Dead Voices, page 18
This made her nervous.
“Maybe you should conduct the experiment with me first,” she said. “And then I’ll know if it’s all right for the kids.”
“You sure?”
“What do you mean?” she said with a worried look.
“It’s a little intense. You actually see the consequences of your choice. The people who are killed are splattered in the mine shaft.”
“You mean it’s real?”
“No, it’s not real. But it’s physical. The people are very life-like. And you’re totally immersed in the action.”
Again he gave her his little smile, seemingly more interested in her reaction than in what he had said. He was so casual, so comfortable, and at the same time detached from it all. She wondered if she weren’t being played. She had developed a sixth sense about such things. In her latethirties, she had been told enough times that she was quite attractive, with her tall slim figure, her lustrous black hair worn straight to her shoulders, and fine smooth skin. She had been in enough relationships to suspect when the guys were playing or serious.
The thing was, most of the time the guys who were serious weren’t her type. It wasn’t just the looks that affected her, it was the way they carried themselves, with a little swagger, with a little edge. And they had to have a mind of their own as well. And a sense of humour. With smarts as well as sparks. Maybe her hidden detectors were, indeed, too picky about the total package. She had to do some research on the MPI.
Things weren’t funny anymore, however. Here she was, close to the end of her child-bearing years, and she still hadn’t found the right guy. It was tick-tock now. It was getting at the stage where beggars couldn’t be choosers. And her mom was putting the big pressure on her as well. All her friends were married. When would they get their grandkids?
Tick-tock, Emma. Let’s get the show on the road. Nature’s not waiting. Tick-tock, tick-tock. You gotta pull the trigger some time, honey. Or life’ll pass us by.
The little knock-knock on the door startled her. Sam was peeking through the window. According to the clock, they had about twenty minutes before the students came in. He came in carrying a couple of water bottles.
It didn’t take long for him to get things set up. He took out a headset, a grip, and some Velcro strips, along with a console and a laptop. The headset looked like a pilot’s helmet with thick dark goggles and a mike. Everything had cables. He put the console on a student’s desk, attached all the cables, and ran a feed to the laptop on another desk. First he put Velcro strips around her knees and ankles, with cables to the console.
“These are the sensor feeds,” he said.
His touch burned into her legs.
“You ready?” he said, pushing the desks away to make a little more room.
She nodded and stood up.
He told her to relax and trust him. If anything went wrong he’d shut the whole thing down. It would be just like watching a 3-D movie, he said again. The program would slowly orient her to her surroundings, then the other sensory aspects would kick in and she’d be right there, totally immersed.
He fitted the headset snugly over her head and eyes. His hands felt gentle over her skin. She couldn’t see a thing. Then he gave her the hand grip, which was like a bike handle. He was holding onto her arm and she could feel the goose bumps.
“All right,” he said. “You’ll be able to hear me at first. I’ll give you a few directions. But at a certain point you’ll be on your own.” He paused. “The next thing you’re going to see is a long shot of mountains and landscape just to get you acclimatized to the VE. Then you’ll see the four people walking into mine shaft A and hear them talking. And you’ll be in the reality itself. You’ll see how narrow the shaft is . . .”
She was so nervous she hardly heard what he was saying. She only knew she had to go through with it for the kids. She was responsible. She had to do this.
The next thing, she was looking at a barren landscape. It made her gasp. She laughed nervously. She knew it wasn’t real. It looked like something from a cartoon. There were hills and distant mountains, all rocky and bare. She could see her feet standing on the ground. They were in hiking boots. She was wearing shorts and a T-shirt. Then she saw the tracks going into the mine shafts. Four people, two young couples in hiking attire, were walking towards the first entrance. A man in shorts and a backpack was walking towards the other one. A collection of boxcars loaded with ore was coming fast down a steep hill towards shaft A, the four hikers. She saw the lever switch where the tracks split. The scenario made it more than apparent that if she didn’t pull the switch and redirect the boxcars towards shaft B, the four hikers would be hit and probably killed. The lever switch was a long black handle with a grip.
“Do you see the switch?” Sam said in her ear.
“Yes.”
“Walk towards it.”
She took a few tentative steps. She felt the ground vibrate under her feet. The rocky terrain seemed to come up to meet her. A few feet away the level ground had just moved away to expose the edge of a cliff. She gasped for breath, realizing how high up she was. Even though she knew it wasn’t real, it seemed so real she felt dizzy. The boxcars were hurtling faster, making a racket.
The scenario changed. She could hear and see the two couples talking to each other. It was as if she were right beside them, hearing what they were saying. One guy, Max, was teasing his girlfriend, Terri, about going inside the mine shaft. There was nothing to be afraid of. He’d save her. The other guy, Eric, was talking about his arrowhead collection.
When she was brought close to the lone hiker, she saw the initials SB at the back of his backpack. She recognized his face immediately. It was so real.
Things were happening quickly. The hurtling boxcars were getting nearer. Sam instructed her to grab the lever switch and use the grip in her hand.
All of a sudden, she felt totally there. Everything — the scenery, the hikers, her body next to the lever — was present, was real. She had to choose.
