Some readers of that strange little thing I wrote called Fear and Understanding wanted to see the story that evolved from it. Well, here it is. I'm planning on rewriting it, but I'm not really sure where to take it. I've got a couple of ideas, but any suggestions would be welcome
Enjoy!
Layers of Reality
Hanna crouched behind a line of scraggly brush, panting. She turned her face into the dry wind that rustled the foliage, feeling the sweat dry on her face. She didn't dare stop for long--not with her pursuers so close.
Peeking through the inadequate cover, she was just in time to see one of them step out of concealment for an instant before vanishing from sight again. He was less than twenty feet away. They were closer than she'd thought. Now, if only she had a blaster . . . she paused, confused. What was a 'blaster'? She shrugged the thought off. Right now, survival was the name of the game. Cautiously, Hanna gathered her feet beneath her. She could hear the river to her right. This would have to be quick.
Without further debate, she jumped to her feet and ran. Shouts behind her told her she'd been sighted and an arrow whizzed past her head, so close she could feel the wind of its passage. Just a few more yards....
Something slammed into her shoulder and she staggered forward in a blaze of pain. The last thing she saw was the ground rushing towards her before darkness claimed her.
"Ms. Anders?" a voice said from the darkness. "Hanna, open your eyes."
Hanna forced open her eyelids to see a strange woman's face hovering over her. She realized she was reclining in a padded chair in a room full of sophisticated-looking technology. "What-"
The woman pressed a button and the chair slowly tilted to an upright position. Across the room, her friend Ale-Van . . . no, Alan Vansen, was reclining in a similar chair with a couple of people hovering over him. She shook her head to clear it as two sets of memories vied for dominance.
"What...." She paused to clear her throat. "What happened?"
The woman looked uncomfortable. "There was a glitch in the Virtual Reality software," she admitted. "You and your friend were caught up completely in the simulation and there was danger of neural damage. Don't worry, you will be paid the bonus' we agreed upon and we're going to have both of you checked over by our medical staff just to make sure you weren't hurt. Will you come with me?"
Just a few short hours later, Hanna and Alan stood blinking in the sunlight outside the VR Center. It was late afternoon, but she wouldn't have been able to tell by the level of activity around her. The slidewalks were still just as full as they had been that morning and would stay that way all night. Earth was severely overcrowded.
"It's a bit of a shock after that simulation, isn't it Hanna?" Alan asked quietly. Hanna nodded numbly, mentally comparing the pristine forest she had been in just a short time ago with this technological jungle. What she wouldn't give to be able to live in that world. She shook her head at her fancy and hurried to catch up with Alan as he wended his way through the crowd to the slidewalk that would take them toward home.
Their path took them past some of the wealthier areas of the city. Hanna found herself watching the storefronts idly. One of them caught her eye and she grabbed Alan's arm.
"Let's get some ice cream," she suggested. "We've got enough money, with that bonus they gave us."
He nodded and she led the way across the slidewalk strips to the store. They paused just inside the door to take in their surroundings. The store was a re-creation of an old-fashioned ice cream parlor, complete with jukebox and stools at the bar. Only the wealthy could frequent a place like this on a regular basis, because of the charges on luxury foods. Hanna had heard they didn't have that charge on the colony worlds. Migration off world was looking better and better, now. From Alan's expression, he was thinking the same thing.
They stepped up to the counter and placed their orders, then seated themselves in the back to savor their treats. The ice cream was better than Hanna had remembered, but then what she usually had was nutritious stuff badly disguised as ice cream. She and Alan worked their way through the sundaes quietly, watching as various people--all of them obviously rich--came and went. She was looking down at her bowl, getting the very last of her sundae, when something made her look up.
Two men had entered the store. They were wearing holoprojectors to blur their features and holding blasters. She gulped. Only cops were allowed to have blasters, so these had to be illegal weapons that wouldn't have the multiple settings the cop's blasters did. These were meant only to kill.
"All right, you rich people," one of them drawled in a voice Hanna knew was synthesized. "Just hand over your credit slips and no one will be hurt."
The other criminal was holding out a small device for the customers to transfer their money into. The store was full, so it was going to take a few minutes for him to work his way back to her and Alan. She exchanged a panicked look with him. The bonus money the VR Company had given them was all they had. That was why they'd been willing to volunteer to test the experimental VR gear in the first place. All too quickly, the criminal was standing before them. She pulled out her credit chit and tried to put it in his machine, but fumbled it and dropped it to the floor. It skittered under the table before she could reach it.
"Pick it up, girl!" She found herself looking down the barrel of the blaster and froze for a moment. If only she had a force screen, she thought suddenly, then wondered what that was. The man shoved her with the weapon and she stumbled and tripped. Her head slammed into the corner of the table and she saw stars. Through a haze, she saw the man take aim on her.
Everything froze. She blinked her eyes to clear them and started to push herself to her feet. She was the only one not frozen in place, she realized. Then, the scene around her rippled and vanished, leaving her standing alone in a large blank room. A wall opened up in front of her, admitting a group of people in uniforms who looked vaguely familiar. Some of them went over to the wall and opened it up, exposing complicated looking circuitry. Two of them stopped in front of her.
"Captain Anders, are you all right?" the man asked. The other, a woman, pulled something out of a case she was holding and ran it over Hanna's head.
"Hairline fracture," she said matter of factly. "Captain, you're going to have to take a few days off now, and I'm not going to listen to any arguments!"
Hanna blinked up at them. "Okay."
The man grinned. "Maybe you should run some more scans, doc. That sure doesn't sound like our captain."
The doctor gave him a wry look but didn't reply.
Hanna raised a haughty eyebrow. "Just because I occasionally ignore the doctor's orders, doesn't mean I always do, commander." What was his name? She should know it! That strange feeling of two sets of memories was back. What was going on? Where was Alan?
The doctor replaced her device back in the case. "Well, Mark, if you're so worried about her, why don't you escort her back to her quarters?"
Mark grinned. "I think I will."
They walked back to her quarters in silence, Hanna trying to make sure he didn't realize she was following his lead instead of the other way around. When Mark paused in front of a door, she wasn't expecting it and nearly bumped into him.
"Well, here you are, Captain. Safe and sound."
"Thanks." She gave him a bright smile and pushed the control to open the door.
"Call me if you need anything, all right?" He seemed more concerned now than he had before.
"I will." She stepped into her quarters and the lights came on. "I'll see you later."
Mark looked worried but let the door close, leaving Hanna alone.
She wandered slowly around the cabin, thinking hard. The place was sparsely decorated, but comfortable, exactly as it should be. She was starting to remember, now. She was on a ship called the Endeavor. They were on a routine mission to map a newly opened region of space and she had decided to take some time to relax. The simulation had felt so real, though! And the one before it, too! How could it possibly have been false? Even her memories had changed from simulation to simulation. She glanced around the room warily. Was this real? Or was it just another realistic sim? Maybe she should talk to her sister about this. She was a telepath, after all . . . wait a sec, what sister?
"Oh, god!" she moaned in sudden realization. "This isn't real, either!"
"Of course not," a strangely familiar voice said behind her. She spun to see a woman standing there. "Computer, end simulation."
Wildly, Hanna wondered if this time she would awaken in reality or yet another simulation. As the room about her began to dissolve, she found herself hoping desperately that it would be . . .
The end.
