His Metaverse

By Fernando Fernandez

The hype and hoopla regarding the metaverse is all over the world. Cutting-edge technology, artificial intelligence, and augmented reality create the metaverse, along with digitized humans, not avatars. Emily will lose almost everything. However, her determination and that of her friends will help her succeed. The world's next era is about to begin. Mr. Sandberg is a billionaire who will do whatever it takes to position his metaverse. An exciting plot with great characters.

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Fernando Fernandez
• Release date: Mar 1, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201959777

Book preview

I do think that a significant portion of the population of developed countries, and eventually all countries, will have AR experiences every day, almost like eating three meals a day. It will become that much a part of you.

Tim Cook

What is inevitable is not death but change. Change is the only abiding reality. The metaverse evolves, fractally and forever. Saints become sinners, sinners become saints. Dust becomes men, men become gods, gods become dust.

Robert Charles Wilson

This Metaverse is going to be far more pervasive and powerful than anything else. If one central company gains control of this, they will become more powerful than any government and be a god on Earth.

Tim Sweeney

Emily is scared of the latest events occurring in her house. Luka is playing basketball on the front porch. His mother calls him out. Luka, come in, baby! Lunch is ready. His puppy is wagging its tail. Come on, Roko, let’s go in. As they enter the house, it seems like a different place. Oh, those lights. Roko starts barking desperately. Luka is trying to calm him down. It doesn’t seem to work. What’s this? Mom! His mom is gone. He continued walking down the hall to the bedrooms while the front door slammed. Is there anybody? Who’s there? Nobody answers. He grabbed his pet and hugged him tight. We’re going to get out of here before things get weirder.

Previously, Emily had been peacefully cooking lunch when she heard a thumping noise in the attic. She had called her son to get in the house to wash his hands before lunch.  She went upstairs; there was nothing.  However, suddenly smoke was coming from the floor. She tried to see if it was a fire. A vortex has opened in front of her eyes. Energy was flowing around her. In seconds, she was surrounded by a plasma-like substance that paralyzed her. She wonders if she’s viewing some content from the company. Is this real? No, it seems to be some kind of experimental technology. They should have warned me that this was going to happen. Well, maybe they needed a spontaneous reaction. Anyway, how am I going to get out of this room?

Emily works for Avlat, a cybersecurity company. This company is a start-up created by Jim Sandberg in his parents’ garage, with a budget of one hundred dollars. They are far from that humble beginning. Now, they are doubling down on employee surveillance. Secrecy is vital to them. They don’t want them to sell their technology to any other company, or worse, to be sent to government agencies. Avlat is as well using its employees as guinea pigs to test these modern devices.

Diane asked Jim, What do you mean by metaverse? It’s what we require for the company to succeed. What exactly is that? It’s the personified Internet. Do you use an avatar? Why not be in it? Wow! Avlat is increasingly using virtual reality with augmented reality to cope with its remote workers. This is simply a pilot program to envision how the metaverse is going to work with our clients in the near future. What is our ultimate goal? An all-embracing life with the Internet at any time.

When Luka got out of the house, he went to his neighbor’s house to get some help. A few minutes later, the smoke and the vortex were gone. Her mother walked to the garden. Later they got together. What was that, mom? It was in every way a smoke test. Who did it? Somebody from our company, there’s nothing to worry about.

Diane and Jim are talking about the latest developments at Avlat. Deep in the metaverse, you don’t entirely watch content, you are part of it. You don’t use applications anymore; you are the creator and user of the program. This is the greatest step toward a technological world. This will certainly change the way we use the Internet. It combines virtual reality with augmented reality. Imagine all the epic games that people may want to be in and play them as never before. Yes, there are endless possibilities. What about addictions? What do you mean? We should care about our clients. Don’t you think that it could create an attachment to it? That has existed for a long time. The use of super modern cameras will enhance the view and the active participation of players. Yes, indeed. Even movies will be a different experience, extremely real that people will have to pinch themselves.

