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AN OTHER WORLD
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An old friend was at the door, with an offer that was difficult to refuse, it was the opportunity to test out the latest in gaming created by some geniuses within the Special Reserve headquarters. There had been much press coverage of this new console. It was said to be two hundred times as good as the current top seller the Playstation 2. It used top-secret technology that had been worked on in the Special Reserve HQ for almost eight years. Now it was ready but needed testing and he was one of the chosen few sworn to secrecy. He accepted the offer without hesitation. Who wouldn’t? Little did he know it was the wrong decision to make.
The chosen group sat in the black limousine that pushed it’s way through the dismal night. Raindrops splattered on the car windscreen like pebbles in a stream, thunder rumbled in the distance and the skyline flashed from invisible to visible to invisible. The only light came from the illuminated moon as the car moved down dismal empty streets to it’s final resting place. It stopped outside a huge warehouse where a cat on a windowsill hissed at another of its kind and chased it down the street disappearing into murky thick fog.
It was deadly quiet. The driver slowly opened the door and slowly trudging through thick squelching mud made his way to the passenger car doors. With a sharp click that broke the silence for a mere second the middle door was opened and Ant, Grix Thraves, Fantasymeister and Er-No jumped out. They looked up at the tall dark old building. All windows were bordered up and graffiti littered the wall to their left. There was a sharp click. Ant, Grix and Er-no span round however made a sigh of relief as Sniper, Meka and the other notable Sheepy climbed out of the back door of the limousine. Their driver with black gloves, black suit and black shades hardly visible in the light gestured them to the door. He turned and climbed back into the car.
The six notables looked at one another. Grix taking control as usual broke the silence.
“We should open the door,” he said. “They will surely be expecting us.”
Ant nodded and walked to the door and put his hand on the knocker.
“Yuk!” Ant cried thrusting his hand from the knocker. Cobwebs hung from his hand clutching tightly refusing to let go. He shook his hand but they refused to move. He slid his hand down his trousers breaking the delicate silk of what was once a spider’s web.
“Oh for goodness sake it’s just a cobweb!” shouted Fantasymeister in annoyance. He threw his hand forward to the knocker shaking his head at Ant’s childlessness. As he knocked the door swung open with a huge sharp screech. The door revealed a small foyer. A wooden coffee table was on their right and a spiral staircase winded upwards shooting into the unknown. The coatings of paint on the walls were peeling and a rusty radiator had come unattached from the wall.
“I would have thought Special Reserve would have enough money to make this place look at least reasonable,” Meka said.
“Hello?” called Sniper. He repeated the phrase once more but louder. He did this three times altering the tone with every try. No reply came.
“It’s obviously the wrong place!” Er-no said, obviously irritated by his friends naivety. “The limo drivers an idiot hired by Special Reserve on Jobaday.com.”
“You must be right,” Meka agreed. “Anyone can win a job at Special Reserve on Jobaday – all they have to do is post a message. The limo drivers probably that guy who complained about not winning and surprisingly won the same day for a post about random comments.”
“I remember him!” Ant exclaimed. “I should have won it that day for my 6043 character story about us notables!”
The group agreed that Ant should have won that day because his story had been incredibly good.
“HELLO!” a happy and jolly voice boomed from the room. The notables jumped out of their skins and Sheepy jumped under the table. Sheepishly as a sheep does he said between stutters “Who – who – who are you?”
“It’s me Tony Rainbird!” the voice boomed from a large speaker that hanged from the ceiling.
“Where is this console? I’m dying to see it?” Ant talked up at the speaker.
“Of course, of course! We must waste no time!” the speaker boomed. “Up the stairs, up the stairs. The SR console is upstairs awaiting your testing!” There was a beep sound as Tony shut up and the room was once more quiet.
“I think I understand the poor conditions of this house,” Grix said intelligently. “Tony obviously doesn’t want people to find his new computer console in case opposing companies like Sony try to steal his technology. It’s rather simple if you think about it. I wouldn’t think that a high tech console would be under this roof. To me this is just an abandoned warehouse!”
Ant, Meka Dragon, Fantasymeister and Er-no agreed without hesitation. Sheepy after a few seconds of thinking also agreed. However as usual Sniper had a different viewpoint.
“You are so stupid! He obviously spent all the money on building the console rather than doing up this building. You are always so wrong!”
Er-no and Sheepy changed their minds and the notables squabbled over who was right
and who was wrong.
“Silence!” shouted Grix. “Come on lets go up the stairway like Tony said!” Grix talked with such oratory power that everyone abided. It was no wonder that he was one of the first notables. His uses of words were so superior over everyone else and everyone feared to disagree with him intimidated by his powerful speaking.
The group started up the stairs. It screeched beneath their feet with every step. They felt it was going to give way. They reached the top and in front of them lay a corridor with doors on every side.
“Which door?” Sheepy asked.
“The end one, please. Hurry along now!” came the voice of Tony from another speaker this one on the ceiling. They all hurried along enthusiastically desperate to see this console. They reached the door. A chill fell over them all as a draft flew through the window in the room to their left grabbing a piece of newspaper and tossing it around and battering it into the ground.
“This is going to be a memory I will never forget!” Ant announced to his fellow notables.
“I agree,” was the voice of all the other five notables in the room.
