Flash Fiction: The Words and the Nausea

A theory gaining some ground in the scientific community is that the whole universe is an artificial creation, like a computer game or the Matrix. There are, apparently, lines of code in the fabric of the universe that make this a dead give away (philosophically speaking).  The chances are that we all live in some cosmological playpen, like the Holodeck in Star Trek the Next Generation. And, yes the holograms became sentient and have started to kill each other.

The truly terrifying aspect of this concept is not that the thought that all life is meaningless and without purpose, or even that all of our suffering (the one thing we can truly hold sacrosanct) is for nothing. The truly terrifying aspect is the thought that I may have become stuck on the second level, got bored and spent my whole life playing the mini-games.

None of this really concerned me much until one day as I was on my way to Tesco, I saw the evidence of it. In giant twelve-foot letters, covering both cloud and vapour trail and in comic sans no less, I read the words, "You only have five turns left until this game finishes."

Events soon afterwards gave me some reason to accept the truth of those letters. The trouble is, I don't understand the mechanics of the game, how long a turn takes or even what points I have scored. Let alone what I need to do to complete the game successfully.

I am not speaking metaphorically nor is this allegory or allusion, I actually saw the words as clear as crystal just seconds before I passed out for the first time; just outside the Oxfam on Telegraph Road.

The words and the nausea. The realisation and the sudden terrible doubt. I didn't need a doctor to tell me I was in trouble but I had one do it anyway, just to be on the safe side.

Five turns left. What does a turn constitute? In some games, it is a set amount of time.  In others a set amount of actions. 

In most turn-based games you can simply extend the length of a turn by refusing to act. It makes for boring play but it's an option (especially if you just can't stand losing to Gary Oak again). 

Call it intuition if you like or perhaps just the abundant evidence that experience provides but I get the feeling our universe is not that sort of game anyway.  I wondered if that realisation constituted a turn.