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Joshua helped his Dad unpack a delivery to their home. It sat in a spare room of the house. “It looks like a tube or a futuristic coffin,” said Josh to his Dad.

“Don’t let the looks scare you son. I spend my days in the one similar to it in the other room next to your Mom’s pod as you know. It seemed a little weird at first until you start interfacing with the sensors and see how your thoughts of lifting your arm control your digital twin. You should be excited to try it out.” said Dad.

“I know. I am, I guess,” seeming a little squeamish about getting in it. “What if someone is claustrophobic?”

Dad came back quickly, “Not a problem. Your Mother was a little anxious at first. The pod senses when a user experiences anxiety and modulates a tone which the user does not hear that relaxes them. It’s all baked into the system.” They set it up and connected power. There was a note. It said there was no configuration necessary unless it failed to work. It would self connect to the home networks and find its way to its server.

Children starting in seventh grade found themselves in a learning environment that was completely new, it was virtual. Kindergarten through grade six have the children learn in the analog world of the physical where they got to have some play time among other children along with school. Kind of like a litter of puppies or kittens that learned much through experimentation contact with others in the litter. It could be quite a shock for some when they later got into a pod at home where their bodies spend the whole school day completely immersed in the virtual. All they see, hear and touch is not real, but seems as if it was by being hooked up to a myriad of electronic sensors contained. There was a the watery feeling pod liner and a hooded visual experience. They see the three dimensions of the classroom and interact with the teacher as well as the other students. To them it feels as if they are truly in a physical room.

“This is a newer version then my pod. I hope they worked any bugs out of it. Why don’t you get in and see how it feels. There is a test program where you and the pod get to know each other. You attempt to move while it talks to you and helps explain.”

He got bored a lot last year in class and that was with real kids. Imagine how it will be with this virtual classroom. “I don’t think there will be much excitement so I’m hoping it has a lot of problems. That will insure no boredom.” Josh crawled into what seemed like a coffin, “OK, now what?” He went into a prone position and it felt like a giant warm water balloon filled in all the air space between him and the pod. It felt good.

“First on the having software problems, be careful what you wish for. Now press this button,” he pointed to a large green button. “The top half will close. The system will train you on simple use and how to exit the program. I will be here and I will enable voice communication so I can monitor and get you out if needed. You won’t hear anything out here, it is completely soundproof.”

Josh pressed the button apprehensively. The large upper half groaned as if it was a heavy motor drive. As the top came down he could see a kind of half a hood like a welders mask covering his frontal vision which connected and sealed to a lower similar construction giving him the ability to see beyond each side periphery as he moved his head back and forth. The upper lid formed to his body like the lower with the warm bladder. He was completely immersed inside it. He closed his eyes for a moment and when he reopened them he found himself sitting on a stool in a room that was so bright white that it was hard to tell how far the walls were away from him. It both seemed close and infinite at the same time. The walls and ceiling were the same bright white. The corner seams between them were not well defined.

Josh looked around the white room. He moved his head to look side to side and it all seemed normal.

A woman’s soothing voice interrupted his thoughts, “Can I help you train on the pod usage?”

Feeling at ease Josh replied, “Hello, yes my name is Joshua and I am a first time user.”

“OK Joshua. First have a look at your left wrist and you will see a band with a button. Do you see it?”

“Yes, I do.”

The voice said, “This is your quit and exit button to terminate the session. Press this button and your pod will open its lid releasing the pressure from the water bladder. You can then exit the pod.”

Josh looked at the wristband. “Got it.” Her voice sounded as if she was an authentic expert on usage. That definitely made it a pleasant experience.

The voice continued, “Now start to move your appendages one at a time. Right arm, left arm, etc. Your arms in the pod will not actually move because the bladder pushes back against them but senses your desired position. It takes a little getting used to.”

Josh tried to raise his right arm. It didn’t actually feel like it moved due to the bladder pushing back. His arm went up in his view though and when he stopped trying to move it and it stopped. There was a little over shoo before it stopped. “Cool,” he said.

The voice added, “The movements will become more seamless to you as you practice. Now attempt to get up off the chair.”

Josh did so and clumsily stood up. He felt like a newly birthed horse standing for the first time. At least that is what he saw which contributed to what he felt. He smiled broadly finding the experience exceptional. He took a step feeling shaky but what worry, it wasn’t like he could fall down. He was in the pod. He marched around the room finding it fun and he headed toward one of the walls. He never got any closer to what appeared to be the room wall like he was on a treadmill. He ran fast but still never gained any on the distance. He turned toward another of the walls and had the same effect. He looked back where he expected the stool to be and it was far away. This confused him.

