Prisoners of VR

5:30 PM!

Rahu sat in his van and stared ahead blankly. To avoid alerting anyone of his presence within the van, curtains had been drawn on the windows. So, he couldn't even stare out at the traffic to pass the time.

One of his security team members took charge of driving the van while Deepika and Ashok were seated before and after his seat respectively. Held in their possession each was a suitcase. Within the suitcases was a drone that they specialised in operating.

They hadn't used it to date, as most of the situations could be solved without them. Despite that, protocol mandated they carry such lethal gadgets. Each drone came equipped with a variety of weapons.

As there was still time for his appointment, Rahu decided to get some shut-eye. Thirty minutes was enough for a quick nap. It would help relax his nerves.

"There's some traffic, Sir." Deepika said as she pulled up a map in her Augmented Reality interface, "We might be delayed."

"Anything you heard from the Forest Department in the meantime?" Rahu asked, "What seems to be the issue?"

"There's no response regarding that." Deepika shook her head and sighed, "The department refused to disclose any details until we are within earshot."

"No use worrying then." Rahu closed his eyes and decided to rest, "What happened to the scout we sent to the destination?"

Deepika pulled up the live feed transmitted to her by a security team personnel that she had dispatched to the forest department in advance, "Nothing unusual."

Nanmangalam Reserve Forest Department!

6:35 PM!

The van arrived at a stop next to the entrance. The driver slid down the window and handed his ID to the security posted there, displaying his affiliation to the DOVA branch. The gates opened as the driver drove the van inside.

"Sir Rahu, you're finally here." An officer stood at the entrance and shook hands with Rahu right as he got down from the van.

Rahu observed the individual as his Augmented Reality interface scanned him, pulling up his information from the records.

[Chandan Kumar, Conservator of Forests (CFO), Nanmangalam Forest Department.]

This was the basic information. With a thought, the details changed, displaying Chandan Kumar's posting from his date of joining until his current post, the number of years he worked in every location, etc.

As a DOVA Agent, he even had access to Chandan Kumar's family information, the health condition of everyone, past illness, etc.

Once he confirmed that the individual before him was the real deal, Rahu reciprocated with a smile, "What seems to be the issue?"

"We'll talk inside," Chandan Kumar's facial expression froze up as he led Rahu to a room within the Forest Department, "Please follow me."

Ashok and Deepika followed him while the rest of the security team dispersed across the compound. They communicated with Ashok in their respective network while Deepika focused wholly on assisting Rahu.

Chandan Kumar brought them to an empty room that was fitted with a tube light and a fan, nothing else. Four plastic chairs were set in the room at his order, the cheapest of their kind.

"This is to prevent an information leak. Please excuse my behaviour." He said and took a seat.

Rahu didn't mind it. Instead, he became serious. If Chandan Kumar was taking such measures to ensure there was no electronic device in their vicinity, it meant things were grim. The data security of the Forest Department might have been compromised.

Rahu leaned forward and motioned for the forest officer to begin speaking.

"It happened at 1:20 PM," Chandan Kumar began speaking, "We detected a group of poachers, five in total. A team punitive team was sent in immediately. All communications were cut off soon after."

"Have you sent in any drones?" Rahu asked as he tapped his chin in thought.

"We executed multiple attempts, but all were met with failure. There's an electromagnetic shield erected around the centre of the forest. All drones lose signal at the moment of entry." He expressed helplessness, "We had to resort to satellite imagery and the results were confusing."

He took out a sheet of paper on which a thermal image was printed. It displayed eleven heat signatures around a large-trunked tree, seemingly in a seated spot. Positioned twenty metres away were two others, humanoid judging by the shape of the signature.

"Even this was only obtained after a lot of trial and error in varying the captured heat spectrum." Chandan Kumar said, "We took an image every hour. All thirteen signatures have remained in the same spot. There's only one ability that can create such a situation."

