Chapter 122: Chapter 122: The Launch Event - Part 3 (Starr VR Debut)
AURORA CONVENTION CENTER - 8:45 PM
The fifteen-minute break had energized the crowd rather than calming them. Everyone was talking. Debating. Processing what they’d just witnessed. Tech journalists were filing stories in real-ti. Scientists in the audience were already downloading the Simulator on their devices.
Marcus Webb was doing a live comntary for his stream. "We’ve been here for over two hours and Starr Technologies hasn’t stopped delivering. The Simulator alone would be the story of the year and decades to co. But according to the schedule, we’re only halfway through. What else could they possibly have in store for—"
The lights dimd again.
Cassia walked back onto the stage. The audience imdiately quieted.
"Thank you for your patience," she said. "I hope you’ve had ti to process what we’ve shown you. The Simulator is powerful. The AR BCI is transformative. But now..." She paused for effect. "Now I want to show you sothing that most people thought was impossible. Sothing that exists in science fiction but not reality."
The holographic display behind her changed. A sleek helt appeared—elegant curves, matte black finish, subtle blue lighting accents.
"This is the Starr VR Full-Dive Headset."
Murmurs rippled through the hall.
"Virtual reality has existed for decades," Cassia continued. "But it’s always been limited. Headsets that show you images. Controllers that track your hands. Audio that plays in your ears. It’s imrsive, yes, but you always know you’re wearing equipnt. You always know you’re not really there."
She walked closer to the audience. "What if I told you we’ve created true full-dive VR? Not just visual imrsion. Complete sensory imrsion. A virtual reality that feels as real as the physical world. Where you can see, hear, touch, sll, taste—where every sense is engaged. Where you forget you’re in a simulation because your brain genuinely believes you’re sowhere else."
Skeptical sounds from the crowd.
A man shouted, "That’s not possible! You’d need direct neural interfaces. Brain surgery!"
Cassia smiled. "You’d think so. But rember—you just saw brain-computer interfaces that work through your skin. No surgery. No implants. The Starr VR uses the sa core technology, just more advanced."
She gestured to the side of the stage. "To demonstrate, I’ve invited five prominent gars to experience full-dive VR live. Please welco Jason ’Apex’ Chen, Maria ’Velocity’ Santos, Dmitri ’Phantom’ Volkov, Aisha ’Zenith’ Osman, and Tyler ’Nexus’ Park!"
Five people walked onto the stage. They ranged from early twenties to mid-thirties. All were known in gaming communities—strears, tournant players, content creators with hundreds of millions of followers.
Jason Chen had 200 million subscribers on his gaming channel. He waved to the audience, grinning. "I have to admit, when Starr Technologies invited
here, I thought it was a scam. Then I looked at who else was coming and figured even if it’s a scam, it’s a well-organized one."
The audience laughed.
"But after seeing what we’ve seen tonight?" Jason shook his head. "I’m a believer. Show
this VR."
Five recliner chairs had been set up on stage. Comfortable, ergonomic, with built-in restraints—not for restriction but for safety, to prevent users from moving around while imrsed.
Staff mbers in Starr Technologies uniforms appeared, each carrying a VR headset.
"Please, everyone take a seat," Cassia said.
The gars settled into the recliners. The staff helped them get comfortable.
"Before we begin," Cassia said, addressing both the gars and the audience, "let
explain how the Starr VR works. You’ve seen the AR BCI—it reads your neural activity and translates thoughts into commands. The VR headset does sothing similar but far more complex."
She pulled up a diagram on the holographic display. A brain with highlighted regions. Neural pathways lighting up.
"First, calibration. The headset needs to map your individual neural patterns. Everyone’s brain is slightly different. The way your neurons fire when you see the color red might be different from soone else. So we give you a simple task—look at images, listen to sounds, touch textures—and the system records how your brain responds. This takes five to ten minutes."
On stage, the staff were placing the headsets on the gars. Sleek devices that covered their eyes and wrapped around their heads. Much less bulky than traditional VR headsets.
"Once calibration is complete," Cassia continued, "the system can do sothing remarkable. It induces deep sleep."
A woman in the front row stood up. "You’re putting them to sleep? How is that safe?"
