Camp VR

It was not fair!

That's what Ginny Sullivan was thinking as her mother led her into the reception area. After all, she was a good student. Even if she didn't get straight A's all the time, anyone could see that she was one of the most intelligent students her age. If her sometimes less then stellar grades proved anything, it was that some of her school's policies weren't always fair. So why should a good student have to go to Virtual Reality Camp?

It was definitely not fair!

"It's not the end of the world, Dear," her Mother had said. "Besides, I thought you liked playing computer games."

Well, that was true. Ginny loved playing computer games. Ironically, that was part of the problem. Lately, her parents and her teachers had noticed that she spent so much time on the internet that she didn't have time for much of anything else. Not only was she neglecting things like her schoolwork, but she wasn't spending a whole lot of time with friends at school. In fact, she didn't have any friends at all. But that didn't bother her because everyone at school was a loser. Of course, the school might not have made an issue out of it if she hadn't tried to hack into that English test. Was it really so terrible? English wasn't an important subject, and she needed the grade. The fact that she had almost gotten away with it proved that she was smart so why did the school care? But the school hadn't seen it that way.

"Have you heard of Virtual Reality camp?" the principal had asked when she was seated in the office with her parents. "I know it seems a little counterintuitive given Ginny's history, but we've begun experimenting with a program that helps kids like Ginny." He had smiled at Ginny. "You'd get to play a big virtual reality game. Sounds like fun?"

It might have, but Ginny was sure that this Virtual Reality game would be lame.

"I'm not sure I understand what good it would do," Mother had said.

"Well, in short," said the principal, "it would give Ginny some virtual experiences, and if experience is the best teacher, then virtual experience is the second best, without all the danger." He paused and seemed to get more serious, "Look, let me blunt with you Mrs. Sullivan. Ginny has committed a very serious offense, and I'm at my wit's end regarding what to do with her. Either we send her to VR camp or we expel her from this school."

That had settled it.

* * *

"Ginny?" Ginny saw a bespectacled man dressed in a long purple robe and a pointed hat walking towards her. He was carrying a large book. "Is-is-is that you?"

So this was Leonard, her first teammate's, avatar. But what did her avatar look like? She didn't have a mirror, so she looked at herself. She was wearing sandals and a rather short tunic which left large portions of her legs and arms uncovered. At her belt, she had a dagger, and a metal tool which looked like it was meant to pick locks. I hope my face is pretty, she thought. Out loud, she said, "Well, Leonard. What do you think we do now?"

"Well. . ." said Leonard. "They--they--s-s-said there would be s-s-someone else on our team."

"Hey," called out a voice. A large bare-chested man with long yellow hair and huge arms was plodding towards them.

"I suppose you're the third person on our team," said Ginny.

"Yeah. I guess so," said the man with a sneer. "My name's Bill the barbarian." Flexing his muscles, he spit on the dirt.

This guy looks like a real genius, thought Ginny. Leonard and Bill are both morons. I've got morons on my team.

"Attention!" A loud voice sounded from out of the sky.

"Who's that?" said Bill with a frown.

"I have many names," said the voice solemnly. "In this world, I am the Great Spirit, the One who sees and knows all." The voice seemed to pause and when it spoke again, it sounded less solemn. "In other worlds, I am Dr. Peter Epstein, your camp coordinator." The voice chuckled a bit at its own joke.

"Now then, you have been chosen because your talents and psychological profiles complement each other. The object of your quest is to find the lost mirror of Imana, hidden in the Hills of Arania. Of course, as is often the case with quests, the real object is to find something less tangible along the way. Begin when ready."

That sounded fairly standard, but before Ginny could decide what to do next, there was a loud crash. It was Leonard. He had a magic wand which he was waving indiscriminately and sending bolts of purple light flying in every direction through the air. One struck Bill directly on his rear end.

"Ow! Stop that!" said Bill going up to Leonard with his axe raised. "You better watch it," he warned. "The reason they sent me in here is cause I beat up losers like you."

"Well. . .please. . .don't beat me up," stammered Leonard. "I-I-I was just having some trouble figuring out how it works."

"I-I-I. . ." mimicked Bill. "You're pathetic."

"That's enough," said Ginny. "We need to find this mirror thing."

"And-and-I think I can help with that," said Leonard thumbing through his book. "It-it---it--says here that a wa-wa-wand can lead you to your goal if you p-p-point it in the direction where it doesn't make sparks."

After some more waving, he found that his wand didn't make sparks if he pointed off to Ginny's left. There did seem to be some hills in that direction and it seemed like as good a way to go as any, so they set forth.

