My Wife In VR

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Ralph stood on a path lined cherry blossoms, which headed towards a row of  houses.  He could hear birds singing in the trees . A little further on,  there was a swamp, shadowed by tall wispy Mangrove trees. 

Among the houses was a brick cottage. Ralph went inside and walked into a cosy room with high wooden bookshelves and comfy leather furniture. He took off his shoes and felt soft carpet on his feet.  From the window he could see the swamp, it was perfectly still, clean, un-spoilt. The water appeared green in the reflection of the trees. He felt calmed looking at the scene.

He headed for the kitchen then. A young woman was cutting vegetables. Something was boiling in a pot on the stove and the air smelled like garlic and herbs. The woman turned towards him
“Your back” she said, happy to see him.
This was Alyssa, his wife. He kissed her on the cheek.

“What are you making?”  He asked
“ It’s a new recipe,” Alyssa said returning to the chopping board
“Something I read online and I just wanted to try it. How was work?”
“Fine. Where’s Ben”
“Upstairs I think”
He could hear the sound of running footsteps on the stairs and a young boy ran to him. Ben was six years old.
“Look what I made” Ben said pulling Ralph towards the window.
Ralph looked out into the garden where Ben pointed towards an orange blanket that hung over the branches of a tree and propped up by a stick in the ground so the blanket resembled a sort of crude teepee.
“It’s a tree house,” Ben said
“I thought dads were supposed to help with that kind of thing”
“Well its not a real tree house, its like a hideout”
“A hideout? Are you on the run? Who’re you hiding from? ”
“The bad guys”
“The bad guys huh?”
“Are you taking us somewhere today” Ben asked
“Yeah it’s a surprise, but after dinner.”

BEEEEEEEEP
“What's that?” Ralph asked looking around startled
“What's what?” Alyssa asked
BEEEEEEEEP KNOCK KNOCK
The sounds seemed to come from outside. Ralph suddenly understood although it was a sound he didn’t hear it often.

“I have to go” Ralph told his family

He raised his arms and he was gone. He was in a different room now, an apartment much smaller than the cottage.  He was sitting in a chair wearing a vest with straps that crisscrossed across his back and on his head he wore a full-faced helmet, which he removed now. The BEEEEP came again.

“Ok, just a moment” he said sliding the helmet off

Ralph felt a little uneasy opening the door. He didn’t have many real friends, certainly none that would visit him at his home.  A man was standing at the door. Ralph relaxed when he saw the man. He wore a sweater and seemed to be as nervous as Ralph was. “Um…hi…are you Ralph?”
“Yes”
“I saw your name on the mailbox below. I.Uh…do you have a VR machine?”
“Well, yes I do”
“Are you having any problems with it?”
Ralph was feeling a little uncomfortable at the man’s questions. 
“No, why do you ask?”
“It’s nothing really,” the man said laughing nervously
“Mine just seems to be malfunctioning. It’s probably nothing. I thought maybe it was a system problem but I guess not…”
“What kind of malfunction?” Ralph asked
“It’s nothing really. I’ll just have to contact tech support tomorrow. Goodnight”
Ralph barely had a chance to reply before the man hurried back up the apartment stairs.

Ralph closed the door and went back inside a little mystified by the encounter.  He made himself a bowl of noodle soup and ate it in his chair while a holographic TV screen suspended itself in front of him.  When he was finished he turned the TV off and slid the helmet back on.

“This is it” Ralph said as they approached the amusement park
The park had not existed until yesterday when Ralph purchased it online to add to his world in Virtual Reality or VR for short. Ben ran excitedly into the park eager to explore. There was no danger for him here.
“It’s got a Ferris wheel,” Alyssa pointed
“Lets take a look” Ralph replied and together they rode the Ferris wheel
Pretty soon ralph felt his eyes begin to close
“You need sleep Ralph” Alyssa said
“It must be later than I thought. I’ll be back tomorrow”
“Goodnight”
“Goodnight” Ralph said and he was gone.

Ralph checked the time, almost 2am.  He had gotten used to sleeping late so he could spend more time in VR, sometimes he even fell asleep while still inside VR but waking up with an aching back and muscles dissuaded him from doing that again.

