Space: 1,002,099 AD

Sometimes it’s nice to have a little ‘blog exclusive’, rather than have to click away to another site. So here’s some sci-fi I wrote. Well, sort of sci-fi, anyway.

Commander Kevin ‘Mad Dog’ McManus hurtled through the dark, narrow corridors of the SS Armada, over a million years into deep space. His breathing was cramped and perspiration cascaded from his forehead, obscuring his vision. His laser gun screamed as it vanquished alien after alien, bodies piling up in front of him. He bounded the heap of extraterrestrial corpses, pitched around a corner and ran headlong into disaster. The Alien Queen towered over him, hunger in its eyes, mandibles ready to attack. He realised now it had all been a trap, designed to deliver him straight to her. The Commander looked up fearfully as the Queen’s mouth slid open, putrid saliva running down its jaws. It raised its claws to attack. This was it. It was all over. He crossed himself and waited for the end.

There was a click as Kevin removed his virtual reality helmet. He didn’t have to ask the crowd, who’d been watching the Commander’s adventures on a monitor, what they thought. They turned, almost as one, and dashed to the till, each grabbing their own VR headset on the way. This was just too easy, thought Kevin. An assistant came along and placed a ‘sold out’ sign where the headsets used to be. His boss approached him from behind and laid a hand on his shoulder. ‘Well done, Kevin,’ he said, beaming. ‘You’ll be getting a pay rise for this.’

There was a click as Kevin removed his real virtual reality helmet. He picked up his copy of Super Virtual Reality Salesman Simulator, studied the box for a few seconds, then threw it aside. He wasn’t sure how the man in the shop had convinced him to pay fifty pounds for this game. It was garbage.