For our writing group's 11th contest, I delved a bit into philosophical science fiction. What would it be like, I thought, if people were not only able to decide when they died but how as well? I figured we humans could make up all sorts of great endings! And, as I was an undergraduate student at Weber State University at that time, I also decided to enter it into their writing contest. I was pleasantly surprised when it took 3rd place, and my wife and I were invited to the awards ceremony! This writing stuff was starting to pay off!
The Death Adventure Company
by Rusty Keele
This was Earl's day, it was the one he had picked several years ago. He had known it was coming for a long time and he wasn't going to lose his composure now. He stopped walking before he reached the open double doors, and turned to look at them one last time. His wife gave him a gingerly wave as she dabbed her eyes with a wad of tissue. Earl looked at his siblings, children, grand-children and close friends. They all knew this day would come, there was no sense in crying over it! He raised himself up to his full height and gave them a crisp salute, then turned and walked through the doors which were being held open by a couple of impeccably dressed doormen.
After passing through, the doors were quietly shut and the doormen disappeared. In front of him was another set of double doors, but these were much more ornate - and they were closed. Engraved in the bronze above the doors was the company's slogan: "Write Your Own Ending" and below that in much bigger letters: "Endarium." This was the famous room that he had heard about all his life. He gave a slight crooked smile and chuckled once. He had always assumed that as he got older he would figure out exactly how he wanted to end it all, but he never had – finally he just set a date, and now that date was here.
There was also a middle aged man in a tailored Italian suit standing in front of the doors. The man extended his hand and said, "Good afternoon Mr. Sorenson."
Earl shook his hand firmly. "Howdy James. Well, I guess the time has come at last, eh?"
"That it has, sir. Are you ready?" Mr. James's voice was steady and un-rushed.
Earl sighed. He wasn't 100% sure that he was ready, but he couldn't turn back now. "Yeah, let's do it."
Mr. James turned and opened both of the tall doors, then stood to one side and beckoned for Earl to enter the Endarium.
It was beautiful! A huge octagon shaped room with cherry wood walls and an amazing glass ceiling allowing him to view the perfect blue sky with the perfect white puffy clouds passing lazily overhead. There were several tropical trees and plants inside the room, but not too many though, it was, well... perfect. There were three passageways at various intervals around the circumference of the room, and right in the middle, on a cobblestone patio was a beautiful hand crafted table with one place setting and enough food for an entire party.
Earl breathed in the atmosphere of the room, "The last supper."
"What was that, sir?"
"Ah nothin'. I'm starvin' - let's eat."
Mr. James led the way to the table and helped Earl to his seat. A pair of butlers waiting behind the table helped him with his napkin and dishes and several portions of food and drink. Nothing had been spared - there were drinks, meats, vegetables, fruits, desserts and exotic dishes from several countries! Earl, who hadn't eaten all day, dug right in.
He would slow down or take a break every once in a while, but mainly he just kept shoveling it in. His appetite was voracious. He finally broke the silence to ask about the strange rumblings that were ever so slightly moving his dishes.
"I'm not sure what is happening," replied Mr. James. "I'll check on that right away sir." He went out the passageway directly behind the table.
He returned after several minutes and reported what he had found, "It seems that Mt. Tiberius has chosen today, of all days, to act up, sir."
"Well, its not too much of a surprise. The news has been reporting small tremors for the past week. I heard last night that all the people in the immediate vicinity have been evacuated in preparation for a major blow up."
"Yes, it would seem that it is on the verge of a 'major blow up' - as you so eloquently put it sir. Nevertheless, an eruption will not detract us. Everything will proceed as scheduled."
Earl grunted, nodded and then took a bite of fried chicken.
***
After dinner Mr. James led Earl through one of the side passageways into a changing room. He helped him out of his suit and into a comfortable jumpsuit. As the attendant was carefully hanging the suit, Mr. James asked Earl one last time about his arrangement, "This is still considered a very unusual request Mr. Sorenson. Are you absolutely determined to go through with it? You can change your mind you know."
"You mean letting your computer pick my ending? Pffaw - its fine. Besides it adds a little bit of a mystery to the end, the way God intended it you know. 'Variety is the spice of ...' well, death in this case." He grinned at Mr. James. "No, I'm determined. I'm not sure I could make up my mind anyway."
When they returned to the Endarium the table was gone, and in its place was a plush leather lounge chair. Directly behind the chair were two beautiful nurses and another smaller table with several computers and other types of equipment on it. Earl took one look at the nurses and flashed a big smile, "So far your computer has analyzed things just fine!"
As he settled into the chair, the nurse on his left began to hook up all sorts of wires to Earl. The nurse on his right began to brief him. "My name is nurse Whitlock and this is nurse Jameson. Because you want the computer to choose your ending, we have decided to let you experience several simulations. When you find one that suits you let us know and we'll have the computer generate a 'real' ending for you based upon it. Do you have any questions?"