The next day was just like every other day. Ralph had breakfast, showered, went to work downtown at the vertical farm and came straight home so he could return to VR, to his real life, his real home.

Taking his seat, he slid on the VR helmet. The scene at the amusement park appeared and a swirling circle appeared indicating the world was being loaded. The circle disappeared and the scene became clearer again, he could hear the sounds of the amusement park. He was still on the Ferris wheel as he was when he left VR last. Everything was just as it should be except for one thing. The seat next to him was empty now.

He felt felt panic build up inside him. For eight years he had been coming to this world, his world and always, things had been as he had left them. It was predictable, safe. Thoughts of what his neighbor had said the previous night returned to him, a malfunction he had said.

Maybe its nothing he thought, just a minor glitch. There would be an explanation, something that could be fixed. He didn’t want to think about the possibility that it might be a more serious problem.

He took a PDA from his pocket and tapped the screen.  The PDA was how he changed and controlled the world.

”Search Alyssa” he told the PDA.

The screen displayed  “Searching” then “Alyssa not found”
“Search Ben”
“Search not found” the PDA displayed.
He tried to access Alyssa log file then. This was the file that contained all the information that made Alyssa who she was, it changed and grew all the time. Perhaps it could tell him where she was now. He found Alyssa in a list of all the people in his world; at least she was still there.

He felt a horrible sinking feeling in his stomach. His fears were realized when he found the file empty except for the lines
“Come on in Buddy”
“<Laughter>”
He checked Bens file next, he didn’t know if it was more unsettling that Ben’s file was completely empty than if it had contained the same cryptic message as Alyssa’s.

Ralph navigated the PDA’s menus’ until an image of his VR house appeared. He tapped the screen and his vision faded to black, when it returned he was standing in his house.

“Alyssa” he called not expecting an answer. Moments later he finished searching the house, the gardens. Now he stood on the path outside the house.  A young woman walked passed. Not Alyssa She smiled at Ralph as she passed. His neighbor Harold was mowing his lawn. Harold mowed his lawn everyday. The people in Ralph’s world were randomly generated AI robots indistinguishable from real humans. The day he created Alyssa eight years ago the technology was still developing. Some of Alyssa and the others, their interactions were childlike but still incredibly convincing. Now they had memories, and could emulate emotions convincingly. But none had more memories with Ralph than Alyssa and Ben. Where were they? 

Ralph spoke to the tech support operative that told him asked him a series of questions. The kind of questions every tech support employee is trained to ask when a customer calls.  He tried to explain that he knew it wasn’t any of the usual problems. There wasn’t anything wrong with his equipment; He didn’t need to update the software.  He was told someone would look into it for him.

Meanwhile, he returned to the VR to look for clues as to what happened. He returned first to the amusement park. Everything in Ralph’s world was designed by somebody for use in VR. Ralph just had to make the purchase and add them to his world. The amusement park had been a recent addition. He hadn’t fully explored it yet. He would look there first.

Amazeland Amusement Park was relatively small in scale and Ralph had a certain amount of control over the world such as being able to teleport to any area he wished or locating a certain person or object within the world. He could also remove parts of the world or people. The PDA could not find Alyssa or Ben but maybe he could look for her himself.

The search would be easier if the crowds could be removed temporarily so Ralph wandered through the park touching people on their shoulder and they would disappear instantly; the remaining people didn’t seem bothered by seeing their companions disappear into nothing. They just watched with curiosity at the space the disappeared person had occupied. Ralph would put them back later.

The Ferris wheel gave Ralph a pretty good Vantage point over the park and now that a large percent of the crowds had been removed he would be able to make out Alyssa and the boys. The park below was empty except for a few people here and there he hadn’t bothered to remove. The rollercoaster was speeding along its tracks without any passengers and it was eerily quite now except for the sound of the park rides. 

He noticed something strange by the ghost train.  At first he thought he could make out an arm. It was rotating slowly but the proportions seemed all wrong from where he stood. It looked like somebody was bent over outside the ghost train and was rotating their arm repeatedly.

He felt a moment of hope at the thought that he may have found the problem but also growing anxiety that he wouldn’t be able to fix this. There was something else bothering him too. He recognized the clothing of the figure below.

