LITRPG - Multiverse Pt. 01

"Ohhh, I see. Well, why don't I take a little look here, hmm?" Said Doctor Sullivan as I heard him approach. He made a couple of grunts and confirmations to himself as the colours distorted in various parts of my vision. At one point it felt like I was looking straight into the sun it became so bright.

"So why haven't our wishes been carried out?" Bernice asked.

"They have my dear." Said Doctor Sullivan as he continued to move the ball of fire in front of my eyes. "Life support is exactly that, support necessary to sustain life. She appears to be breathing unaided."

"She WHAT!?" Screamed Bernice.

I What?

"Oh yes, very much so. Some very slight pupil dilation and minor tracking also."

"But what about all these tubes and machines and stuff?" Bernice asked, the anger replaced and a little confusion seeping into her voice.

"Well those are mainly for other things, like food and waste. I mean she can eat though a tube, but she can't very well make herself a sandwich, or go to the toilet."

"Exactly, I mean what kind of life is that hmm?" Asked Bernice confidently.

"Babies can't eat or use a toilet either Miss Bernice, shall we start killing those off as well." Daaaaamn doctor Andrews my man is back and laying it on thick.

"OK Kurt, that's enough of that thank you." Said Dr Sullivan before continuing, "Does she have a preferred name?"

"Yes. She err. She prefers Abi." My husband Jason replied, no excitement or hope in his voice.

"Abi? Abi! My name is Dr Sullivan. I'm the Medical Director here at Sussex General. You've been out for quite some time Abi, and we aren't sure of your injuries at the moment. If you can hear and understand me Abi, I want you to blink twice for me. Ok Abi? Just blink twice if you understand what I'm saying."

Yeah nice going Mr Gallagher lapdog. Oh yeah just blink for me Abi, just blink. Such an easy thing to do. You mother fucker I'd blink your face off if I could. I took all the anger and aggression I felt towards the situation with my body and the shit with my husband and his bitch Bernice, and I funnelled it and channelled it into a single thought. Blink Bitch Blink. It became a mantra. Blink Bitch Blink! Blink Bitch Blink! I didn't think it was going to work but I kept repeating it hoping that I could will my body to do something, anything. So they would know I was in here. I kept repeating it to myself, sending the thought to my eyelid when out of nowhere, everything went dark for just a millisecond before lighting up again, followed by another brief flash of darkness. I wasn't sure if anyone saw, or even if I had managed to do it.

"Oh yes, Mr Peters. Oh Yes. Your wife is very much with us at the moment, and ethically we can't very well go around starving patients or what not."

"But she's a vegetable. She's just a blinking eye. I can't very well stay married to a blinking eye." My husband replied. Why the hell was I married to this guy? Call me vegetable one more time punk ass! I will beat you to death, so help me god.

"Be mindful Mr Peters, that your wife can hear what you are saying. And judging the amount of blinking and the elevated heart rate... I'd say she probably isn't fond of it. That alone shows there's intelligence, emotion, rational thought. Yes, yes. Intriguing." said Dr Sullivan his voice trailing off as I heard him walk away and pace the room a little.

"So, what are you saying Dr Sullivan. That he should divorce her?" Bernie asked.

"Hmm?" The doctor replied, his pacing stopping. "Oh, I'm not a lawyer Bernice. I don't know what you should do from a law perspective. The law is an ass far as I'm concerned. No, I'm more concerned about the medical side of things. The... The... Oh yes. I have a proposition for you Mr Peters. A proposition that could help solve your situation, and who knows maybe even make us both some money."

Oh shit, I don't like the sound of that.

"I like the sound of that Mr Sullivan. Lead the way"

How the hell are they planning on making money out of a paraplegic blinking female? Are they expecting to make me into some kind of Kill Bill hump station? My vision started to swirl, and my thoughts started to slow. Mother fuckers drugged me, those sons a b...

**********

I awoke with my thoughts jumbled and confused. It appeared to be night as there was little brightness in my vision. I had a dreamless sleep for the first time in a long time, and it pained me that even they were fleeting.

"Abi?" Whispered a voice I knew to be Doctor Andrews or Kurt.

