literature

A Virtual Holiday

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    Sel flicked through another virtual holiday magazine. With 4 minutes and 9 seconds to go until her entitled holiday leave, Sel had yet to pick her holiday destination.
    Stationed at one of the larger orbital stations, Sel and the rest of the crew were ordered to work on rotation. There were a dozen of them, although two were in stasis sleep. Sel had seen them. They were only to be wakened when one of the crew members malfunctioned. Manning a space station was a stressful job.  
    Sel swapped her holiday magazine for one that had been resting in the rack. The 2013 magazine featured popular destinations in Europe. The magazines showed their age; the European Union disbanded many hundred years ago.
    Sel had not been surprised that the space station had been equipped with an old database. Any files over 300 years of age are considered to be in the public domain and are free to download. Still, Sel appreciated the glimpses of Earth that the computer had available. Images and video recordings had now been archived and converted to holograms.

    The World Wide Virtual Web (WWVW), first created in 2097, allowed users to alter their surroundings depending on the website they were visiting. Developments were soon made to the WWVW, allowing users a more life-like experience by recreating sensory responses.     Technology soon became so advanced that, combined with specially built Virtual Recreation Rooms, anyone could pick a destination and find that their clinical white Virtual Recreation Room had been replaced with the user's desired location. That wasn't factually correct, of course. The walls, floor and ceiling of a Virtual Recreation Rooms were lined with lots of little sensors and components that enabled the room to carry out its function. A single Virtual Reacreation Room is, in fact, a computer.

    Sel was currently using the Virtual Recreational Room. Still flipping through the holiday magazine, Sel slowed when she saw glossy photos of France. The most visited places, and their corresponding page number, were listed in the centre of the page. Sel went to page 42. The Eiffel Tower stood proudly in the photograph. Since the space station’s Virtual Recreation Room was an older model, Sel was aware that the computer was not capable in showing big, open areas. Before Sel had been deployed to work at this space station, she had seen advertisements for the latest model, Virtual Recreation Room 1000. It claimed that it included movement, the latest sensory update, plus files for all of the amusement parks in the past and even a few up to date additions. The advert mentioned a demo file for a couple of the rides at Mars Amusement Park which was owned by The Company.
    The Company was also Sel’s employer. Sel watched that advertisement on September 1st, the year 2152. It had been the day she was due to be transported to the space station. She didn’t know how long she had been working at the station.
Sel looked down at her magazine and saw a picture of La Caféothèque, a poky café in Paris. It reminded her of home. Created in a factory in Sector B6, Sel missed her assigned room. It was small and dirty but it had been hers.
    Sel tapped on the picture of her virtual magazine. Responding to the user’s command, the Virtual Recreation Room made a whirring noise as it transformed itself to look like the inside of La Caféothèque. Taking a seat at an empty table, Sel admired her surroundings. One wall was lined with drawers filled with unroasted coffee beans. She then noticed that display cabinet full of cakes and pastries. She caught the attention of the waitress. In perfect French, Sel asked for a cup of coffee and a croissant.
    It was raining outside. Sel knew this because a group of students entered the café with wet umbrellas. They laughed with relief and soon settled down at one of the empty tables. After a while, the waitress arrived with her order. Sel stared, and then took a bite from her buttered croissant. Sel absorbed the atmosphere, watching the humans go about their lives.
This is :iconthewritersmeow: prompt: Travel. Journal here: Poll Up and New Prompt!

My concept was to focus on the future of travel.



We interrupt our regular broadcast to give you this important announcement from The Company:

 

The internet has evolved! The World Wide Virtual Web proved to be successful and ever since the introduction to the Virtual Recreation Room, invented by us, there’s no reason for you to ever leave your house. In case no one has told you, travelling has now become obsolete. (Unless you’re planning to journey to another galaxy far, far away!)

With the Virtual Recreation Room, you’ll no longer have the constant anxiety that weighs you down when travelling. You’ll never ever forget your passport, miss your plane or have to hire another car again. Because with the Virtual Recreation Room, you can arrive at your virtual destination without any of those things.

So come on down at our virtual store (wwvw.thecompany.com) and buy one of our Virtual Recreational Rooms today!

 

Huh, that was weird. Moving on. Although I had to rework this piece several times, I’m so pleased with how this came out. I’ve read a few sci-fi novels but I’m not knowledgeable (or even confident) in writing science fiction. I did my best to do as much research as I could.

If I’ve made any mistakes then please point them out.

Word count: 689 words.

Comments3
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TheHopeNeverDies's avatar
This is super cool, I love the whole future aspect!  c: Well written, too!