question_answer

John was relieved that he had invested in a holographic keyboard. His palms pooled moisture where they met the fabric of his trousers, blotting against the skin on his thighs.

He took several deep breaths and surveyed the counsellor'’s office. He had a 360-degree view of it from within his VirtuoPod. The walls were painted white. The occasional happy kitten frolicked within its mounted frame. Motivational quotes cycled across the walls to his left and right.

“"Persona is Prime".” "“Conform, don’'t Question".” “"Progress is Perfection.”"

For several seconds, he wished he’'d attended this session via his unidirectional flat-screen monitor. Instead, a perfect cylinder of glass cocooned him in its curvature, the Bell Corp Insignia discreetly etched onto its surface. It simulated his surroundings to a fault.

John had invested in his set-up at home. He could transport himself to any Bell-approved location in the world and it would surround him, immersing him in high-fidelity reality.

He’'d experienced sweeping Hyper Reality views from atop the Bell Towers in Crown City, awestruck as its nano-fibre constructions reoriented themselves with clockwork precision. They crested and descended, swivelling to make the most of their solar-harvesting capabilities, absorbing snatches of power from the sunlight that peeked through whips of rain lashing down from the sky.

He’'d experienced a Hyper Real reconstruction of Apex City from decades ago, when it had still been named Bangalore. The immensity of the azure sky had left him speechless, arcing dome-like overhead and reflected in thousands of mirrored-glass buildings rising into the sky. When Bell Corp had taken over the city, they'’d redesigned its architecture to eliminate all its heat islands. Now Bell Corp'’s twenty-six towers mushroomed over the streets, a bio-mat canopy that all but obscured the clouds. John would never forget his brief glimpse of the infinity that lay beyond the city’'s skyscape.

If he made it to the top twenty percent of society, he’'d gain admission to far more elaborate experiences; rumour had it that the apex of the Curve could access olfactory simulations.

Mrs Naidu cleared her throat. John returned to the present.

She was probably seated in a set-up similar to his own.

She looked at him indifferently. “John Alvares, I want to get to know you.”

“"Okay."” His throat felt dry.

"“I'’m going to project a series of images onto your screen. Name them.”"

"Okay. His throat seized up. He wasn’t expecting a test. "“Ready?”"

A sequence of cards appeared on the screen. The first was open-faced and had a timer beneath it. He surmised he had ten seconds to guess who each figure on the cards was.

He stumbled through his guesses.

“"The Vindicators, that superhero group. Um. Barthoven, I dunno, all neo-Acousta composers look the same. Um, Steel Man. Er, wait, I know this one...I really do - no, let'’s skip it. Um, Battle Arena champion who’s a famous VR fighter? I dunno, I really don'’t follow the League of Champions. Star Masters, the sci-fi franchise, not sure what the bad guy'’s name is. Ahh. Clash of Empires, the docudrama. I think this one is a start-up queen from the 2000s...the founder of FreshGoodz? I give up.’

John has observed the Hyper Real reconstruction of a city. Which city is this?

A) Bangalore

B) Mumbai

C) Delhi

D) Not given in the passage