First Pages: A Battle of Minds

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Danzer is a VR combat star. Unfortunately, somebody wants him dead. Is it a private vendetta from someone he’s defeated, a disgruntled fan, or someone else entirely. Whoever they are, their poetry stinks, but its meaning is clear. Security personnel for the VR games insist on overseeing the match between him and his most dangerous opponent, but no one knows if it will be enough. Will Security succeed in their intervention, or will their efforts result in more than Danzer losing their lives?

A Battle of Minds is a speculative science fiction short story about what the world of virtual gaming might be like. It is available from Smashwords, Kobo, Kindle, Amazon, Nook and Kobo. It will one day be incorporated into An Anthology of Minds.

First Page: A Battle of Minds


The words stood out, stark and black, against the thick white paper, but Danzer didn’t notice the quality of the page, only the words… and the threat inherent within them.


The twist and grapple of unseen hands
Two seated figures
Knuckles white where fists clutch chairs.

A stab of lightning.
A shimmering block.
Sweat beads on brows
The two
minds
lock.


A figure slumps into his seat,
His silent scream
Unheard by ears.
The other opens blurring eyes
and
draws
his mind
back.

He leaves the room.

The first man
dies.

Danzer stared at the page that held the poem before crumpling it slowly in his fist. It described the VR battle-room perfectly, although it mentioned nothing of the tall clear walls topped with bulletproof glass and of the faces beyond the windows.
He knew that arena like the back of his hand. The two chairs had intrigued him even before he had been old enough to accept the trodes that allowed him to see the battle for himself.

Until his tenth birthday, he had been forced to watch it, second hand, on a compucording. Now he was old enough to compete. 

END FIRST PAGE
  
If you would like to read more,  Battle of Minds is a speculative science fiction short story about what the world of virtual gaming might be like. It is available from Smashwords, Kobo, Kindle, Amazon, Nook and Kobo.
Location: Canberra ACT 2601, Australia

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