"Gamer"

Jeff is sitting at his Gamer Console 6000X, playing the Game. Most of his waking hours are spent playing, like most other people his age. It is a very respectable quality; his parents are understandably proud of him and always make sure he is well rested and has the very best console whenever a new one comes out. A lot of his friends have less than adequate Gaming rigs, so they never win any prizes at Tournament.

He has been playing the Game as long as he can remember, and winning just as long. In the beginning, other children laughed at his creations because they couldn't understand how they worked. These days, no one laughs. Other Gamers look up to him; even the ones that play for different Factions. Jeff's Faction is the most prestigious, and has brought his family a lot of respect. Scientists have studied his brain and told his family that he was born different; exceptional. Jeff feels that he was born to play the Game.

The Game has no set rules. Gamers are responsible for creating the most astounding things they can imagine, and at the end of each year, the best Gamers are called to Tournament to present their most amazing work of the year and receive prizes. Jeff's Faction is Life Forms. In his Faction, prizes are awarded for sub-categories such as “Difficulty of Environment” and “Highest Number of Life Forms” and “Sustainability”.

To date, Jeff has created three hundred million different types of Life Form; more than any other Gamer in history. At the very beginning of his Gaming career, he also had to create a sustainable place for his Life Forms to live.

Jeff chuckles to himself, remembering the look on his father's face when he saw the colors Jeff had chosen for the Life Forms' holding area. Father had blustered about the unnatural colors, but Mother whispered in his ear that it was beautiful.

Ever since Jeff beat the record for most creations, he has been refining his Life Forms; only creating new ones when he is struck with inspiration. Mostly his new ones are Destroyers, made to help control his other creations. His friend Moira, who plays in for the Celestial Faction, always turns up her nose when he tells her about his newest Destroyers. She says his Faction is too violent, and too sad. He likes Moira, but accepts that her mind just cannot comprehend the beauty and elegance destruction.

Today Jeff is testing a Destroyer he created to show at Tournament this year. He has created Destroyers like this one before, but since they do not fit into the Life Form parameters, the Indexers have never noticed them in his creation. No other Gamer has created anything like it. Jeff feels a bit desperate as he pulls up the Arbitrary Selector menu. He doesn't admit it, even to himself, but he is running out of ideas.

The Arbitrary Selector has highlighted a file name. Trembling slightly, he runs the program for his new Destroyer.

Charlene is dying. The doctors say that her tumors have spread throughout her body; into her bones and wrapping around her heart. She doesn't have very long, they say, so she should get her affairs in order while she still has a little strength.

Charlene has no affairs to put in order. She didn't even know she was sick until a few months ago. She doesn't understand this cancer. She knows everyone talks about it, and millions die from it, but she can't understand where it comes from. Doctors don't seem to know either. They tell her scientific things about cell growth, but dumb it down like she's some overgrown child. It doesn't matter; she feels like a child. If she had ever known her mother, Charlene suspects that she'd want to hold her hand right now.

Charlene is going to die, and hardly anyone knows she even lived.

Jeff sits back down after his light lunch. He left the program running while he ate, so now it's already burned through generation after generation. Jeff smiles; relieved. His new idea worked. He doesn't know why he doubted himself. The Tournament Judges, the Scientists, and his parents have been telling him all his life that he's the best there is. His new Destroyer is perfection, and he sends a message out to Moira through the game, the little light she Created for their communications zooming its way across the Viewer, hurtling away from his Life Form Holding Facility.

He runs the program Moira made to follow the message to her work space, enjoying the scenery at a distance. His facility is unique. No one else had thought to make one blue and green... or covered with water, for that matter.

Jeff's smile extends and is the embodiment of His world, His Game. He will astound the Tournament Judges again this year. He is the best, and He sees his work as perfection.