Mitch On The Moon
The first thing I notice about the room is that there aren't any windows. The second thing is that I don't remember anything about how I got here or even who I am. There's a pair of pale blue curtains with a kind of glow coming through the folds, but when I pull them back, I can't see anything apart from a huge shining panel. Not too bright for my eyes though, quite soothing in fact. Who would make something like that and why? There's no furniture in here apart from the bed that I've just got out of, with sheets the same shade of blue as the curtains. I look down at myself and realise I'm dressed in what look like hospital scrubs, also pale blue. They're actually really comfortable, but it still feels weird that they're blue, as though I'm only another part of the room. Doesn't sound like there's anyone around, which makes me wonder just how bad this hospital actually is. The door sticks when I try to open it, and when it pops free at last, the noise is so loud that I expect a nurse to come running, to yell at me to get back in bed, even though I feel perfectly fine. It's that sort of place, you know? Except I make it to the end of the corridor and still nobody comes. Now I need to decide. Left or right. At first I think this is one of those road-not-taken moments and it won't actually make any difference which way I turn. After squinting a bit in both directions though (so maybe what's wrong with me is that I'm short-sighted?), I can make out that the green glow on the right actually spells EXIT. Might as well leave if no one's going to stop me, right? I make it as far as this second door and turning the knob, and then I finally notice what it says on my medical wristband. Patient: Mitch Mason, Status: Deceased. There's no time to think about being dead though because the door's swung open and now what I'm seeing makes no sense at all. I think I'm on the moon. Or a very good mockup of what the lunar surface looks like anyway. As soon as I think that, it feels like I get kicked in the head and I black out. When I wake up, I'm still wearing the same pale blue scrubs and it's still the hospital room with the pale blue curtains. The wristband is still there and it's ridiculous and I'm about to rip it off because obviously I'm not dead. That's when I hear a click and a hiss, and after a few seconds more, a voice says, Mitch buddy, we're going to have to put you under and run the simulation again, until you stop figuring out it's not real. That's when I remember. I'm Mitch Mason. I'm the guy who signed up to stop the moon from crashing into the Earth, and this is my training.