Patched
It was a grey day. The clouds hung overcast in the sky, blocking the golden sun. An essence of thunder was lurking in the air.
"Typical British weather" Muttered Fred as he exited his rusted car and headed towards the entrance of his flat.
The concrete block stood tall against the surrounding buildings of the area. It was grey in colour and had numerous windows spread equidistant along the smooth bland walls. At the bottom of each window was a small windowsill. The monotony of grey was broken up by dabs of colour presented by flowers sitting in tiny pots on the windowsills. The only window without the flowers belonged to Fred. He never had the time or energy for that.
The path leading up to the building was, made of small stones and made a satisfying crunch underfoot. When hearing this sound, Fred reminisced of the time he spent walking along the beaches of Cornwall a few summers ago. Fred sighed as this thought reminded him that again this summer, he would have to go without a holiday. His work was too demanding.
As he reached the door, Fred put down the heavy package that he was carrying. He held the door open with his foot as he pushed the package inside. He picked it up with a grunt and headed for the lift.
As Fred lived in a flat, he had to use the lift. Ordinarily, Fred would take the stairs but the weight of the package prevented him from doing so. He winced as he entered the lift.
It is impossible to be alone in a lift. The mirrors on all sides mean that it always looks like there is more than one you. Fred wasn't good at interacting with people, even when those people were himself. To avoid interacting with himself, Fred shut his eyes and waited patiently until the lift reached his floor with a ding. He scuttled to his flat.
Fred's flat consisted of four rooms; the living room, the kitchen, the bedroom and the bathroom. The first room that you would meet upon entering the flat would be the living room. The walls were covered in nutty brown wallpaper that was probably fashionable in the eighties. The carpet that coated the floor was the same tawny colour. Fred didn't like the room coverings; he just didn't want to change them.
In the centre of the room sat a small wooden coffee table. It was made of made of mahogany wood. The legs of the table were covered with ornate carvings of grape vines. The craftsmanship was tremendous, many hours of work. It was a work of art. Upon the piece of art, there sat a pack of cards in formation to play solitaire, the only card game that Fred knew.
Next to the coffee table, there sat an old TV. It was a large black box with a Glass bulge on one side. This indicated that it was an ancient machine. Two large rods stuck out of the top of the machine at jaunty angles. They had to be in these crazy positions as it was the only way he could get a picture on the infernal machine.
For Fred to watch his television, he had an armchair. The armchair was situated opposite the TV, with the coffee table in between. The chair was the most beaten up thing in the world. The fabric was worn and the colours had gone. Springs had broken through the back and looked really uncomfortable to sit in.
In the other corner of the living room, separated by a hideous striped rug, was the desk. This corner of the room was Fred's pride and joy, his computer workstation. Upon the desk, sat three large computer monitors in an arc like pattern. In front of the monitors lay a black keyboard. It had all the buttons of a regular keyboard and even a few more. The mouse that lay next to it even had buttons. Fred liked buttons… even if he didn't use them, he felt he needed them.
Below the desk lay Fred's pride and joy, his computer. The computer chugged and whirred constantly. It was never turned off; unless Fred had to perform surgery. The case was beige and had many gratings on the sides. On the other side of the gratings were fans spinning at tremendous speeds. Thrusting air against the brain of the computer to keep it cool and running. The inside of the computer was a maze of wiring and circuits arranged so that whilst running would provide all Fred's computing needs. The computer's forte was its processing power. It could crunch numbers as faster than a Team of accountants. On the front, there was a white sticker that claimed
"Low budget computer for windows ME"
This statement couldn't have been more wrong. Fred had made so many modifications and upgrades that the only original feature was the case, with the sticker on it. Even the claim of the operating system was false now. The computer ran Fred's own modification of windows known as FredX. Only Fred ever used FredX as he had never released it to the public. The computer was a one of a kind.
One of the other rooms in the flat was the kitchen. It was a small room with dim lighting. The walls were covered with white tiles that were covered with grime. One wall of the kitchen had along it a long work surface. At the end there was a cooker with four gas rings. Upon the work surface was many plastic containers. Many of them were filled with leftover takeaways. Fred wasn't a very good cook and relied on the takeaway shops for food. It was also more convenient for him as it meant he had more glorious time to spend playing his games.
