Death Dream by Ben Bova Read Free Book Online

forcing him to take evasive action.
    Dan almost enjoyed it all. Part of his mind kept telling him this was a kid's game, meant to entertain twelve-year-olds no matter what their calendar age. But another part of him marveled at how realistic the simulation was, how detailed the graphics, how he felt viscerally every jolt and lurch of the ship.
    And there's no time lag , he realized. They've beaten the time lag problem! In all the simulations he had been involved in there was always a slight but noticeable delay between the moment you moved your head or hands and the moment the simulation moved in reaction. Only a fraction of a second, but enough to make you realize you were in a simulation, not the real world. Here there was no time lag at all: Dan moved and the world around him responded instantly.
    By the time he settled the spacecraft down to a safe landing at Copernicus Base on the Moon, Dan's shirt was sticking sweatily to his back and his hands ached from gripping the imaginary control sticks.
    "Touchdown," said the computer voice. "Welcome to Copernicus Base."
    "You made it!" came Chan's voice through the helmet earphones. "Good going! I thought you were going to buy the farm a couple of times."
    Wearily Dan slid his helmet visor up and saw that he was once again in the empty VR chamber. No spacecraft, no console, no control sticks. Nothing but the bare room and the chair he was sitting on. His hands were trembling slightly.
    "That's a helluva ride," he said as he lifted the helmet off his head. His hair felt damp, matted.
    "You can take a tour of Copernicus Base if you like," Chan's voice came through the speaker in the wall below the one-way window.
    "Uh, not right now, okay?"
    Chan opened the control booth door and crossed the VR chamber in three swift strides. "Are you all right? You look a little green."
    Dan saw that the kid was grinning at him. "It's a damned good game," he said, pushing himself to his feet.
    "Thanks." Chan seemed genuinely pleased.
    "How the hell do you get the physical sensations? I actually felt the accelerations and the maneuvers. Thought I was going to puke a couple of times."
    "Visual cues," Chan said, grinning widely now. "The information you get from your eyes almost overpowers all your other senses. when they conflict, you start to feel queasy. Your eyes tell your brain that you're bouncing all over the place while your inner ear and your tactile senses tell you that you're sitting still in a chair—"
    "Like space sickness, only in reverse."
    Chan nodded enthusiastically. "Sort of, yeah. In fact, I've been wondering if we couldn't work with NASA to train astronauts."
    "What happens if the player messes up? Like, if he hits the space station?"
    Leading the way back to the booth and then to the hallway outside, Chan explained, "Oh, we don't let that happen. The ship will miss the station and get away from the pirates and land at Copernicus no matter how lousy the player is."
    "How lousy was I?" Dan asked.
    Chan laughed. "You got through it safe, didn't you?"
    "That bad, huh?"
    "Come on," Chan said. "Jace ought to be about finished by now."

CHAPTER 5

    Jason Lowrey worked the palm of his bare hand into the well-oiled pocket of his outfielder's glove. Nervous? You bet. Who wouldn't be with the game hanging by one run, runners on first and second, and Babe Ruth up there at the plate?
    The crowd had gone silent. Jace could hear the flags whipping on their masts up along the roof of the grandstand. A plane droned somewhere in the brilliant blue sky. The wind was blowing out, as if the Babe needs any help. Still, Jace backed up a cautious few steps on the outfield grass.
    Lefty Grove was pitching against the Yankees. Ty Cobb was in right field, alongside Jace, with Ted Williams on his other side in left. Two men on base. And if Grove walked the Babe, Lou Gehrig would come to bat with the bases loaded. Jace knew that Gehrig hit more grand-slam home runs than anybody in the history of the