Page 146 of Immersed
48
Roll the Credits
Consciousnessreturnedinfragments.
First, a sensation—the VR headset shifting, sliding upward slightly on Levi’s face. A sliver of fluorescent light stabbed his unprepared retinas. His eyelids fluttered, struggling to adjust to actual illumination after what felt like years in simulated environments.
The headset had slipped just enough that he could see a portion of the real world beneath its lower edge. White ceiling tiles. The gleam of stainless steel equipment. The crisp sleeve of a lab coat as someone moved past his peripheral vision.
His limbs felt impossibly heavy, disconnected from his mind’s commands. Even breathing required concentration, each inhale a deliberate effort. How long had he been lying here? Days? Weeks?
Voices filtered through his disorientation, clinical and detached.
“Levi Mercer has regained consciousness.”
The words floated above him, disconnected from any visible speaker. His gaze struggled to focus, managing only to capture fragmented images—monitors displaying vital signs, IV lines, restraints across his chestand limbs.
Turning his head slightly, muscles protesting even this small movement, he caught sight of another bed positioned nearby. Someone else lay there, also connected to monitors, also wearing a neural interface headset. All he could see was a profile—blonde hair, jaw relaxed in unconsciousness. His heart rate spiked, the monitor beside him beeping in response.
Asher?
“Look at these readings,”a male voice said, excitement evident in his tone.“If Mercer regained consciousness, we can talk to him, find out what he did, and find a way to guide Kane back first, maybe even the others.”
“No.”A woman’s voice, firm and authoritative.“Put him back under. Keep putting him back under until Asher comes back with him.”
Kane. Asher Kane.The name confirmation sent another spike through his vitals.
Levi attempted to sit up, managing only to raise his fingers, his hand trembling with the effort. The movement caught someone’s attention. Footsteps approached, and suddenly an unfamiliar face appeared in his limited field of vision—an older man with steel-gray hair and deep creases around warm brown eyes. The man frowned, reaching toward him.
“He’s fighting the sedation. Increase the dose.”
Cold fingers pushed the headset back down, sealing Levi’s vision once more in darkness. A distant pressure registered on his arm—an injection. Cold spread through his veins, quickly followed by warmth that radiated outward from the injection site.
A sharp, searing pain exploded behind his eyes, as if someone had driven an ice pick through his temples. His consciousness contracted, darkness swallowing the brief glimpse of reality.
Then nothing.
49
DLC
Leviawoketothehum of machinery.
His eyes snapped open, greeted by a metallic ceiling illuminated by strips of blue light. The sterile, angular environment couldn’t have been further from the decaying corridors of the sanitarium. Clean lines, polished surfaces, and the constant background noise of ventilation systems surrounded him.
He sat up, one hand flying to his face, searching for the headset that had been there moments before. Nothing. Just his own skin, no hardware, no neural interface. The other hand pressed against his inner arm where he’d felt the injection. No mark, no soreness.
But he remembered. The lab. The researchers. The blonde person in the other bed.
“Keep putting him back under until Asher comes back.”
Levi took in his surroundings, trying to orient himself. He appeared to be in some kind of sleeper pod, one of several arranged in a circular pattern in what looked like a spacecraft’s quarters. The aesthetic was all brushed metal and functional minimalism, the lighting low and blue-tinted.
A quick inventory confirmed he was wearing different clothing—some kind of utilitarian jumpsuit with multiple pockets and reinforced padding at the joints. A patch on the shoulder read“CSS DAEDALUS”above a stylized labyrinth logo.
This was definitely not the sanitarium. Not even close. He’d been moved to an entirely new scenario—from gothic horror to science fiction in the blink of an eye.
Or the jab of a needle.