Before she had time to make her choice, however, the scene changed again, fast-forwarding to the future. It showed the boxcars hitting the couples flush, hurtling their bodies against the rock wall. She saw Max’s limbs flying in all directions, Terri’s skull exploded, the walls of the shaft splattered with blood. The sight made her instinctively close her eyes. And she immediately thought she’d wake up. But she was already awake. Then she saw the same effects of the boxcar hitting the one hiker in the other shaft. It seemed even more brutal, the guy’s face with its beat up nose crushed against the wall.
The scene came back to present time. The boxcar was still hurtling towards shaft A. She had her hand on the lever switch. If she didn’t pull the switch, the boxcars would kill the four hikers. If she pulled it, the boxcars would crush the one guy. She was shaking with fear. She couldn’t think. Whatever she did would cause a death — and she had never harmed anything in her life. It seemed so unfair. She didn’t want to kill anyone. The boxcar was coming. Tick-tock.
“No!” she cried out.
Her eyes went blank and she was in the dark.
Sam had turned off the headset.
After he removed it, she was still shaking. He made her sit down and unscrewed a bottle of water.
“Drink this,” he said.
She took a big gulp and caught her breath. Outside the windows, she saw the glare of the sun and the football field and the distant buildings.
“I know, I know,” she said. “I chickened out, didn’t I?”
“Nothing to get upset about. It happens.”
“I guess I’m a coward.”
“No, no. It’s just a normal reaction. It’s happened a few times.”
“I feel like an idiot.”
“I’m glad you took the test,” he said with a big smile. “Most teachers wouldn’t. The kids are used to these things.”
She took another gulp of water. “That one hiker,” she looked up at him. “He looked very familiar.”
He explained how he and a few of his colleagues had gone to an abandoned mining area in BC and used tracking devices on their bodies. Then their facial features were scanned and digitized on a light stage to create holograms, real-life replicas or avatars. One of the technicians, as a joke, had put his initials on the backpack.
She could hear commotion outside the door. The students were ready to enter for the class. She still felt rattled.
“You sure this’ll be all right with the kids?” she asked him. “It’s pretty intense.”
“They’re used to much worse than this. But I’ll tell you what. If it doesn’t work with the first one or two, we’ll shut it down.”
They quickly went over procedure. She’d introduce him, he’d explain how things would go, and they’d ask for volunteers. After that, they’d play it by ear. He was sure that most of the guys would jump at the chance.
When the senior kids were filing in, she could see the girls give the stranger the once-over. This would be a different type of class, she saw immediately. They all had their backpacks and were neatly in their uniforms. White school polo tops or shirts, with dark grey slacks for boys and girls.
After she introduced Sam, he sat on top of a desk and spoke to them as if to a campfire group, totally relaxed and at ease. He explained how the VR experiment would work, went over some of the things he had already told her, and said it was entirely voluntary. The kids were very attentive. She went to sit on an empty desk by the windows.
“Miss Melnyk,” Sam said, turning to her and smiling, “has just gone through the VR Switch Study for a trial run.”
She gave the kids a big smile, arching her eyebrows as well.
“Oh, yeah?” Robin Kwasek said, immediately perking up. “And what option did you choose, Miss?”
“We can’t tell you that,” Sam said. “It would influence your choice. We’ll tell you later, OK. Just realize that whatever option you choose, it’s just a simulation. It’ll not only look and sound real but feel real as well.”
“We know that, Sir,” Robin said.
“Call me Sam. I haven’t been a Sir since my knighthood days.”
The class regarded him without reacting. He told them how he had grown up on rugby video games and asked them how many had played 3-D video games, simulation games, and the like. Most of their hands shot up.
He nodded and turned to her, as if they were all right. She noticed his broad shoulders and slim waist — and how the buckle of his belt hung loose at the front.
They discussed a few of their favourite games. She had seen ads and previews for some of these video games on TV. Most of them involved guys in combat gear and automatic weapons killing everything in sight. It caused her to wonder if kids weren’t being programmed to be special forces personnel or the psychos who ended up shooting up schools. It also caused her to wonder what she was doing using the same tactics in a Religion Course.
Well, she had learned her lesson already. The people in the VR scenario had been so real.
As it turned out, almost everyone in class wanted to have a go at the VR Switch Test. Sam chose Robin Kwasek first since he had practically begged to be chosen, staring at Sam with his big goofy grin. Robin had been a serious student at one time. He was a lanky good-looking kid, with short dark hair and fair skin that reddened easily. Something had happened along the way, something personal that Robin wouldn’t elaborate on, that had thrown him off course. Now he didn’t take anything seriously and was failing all his courses.
Sam had the class move the desks to create an open area, like a little stage. He had Robin roll up his pants and put the gear on him. Attired as he was, with the helmetlike headset and display, the grip in his hand, and Velcro sensors, he looked like a Special Forces trooper with nightview goggles.
Sam sat at the computer and gave the countdown. The class sat in a semi-circle around Robin. Some of the guys were grinning, as if they knew what to expect. Some of the girls were watching impassively.
