officers offered to bring in pictures of the crash to persuade you, but I don't think you want to see yourself that mangled."
I stared at him.
"Then what's going on?" I asked. "I'm pretty sure I have a body right now, even if you're on a screen that's floating in the air, I can still feel."
I picked up a branch to prove it, flipping it end over end, twisting and catching it.
The scientist nodded.
"It was a suggestion of your teacher, or, well, mentor, or whatever. He knew your potential, and he wasn't willing to let you die if your brain was still working perfectly fine, completely intact, as near as we could tell. Your parents, when they heard his suggestion..well, they were very strongly for it."
"In short, Jason, to remedy the fact that you will likely never wake up out here, in the real world, and you definitely wont be able to move...we hacked you into one of the most publicized games ever known to man. I'm sure you know of which game I speak."
My breath caught in my throat. I had indeed heard, and the virtual air wheezed out of didgital lungs, a hesitant reply.
"Sword Art Online." I whispered, my hands hanging limp at my sides.
The scientist nodded. "Yes. The very first Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Game. Congratulations, on your chance to live."
I snarled at the man on the screen, hands balled into fists.
"Why? What do I need to know to get along here?"
The scientist sighed.
"Listen, there were only two choices, let you die, or give you a chance to live, even if it is in a game."
"What happens when I die? Do I re-spawn? Or do I get sent back to my unfeeling, unseeing mind?"
The scientist winced.
"The creator of SAO went nuts." He said simply, "He rigged the game. If you die in there...nothing we can do would be able to save your. Your brain would be instantly fried by the Nerve Gear. You don't do anything.
"Except die, that is. The game will make sure that you do that pretty well."