Earl had meticulously read all the materials associated with his ending, he knew the procedure and so he shook his head. Nurse Whitlock continued, "It will be very similar to dreaming. You'll be able to move around inside the simulation while your physical body remains motionless. If there is any problem, or you desire to communicate with us just utter the phrase 'green dreams' and the computer will either begin relaying your voice communications or remove you from the simulation. Just remember that all of the simulations are filled with mortal danger - that is what we do after all." She smiled at him.
Earl nodded. Nurse Whitlock instructed him to lie back and close his eyes.
***
He was standing at the mouth of a cave. There was a stream trickling out of it, along with great bellows of white puffy steam, and he could hear - no, he could feel - rumblings coming from inside. He looked at his left hand. It was covered in a silver chain mail gauntlet. He reached to remove it when he realized that his right hand held a shiny and very sharp sword. He carefully put it in the scabbard on his belt, and pulled the glove off. Amazing! His hand was young - and strong! He felt his fingertips with his thumb - it was so real. He had forgotten what it was like to be so young.
His thoughts were interrupted by another rumble and a cloud of steam issuing forth from the cave. He returned the gauntlet to his hand, drew his sword, and started down the obvious path which led into the cave and (he was sure) to mortal danger also.
As he progressed he could hear screaming and battle sounds. Eventually the pathway turned left and opened into a huge gleaming cavern. There seemed to be a mountain of gold and treasure in the room. On the ground near the opening were three bodies - charred and still smoking. He only briefly glanced at them because his eyes were captivated by the huge, red scaly dragon that had someone cornered against the left wall - like a cat toying with a mouse. Earl heard a shrill scream and realized that it was a woman. On closer inspection he realized that she was some sort of princess - complete with long golden hair – and the dragon had her cornered against the far wall. It was laughing as smoke vapors wafted from its nostrils. "Ha ha ha ha.... There is no hope for you now my lady. Now, you will tell me where..."
The dragon was interrupted by Earl's shout. "Hey you! Why don't you pick on someone your own size - you overgrown alligator!" He had removed the huge shield on his back and was trying to speak around it as he made his way slowly into the cavern. The dragon quickly snaked its long neck around, glanced briefly at Earl and spewed forth a fiery blast.
Earl knelt down with his eyes shut tight and cowered behind the shield as the flames roared around him. It only took a moment before his arm began to singe as the metal became unbearably hot and began to cook his flesh. As tears forced their way out of his clenched eyelids he couldn't help but think that he would like to find the idiot who had given him a metal shield and wring his neck!
When the blast was over he poked his head over the top, looked at the smoking beast and said, "Good grief! You really should brush your teeth more often, you big ugly lizard!"
The dragon's eyes flashed their hatred and focused intently on him. "Enjoy your words mortal, they are the last you'll ever..." Its huge reptilian eyes darted right as it noticed the princess sprinting toward the passageway. Earl noticed her too, and felt his heart drop as he realized that she couldn't outrun the dragon's fire.
Everything literally went into slow motion as the dragon puffed up its great chest, the princess sprinted haphazardly across the gold coins, and Earl leaped between them. He thought it a nice touch that the computer would slow things down at this precise moment so that he could savor the taste of going out in style.
It was absolutely amazing, almost to the point of unbelievable, that he could leap so easily in his armor. Nevertheless he did and he took the full brunt of the dragon's raging fire - right in his chest, just like a Secret Service Agent. He did manage one last look at the princess as she raced out of the cavern and down the passageway. He smiled, and then everything went black.
***
"Mr. Sorenson? I want you to keep your eyes closed, count to ten, then open them very slowly." It was nurse Whitlock's charming voice. He smiled as he realized that he felt no pain in his arm, chest or anywhere else. His smile wavered as he felt a small tremor. He opened his eyes and saw only nurse Whitlock.
"Where is James, and the other nurse?" he asked as he rubbed his blurry eyes.
"Oh, they went to check on something. Don't worry though, everything is fine." She smiled that charming smile of hers, and Earl took a deep breath and leaned back against the chair once more. There was another tremor - this one bigger than the previous ones. He glanced at nurse Whitlock - she was looking out the window. He too looked out at Mt. Tiberius Nothing unusual yet - it was just a big mountain on the skyline. She returned her attention to him, "So, how did you like the first ending?"
"Hmm. Too much like being in a fairy tale. I guess it was alright but I'm not much into those fantasy and monster stories you know? What else you got?"
"Well, let's start the next one and you'll see. Ready?"
He leaned back once more, closed his eyes, smiled and said, "Yep. Shoot."
***
This time he was standing in the middle of a dusty street. There were several people standing on boardwalks and in front of the wooden buildings, but only one other person was in the street with him. Earl glanced down and inspected his clothing: boots, spurs, a holster with only one pistol - and he could feel the cowboy hat on his head. Slowly he turned his head to look up the street at the other person. Holding his hand up to block the sun, Earl sized up what he assumed to be his opponent. A stringy, mangy fellow with black shaggy hair, slightly bulging eyes and a wad of tobacco in his mouth. He had one of those stupid arrogant grins on his face and Earl realized he was talking to him.
"...and after you're dead I'm gonna take care of these here townspeople. That's right! All of you that treated me and my friends so badly - well you're gonna get your due." He held his arms wide as he slowly walked around in the street, obviously taking delight in frightening ordinary town folk. "Yep, we're gonna do un-speakable things to y'all! Hee hee!"