Fred rushed across the room carrying the heavy box, nearly tripping on the rug. He set the package down next to the prided computer. He dashed into the kitchen and grabbed the sharpest knife he could find. On his return to the box, he took a slower pace. His mother had told him NEVER to run with sharp objects. Fred slashed at the tape and threw the knife behind him. He clawed at the box to get it open. He picked up the device inside and his jaw dropped. Fred was looking at the next revolution in gaming history: One of the first virtual reality devices.
Fred worked in the gaming industry and was selected to test out the new device. Tingles of joy went up his spine as it finally hit home what he was taking part in.
The device was sleek and black. It was covered in curves and only had one button, the power button. The Eye end of the device was flat to fit in all of the electronics. Printed on the back, there was a number. This was the limited edition number (as it was a beta batch) Fred's device was number two.
"Damn!" exclaimed Fred as he was disappointed not to get the first edition of this wondrous machine.
Fred tipped over the box and two things fell out, a cable and a disk. Fred unfurled the wires and connected them up to his pride and joy. The computer jumped and stared making error noises. A flashing message jumped onto the screen and asserted "Insert Disk"
Fred obliged the powerful machine and fetched the disk from the box and inserted it. The machine stopped beeping. Installation messages followed and the tedious wait began while the two computers to to know each other.
Fred flipped over the paper disk sleeve and was surprised to find a second disk. This disk was obviously a game due to the cartoon image of a sword on the disk's surface. The image looked like it had been drawn on just before it had been hastily flung into the box with the first disk. This find made the wait more tedious as not only did Fred want to try out the Virtual reality machine but to also start his adventure in the new game. As Fred glanced at the disk, he noticed that there was no title.
"They could have least given it a title" Muttered Fred, peeved with the developers.
The computer screen exhibited a timer with a sad face next to it. There was a small depressed-looking robot sat on top of a clock. The robot announced, "There is approximately thirty-nine minutes remaining- sorry about that" The robot let out a huge sigh, got up and sluggishly walked off the screen.
"That was weird" said Fred, "I suppose I should put the kettle on then!"
Fred wasn't a very good cook but he certainly knew how to make tea. Although he was as useful as a chocolate teapot, he practically lived on the stuff.
Fred dawdled to the kitchen and cleared the work surfaces of the endless plastic tubs that swamped it. The bin was now full. Fred filled the kettle and placed it on the gas hob. The roaring gas flame began to heat the water. He then reached into the top cupboard and brought out a packet of biscuits. Fred flicked the two tea bags across the long room and they somersaulted into the teapot.
Fred thought to himself, "That was impressive, but I better not do it with the hot water!"
Fred poured the water into the kettle and left it to brew. He waited 10 minutes and poured the tea into his cup. He added the milk and went into the living room, clutching the biscuits in his other hand. He plonked himself down in the armchair and set his cup down on the coffee table.
He turned on the TV in an effort to waste more time. The only channel that he could get was showing the weather, He couldn't make out if it was rain or static being shown on the screen. Fred decided to just watch and drink his tea.
No sooner than Fred had finished his tea, The Robot Lazed on the screen and Proclaimed with a fake smile, "The installation has finished. Please be careful whilst using the device as it is a prototype and is still in testing"
Fred dashed over to his computer and changed over the disks. Fred was still curious about the unknown game he would be playing. Fred lowered the device onto his head. He saw two screens in front of him, one for each eye. The plastic around each screen had followed the design from the outside, large curves with no harsh edges.
Fred reached to the back of the device and found the power button. It was not the easiest of buttons to press, due to the location and resistance it put out. Nevertheless, Fred pushed it and the machine jumped into life.
Fred was presented with a menu screen that covered his whole viewpoint. He selected start as he wanted to play as quickly as possible. He was presented with a large field. The ground was covered with grass and daisies. He turned his head to look behind him; he could see a snowy mountain in the distance. He walked forward and so did the character…. Fred's Jaw dropped. He had never seen such amazing technology. The icing on the cake was when he looked down, He had legs. That moved when he did. Fred got so excited that he stumbled across the room next to the metal window.
"Wow I wonder if there's…." There was a large crack and everything went silent for Fred. A large lightning bolt hit him from being conducted by the metal window. The shock had fused Fred with the Machine.