Phantasmagoria
The Andromeda Dreadnought

''Hereyou go, Mr Williams,'' Cara...says to me...as she hands me a...weirdlooking bean...

''What...isit...?'' I manage to...ask her.

''It'slike one of those beans Goku and his friends use,'' Cararesponds...nonchalantly. She makes it...sound like she...knowsthem...personally.

''What...doI do with it?'' I ask.

''Eatit of course. It will make you perk up in no time,'' Carareplies...as she...she grins at me.

''Sure...itwon't kill me?'' I muse. I'm eating...imaginary beans now. Godknows...what it can do.

''Hah,I don't think I would get rid of you with a bean, Mr Williams. Afterall, you have faced 4 level keepers, vengeful participants, imaginarymummified killers and harsh climates and terrain. Want to add a'villainous' bean to that list?'' Cara says...sarcastically. No, Iguess not. I might as well...eat it. With the last of my strength...Iswallow the bean whole.

''See?That wasn't so bad was it?'' Cara says to me...as I feel the effectsof the bean...refreshing me.

Wow.

Wow!

Ifeel...rejuvenated!

Revived!

Revitalised!

Nowthat's what I call a bean! I immediately stand up and look around me.The surroundings are now back to normal; the colourful array ofdripping paint encompasses the sky once more, the cascade continuumis...still continuing, and I see that we are on the pillow I conjuredup previously.

''Whatwas that?! I feel great!'' I say to Cara. I sound...more enthusiasticthan usual. I wonder if I've been given drugs? Well, whatever, Idon't really care what it is; it works!

''Toldyou it would work. Now let's be going now, Mr Williams, you've beenawarded your points, so we can go,'' Cara says as she turns and walksto the edge of the pillow.

''Wait...where'sAmber?'' I ask her. I didn't see what happened to her after the lastbattle.

''She'salright, you don't need to worry,'' Cara says with a smile.

''OK.So how many points did she give me?'' I ask again. Cara looks at me.

''Shegave you 900 points,'' Cara answers. 900? So, somebody got higherthan I did?

''Noone was awarded 1000 points. You all did equally well on thislevel,'' Cara answers my silent question.

''Thatcan happen in this game? The level keeper can decide whether or notthey can award the highest points?'' I ask her. That's strange; Ididn't know that the level keeper doesn't have to award 1000 pointsto anyone.

''It'salways up to the level keeper; they decide whether your performancewas better than someone else's, but if it's not, then she can awardhowever many points she feels like you deserve,'' Cara explainsfurther. I nod after Cara explains everything and ponder over thepoints that I got. Since Vaughan, Drew, Pete, the other guy and I allgot below 1000, I wonder what places we are in on the leader board. Iwonder if they are still in the game...

''Cara,how many people are left in the game?'' I ask her. Did we allsurvive? Thanks to Saya's ability, we can't see each other. I wonderif she will do the same in the next level.

''There's3 participants remaining in the game,'' Cara reveals.

3...participants?

Whocame out?

Was itDrew and Pete? Or Pete and the other guy? Or the other guy and Drew?I sure do hope Vaughan is out. That guy was so annoying.

''MrWilliams, what means of transport would you like to use for us to getto the next level?'' Cara asks me. What means of transport? That's agood question, I hadn't thought of that. I'm so busy trying to keepup with the statistics of the game I hadn't realised the time. Whatshould I come up with...

''Well,I've had a bicycle, a train, a roller-coaster and a hot-airballoon...I haven't had...a ship...'' I say as I think of a ship touse. I turn to my right and begin to imagine one has come up from thewater; a great big, metal grey ship that looks like the size of theTitanic.

''Wow,that is big,''Cara says as she comes closer to where I'm standing to get a betterlook of it.

''Wantto go on it?'' I ask her, motioning her forward.

''Yeah,of course!'' Cara says immediately, and without a moment's notice,she floats aboard the ship and waits for me to follow. I jump offfrom the pillow and fly over to the deck of the ship and settle downnext to her.

''Nowwe can leave,'' I say to her as I head over to the steering wheel.

