After a long sleep, Mark wakes up to the early morning light of the sun through his window and the silence that comes with the majority of the city of Geneva either asleep or tucked inside a VR capsule. As Mark continues his morning routine of checking both his powers for change and getting ready he becomes curious about a vague notion; 'What was I dreaming about so vividly last night?'. Mark only remembers bits and pieces of is previous dream the night before but what he does remember seems to be along the lines of a nightmare involving the hologram he saw after entering the Testing Room. Mark chuckles quietly to himself as he thinks about how scared he was then and how the fear in real life is so much different than a POV horror movie or game in the VR world.
Mark, like many other young adults and people of all ages, is extremely familiar with transitioning into the VR world through a capsule or "diving" as it is commonly referred to. His expectations on the other hand are very high as he pictures himself using the new state of the art VR capsules the hospital had shown him. Mark was only used to a basic and low level capsule which is understandable considering his status. As a family that had both parents working two jobs just to survive, one can imagine they had considerably less money to spend on things such as VR capsules and games than a normal family with parents who are C or B class and receive special benefits from the government or their place of work. As Mark continued along his life and especially in college where he was surrounded by many people of different ranks he learned many rumors and other information about the higher ranks beyond what is released to the public.
The highest rank families do not just have state of the art VR capsules but even high grade AI which are similar to many of the "systems" from some of the novels Mark had read. The high-grade AI was paired with some of the leading medical technology which can allow some rich people to continuously use a VR capsule for a week on end with almost no side effects. While there are people who can go on longer than this in a VR pod, study have shown that a week is the longest period of time you can stay entered into a VR capsule. The reason for this is not because the technology is not capable of being used for so long but the fact that the human brain can only take so much stress in terms of understanding the different sensations and information the neural link the VR AI system gives them. Apart from some technological or mental super powers, people do not stay longer than a week in a capsule unless they are planning to give up on their real body or transfer their consciousness to the VR capsule itself which has a statistically high rate of failure with no solution in sight. Medical technology is also easily integrated into the VR capsule which makes some of the more expensive and state f the art capsules full capable of sedating a patient, fixing light injuries and even massaging the muscles to keep a person fit and prevent atrophy while using a VR capsule.
All of these facts pass through Mark's mind as he readies himself to go back the Hospital Geneva and start his normal 12 hour day attached to the VR capsule. He walks from his apartment to the nearby Hospital with the usual societal problems shown in plain sight just like when he was previously living in the mega city of Berlin. The heads down and almost depression of the F rank workers, many of whom work hard jobs of manual labor or even resort to crime when tempted for a long enough time. The E and D rank people always in a hurry to be someplace whether it is a job or another destination, they always seem to have not a slow step in their body. The final and rare sight shown in the city is the most dangerous. The C and B ranks who walk calmly and arrogantly on the street. The only reason a person like this normally would even be caught dead walking on the street is because they like showing off both their status and their rank. This is best shown by young scion of some family strutting about on the street with impunity with some person in their family normally having diplomatic immunity it is better for the average person to never catch their eye. Even though a city, like many others, prides itself on being fair and just on the surface there is always scary and darker undertones just beneath the surface.
Once he arrives at the hospital, Mark continues in past the contrasting architecture and the strangely glowing signs that Mark is now sure are not natural because they still seem to be glowing even though it is not Mark's first time seeing them. A familiar sight greets him as he walks through the lobby of the hospital. An eyebrow perpetually raised with a seemingly magic power of its own which intimidates Mark slightly as Bertha has more of a smile today compared to yesterday as she waves him through the door. Mark then makes his way past the mostly empty waiting rooms and to the elevator to the second floor. Mark then briefly stops by Carl's office to the sight of the light inside being turned off and the door locked shut.
A new note on the door of the Testing Room explains that Carl will not be in until 9 am and Mark should have the VR capsule's AI system explain his objectives and how he will be evaluated while working at the hospital for the foreseeable future. Mark continues inside only to see the light of the room already on with a man looking to be in his 30s with a slightly receding hairline occupying one of the capsules already. Mark's eyebrow furrow as he wonders if he should still continue or if he should wait until after the man leaves. Mark's excitement and anxiousness only build as he contemplates the new and shiny VR capsule and with a split second of indecision he steps into the VR capsule on the opposite end to the man, leaving only the middle capsule of the 3 capsules unoccupied. Once inside Mark's hears the voice of a woman which he assumes to be the system's AI say "Scanning" and "Connection Established" as he closes his eyes on the soft foam like material of the inside of the pod as the glass closes around him.