* * *

The wand led them from the plain where they had first arrived to the some steep hills. After they had walked a fair distance, the wand seemed to point directly into a dark cave.

"It must be in there," said Ginny, "Let's-"

But before she could finish, there was a loud hiss as a giant gray serpent inched its way out of the cave and reared its head at them. Leonard looked scared, but Bob smiled. "Let me handle this. He pulled out his axe and began hacking at the serpent. It hissed and arched its back, but Bob kept hacking causing scales to rain down.

Ginny had an idea. While Bob was keeping the serpent busy, she ran around behind it to see if she could get into the cave. She might have made it if something hadn't struck her in the back. There was a puff of smoke.

The next thing she knew Leonard was standing over her. Only he was huge. Or was it that she was small?

"What have you done to me?" she asked. "Is this another one of your stupid mistakes?"

"No mistake," said Leonard. "You were about to go sneak into that cave without us, weren't you?"

"What?" said Bob wiping serpent blood from his ax.

"I turned her into an ant."

"Good," said Bob, "give her to me and I'll squash her."

Leonard seemed alarmed. "You can't do that. She's our teammate."

"But she tried to--"

"It doesn't matter," said Leonard with sudden firmness. "We have to bring her with us."

Bob grudgingly agreed, so the two proceeded into the cave with Ginny cupped in Leonard's hand.

A short way into the cave, there was a chamber and in the chamber, a huge green dragon was stretched out asleep.

"The mirror is just past there," said Leonard sadly.

"I guess we have to slay the dragon," said Bob.

"I have a better idea," said Ginny hopping up and down on her six legs. "I'm just an ant. I could get past the dragon and I'll bet he wouldn't notice me."

"Yeah, Right," said Bob. "You think we're gonna trust you to do something like that."

"Besides, Ginny," said Leonard. "Even if we did trust you, what would you do when you got to the mirror, and you're just an ant."

"I'm not sure," Ginny admitted, "but I think I'm supposed to figure that out when I get there."

"Oh Please," said Bob.

Leonard was more thoughtful. "Give it a try," he said putting Ginny on the ground. "Good Luck."

"Thanks," said Ginny. Then, she added thoughtfully. "Leonard, I can't help notice that you've stopped stammering."

Leonard seemed to blush, but Ginny decided to ignore that and go running across the dragon's lair. She ran quickly on her six legs, and at one point, she almost thought the dragon would wake up, but she made it to the other side of the lair where there was a cove and in the middle of the cove was a stone pillar with a hand mirror upon it. I made it, she thought as she jumped up and looked in the mirror.

The reflection in the mirror was not an ant or an avatar, but a girl just as she looked in the normal world. Except that it had a bright smile on its face. Ginny couldn't remember the last time she had felt that cheerful "Trying to sneak away from Leonard and Bob was wrong," said the reflection.

Ginny was astonished.

"Leonard is such a kind person," the reflection, "he just needs people to help give him confidence. And Bob can be cruel, but he probably wouldn't be if people were nice to him."

"Who are you?" demanded Ginny.

"I'm you," said the reflection. There was a pause. "You don't believe me? Well, actually I'm a recording of your thoughts. Whenever, you have a positive thought in your subconscious. It gets recorded and played back here."

"So now what?" asked Ginny.

"Well," said the reflection, "if you touch the mirror, you will join with me. I won't be your subconscious anymore. I'll be you completely."

Ginny wasn't so sure she liked that idea, but she didn't see many other choices at this stage. Gingerly, she reached out and touched the mirror with her first ant leg.

There was a loud thunderclap. Ginny looked around and saw that she was a normal girl again.

"Ginny!" called Leonard's voice. Leonard, thought Ginny. I have to bring the mirror back to Leonard and Bob.

There was a loud roar. And I have to do it fast, she thought. The dragon is waking up.

She grabbed the mirror and went running across the chamber. She saw Leonard entering the chamber with Bob reluctantly following him.

She tried to reach Leonard, but she heard the dragon at her back.

Everything went black.

* * *

When she woke up, she was outside someplace.

"You're awake!" cried Leonard happily.

"How did we get out?" she asked.

"Bob carried you all the way out," said Leonard.

"Really?"

Bob was standing nearby and he looked embarrassed. "You know," he admitted. "I think I was going to leave you there, but I happened to look in that mirror and that made me not want to."

Ginny laughed and gave both of them a hug.

"I'm lucky you both were put on my team," she said.