The Ultiverse. A short story.

The man in the yellow vest says, “How it works is, each shipping container is its own planet.”

There’s a humming of fans. The shipping containers inside the fence are in long rows. Above them, there’s dark blue sky.

“We get 10 people in each one,” says the man. “They’re living in bliss.”

“Can I have a look?” says Nick. He’s carrying his camera.

The man nods. They walk to one of the containers. The man enters a code into a keypad and opens the heavy steel door.

Inside, the people are floating in pods filled with blue liquid. It’s warm. The man closes the door behind them. Nick raises his camera and takes a picture of the wires coming out of a blonde woman’s head.

The man in the vest says, “These are the pioneers. Living in the Ultiverse. Living their dreams.”

“Is that true?” says Nick. “It seems like it can’t be true.”

“Look at this,” says the man. He takes his phone out of his pocket. “Unit 5746. This one.” He points at a man floating in liquid. The floating man has his mouth open and eyes closed. His body is twitching. “This is what he sees.”

On the screen, they see cartoonish avatars walking through a cartoonish square.

“You’re seeing what he sees,” says the man in the vest.

“Looks old school,” says Nick.

The man nods. “Everyone here gets to play God. Infinite possibilities.”

“When do they get out?”

“Everyone’s on a two-year contract. As long as they pay the bills, we let them stay.”

“What do they feel?”

“Everything. It’s state-of-the-art. Those wires in their heads connect directly to their brains. It’s like taking a vacation from your reality.”

Nick sees an ad come up on the man’s phone screen. “Does — “ he looks at the man floating in liquid, “Does he see that, too?”

The man in the vest says, “Yeah. Every ad you don’t skip, you get a discount on your stay. And if you give us access to your memories, you can even stay here free. It’s just a painless download. You don’t even know we’re in so deep.”

“I don’t know,” says Nick. He takes another picture. “Don’t they miss their old lives?”

The man in the vest shakes his head and puts his phone back in his pocket.

“It’s not like that. You make a new world in there. You don’t give two fucks anymore.”

“I don’t know if I could do it.”

“You can do anything. Be anything. Anythingy you want, you can make it happen.” He grins. “And I mean anything.”

“But you’re — ” Nick doesn’t finish. “Thanks. I got enough pictures. I want to go back outside.

“Suit yourself,” says the man.

There’s the sound of their footsteps. The sound of the fans. The sound of the door opening.

When they get outside, Nick wants to drop his camera and run as fast and far away as he can.