11 Chapter 11: galactic casualties of war, part 2

Ever since his high-school graduation and stumbling across the game tester ad in a Power Games magazine, Thornton was glued to his television and game console.Video games were presented to him on a regular basis, first by mail and, more often than not, sent digitally to one of his gaming systems.

Galactic Casualties of War was one of his favorite games of all time.He loved its special effects and the feeling of being immersed in an alien world, commander of Green Squadron and fighting alien lizard- bat hybrid soldiers.It took him a week to get to the final level, freezing the core of the alien planet and then blowing it out of the Nebulous Solar System.In the final moments of the game credits, he saw a glimmer of an alien ship disappear into deep space, an obvious signal to a game sequel.

He found racing games boring.Upgrading vehicles and swapping out tires, adding detail work and being chased around a city by police or round and round on a world-class circuit track did nothing for him.To Thornton, there was no imagination or skill required.Epic III Studios may have well sent him games of dogs chasing their tales over and over again.

And two-dimensional games with cute characters wearing overalls or bouncing around like pink blobs of goo were the absolute worst.It was not believable that by changing a character's overalls from blue to white somehow gave the silly man the ability to shoot fireballs out of his fingertips.Where did the large villain turtle come from and why would he keep kidnapping the same princess?Wouldn't his land of oversized beasts and turtles with spiked-armored shells be more exciting than a world where the character repeatedly jumped over potted Venus Fly Traps and found it difficult to avoid chubby moles?No, not his speed at all.He played the game, beat the main villain as always, and emailed the bosses at Epic III Studios with his feedback.His feedback, often a few short words like fun, worth playing, same old same old or his favorite word, "awesome".

Thornton set his game controller down beside him and reached for a handful of cheese balls in the large clear plastic tub beside him, his most faithful sidekick.He shoved six cheese balls into his mouth and grabbed the controller again and continued to play World of Avalon.Tiny bits of orange wedged themselves into the crevasses around the green circle and red triangle button on the controller.

"The End".He had done it again, another game completed and another world saved by magical owl beasts wearing glasses.He shook his head in disdain and wondered how anyone would believe that if the magical owls had the brain capacity to invade a world with space ships and sonic blasters, how in all cheese balls could they not correct their vision."Totally unbelievable," he said to himself.

Once the game credits finished, the screen flashed white and a keyboard appeared.Using the arrows on his controller, he selected letters on the keyboard and spelled out "same old same old" and then selected submit.

He exhaled in frustration and grabbed one of the neon green sodas and drank the entire thing.

A message appeared on his screen that read, "Galactic Casualties of War II download in progress".He belched in excitement and the download bar on the screen could not move fast enough.He had waited two years for this moment, wasted time battling turtles, leaped over canyons in futuristic Camaros and ate power pellets in Pac Man Remix after Pac Man Remix.

He took a deep breath and could feel himself becoming Commander of Green Squad again.The download bar read 45 percent and in a manner of minutes, he would be back in deep space, battling those aliens who got away in the original Galactic Casualties of War.

Another message appeared on the screen that read, "Please Connect Virtual Scanner and Headset now.Cannot locate virtual controls."

In an instant, things went from awesome to out of this world freakin' amazing.He knew virtual reality games were coming but had no idea they already arrived and, best of all, released for Galactic Casualties of War II.

The housekeeper opened the basement door and yelled down to him, "Thornton, a box arrived for you.I also have your dinner.Come and get them."She placed the box and bag of tacos on the top step and closed the door.Thornton boosted himself from the sofa, pushing off the sofa's arm for momentum and support.He felt a little light headed and dizzy, thinking he either got up too quickly, the neon green soda went right to his head or he was overcome with excitement at seeing the contents of the box.He climbed a few stairs until he was close enough to grab the box and bag of tacos.He tossed the bag on the sofa cushion and packets of medium and hot sauce spilled out onto the floor.

He used the box to push aside the wrappers on the coffee table and ripped it open quickly like a kid on Christmas morning.It was exactly what he had been waiting his entire life for- the crisp new box inside with a picture of a virtual headset and controllers.The child on the box cover looked like he was having the time of his life.

Thornton shredded the boxes and lifted the headset into the air, holding it high into the recessed lighting like Indiana Jones victoriously holding a golden idol.He carefully set it down on the arm of the sofa.

Bits of white styrofoam floated into the air and clung to his hairy knuckles as he pulled the Virtual Scanner out from its box.He connected it to the game console and dug deeper into the large box until he removed two new controllers, electric blue with silver lightning bolts painted on each side.

The download bar on the screen read 90 percent and the message on the screen changed to "Virtual Scanner Located.Virtual Headset located."

He slid his thumbs over the controllers in each of his hands and a red light flashed in the corner of each controller."Game, set, match," he smiled.