Point of Contact

“And right now we can only talk about apples in the abstract because we don’t have a real apple in our hands to eat.” Tao picked up a tablet and tapped a few keys before showing it to Jack. It bore the picture of a bright red apple.

“Is this apple real or virtual?”

“I’d say virtual, because it’s only the picture of one. It doesn’t exist in reality.”

“The picture is real, though. What do you mean ‘it’ doesn’t exist?”

“The apple itself.”

“An apple defined as?”

“The sum of its attributes: weight, three dimensions, color, taste — that sort of thing.”

“Exactly.” Dr. Tao reached into her pocket and tossed a bright red apple at Jack. He caught it.

“Is that apple real?” Dr. Tao asked.

Jack rolled it in his fingers, felt the weight of it in his hands. “Sure.”

“Assuming your brain is normal and your senses are normal, your brain is correctly telling you that you have just encountered a real apple. Not a virtual apple. Not the idea of an apple. But an actual apple.”

“Agreed.”

“Why?”

“Because my brain and my senses tell me it is.”

“Exactly so.” Dr. Tao smiled. “Have you ever experienced virtual reality, Mr. Ryan?”

“No. I’m not really into video games.”

“Then perhaps we should start there.”

31

Dr. Tao escorted Jack and Lian to the next room, a wide-open expanse but dark like a theater, with markers on the floor and sensors in the ceiling. Two technicians were illuminated by the glow of computer workstations behind a glass wall on one side of the room.

Dr. Tao directed Jack to a table outside of the workstation room. On it were black gloves, pull-on boots, and an unusual set of goggles that Jack picked up. The face of them was a huge rectangular opaque lens.

“That’s our own wireless VR goggle design, though it’s not terribly different from others on the market, like Oculus Rift or the HTC Vive.”

“I take it that the flat piece is like a personal movie screen,” Jack said.

“Exactly. There’s also a wireless stereo headset that goes with it.”

Jack was drawn to a leg holster and a Glock 19 pistol. He picked up the gun and felt the familiar knobby plastic grip in his hand. His thumb touched the wide mag release. A Gen4. It was the right weight and dimensions, but the barrel was capped in orange plastic, the magazines on the table were empty, and there wasn’t any ammo.

“A practice gun.”

“Have you ever fired a real pistol, Mr. Ryan?” Dr. Tao asked.

Jack shrugged. “Once or twice.”

Dr. Tao frowned with concern. “If you’re not comfortable with guns, I can arrange a different kind of demo—”

“No, I’m fine, really.”

“Good. Let’s get you suited up and we’ll get started.”

* * *

Ten minutes later, Jack was geared up with his boots, gloves, and weapon, and he held his goggles in his hand.

He stood next to Dr. Tao in the center of the room. She was kitted out, too, and holding her goggles as well. She demonstrated the intuitive hand and finger gestures that functioned as his controllers within the various simulations.

Jack held up one gloved hand, rotating the wrist, flexing the fingers. Perfect. The only thing that ruined the illusion was that his hand floated free, disconnected from an arm. But in a few seconds he didn’t notice that quirk anymore.

“You’ll notice that everything on you is wireless, so it allows for complete freedom of movement. We’re able to accomplish that because we’ve developed optimization software, allowing us to broadcast far more data in smaller packets. Normally, only hard cables can handle the data transmission loads these systems usually require.”

“Wireless is great. I don’t want to be tripping over cables if I’m moving around.”

“Ready to get started?”

“Sure.”

Jack pulled on his goggles and couldn’t see a thing. A moment later, the lights popped on and Jack stood in an all-white room in front of a white table. A red apple sat in the middle of it, and Dr. Tao — or, rather, her avatar — stood on the other side. She was dressed the way he was: gloves, goggles, gun.

“Looks familiar,” Jack said, looking at the apple.

“Pick it up.”

Jack reached for it.

“I don’t believe it.” He felt the apple in his hand, a definite shape and weight. “Haptics in the glove?”

“Micro-actuators are vibrating throughout the glove, making your hand feel as if an apple is in it. We can add temperature to the gloves, and we’re perfecting different tactile sensations.”

“It’s so real I almost want to take a bite of it.”

“Turn around and throw it.”

Jack turned around and tossed the apple. It sailed through the air and hit the white floor twenty feet away.

“Now shoot it.”

Jack glanced down at his holstered Glock. He reminded himself he couldn’t actually see it; he was viewing a virtual representation of the gun on his leg. He reached down and wrapped his fingers around the practice pistol — it was real enough, no haptics needed — but the gun and gloved hand he saw were virtual. He raised the pistol, aimed it, and pulled the trigger.