It will surely improve learning, entertainment, and work. Your concern regarding addiction is legit. It depends on the amount of time people use it. How much is too much Internet usage? It depends on what you do. If it is not for work-related tasks or learning, then it should be limited, otherwise it will cause some issues. Compulsive use, salience, losing control of yourself, stress, anxiety, insomnia, moodiness, and detachment. That’s nothing unusual. It will worsen it for sure. Cybersex includes porn webcam services, online gambling, casinos, sports bets, cryptocurrency compulsions, social media relationships, online shopaholics, video games to the limit, excessive browsing thoroughly for the sake of curiosity or the experience of traveling to unknown places. That should be part of our disclaimer.

On top of that, there will be benefits. Absolutely. More satisfaction, pleasure, learning, attention, and workers will be happier remotely doing their tasks.

Emily calls Jim. Is there anything we can help you with? Yes, you know, Jim, that I had a very odd episode earlier today. What happened to you? I got... Relax. I sense you are very anxious. Do you need our help? Yes. Something very unusual happened. A vortex popped up out of nowhere and smoke with no fire in my attic. I see. Have you been drinking? No, Jim. Come on! I neither drink nor smoke. Okay, it was very frightening. Are you sure that it was not one of your vivid Internet tests? No, it wasn’t. That’s even scarier. Mr. Sandberg, you must be kidding me! I am not, Emily.

Poor Emily, she’s burned out. We should give her some vacations. Some time away may help her boost her energy level and give her a fresh start. Diane moved on to the testing area. Jim kept on thinking about what exactly happened to Emily. We should send somebody to investigate the nature of such claims. We’ll see if things get better for her.

Luka is attending school today. Emily plans to go  visit her friend Darcie. As soon as her son leaves for school. She goes upstairs to get ready for the road, and unexpectedly, the same previous event is occurring. This is like a déjà vu, I won’t freeze this time. She touches the smoke and kneels down to check the floor if there’s any camera or device producing this phenomenon. She takes out her cellphone and starts recording a video. Moreover, she says to herself. I will video call Darcie, and nobody could say that I’m crazy or making this up. Darcie was  taking a shower. Oh, my phone is ringing! She got out of the tub and picked up her phone. Hi, Emily! Is everything okay with you? You sound kind of desperate. Look at what’s happening in my house. Oh, my! There’s a lot of smoke. It must be a fire. Call the firefighters! No, Darcie. There’s no fire, there are no flames, and there isn’t even heat. What the heck is that? I don’t know. Hey, put some clothes on, Darcie. Well, I was shaving my legs when you called me. I couldn’t find a towel in a hurry. Hold on a sec! That’s okay, there’s nobody else around me. Please pay close attention to what I’m going to show you. Look further. What’s that above your head? It looks like a vortex. It seems to me a time tunnel.  Get out of the house, I will pick you up in a few minutes. Darcie frantically gets dry and get some jeans on, I’d better rush, she is in a dangerous situation. When Darcie arrives at Emily’s house, she was standing at her front door. Did it stop? No, it didn’t. Let’s go inside, in order for you to see it with your own eyes. They both went upstairs, and what she was shown during the video call was still in progress. Did you tell Mr. Sandberg? Yes, I did, although he didn’t believe a word. Darcie told Emily to call him now. She did it, and Jim was in awe. I will get there in a couple of hours. Darcie tells Mr. Sandberg that Emily will be safe and that she will stay with her, meanwhile.

Luka is back from school. Her neighbor, Karlee, tells him to come in and wait for his mother; she will return very soon. He asked if anything wrong happened while he was at school. Don’t worry, son. Whatever it is, your mom will sort it out. He’s curious about any oddities occurring in his house.

Darcie is trying to avoid the topic, while Emily is very anxious and won’t stop moving. She feels overwhelmed and worried about her life and her son. She cannot focus on the work she is supposed to do because, on the contrary, it is affecting her physically. Besides, she’s afraid of going upstairs, and she wants to keep away from his house and any strange lights.

On his way to Emily’s house, Mr. Sandberg is talking over the phone to