The Future

Drew Scott glanced around the town he traveled through on his way back to The House. The roads were completely faded, animals infested every livable space possible. Ancient houses had crumbled in on themselves, and the odor of rotting life polluted the air. Scott watched as a creature shook violently and fell to the ground, to weak to move. He saw another with worms coming out of its skin. He was thankful for his air tight transport. He didn't want to know how the people of the past could live in such contaminated conditions, and was definitely glad his draft time was nearly over. He couldn't wait to have his memory cleared of this horrid world his ancient ancestors had lived in. How could anything get moved if things actually had mass? How could people live if they had to learn so much just to afford a home or food? They were almost to The House now. He could see it in the horizon, just a few more days and they would be there. The House was so large it could be seen from hundreds of miles away. It takes a big building to fit a quarter of the world's population into. Good thing they made four of them. Scott thought about how much he preferred his APLUS life. That is the way most people live. Back in the real world where everything was perfect. He didn't like this dangerous, survival of the fittest realm that he knew next to nothing about. He was randomly selected to be taken out of what he thought was life, to this strange place where everyone used to live, where there is limited space and time, and you need to do strange things to live. He had to take years of classes to learn how to move, and how to think. Everything was so confusing and depressing here. He was dying to get his memory cleared and return to his peaceful, perfect, life. He was so tired from collecting vitamins with his team to supply to the residents of The House. He fell asleep, not to wake up for several days. He dreamed, and was unimaginably horrified. He had been warned of sleeping, and how dangerous it could be. He had no control over his body, and strange scenarios that made no sense were taking place, but it all felt so comfortable. It seemed to only last a second when he was forced awake by someone. He got up, refreshed himself on how to walk, and moved back into The House. He still had a few days before being put back to APLUS. He still had to help with bringing more into APLUS. He was brought to the room full of strange, miniature versions of everyone else, and was instructed to push a cart full of them to the newest hall, and put one in each room. He had to hook them up to a food source, a small tube with needle on the end that he stuck into their wrists, and hook up the excretion system, and to the liposuction system. They already had their video cards stuck directly into their eyes, a painless process, he was told. He was finished now. All those years of training and working were over, he was so exhausted, he collapsed on the spot, his body was barely able to handle the small amount of work he had done. He woke up a few days later, after a permanent employee found him lying in the hall. He was lying on the surgeon bed, with several people standing over him with strange objects in his hands. He watched as they moved them towards his eyes, and the most unbelievable pain consumed his body, he did not know how long it lasted, but after a time, he felt the sudden jolt in his brain as it was erased.

Scott opened his eyes. He did not know where he was. It was a strange place. He felt himself doing something. He did not know what. He noticed the images he saw were changing. The strange feeling stopped with the images. He tried to do it again, voluntarily. It took sometime before he manged to move again, with his sight changing as he did. He tried some other kind of movement, and an object moved up into his sight. He observed it. It was a strange thing, a kind of circle shape with five appendages coming out. He flexed them, and they moved, they curled around each other. He held up another one and touched it to the first. The strange sensation of touch surprised him. Something programmed into his mind told him where he was. APLUS, Automated Perfect Life Utopian Simulator. He had no clue what it meant. All he knew was that he liked it. It was effortless, it was never-ending. He could do anything. He could communicate with others, who were apparently just like him. Everything was perfect. The bright colors of the LCD lights that covered his eyes were so fascinating. However, he did not know he had eyes. He did not know that the world he lived in was completely virtual, nor will he ever know. Scott, like most of the world's population, has been captured by APLUS. The virtual world that started out as a game. As the real world grew harder to live in, people noticed how virtual worlds were so much easier. Technology advanced, allowing them to directly control their characters. No one wanted to leave. The world government decided life would be so much easier virtually. The Houses were built. People were moved, minds deleted, video cards installed, lives perfected. This is the future. The future has happened, there is no turning back.