It was turning into a particularly quick run of the Imperious Task Force. And we were cutting through the Romans even on "lag hill" like they
practically weren't there.
I was doing my usual impression of a warrior in a "Mu" battle trance. I enjoyed flicking my eyes down to the chat window and occasionally catching up
on the conversation. I ran with a particularly fun bunch of online friends who collectively could've given Mystery Science Theator a run for their money in
the snark department. And watching the conversations taking place was perhaps as much fun as playing the game itself.
But I always marveled that anyone (especially on a Task Force!) could talk so much! My typing speed is pretty decent at about 40-50 WPM, but even so, I
marveled at the people in the group who somehow managed to type and fight at the same time. I worried sometimes that people would think I wasn't paying
attention or not appreciative of what they were talking about, but I hardly ever had the time to type a response when in combat, and especially not when I
played Cyberman 8.
The attack chain for C8 cycled so fast that if he was to be used to best effect, I had to be constantly on the power selection keys cueing up his next attack,
switching targets, or whatever else needed to be done in a fight. More than any of my other characters, I had to be ahead of the curve, and that meant I tended
to narrow my focus. I sometimes would lose track of everything but the next target.
And that meant I missed when the first signs of something strange started to happen.
Cyberman 8 was out a bit ahead of the pack when a particularly bad lag spike hit us. For a full 10-count, nothing I did had any reaction from the screen. Then
the screen went dark completely. I cursed but was prepared. My screen had a slight glitch in it that sometimes made it cut out. Unplugging the power to it and
then plugging it back in would restore it every time. I reached behind the monitor to do just that. Then sat back and watched the screen "catch"
again and brighten.
When it did, I started to notice something really strange.
No lag for one thing, though I was on a section of the map notorious for it. I panned my "camera" around, and noticed the light of the sun off of the
sand was really bright. I squinted my eyes at my monitor at the brightness of it. A couple of the other members of the Task Force were commenting on it. The
graphics looked... incredibly good. No "jaggies" anywhere. And it was getting BETTER as I looked! As good as it was, City of Heroes graphical
representation was, after all, a sort of "animated" look.
I brought in my camera so that instead of the usual over-the-shoulder view, I was looking directly out from Cyberman's POV, and guided him over to where
the other members of the party had paused. I looked at them in confusion and no small about of awe as they each morphed slowly from their "cartoony"
aspect into looking like real, living and breathing people. Expressions of confusion crossed their faces as they looked at each other.
That was when I knew something really weird was going on. I reached up and shook my monitor just a little, just testing... I'm not sure what I expected to
happen, really. I'm not sure if I was testing to see if the monitor was real and I could touch it. Maybe I was testing to see if the graphics would go back
to being normal. I'm not sure what I was thinking.
Whatever it was I was expecting, it wasn't what happened.
The screen... rippled. It was like I was no longer looking at something with a solid surface, but into a pool of... something... suspended by the square frame
of the monitor.
I scooted back away in alarm and stood up. I was prepared to bolt out of there, because this was definitely "a 9.0 on my weird shit-o-meter". But
curiosity held me there. I carefully reached out a fingertip to the screen to see if the gently rippling surface was really there. Was it solid? Liquid? Was I
hallucinating it? How the HELL was it staying VERTICAL and not flowing or falling out of the monitor?
I touched the surface of the screen and it rippled as if I'd put my fingers in a pond. I jerked my hand back and the substance of the screen pulled with
it, stretching like taffy. The colors and depth faded into a quicksilver distortion as the substance of the screen.... stretched and then let go of my fingers
with a rebounding set of ripples.
And some of it remained stuck to my fingers. I looked at my hand, and saw quicksilver mercury and felt my fingers start to go numb.
"Oh no.. no no no..." I started to panic as the stuff started slowly flowing down to cover the first joints. I'd SEEN this movie before and did
NOT like where this was going.
Unlike Neo though, I wasn't strapped down, so I ran to the bathroom and grabbed a towel, trying to wipe the damn stuff off my hand. Only to find that it
wasn't actually a liquid. It just looked that way. Nothing came off. The mercury WAS my fingers - well now my hand my arm up to my elbow. And the numbness
spread with it.
When it reached my shiftsleeve and I saw the material being shredded, I wondered if that was happening to my body. I had the urge to yell for help, but the
process, whatever it was, was accelerating. It would be complete long before any help arrived, and what could they do?
I made it to my bed before it claimed my legs.
When it got to my head I lost consciousness. Probably just as well that I did.
Consciousness fled like a flame being snuffed.
----
I came to like someone flicked a switch. All the lights were on all at once where before was blackness.
Running a systems check, everything seemed nominal. Status reports in my HUD showed all green.
My internal clock showed a discontinuity of 38.9 minutes since...
Wait.
WHAT?
I jumped up out of my bed and was into the hall and back at the bathroom mirror in a tenth of a second.
My skin was nearly white. No color in it. I was wearing a helmet with a distinctive "V" shape above the brim in red. And there was a large red
numeral "8" super-imposed on the black and white pattern on my uniform.
