CyberPhun - For Immediate Release June 3rd, 2025

"CyberPhun: We put the 'phun' in the CyberWorlds..."

In the evolution of the 'Net many events have heralded the beginning of a new age. The WWW in the 1980's marked the first time the average person could have access to the wealth of information available in the CyberRealms.

In the 1990's Virtual Reality started out in caves, just like the early humans. And like those early humans, the drawings were crude and the lighting was poor!

With the introduction of VR mated with holography in 2010, the CyberWorld got boosted into its current round of advances. Finally, users could sit in the comfort of their own physical realm and operate freely in the ethereal realms of the imagination.

Billions of average people became more than average. Multitudes of ethereal realms were built in which the average existence could be better, more vibrant, and just plain more fun! Holography had expanded the reality of the ethereal world by allowing users to actually interact on a virtually physical level. But something was always missing from the experience... Until now!

CyberPhun is proud to announce the release of their long awaited Full Immersion Body Suit, or FIBS for short, into version 1.0 production. The FIBS System, when used in conjunction with currently available SARAH (Synthetic Autonomous Research And Host) Systems will provide the missing element from the ethereal experience: physical sensation.

The revolutionary FIBS System will, for the first time, allow the user to fully experience the ethereal world in all five senses. And because it is a suit, and not an immersion tank or chamber, it allows full range of motion and movement for the user. This allows the user to physically take part in all activities that are currently allowed in the ethereal realm without being limited by movement restrictions placed on earlier efforts.

Just imagine it! Now you can actually dance with Fed or Ginger. Ride with King Arthur and his knights. Or trip the light fantastic with the partner of your dreams. All these things are yours with full sensation and range of motion.

--END-

"Robert. I have another interviews request. This time it is the NYCyberTimes. The reporter insists he is on deadline." SARAH said into the room at large.

"Thanks, SARAH. And tell him to suck eggs..." Robert said as he struggled with the FIBS prototype he was working on.

"Now Robert..." Said SARAH

"I know, I know... just add them to the queue and be a good system would you SARAH?"

"Of course, Robert..." SARAH said as she exited the presence chamber. It almost sounded as if SARAH was annoyed. Robert smiled when he thought about trying to explain that one to Elise.

"Damn Machines..." Robert muttered as he continued to fight with the FIBS prototype. "If I don't get this damn thing to work soon, there really won't be a rollout, and the company can just go suck eggs too..."

Once the FIBS was on, Robert opened the browser in the Head's Up Display (or HUD) and began the diagnostics routines. While waiting for the 'nostics to finish running, and with half an eye on the output log, he logged into the 'Net and into the foyer for his ISP. The logo floated in 3-D while he waited for it to authenticate and authorize his login. His mail queue was nearing quota, but that wasn't why he was there. He really needed to get home, and he needed to get home now!

Elise was sitting in the kitchen, mulling what to serve for dinner when Robert got home. That this 'home' existed only in the ethereal world made no difference at all. Elise and Robert had been together for as long as anyone could remember, and their world was so very real and very loving.

Elise had long been a pioneer in the fight to gain legal recognition for the rights of ethereal families. The law didn't really seem to have too much trouble with the concept of parties in relationship living in different physical locations, that had been happening for decades. No the real rub was in granting rights to children or family that only existed in the ethereal world.

Elise was wearing the only other functional FIBS the company had and this was going to be the final real-time test of the prototype before public preview. She and Robert had started out with the simple tests. Smell and sight had been easy, as had sound. All those senses were possible in the existing ethereal worlds. No, the big test had been taste and feel. Sure, the existing technology allowed for some taste, but it required planning ahead and it relied an awful lot on smell to trick the taste into believing that what you were eating was what the other person said it was. And touch? Well that was a whole 'nother kettle of worms.

Once the diagnostics had finished and the board was 'green', Robert clutched the dead mans switch and felt the familiar wave of the ethereal wash over him.

"Lucy, I'm home!" Robert announced as he walked through the door. He still staggered a bit on the transition point, and made a note in the log to see if he could ease that with a software tweak. Then, Robert was totally submerged in the 'home' that he and Elise had created. The smell of lasagna baking in the oven, the taste and feel of ice cold lemonade on his throat, and the soft brush of that first tentative kiss from his better half. Ah, now he was truly home.

Picking Elise up in his arms he twirled her around and around while they laughed like school children. "Honey, this is why this thing is going to sell. Not because of a bunch of hype and promises from marketing, but because the first time you can feel, really feel, someone over the 'Net these things are going to fly off the shelves. We are going to make a fortune on this one!" and Robert smiled and laughed as Elise stepped back at arms length to make sure she could see his eyes.

"Oh Robert, you're right! This is so very real and so very powerful. Just imagine. We started on this road with just words. I've always said that words were powerful, but this... My God it's so much more!" and Elise pulled Robert close in an embrace that probably could have been felt without the FIBS.

Still laughing they walked arm in arm toward the family room and the first practical test of the FIBS and the SARAH interface. The persona that SARAH wore in the ethereal was both comic and nostalgic at the same time. Granted SARAH was an Artificial Intelligence (AI) unit, but still... Having Harriet from the "Ozzie and Harriet Show" as your nanny still took some getting used to. The fact that SARAH didn't bother to colorize the persona didn't really help much either.