Ralph teleported down to the park and saw the full horror of the thing outside the ghost train.  Alyssa’s expression was frozen in a ridiculous looking grin with one raised eyebrow. Her head had been removed and was tucked between her left arms like a football while her right arm rotated continuously in a looping circular motion. Ralph could see now the movement was intended to resemble an ushering motion, inviting him inside the ghost train.

Ralph felt a lump in his throat and swallowed.
“Alyssa?”
Alyssa blinked and her hand moved to allow her to look at Ralph
She spoke in a deep low pitched voice that wasn’t hers and said “Come on in Buddy”
“Someone did this “ Ralph thought, “What do they want me to see in there. Ben”

Ben’s file had been empty too.  Ralph boarded the train and it began to move. He had to see. The ride lasted three minutes. Skeletons and demons and eerie sounds bombarded him as the train made its way through the tunnel.  Ralph no longer expected to find Ben safe. The ride was almost over when Ben finally appeared. He dropped limply from the ceiling and began convulsing. Ralph started to leave the car to help him down but he knew it was pointless. His body hung out of reach and besides, Ben wasn’t really feeling pain. Everything that had made him who he was, his memories, experiences, were all gone now.
Ralph could see daylight from the exit ahead.

Ralph stepped out of the train into the park. His horror had turned to disbelief.  The Alyssa thing was laughing, he turned to face it and saw that it had contorted into an unnatural shape. She was no longer bending forward put backwards and was walking towards him backwards with her head tucked under her arm. Then it stood up and threw Alyssa head at him. Ralph raised his hands to protect himself. His vision faded to black and a three letters appeared in bright colors.  HAR

Ralph slid the helmet off and ran his fingers through his hair.  He paced the floor until felt calm enough to consider his net action.

An online search for HAR turned up an group called Humans Against Robots a unofficial group of people who’s purpose was to “save humanity from its virtual prison”; that’s what the byline on HAR’s title page read.
“When was the last time you spoke to a real human being?” was the questions posed on the “About” section of the page. The truth was the neighbor from last night was the first person he had spoken more than a few words to in at least a week, when he came asking about Ralph’s VR machine. Maybe he knew something about this.


He had been close to his mother before she died. In fact, it was shortly after her death that he created Alyssa. Ralph would speak to her about his mother and Alyssa told would listen and comfort him.  When they updated the AI and Alyssa became more human it was his turn to comfort her and help her deal with the confusing new feelings she felt. They would talk about the subtle differences between them like how they felt emotions differently. Ralph could associate certain feelings to parts of his body, anger to his chest, guilt to his stomach; while Alyssa could sense when she experienced an emotion but could did not understand it at a deeper level. Sometimes they fought and once, in a fit of frustration, Ralph had accused her of not having “Real” feelings and of “just being a robot”. She didn’t speak to him for a day and then the pain went away. Ralph realized he had been he couldn’t treat her like a tool whenever he wanted. He never called her a robot again.
There was no address on the HAR page, no leader. HAR’s members were anonymous and came from all over the world.


“Yes I’ve already spoken to VirUvision” Ralph told the police officer
“They’re gone. I can’t get them back, not the same way anyway. Not like they were”
“I understand the data was important to you ”
“Data? This is my family they took from me. Do you understand?”
For a moment Ralph felt ashamed at admitting this and then hated himself for feeling ashamed.
“Look, can you find these people.  This HAR or whatever it is”
“Whoever interfered with you data had access to your password and was able to over-ride the retinal scan. Maybe they accessed your medical records and created a 3D copy of your eye. Have you had a full body scan recently?
“I, yes, last year I think”
“Well its possible that’s what happened. “
“So what happens now”?
“Well I suggest you change your password immediately”
“What about the retinal scans”
“Someone will look into of course”

There was a soft thud from the apartment upstairs.

“Alright thanks”

Ralph knocked on apartment 23. There were 7 more apartments above his but he assumed this is where he would find the man. 
“Hello?” Ralph called

There was no reply but Ralph was sure he was in there. He had heard him from downstairs.
“I think you might have visited me a few nights ago. Hello?”
Ralph knocked again but there was no answer. If he was in there he didn’t want to talk.

Ralph decided to go back downstairs. He’d have to come down sometime and he would hear him open the door. The buildings walls were pretty thin. In the meantime he had work to do in VR. There was something he wanted to try.

