After all his hard work and a mix of back-breaking labor, he had been able to save enough money to buy the new craze in 'The Federation' the 'eNNOVO'.
Virtual reality had already been a created way before he was born but its popularity had never reached this extent. The act of iNNOVO creating eNNOVO practically created an exploded the virtual reality market. Even though mobile and pc gaming existed, it usually catered to the elderly and those who were still alive when those were still used, but to young people, this was a gold mine.
This time, Enoc Debre, son of unknown parents and orphan was in euphoria as he rushed to the tech hardware store. There was no line at all as most people simply bought the game online, but that incurred transport costs, and to someone like Enoc, who skimped on even shoes, that was a no-go area.
He took a deep breath before stepping into the shop; it was rare to see a shop after The Federation had utilized all available space to build residential buildings and agric farms. He pushed open the door to the duplicated shop and for something to be called duplicated by his standards, it meant a lot.
The inside was what threw him off, if the outside was some wind ravaged thatch house; the inside was a luxurious hotel room. The sheer amount of racks and shelves hung on the walls shocked him s the building frame was not meant to hold such weight. His eyes adjusted to the dark lighting of the room to see a saleswoman busy with her smart phone.
Starting a conversation was the easiest thing for Enoc to do, it simply required him to approach a specified person, open his mouth and say things that would get him to his goal. so he approached the woman with confident steps which was supported by the fact that his tattered shoes could not be seen in the poor lighting.
"Hmm, Do you sell games here?", immediately he asked that question, he realized how he seemed stupid, there were game packets mounted on the racks and even on her table.
"Yeah"
"Do you sell eNNOVO?"
"Yeah"
"I would like to buy one", now he sounded like some wimpy teen kid from the 2000's.
"$2000", even though he had prepared the money, heating that he was about to hand out such a huge amount pained him, 2 months gone like that.
"Any discount?"
"No", Shot down just like that, throughout the whole conversation, she hadn't even looked at him, not to sound needy r anything, he was human. He slid over the money across the table to her after which she tossed the game box to him, which he caught with finesse. Without bothering to say thank you, he stormed out of the shop and gently closed the door behind him. He did not want o be forced to pay for a broken door.
Not wasting any time, he quickly hid the package under his clothes and walked home trying his best to look inconspicuous, if he was robbed now, nobody would attempt any heroic come-to-save-the-day.
As he went deeper into the residential area, he became more anxious, at a point, he even jumped at a piece of paper floating across the street. It was only when he saw a building that he quickened his steps and very soon he arrived at his home. It was located at the slums, the hub of uninvestigated crimes and insecurity. In one swift motion, he opened the door, entered inside and closed the door. He had heard about cases of super assassins who stuck to their victim's shadows and murdered them in cold blood and he had no intention of letting that happen to him.
Being the man of caution that he was, he proceeded to stay still for the next five minutes. Since no one attacked him, he took it that it was safe to see whatever was inside, since there was no needed to bathe due to the lack of water. He was surprised to only see a flash drive, though it had to be expected seeing how small it was given he was able to hide it under his clothes. He brought out his laptop from under his mattress and compared the ports of the laptop to the flash drive, which as he expected, none matched.
Suddenly, it struck him; he had one of the standard VR pods given by The Federation as to enable Virtual Schooling during the Third World War. The provision of necessities had stopped when the war ended, though money was shared at regular intervals. He headed to the second room where he stashed away the pod. As he set his eyes on it, he felt nostalgic remembering the days when he still had his family, his sisters had gotten married, his brothers the same and his parents being taken care of by the government.
He proceeded to clean the dusty thing with a dry rag and drag it out of the room with the care of an annoyed human being. Placing it in his poor excuse of a sitting room, he plugged the Flash Drive into the pod and wished for the best, after all he would not be surprised if the piece of metal was outdated, being that it was over 20 years since he used it, and with the progress that was being made in technology every day, that was a lot. Knowing that there was nothing he could do about it, he stepped into the open pod and spoke
"Close"
And the world went black.
The loading screen took longer than necessary before it came up, and then he was presented with a long privacy policy which he took time and care to read after which he clicked accept. Basically what he got from the whole thing was that there was a chance of mental issues being increased, addiction, sexual content, copyrights and that by clicking Accept, he understands the risk and still wished to continue.
Then a long synchronizing bar materialized from nowhere and began to measure the compatibility of the game to the pod he was using.
0% 13% 23% 45% 57%
"Your Virtual-Reality Pod has a synchronization rate of 57%. Please upgrade for better gaming experience". Enoc was shocked, he had expected something around 23% to 43% eve in scenarios where miracles were involved, but it didn't mean he was complaining.
"Do you want to install eNOVVO?"
"Yes. You can install", he was now awed, it was as if his life was turning around, he could already imagine himself on Reality Shows.
"Due to low synchronization rat, installation is estimated to take 2 minutes", immediately he heard this he groaned. In a world where the poor were able to download a 15Tb movie in 10 seconds, this was a pretty long time.
"1% installed. You can calibrate the Virtual-Reality pod by saying the word Settings"
Knowing that it was a waste of time staying, he decided to leave. Food wasn't going to provide itself.