The Truth is Out There Part 2

After I had explored the outside of Necronom VI and experienced being thrown into a fully immersive space/science fiction world, I was ready to explore the inside of the structure to which I teleported. I flew back inside and went down one of the tunnels and came across a note-board where I read this notecard.

To say I was intrigued would be an understatement. I was greeted with knowing that if I were to take a step further, I would be going into the generator of this expansive space station that has “fallen victim to the creature” that has take over it having been “brought aboard by traders over time.” People have also fallen victim to the influence of this creature infecting the ship as they “can be observed to slowly drift away, while they change into something different…by an extraterrestrial parasitic life form.” I not only began to fear for the livelihood of those that I met before, but also of my own.

What Was Taking Over?

Let’s take a step back for a second. See how into this I’m getting? The virtual representation of my exploration of a space station that I now know is infected by an alien parasite is just that – a representation. My conscious mind knows that none of this is real, but I’m still frightened as to what my virtual self, which I have worked hard to create and integrate into these societies, will have to face.  The feeling was one of unease, like my safety was potentially at risk.

As I was walking through these tunnels I felt like I was in the movie alien, every last detail was definitely put together to give this area an air of the spooky. There were plants growing next to catwalks and vines wrapping around railings. I even came across an egg that was just in the middle of a passageway.

Once I entered the main engine chamber I saw plants growing everywhere, definitely this alien parasite had taken over (well, more like had been designed to look like it had taken over) this area. This was obviously an area designed for intergalactic role-play since I saw some people having private conversations in corners and decided to leave them alone. 

In the Belly of the Beast

I took a few ladders up to the upper catwalks and passageways and I came across a room connected to the big space ship that I had seen earlier. I was very happy to see that I could, in fact, enter the ship. Once I did, the inside was disappointing since I couldn’t exactly drive the ship anywhere, but it did have a cargo hold and a pilot’s seat that I sat in for a little while, which at least gave the experience of driving since the outside was animated.

The Illusion/Animation of Hyperspeed Flight

After exploring for a little while longer, I figured that I had seen what was to be seen here but I was very grateful that I had experienced the eerie sense that I was not completely safe here and could be attacked by anything at any moment, even though I was safe in my room at school. Never before in Second Life has my real self been as attached to the safety and well being of my virtual self, but I now understand how many people who play this game can believe that their avatars are not just virtual representations of the real self, but virtual extensions.