"Abi listen to me. They've kept you drugged whilst they sorted out the technology and legality of what they are doing. I wanted to stop them, what they plan to do... What they plan to do to you." His voice trailed off before he continued. "In a way it's brilliant. I don't know why they couldn't just leave it at that, but no. They had to play their little games and one-up-man-ship. Really pisses me off." I heard a rattle of a tray like he'd kicked something in frustration.

"I wish I could rock the boat more Abi, but this could be your shot. This could be a new life. A life full of walking and talking and laughing and, and... Well let's just say, they are imposing a price on this life Abi. A price that I wouldn't be willing to pay, but then again, I might if the roles were reversed. But I promise you Abi. I will find you. I will search to the ends of the universe to find you. I will leave no stone unturned. Just hold on. OK? Just hold on... And I promise Abi I will find you..."

My mind started to swirl again before everything went black.

Chapter 2

Bright light. white light, filling my vision. The intensity started diminishing, firstly to a muted white then a grey, growing darker and darker by the second before eventually turning black. Was I dreaming? Am I dead?

I saw a small white object flashing in the centre of my view. Before a list of text filled my vision a line at a time.

WELCOME... {UNKNOWN EXCEPTION}

• Defining Gender: Error! Unable to Define Gender {UNKNOWN EXCEPTION}

• Defining Physical Attributes: Error! Unable to Define Physical attributes {UNKNOWN EXCEPTION}

• Defining Character: Error! Partial Character Traits established! {UNKNOWN EXCEPTION}

CATCH EXCEPTION Initiated.

Launch Omega_Protocol(P_Gen, P_Phy, P_Chr);

It didn't make any sense, I reasoned that I probably wasn't dead, but then this dream is proper fucked up. Who put something in the kool-aid? My doctors that's who! Those rat bastards. I reckon there's been a veritable pharmacy of drugs going into my system of late, maybe this was the result, tripping my ass off. Then followed a fast-flowing list of words and symbols and lines that moved too quickly to track, and made me want to vomit. It looked like hieroglyphics but, less understandable. Even an old Egyptian picture of people bowing down to a cat is clearly a cat meme, but this... this was just gibberish. There was a line of something in red, followed by a load of green. Then the writing came into focus a little more, as if someone had stuck my contacts in, but it still made about as much sense as.. As much sense as... Wait. Was the reason I couldn't see when awake because I didn't have my contacts in? Could it be that simple?

My vision dragged my attention again as everything went dark before slowly fading up into metallic grey. It looked like 2 metallic sheets with a black line down the Centre. I tilted my head and the view shifted. They looked like elevator doors? At that thought the doors slid open, showing an office like environment inside. It was filled with desks at least ten of them, forming an L shape. Scrawls of paper were on every surface. Files and folders were piled on the floors, paper spilling out and a few toppled over. I walked slowly into the room, carefully avoiding the papers along the way. As I walked to the end of the first row, the atmosphere changed, the tables getting less cluttered with papers replaced with what looked like chemistry sets, along with a whole bunch of different bottles and beakers. Liquids of different colours filled the glassware, some with strange combinations of colours. A layer of green at the bottom followed by a layer of blue then lilac. Another one was orange and had pink bubbles floating up inside it. As I continued down the corridor of desks, marvelling at the liquids on display and wondering what on earth they could be, I heard a weird slurping sound coming from one of the offices ahead to the right. It was relatively dark everywhere else but this one had a light on. As I moved forward one of the bottles of liquid toppled over smashing on the floor and causing the metal floor to bubble and sizzle.

"Hello? Is somebody there?" Came a man's voice from the office ahead. I heard a sound like a chair grinding and footsteps coming towards me. I checked around for somewhere to hide. The sizzling on the floor caught my attention and I decided against hiding in this mad scientist lab, determined instead to make a run for it.

"Why hello there? Are you lost or something?"

Damn it. Me and my indecisiveness. I turned back around towards him. "Not lost per say. I don't even know where here is, or even where I'm supposed to be. Have to say this is a pretty weird dream."

The man looked like an English gentleman from the 19th Century. Suit, waistcoat, bowler hat, all he needed was an umbrella to complete the ensemble. He had grey hair and an angular face, piercing golden brown eyes, with a monocle on his left eye linked to a golden chain going into the top pocket of his waistcoat. "Interesting. Interesting. So, you don't know where you are, or why you are here. Did you bang your head before putting the cap on or something?"

"Cap? What Cap?" I asked confused.

