Chapter Four

All Work And No Play…

Ashley stood by the bed, chewing her thumbnail and staring at the woman's thin, pale body. The young man, who had finally introduced himself as Mitchell, was watching the drip and checking his watch. The Doctor was tracing where every wire that was attached to the woman was coming from.

'She's one of the more adapted VR players.' Mitchell explained. 'Been plugged in for about eleven years now. She was one of the first.'

'She's been like this for eleven years?' Ashley breathed in disbelief. 'How is she still alive?'

'Not all of us fell for the apparent luxuries of VR life.' Mitchell replied. 'Our friends and families were killing themselves with this stuff. There are a few of us who don't want to see it happen, and spend most of our time going around and cleaning them up, settling up drips and stuff so they don't starve to death or whatever. But there aren't many of us and there's only so much we can do. A lot of people end up dying.'

'Well good on you for not plugging in yourself, Mitchell.' The Doctor praised, examining one of the machines around the bed. 'Very strong of you. It's a shame the others didn't follow your example.'

'Like I said, there's a few of us.' Mitchell shrugged. 'Although every few weeks someone just loses it and plugs in. More people to look after and less people to do it. We barely have time to look after ourselves.'

'Are you not getting help from outside?' The Doctor asked, turning his full attention to Mitchell. 'Or did you cut ties? I've heard of a few colonies that cut ties with everyone else and lived quite happily in their own way. Of course I've never seen one go to hell in a hand basket as quickly as this one has.'

'Most of the communication equipment was pulled apart to set these up.' Mitchell explained. 'We haven't even got short wave radios anymore. There's a looped recording playing and telling people not to land here, so no one bothers because they probably think everyone here has gone feral. If we're not asking for help, then no one bothers to give it.'

'But you need help, right?' Ashley asked.

Mitchell nodded glumly. 'As much as possible.'

'So where is this Mr Cartwright?' The Doctor asked with a sigh. 'Because I would like to have a few words with him.'

'I think you'll have a job talking with him.' Mitchell shook his head glumly. 'The guy has been plugged in for twelve years. He only comes out of it every ten months to make sure everything is okay.'

'He thinks this is okay?' Ashley frowned. 'He must be a nutter.'

'Now Ashley,' the Doctor told her. 'We don't judge until we've had a good argument with him, okay?'

Ashley shrugged. 'Okay.'

'Is he due to unplug soon?'

Mitchell shook his head. 'I think he's got another six months.'

'Well we're just going to have to wake him a bit earlier.' The Doctor beamed. 'Come on, you're going to take us to see him.'

Mitchell looked warily at them both. 'He's in deep play.' He told them. 'You're not just going to barge in there and pull the plug, are you?'

The Doctor grinned again. 'Of course not! That would be a bit brash, don't you think? C'mon, we haven't got all day you know.'

He headed back out of the room, ducking under wires and went out of the door. Ashley glanced to Mitchell and shrugged her shoulders. 'He gets really into this kind of thing.' She told him with a smile.

Mitchell only looked at her, and then headed out. Ashley trotted behind him, admiring his hair.

It was eerily silent outside as the three of them made their way down the deserted street. Mitchell was carrying a rucksack and walking quickly, probably more out of habit than anything else. The Doctor walked easily alongside him and Ashley had to half walk and half jog to keep up.

'I hate this place,' Mitchell sighed, shaking his head. 'Eight out of ten houses on each street have someone plugged in inside. That's about 78 per cent of the colony. The original colony, anyway. There were 500,000 people here before Harrison Cartwright turned up with his genius invention.'

'What's so genius about it?' Ashley asked. 'I mean, they've had virtual reality stuff around for a while now, haven't they?'

'I'm guessing that Harrison Cartwright's version is a little more sophisticated than the tennis playing VR machines you've seen.' The Doctor told her. 'Remember the computers we were looking for in the records office? The ones that can show you what you want just by thinking?'

Ashley nodded.

'Well the machines that had been built were made mainly out of that technology. The way I see it, when you plug in, the machine taps into your subconscious and shows you the things you want to see, basically giving you everything you've ever wanted.'

'But surely if it taps into your subconscious then it can bring out the bad things too,' Ashley frowned. 'Like… giving you your worst nightmare instead.'

The Doctor nodded. 'I guess people just unplug if something happens they don't like.'

'No,' Mitchell told them. 'There's a filter filtering out any negative thoughts. Anything that tries to disrupt the peace is classed as a virus and is subsequently wiped out play.'

The Doctor nodded. 'Then Cartwright thought of almost everything to make a perfect, virtual Utopia.'

Ashley shuddered. 'Are people's lives that bad they would basically just lie down and die like that? Because that's what they're doing.'

The Doctor put his hand on her shoulder. 'If offered everything in the world that you've ever wanted; every fantasy and every dream to come true, would you pass it up?'

'It wouldn't be coming true though. It's just a machine.'

The Doctor smiled and patted her shoulder. 'Good answer. I knew there was a reason I let you come.'

Ashley beamed at him. 'See?' She pointed at her head. 'Not just a hat rack.'

The Doctor cocked an eyebrow and smiled. Mitchell glanced at them both curiously.

'Who are you two anyway? You just turn up out of nowhere and demand to know what's going on. Are you inspectors are something?' He glanced to Ashley. 'Because you don't look like inspectors.'

'We're just… travelling.' The Doctor replied. 'Passing through.'

Mitchell nodded. 'Then I guess it's alright for some.'

The Doctor and Ashley's smiles faded and they glanced at each other. The three of them turned the corner and Mitchell nodded ahead. 'That's his place.' He reported, nodding to a house larger than any of the others. It was in better condition also, with only a couple of creepers growing up the sides and all the windows were in tact.

'Well it's nice to see he gets some DIY done every few months.' Ashley commented.

'Come on,' Mitchell told them. 'I've still got a load of jobs to do today, so we'll have to be quick.'

Inside the house was surprisingly clean and clear. None of the furniture was broken or upturned like in the other houses. It was a little dusty, but that was all. Mitchell, moving quickly as ever, went straight on up the stairs. The Doctor and Ashley went up after him.

The room in which Harrison Cartwright lay plugged in was large and crammed with wires and machinery, all practically identical to the things in the woman's house. He lay on a large, four poster bed with an IV attached to his arm and wires attached to nearly every part of his body. The machine beside his bed beeped slowly and monotonously.

'It'll take two weeks to rouse him,' Mitchell explained. 'I'll have to shut down his machines one by one and gradually wean him out of play. It can be distressing for the brain to come out of such a convincing world and into a new one.'

'We haven't got two weeks.' The Doctor replied, approaching the bed.

'What are you talking about?' Ashley smirked. 'We've got all the time in the world.'

'I've got no time for this man.' The Doctor replied, circling around the side of the bed.

Mitchell looked uneasy. 'If you just unplug him you could kill him.'

'Could?' the Doctor asked, eyebrows rising curiously.

Ashley frowned. 'Doctor…'

'I think we can take the risk.' The Doctor shrugged, and before anyone could stop him, he pulled the master plug out of the machine. The beeping stopped.