Several of the women and children, and even some of the men, were obviously disturbed by this man's words. There was a bit of a commotion as they whimpered like frightened animals and begin to shuffle around. Earl took that as his cue to speak up, "Calm down everyone, nothing this fool says is going to happen."
One of the ladies in a pretty blue dress spoke up, "But sheriff, you saw what they did to the Olsens? He's bound to do all those awful..."
She wasn't able to finish because the outlaw interrupted, "Hey! Who you callin' a fool old man?"
Earl ignored him and spoke to the lady in the blue dress, "Don't you worry your pretty little head, everything will be..." BOOM!
Earl felt a sharp pain on his right side as he slumped to the ground. He blacked out for a moment, but when he finally came to he could feel the burning in his hip. That no good rotten scoundrel! He shot me in the back! I thought these gunfights were supposed to be fair! There was some shooting and a whole lot of screaming going on. Earl rolled onto his back and opened his eyes. The outlaw man was walking around in the street shooting his pistol into the air and yelling obscenities at the fleeing crowd. He was smiling that same idiotic smile and enjoying himself very much. Earl mustered all his might and reached down to pull out his pistol. He realized that in real life he would have no chance of hitting his target - but hey this was a computer simulation. He lined up his sights on the outlaw as best he could, then yelled at him, "Hey you mangy mutt - look over here!" The man stopped walking, quit smiling and slowly turned to look at Earl. His face was right in the pistol sights. "Hasta la vista, baby." said Earl, as he squeezed the trigger.
The outlaw was blown backwards in an unsightly manner as the bullet hit its mark. Everyone was dead silent, then the crowd erupted in cheering. They crowded around Earl as he lay dying on the dusty street.
"Call the doc!" Yelled some man. One lady rushed to his side and mumbled a heartfelt thanks through her tears as she held Earl's hand. Another woman gave him an awkward hug and said, "Sheriff, when you're better I'm going to give you the biggest 'thank you' of your life!" Then she blushed a little bit as she looked around at the crowd. Several other on-lookers began to utter their thanks and give praise too. Earl rolled his eyes and silently wished that death would hurry.
Suddenly the ground underneath him began to shake violently. The computer generated people seemed not to notice, though some of them became a little bit blurry. The tremor didn't stop, and Earl realized that it was an earthquake. He also didn't think that an earthquake should be in this simulation - which only meant one thing. He spoke the secret phrase, "Green dreams!"
He was immediately yanked out of the simulation, and when he opened his eyes no one was next to him. Slowly the tremor died. He called out but no one answered. Earl sat there for a moment with his eyes wide and his heart racing. After a few moments another tremor started - a much bigger one. He looked around wildly, then remembered the glass ceiling and looked up - it was cracking and he was sure it would fall at any time. He frantically began pulling the wires off when nurse Whitlock raced into the room and began trying to remove the computer and other equipment that was behind him. "Get outta here!" he yelled at her as he removed the last wire. The entire room was shaking violently, and various pieces of equipment were falling from the table behind his chair. He quickly glanced up again and saw that the glass ceiling directly over him was breaking apart. There really wasn't time to do anything but push nurse Whitlock out of the way as several huge shards of glass crashed down on him.
One three foot long piece of glass shaped like a giant arrowhead hit Earl in the lower back as he stooped over and made a feeble attempt to shelter himself. It pierced him and brought him down as several smaller pieces crashed around him. The pain was unbelievable! It was unlike the pain he felt in the simulations, he knew this was different. He could do nothing - not breathe, not scream, not even laugh at the irony of it all. He watched nurse Whitlock race safely out of the Endarium as even more glass began to fall. His gaze fell on the window, and he saw that Mt. Tiberius was spewing a plume of ash and smoke that must have been a mile high. It was an awesome yet dreadful sight. The room was still shaking violently as he forced a weak smile and thought about all the money he had wasted planning his perfect ending, only to have it all end this way. Oh well, at least nurse Whitlock had made it out alive. He was still smiling when the rest of the ceiling came crashing down and crushed all the light and life from his world.
***
The heart monitor was flat-lining. Mr. James watched it for a moment and then looked at nurse Whitlock. She made a few notes, then starting shutting off the elaborate machine that was still connected to Mr. Sorenson. She turned to nurse Jameson, "You can finish up now."
The other nurse carefully began to remove the electrodes and wires from Mr. Sorenson as he lay peacefully on the lounge chair. Nurse Whitlock looked at Mr. James, "It worked perfectly," she said. "He bought it - the volcano, the earthquake even the glass ceiling. He believed it was all real, and he died feeling like a true hero - just like the computer predicted."
He smiled at her, "Excellent." He looked out the window at the perfectly calm Mt. Tiberius, then continued, "We really do have the perfect business, don't we Miss Whitlock?" He glanced at Mr. Sorenson once more, then said "I'll start preparing for our next client. See you in a couple of hours." Still smiling he turned and strode purposefully out of the Endarium.
The End
This story copyright © 2007 Rusty Keele. All rights reserved.