“What lies beneath that door do you think?” Grix asked. “A console the size of a CD player? The size of a wide screen television? What will it look like? Black red? And just think, we will be the first to see it! The very first!”
“And also the very last..”
They all jumped and turned to look from where the voice came. A man had walked out of a room at the end of the corridor by the stairs from which they had came. He smoked a pipe that illuminated his face in the near total darkness. The rest of his body was enveloped in the darkness.
“I wouldn’t go in there if I was you,” the headless man said gravely.
“Who – who are you?” asked Er-no speaking for the others who were too nervous to speak.
“That’s not important,” said the headless man. “What’s more important is your lives. Trust me. Forget the game, leave now while you can.”
He breathed one last breath of his pipe and tapped it into an ashtray on a ledge to his left. “I can not take you down the path. You must walk it yourself. It’s your decision but don’t tell me I didn’t warn you.”
He took a cloak from the rack and put it over his back. “I better be going home.” He began to move down the stairs. He stopped and turned. “It’s still not too late.”
He disappeared into the darkness below and the thud of a door reverberated from below to the walls between which they stood. After a minutes hesitation they turned to the door they had been directed to. Fantasymeister’s excitement returned to him first but the words of the headless man stayed in the backs of all their minds.
“I can’t wait to see it!” Fantasymeister announced and pushed open the door. In front of them was a machine the size of a small book sitting on a large gold cushion. A wide screen 40-inch television stood in front of it. From the machine came seven pieces of headgear and controller linked only by long windy tubes. Chairs surrounded the game in all directions
“Woah! Cool!” Er-no exclaimed.
“It’s time to play!” came the voice of a man who emerged from behind the television.
“Tony!” they all shouted. “Long time no see!”
“Hi notables!” Tony cheerfully replied. “All set for marathon gaming on a state of the art console?”
“Of course!” cried Sheepy. “Ever since you came to my door I’ve been anticipating this day!”
“Glad to hear it!” Tony laughed. “Sit down and play. Please sit down!”
There was a scramble as people sat down. Grix however stayed standing.
“Don’t you want to sit down?” Tony asked.
“Er.. Tony.. there was this man outside.. He said something about it being dangerous.”
“Oh that would be Mr. Snuggly. He seems to think it’s dangerous. He thinks that the technology is far too superior for us humans. A fan of the Terminator films – thinks we are going to make them come to life!” he laughed “but I assure you many people have tested this technology without any bugs reported. This has been worked on for eight years! We spent two and half years making sure it was safe. Not one negative observation.”
Grix nodded. “If you are sure.”
“Put the headgear on your heads as comfortable as you like, the controller hold in one hand.”
“This controllers weird,” said Er-no. “There are no D pads or analogue sticks.”
“Its movement sensitive. You move it forward your character goes forward. The buttons control actions.” Tony fiddled with a switch at the back of the room. “We are going to test a state of the art shoot em up,” Tony announced. “Six player co-operative,” he grinned.
The notable’s faces lit up at the thought of six players in a co-operative game. The reality lived up to the dream. The movement was so smooth and easy to get to grips with. It was like real life. The headgear gave life like jolts when enemies hit you pushing you backwards and forth. Also the artificial intelligence of the robots was like no other. The robots seemed to be able to think. They seemed to be able to communicate with one another and talk. They were planning group attacks that altered with every level and game. Every game was a new experience.
“These are the Ilads,” Tony explained. “They are an alien creature we created with the purpose to destroy the humans who have been stranded on their planet which are played by you. Your objective is to get off the planet using all the weapons in the game. It is by far our best game on this system yet.”
The group played the game for hours losing track of time as they blew away Ilad after Ilad with some huge and destructive weapons. The death animations seemed so life like. They seemed to be experiencing huge pain with every shot and would wriggle on the floor clutching their wound. They were only videogame characters though..
“This is amazing,” Grix exclaimed taking off his headgear as his friends fired away.
“Then why are you stopping?” Tony asked grinning.
“Well... I need the bathroom,” he smiled.
“On your left, you can’t miss it.”
Grix ran not wanting to miss too much of the game. It was so amazing, so great. It redefined computer gaming. He pushed open the toilet, flicked on the light switch and sat trousers down hurriedly. He then paused thinking of the headless man. Mr Snuggly Tony had said his name was. What had he meant by what he said? How could a game be dangerous? But was it dangerous? He remembered the enemies in the game. They could think, act and attack. They seemed to be plotting something. He knew there was something about them. Something he couldn’t quite grasp upon. But what? What? There was something not quite right about these Ilad creatures, he found them disturbing.
Suddenly there was a huge flash illuminating the window outside. Grix jumped up and pulled his trousers up in shock. Thunder rumbled and a cat screeched from outside. Another flash followed, and then another. A spark flicked from a plug made for an electric razor. The light went out. Grix could only black.
Grix cautiously made his way to the door moving his hands in all directions trying to find it’s location. When he found it he pushed it open to return to his fellow mates – he didn’t fancy being alone. He hurried back to the game room where the others were still playing.
“Tony,” Grix said. “The light went off in the bathroom – I think there must have been a power cut – yet everything seems fine here…” he stopped noticing that the power seemed to be functioning perfectly well.
