Story for class

This is not the final version, I still need to do a total rewrite. It's really quite terrible and full of plot holes.
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The Machine

Introduction

The world came to an end in a single afternoon in May. The governments of the United States and Canada had anticipated the apocalypse and had secreted away whole towns into the wilderness of North America. These towns, powered by nuclear fission reactors and fed from vast supplies of preserved food and planting seed, would wait out the after-effects of the destruction of civilization and hopefully survive to rebuild. The secret towns suddenly lost contact with the world, no one who lives in them knows why.

Dinner

Darla looked away from her dinner at the doorway leading to the hallway. Sighing, she looked back at her meal.
“It’s really quite horrible, isn’t it?” Roger smiled.
“Huh?” Darla looked up, confused.
“You sighed; I can only assume it was the food.”
Darla’s eyes shifted down at her plate. Freeze dried beef stew, carrots, potatoes and gristly meat in scummy water with colored flecks. “I wasn’t commenting on the food.” She said, “I was thinking about the machine.”
Roger nodded, “I like the chicken myself.”
“Which one is the chicken?” said Darla forcing a smile.
“One of the white ones, I think.”
“I’d hope so. When are we going to get fresh food?”
“Don’t know yet; that’s on the council agenda this evening.”
“Armageddon couldn’t save us from bureaucracy.”
“Only death saves you from paperwork.”
“Just wait, they’ll find a way to keep you alive just long enough to sign a form in triplicate.”
“Funny. Really. Look, are you going to go back in tonight?”
Darla looked at the doorway, “Yes.”
“You spend too much time in that thing, it’s going to do you damage.”
Darla rolled her eyes and forked some meat into her mouth.
“Darla…look, just set the timer, ok? Take breaks every hour or so, alright? You remember those cyber-heads who spent all day and night in the machine? Zapped brains, the lot. I don’t want that happening to you.”
Darla sighed, “Don’t worry Roger, I’ll set the timer.”
Roger reached across the table and laid his hand on hers, “Thanks.”

Council Meeting

The Council President hammered on the head table with his gavel. “Silence!” he shouted, “I want silence!”
As the room quieted down, he said, “Now, we have a report on the food stores by Councilmen, Dan and Roger. Gentlemen, the floor belongs to you.”
Roger stood, his co-councilman, Dan followed suit.
Councilman Dan spoke, “Gentlemen, the situation, as you are no doubt aware, is grim. A reasonable estimate gives us six months of food left.”
The room erupted in voices and the President hammered with the gavel.
Roger raised his voice above the din, “The harvest has failed the last three years and this year’s harvest has yet to be planted: which means we must conserve.”
A voice in the room shouted, “We have small children to feed, are we to starve our families?”
Dan said, “There are reasonable rationing plans.”, but his voice was not heard above the noise of the room.
The President hammered his gavel and shouted, “The Council will withdraw into private conference!” He walked out of the council room and Roger, Dan and the other Councilmen followed.
Once in a private room, the President asked Roger and Dan, “What are we going to do about it?”
“Well,” began Roger, “we have a plan.”
The President raised his hands and motioned around the room, “Let’s here it.”
“It’s simple. We assemble a party and go out and find sources of food.”
“Just go get food? Like visit a grocery store?” scoffed the President.
“Obviously not. Wild game, abandoned farm fields with cereals or vegetables. We establish foraging routes through the wilderness.”
“Well, we don’t know what’s out there…the foraging parties would also be able to find out.”
“Exactly, the benefits are two fold, we get badly needed fresh food and we would find out if anyone is out there. I mean, there’s been no communication even with other hidden towns, we just don’t know if we’re all that’s left or if the world has just forgotten about us.”
The President scowled in thought and nodded, “I endorse this plan. Let’s put it to a vote.”

