I wake up in a bed. It's not mine, though.

I feel absolutely awful.

Imagine having a cold or the flu, but a hundred times worse.

My throat is parched, and it aches.

Moving my arms (or any other part of my body) is pure torture.

I am freezing cold.

My head is killing me.

I looked around; I'm in a rather nondescript room. A desk sits at one end of the room, opposite the bed that I lie on. A small framed picture is hung on the wall, next to the door.

The door opens, and a man in a brown coat walks in.

"Ah, you're awake. I am MHCP02, also known as Freud. I would like to thank you for reactivating me; those months stuck inside CARDINAL were boring, and watching the players mentally break down was tortuous."

I do my best to muster a smile; thanks to the pain, I can barely manage a small upturn of the corners of my mouth.

"You appear to have come down with an illness that was never meant to be; the Health and Illness portion of game play was cut before release. However, if you were down in the Testing Area, then it is not inconceivable that you may have contracted a disease or several from the labs. Anyone you meet after this may also contract this disease. We may very well see an epidemic of disease in Sword Art Online. Other disease variants than the one you are ill with may also arise; the Health and Illness game play elements were very detailed before they were cut."

"Do not worry, though. This disease probably will not kill you, and you will recover in a few days."

"In the meantime, however, I will take care of you."

"Oh, and before I forget: You may also have a few visitors coming by soon; all the MHCPs were informed of who reactivated them."

With that, he left the room, and I soon fell back asleep.

AN: So this is my first published story on . I haven't written very many stories before this, but I've tried to make it not horrible.

This story was inspired by the "Old Aperture" levels of Portal 2. There's a reference to the game in this story too, with the giant hatch.

I also wanted to delve deeper into the "innards" of SAO. The consoles, the developer's rooms, the debug rooms, all the glitches and bugs, etc. I also wanted to expand on the components of SAO, as seen by the computer's explanation of the MHCPs.

I hope you enjoy this, and please give constructive criticism.