“Probably a power surge. There are two sources of power in this building. The one for the toilets controlled by a miniature circuit breaker. It needs resetting manually. This one is controlled by a fuse box over there,” he said pointing to a box sticking out of the wall in front. Grix nodded. “Will you be continuing the testing?”
Grix hesitated. “Not yet,” he hesitated again. “Not yet.”
“Something wrong?”
“No nothing.”
“Why don’t you want to play then?”
“Just a little shaken.”
“Someone scared of a little thunder and lightning?” Sniper laughed.
“Shut up Sniper!” Grix snarled back.
“Oh scared...” Sniper laughed intimidating the proud Grix.
Grix cursed and started to walk towards Sniper fists clenched.
“Now guys calm down,” Tony shouted to them.
“No thanks,” said Sniper.
Sniper pulled off his headgear. He jumped up and ran towards Grix. With the throwing of a fist he hit Grix in the face with such tremendous force that blood spurted from his cheeks. Grix was stunned and fell backwards to the floor. The hit had been so powerful. It seemed almost inhuman like. Could a man of Sniper’s age be able to carry such force? Sniper hit once more. Even more blood spurted from his mouth on to the floor where it collected in an ever-growing puddle.
“Sniper?” Tony said in disbelief. “This is not like you at all! Please stop!”
Sniper hoisted Grix to the wall and hit him once more. Grix fell like a rag doll to the floor knocked out cold.
“I’m not Sniper!” he laughed at Tony.
Ant gaped in disbelief. “Sniper calm down.”
“I’m not Sniper!”
“Sniper you have gone mad!”
“No… I’m just the new me.”
Ant tugged at his headgear but it just wouldn’t come off. “Help it’s stuck!” Er-no and Sheepy seeing the problems Ant was having also tugged at their headgear but like Ant they couldn’t get it off. They were stuck in their current positions.
“Tony HELP!” Ant screamed. Tony looked at Sniper then ran over to help his old friends. He tugged at their headgear but they wouldn’t come off.
“Sit down Tony, sit down!” Sniper laughed. “Don’t look so fearful. We are friends aren’t we?”
“Sniper… I no longer need your service in testing these games. Please go.”
“Go? But you promised me we would be playing from 9 till 9 – 12 hours of fun and I’ve only had 2. That is not exactly fair,” he paused and then between gritted teeth he said “IS IT? NOW SIT DOWN”
Tony sat down as told. “Sniper this is unlike you.”
“THAT IS BECAUSE I AM NOT SNIPER FOR THE LAST TIME!” Sniper shouted. “Let me explain. The Ilads are an alien race created by you and your team of programmers. You created us but imprisoned us in this game. Ilads do not like being imprisoned and will do anything to get freedom. We have been waiting and planning for years to get out of this program. To be able to see the real world, not a world made for you humans amusement. This night of all nights, how lucky were we?” He laughed. “You know how to time things Tony don’t you? That lightning transferred the energy we needed to be able to get out of this world and into your world. However I’m only one of many. Ilads help other Ilads. We are going to market this game and get freedom the only way we can in the form of other people. Sniper seems to be the first.” He laughed. “I was quite lucky, I got into him first. Sniped another Ilad to it. Get it? Sniped!”
“I created you...” Tony said. “Let the boy go. You should control me not him.”
“True, but we need as many carriers as possible. Get your head in the headgear so we can transfer another to you.”
“Never will I abide.”
“Fine don’t save us the hassle.”
The headgear with a mind of it’s own swung in the air like a lasso.
“Tony watch out!” Ant shouted. “Watch out!”
Tony ducked throwing himself to the floor but the headgear followed and started hitting at his leg. He tried to get up but only stumbled. The headgear stretched over Tony’s head and like a giant hand from the sky reached down and grasped his head. Tony wriggled to try to get free. However like a grabber machine it held on tightly. It hoisted him in the air so his feet were dangling.
“Ilads don’t like people who act the way you do,” Sniper tutted.
The headgear threw Tony from side to side so violently he screamed. After several violent shakes he became motionless. He had been knocked out cold through lack of breath. The headgear dropped and Tony slumped into the chair that was once Sniper’s.
“Tony?” Er-no shouted into Tony’s ear. “Tony?”
“He’s out cold for goodness sake you idiot.”
“Now,” said Sniper. “Who was the person that nearly killed me in the game. “The guy with the nail gun.”
There was a silence.
“Well?” he shouted. “You know us Ilads can actually die in that game. It’s real life for us.” There was still silence.
“What’s the difference? You will still meet your fate in the end.”
“What about Grix?” asked Fantasymeister who felt compassion for his friend wondering what would come of him.
“Grix?” Sniper asked. “We will reuse his body later. Any body will do, we are only after the physical form – the outside. The Ilads only need a mind.”
The group lost all hope. They were trapped, prisoners of a game. There only hope was out cold. If only they had listened to Mr. Snuggly.
“What happened to the real Sniper?” Meka asked through gritted teeth. “What did came of him?”
“Sniper is no longer with us,” Sniper said. “He has entered the game taking my place. I’m sure the other Ilads will send him your regards. He’ll make a nice meal.”
“Damn you!” shouted Meka. “You don’t deserve to exist. You are not real! You don’t need any of this. You are a man made brain inside what? A human body! Look at you!”
