"Holy shit!" Eighteen year old Jake Belanger shouted, as he and his identical twin Everett walked into a posh suite.
They were taking part in the TV show Big Brother Australia, and they were in a special, VIP Suite in the house.
"Jake and Everett, on this season of Big Brother, you will be one housemate." A voice boomed through the room.
Jake and Everett glanced nervously at each other as the voice continued.
"Only one of you may be seen at one time. While one of you is in the house, the other must remain in the VIP suite. We have television, video games, everything you'll need for entertainment in the suite, but remember, you're one person. You must come up with an idea of exactly who you are, so that when you swap shifts, the other housemates won't notice you've changed."
Jake nodded, as he flopped down onto the waterbed with his name above it.
"Your excuse for having the VIP Suite is being a professional ice hockey player." Big Brother notified them.
"Makes sense." Everett nodded.
Jake and Everett were identical twins, and had a lot of shared interests. One of them was hockey. They played center and left wing for the Sydney Ice Dogs Hockey Club, so they were both naturally athletic. They had short dark brown hair, usually spiked up in the front, and bright blue eyes. They both had freckles, and stood at six feet tall.
"One more thing." Big Brother's voice returned. "You will each find a wireless earpiece to communicate with each other on your pillow. You may push the button on the bottom to call each other, but be careful about when you do, as other housemates may be suspicious. You can always see what your brother is doing by turning the television in the VIP Suite to channel 113. And also, if you fail to maintain your cover, you will both be automatically nominated for eviction every week after that point. Good luck."
"Shit." Jake said, a frown crossing his face.
"We'll be you. I know everything about you, so just answer questions honestly and be yourself." Everett said immediately.
"You sure, Ev?" Jake questioned him. "I could easily be you."
"Nah, it's fine." Everett said, grinning at him. "I've always kinda wanted to be you anyway. You've got better luck with the ladies."
Jake laughed and patted him on the back.
"Jake and Everett, one of you must leave the VIP Suite and greet the other housemates as they enter. Who will it be?" Big Brother was back.
"I will." Jake said, hopping up and heading to the door of the suite. "Later, Ev."
Everett nodded, and Jake headed out into the airlock that was installed to prevent housemates from looking into the room and seeing the other twin.
An hour later, all of the housemates had been introduced, and were in the lounge awaiting an announcement from Big Brother.
"Housemates." His voice boomed through the house. "As you know, this is no ordinary season of Big Brother. This is, the biggest season of Big Brother."
Jake glanced around at the housemates faces, trying to guess the emotions of each and every person in the room.
"This season will last the course of not three months, but three years." Big Brother continued. "And new housemates will continue to be dropped into the house as evictions take place."
There was a groan from the housemates, and Big Brother continued.
"But, since the odds are against you, Big Brother will give each housemate a surprise, or a special power. The earlier you arrive in the house, the better your power or surprise will be. I'll show each of you your power in your first meeting in the diary room, in only a few minutes. Jake, please report to the VIP Suite."
Jake nodded, and headed for the door to the suite. He made it into the room, and saw that there were two massive black boxes in the middle of the room.
"Ev, what the fuck are these?" He called, waiting for a response from his brother.
A moan escaped from under the blankets of Everett's bed, and he stumbled out in a daze.
"I've literally got no fucking clue." He groaned. "I was asleep the entire time."
"This is Big Brother." The familiar voice echoed through the room. "Jake and Everett. This is your surprise. As the other housemates are about to learn, you will each get a card. Yours are on your pillows. Your cards have electronic points called Big Brother Bucks on them, and you can exchange them with Big Brother or other players in order to get things. They're our makeshift currency. Each player has a different job, which earns them bucks, and yours is entertainment. Big Brother is guessing that you'll miss playing hockey?"
"Very much so, Big Brother." Everett replied sleepily.
"These, are state of the art gaming machines. You step in through the door, put on the full body suit, and activate your game with a voice command. You'll get a tutorial when you step in. The booths are soundproof, and you may spend as much time as you like in them. The idea is, you will use the characters we've created for you, and play the game we've installed. It's an open world game, where the possibilities are next to endless. You are both marked as professional hockey players on your characters, and will get to play in your own leagues. One of you will play in a North American league, and one in an Australian league. Both of your characters are named Jake Belanger, because your games will be broadcasted to the other housemates as a source of entertainment. What happens is you will play the games and they'll be recorded. Then, whenever you want to take a break and have some alone time with your brother, you can tell the housemates you've got to go and play a game. Then you'll simply hit the button on the side of the machine, and the oldest game that hasn't been broadcasted will be played on the TV outside. You will get played for entertaining the housemates, but that is your only power."
"Alright, we got this." Jake said excitedly. "Which league do you want?"
"I'll stick to Australia." Everett said, and Jake nodded.
"Remember, you will play hockey in the game, but that is by no means the only thing you can do. Good luck." Big brother left them with a final word of advice, before they stepped into the booths.
"Greetings Jake, and welcome to your newest adventure." A female voice welcomed Jake to his new virtual reality. "Please put on the suit next to you as I explain how this works. The floor moves in all directions, to simulate movement without crashing into the walls. The suit you're putting on has a bendable screen on the inside over the eyes, to show you where you're going in a realistic way. The suit you are wearing is also full of sensors and things, to simulate a more realistic experience. The only thing not realistic, is that you are unable to feel pain. The feeling of pain is replaced by a tingling sensation, because of liability issues."
Jake now had the suit on, and was ready to play.
"Now, you may use voice control to quit the game, or to join a new mode. There are two modes. One, called practice mode, where you will play multiplayer with your brother. That will not be broadcasted to the housemates, and you will not earn bucks for it. The other mode is called life mode, which will be broadcasted and you will earn bucks for playing games. I'll leave you to it."
Jake quickly pulled off the suit and exited the machine.
"Dude, that's so boss! How?" Screamed Everett, jumping back onto his bed. "We're not going to leave this room... Ever!"
"We have to get a good rep! Big brother didn't say we were safe from nomination!" Jake reminded his brother, who closed his eyes in a valiant attempt to get to sleep again.
"Bye Jake." He hinted, and Jake laughed.
"See you in a bit bro." He grinned, heading for the door.