"For a man's ways are before the eyes of the LORD, and he ponders all his paths. The iniquities of the wicked ensnare him, and he is held fast in the cords of his sin. He dies for lack of discipline, and because of his great folly he is led astray."

Proverbs 5:21-23

This wasn't the first time you've witnessed someone being 'plugged in'.

"No! No, let me go! I promise, I won't tell anyone!"

This was, however, the first time that 'someone' wasn't a criminal.

The young woman—you couldn't remember her name right now—was in hysterics as she was practically dragged through the hallway. She tried everything to escape. Punching, kicking, and even biting her captors. But none of them even flinched or slowed down, and it only seemed to increase her panicked wailing.

Even if you silently didn't agree with how this was being handled, you kept walking.

After all, if you didn't, you would get 'plugged in', too.

The company you worked at told the world it was developing different virtual reality games to aid in mental health recovery. Games that would, in their own unique ways, help people overcome their past hurts, destructive habits, and irrational hangups, one day at a time. And the world ate it up.

True to their word, they did release games like that, which proved to be highly successful and earned the company a lot of money.

But only you and a few other higher ups knew what this company was actually a front for.

Your eyes briefly went to the sobbing woman again. She had joined the company straight out of college—double major in computer science and graphic design, which made her valuable in this field—and had worked her way up from an intern to a full-time employee, helping to design and create the games being produced.

You had run across her a few times. She was rather shy, but kindhearted towards her co-workers. And you could see from the spark in her eyes that she absolutely loved her job.

But she got too curious.

Just two days ago, she, like her fellow low-level employees, had been blissfully ignorant of what was hidden in the bowels of this very building.

She wasn't supposed to find out. But now, she knew too much, and was paying the price for sticking her nose where it didn't belong.

You had to stop looking as you made it to the room, and one of the higher ups in front of you unlocked the door. Not even you were allowed to know the codes.

The first time you had walked into this room, you nearly vomited from shock and disgust.

But now, you don't even blink at the horrors within.

A loud click filled the air as the higher up cleared one final lock, and pushed the door open.

Inside the room were countless 'sleeping pods', like something straight out of a sci-fi movie. Some were empty and left open. But the closed ones were occupied.

Every person in those pods, silent and motionless, had a black VR headset over their eyes.

And each pod was connected to a single, giant, vertical tube in the center.

And in that tube was a single man, hanging upside down from the ceiling, floating in the liquid. His stomach had been opened, but instead of organs, several black wires from the ceiling disappeared into his insides. Just like the others inhabitants, there was a headset over his eyes. And you swore that, every time you saw him, there was a smile on his face.

He was as human as the rest of them. But on the other side, he could convince everyone that he was an A.I.

You thought it was a bit sickening, but you understood the appeal.

After all, who wouldn't want to be the god of their own digital world?

And even if that wasn't the main appeal, everyone who entered that world apparently lived forever. Or, at the very least, aged very, very slowly; the researchers weren't sure yet. It shouldn't be surprising. Their bodies had to be put in suspended animation for this to work, after all.

The woman tried in vain one last time to escape, but her captors held tight and practically slammed her into one of the open pods. "I'm sorry!" she sobbed. "Please! I'll do whatever you want! Just don't put me in there!"

Her captors didn't even bat an eye as they held her down and one of them brought over a headset.

With the exception of her and the man in the center tube, everyone in these pods was a condemned criminal.

You had read through their files after you got clearance. You could only recall a few right now.

There was the young man who had been born into a dysfunctional family on a farm, and has spent years being beaten and violated by his older brothers in the cornfields, until the day he had killed them all and burnt down the farm, fields and all. In court, he had apparently smiled and said, "I was finally in control."

Then there was the woman who had been abused by her parents and relentlessly bullied by her peers, calling her a 'crybaby', and became a serial killer after stabbing one of her bullies in her last year of high school.

And then there was a couple that called themselves the 'King and Queen of Crime'. You think they wanted to be a modern-day Bonnie and Clyde, committing several murders and robberies across the country together. That was the first time they had put two people in here in one day.

As far as the rest of the world knew, each of them had been executed a long time ago.

They weren't dead. Now, their minds resided in the digital world. But you wondered if this whole thing was worse than death.

The scientists and engineers behind this whole thing had explained it to you the first time you saw this. In order to properly 'shift' them to the digital world, the machines had to…alter their minds a bit. They didn't know the full effects, but they theorized that it might have messed with their memories and mentalities.

Did they remember the crimes they committed, or any of their lives before entering the digital world? Did they retain personality traits from before or after they went through with their heinous acts?

They weren't sure, but since they were ordered to never wake up them, it looked like they weren't going to find out.

But with a few exceptions, most of them apparently had erratic brain activity. Did it have something to do with whatever went on within that world? Just another unanswered question, you told yourself.

The young woman continued sobbing as the headset was placed over her eyes. You had to look away this time.

You chose to instead focus on the man in the center tube. From what you were told, he had been one of the original co-founders of this company. You didn't know his real name, but he now went by his 'digital' name: Creative Artificial Intelligence Networking Entity, or Caine. The thought made you suppress a grimace.

You couldn't imagine taking pride in sharing a name with the first man to ever kill another human being.

In the digital world, he could do whatever he wanted with those criminals. Even though he had no control over their minds, he could still gaslight and play around with them to his heart's content.

You heard the familiar sounds of a pod door being shut and locking in place. You heard the young woman pounding on the door in a fruitless attempt to get out. The pounding became faster after a few seconds. Most likely panicking because the pod was filling up with fluid, just like the others had before.

Less than a minute later, the pounding slowed to a stop. You waited until it had been silent for several seconds before walking over and looking down, seeing that she was now as still and silent as the other inhabitants.

One of the higher ups signaled that the work here was done. Time to leave.

A report would have to be fabricated. Eventually, she would have to be reported as 'missing'. Several company members had already been paid to give whatever story the higher ups created to cover this up.

It wasn't until after you exited, and the door shut and automatically locked itself, that her name finally resurfaced in your head.

Emily.

OoOoOoO

"What do you think of XDDCC?"

The jester stared in bewilderment and confusion for the umpteenth time in the past five minutes. But for the first time, something felt…right.

Not the strange name itself, but the fact that it was five letters long. Why did that strike a chord within her? Was her real name that long?

"I don't—"

"You're right. Terrible. Let's try that again!"

And seconds later…

"What do you think of 'Pomni'?"

I really like the idea of "What if the A.I. was actually a human mind in a computer?", and I hope I properly executed that here

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this! Please leave a review letting me know what you think! Jesus loves you! Have a blessed day!