"Excellent question," Cassia said calmly. "The headset uses precisely calibrated electromagnetic pulses—completely safe, non-invasive—that trigger your brain’s natural sleep chanisms. It’s the sa process your brain goes through every night, just accelerated. Within about thirty seconds, you’re in REM sleep. The dreaming state."
"Why sleep?" soone else asked.
"Because dreams are your brain creating simulated reality. When you dream, your brain generates images, sounds, sensations—a complete virtual world. The VR system hijacks that process. Instead of random and weird dreams, the AI takes control of your dream space. It becos the director of your dream. The VR world is rendered on your computer, processed by the AI algorithms, and transmitted directly to your brain as if it were a dream you’re experiencing."
The gars on stage were going through calibration now. Their monitors showed the tasks—geotric shapes appearing, sounds playing, texture patterns. Brain activity graphs scrolled past.
Dr. Sully, still on stage from the earlier demonstration, raised her hand. "Mrs. Starr, are you telling
this induces actual REM sleep? What about the physical dangers? If soone’s asleep for hours, what about their body?"
"The system monitors vitals constantly," Rene’s voice ca through the speakers. "Heart rate, breathing, blood pressure, brain activity—everything. If anything goes outside safe paraters, the system wakes the user imdiately. Additionally, the recliners are designed for extended use. They maintain proper posture, prevent pressure sores, and include catheter options for sessions longer than four hours."
"How long can soone stay in VR?" Dr. Zhao asked.
"Safely? Up to 16 hours continuously. Though we recomnd breaks. The experience is so imrsive that users lose track of ti. Many testers didn’t want to leave."
Maria Santos, one of the gars, spoke up. "I’m getting prompts on my display. It’s asking
to visualize different scenarios. Rember specific mories. This is wild."
"That’s the calibration process," Cassia explained. "Mapping how your brain encodes experiences."
On the main screen, split into five sections, the audience could see what each gar was seeing through their headset display. Currently just calibration interfaces. Progress bars ticking upward.
Tyler Park’s section showed: Calibration: 87% complete
Then: Calibration: 95% complete
Finally: Calibration: 100% complete. Preparing sleep induction. Please relax and close your eyes.
"Oh man," Tyler eagerly said. "This is really happening. I’m about to—"
His voice cut off. His body relaxed completely in the recliner.
One by one, the other gars went silent. Their bodies went slack. Deep, steady breathing.
"They’re asleep," Cassia confird. "In REM state. The VR world is loading now. What they experience from this point forward will be transmitted to the main screen so you can see what they’re seeing."
The audience watched, srized.
The five screen sections went black. Then:
Light.
The gars opened their eyes—their virtual eyes—in a vast, ethereal space.
They were floating in an infinite white void. No ground. No sky. Just endless luminous space.
"Whoa," Jason’s voice ca through, clear and amazed. "I can feel this. I can actually feel like I’m floating. The sensation is perfect."
Maria was looking at her hands—her virtual hands. Flexing her fingers. "This is... I can feel my hands moving. The weight of them. The texture of my skin. How is this possible?"
"Welco to the Starting World," a calm AI voice said as it materialized into the world in a human form. The gars’ personal AI assistants. "This is your calibration lobby. A space where your imagination is the only limit. Before we proceed to the main VR world, let’s verify all sensory systems are functioning correctly. Try moving around."
Dmitri thought about moving forward. He shot through the white space like a rocket.
"Holy shit!" he yelled. "I’m flying! This is actual flight! I can feel the motion!"
The other gars started experinting. Aisha spun in circles, laughing. Tyler was doing loops and barrel rolls.
"Try creating sothing," the AI suggested. "Imagine an object. Will it into existence."
Jason concentrated. A massive glowing sword appeared in his hand. "No way. NO WAY. This is just like—"
He swung the sword. It moved with perfect weight and montum. He could feel the grip, the balance, the way it cut through the air.
Maria imagined wings. Huge, luminous wings sprouted from her back. She felt them. Moved them. Started flying with powerful strokes.
The audience was losing their minds.
"They’re experiencing actual physical sensations," Marcus Webb narrated into his cara. "This isn’t just visual. They’re feeling everything."
Tyler grinned. "If we can create anything... let
try sothing."
He put his hands together. Focused. His hands began glowing with blue energy.
"KAHAHA!" Tyler shouted, thrusting his hands forward.
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