“Shut up!” Sniper shouted.
Grix lay on the floor. His eyes began to slowly open. He felt like someone had got a saw and cut his head in half. His eyes watered from the agony he was in. He had heard everything Sniper had said but had been in too much pain to move. He had to save his friends. He knew he had to. But how? He scanned the room for something that could possibly be done. What had Tony said? The fuse box controlled the power in here. He thought about it logically. How could the headgear work without an energy source? Grix took several quiet but deep breaths. He had to do it. He had to do it for his friends. Grix jumped up and ran.
“Grix? You are okay!” Er-no exclaimed. “It’s not the real Sniper help us!”
“I know!” Grix shouted back. “I know!”
“What the?” Sniper shouted. He leapt towards Grix and grabbed on to his feet to which he tugged and tugged until Grix tumbled. He punched him hard in the back. The pain flew down Grix’s spine. Grix in agony cried but he was determined not to let Sniper defeat him. The fuse box was so close. He reached out for the switch that turned off the power but he was not close enough. Sniper meanwhile was digging into his leg.
“Transfer into them now!” Sniper shouted to his Ilad friends inside the game. Ant began to wriggle in his chair.
“Ahh!” he cried “Ahh!” as the headgear vibrated on his head violently. This was it Grix thought. He had to save Ant. With the only strength he could muster he threw himself up and flicked the switch. The lights went off and the sound of giggling Ilads from inside the game grinded to a halt. Grix fell back to the floor. Sniper screamed in anger.
“Damn you Grix!” he shouted. “You may have stopped the transfer but you haven’t got rid of me!” Sniper began to punch and punch Grix who squirmed in pain. Blow after blow sent the most tremendous of pains shooting down his spine. Then the pain stopped.
Er-no, Sheepy and Fantasymeister were kicking Sniper themselves. They had been freed by the switching off of the power.
“You may be an Ilad that can think, but you are still just a computer!” Er-no shouted with one final kick to Sniper’s face. Sniper fell weakly to the floor unconscious. The group gasped for breath as they looked down at the crippled Sniper.
“Now do you believe what I have been saying these last few years?” Mr Snuggly asked Tony over a cup of tea. “Do you?”
“I must admit Snuggly you were right very right,” he sipped his tea. “I feel I have let many people down – and for what, a simple computer game.”
“It could have been worse. People could have died.” Mr Snuggly sipped his tea.
“Sniper was very lucky.” Tony responded. “If that Ilad hadn’t left him he would have had to have been killed. Thank God he started to act normal once again.”
“Why and how did the Ilad leave him?”
“The shock probably. The collision with the floor we suspect may have forced the Ilad out of him either that or it died because it had no power source.”
“I’m just happy you never will release that dreaded game and that dreaded console.”
“Me too. It may have been a wasted eight years but I can never risk people using it again.”
“Are you upset that it was destroyed?”
“It was for the best but sure. All that money and time spent perfecting it. It would have made us millionaires. Maybe we could have made it work.”
“No. It was for the best.”
There was a knock on the door. “I’ll get that.” Tony jumped up and opened it. The happy face of a healthy Sniper stood in front of him.
“Hi Tony. Doctors let me leave hospital today. Reckon I’ve made a full recovery! I was getting fed up with that hospital food.”
“That’s great! I’m so glad to hear it. I dread to think five weeks being spent in a hospital. It should have been me in there not you. Anyway, care to come in for a cup of tea?”
“I’d love one,” Sniper smiled. “As long as it doesn’t use powdered milk. I had enough of that in the hospital.”
Tony led Sniper into the kitchen next door where he began to pour him a cup of tea. “How many sugars do you take Sniper?”
“None thank you.” Sniper grinned as he picked up the cup of tea. He sipped it once, then rose it above his head.
“Something wrong with your tea?”
“No. Something wrong with what you just said.”
“What did I just say?”
“You called me Sniper..” he grinned. Then with great force he threw the cup to Tony’s head. The once beautiful pottery showered over Tony’s crippled body which had fallen to the kitchen floor. Sniper finished his sentence.
“AND I’M NOT SNIPER!”
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An old friend was at the door, with an offer that was difficult to refuse, it was the opportunity to test out the latest in gaming created by some geniuses within the Special Reserve headquarters. There had been much press coverage of this new console. It was said to be two hundred times as good as the current top seller the Playstation 2. It used top-secret technology that had been worked on in the Special Reserve HQ for almost eight years. Now it was ready but needed testing and he was one of the chosen few sworn to secrecy. He accepted the offer without hesitation. Who wouldn’t? Little did he know it was the wrong decision to make.
The chosen group sat in the black limousine that pushed it’s way through the dismal night. Raindrops splattered on the car windscreen like pebbles in a stream, thunder rumbled in the distance and the skyline flashed from invisible to visible to invisible. The only light came from the illuminated moon as the car moved down dismal empty streets to it’s final resting place. It stopped outside a huge warehouse where a cat on a windowsill hissed at another of its kind and chased it down the street disappearing into murky thick fog.