''Thisis its maiden voyage. Before we go, shouldn't you give it a name?''Cara says to me. A name? It's just a ship. Why would I care aboutnaming it? It's only going to be used for a while and thenshipwrecked or something. It's only a means of transport from here tothe next level. Why does she care about naming the ship?

''Soyou can remember it,'' Cara says, as if to answer my quiet thoughts.So I can remember it? OK...whatever she says.

''Idon't know what to call it. Do you have any ideas?'' I ask her. Carathinks for a while as she looks at the features of the ship. Shebends down and strokes the deck floor and then stands up again. Whatdid she do that for?

''...Andromeda...,''I hear her say. Andromeda?

''Andromeda?''I repeat. Why give it that name?

''Ilike it...Andromeda Dreadnought,'' she says.

AndromedaDreadnought?

I rollmy eyes and sigh heavily. I don't understand this girl at all. And Idon't even want to begin to. I carry on walking to the wheel andbegin to operate the ship.

''I'llwork the sails,'' Cara says as she skips across the deck to man thesails.

''OK,''I say. The ship begins to move slowly through the water as soon as weget it to move, rocking up and down smoothly. We sail for a few moremoments before I remember that we are still on the cascade continuum.

''We'regoing to be coming up to some water falls, so be careful,'' I say toCara. She doesn't look like she's listening. Does she even care?

''Ifeel it,'' I say to myself as I notice the ship starting to goforward at an angle. I think quickly about what I should do when weimpact, so I imagine the ship...is as light as a feather. I feel theship float down slowly as a feather would in the wind, and I sighwith relief as I feel the soft impact of it when it hits the water.We carry on sailing and I do the same thing every time we come to awaterfall, but I wonder...

Whenis it going to end?

Down...

Float...

Down...

Float...

Down...

Float...

Down...

Float...

Down...

''Hmm?''I make a noise, realising I've been spacing out. I move the wheel,but it doesn't seem to be...moving. The sails...aren't going either.We're...stuck.

Stuck?

Whendid this happen?

''Cara?Cara?'' I call out to Cara, who seems to be daydreaming or something.She hasn't moved from there for a while. What's wrong with-

''Therewill now be a 2 hour break from the game. Please enjoy yourafternoon,'' I hear a woman's voice say as the game visor pulls awayfrom my head and the sight of being inside the game is changed to thesight of being inside the cubicle. That was abrupt.

I situp and blink down hard a few times.

''Wow,that's the time?'' I say to myself as I see on my wrist watch it isonly 2pm.

2pm?!

Feelslike I've been in there forever. Feels like a never ending dream. Irub my face with my hands to try and wake myself up.

''Agh!''I let out as I feel a small prick in the side of my neck. I go totouch my neck to see what it is. Maybe it's a small insect orsomething...feels like a slight bump.

Whatis it? It feels weird. I think it is just an insect bite.

Yeah,it is...

''HelloMr Williams, I hope you had a fun time. We will be having anothershort break for two hours before continuing with the game.Congratulations on making it to level 5 by the way, and I hope you'vehad fun playing Phantasmagoria,'' the same lady that serviced mebefore comes into my cubicle and announces. She sounds like a robot.

''Yeah,thanks,'' I say as I rub the side of my neck and begin to get up frommy seat. The lady gives me back my phone and leaves the cubicle atonce, leaving me on my own.

''Soback at 4pm,'' I say aloud to myself as I glance at my phone. I'vegot two hours to-

BRZZZZZT!BRZZZZT!

Myphone goes off in my hand. I check to see who it is, and I see thatit's Hannah ringing me. I wonder what it is she wants?

''Hannah?Hey, honey, what's up?'' I answer the phone. I'm glad Hannah's phonedme. Her voice keeps me sane.

''Hey...um,can you come home now please?'' Hannah says to me in a slightly upsetvoice.

''Hannah?What's wrong? Is everything OK?'' I ask her quickly. What's going on?Why is she upset? I'm getting quite worried now.

''I'vegot something to tell you,'' she says. Something to tell me? Whatcould it be?

''I'llbe right there!'' I say into the phone quickly before I hang up, rushout of the cubicle, out of the Game Emporium and run all the wayhome.

Hannah...

Pleasebe alright!

Pleasebe OK!

Please!