Sam gave Robin careful instructions at the beginning. Afterwards they watched Robin’s body language. They heard him laugh, then gasp and saw him reach out his hands as if feeling his way in the dark. He moved tentatively forward, laughed out in glee, and flung his arms out.
Then it was over.
After the headset came off, Robin gave the class a big laugh.
“It’s so sick!” he said, as if he had been on the rollercoaster ride of his life.
They only had time for a few other kids, however, and the rest gave out a big groan. Sam chose two girls, Megan and Ashley Da Silva. When they were under the headset, they seemed to handle things quite well. Sam sat at the computer in firm control of the whole procedure. His very presence made the classroom come alive. Each student — boy and girl alike — chose one of the two options.
Afterwards they discussed their choices. It was no surprise to her that the two girls chose to save the lives of the four people and the three guys chose to have the four killed. It was no longer a moral dilemma on a handout. For the guys, it was a game of splatter-the-hikers.
Sam explained that he expected the guys to choose as they did because they were trying to be macho, their empathy blunted by their emerging gonads. The girls were more morally developed and made the obvious choice. The guys laughed.
“C’mon, Sam,” Robin said. “It’s just a game.”
“Is it?” Sam said. “You’d think so, of course. But it reveals a lot.”
“Tell us what Miss Melnyk chose,” Brian Moniz said.
Sam turned to her.
“I chickened out,” she said from the desk. “I couldn’t go through with it. Sam had to shut it down.”
“No, Miss,” Megan said. “You did what Jesus would’ve done. Not kill anyone.”
“Not true,” Robin said. “If you don’t pull the switch, you let the boxcar kill the four people.”
“Not if Sam turns off the computer,” Megan said, giving Sam a big smile.
The class turned their attention to Sam. He stared back at them with his ubiquitous and enigmatic grin.
“Robin’s right,” Sam said. “According to the Switch Study, the consequences are programmed to factor into our choice. The question is: Should that be the case?”
“What do you mean?” Robin asked him.
“Should the consequences determine your choice?”
“Why not? It’s not real. It’s just a game. In a game if I’m packing heat, I kill.”
Sam nodded. “You wanna do a little more killing?”
“Sure,” Robin said.
“I have another VE scenario that’s slightly different. Would you care to try it out?”
Robin was only too keen. She shook her head. This had not been part of the program. What other scenario? He hadn’t mentioned a second scenario.
She was just about to get up and stop things when he came over and leaned his face so close to her she could smell his skin. A little shiver went through her. He told her it was all right. Same scene, with just a little twist. Totally harmless. Trust him. All she could do was nod.
Robin stood in front of the class with a big grin, clearly relishing being the centre of attention, as Sam put on the gear. The class looked on impassively. Sam went back to the computer and gave the countdown. Everyone sat in silent expectation, watching Robin’s body movements. His body jerked this way and that, his hand moving. All of a sudden, Robin gave out a terrible scream and crumpled to the floor.
The class was shocked. Emma got up. Sam rushed over and removed the headset and the other devices.
“Are you all right?” Sam said.
After a few seconds of being in a daze, Robin looked at his legs and put his hands on them, grabbing them as if he wasn’t sure they were there. Then he wrestled himself out of Sam’s hands and got up. His face was flushed a deep red, his eyes enraged.
“You tricked me!” he said.
“Relax,” Emma said.
At the side board, Robin walked back and forth, as if stretching his legs. Every so often he looked down and felt his knee. The class was quiet, waiting for the explanation.
“OK, OK,” Robin finally said with a big grin. “I’m all right. You got me, I admit it.”
“What happened?” Emma asked him.
“He changed things around, that’s what happened,” Robin said, spewing out his words. “This time you had to pull the switch to have the four people killed, but you had to step through a mine field . . . and I got my legs blown off.”
A few kids laughed uneasily. Robin gave them a dirty look.
Sam explained that he had added a new consequence, the possibility of stepping on an IED. This was a constant threat for soldiers in combat. VR scenarios were used to train soldiers, as a matter of fact, as well as to help rehabilitate the ones with PTSD. It was just a game, but it had to be made as real as possible in order to prepare soldiers for combat.
“We’re not preparing soldiers for combat,” Emma said, angry at what he had pulled.
“Sorry,” Sam said. “But kids don’t take these games seriously unless they’re directly implicated.”
“You didn’t mention that part.”
“Sorry,” he said in a meek voice. The way he said it reminded her of how he had sounded on the phone.
“I actually felt my legs being blown off,” Robin said. “It was sick, man. Sick.” He gave the class his big goofy grin again, trying to regain some class creds.
“Would you choose the same thing again?” Sam asked him.
“You make a decision, you have to live with the consequences. I could see the IED, but I didn’t pay it much attention.”
Sam nodded, with a little grin.
Once Robin regained his composure, he sat down at a desk. Emma sat down as well. The class asked Sam all sorts of questions about his VR and research. He answered as honestly as possible. He was more interested in what motivated them to choose as they chose, he told them.
“Should the consequences determine your choice?” he asked them again.
Most of the kids agreed. Only Megan Townsend disagreed. It was only a game, she said. It wasn’t real. In real life they wouldn’t always know what the consequences would be.
