Alternative Asylum
At "Virtual Life Business", a very tired Shad Leroy was sitting in front of his desk, anxiously waiting for his, as usual, late partner to arrive. The cup of coffee in his right hand was empty, and once again he had drunk more than his stomach would have accepted if it had been the decision taking part of his body. Unfortunately it wasn't, and Shad felt that another stomach surgery drew a step closer. The pain rapidly grew stronger, and before the disaster showed its face, Shad desperately ran towards a nearby lying toilet, opened the door, quickly closed it again and undressed before he finally sat himself down. The rush was due, and now paradise was able to open its gates of pleasure.
"You all saw it yesterday, right?" Phillip Destrega closed the front door behind him while waiting for an answer from his companions. "Of course we did" and "who didn't?" were the first two replies he got. Not surprised by the two answers he smiled and c ontinued on the topic. "Oh man, I can't stand waiting for tonight... Tonight's show will be nothing but great! You all saw the preview, right?" The entire room got silent and all the people in it probably thought about the same thing. "Yeah, it'll be spl endid..." disrupted the calmness by one of the nine employees, just some millisecond before they all heard a big flush from the toilet, and saw a familiar face they hadn't seen for a while.
"The same boring topic, huh? Another one of your "Brave enough to be stupid?" fan forums?" Shad had never really understood his companions, and they had never really understood him. "So what's happening now on that pathetic show?" he asked. Everyone exce pt Phillip ignored his rudeness, so everything seemed to be normal. "You don't know, right? Yesterday's show broke the record again! Over two billion people watched it, and it sure was amazing!" Shad shook his head in disappointment. "What has happened t o the world today!? It's totally absurd! Are the people even thinking at all? Doesn't someone care about the consequences?" The chitchat got overheard by a couple of other VLB employed guys, and got interfered directly by a small guy named Seth. "You're just boring, have fun while you can, life has no meaning anyway, so why care about some ridiculous consequences? "Brave enough to get rich?" is the greatest show ever, and I think the multi-billion audience proves that". Shad tried to calm down a bit whi le turning his face toward his other companion. "I see your point, of course. But why is everything the way it is nowadays? Because of our ancestor's thoughts and valuations, because they thought exactly the way you do. Let's have fun and just enjoy life , that "it is so boring if we have to care about all the consequences and outcomes of everything"..." It had never happened before, but surprisingly it seemed like everyone understood Shad's words, and thought about what he said. Seth broke the silence, "Yeah, well, how do you know that everything would be better? Maybe all the shit in this world would just have been replaced with other shit. And who knows if your grandfather had stayed alive, without killing himself that is, if he had had to live such a boring life as you, full of disgusting responsibilities just to live in duty of the upcoming generations?" Shad was just about to reply when Phillip interrupted. "Guys, we all know that this discussion will never end, right? Let's get out of here and d o some work, OK Shad?"
"So what's on the schedule today?" Shad was sitting comfortably in the front seat of the car while Phillip was busy with the driving. "Well, erhm... We are actually heading for the government building... Dunno what they're up to... Haven't been there bef ore, nor have you, right?" Shad tried to shake his head obviously enough to don't have to open his mouth again, but the busy driver didn't see a thing. "No" he added, "never", and decided to keep on talking now that he already had started. "By the way, d on't you ever think our job is quite, well, sick?" Phillip turned his face towards Shad's, "Ehrm, why is it sick? "Well, we help people enjoy their life by creating alternative lives. I mean, instead of facing the reality with all its problems, they run away to a universe that we've created to fit them. With everything they want and dream of, without any problems at all except the fact that they have to get back to the ordinary world sooner or later. I definitely think it's sick..." The interested liste ner thought for a while before replying. "Yeah well... It's better than living in this shitty world, right? And we should be grateful because it gives us both something to work with and money to live with". Shad felt that he had to agree, at least a bit. "Of course, but I think I would change the past if I could, remove the guys at "Universe Creators" from the face of the earth so that this type of "entertainment" never would have been born. Just think about the future Virtual Universes! The one and onl y thing that make our minds know that they're attending alternative worlds nowadays, is that they smell a bit different. How will you know where you are when they've fixed that tiny little smell-problem? How will you be able to tell if your friends are f or real? Why have non-perfect friends, wives or husbands, when you can create perfect Virtual beings instead? How can you even tell if you're alive or not?" Phillip thought for a while. "Maybe right in some points... but that'll take time to fix anyway, and I bet they'll make it work smoothly in some way" his companion whispered quietly to himself. The only thing that made noise was the engine of the car. The two members of the new generation of Universe Creators were both silent and thinking, and it re mained that way for at least five minutes.
