StoryTime(4short)

* THE DRAGON AND THE COMPUTER *

In the late of October, a sun shone in the valley of Eden. Yes, the only reason for the delay was a lack of competence on part of the doctor who was in charge of examining the mangled corpse. The only way to go to heaven is to abide in gods great law, which in these sorry times may be the motto, get it first. But who knows maybe I'm just a crazy person who has no right to even be touching this computer. Just as in previous years I was called to be the religious icon for some aliens who resembled a pile of smashed watermelons.

There once was a story about a dragon. This dragon happened to be very shy and reluctant at wanting to fight. So, in haste, he was angrily thrown out of the small mid-western school he happened to be attending. This was such a disgrace to his family that he was subsequently kicked out of the family. In this difficult predicament he ran off into the world. He only packed his razor and a small bottle of flame enhancer. Hoping to find peace in a world that had been quite cruel . Boy am I ever getting sick of typing on this mechanical mind controller. Help, in a few seconds, I could be sucked into the computer. Never to be seen again. This is going to take forever, maybe even

longer.

- Edgar Peace

VRP

It has been many years since the death penalty had been abolished. Prisons were getting crowded and the criminals that would have been terminated now live in comparable luxury. But not for long if SynReality has its way.

The SynReality prison is not like one you have ever seen. There are no crowded cells, the building is clean, white and steril looking in the rooms reveal, a different story, as each individual experiences his own personal reality. The new prisons offer something to the terminal inmates, a form of escape, escape into there own minds.

What prisoner wouldn't be interested in being free, able to roam as he wanted. This is what the advertisement said, with a combination of neural implants and computer generated reality, you could be wherever you wanted. SynRealities prison of the future, a complex web of computer generated reality formed from the very thoughts of the men in the cells. The reality created by 100 violent, insane, and dangerous people, is not what most would consider heaven. The reality these people create, harbors murder, rape, sadistic ritual, and a world of grey, there is no right, or good, and that which is must be destroyed. Anarchy rains, in its most vile form, with every one for themselves in a violent melee of acquisition. Escape is impossible, but death is inevitable, your own mind creates all you need to know. The steril white room you are in seems to expand and shrink as you move from place to place. Implants in the brain, electrodes on muscle fibers and surgicly implanted lenses produce any sense required by your body and brain. The mind becomes totally aware of its surroundings not realizing that they are not real. To stop thinking would bring you back to your steril cell. Clearing the mind, is the only escape, but in a world created out of hate, relaxing and clearing the mind could mean your death.

When a new prisoner is introduced, due to the demise of a previous tenant, his thoughts enter into the network opening up a new area of discovery, familiar to him, but not to the ones in the other cells, a new den of depravation. The once active area of the previous tenant doesn't get erased rather the world is continually expanding and becoming more dangerous daily.

-Squire

It was a dark and stormy night in the mountains the lightning illuminating the sky. As I look at the mountains shrouded by the rain, I sensed a familiar presence, yet there was nobody around. The show was getting pretty boring so I decided to recline in my favorite chair for the evening. With my wine and my book, I was set for the night. Thats when things got weird. I hadn't thought about it much till the power went out and lit the only candle around, a black I had acquired, some time ago. But all week long things have been happening, it started with a plant just falling off the hook in the ceiling, kind off strange but shit happens, ya know. Things would disappear, for days then reappear in the same place you had left them, but I figured it was roommates. One day one phone would work and a different one wouldn't. This was not my roommates.

As I sunk deeper into the chair and the wine took its effect, my mind once again wandered from my book. I could hear the rumble of the train in the distance, and the cats playing in the hall. In a house with two roommates and 3 cats, your always hearing something. But mixed in with those all to common noises, was something I didn't recognize. A squeaking sort of a sound. It disappeared, and I wrote it off as a weird train vibration. By this time my candle was in full burn, creating strange shadows on the wall, the cats enjoyed playing with the shadows, stalking and attacking the unsuspecting images. As I watched the cats, I noticed the shadows were protruding from the walls, wine has never done this to me before. I quickly stuck my nose back into the book and was quickly taken to another world.