Fiction #2 - testing

I forgot to introduce my new series last time. So that's what I'm doing now. This is the second post in a new series of fictional posts I will be writing. Each post will just contain a snippet of the overall story. I hope you enjoy them! Oh and don't worry, the story doesn't stay on the ground ;)

[PICTURE TO COME - STILL DRAWING IT]

My pod had closed around me and I took my last breath in total darkness as the pod goo rose up slowly around me. That breath would be my last... unless I won...

Suddenly I could see again, but not through my eyes.I could sense what was happening somehow and I could see what was around me but the images were going straight into my brain.

In front of me was the same large holoscreen that had been there before and to the sides were the other contestants. There was just one difference. They were in some kind of robotic armour now.

The holoscreen lit up and the game masters face appeared. "Welcome to the first ever championship game. You are the lucky ones to have been chosen. Your suits are controlled via your brain waves. Think what you want to do and your suit will react in the appropriate manner. You have one hour to practice before the game begins!"

It was difficult to think of your legs moving without actually moving them. I thought of gingerly placing one foot in front of me and was rewarded with a resonating boom as my right foot slammed into the metal floor. Receivers placed all over the suit sent their pain signals to my brain and my brain transmitted that to my body. It felt like I had snapped my leg and the shock from not knowing what was coming made it even worse.

That technology came from the ammarian torturers for sure. They were famous for their endless supply of pain.

Just then I saw a door open at the far end of the vast hangar. What looked like a scientist walked in but from this distance it was hard to make out. Then with lightning speed my vision tunneled, then re-focussed a few millimeters from the scientists face. He could do with a shave, I noted. Then I realized what had happened without me even thinking. Or had I? Maybe subconscious commands worked better than conscious ones.

This could actually be fun I thought.

FICTION: Preparation

I am standing, the faint glow of the holo-screen in front of me softly touching my face. On all sides of me are other contestants, standing, nervously waiting for the contest to begin.  I am sweating now. If I didn't do this I would have ended up like my family, I try to reason with myself. My family are already enslaved by the amarrian off-worlders who will work them to do death. My jaw sets as I imagine the things i will do to them when I find them.

A bell rings out, signaling that we are about to start and bringing me out of my fantasy. A metal cage lowers itself slowly from the ceiling and i try not to move as wires are attached to me and the gaming apparatus is put into place.  A drop of sweat slowly finds its way down my furrowed brow then teeters on the end of my nose, about to take its final journey, plummeting to the little pool of sweat that has collected underneath me. I wish my existence was as simple as one of those molecules. But then again, in a way they are also prisoners like me.

Soon I am completely wired up and the last piece of equipment closes in slowly. It is egg shaped from the outside, a capsuleer would know it as a pod. This is a pod that has been adapted for use outside of spaceships, specifically designed for brutal games. Suddenly my vision flickers and dims to blackness as the pod seals with a hiss. A liquid starts running over me, I think it is sweat but it is really pod goo. This is it, I think as I take a deep breath. My last breath, unless I win...