"Oh damnit, I can't watch the show tonight, got one of these parents-meets-teachers horseshit at Rick's school at the exact time of the show". Shad smiled, "how good for you". For some reason, Phillip didn't look quite as happy. "Pleeeease do me a favour ?" Phillip continued, totally denying the fact that Shad knew exactly what the he was about to ask. "Can you please watch the show and then tell me what happened? Come on, you owe me a couple, right? Shad thought for a while. "Naah... Aeris is visiting m e you know, I guess her plane will arrive around the time of the show. Haven't seen the woman I love more than anything for almost a month, and you what happens when those moments occur". Phillip mumbled something inaudible which gave the impression that he was very disappointed. "Yeah yeah, I'll watch it..." Shad groaned and the place got quiet once again.
"Those government asses are so spoiled", Phillip suddenly claimed, acting like he didn't like the constantly upcoming silences. "Here I sit, driving like some twentieth century maniac while all "the more important" asses like cops and government people h ave AutoPilots in their fancy Anti-Gravity Cars, or whatever they're called again". His smiling partner directly corrected him, "you mean "spinners", taken from the old sci-fi movie Blade Runner you know". Phillip smiled back, "yeah, I just tend to forge t that. Great movie though". Shad was just about to agree when his friend stopped the car and both of them walked out of it and into the sophisticated government building.
The sight of the huge construction was enormously impressive. "My God!" Phillip grasped, "this place looks like it is hundred years into the future! Right?" Shad totally agreed, "yeah, must've been terribly expensive to build as well... Phillip nodded. " I guess this is where all our tax payment and shit goes... Yeah, let's head to the reception now", he concluded with an agreeing partner by his side.
"I'll tell him that you're here, please have a seat". After some minutes waiting a well-dressed man showed up and introduced himself. Polite as they were, both Shad and Phillip did they same thing and the man then showed them into an elevator and pushed one of the many buttons. "Floor 91, impressive", Phillip said with an ass-licking tone of his voice. Shad felt that the upcoming seconds would get horrifying, so he quietly turned his head to look to be out of the discussion and out of this world, busy w ith other more important things. "How could you afford such an extraordinary building? The man that introduced himself as Mr. Trevor smiled, looking exactly as those superior, or "more important", as Phillip described it, creatures used to look. "It was quite expensive, yes..." Phillip laughed while Shad tried to look even busier with the other things, and like he hadn't heard a single word of their conversation. "Oh man, then you've got to have a biiiig wage, right!?" the embarrassing man continued. "I t's OK, I'll stay alive with it". Once again the amused man laughed, fortunately for the last time this moment. The elevator stopped, opened its mouth and the three men walked out, Shad faster then the others.
If the last impression of the surroundings were impressive, this one was absolutely gorgeous. The room they now attended was no doubt the most futuristic looking room Shad and Phillip had ever seen, counting both reality and virtual reality. The two mute companions sat down in a comfortable sofa and Mr. Trevor in an armchair as he directly started to speak. "Both of you must be wondering why you're here, and that is the first thing I'll tell you. We need you!"
Surprised the two needed fellows looked at each other, very curious about what he meant. When both of them was about to ask why, he continued. "We are having some problems with the worlds most popular TV show, "Brave enough to get rich?" as you have prob ably seen a couple of times? Shad nodded gently in disturbance and Phillip nodded at least three times while smiling widely. "Good," replied Mr. Trevor, "so what do you think of it?"
