The Game: Beta Testing

PREFACE

Awakening Fractured Memories is a series of short stories set in an alternate universe to the Awakening series. Featured characters and scenarios may or may not have played a role in the current Awakening stories. These short stories give readers more time with the characters and in the world in which they exist. The Fractured Memories are add-ons to Awakening which is, as of this writing, in its third draft stage. You can keep an eye out for progress reports on the Awakening website over at:

www.AwakeningAnthology.com

I base most of the short stories on a series of dreams recorded in a dream journal that later shape the world and characters of the Awakening. The few stories whose plots don’t stem from the dream journals are exercises in exploring and developing characters and ideas that stem from the main work of the Awakening series, or reader requests.

The Game: Beta Testing is based on a few lines jotted down in my dream journal. A school play production is broadcast to the nation. An overly dramatic lead actress swoons: Take me to my father and you will be handsomely rewarded. The hero hesitates.

The Game: Beta Testing is the start of the development of what later becomes the Ghost in the Machine arc of Awakening: Prodigy.

THE GAME: BETA TESTING

The Council Academy’s auditorium buzzed with nervous energy and excitement as the students, dressed in costumes suited for their roles, rehearsed lines with dramatic flare.

Every December, like clockwork, the theatrical festivities aired live across the nation. The former government considered frivolous entertainment a waste of time, desiring instead for the population to focus their time and energy on intellectual and physical pursuits. As a reward, they had allowed for a small period at the end of the year for community entertainment. The current government, known as the Council, took a more measured approach. Though they shared much of the same attitude toward the overabundance of time-wasting activities, they acknowledged the need for the population to unwind and engage in social activities as a community, as long as the activities adhered to the strict government guidelines.

Each school presented several teams for the showcase, each team capable of winning valuable funding for their place of education. Knowing that government funding was won based on the number of parents watching their children on the live stream, it was not uncommon for struggling education centers to create a large cast of characters and force students into insignificant roles.

The Council’s Academy didn’t rely on viewership for government subsidies since the elite funded them through increasing tuition costs. The elite sent their children to the Academy for four things: education, opportunity, connections, and notoriety in one of three educational branches.

Contributions won from tonight’s event would be donated, in whole, to charity. These public acts of charity improved the reputation of the school, the students taking part, and their parents, who would boast about their children’s event rankings and scores. Everything at