Well, even after all that, I’ve still gotta go back to work. It’s not the weekend anymore; Sunday has come and gone, leaving me with the black hole that is Monday.

My usual routine — when the monorails don’t suddenly stop in the middle of my commute, that is — is just the same as always. Wake up, brush teeth, eat a quick breakfast and go to work. Sit at a desk and transcribe complaints from random people, but mostly type numbers into spreadsheet cells. Get lunch from the cafeteria, and a drink from a vending machine — or a cup from the water cooler if I’m feeling frugal.

My birthday presents weren’t too bad, actually. Even my brother got me something, which he really didn’t have to — I’d better get him something really nice the next time his big day rolls around. Yeah, it was just a pair of socks, but with how our parents are I just know he used his own money on that.

I do some more work after lunch. I don't usually take overtime; I clock out as soon as physically possible, so I can head to the gym on floor 14. Floor 13 is a swimming pool (usually closed off, for weird and superstitious reasons), floor 15 is a sauna. Most of the recreational facilities are in the first 54 floors, the bottom-most level being a basement and the upper floors either living quarters or more office/storage space. I haven’t had the time to explore the whole building, and I doubt I’ll ever get the time. There’s always work to do.

The gym’s alright. It’s got all the usual equipment: weights, treadmills, and a bunch of different machines for training whatever parts of the body you might want to train. What’s real cool, though, is the variety of other stuff we have. There’s tons of things from other worlds or things made with their tech — the recent fried chicken world turned out to have some crazy ways to burn fat. Me, though, I'm fine with reducing my adipose tissue in a more normal way.

I’m not really into anything that out of the ordinary, but today I’ll try out some of the virtual reality equipment. There’s way more VR stuff in the rec room on floor 12, but there’s a couple headsets and omni-directional treadmills here to use, too — they get sweaty easily, so I don’t particularly like using them too often. Don’t get me wrong, we have a box of tissues next to each piece of the equipment, but even people working for a company as nice as ours forget to wipe down their stupidly sweaty machines when they’re done. Today seems like a good day to do some VR thingies, though. The equipment’s relatively dry, and I’ve got a few problems that virtual immersion might help me with.

I slip on the headset and the hand-tracker gloves. A list of simulations blooms in front of me, offering a dizzying array of choices. I swipe through the menu to see what I’m in the mood for today. “Fantasy Exergaming DX”… needs a bike to work, and I don’t feel like getting on the stationary bike today. “Rhythm Slasher”… no thanks, I’ve got no rhythm to slash. “ChatOnline”… nah, why is this installed on the exercise room stuff?

I keep scrolling. “VR Boxing”… I haven’t done proper boxing before; the most I’ve done was some training in high school as part of a PE class. The developer has made other simulations, though. I’ll try out “VR Jogging” — it'll help me turn off my brain for a bit.

The simulation starts me off on a hike, a dirt path winding around the side of a rocky mountain. It seems like the early morning —the sun isn't yet high in the sky, and everything looks clearer, without the thin glaze of human-made haze that makes the end of the day feel so dreamy. I know it's just a skybox, a flat texture laid upon the inside of a dome, but for a moment I can believe that this sky is real.

I let my mind wander as I move, walking absent-mindedly along the wooded trail. The repetition allows me to zone out. Let's see, what was up with last week…

From Monday to Wednesday things as usual, but on Thursday I had to fill in for a sick member of the Survey Team, since the minimum squad size is four people. I got my first taste of field work, and it turned out way more entertaining than slaving away at a desk all day. Vita, Anis, and Leon all have fun quirks of their own, and even though I've known them for less than a week it feels like we're old friends already. Hell, I'd transfer over to their department if I wasn't so unfit and outclassed by everyone else working there.

It was fun, seeing all those different places in person, far-off places that I've only ever had to fill out paperwork for, places that I never really thought of as being "real" since I never had to interact with them up close. 95086 was the most interesting. Tons of sapient humanoid life; what's more is that they were the ones to initiate contact… That Lysander guy, too, he's the one who's got the most going on. The one that called for help was him…

That's right, I'd rather not disappoint him again. On Friday, I went back to his world, specifically the city of "Lothariton" where he lives. His city was being invaded by monsters, as he called them, but he managed to fight off a bunch of them using the systems in place in his world. I don't really get how all that magic stuff works, even though I used to be a bit of a tabletop gamer myself. Probably our games contain oversimplified versions of how the systems of other worlds work, made to be more marketable and palatable for a general audience like us in the Patchworld who hail from various places. In any case, I couldn't adapt to the world he showed me, and I went home because I just couldn't take it any longer. Such an embarrassment, aren't I? A grown-ass man struggling against a little blob of gelatin.

On Saturday, I visited my parents after getting a strange call from my dad using my mom's phone. Turns out all they wanted to do was hold a surprise party for my birthday, which I forgot was happening. I don't feel older at all. In fact, I almost feel like I could wake up tomorrow as a college student again and not the sad sack of shit thirty-two-year-old I am now… I honestly don't know why my family thinks so highly of me. I guess it's just because I work at a good company. This accounting degree wasn't my first choice, but if it makes everyone happy then there's no need for me to go back and change it. With all these worlds we've discovered, and all these things we've created using their inherent properties, it's a wonder nobody's managed to invent time travel yet.

On Sunday… shamefully, I did nothing yesterday, except scroll mindlessly on my phone or sleep in short bursts. At least now I've got some kind of purpose to distract myself from the ennui of the weekend. Just keep walking…

Oh, seems like I've already reached the summit. I look up to see the fake sun in the fake sky, a bright white circle of bright light. I mean, it's just pixels projected on a screen or however this stuff works. I don't feel anything particularly for it. After all, I've been in my head the whole time, not looking at the surroundings… no way I could've gotten attached to this virtual world. I see a bench and try to sit down on it, but again there's nothing, just the supports of the omnidirectional treadmill forcing me back into a standing position. Sigh.

That was a good workout, but now I’m all sweaty… and I think wearing the headset for so long might have given me a migraine. What a pain in the ass. I take all the equipment off and wipe it clean for the next person. Time to get out of here.

As before, I take the monorail home, getting off at the apartment stop, etc etc. The moment I get home, I shove a bowl of instant noodles and water into the microwave, stripping my dirty clothes off as it boils. Once the microwave timer starts beeping I take everything out, pour the seasoning packet into the bowl and mix. It tastes like salt. That’s about it.

When I finish the bowl of noodles, I dump it into the sink. I run the tap just enough to cover the food residue, then I leave it alone to “let it soak” (i.e., I won’t bother washing it until tomorrow).

Tonight I’m not going to do anything. I’ve had enough. Tonight, I’ll slip into deep, dreamless sleep, and whatever happens next will happen. Whatever will happen.