Sam and I spent a minute examining the chickens. Lulu’s idea of “some” chickens translated to about forty of them. They completely filled a trailer, all smushed together, bawking angrily, jockeying for position. I didn’t see any roosters.
“Are these the magic ones?” Sam asked.
I laughed. “I hate to break it to you, buddy, but I don’t think there’s such a thing as magic.”
“Typical drummer,” Sam muttered.
“I don’t even know what that’s supposed to mean.”
“We also got some gear, but I don’t know if any of it is useful,”Lulu said. She got off the scooter and pulled open a box at the front of the chicken trailer. In it sat two pulse rifles, some ammo, a few round devices that looked like more modern grenades, and a large, bulky helmet.
“Hey,” Sam said, picking the helmet up, “this is an immersion rig!”
“Is it?” I asked, snatching it away from him. “Why would robots need these? Are they playing video games when they’re on break?”
“This is not a regular immersion rig,” Roger said, startling both of us. He’d been doing that more and more lately, just randomly interjecting himself into our conversations even though he really wasn’t here. “These helmets are reinforced for battlefield conditions and are used to remotely control guns and drones. We can utilize these should you need to have direct control of a drone or a remote gun. The RMI soldiers have been seen to use such tactics, but Lulu was unable to find any intact drone units. If the need arises, however, I may be able to connect one of our current UAV units to the helmet.”
“What about a honeybee?” I asked. If I wore the helmet, I could not only control the flying drone or honeybee, but it would feel like Iwasthe unit. These were similar to what all the players playingOperation Bounce Houseused.
“And can we use these to play Earth games once this is all done?” Sam added.
“There is nowe,” Lulu said. “I found it. It’s mine.”
“Yes to both of those questions,” Roger said. “But I believe the military versions of these have some security limitations. I would like the opportunity to study this in the control room as the neural interface is quite interesting to me.”
I knew little about how these things worked because we didn’t have them here. I knew there’d been multiple false starts and dead ends over the years when it came to true immersion technology. These were relatively recent, and there’d been a lot of controversy about safety regarding them. Once you put it on, you could completely mute the world around you. But you still weren’t using yourreal arms and legs, just imaginary versions of them. I couldn’t really wrap my mind around it. It was said it was hard to get used to, but once you finally figured it out, there was nothing like it.
I pulled my own helmet off and put the bulky helmet on.
Nothing happened. It felt like the other helmet, except maybe a little tighter on my head.
“I think it’s broken,” I said.
“You have to turn it on first, genius,” Sam said. I felt him press something on the side.
“Please wait.”
A robotic female voice spoke in my ear.
“Turning on the first time. Tuning. Tuning. Tuning.”
The view snapped back on, but I was standing in an endless field. Several spirals appeared in the air.
“This is trippy,” I said. I looked down, and I could see a wire frame of myself.
“Oliver! Do not use it!” Roger said.
“Biometric scan complete. This helmet is now locked. If you wish to change users, please reset the helmet using a manual connection with the control unit. You have the option to engage. Warning: There are no associated apps to engage with. Warning: Make certain you are in a safe location before you engage.”
I felt the helmet peel off my head. Even though it came off easily, it felt like it was being ripped away from me like it was attached with sticky tape.
“Ow!” I said as a quick headache overwhelmed me.
It was Lulu who’d grabbed it. “Goddamnit, Ollie! That was mine!”
Roger spoke. “It appears Oliver activated the biometric scan. It is now locked to Oliver. Only he may be allowed to use it from now on. I may be able to reset it, but we would have to print and test the proper interface cables.”
“I swear to god, Ollie,” Lulu grumbled. “You ruin everything.”