Life

Darla cleaned up after the evening meal and went into the back room of the house and stood before the machine. It wasn’t very big, not like the advertisements for it when it was new. They showed a massive gunmetal grey doorway leading into a totally new world. When the machine actually came in the mail, she was disappointed by its shoebox size black plastic box. It sat atop a metal desk, a chair in front. The box was only the brains of the machine, draped on the chair was the interface.
A grey body suit, the interface reads physical action and interprets it into the virtual world. It also takes virtual stimuli and interprets them into the real world. If you are hungry in the virtual world, you feel hungry. If you reach out in the real world, you reach out in the virtual world. What makes it all work is the neural interface- a visor with interacts with your eyes and brain to produce the illusion behind the virtual world.
Darla slipped on the suit and turned on the machine. The low hum of cooling fans filled the small room and she caught a whiff of warm ozone. Her whole body tingled for a moment as she plugged the suit into the machine. As she slipped on the visor, everything went dark. When she reached out, the darkness gradually became lighter.
A stage appeared in front of her, backlit red then green then blue then red again. Fading in was a semi-transparent square, shoulder high. Darla was standing in the back of the room and at the same time was standing directly in front of the square. It split into bars and writing appeared- a menu.
Darla reached out and pressed the bar marked “Configure” and then “Single Log-In” and finally “Begin”. For a moment, it seemed as if nothing would happen, but then her vision went dark again and fading in was a top-down view of the world with brightly lit circles, different colors for different languages spoken, she reached out and pressed the circle roughly where the city of Chicago should be.
In a blur, she found herself standing in the south-bound lanes of a freeway through downtown Chicago. There was no traffic since no one was around to drive, but there were individuals around to interact with. In fact, before her were several milling “people”. She reached out in their direction and bubbles appeared over their heads with away messages emblazoned inside.
She walked for miles down the road. She stopped to rest and a server helper shaped like an anime style Japanese student said to her, “Sorry, my user is not logged in. I am programmed with only a minor set of instructions, but perhaps I can help anyway?”
Darla asked it, “Are there any other users logged in?”
The anime was silent for a moment, thinking, and then cheerfully proclaimed, “There are no other registered users currently logged in on the Chicago server. Globally, including yourself, there are two users online. The most ever online was eight million, two hundred thousand-“
Darla interrupted it, “What was that? How many online?”
The anime said, “There are a total of two users online globally.”
“Where? What server?”
“Please refine query.”
“Um…what server is the other registered user on?”
“I do not understand what you are asking. Perhaps you’d like to contact the help desk?”
Darla could feel her body start to sweat. “No. What servers are currently in use?”
“The Chicago and Wilderness 17 servers are currently in use.”
Darla made a gesture and Chicago disappeared, bringing back the top-down view of the world. She reached out to the Wilderness Server #17 and the blackness around her sprouted trees and she found herself atop a rock formation.
To no one, she asked, “Where am I?”
Behind her, a male voice answered, “Devil’s Tower.”
She spun around to face the voice and her vision went black. Flailing around in the dark, she gradually lost feeling in her limbs and found it too difficult to move. The darkness gave way to light, a blurred image that as it cleared up was the face of her husband, Roger. His mouth was moving, but no words were coming out.
“I found someone.” she said; her voice hollow in her ears. A hissing sound seemed to come from no where and then fade as quickly as it came.
Roger said, “You didn’t set the timer.”
“No, I didn’t.” she stated flatly.
“Why didn’t you? You promised you would.”
“I don’t know why, but I’m glad I didn’t.”
“You could have lobotomized yourself!”
“Don’t exaggerate. I found a person who’s not a bot.”
“You’re kidding.”
“No.” she groggily stood up from the chair she didn’t remember sitting down on. “A Helper told me there were a total of two users online and I found him on Wilderness Server 17…at Devil’s Tower.”
“What did he say?”
“He told me where I was and then you hit the emergency abort and pulled me out.”
“I’m sorry…I probably should have checked in before I did that, but I was worried about how long you were in already. I was worried.”
“I know.” She grabbed his hand, “Thanks for caring.”
She let it go and started taking off the gray body suit.
Roger turned and said, “I’ll make drinks.”