Ralph was worried that something might have happened to the rest of the world after the HAR letters appeared. His vision had faded and did not return when he left the game. He breathed a sigh of relief when he found himself in his house now.
He wondered if maybe whoever did this had just removed his family and was holding a copy of them as ransom. He’d make a payment and receive his family back just as they were, though HAR’s mission statement seemed pretty clear they intended to destroy human robot relationships.

The house hadn’t changed but there was nobody here. In the garden he could see Ben’s “tree house”.  Ralph still occasionally felt awed by the sophistication of the AI; that it could capture something as complex as the creativity of a child at play.

Ralph turned away from the tree house. He wasn’t here to mourn. He had work to do. He was back to the amusement park again.  It was a long shot but if the hacker entered VR to do what he did he must have interacted with the people at the park. They must have seen him.

Opposite the ghost train was a ring toss booth with a young woman behind the counter. Alyssa was outside the ghost train again. He didn’t want to look this time.
“Do you know what happened to that woman?” Ralph asked the girl at the ring toss.
“No, what happened to her?”
“I mean did you see how she got that way?”
“I thought she was supposed to look that way. I’ve never seen her any other way”
“Ok but who made her like that”
“You did”
“When? How?”
“I don’t know how but it was Thursday at 1pm when she appeared. You made her then you went into the ghost train”
Now Ralph had a time, he was at work that time; six hours later he had found Alyssa missing.
“What about after that?”
“The next time I saw you was 7.23pm. You were walking through the park, making people disappear then…”
“That’s ok. I remember. So I never came out of the ghost train”
“Ok thanks”

Ralph couldn’t think of anything else to ask the woman. His best hope was finding out the location of the retinal scanner used to access the world. He left VR.

It was unusual for him to spend this long outside. He hated how quite and empty his apartment seemed. It was almost 9pm. He hadn’t heard his neighbor come down yet.  He decided to pay him another visit.

He knocked on apt 23 but there was no answer. This time he tried the door and was surprised to find it open.
“Hello” Ralph called.
Cautiously he walked inside. He didn’t want to get caught snooping around.  It looked just like Ralph’s apartment. The layout was the same. There was another door to his left as he came in that must be the bedroom. It was possible that the guy was sleeping or maybe inside VR and he didn’t hear Ralph come in. What would he say if the guy found Ralph standing in his bedroom after letting himself in?  He turned to leave but thought of Alyssa and ben; he had nothing left to loose. He knocked gently on the door and went inside.

The man lay face down on the floor. The pills on the nightstand and the note the bed made it clear that Ralph was looking at a suicide. Ralph suddenly felt very guilty. A moment a guy the guy was nothing more than a suspect to him. He kneeled down and touched the man’s hand; it felt cold. Then he grimaced as he placed two fingers on mans neck. He’d never checked somebody’s pulse before. Pushing his fingers into the mans cold moist skin made him feel queasy. He pulled his hand away. He read the note on the bed. It simply read
“ There's nothing left now”. 

The ambulance came and took the mans body away. Ralph went back to his apartment in a daze. He wondered if the man had family, or if he had friends. He didn’t even know his name. Ralph had spent so much time in VR he didn’t bother much with relationships anymore, there was nothing in the outside world for him but sometimes he felt sad for himself, for the Ralph outside VR.  When his body stopped working and died who would be there to mourn it. It would just be a shell.

He tapped a button on the wall and a screen appeared.  News broadcast was on. Ralph caught heard the name “VirUvision” and sat up. He turned up the volume on the remote and listened.  The woman at the news desk was speaking with a guy in a suit, somebody from the VirUvision.
“So, how can people be sure this won’t happen again”?
“First of all, the scale of the hack was actually quite small. We spend millions our security and an attack like this is almost always caught before any damage is done. We will also be introducing new security measures by next year that will require DNA verification as well as a retinal scan. “
"What about groups like HAR? This is not the first time we’ve heard protests against the rise of Human-Robot interaction”

Ralph heard the ambulance siren outside. He watched it leave the parking lot below.

