The Trilisk Ruins Read Online Free PDF Page B

punch and kick for real
and battle virtual opponents, but at this facility we have no way
to apply forces to your body as you work out. We can make you feel
your opponents through the neural feedback, but if you get kicked
it doesn’t throw your real body off balance. There are certain
balance and feedback aspects you must learn about striking an
opponent, the feel of resistance on impacts, and the sensation of
getting hit. Of course we can make it all work in full VR, but then
only your brain experiences it, absent of your real nervous system.
No body hardening occurs as a result. You have to get used to using
your real muscles for all this to work best.”
    That first day Magnus illustrated the
use of the three methods and the strengths and weaknesses of each
one. She started in a pure virtual environment, with her body
completely cut off from the real world. Since her link did not have
the bandwidth or neural connections necessary for a five-sense VR
connection, she used a tack-on unit that could be adapted to anyone
within a few hours, using temporary, noninvasive linkage with the
spinal cord and visual cortex.
    In the VR simulation she possessed a
body that was strong, fast, and trim. The environment was set up to
look like a large auditorium with mats on the floor. She wondered
for a moment if it had been created as a model of a real place. She
could hear Magnus’ voice here, which sounded as if he were close
by, but she didn’t see him anywhere in the illusory gym.
    Magnus showed her how to fall backwards
and roll forwards, and she practiced until she understood how the
moves were to be done. The sim felt nearly real, including the
sensation of falling onto the mat. After the initial trials, she
found herself atop a low white wall that appeared in the center of
the workout area. Magnus instructed her how to roll with a fall,
and she practiced this. Each time she dropped, she found herself
atop the wall again after a few seconds. After a while she noticed
the wall was getting taller.
    “ It’s getting harder,” she
said.
    “ Remember, it’s not real,”
came Magnus’ disembodied voice. “Just do your best.”
    Telisa dropped and rolled a
few more times. The falls were becoming jarring. Telisa felt
anxiety building inside of her, but she suppressed it. He’s testing me , she
thought.
    “ Just out of curiosity,
what’s the point of doing this to failure?” she asked levelly. “It
is inevitable that eventually I’m going to get hurt... not for
real, of course, but...” Telisa realized that she would be able to
learn from experiencing breaking bones and getting shot in VR,
without ever having to recover from real injury. But it would still
hurt like hell.
    “ You need to know how the
technique fails. And you need to be able to perform it under
stress.”
    Telisa sat atop the wall again. She
dropped, ready to collapse forward into a roll. When she hit the
ground she felt a pain in her foot, then she fumbled the roll and
the impact knocked the wind out of her. Her head hurt.
    “ Good. One more time,”
Magnus said.
    The pain went away. She started from
the wall again. This time she thought it looked quite a bit higher.
She hesitated. Should she complain again, or go through breaking
something? She realized her body was shaking in the virtual world.
She took a deep breath and fell off the wall.
    This time the snap was loud and a spike
of agony came with it. Instead of rolling forward her legs
collapsed beneath her and she fell to the ground on her tailbone,
shocking her entire spine. She rolled weakly to one side, crying
out as the pain crested... then she found herself on level ground,
whole again.
    “ When a person gets really
hurt for the first time, often they panic. And sometimes it’s
traumatic mentally as well as physically. But believe me when I say
that it gets better. A person can become used to getting hurt just
like anything else. You learn to deal with the pain and the damage
calmly, and your