1) We're maintaining the role of a hired inspector who has to find out what went wrong or has to try and establish contact with the people who are left.

The verfremdungseffect, or distancing effect, as suggested by Brecht in theatre lends itself well when a user is using the terminal to dive in. As you begin to acquaint yourself to the visualizations of the surroundings of your mission there will be guide to remind you that you are, in fact, still running a program. As visualization technology has moved beyond mere facsimiles of reality it is important for a user to undergo visualization training before onhands-missions so as to better grasp the situations where the ability to quantify different realities presented to the user mid-use will be of outmost importance.

With the aide of our log book
and our visualizer we'll traverse
through the corridors of mem'ries
The memories of
who was it again?


2) We arrive and find logs
or mem'ries
As a user is intended
scattered along databases
We move closer to a Final Destination

Moving the tactile objects within a virtual space can seem disorienting at first, so take care to distinguish between the factual and the virtual as often as you can. For this purpose, lucid dreaming as a practice is adviced in the months preceding the first mission for a user. The user would then keep a Dream Diary where she transcribes the contents of her dreams and, in the case of accomplishing successful lucidity in dreams, sometimes she would tell of the sensations she experienced, and if possible also to quantify what distinguished the simulacra of the dream activities from those of the real ones. In the case such as flying this might not be of great interest as it tethers on the brink of the fantastical - but it could be said that regular everyday activities are the ones where a user would easiest find her distinctions between the real life and the Dreaming.

Guided by the mem'ries who have travelled the same journey
and gradually slowly but surely
we learn of the nature of the person whose mem'ries we've taken part
It's an organic life form
that was once human
that tried to become something more
and got stuck at something less


3) Just a human
a remnant and a mem'ry
a shell of a human who was there before
in contact with an unknown being
It's guided us to learn about itself
and about how it chooses to say farewell

If then, finally, the user would attempt to recover something lost within the Terminal make sure she prepares three things. First, she would make sure that no physical harm would come to her person, as she would be in prolonged stasis within the machine, communicating. Use the proper precautions for this, with inflammable material and breakers and cooling systems for the electrical equipment. If possible, have an assistant on standby. Second, be sure to make a risk-reward analysis before diving in, as it is not uncommon for the user to exit the visualisation with a different mindset altogether after the mission is over. The intensity of the images presented within the Terminal can force the user to experience a muddling of the Mind that can stay long after the dive, sometimes up to several weeks later, altering the initially planned actions post-dive for said users. Thus, take extra care that the proper values have been places in a easy-to-reach location so that the user can trust in her previous self to know what needed to be accomplished initially and what the plan was. It’s an unceremonial fact that the dive changes users, even though temporary. And third, make sure that the user takes a shower before hand. It’s been scientifically proven that cleanliness of the body and the peace of mind that a bath or a shower can bring before Dive will facilitate synchronization and put the user in a state of mind where she can put her best abilities to good use. Similiar then, to the lucid dreaming, where the user would practice her mind to attempt the difficult task of being “aware” although unconscious.

About the failed attempt at a prolonged life
it harbors expectations that someone will hear it
and leaves us, or has already left us, some time earlier
We get into contact with its signals and logs
in the order they were left to us.