"The cap. The cap. You know, the cap!?" When he could see I had no idea what he was talking about he continued. "Uh huh. Did you at least read the instructions and the terms and conditions?" He looked at me expectantly nodding his head.

"Listen mister, I have no idea what it is you are talking about. All I know is that I was in some kind of accident and then this doctor..." I stopped and took a deep breath, the words hurting as I thought them. "The doctor said I had some Locked in something. That I was going to be paralysed for life." I felt the life draining from my words as I spoke them. "He asked me to blink a few times, and then said he had an idea. Next thing I knew I'm here, in this weird ass dream." The man went to respond and then stopped himself. Rubbing his chin with his hand and staring off into the distance. "Hit your head possibly, maybe a stroke, locked in syndrome no doubt. Interesting application. Interesting. Medical application. Could be a game changer and a life changer." I left him talking to himself as clearly this conversation wasn't for me. I somehow had an innate knowledge that men do that sometimes, ramble on when trying to solve a problem. I couldn't remember anything else about my life, except little quips and past experiences, especially feelings. I remember my first time, but not who with. I remember knocking a guy out at basic after we were getting down and dirty and then him trying to put a finger up my ass. Sure, I can remember that part, and the bit with me punching him so hard I broke his nose. But not a thing about what he looked like, or even sounded like!

The English gentleman seemed to be focusing on me again before continuing. "Follow me please miss. I'm sure we will get this cleared up in a jiffy, and get you sorted. Don't let this ruin your experience. Oh, and err... Sorry about the mess. I don't get many visitors down here, you see." He turned and started to walk back towards his office. As he reached his doorway, he noticed I hadn't moved. "Come on dear, I won't bite." He said gesturing for me to follow before turning and walking through the door. Not seeing any alternative and wondering where this weird drugged up dream was going to take me, I decided to play along and followed him.

He sat down in a chair at a desk, in a room littered with notes and papers and odd bits of equipment. He wheeled over and moved a stack of papers off an old rickety wooden chair. "Please sit, sit." He desperately looked around for somewhere to unload the items and decided on piling it on his already overflowing desk. Right in the middle was a large transparent cup with a straw sticking out of it. It appeared to be filled with a really dark brown thick liquid. "Sorry again about the mess. Ah yes, I see you've found my latest works. I'm trying to perfect a chocolate milkshake. It's always the simplest things that take time to perfect. I don't suppose you would care to try some?" He asked, making it clear that he didn't think I would want to, by the way he said it.

"I do drink chocolate milkshakes you know... In real life."

"Really? Well that would be interesting to see. Sorry Miss, I didn't catch your name." He looked at me expectantly, but I was annoyed by what he said. What the hell did he mean by that interesting to see part? Was he talking about my Locked in Syndrome? If he was that was a pretty dick move.

"It's Abi. Or Abigail." I said, resisting the urge to flick his monocle of his face.

"I see. Abigail. And what hospital did you say you were at?" He asked, unfolding a piece of paper that solidified into a keyboard.

I racked my brain trying to think. "Sussex Something." I replied before trying to recall... Sussex major? No, No... Sussex Soldier? No fuck sake Abi what is wrong with you.

"Ahh, here we are. Sussex General," said the man as the wall illuminated into the lines of code I saw earlier. His fingers were working quickly typing away at blazing speed. "Hmm, yes. LIS patient, hypothermia with suspected swelling on the brain, induced coma... "

"Hey are those my medical records?" I asked, my tone raised at the invasion of privacy, dream be damned.

"Patient shows high cognitive function... Home life da de da de da, uh huh."

"Home life what? What does it say about my home life." I asked trying to read what was on the screen. I'd probably have more luck deciphering that gibberish than getting a response from this guy. It felt like I was talking to a brick wall! He read for a few more minutes before sitting back in his chair. "This is.. This is something else. I have to say. In your real world, how are you speaking to people. How are you communicating? I'm guessing it's through blinking am I right?" He questioned with a gleam in his eye

"Err, didn't you just like, read that from my medical notes?" I replied insolently.

"I did, you're right. But I wouldn't have needed to." He said turning back to the screen and hitting a few keys.

"Really? How so then Mr..." I said challenging him.