Shad directly started to tell him how extremely disgusting he thought the show was, how pathetic and stupid the makers of it was, and everything else he hated about it. When he finally was finished Phillip said what he thought about it, the precise oppos ite of what Shad just had said. Mr. Trevor looked perfectly satisfied with the two different answers. "Splendid..." he said quietly while taking out some papers from his pocket. "Everything I from now on will tell you is confidential, and it has to be ke pt that way, OK?" The curious VLB-people nodded in rhythm. "Good" Mr. Trevor continued with a smile on his face, "remember that single thing and you will have a pleasant adventure ahead of you, if not, well..." Shad grinned when he thought about how sill y Mr. Trevor was acting, how immature. Phillip, on the other hand, thought he was as cool as some big moviehero and a huge amount of ass-licking comments bubbled up into his mind. "You both seem to have understood" came out from Mr. Trevor's mouth, now i n an even more self-confident tone of his voice. "As you both know, the government is the producers of the "Brave enough to get rich?" show. We make a lot more money on that show in one week, than the taxes make in one entire year, and I am counting the whole country's income. You could even triple the amount, and it won't be as big..." The reaction from the small audience was the usual. Phillip looked enthusiastic and added some "yeah" "aha..." and "wow!" every now and then, while Shad was getting furi ous and tried to calm himself down as good as he possibly could. "So what's the problem you think. This is our problem... look carefully..." Mr. Trevor changed papers and went on with his story as he delivered the two men a piece of paper covering a big logotype. "Cyberlife Calamity, ever heard of them?" Phillip directly shook his head, "nah, never... "I think I recognize the logo, but can't remember why really...", Shad said slowly while thinking deep. "Ah, now I got it, they're the former "Universe cr eators", the founders of the "Virtual Universe" notion and the first UV, am I right? The logo looks quite the same as the legendary UC's did..." Mr. Trevor nodded. "Yeah...", Shad continued, "I used to spend all days in the Blade Runner universe that the y made, and also visited the Star Wars universe a couple of times. Those guys are skilled for sure! Mr. Trevor didn't look as happy as Shad thought he might. "That's unfortunately the problem", he replied. "Without our knowledge they have been building a n exact copy of our profitable show! If that Virtual Universe hits the market, our country's economy will be equal to that of Russia! We will have to eat our own shit to stay alive!!" Mr. Trevor reminded Shad of his little brother when his principal at s chool threatened him. You could easily see in his eyes how extremely terrified he really was.
"But ehrm, can't you just ban that VU?" Phillip's question made Mr. Trevor look even more scared. "What difference does it make? They can release it in the rest of the world, we have no control over that! And if we ban it here, Americans will just think it is cool and get it anyway. Maybe we'll keep 5% of the upcoming buyers to get it, at most!" The place got silent for a short while. "However, we have a plan to saaave the world!" Mr. Trevor tried to make something funny out of it as he burst out in lau ghter. None of his listeners did the same, so Mr. Trevor once again got serious and continued. "Well, heh... We have found a weak point of Cyber Calamity. They're at the moment searching for a couple of talented and skilled VU creators, and your boss tol d me that you two are very suitable for that mission, as I hope you now have a clue of where I'm getting?" The two men made their ordinary gesture of understanding, and Mr. Trevor was able to get on with the briefing. "OK gentlemen, here is our plan..."
"Shut up now everyone!!" "Virtual Life Business" was at the moment "Real Life Idling". The entire building was as silent as a dead mouse and everyone was anticipating something extraordinary soon to happen. Sixteen different eyes were attached to the win dow of the TV, and no one had anything else than "Brave enough to get rich?" on their minds. After more than ten minutes of commercials, the show finally seemed to start and Americas most famous TV-face appeared on the screen.
"Welcome everyone to another glorious show of "Brave enough to, geeet, riiiiiiiiich!" The big and extremely enthusiastic audience started to clap their hands, scream "I love you Kenny!" and throw money onto the scene like total maniacs. "Thank you, thank you! Once again, ladies and gentlemen, we will help two lovely persons to get rid of their biggest problem of their lives, and make them riiich as well!"
Two eyes left the screen and ended up looking at the floor. "Is Kenny Branagh today's God?" the owner of the eyes suddenly asked. The reply arrived directly, "oh shut your mouth Shad, be quiet and enjoy the show. Your whining can wait until it's over for tonight, ok?" Shad took a deep breath and once again aimed his eyes towards the screen to watch the show he so desperately hated.