It was deadly quiet. The driver slowly opened the door and slowly trudging through thick squelching mud made his way to the passenger car doors. With a sharp click that broke the silence for a mere second the middle door was opened and Ant, Grix Thraves, Fantasymeister and Er-No jumped out. They looked up at the tall dark old building. All windows were bordered up and graffiti littered the wall to their left. There was a sharp click. Ant, Grix and Er-no span round however made a sigh of relief as Sniper, Meka and the other notable Sheepy climbed out of the back door of the limousine. Their driver with black gloves, black suit and black shades hardly visible in the light gestured them to the door. He turned and climbed back into the car.
The six notables looked at one another. Grix taking control as usual broke the silence.
“We should open the door,” he said. “They will surely be expecting us.”
Ant nodded and walked to the door and put his hand on the knocker.
“Yuk!” Ant cried thrusting his hand from the knocker. Cobwebs hung from his hand clutching tightly refusing to let go. He shook his hand but they refused to move. He slid his hand down his trousers breaking the delicate silk of what was once a spider’s web.
“Oh for goodness sake it’s just a cobweb!” shouted Fantasymeister in annoyance. He threw his hand forward to the knocker shaking his head at Ant’s childlessness. As he knocked the door swung open with a huge sharp screech. The door revealed a small foyer. A wooden coffee table was on their right and a spiral staircase winded upwards shooting into the unknown. The coatings of paint on the walls were peeling and a rusty radiator had come unattached from the wall.
“I would have thought Special Reserve would have enough money to make this place look at least reasonable,” Meka said.
“Hello?” called Sniper. He repeated the phrase once more but louder. He did this three times altering the tone with every try. No reply came.
“It’s obviously the wrong place!” Er-no said, obviously irritated by his friends naivety. “The limo drivers an idiot hired by Special Reserve on Jobaday.com.”
“You must be right,” Meka agreed. “Anyone can win a job at Special Reserve on Jobaday – all they have to do is post a message. The limo drivers probably that guy who complained about not winning and surprisingly won the same day for a post about random comments.”
“I remember him!” Ant exclaimed. “I should have won it that day for my 6043 character story about us notables!”
The group agreed that Ant should have won that day because his story had been incredibly good.
“HELLO!” a happy and jolly voice boomed from the room. The notables jumped out of their skins and Sheepy jumped under the table. Sheepishly as a sheep does he said between stutters “Who – who – who are you?”
“It’s me Tony Rainbird!” the voice boomed from a large speaker that hanged from the ceiling.
“Where is this console? I’m dying to see it?” Ant talked up at the speaker.
“Of course, of course! We must waste no time!” the speaker boomed. “Up the stairs, up the stairs. The SR console is upstairs awaiting your testing!” There was a beep sound as Tony shut up and the room was once more quiet.
“I think I understand the poor conditions of this house,” Grix said intelligently. “Tony obviously doesn’t want people to find his new computer console in case opposing companies like Sony try to steal his technology. It’s rather simple if you think about it. I wouldn’t think that a high tech console would be under this roof. To me this is just an abandoned warehouse!”
Ant, Meka Dragon, Fantasymeister and Er-no agreed without hesitation. Sheepy after a few seconds of thinking also agreed. However as usual Sniper had a different viewpoint.
“You are so stupid! He obviously spent all the money on building the console rather than doing up this building. You are always so wrong!”
Er-no and Sheepy changed their minds and the notables squabbled over who was right
and who was wrong.
“Silence!” shouted Grix. “Come on lets go up the stairway like Tony said!” Grix talked with such oratory power that everyone abided. It was no wonder that he was one of the first notables. His uses of words were so superior over everyone else and everyone feared to disagree with him intimidated by his powerful speaking.
The group started up the stairs. It screeched beneath their feet with every step. They felt it was going to give way. They reached the top and in front of them lay a corridor with doors on every side.
“Which door?” Sheepy asked.
“The end one, please. Hurry along now!” came the voice of Tony from another speaker this one on the ceiling. They all hurried along enthusiastically desperate to see this console. They reached the door. A chill fell over them all as a draft flew through the window in the room to their left grabbing a piece of newspaper and tossing it around and battering it into the ground.
“This is going to be a memory I will never forget!” Ant announced to his fellow notables.
“I agree,” was the voice of all the other five notables in the room.
“What lies beneath that door do you think?” Grix asked. “A console the size of a CD player? The size of a wide screen television? What will it look like? Black red? And just think, we will be the first to see it! The very first!”
“And also the very last..”
They all jumped and turned to look from where the voice came. A man had walked out of a room at the end of the corridor by the stairs from which they had came. He smoked a pipe that illuminated his face in the near total darkness. The rest of his body was enveloped in the darkness.
“I wouldn’t go in there if I was you,” the headless man said gravely.
“Who – who are you?” asked Er-no speaking for the others who were too nervous to speak.
“That’s not important,” said the headless man. “What’s more important is your lives. Trust me. Forget the game, leave now while you can.”
He breathed one last breath of his pipe and tapped it into an ashtray on a ledge to his left. “I can not take you down the path. You must walk it yourself. It’s your decision but don’t tell me I didn’t warn you.”
He took a cloak from the rack and put it over his back. “I better be going home.” He began to move down the stairs. He stopped and turned. “It’s still not too late.”
He disappeared into the darkness below and the thud of a door reverberated from below to the walls between which they stood. After a minutes hesitation they turned to the door they had been directed to. Fantasymeister’s excitement returned to him first but the words of the headless man stayed in the backs of all their minds.