"My name is Omega, and take a look for yourself." He gestured to the screen. It looked like it had turned into a massive wall mirror. I stood from my chair and steeled myself to what I would find. Nothing prepared me for what I saw. It was a picture of a human sized eyeball. I turned towards Omega, and noticed the reflection doing the same, I turned the other way and it mirrored my movements. I willed myself to wake up, this was surely fucked up enough for me to come to. "I don't.. What...?" I was lost for words, staring at the large blinking eye in the mirror. Is this what I saw my whole being as now? Subconsciously I was just a large blinking eye?

"Intriguing isn't it? Very telling of human identity. Tell me, have you heard of digital self-perception, or DSP?" Asked Omega. I had no idea what he was talking about so just shook my head, or in my case, my human sized eyeball.

"Humans have always had an understanding of how they are perceived. This is how they view themselves in the eyes of others. What values they stand up for, their physical attributes, are they tall or are they short, are they beautiful or ugly. Multiverse utilises this to form the basis of the alternate you. Now. Normally this works flawlessly, but in your case..."

"In my case, I see myself as just an eye." I replied letting out a sigh.

"Exactly and the system thought, oh we can't have an eye walking around, it might scare the children. So, we'll throw this one to the end of the line, let him deal with it. Well I'll show them..." Omega's voice turned lower as he grumbled something about ungrateful somethings.

"Wait backup. What's the multiverse and did you say walk around? I'd be able to walk around there?"

"Well yes you would. Though not in your current form. Like I said think of the children. In fact, you could run, hop, jump, skip, maybe even fly. Who knows and that's the beauty of the multiverse. Endless possibilities."

"Ok... So again, what the hell is the multiverse?" I said my voice a little louder than I meant, I was getting annoyed but equally part excited at the prospect of running around again.

"The multiverse is an alternate reality that people access whilst asleep. It's set in the future where humans have developed space travel, but if people aren't into space travel, they can travel to a different planet more aligned to their requirements. We have planets that are filled with dinosaurs, a planet devoted to steampunk. Or perhaps you want to visit a specific time period in earth's history, like the Victorian era, or maybe have a deep and meaningful conversation with Socrates. I'm sure he would get a good kick out of your present situation." Omega said before chuckling to himself. "Or maybe water is your thing? We are about to launch a planet where all the cities are underwater, it's truly amazing, but then I am programmed to say that... At least I think I am."

"So, it's like a game? None of it is real?" Trying to hide the disappointment in my voice. What's the point if it's only a game?

"OH, my dear Abi. It's far more real than 'a game' implies. I mean look at your situation. The multiverse would give you a bona fide way of communicating with loved ones, or getting a job, or meeting up with old friends, possibly even making new ones. How much of that could you do metaphorically chained to a bed, utilising one eye?" He had a point, I mean what was my alternative? If my options were walking and talking in the multiverse, or blinking at a blank wall in a hospital bed, whilst my husband shacked up with Bernie the bitch... Then I know which one I'm going to choose.

"It sounds, interesting..." I replied noncommittally. "So, say if I was interested, which I'm not sure I am yet. How exactly do I get into this multiverse?" I asked, hoping to play it cool.

"Well my dear Abi, you are technically already in it. I mean the gateway to the multiverse at least. We would need to sort out you character first. Shall we begin?" I tried nodding and saw my reflection simply going backward and forwards. I hope he got the message.

"Very good, very good. OK then... Now if I put a command here, and a route to here..." his words trailed off as he typed for a few minutes, "Ahh here we are," he pronounced hitting 1 final key firmly. The mirror switched to what looked like a camera feed. The picture was a little dark, but it seemed to be pointing directly at a bed and in the centre of the bed... "Who is that?" I asked.

"That my dear is you. It's a live feed from your hospital room. Cuts down on the lawsuits and grievances apparently, and I mean it's not like you can actually sue them or anything, can you."

"Hey!" I said but conceding the point. It certainly looked like the me from my brief flashbacks. Although my hair was cut much shorter, almost to the bone, and there were wires connected to different parts of my anatomy. There was some kind of plastic strip that went across my forehead, going from ear to ear, pressing firmly into my temples. "Oh my. An upgraded headset! That must be new." Omega said zooming in the picture on the device and cocking his head to the side as he analysed it. "Err should we get back to that character thing you spoke about, rather than spying on me in a hospital bed?" I asked, a little creeped out at his fascination and blatant disregard for common law.