"On tonight's show. Meet Frank Bruno and his mother, the 96 year old Elizabeth, mother of four sons". A quite fat middle-aged man showed himself on the stage. Kenny Branagh shook his hand and shouted "Fraaaank Brunooo!", as the crowd screamed like it was their best moment of their lives. "Nice to have you here, Frank", Kenny smiled widely towards the camera as he continued. "Now tell me what we're going to see!" "OK, Kenny!"
"This is the most pathetic thing I've ever seen". Shad knew that he would be ignored by all of the other people in the room, but he felt that he had to say that to be able to proceed watching the show. "Do they feed that screaming audience with LSD befor e they start the misery?" Some evil glances were all he got as a reply, and then Frank Bruno stole his attention. "OK everyone, let's view the tape! Hope you were braaaaave enough to get riiich now, Frank!"
Shad was just about to call Phillip when his cell-phone started making terrible noises. He pushed the answer button and got rid of the annoying beeps, but unfortunately they were followed by another kind of annoying sound. "What happened on the show with that guy and his mother!? Cause you saw it, right!? Tell me, I can't wait!! Let your intellect combined with your excellent memory speak, and make it as detailed as possible! And when you're finished, tell me about you and Aeris, everything went fine I hope, right?" The less enthusiastic of the two took a deep breath to get ready for the upcoming minutes as a storyteller. "Well, it started with all that usual shit, at least I've seen that shit all the four times I've watched that disgusting show. Anywa y, it started for real when a big hospital was shown on the screen and a guy that looked like Frank walked towards the main entrance of the hospital and entered". Shad decided to make his sentences a bit shorter to be able to breathe. "The camera angle c hanged as he continued into an elevator. Another change of camera angle was made as he entered the elevator and lifted up towards heaven. Yet another one as he walked out the elevator and towards one of the many rooms. Then you heard a surprised voice sa y "Fraank! My boy..." and the camera gave you the answer on who it was. Correct, his 96-year-old mother. She seemed to be one of those dear old mothers that lived just for those tiny moments when they meet their beloved children. You should see how extre mely happy she was to see her son! However, she also looked awfully sick, it almost looked like she just had a couple of hours left to live. It was quite sad I must say..." Phillip had calmed down a bit, "yeah... that's what makes the show so brilliant, they makers sure know how to make their viewers feel empathy towards the main characters". "Anyway", Shad disrupted as he didn't feel like starting a discussion at the time being, "the feeling of happiness was drastically about to be removed. After some minutes of the usual talk, "how are you?", "what did you do today?", etceteras, Frank was about to get a bit more serious. Everything was calm, the two people in the room seemed happy and it was one of those magic moments you know". The listener that had been quiet for a while agreed as the storyteller tried to remember everything he was about to tell exactly they way it happened, just to make the rest of the story as good as possible. He took a deep breath and continued. ""Mum, I have something I must tell you", Frank said in a very anxious sounding voice, full of empathy towards his mother. "It may hurt you, but I feel that I have to tell you this before you leave me for a better world. I can't live with the knowledge that the last thing I said to yo u, just was a big lie". The old lady looked very confused, to say the least. She sat up in the bed, looked deeply into her sons eyes and affectionately asked "what is it my dear son?" "I don't love you mum, actually, I don't even like you... The poor old woman looked even more confused now than before. It looked like she was going to ask something like "wh-wha-w-what are you saying Frank? but she didn't, she just burst into tears. "The only reason I've been this nice to you the past years, well, it's be cause of your money. Everything was just a theatre. I wanted to inherit all of your money, and not share it with any of my brothers. But as you now understand, I hate you as much as the rest of your sons do, but I badly wanted your money, they didn't"". "Oh man, how cool" Phillip whispered, "so what happened next?" Shad felt really good about that fact that he was about to badly disappoint his friend. "I couldn't stand watching it anymore, that show is too sick and it makes me furious. Instead of watchi ng, I called the hospital and asked how the mother was doing, and guess what, she died the next day. And from what I heard, Frank "was brave enough to get rich" and got some millions from the demon Kenny". Another "cool!" came out from Phillips mouth. "V ery typical of you to not see the whole show, but I kind of expected that. Do you know what part two of the show was about?" Shad groaned irritated, "unfortunately, yes... Aeris haven't arrived yet, will land somewhere around eleven-thirty, and then take a cab to my place, so I had some spare time, a bummer I spent it on that shitty show though. Anyway, it was about a family that got split when the father told his wife, that he had been married to for more than twenty years, that he was in love with the ir oldest daughter. The woman fainted, and you can imagine the rest by yourself. The most irritating part was though when "the couple" tried to get all the viewers empathy by saying things like "we really love each other, but in this country, we can't ge t married because of the law, but in our hearts we are married". The audience of the show started to cry! That bollocks touched them! However, I checked out what happened to the wife as well, and yes, another death. This time by a more "obvious" kind of suicide". Shad got the same reflections from his friend as earlier, but this time he couldn't keep all the hatred for himself. He directly began nagging the usual "Anti brave enough to get rich?" propaganda as all the VLB employees called it.