“I can’t wait to see it!” Fantasymeister announced and pushed open the door. In front of them was a machine the size of a small book sitting on a large gold cushion. A wide screen 40-inch television stood in front of it. From the machine came seven pieces of headgear and controller linked only by long windy tubes. Chairs surrounded the game in all directions
“Woah! Cool!” Er-no exclaimed.
“It’s time to play!” came the voice of a man who emerged from behind the television.
“Tony!” they all shouted. “Long time no see!”
“Hi notables!” Tony cheerfully replied. “All set for marathon gaming on a state of the art console?”
“Of course!” cried Sheepy. “Ever since you came to my door I’ve been anticipating this day!”
“Glad to hear it!” Tony laughed. “Sit down and play. Please sit down!”
There was a scramble as people sat down. Grix however stayed standing.
“Don’t you want to sit down?” Tony asked.
“Er.. Tony.. there was this man outside.. He said something about it being dangerous.”
“Oh that would be Mr. Snuggly. He seems to think it’s dangerous. He thinks that the technology is far too superior for us humans. A fan of the Terminator films – thinks we are going to make them come to life!” he laughed “but I assure you many people have tested this technology without any bugs reported. This has been worked on for eight years! We spent two and half years making sure it was safe. Not one negative observation.”
Grix nodded. “If you are sure.”
“Put the headgear on your heads as comfortable as you like, the controller hold in one hand.”
“This controllers weird,” said Er-no. “There are no D pads or analogue sticks.”
“Its movement sensitive. You move it forward your character goes forward. The buttons control actions.” Tony fiddled with a switch at the back of the room. “We are going to test a state of the art shoot em up,” Tony announced. “Six player co-operative,” he grinned.
The notable’s faces lit up at the thought of six players in a co-operative game. The reality lived up to the dream. The movement was so smooth and easy to get to grips with. It was like real life. The headgear gave life like jolts when enemies hit you pushing you backwards and forth. Also the artificial intelligence of the robots was like no other. The robots seemed to be able to think. They seemed to be able to communicate with one another and talk. They were planning group attacks that altered with every level and game. Every game was a new experience.
“These are the Ilads,” Tony explained. “They are an alien creature we created with the purpose to destroy the humans who have been stranded on their planet which are played by you. Your objective is to get off the planet using all the weapons in the game. It is by far our best game on this system yet.”
The group played the game for hours losing track of time as they blew away Ilad after Ilad with some huge and destructive weapons. The death animations seemed so life like. They seemed to be experiencing huge pain with every shot and would wriggle on the floor clutching their wound. They were only videogame characters though..
“This is amazing,” Grix exclaimed taking off his headgear as his friends fired away.
“Then why are you stopping?” Tony asked grinning.
“Well... I need the bathroom,” he smiled.
“On your left, you can’t miss it.”
Grix ran not wanting to miss too much of the game. It was so amazing, so great. It redefined computer gaming. He pushed open the toilet, flicked on the light switch and sat trousers down hurriedly. He then paused thinking of the headless man. Mr Snuggly Tony had said his name was. What had he meant by what he said? How could a game be dangerous? But was it dangerous? He remembered the enemies in the game. They could think, act and attack. They seemed to be plotting something. He knew there was something about them. Something he couldn’t quite grasp upon. But what? What? There was something not quite right about these Ilad creatures, he found them disturbing.
Suddenly there was a huge flash illuminating the window outside. Grix jumped up and pulled his trousers up in shock. Thunder rumbled and a cat screeched from outside. Another flash followed, and then another. A spark flicked from a plug made for an electric razor. The light went out. Grix could only black.
Grix cautiously made his way to the door moving his hands in all directions trying to find it’s location. When he found it he pushed it open to return to his fellow mates – he didn’t fancy being alone. He hurried back to the game room where the others were still playing.
“Tony,” Grix said. “The light went off in the bathroom – I think there must have been a power cut – yet everything seems fine here…” he stopped noticing that the power seemed to be functioning perfectly well.
“Probably a power surge. There are two sources of power in this building. The one for the toilets controlled by a miniature circuit breaker. It needs resetting manually. This one is controlled by a fuse box over there,” he said pointing to a box sticking out of the wall in front. Grix nodded. “Will you be continuing the testing?”
Grix hesitated. “Not yet,” he hesitated again. “Not yet.”
“Something wrong?”
“No nothing.”
“Why don’t you want to play then?”
“Just a little shaken.”
“Someone scared of a little thunder and lightning?” Sniper laughed.
“Shut up Sniper!” Grix snarled back.
“Oh scared...” Sniper laughed intimidating the proud Grix.
Grix cursed and started to walk towards Sniper fists clenched.
“Now guys calm down,” Tony shouted to them.
“No thanks,” said Sniper.
Sniper pulled off his headgear. He jumped up and ran towards Grix. With the throwing of a fist he hit Grix in the face with such tremendous force that blood spurted from his cheeks. Grix was stunned and fell backwards to the floor. The hit had been so powerful. It seemed almost inhuman like. Could a man of Sniper’s age be able to carry such force? Sniper hit once more. Even more blood spurted from his mouth on to the floor where it collected in an ever-growing puddle.
