Chapter 5

Chapter 5 MINECRAFT-LIVE IN 3... 2... 1...!!! Like Po, Morgan couldn't believe what he was seeing. He shook his head. He blinked rapidly. He rubbed his eyes… with blocky brown hands. It wasn't just his hands that were blocky. The trees were stacks of brown and green cubes. The sun was a yellow square in the bright blue sky. "WE'RE INSIDE THE GAME," he said. "WE'RE INSIDE MINECRAFT." It sounded impossible. But Harper said, "YEAH. I THINK WE ARE." Po said, "YOU'RE RIGHT." And Jodi said, "WA-HOO!"

Jodi bounded down a hill, whooping with delight all the way to the bottom. Morgan watched her go. She was definitely his sister. But she looked different. Like a video-game avatar of herself. He turned to look at the others. They looked like avatars, too. They were blocky and pixelated but still instantly recognizable. They wore clothes similar to what they'd been wearing back in the computer lab. "I've played some games in VR before,"

Harper said. "This is different." "It sure is." Po said. "I don't hear Doc's computer fans whirring, do you?" He touched his face. "I don't feel the goggles. Or my wheelchair. But I can feel the ground and the sunlight." He jumped up and down. He grinned. "We're not just seeing this. It's like we're really here." "Maybe," Harper said. "The brain is a mysterious organ. Scientists don't fully understand how it works. What if Doc's goggles are tricking our brains and making us think we're here? It could

all be an elaborate illusion." "Like a dream?" Morgan asked. "A dream that we're all experiencing together?" "That's as good a hypothesis as any," Harper said. "Maybe we can come up with an experiment to test it." "No. thank you!" Po said brightly. "If you remember. our last science experiment didn't go so well. Why don't we just enjoy ourselves?" With that, Po was off, speeding to the bottom of the hill, where Jodi was running around in circles. Harper walked over to a tree. She hit its trunk several times. Each time, little chips of wood flew into the air, until finally, a whole piece of the trunk broke off. Morgan flinched. In the real world, gravity would cause the tree to crash to the ground. But here, just as in the game, it remained standing even with a piece of its trunk missing.

Harper picked up the chunk of wood that she'd hacked off the tree. At her touch, it disappeared with a popping sound. "Where'd it go?" said Morgan. "Good question." said Harper. She moved her hands around in the air. She made strange expressions with her face. "Are you okay?" "I'm trying to figure out— Aha!" she cried. "If you blink twice quickly—like double-clicking a computer mouse— your inventory comes up!" "That's too weird." Morgan said. But he decided to give it a try. He double-clicked his eyes. Sure enough, an inventory menu popped up, blocking his view of Harper. It looked a little bit like an empty, floating bookshelf. Morgan also saw a row of hearts and a row of food. "We have health and hunger meters. too." he said. He double-clicked his eyes again, and the interface disappeared. "I want to try something." said Harper. Morgan watched as her eyes and fingers moved

around. "I have a piece of oak." she said. "If I can use that to make four planks…" She closed her eyes. Suddenly, there was a clunk, and a table appeared in front of her. It was a crafting table. "Harper!" Morgan cried. "That's incredible." Harper grinned. "I'm not done yet." She broke off more of the tree. "Now I have two pieces of oak. Each one makes four planks, so…" She closed her eyes. There was another clunk. "I have eight planks. I'll use one of them to make a batch of sticks. and then. if I use the crafting table…" Morgan saw the moment it happened. Harper flexed her hand a little, and a wooden pickaxe appeared out of nowhere.