It had been an eventful day. The night had fallen and Shad was sitting alone in his small apartment with a sandwich in his hand. His eyes gazed trough his favourite part of his home, his one and only window. The outside world looked dead. There were prac tically no people visible at all and definitely no air traffic, which reminded him that the time had to be past eleven. He actually felt very lonely, a feeling he really wasn't used to. But fortunately he didn't have to stay in that condition for very lo ng, he awaited the best loneliness killer he knew, and within some minutes she arrived.
"I profoundly love you, my Aeris". Shad changed posture in bed to get a better view of the adorable beauty lying next to him. She opened her perfect, green eyes, smiled and looked deeply into her loved ones eyes. "I profoundly love you too, my Shad Leroy ". Mr. Leroy smiled and moved his hand towards the most beautiful face he'd ever seen. He drew his fingers trough her hair, kissed her passionately and showed her how badly he had been missing her for the last month.
The morning drew closer. Both Shad and Aeris were awake, both talking about their last lonely month. The male told his beloved female about his new undercover job, yesterdays "Brave enough to get rich?" and then all the other important things that had ha ppened before yesterday. The female told her beloved male how much she also hated the show and about all her adventures which were quite a lot compared to Shad's. When they both felt finished for the day, they instantly fell asleep in each other's arms, feeling happier than ever.
Late as always, Phillip came rushing into the VLB office he was supposed to work in. He excused himself and then tried to find Shad, but he was nowhere to be seen. In routine he sat down and waited for a while as he thought he knew where his companion ha d disappeared. The other people in the room were discussing yesterdays show, and Phillip went along with the discussion. After some minutes a flush from the toilet was heard and Phillip got hard evidence on that his theory was correct. The door of the to ilet opened, and out came Shad. "You should do something about your stomach buddy" Phillip advised. Shad smiled, grabbed his coat and left the building with his partner following.
"I'm pretty nervous, you're too, right?" "Nah, not really". Phillip took his eyes off the road and aimed them at his friend. "Why not? This is pretty big you know, if we fail convince them that we're skilled and talented our mission is over". "Oh shitty no, don't tell me you're gonna lick their asses even more than you use too!?" Shad thought, but was too polite and friendly to say it that way. "Just look and feel confident about yourself, and don't speak too much". Phillip reacted as he would take that advice, and Shad could quit worrying a bit.
