{ Terminal Shock: The Robot's Revenge (OC [A Techno-VR Thriller] Short Story by me) } It was a bright Sunday morning. Just the time to play but my favourite hobby Total Domination. I play it often. I have 2 sisters and 1 brother. Jesse, 17, is my age. Denise, 15, is my younger sister. Tommy, 13, my younger brother, who is a techno genius. I had alled my friend Mark to spend the holidays at my place. He's very good at Total Domination. I need to use my Virtual Reality kit to play. It has awesome graphics and cool enemies. I bought it recently on the net and have been playing it ever since. I'm still in the first level. It's nearly impossible to destroy the enemy robot colony. I'm good at shooting, but Tommy is the strategy planner. It's very difficult to play without him. Mark is good at cracking jokes, which is good when playing this game. Jesse is good at stealth, which is necessary when playing this game. But the most weird thing is that a guy paid me $100 to get rid of the Virtual Reality kit!! I could never find a better bargain! We need all of us to play Total Domination. Without one of us, the game is impossible. I didn't get any box or anything with the VR kit. He said it didn't come with one. Anyway my parents work at Microsoft —they are computer software programmers. We all go to the same school. We had the latest computer including as my parents needed it. My other hobbies are cycling, reading comic books, watching movies, and of course playing Total Domination in my VR kit. Noone believes me that a guy would pay me to get rid of his VR kit. I feel it was weird myself. I wished I had asked him why he wanted to get rid of it. It probably got him grounded for playing it all the time, like me. After breakfast, we were all going to play Total Domination —I could hardly wait! "Tim!", mom called. She was always in a hurry to work. "I'm coming." After breakfast mom said, "we'll be out for a few days, George and Catherine will be here to take care of y'all." They are our neighbours. The old couple was very kind and we liked them. "Okay mom!" "And don't forget to collect your {bike from the} parcel from the post office, it's some book that you've ordered on the net, they said." "Oh yeah, I forgot." I had ordered a Total Domination strategy guide book on the net. It should help me to play better. But that means I have to go to the post office and our game will be delayed. Back at the room. "Hey Jess, why don't we try out the new Virtual Reality game ?", Tommy said. "I don't know, Tim said to wait till he comes.", Jesse said undoubtedly. "Oh he won't mind, c'mon!", said Mark. "O.K. then I'll try it first", said Jesse. "Fine but don't take long, we all want to play.", said Tommy. "O.K. sure", said Jesse. She turned on the computer, and began to cover herself in with the gear. "Wow! This covers our whole suit." "Yeah", said Tommy. "O.K. lets play", said Jesse. Mark clicked on Total Domination. In a flash it opened, showing the enemy robots. Jesse started the game. "It should be great with this new VR gear", said Mark. "Yeah I can't wait to try it out" {Jes} The game said "Loading." Suddenly a whirring sound right after a flash of light. Mark and Tommy were blinded with the light. Then a huge vibration which shook the room. "What was that ?", asked Mark. "I don't know" replied Tommy. The Virtual Reality gear suddenly fell to the ground, with a loud bang. {Jesse} Mark checked the gear, Jesse was not there! "Where's Jesse ?" Tommy asked frighteningly. "She probably went to get a oda she'll come back —let me try it", Mark said, wearing the complete gear. He pressed start, and the same message appeared, "Loading. Please wait!" Then it happened again, the whirring sound and the flash of light. Mark disappeared. Tommy was shivering with fright. Then he heard some giggles —he couldn't recognize whos it was. "It must be Mark and Jesse, trying to frighten me! Well they don't fool me, he(…) [Plot:: Psionic Symbiosis xtc, VR, AI] [Characters:: Mark, Tim, Jesse, Denise and Tommy]