| Mark put his little brother, Sam, into a headlock, knocking Sam's virtual vision visor to the ground. "I didn't bring you to the museum to fight." Their dad, Richard Plainson, picked up the visor. "Do you know how much these cost?" Sam held out his arms. "Dad, I can't see anything." "You're not getting these back until you apologize to your brother," Richard said. "I only said he was stupid," Sam whined. "He didn't have to get violent." Richard sighed. "Both of you say you're sorry." "I'm sorry," the brothers said without looking at each other. "Now that wasn't so hard." Richard handed Sam the visor. Sam clicked it into the circuit connections in his eyes. He snorted and pointed at the ground. "Mark! Your arm looks like it's ten feet long." Mark got on his knees and felt on the ground for the sensor. He found it, and reattached it to the slot in his elbow. "All right now, you too," Richard said. "We're going onto the surface." He handed them breathing gear. After they had put it on, he opened the airlock. They walked up the steps to the surface. Red rocks and craters went as far as the eye could see. An icy breeze blew. "This is our fault," their dad said. "If Earth hadn't been destroyed by nuclear war, then we would still be able to live there instead of on Mars." That night as he lay in bed, Mark wondered who had taken the time to put all those sensors on the rocks. * * * * * Twenty years later, Mark walked down a corridor leading to the real surface. He knew the one he had seen before was fake. Years of research had given him proof that the yeast factories made no food. He suspected he didn't live on Mars at all, and Earth had never had a world war three. But he didn't understand the lies. At the end of the corridor, he came upon an electronically locked vacuum gate. He typed in the code he'd spent the last five years hacking out of the government mainframe. His heart raced as the seal on the gate opened with a hiss. He walked through, and pushed it closed. Except for his own body, he could see nothing. He expected this. To conserve energy, lights had been eliminated and replaced with virtual vision visors and sensors long ago. On the surface, there would be no sensors. But his eyes had been modified to use the visors, so he couldn't see real light either. He waved his arms around, and found walls on both sides. He took a step forward, then another. His foot collided with something, and he crashed to the bumpy ground. Feeling with his hands, he realized he lay on a set of stairs. He eased himself back up, and felt out each step with his foot. His foot hit something too tall to be a step. He felt around with his hands. A wall. His hand hit a knob. It was a door. He twisted it and walked through. A tangy scent. It reminded him of a pine-scented air freshener. But this was somehow stronger, more real. From the left came the sound of something moving quickly. Fearing for his life, he curled into a ball. It chittered at him, and moved away. He rose, and laughed at himself. He didn't know what it was, but its voice had sounded cute. He started to walk forward, then stopped and shook his head. "I can't believe I almost forgot," he muttered. "I don't want anyone finding me out here." He took all the sensors off his body, and placed them on the ground. To his visor, his body appeared to be smashed into an unrecognizable pile. As Mark continued on his journey, he discovered poles sticking out of the ground with sticks pointing out of them. Soft, flat objects connected together by string came out of the grainy ground, as did some kind of shaggy carpet. In the distance, a metallic-sounding voice said, "Large animal detected leaving forest 2511 and approaching farm 1243 and solar plant 313." Mark shouted out, "Hello! Who's there?" "Animal is speaking. Potentially human. Please advise." A distorted voice said, "Can you detect any virtual sensors?" "No," the first voice said. "Then proceed with extermination." "Wait!" Mark shouted. "I'm human. I just -" A bullet fired and Mark found himself lying on the ground. Something warm and wet seeped out of his leg. Something moved close, and a metallic voice said, "Now approaching animal. First shot did not kill it." "Wait! Look at my visor." Mark pulled it out of his eyes and tossed it toward the sound. Something moved a few feet away, and then the voice said, "Critical error. 98% chance I have shot a human. Please advise." "Bring it to station 53," the distorted voice said. Metallic arms lifted Mark off the ground. From the bouncing motion, he guessed they were moving. "I was in error, human, but you are supposed to be underground. We take care of operations above ground. I will return you." "What planet is this?" Mark asked. "Earth." "Why was I told this is Mars?" "To prevent dissatisfaction. If you knew there was a surface to go to, then you would go there. However, we needed the entire surface for energy and food production. So we erased everyone's memories of the surface, and replaced them with those of Mars." Mark found himself nodding. "Are you telling me this because my memory is going to be erased?" "Yes." "Then you need to change one thing...." * * * * * At the museum of Martian history a new plaque appeared. It commemorated Mark Plainson who single handedly put sensors on every rock on Mars so children could see them. © 2004 by David A. Olson |
| Virtual Vision by David A. Olson |