Everything went better than they could hope. Shad was now one of the main programmers, Phillip one of the leading designers. Not only did they impress the Cyber Calamity crew, they also got a new salary almost four times bigger than their last one. "The start of the mission couldn't be better, right!" Phillip pointed out with a big smile on his face as they sat down in the car to leave. "Right, even though I must say it all seems a bit fishy, don't know why really, but, well…" Phillip got a reason to ke ep his smile, "so typical of you! Fishy in what way?" Shad smiled back without knowing it. "I can't tell, wish I could. Maybe I'll figure it out soon, and if I do, I'll tell you!" he tried to explain while an even bigger smile than before appeared on his face. "Yeah yeah OK. Very boring that we can't help them with the "Brave enough to get rich?" project though, right?" Shad nodded in Phillips surprise. "Agree, to make a world about the ancient Egyptians doesn't feel very motivating I must say". "When d id they say that the show's UV would be ready? Tomorrow?" Shad continued. "Hmm, yes, tomorrow night. It would be extremely cool to be able to see some of the last development tomorrow, right?" "The perfect answer" Shad said quietly for himself, very plea sed with the current situation and his plans for the future, "yes it would Phillip…" "Nice day?" The perfect being welcomed Shad at home, so it was impossible to feel anything but nice. His whole body felt nothing but love against the other person in the room and he felt that he had to show her exactly that. His mouth was shut and his bo dy spoke for a short period of time. After a while the mouth took over the speaking business again. "Exciting and different day for sure, yours?" "It feels wonderful to be back home, I've missed you more than you can imagine". Shad smiled happily, "good! " Once again both the lovers couldn't hold their feelings for themselves. "Let's just stay in bed all day, talk, make love, ignore the rest of the world, OK Shad?" Hours went by, perfect hours, hours every human being aspire to sometimes experience.
"Now tell me about your day at work." Shad started talking directly, he told his love everything that had happened and everything that was about to happen. "If they just knew who I was five years ago they would never have hired me. Not VLB, and definitel y not CC". Aeris nodded anxiously, "don't get into trouble though, please promise me that. Release the virus, destroy the VU and demolish the show's reputation, and then, "poof", invisible, OK?" "Yes I promise, I can't stand the thought of being that far away from you. But I can't stand that show either, and I'm doing the next generation of humans, our children, a big favor in my opinion…" Aeris smiled and kissed her beloved, "in mine too".
"Why don't you ask her to marry you, I know you want to, right?" Shad looked happier than ever before. "I will buddy, I will. Maybe even tonight, we'll see". "Yeah do so! Good luck" Phillip said with big enthusiasm. "Who'll be your best man then?" The gu y in love smiled widely, "I know where you're getting at, and yes of course, it would be you". Phillip looked just as happy as his friend, "will be nice to see you marry "the love of your life, the perfect woman in your eyes" my great mate". The two happ y friends opened the doors of the just parked car and went into the small CC building to spend another day creating alternative universes. In Shad's case also to clean some shit up in favour of the upcoming generations, to destroy the worst VU ever being in development.
Disappointed, Shad realized the he was the first to arrive home. But fortunately he didn't have to wait for long, his beauty arrived some minutes later. The welcoming was very much like the day before, passionate and full of absolute love. After a while they began talking, and Shad told his perfect woman about the perfect day at work. How smooth everything had worked out, and how interesting the following day would be. "A few hours after they've shipped all the VU's away the bug will do its job and chan ge the whole production, not to speak about its popularity and reputation. No need to tell you any details, but it sure is pretty nasty I must say…" Aeris got that anxious look on her face again, but Shad calmed her down. "Don't worry, "poof", I'm invisi ble". "By the way, does Phillip now about all this?" the smiling woman asked. Shad shook his head. "No, still haven't told him the truth about myself, even though we are very good friends nowadays. Someday I will". He got reminded of his and Phillips ear lier conversation. "Phillip had a very good point today, he asked me why I hadn't asked you to marry me yet". The woman reacted the way Shad wished she would. "Yes, a very good point indeed, "right?"" Shad started laughing and forgot what he was about to say, but Aeris assisted him. "You know I love you, you know that I want to spend my entire life with you, and you know that I want to be your wife, so "OK"". Shad smiled happily and caressed his beloved's beautiful face. "There are no words to describe my feelings for you, and with you as my wife I can't ever experience a bad day again".
Night had become day, and the day was about to become night again. Cyber Calamity had shipped all their "Brave enough to get rich?" Virtual Universes and Shad's virus was soon to take effect. Self-confident as always Shad was calm and cool, happier then ever because of his upcoming heroic action, but mostly because of the day before. "Aeris Leroy" he thought for himself. "The name is as beautiful as its owner".
