When you first agreed to be a test subject in this cyberspace experiment, you were expecting something less... drastic. Maybe you'd be wearing a helmet and goggles, or some crazy full bodied suit, but instead, they had you strip down to a hospital gown, lay on a table, and inhale some gas. You really should have read all those forms and wavers more carefully, maybe they were going to hook some wires directly in your head? That could be interesting at least. Doing as instructed, you breathed in deeply, counted back from ten, and passed out.
When you regained consciousness, it was just... grey. An endless expanse in all directions. No wait, there was a black grid under you somewhere, but you seemed to just be... floating. No sound, no smells, you couldn't even feel your own body. For a moment, you couldn't even move, but then suddenly you could. At least, you could look around a little, bob your head a bit... but still, you seemed to have no real body... then you noticed your arms. Just... a crude wireframe outline of a stick figure, waving in your face, transparent and indistinct. You still couldn't feel anything though, even when the lack of balance sent you tumbling to the floor. Looking around a bit more, you saw writing, just... floating in mid-air in front of you.
OK, IT SEEMS WE HAVE MOTOR CONTROL ESTABLISHED, AND VISION. NOD TWICE WHEN YOU FINISH READING THIS, COMMUNICATION IS A BIT ONE-WAY HERE.
You nod.
EXCELLENT. WE'RE TAKING THINGS SLOW SO YOU DON'T GET OVERWHELMED IF SOMETHING DOESN'T WORK RIGHT. CAN YOU STAND UP?
You make an attempt, but not being able to really feel where your feet are makes it a bit difficult. The text runs through a few yes or no questions about equilibrium and whether your joints feel right before pinning down the problem.Suddenly you feel the floor beneath you... or, the black grid anyway, as a solid object. You nod and stand up.
NEXT WE'RE GOING TO TEST YOUR RESPONSE TO THE LIGHTING ENGINE. POINT AT THE CENTER OF THE LIGHT WITH YOUR LEFT HAND, AND THE SOURCE WITH YOUR RIGHT.
Suddenly the black grid is replaced with a smooth red plane, with a spotlight shining down from, well, nowhere. It's a little eerie and unrealistic, but you manage to follow the instructions, working out roughly where the light seems to be shining down from, in theory.
GREAT! NOW, WE'RE JUST GOING TO STAND YOU UP PROPERLY AND ATTACH YOU TO A MESH. DON'T BE ALARMED AT HOW IT DOESN'T LOOK LIKE YOU, WE'RE USING AN ASSORTMENT OF PREMADE SKINS.
Before you can really process things, you're suddenly standing straight up, unable to see the text. It isn't even like your body suddenly moves on its own, it's instantaneous. Almost as suddenly, your sense of touch improves, a bit, and you can move again, looking down at a fully detailed, but unfamiliar body, with more floating text right in front of you.