"Oh, man, this isn't happening, it only thinks its happening."
I said it like a mantra.
practically weren't there.
I was doing my usual impression of a warrior in a "Mu" battle trance. I enjoyed flicking my eyes down to the chat window and occasionally catching up
on the conversation. I ran with a particularly fun bunch of online friends who collectively could've given Mystery Science Theator a run for their money in
the snark department. And watching the conversations taking place was perhaps as much fun as playing the game itself.
But I always marveled that anyone (especially on a Task Force!) could talk so much! My typing speed is pretty decent at about 40-50 WPM, but even so, I
marveled at the people in the group who somehow managed to type and fight at the same time. I worried sometimes that people would think I wasn't paying
attention or not appreciative of what they were talking about, but I hardly ever had the time to type a response when in combat, and especially not when I
played Cyberman 8.
The attack chain for C8 cycled so fast that if he was to be used to best effect, I had to be constantly on the power selection keys cueing up his next attack,
switching targets, or whatever else needed to be done in a fight. More than any of my other characters, I had to be ahead of the curve, and that meant I tended
to narrow my focus. I sometimes would lose track of everything but the next target.
And that meant I missed when the first signs of something strange started to happen.
Cyberman 8 was out a bit ahead of the pack when a particularly bad lag spike hit us. For a full 10-count, nothing I did had any reaction from the screen. Then
the screen went dark completely. I cursed but was prepared. My screen had a slight glitch in it that sometimes made it cut out. Unplugging the power to it and
then plugging it back in would restore it every time. I reached behind the monitor to do just that. Then sat back and watched the screen "catch"
again and brighten.
When it did, I started to notice something really strange.
No lag for one thing, though I was on a section of the map notorious for it. I panned my "camera" around, and noticed the light of the sun off of the
sand was really bright. I squinted my eyes at my monitor at the brightness of it. A couple of the other members of the Task Force were commenting on it. The
graphics looked... incredibly good. No "jaggies" anywhere. And it was getting BETTER as I looked! As good as it was, City of Heroes graphical
representation was, after all, a sort of "animated" look.
I brought in my camera so that instead of the usual over-the-shoulder view, I was looking directly out from Cyberman's POV, and guided him over to where
the other members of the party had paused. I looked at them in confusion and no small about of awe as they each morphed slowly from their "cartoony"
aspect into looking like real, living and breathing people. Expressions of confusion crossed their faces as they looked at each other.
That was when I knew something really weird was going on. I reached up and shook my monitor just a little, just testing... I'm not sure what I expected to
happen, really. I'm not sure if I was testing to see if the monitor was real and I could touch it. Maybe I was testing to see if the graphics would go back
to being normal. I'm not sure what I was thinking.
Whatever it was I was expecting, it wasn't what happened.
The screen... rippled. It was like I was no longer looking at something with a solid surface, but into a pool of... something... suspended by the square frame
of the monitor.
I scooted back away in alarm and stood up. I was prepared to bolt out of there, because this was definitely "a 9.0 on my weird shit-o-meter". But
curiosity held me there. I carefully reached out a fingertip to the screen to see if the gently rippling surface was really there. Was it solid? Liquid? Was I
hallucinating it? How the HELL was it staying VERTICAL and not flowing or falling out of the monitor?
I touched the surface of the screen and it rippled as if I'd put my fingers in a pond. I jerked my hand back and the substance of the screen pulled with
it, stretching like taffy. The colors and depth faded into a quicksilver distortion as the substance of the screen.... stretched and then let go of my fingers
with a rebounding set of ripples.
And some of it remained stuck to my fingers. I looked at my hand, and saw quicksilver mercury and felt my fingers start to go numb.
"Oh no.. no no no..." I started to panic as the stuff started slowly flowing down to cover the first joints. I'd SEEN this movie before and did
NOT like where this was going.
Unlike Neo though, I wasn't strapped down, so I ran to the bathroom and grabbed a towel, trying to wipe the damn stuff off my hand. Only to find that it
wasn't actually a liquid. It just looked that way. Nothing came off. The mercury WAS my fingers - well now my hand my arm up to my elbow. And the numbness
spread with it.
When it reached my shiftsleeve and I saw the material being shredded, I wondered if that was happening to my body. I had the urge to yell for help, but the
process, whatever it was, was accelerating. It would be complete long before any help arrived, and what could they do?
I made it to my bed before it claimed my legs.
When it got to my head I lost consciousness. Probably just as well that I did.
Consciousness fled like a flame being snuffed.
----
I came to like someone flicked a switch. All the lights were on all at once where before was blackness.
Running a systems check, everything seemed nominal. Status reports in my HUD showed all green.
My internal clock showed a discontinuity of 38.9 minutes since...
Wait.
WHAT?
I jumped up out of my bed and was into the hall and back at the bathroom mirror in a tenth of a second.
My skin was nearly white. No color in it. I was wearing a helmet with a distinctive "V" shape above the brim in red. And there was a large red
numeral "8" super-imposed on the black and white pattern on my uniform.
"Oh, man, this isn't happening, it only thinks its happening."
I said it like a mantra.