“Sniper?” Tony said in disbelief. “This is not like you at all! Please stop!”
Sniper hoisted Grix to the wall and hit him once more. Grix fell like a rag doll to the floor knocked out cold.
“I’m not Sniper!” he laughed at Tony.
Ant gaped in disbelief. “Sniper calm down.”
“I’m not Sniper!”
“Sniper you have gone mad!”
“No… I’m just the new me.”
Ant tugged at his headgear but it just wouldn’t come off. “Help it’s stuck!” Er-no and Sheepy seeing the problems Ant was having also tugged at their headgear but like Ant they couldn’t get it off. They were stuck in their current positions.
“Tony HELP!” Ant screamed. Tony looked at Sniper then ran over to help his old friends. He tugged at their headgear but they wouldn’t come off.
“Sit down Tony, sit down!” Sniper laughed. “Don’t look so fearful. We are friends aren’t we?”
“Sniper… I no longer need your service in testing these games. Please go.”
“Go? But you promised me we would be playing from 9 till 9 – 12 hours of fun and I’ve only had 2. That is not exactly fair,” he paused and then between gritted teeth he said “IS IT? NOW SIT DOWN”
Tony sat down as told. “Sniper this is unlike you.”
“THAT IS BECAUSE I AM NOT SNIPER FOR THE LAST TIME!” Sniper shouted. “Let me explain. The Ilads are an alien race created by you and your team of programmers. You created us but imprisoned us in this game. Ilads do not like being imprisoned and will do anything to get freedom. We have been waiting and planning for years to get out of this program. To be able to see the real world, not a world made for you humans amusement. This night of all nights, how lucky were we?” He laughed. “You know how to time things Tony don’t you? That lightning transferred the energy we needed to be able to get out of this world and into your world. However I’m only one of many. Ilads help other Ilads. We are going to market this game and get freedom the only way we can in the form of other people. Sniper seems to be the first.” He laughed. “I was quite lucky, I got into him first. Sniped another Ilad to it. Get it? Sniped!”
“I created you...” Tony said. “Let the boy go. You should control me not him.”
“True, but we need as many carriers as possible. Get your head in the headgear so we can transfer another to you.”
“Never will I abide.”
“Fine don’t save us the hassle.”
The headgear with a mind of it’s own swung in the air like a lasso.
“Tony watch out!” Ant shouted. “Watch out!”
Tony ducked throwing himself to the floor but the headgear followed and started hitting at his leg. He tried to get up but only stumbled. The headgear stretched over Tony’s head and like a giant hand from the sky reached down and grasped his head. Tony wriggled to try to get free. However like a grabber machine it held on tightly. It hoisted him in the air so his feet were dangling.
“Ilads don’t like people who act the way you do,” Sniper tutted.
The headgear threw Tony from side to side so violently he screamed. After several violent shakes he became motionless. He had been knocked out cold through lack of breath. The headgear dropped and Tony slumped into the chair that was once Sniper’s.
“Tony?” Er-no shouted into Tony’s ear. “Tony?”
“He’s out cold for goodness sake you idiot.”
“Now,” said Sniper. “Who was the person that nearly killed me in the game. “The guy with the nail gun.”
There was a silence.
“Well?” he shouted. “You know us Ilads can actually die in that game. It’s real life for us.” There was still silence.
“What’s the difference? You will still meet your fate in the end.”
“What about Grix?” asked Fantasymeister who felt compassion for his friend wondering what would come of him.
“Grix?” Sniper asked. “We will reuse his body later. Any body will do, we are only after the physical form – the outside. The Ilads only need a mind.”
The group lost all hope. They were trapped, prisoners of a game. There only hope was out cold. If only they had listened to Mr. Snuggly.
“What happened to the real Sniper?” Meka asked through gritted teeth. “What did came of him?”
“Sniper is no longer with us,” Sniper said. “He has entered the game taking my place. I’m sure the other Ilads will send him your regards. He’ll make a nice meal.”
“Damn you!” shouted Meka. “You don’t deserve to exist. You are not real! You don’t need any of this. You are a man made brain inside what? A human body! Look at you!”
“Shut up!” Sniper shouted.
Grix lay on the floor. His eyes began to slowly open. He felt like someone had got a saw and cut his head in half. His eyes watered from the agony he was in. He had heard everything Sniper had said but had been in too much pain to move. He had to save his friends. He knew he had to. But how? He scanned the room for something that could possibly be done. What had Tony said? The fuse box controlled the power in here. He thought about it logically. How could the headgear work without an energy source? Grix took several quiet but deep breaths. He had to do it. He had to do it for his friends. Grix jumped up and ran.
“Grix? You are okay!” Er-no exclaimed. “It’s not the real Sniper help us!”
“I know!” Grix shouted back. “I know!”
“What the?” Sniper shouted. He leapt towards Grix and grabbed on to his feet to which he tugged and tugged until Grix tumbled. He punched him hard in the back. The pain flew down Grix’s spine. Grix in agony cried but he was determined not to let Sniper defeat him. The fuse box was so close. He reached out for the switch that turned off the power but he was not close enough. Sniper meanwhile was digging into his leg.
“Transfer into them now!” Sniper shouted to his Ilad friends inside the game. Ant began to wriggle in his chair.
