– I wonder what kind of trick you have in store for me?
– What makes you say that?
– Because you don't get it.
– Are you talking about here and not in the virtualization room? Come on, buddy.
– Now, that alone tells me a lot. There's definitely a catch! I'm sure of it. Consciousness transfer according to my methodology, based on my discovery, can be realized there, too, on those installations.
– All right. Let's do this… I'm in. I'll go into trance first, then you.
– What does it do? What am I, a high school student?
– Okay, farther. You supervise my full dive. See how the equipment works, and then dive in after me.
– It's a little unclear. If you're trying to convince me that there's no catch, then what's the point of doing the experiment here?
– This is our usual workplace. Here is our professional laboratory, and over there is our office – and it is not ours. I don't even know all the entrances and exits there. Especially the installations there are not professional. It's a different program. It tests the purity of people's intentions in a trance state. Thoughts and thoughts. And here there are hundreds of other indicators. Here you can immerse your consciousness in the state of infancy and check what and how it influenced your worldview, for example, on the first day of the first grade at school.
– It's really Freudian.
– Oh, no. Freud, we'd be looking for a graveyard of sexual trauma in your soul. We're looking for motivation. That's more Jungian. Let's go, shall we?
– God be with you. What else you got in mind, I'd like to know.
– Don't worry, you'll live.
– All right, lie down. I'll supervise.
The scientist lay down in the rig, a mask was placed over his face, and additional pieces of instrumentation were placed on his body.
– It's clearly a long time coming, since you so clearly want to know everything about him....
– We can get your heart rate and blood pressure remotely.
– That's what I'm talking about. What are those suction cups with the gauges?
– It's to stimulate the body to react differently.
– All right. You scientists will come up with anything to calm and dull the vigilance. Just one multi-pronged global program to convince the whole world that you need constant medical treatment is worth it.
Ruthra laughed at what he had said. The rest of the scientists, who had been smiling modestly at first, laughed at what he had said.
– You should know that," said one of them at last, with courage.
– All right, I'm going down. Where are you throwing us out?
– Nowhere. You're staying right here in the building. As the patron told you, there will be a test of feeling in another body. That is, you will wake up in a virtual reality not as you, but as another person, in this case you will be our chief, and our chief will be you.
– Oh, I see the level. You're the chief, you're the patron. I am not so honored.
– Oh, come on. You have the most respect in the system.
– All right, let's go.
– Shall we turn it on?
– Let's turn it on. Just give me a second. I've got some work to do on my technique.
Rutra took out a regular ballpoint pen and wrote the time on his hand to the nearest second, and indicated the year as well. No one in the center wrote in the usual way. Everyone wrote their thoughts directly into Irene's memory, and she translated them into any format.
After checking the instruments and the scientist's condition readings, Ruthra lay down in the rig. After the manipulations, he felt the invisible waves affecting his brain and began to fall asleep. Rutra soon woke up, and only his being in the rig told him the alternative – either he was in the real world or in virtual reality. Otherwise, if Ruthra had appeared in a different setting, there was definitely no way he would have been able to determine that he was in the virtual world and would have been sure that everything was real. But now there were two factors that helped him make the right decision: the first was the setting, and the second was the presence or absence of a simple but ingenious inscription on his arm. He had never tried to figure out where he really was, whether he was in the virtual or in reality! He even beat himself with a stun gun, checked his blood after taking alcohol: in reality red blood cells stick together after taking alcohol, but in the virtual world they do not. But it did not work: in the virtual world a person could drink alcohol, become drunk there, but in the real world his blood would still be without alcohol. And if the same person takes and checks his blood in the virtual world, i.e. his "virtual" blood, it will naturally be the same as under the influence of alcohol. That's how it is. And here everything is simple: the main thing is to accustom yourself at the level of reflexes to constantly write and constantly check what you have written. Accordingly, if you don't see the writing, it means that you are in the virtual world.
And in general – it is impossible to realize that the world is not real based on one's sensations. Absolutely everything is like in ordinary life: feelings, smells, emotions… everything. Only when you leave the virtual world and you are shown a recording – then you realize that you were in the virtual world. You do realize, but you still can't believe it, because the sensations there are so real.
And now Ruthra was sort of in "reality". Everything was as usual. He woke up, the scientists were standing around, the second "client" was lying next to him, and only Rutra's habit, already reflexive, made it clear: there was no tape on his hand. So he was in the virtual world. Although, beginning to fully realize reality, Rutra began to realize: something else was wrong… For some reason he was not on the right, but on the left of the second installation… Rutra assessed the situation once more. No note on his hand? No. Then it's not real. That's right. Who's next to him? It wasn't a "scientific luminary" lying next to him. The person next to him was– "Oh, shit. This can't be happening! They're playing me again," was the first thing that ran through his head. – Who is this? And who am I?"
He shook his head, "What is this, bring me back to reality!" Nearby, in a neighboring rig lay… him!
It is very difficult to make the consciousness believe in its absence from the real world only on the basis of the fact that the brain knows about the existence of the virtual. How can you convince yourself, in the apparent reality of the self, that you are not in reality, it's all not true? How?
– And there you go," he heard in his head.
– Who's that? Irene, is that you?
Ruthra asked because the voice was unusual: male. The artificial intelligence could speak in a man's voice, but it didn't give orders to do so.
– No, it's not me.
– Then who?
– I don't know. There was no commutation through me.
– Then how and who?
– I'm checking. There was no outside entrance to you.
– And to whom, me? What's going on?
Ruthra glanced angrily at the "servants of science" who stood a little away from the rigs, then awkwardly stood up and walked over to the next rig. He couldn't believe his eyes – there was a man who looked just like him! Suddenly, Ruthra realized that the scientist could have done such a thing to learn the secrets he possessed in the real world. He shuddered, "Then who am I now?"
Ruthra looked into the mirror set into the wall, a large, full-length mirror. He couldn't say he was horrified; he couldn't say he was surprised… Strangely enough, Ruthra didn't even feel a strong sense of surprise, so much so that he'd been raised and trained by virtual reality, or rather, by feeling in it and not believing in it afterward. Ruthra was aware