The voice concluded, “You are doing well Joshua. Spend some more time adjusting to your digital twin. Jump, run, dance or what ever pleases you. When you have enough you can exit the program with the button on your wrist.”

He heard his Dad’s voice out of nowhere say, “Can you hear me? I’m here Josh. Are you OK?”

“Yeah, I’m OK with being in here so you can leave if you want. If I don’t come out in an hour or so you can check on me.”

“OK son, have fun,” he picked up the packing material to put out in the trash and left the room.

Josh continued for an hour then tested the eject button. The room disappeared and all went dark and the lid cranked slowly opened with a grunt. He sat up and got out. “Whew, interesting,” he said to himself.

The next morning at breakfast Josh sat down with his Mom and Dad at the table where there was a breakfast plate steaming with hot food in front of him. He started in on it.

Dad asked, “So today you start your first seventh grade class. Are you excited now that you have tried it?”

“I guess. I like the pod. It would be a great if there were games. Are there any?”

Mom almost choked on her food, “I don’t think so on that model. Why don’t you ask your teacher inside the classroom.”

“He said he hopes the pod has software bugs,” Dad chuckled.

“Trust me Josh, you don’t want software problems at your school,” said Mom.

Dad got up from the table, “I have an important meeting. We are going over the annual financial reports. See you two later.” He looked at Roberta, “Are you working this morning?”

“No, I want to sit in until Josh seems OK in class then I have some things to do before clocking in around lunch. See you tonight.” George bent over and gave her a kiss on the cheek, pointed at Josh and said, “good luck son,” and went to his work pod.

“You don’t mind if I monitor, do you? You have to allow it when we select the class program. Its for privacy.”

“No, I don’t mind. I used to go get ready for school but I guess I am always ready now. I am beginning to see some benefits already to this system.” He got up and went to the room his pod was in. It was kind of empty otherwise with some boxes stacked up on the far side from the entrance next to a window with a lovely view of their garden.

Mom entered behind him. “Lets select school. There are only a couple of programs available. I guess the one labeled seventh grade class is it,” and she selected it.

The upper clam shell rumbled opened and Josh got in. He pushed the button to start and the lid closed while the bladder pressed all around him above and below while all the light was sealed out. He did feel anxious for a moment in the darkness but was relieved when the darkness ended and the vision activated. He was in the white room again and the voice said to him, “Josh you can decide if you want to change your appearance everyday as far as clothes or select the standard school uniform. It is by far the most popular. The other choices allow you to pick everyday or allow a random clothing assortment.”

“I’ll take the school uniform. That solves my problem of picking something to wear.”

“OK, the system will scan your face and body now. It will use that data to image your digital twin in the virtual class. If you ever want to change any of these settings, just ask for help when the door clamps shut. Enjoy your first day Joshua.”

“Thanks,” All went dark for a second and then the class appeared. He looked around to a half seated room to see if he recognized anyone from last year. He saw a lot of strange faces and thought of the dread of learning a new group of classmates. There in the front was Molly. He knew her and couldn’t miss her bright red hair.

When he got to his far right he saw seated next to him was Yancy. Oh great he thought. He liked his taller heavier freckled face friend.

“Hey buddy,” Yancy said to him.

“Yancy, good to see you here.” They did a fist bump and it seemed to work just like a real fist bump. They both laughed. More students started popping into view as the room filled in.

A girl appeared in front of Josh, it was Sheri. She was thin with light shoulder length brown hair and green eyes. Pete popped in just next to her on her left. He was thin with short black hair, brown eyes, was well dressed and appeared athletic, but wasn’t. Pete turned and greeted her and they looked around the room eventually seeing Josh and Yancy behind them. Sheri smiled and said, “Josh and Yancy, now the class is complete.”

Pete said in a negative tone, “I thought this virtual stuff was supposed to have higher standards, guess not.” He looked at Sheri grinning. Yancy looked at Josh and shrugged it off.

Josh looked at the two of them and felt like Sheri mostly put up with Pete more then liked him. At least that was what he hoped. Pete thought he was the cool kid. Josh guessed many of the students saw him that way with his continuous talking back to teachers in a non aggressive way. He referred to it as verbal jousting. Josh figured he was a little above average looking when it came to his height, build, short brown hair and blue eyes.