There were now scenes of protesters marching on the streets on TV. Two protestors held a sheet with the letters HAR painted across it. There were others holding pickets reading “Don’t forget who the real humans are” and “Love People not Robots”

Ralph watched the faces of the protesters. He hated them all.  The news voice over began.
“These were the scenes outside one VirUvision building today. These protestors saw the recent hack of hundreds of virUvision customers as a good thing”

One of the protestors was on camera now
“This is not a bad thing. People need to wake up. They spend their whole life trapped inside a machine and don’t even realize it. This is real life, right here” the man stomped his foot and pointed at the ground to exclamation his point.
“And I would encourage those people to see this is a second chance, a chance at freedom. I invite them to join our cause because brother one way or another we’re on the way back up. We won’t be replaced by a robot. “


Ralph walked into the café. A grey haired man in a raincoat waved to him from a booth in the corner.
“Are you Ralph?”
“Yes”
“Alright sit down and tell me everything”
The mans name was Ray, he was a private investigator. Ralph hired him through an agency.
The first thing he said when Ralph finished was “I can find where the retinal scanner was used”. There was hope.
“I need access to your VR details. Are you ok with this?”
“Yes, whatever you need”
“Well then that’s everything. I’ll find out what I can and get back to you”
Ralph shook hands and Ray left the café.

Sixteen hours later Ralph received a message on his PDA while at work. He had a location; 13 Harold Street and a name Wren Stimpy.
Five hours later he was there.

13 Harold Street was a bar called the Red Herring. Ralph went inside. Rage against the machine’s Take the Power back was pumping from ancient looking PA’s by the door. Appropriate music for a place like this, Ralph thought and wondered if the music was chosen solely on the name of the band.  Some of the patrons stood between the bar and a mosh pit was beginning to form.
Ralph was shoved about as he made his way to the bar.  The bartender wore a ginger beard and looked at home in a place like this. 

“What can I get you?” the bartender asked
He ordered a beer.
“Hey, are there people living upstairs” Ralph tried to shout over the music
“What?” The Bartender
“Upstairs” Ralph pointed to the ceiling “Are there people living there”
“Who are you looking for?” the Bartenders mood seemed to change then, he had become suspicious.
“I was just wondering who lives there”
“Well you’ll have to ask the owner that”
“Where is he”?
“He’s not here”
“Do you mind if I go up and see if anyone’s home?”
“Yeah I do. That’s private property up there?”
“ I only want to ask them a question. It wont take long”
“The guy told you its private man., “ said a man sitting by the bar next to Ralph “Who you looking for?”
“What's the big deal? I just want to ask the guy a question”
“I think you better get the fuck out of here,” the Bartender said leaning over the counter.
Some of the other Patrons were watching them now and Ralph thought leaving might not be a bad idea.
“Alright I’ll go. Just tell me where I can find Wren Stimpy.
The Bartender gave a great big smile and laughed. The man beside the bar spoke first
“You’re looking for Wren Stumpy,” the man said smiling wryly
“Good luck” The bartender said laughing
“It’s a joke man. No such thing. It’s just to bait robo-sexuals”
Ralph looked at the bartender “whose joke? Who sent me here”
“Man I don’t fucking know who sent you here. It could be some kid in Korea sent you. I don’t know why they send you guys here. Maybe on account of the bar’s name or something. Like a red herring, get it?”
“I get it “
“You loose your perfect woman or something?” The man beside the bar said,  “Hey, you can always make another. You can even give her nice big titties”
The bartender thought this was pretty funny.
“Hey you can even give her two mouths. Think of what you could do with that. Even I wouldn’t leave the house then.”
“I lost my family” Ralph replied
“Wait, wait. You mean like kids and shit? You could be..I don’t know skydiving off Mount Everest or something, anything you want but you want to spend your time looking after kids that don’t even exist. I mean…unless you have fun with the kids too. Hey what you do in private.”

Ralph couldn’t help it. He pushed the guy off his stool and he tumbled backwards. Ralph picked up the guys drink and poured it over him as he tried to get back up. The bartender was already climbing over the bar then. Ralph hadn’t planned this far ahead and could only prepare himself for what happened next.

The bartender punched him hard in the stomach. He bent over and fell to his knees. From down here he could see the tile floor was wet with spilled beer and littered with cigarette butts. He felt the bartender’s knee connect with his nose then. He fell backwards and his head cracked against the floor.
The noise of the bar faded to a dull muffled shouts and he found himself listening to beat of the Rage Against The machine song. He felt boots digging into him pressing against his chest, maybe checking to see if he was still conscious.