Talk

Roger leaned forward on a brown couch and rested his elbows on his knees, his hands together, cradling his drink. Darla was opposite him, leaning back in a matching overstuffed chair. He swished his drink around and said, “The Council is sending out scouting parties to find food supplies.”
“Is it that bad?”
“Six months or so.”
“And you’re leading one of the parties?”
“Well, it was my idea. I’ll only be gone for a few days.”
“Where are you going to go?”
“I have a map of the area with the routes marked out; you can take a look if you’re interested. My group is going north a few kilometers then turning west and making a big circle back home. Dan’s group is heading to what was a rather sizable town. I’d like to tag along with him, but my guys are depending on me. Dan knows what he’s doing more than I do.”
“What should I do while you’re gone?”
“You can do the outdoor chores if you want, but they can wait for when I get back.”
“I want to search for the man on the machine.”
“There’s nothing I can do to stop you,” Roger said sighing, “But, please please set the timer. It’s not healthy to spend so long jacked in.”
Darla rolled her eyes. “Don’t worry, Roger, I know what I’m doing.”
“I’m not claiming otherwise. I’m just worried is all. How do you know it’s really a person and not a well written bot?”
“I don’t, but I want to find out.”
“Would you do me a favor?”
“What now?”
“You don’t have to get snappy. I was just going to ask that you have someone watch over you when you search, just in case.”
“Alright, I’ll get someone.”

Trap

Roger left early in the morning, before sunup. After Darla had breakfast, she called her neighbor, Cathy, and asked her to come over just in case anything went wrong.
“It’s so silly,” Darla said, “But Roger made me promise. Besides, it’s not a bad idea.”
“Well,” responded Cathy, “I don’t know much about those machines. I never used one before.”
“It’s simple, read this monitor,” she pointed to a small LCD monitor inlaid in the machine’s case, “and if the readings start blinking red, press the button on the top of the machine and it’ll break the connection. OK?”
“And what do I do while you’re in there and it’s not blinking?”
“Do whatever. Make yourself at home. I’ll owe you big time if you do this for me.”
“Ok, I’ll do it.”
Darla plugged herself in and selected the Wilderness Server #17.
Her vision went black and sprouted trees, like before, but she found herself standing at the foot of Devil’s Tower, staring up at it. The Indians said that a giant bear scratched the groves in the sides of the rock, and Darla was standing on one of the bits gouged out, a massive boulder. Boulders surrounded her and went all around the Tower. She reached out and mimed grabbing the tip of the rock and pulling herself up and hooked her leg up onto the flat top of the Tower.
She pulled herself up and panted at the effort. Straightening herself up, she looked around and the man was no longer here.
“Hello?” she shouted, “Hello!”
“You don’t need to shout, I’m right behind you.”
She spun around and lost her balance, the man steadied her.
He said, “I didn’t expect you to take so long coming back. You left in a hurry last time.”
“My husband hit the panic button.”
“Ah, that happens.” The man looked out at the forest and plains below, turning away from Darla. “What’s your handle?”
“Huh?”
“Your nickname, alias, soubriquet…what’s your name?”
“Darla.”
“I’m Paul.”
“Where are you?”
Paul turned back to Darla, “I’m right here. Just a joke. I’m not sure where I am. The government put us in these towns, I assume you’re in one too, and the Council won’t tell us.”
“Do you know what’s happened to the rest of the world?”
“Aliens.”
“What do you mean ‘aliens’?”
“Illegal aliens from outer space. They swooped down and killed everyone. The Council told us that at least. They heard it on the radio before they all went dead.”
“Then they left?”
“Naw, I doubt it. Why leave? This is a great planet. It’s green and lush and has all that water. The atmosphere isn’t nearly as bad as it is back home. Humans haven’t the technology to really mess things up. Make an ice age, sure, but nothing serious. Back home, the air makes your skin bleed.”
“What are you talking about? ‘Back home’? You said you were in another town.”
“I was just joshing you. I’m one of those aliens I mentioned. And aren’t you a find? They said I was wasting my time looking on these old computer servers.”
Darla backed away, but Paul grabbed her. His two arms became four and the second set clasped her forehead. A sharp pain shot through her skull.
“Oh, this is interesting…isn’t it?” Paul giggled, “Looks like you’re almost out of food and looking for more. Perfect, your hubby is with one of the search parties. We’ll have fun killing him.”
Paul’s face firmed up in a grimace. He said, “This is quite excellent. Let’s retire to some proper environs.”
The top of Devil’s Tower disappeared and Darla found herself strapped down in a dentist’s chair. A swiveling table top with the California Raisin dolls super glued to it was in front of her. Paul appeared above her with a doctor’s mask and protective goggles on.
“Hmmmmmmmm,” he said, “Let’s get started, shall we?”
She tried to answer, but found that her mouth was numb and she couldn’t talk. Paul turned on the overhead light, blinding her. She heard metal scraping metal; he was searching for the tool he wanted. He giggled and she decided that he had found what he wanted.
She felt the blood draining from her face when she heard the high pitched buzz of a dentist’s drill. Shadows moved, obscured by the strong light. One of Paul’s hands tapped her forehead, like someone does a melon.
“What I’m doing, Darla, is not torture. In fact, you won’t remember this at all. What I am doing is putting you to work for us.”
Paul took a marker and made a dot in the middle of her forehead. Darla heard the drill and tried to move, but she couldn’t. He moved the light slightly to the side and brought the drill down onto her forehead. She heard it going, grinding against her skull, but she felt no pain.
Paul spoke after the drill stopped, “What I’m doing is making my way through the protection built into your machine and interface. This scene, this environment, is just an illustration. I searched your mind for what you fear most and it seems that what you fear most is the dentist. When I first started my job, I found that mostly men feared the dentist, women feared more serious things. You are very interesting, Darla.”
Darla heard the clank as Paul set the drill down.
“What I’m doing now is introducing a computer virus into your brain. Since the human brain stores information basically the same way as a computer, it works quite well. What it will do is ‘reprogram’, I use the term figuratively, you into our servant. You will aid us in subjugating the pocket of resistance you live in.”
Darla tried to scream and struggle. She had to stop this.
“Now, Darla, don’t try to struggle. Resistance is useless.
Paul had in his hand an eyedropper and he hovered it over the drill hole he made and squeezed all of the liquid out. Darla felt cold in her skull.
Back in reality, she pulled off her interface visor and scanned the room; Cathy was sleeping on a folding chair. She hadn’t even noticed the emergency beeping of the machine as Darla was panicking.
Darla stood and walked over to her, shaking Cathy awake.
“Cathy! Cathy, wake up!” she said.
Cathy bolted upright in the chair, “Oh, God. I’m so sorry I fell asleep. Are you ok? Did I mess up?”
Darla smiled, “You did fine. I want to show you something in the machine. I have an extra visor under the table. You’ll love it.”
Darla fished the extra out from under the table and after trying in vain to blow off the dust, she handed it to Cathy and plugged it in.
“I don’t know…” said Cathy.
“Come on, just do it. You won’t regret it.”
“I’ve never used one before. What do I do?”
“Just put it on your head and the machine does the rest.”
“What’s going to happen?”
“You’ll join us and become one of us.”
“What?”
In a flash, Darla knocked Cathy down and tried to push the visor onto her head, Cathy pushed it away as hard as she could, but was losing. She kicked at Darla all she could, but Darla ignored it all, focused on the visor. Finally, Darla let up a bit and kneed Cathy in the stomach, giving her the upper hand and slipped the visor onto her head.