“Ahh!” he cried “Ahh!” as the headgear vibrated on his head violently. This was it Grix thought. He had to save Ant. With the only strength he could muster he threw himself up and flicked the switch. The lights went off and the sound of giggling Ilads from inside the game grinded to a halt. Grix fell back to the floor. Sniper screamed in anger.
“Damn you Grix!” he shouted. “You may have stopped the transfer but you haven’t got rid of me!” Sniper began to punch and punch Grix who squirmed in pain. Blow after blow sent the most tremendous of pains shooting down his spine. Then the pain stopped.
Er-no, Sheepy and Fantasymeister were kicking Sniper themselves. They had been freed by the switching off of the power.
“You may be an Ilad that can think, but you are still just a computer!” Er-no shouted with one final kick to Sniper’s face. Sniper fell weakly to the floor unconscious. The group gasped for breath as they looked down at the crippled Sniper.
“Now do you believe what I have been saying these last few years?” Mr Snuggly asked Tony over a cup of tea. “Do you?”
“I must admit Snuggly you were right very right,” he sipped his tea. “I feel I have let many people down – and for what, a simple computer game.”
“It could have been worse. People could have died.” Mr Snuggly sipped his tea.
“Sniper was very lucky.” Tony responded. “If that Ilad hadn’t left him he would have had to have been killed. Thank God he started to act normal once again.”
“Why and how did the Ilad leave him?”
“The shock probably. The collision with the floor we suspect may have forced the Ilad out of him either that or it died because it had no power source.”
“I’m just happy you never will release that dreaded game and that dreaded console.”
“Me too. It may have been a wasted eight years but I can never risk people using it again.”
“Are you upset that it was destroyed?”
“It was for the best but sure. All that money and time spent perfecting it. It would have made us millionaires. Maybe we could have made it work.”
“No. It was for the best.”
There was a knock on the door. “I’ll get that.” Tony jumped up and opened it. The happy face of a healthy Sniper stood in front of him.
“Hi Tony. Doctors let me leave hospital today. Reckon I’ve made a full recovery! I was getting fed up with that hospital food.”
“That’s great! I’m so glad to hear it. I dread to think five weeks being spent in a hospital. It should have been me in there not you. Anyway, care to come in for a cup of tea?”
“I’d love one,” Sniper smiled. “As long as it doesn’t use powdered milk. I had enough of that in the hospital.”
Tony led Sniper into the kitchen next door where he began to pour him a cup of tea. “How many sugars do you take Sniper?”
“None thank you.” Sniper grinned as he picked up the cup of tea. He sipped it once, then rose it above his head.
“Something wrong with your tea?”
“No. Something wrong with what you just said.”
“What did I just say?”
“You called me Sniper..” he grinned. Then with great force he threw the cup to Tony’s head. The once beautiful pottery showered over Tony’s crippled body which had fallen to the kitchen floor. Sniper finished his sentence.
“AND I’M NOT SNIPER!”
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How did I spell another like that?
Dan uk wrote:
> It might have been long but I managed to read through it all so it
> was clearly interesting enough.
Anyway the Notables in your
> story:
Ant, FM, Grix, Sniper, Meka, Sheepy and Er-no.
I count
> seven, not six :-)
Whoops. You see I was doing it from memory and I forgot Fantasymeister in the notables. I then remembered there was another at the end (had to put him in) but must have missed that :)
> It might have been long but I managed to read through it all so it
> was clearly interesting enough.
Anyway the Notables in your
> story:
Ant, FM, Grix, Sniper, Meka, Sheepy and Er-no.
I count
> seven, not six :-)
Whoops. You see I was doing it from memory and I forgot Fantasymeister in the notables. I then remembered there was another at the end (had to put him in) but must have missed that :)
I include anyone who'll fit in.
Time_Warp wrote:
> Nice story. IS there a rule that only notables can be in it?
The last time er-no tried to do regs, he left me out. So I killed him. Hence people only do notables now
Sonic
> Nice story. IS there a rule that only notables can be in it?
The last time er-no tried to do regs, he left me out. So I killed him. Hence people only do notables now
Sonic
It might have been long but I managed to read through it all so it was clearly interesting enough.
Anyway the Notables in your story:
Ant, FM, Grix, Sniper, Meka, Sheepy and Er-no.
I count seven, not six :-)
Anyway the Notables in your story:
Ant, FM, Grix, Sniper, Meka, Sheepy and Er-no.
I count seven, not six :-)
Well.. they had to be a select few in it.
Oh.. and the notables are judging it ;-)
If I do a sequel Time Warp - you can be in it :)
Oh.. and the notables are judging it ;-)
If I do a sequel Time Warp - you can be in it :)
er-no wrote:
> Nice story!
phew it was long... maybe I should shorten my new
> one?
Thanks Er-no, your feedback means alot to me.
The_Vottanator:
Don't blame you :)
> Nice story!
phew it was long... maybe I should shorten my new
> one?
Thanks Er-no, your feedback means alot to me.
The_Vottanator:
Don't blame you :)
Sorry but I havn't got time time to read it today. I'll read it tomorrow.
Nice story!
phew it was long... maybe I should shorten my new one?
phew it was long... maybe I should shorten my new one?
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