He hoped he could at least stay conscious until he got out of the bar. He didn’t want to pass out here. His eyes seemed to roll around in circles. Then he felt hands roughly grab him from behind. He was being dragged outside. The bartender left him in the gutter after giving him one final half hearted kick to the side. 

He stayed on his knees for a moment and waited for his head to stop spinning. His shirt was bloody from where his nose bled. Finally he felt able to stand again.


“You ok”
“He was surprised to hear the voice
A girl stood against the wall across from him smoking a cigarette.
Ralph wiped some blood from his nose
“No. Honestly, I’m not. I lost my family I’ve got nothing left”
“Were your family…robots?”
“What if they were”?
“Hey, I’m not going to tell you how to live your life”
“But you think I’m living it wrong”
“I think we need people to really know what life is about. We make mistakes, we struggle and we have problems. That makes us learn, makes us human. With machines everything is so easy, it’s like what’s the point.”
“I’m so sick of hearing that word “Machines” like its something to be ashamed of and its not easy. We fight too, we used to anyway”
“And then you stopped, because she found a solution”
“We both did”
“Yeah but I bet she found it first. It’s easy for them and they can’t hurt you either. That’s in the programming that they can’t hurt you, not physically anyway”
“I’m sick of you people. You think its ok to just take away a persons family and expect them to thank you for it. BULLSHIT!”
Ralph grabbed an empty beer keg and lifted it towards the nearest car.  He paused
“Is that your car?”
“No” the girl replied
“Good” Ralph tossed the key at the car and it crashed through the windshield.
“That’s Carl’s, the bartender”
“Why didn’t you say so”?
Ralph kicked the side mirrors, which flew off into the dirt. Then he unleashed a flurry of kicks into the car’s headlights but didn’t manage to cause much damage. His rage had subsided for now.
“Carl’s going to kill you”
“Fuck Carl” replied Ralph and began to walk away
“Hey, wait. Where are you going, I’ll drive you”
“I’m fine”
“You can barely see straight. “ He was feeling steadier on his feet now. It was just his head that hurt but maybe, talking to this girl might be a chance to get some more information.
“You can trust me”
“Ok”

They left the bar together. Ralph closed his eyes and let the girl drive.
“I’m Marnie by the way”
“Ralph”
“I’m sorry about your family”
Ralph didn’t know if the girl was being sincere.

“I just turned forty when I made Alyssa. I never had a girlfriend before I know that sounds pathetic but its true. I never really had a friend either. At first I thought I could use her as a sort of confidence boost so I could meet real woman. Once I got used to talking to Alyssa I would feel ready to…get out there. I guess I started getting attached to her. She was so kind. She made me feel wanted….that was it. When they upgraded the software she changed. She felt new emotions. She felt lonely when I wasn’t there.  It made me love her more. She was real I don’t care what anyone says. We shared things. She knew me and I knew her.”
“Then we made Ben. I mean I made him. I mean..:

“That’s ok, you don’t have to explain that part”
“Well anyway, we had a family.”
A tear rolled down Ralph’s cheek, he turned away so Marnie couldn’t see.
“They were my family”

Marnie stopped the car outside Ralph’s apartment
“What will you do now”?
“Go home, pass out. Thanks for the lift”
“Ralph, don’t do anything stupid ok”
Ralph turned and looked at Marnie
“A guy in the building killed himself yesterday. I think he lost someone too. Don’t worry I won’t do that. Thanks again”

Ralph woke the next morning with blood still dried to his nose. He ate breakfast and then slid on his VR helmet. He opened the door of he and Alyssa’s cottage. Alyssa was sitting in by the window looking out towards the swamp. She turned to face him
“Oh hi. I’m Alyssa”
“Ralph” he replied
“This is such a lovely house. “
“Its yours..and mine”
“Are we married?”
“Yes”
“You seem sad”
“It’s just that I lose someone recently”
“I’m sorry to hear that”
When Ralph didn’t say anything for Alyssa spoke again
“Do you want to talk about it”?
“Yeah, let’s talk”