End time

Roger crept through the forest, his rifle at the ready. His group was spaced out around him, keeping alert.
He whispered to the man next to him, “How far until where the signal originated?”
The man looked at a small computer display and whispered back, “Eight hundred meters.”
Many hours before, they had received a distress signal from the scouting party led by his friend on the council, Dan. The message said that they were under attack and needed help.
After a few minutes of creeping, the man quietly said, “Here we are.”
At their feet, covered in leaves was a body, scorched to the bone with fire, but definitely fresh. As they moved it, the sickly sweet smell of burnt flesh rose touched their senses.
Roger stood and motioned to his group saying, “We’re heading home.”
As they cleared the woods surrounding their small town, an unknown ship zoomed overhead and landed several hundred meters in front of them. Strange creatures exited it. Several more ships rose up from the town.
They group was disarmed and taken to the town center. Everyone was there, lined up. A distinctly alien voice was speaking in some strange language over a loud speaker. Then, a very familiar voice was translating it into English. Roger looked hard and recognized his neighbor’s wife, Cathy. Beside her was his own wife, Darla, both wearing uniforms identical to the ones worn by the aliens.
Cathy spoke into a loud speaker, “You belong to The Masters. Some of you will be chosen, as we have, to become overseers. The rest will work. You are slaves of The Masters. Humanity belongs to the Masters. Resistance is useless.”
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