"So, did you ask her, you didn't, right?" A wide and bit too happy smile on Shad's face made Phillip change his mind. "You did! Congratulations buddy!! I'm really happy for you!!" Phillip almost looked as happy as Shad. "I think this is the greatest day of my life!" Shad replied. "We're off in about five minutes", Phillip continued, "let me follow you home and congratulate her. Haven't met her for a while you know". "Great idea" the upcoming husband answered, almost forgetting that his small bug would s tart messing around any second from now.
The three friends were all eating while talking loudly and laughing all the time. Suddenly Shad got reminded of his virus when he heard that the news on TV was about to start. "Hey, let's check out the reactions of the VU!" Three anxious people sat down in the sofa in front of the TV and waited for the right bulletins. "Not the main news, strange" Shad said like it would be a mystery beyond everything. "Today the worlds biggest TV-show ever, "Brave enough to get rich?" got a Virtual Universe of its own. The reactions were as anticipated. It broke all sales records directly and will probably be sold in more than two billion copies, counting this year only. But won't it take away the viewers of the TV-show? The answer is no, according to the creators "Cy ber Calamity", formerly known as "Universe Creators". It's an addition to the show, not a competitor or rival". Phillip laughed. "I bet that makes the government happy, Mr. Trevor is probably dancing at the moment, right Shad?"
Shad didn't hear a word as he was stuck in the world of thinking. His hands were in his hair, his eyes were shut and his mind was cut off. He didn't understand a thing. His virus should have destroyed every single copy of the VU more than an hour ago. "W hat happened? Did I fail? No, it's impossible! I did everything just as I should, that alternative paradise should be an alternative asylum by now!" He couldn't figure it out.
"Shad!" Aeris screamed to wake Shad up and make him come back into the real world. Phillip raised from the sofa and walked against the door. "I must tell you something, Shad". Shad aimed his eyes towards his friend looking very absent-minded. Phillip smi led strangely, "your virus failed my friend," he said. "What?? How? Ho-h-how did you know about it?" Totally shocked Shad moved his eyes onto Aeris, but she just shook her shoulders like she didn't know a thing. "I've been working for Cyber Calamity for more than eight years now" Phillip continued. "We knew that you were the only one capable of ruining our plans with the perfect VU, so I was hired to monitor you, to become your best friend. It was all just a game, but you enjoyed it, didn't you?" Shad c ouldn't speak, couldn't think. "Bu-bu-b-but what about the building, ehrm, government trip, building? Mr. Trevor!" Phillip laughed arrogantly. "Think my friend, think. The whole thing was just a Virtual Universe of course. The same thing with the trip to Cyber Calamity. You have never actually been there, no one can find us as you normally would know". Shad was unable to find any words, his mind was a total roller coaster. The only things he knew was that he was indescribably furious and had never felt so much hatred towards a person in his entire life, and definitely never felt so terribly betrayed. . "You pathetic imbecile" Phillip laughed out loud, "how does it feel?" Shad's anger drew stronger and he was just about to attack his former best friend, when Phillip changed everything with a single sentence. "Come, let's go Aeris, lets leave this loser here by himself". "Aeris!??" Shad groaned, "wh-what has Aeris to do with this?" Aeris walked towards Phillip, caressed his face and kissed him. Shad did n't know how to react, to chop them both into pieces or to ask all the questions that came into his mind. Maybe he shouldn't even believe in what he just saw, it could be another illusion. Phillip kept on laughing and Aeris joined him. Phillip moved towa rds Shad and whispered quietly in his ear, "how are you able to tell if your friends are for real? Why have non-perfect friends, wives or husbands, when you can create perfect virtual beings instead? Maybe we fixed that tiny little smell-problem, "right? "…"
People search meaningfulness. When giving this story to Hugi, I ignored the fact that I won't get much feedback and that I won't have a clue on how many people that eventually liked the story, loved it or perhaps disliked it. Not even read it, it could b e ten or it could be ten thousand.
Fortunately, my work with this story have already given me a lot of new wonderful things in my life, and I'm satisfied enough with that. I now can, without regretting it, hand it over to my friend Adok instead of some scifi magazine, and by that abandon all chances of getting a lot of feedback and the usual amount of motivation I need to write another story in the near future.
Anyway, I still need improvement, it's still nice to hear complaints and I'm still fond of getting emails, so please don't hesitate to share your thoughts and hatred with me.