Contributor: BrettB

“See outside!” Kenna shouted gleefully.

“Initializing... Command: 'See outside.' Command Accepted. Initializing...” The cockpit vanished, to be replaced by the outside of the ship. Kenna spun the cockpit around, looking for a good target. She spotted a stack of steel drums. Kenna pushed a button on her controller. A green crosshair appeared over the stack of metal barrels. Green words began to blink below the crosshair. “Target locked on.” Kenna's finger began to tighten around the trigger. She was just about ready to shoot when she stopped. What was she doing? This was real -- not some simulation! If she had blasted those drums, she could have blown up the entire hanger!

“Terminate!” Kenna ordered.

“Initializing...Command: 'Terminate.' Invalid Command.”

“End the simulation!” Kenna shouted.

“Initializing...Command: 'End the simulation.' Invalid Command.”

"Power Down!"

“Initializing... Command: 'Power down.' Command Accepted. Initializing...” In an instant, everything went black. Kenna yanked off the helmet and dropped it on the floor by her chair. It was so real, and yet – she was so detached from reality. It would have been so easy to destroy the barrels when she thought they were only computer-generated targets. If the academy ever got a hold of technology like that, new recruits would have no qualms about annihilating entire fleets of enemy ships...they weren't actually looking at a ship blowing up – it was just an incredibly believable digital rendering.

Kenna climbed out of the seat, and worked her way back to the elevator. She was still in a daze as she walked back across the bridge. That was enough training for today. She needed to get back in touch with reality, and she hadn't met anyone more real and down-to-earth than Graffyr.