To read Part 1 click here
“Our system already understands people better than they understand themselves. Take a look. This is what the virtual traveler sees. That lady.” The salesperson clicked the button and Art saw a woman lying on her back with closed eyes. “You will see everything she sees and hears what she thinks.
Part 2
Those ruins … It’s the remnants of Karnak Temple. He is none other than, a real descendant of Ramses the Second.”
Art saw a puny looking man who was apparently shorter than the woman he was guiding. He spoke with a strong accent.
The woman apparently looked around. The territory of the temple was huge.
“Notice how emotionally engaged she is in that experience. Take a look here,” the salesman interjected. He switched the screen again, showing the woman laying on a sofa. Zooming to her head, the salesman split the image and on the right side was showing her brain scan. “The red and orange areas are showing how active her emotional centers are.”
Art nodded his head. “Sounds good.” The salesman switched the screen back to the guided tour.
While observing the happy woman ran around the stature, the salesman commented, “You see, the descendant of Ramses the Second tells about Ramses the Second. Can’t get more authentic than that!”
‘Yeah, Jenny would have loved it’ Art thought.
“It is not some kind of a forgery,” the salesman continued, “our firm offers real emotions! Your wife will be delighted.”
Art listened and nodded his head... When the salesman stopped, he asked
"How much does it cost?"
“Well, it depends on the degree of immersion. The price varies from ten dollars to several thousand dollars.”
Art whistled in surprise.
“Ten-dollar programs, of course, are for children. The degree of immersion in reality in these programs is no greater than 30%.”
“Which program would you recommend for me? You see, it’s a Valentine gift.”
“I understand. I can advise you the 70% of the emergence program for $50.”
“What about 80%?”
“Seventy-five.”
“How about 90%”
“Hundred and fifty.”
“Wait a second. You just said that 70% is $50, 80% is $75. Why such a big jump in price?”
“Nothing strange. The closer you get to reality the more it takes resources: faster sampling rate, more bandwidth, more active memory... Since such costs rise exponentially, so does the price.”
“Got it,” Art nodded and looked at his locked hands.
“Well, just think what you are getting for that money! It's still significantly cheaper than the actual travels. More importantly, nowadays, actual travels are dangerous. All these viruses, tropical mosquitoes, ticks... claim millions of lives, even with the modern development of medicine. Cruz liners with thousands of careless passengers are the thing of the past. Today they are just death traps.”
“Well, what real travel can occur nowadays?”
“Sure thing; but everybody understands this. How does your company differ from others?”
“Ah…” the salesperson rose his finger in the air, “We are all about quality and portability. Our virtualization device is the most compact and easy-to-use out of all the existing in today's market. Take a look!” he sleds across the table a gadget that strongly reminded a usual smartphone. “Virtualizer 325 V. It is enough to enter the necessary parameters of travel, choose this option from the menu, scan your identification chip, and voila!”
Art nodded.
“Tell me is 80% of reality enough to deceive the feeling? I mean does a person truly feel that what is going on in reality?”
“As a rule, this is enough, especially for people who did not travel themselves. Didn’t you say your wife has never been to Egypt?”
“Mmmmm,” – tension reflected on Art’s face as he looked out the window where people passed by, glancing at virtual travel footage on the storefront. “Okay,” face muscles placed a little dance on Art’s face, “one hundred fifty it is. But this is Egypt and the whole nine yards, with luxurious accommodations, with boat rides on the Nile, a tour to the desert on a camel’s back, and an excursion to the inside of the largest pyramids.”
“My friend, for a small additional fee we can send you to the time pharaohs. Let's say as a builder of the pyramids” the salesman joked.
Art grinned.
“No thanks. My wife will immediately figure that something’s up.”
"All right, then that's a deal. Do you agree that Real Travel will charge your account the equivalent of three hundred dollars?”
“Wait a second?!” Art jumped from his chair, “you told me 150 bucks.”
“Yes, 150 dollars per person. Unfortunately, math in the virtual world is exactly the same.”
“Wait a second” Art put both hands on his head thinking as it the destiny of the entire world lay on its outcome. “Can you, guys…can you provide different percent of reality for me and a different for my wife.”
The salesperson slapped himself on the forehead “That’s a great idea! Of course, we can.”
“In that case…” Art straighten out now, “90% for my wife and 70%”
“That should make $200 total.”
“Thank you!” The salesman scanned the chip built into Art's wrist and handed him a Virtualizer.
Jenny laid her cheek on the table as drained of all energy and hit the table with her fist.
‘Again, all the crypto went down. Why? Who knows? And that's against all forecasts. What can you even know for sure? Probably just that you can't know anything for sure.’
‘That means again sit in between four walls, looking at the monitors and to wait, wait, wait. That’s how it is all your life you'll wait, wait, wait and the real vibrant life is passing you by. You’ll grow old and nothing worth living will happen, nothing amazing would be seen.’
Art called and said he'd be late today.
Jenny didn't care. ‘Whatever. Let him leave and arrive whenever he wants. What's the difference? He promised "Surprise, surprise..." What kind of surprise can you expect from him? Probably again, a set of sexy underwear. It’s more a present for him than for her. Boy oh boy. My mother told me "don't marry office plankton!"’
Jenny opened the curtain. Outside it was already dark. She went to the kitchen, warmed herself up yesterday's dinner. Placidly chewed a couple of bites. Drank tea. Tired and broken, shuffling with her slippers went to bed.
Art came late. Jenny already slept. He finished the rest of the dinner in the kitchen, took a shower, got undressed, and dived into the bed. He tried hugging the wife, but Jenny pushed him away.
“Leave me alone!” she growled through a dream. On her face, there was still an expression of a wacky dissatisfaction.
Taking advantage of Vera's hand was being turned inside up, he scanned her identification chip with the virtualizer.
"Let's see what you say tomorrow, princess on the pea?"