"That's why you contacted me, huh?" Rahu frowned as he stared at the forest officer, "But why now? Shouldn't you have contacted me at the earliest?"

"We weren't sure of the situation yet." Chandan Kumar said. Basically, it took them time to figure out that the problem stemmed from Induced Reality. That meant the jurisdiction of the case fell under a DOVA Agent, which was when they requested Rahu's presence.

Every organisation followed a set of protocols respective to a situation. Besides, to summon Rahu, the forest officers would have to forward the case to their superiors. And only after being sanctioned by the higher-ups would they contact the DOVA Branch.

It was a necessary process, which resulted in such a delayed action. Moreover, problems regarding Induced Reality rarely occurred, so efficient protocols hadn't yet been established for them.

"You have a team, right?" Rahu asked.

"Yes, they are ready." Chandan Kumar nodded.

"They shouldn't equip any electronic gadget. Keep everything mechanical." Rahu said as he got up and was brought to a dressing room to arm himself.

He donned a tactical suit, covering himself from head to toe, prepared against all sorts of attacks, from firearm to chemical and even bacterial.

"Sir, here's your gun." Chandan Kumar said and handed an assault rifle.

Rahu refused it and instead picked a handgun, "This is enough. It has been a long time since I last used a rifle. I might just hold everyone back with it. Besides,"

He tapped his uVR Earth, "This is what I'll be primarily relying upon."

Chandan Kumar led a team of seven. Adding Rahu, Deepika, and Ashok, they numbered ten in total. As part of his security team, Deepika and Ashok had ample combat experience. Besides, their current mission was simply protecting Rahu while the task of the soldiers was in solving the situation.

They had different objectives.

The team set off immediately, deciding to first enter the electromagnetic shield set around the forest. Rahu patted Ashok and whispered, "Stop all data transfer with the security team. The signals might be picked up by the enemy. Communicate through emojis just to maintain the connection."

Ashok nodded and began to send pings in the form of emojis. There was no meaning behind the emojis. It was just to test the signal transfer in the region as they traversed into forest territory.

Rahu's uVR Earth shone yellow as he entered creator mode, observing a dome of electromagnetic signals erected around the forest. The network of signals forming it was dense. But when he traced them to the boundary, he was stunned.

There were no electronic instruments there to transmit electromagnetic signals to form the shield. Rather, the signals were being transmitted from the trees.

Rahu approached the closest tree and touched it, sensing the energy waves being emitted from it as a product of various chemical reactions. As a result, a systemic electromagnetic flux was being transmitted from the tree, with the trunk serving as the node, the branches as the pathways, and the leaves as the emitter.

'How is this possible?' He couldn't understand it. If it had been done through humans, then he wouldn't have been shocked. All DOVA Agents could use a human body as a transmitter source of electromagnetic radiation. Through Induced Reality, they could control the bodies of their target and influence it in such a way that they unleash certain forms of radiation.

It was a complex process but it wasn't impossible to achieve. Even this was only made possible thanks to uVR Earths. With them, they had already mapped out the human neural synapse network. That data was the reason it was possible.

Attempting it through animals wasn't possible, as they hadn't been mapped out yet. The day they create uVR Earths for animals would be when they could map out everything regarding the animals.

But creating an electromagnetic shield that blocks all forms of radiation using plants as the source? That was impossible. Plants didn't have a central nervous system or even a peripheral nervous system like animals.

Therefore, they remained immune to the effects of Induced Reality. But the scene transpiring before him was an impossibility brought to reality.

Plants do react to stimuli, albeit slowly. They have chemical reactions in response to stimuli. The face of sunflowers tracking the sun, the lid of a pitcher plant closing when a fly enters its pitcher, the closing of leaves of a touch-me-not plant when touched, etc.

They were all examples of a response to stimuli. And somehow, that factor of trees had been employed successfully to erect an electromagnetic shield. This wasn't something that could have been achieved in a day or two.

Rahu glared at Chandan Kumar, "Was the forest department slacking on its duty?"

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