12.30pm GMT Thursday 1 January 2085
‘Thanks for the vid,’ said Tom. ‘That was some of the best destruction I’ve ever seen – hilarious!’
‘Yeah. My mum didn’t think so,’ said Zak.
‘It must have been a tough week.’
‘The worst Christmas ever. Being banned from the computer is like having half your brain chopped out. Apart from watching the snow, all I could do was look forward to my miserable new life on Mars.
Tom paused. His avatar became sad.
‘I’m crushed that you’re going mate. Moving off-planet is a killer. I know a few players on Earth-orbiting stations, but even the Moon’s too far away and needs its own league.’
‘Yeah. My appearance in Earth’s top 10,000 will be quickly forgotten. No-one ever checks the Mars rankings.’
‘So much for becoming world champion then,’ said Tom. ‘Have all our plans come to nothing?’
‘I’m not going to give up. I didn’t sit there all week thinking the dream is over. I’ll still practice. I will achieve it, somehow.’
Zak hoped his optimistic tone would convince Tom, even though he was far from convinced himself.
‘Zak, I’ve found a problem,’ said Tom. ‘The cheat we’re using only applies to the Earth network.’
‘Oh,’ said Zak, his head dropping with despair. He hadn’t considered that.
‘So you’d better make the most of your time over the next week, as you’ll be back to fighting Spongeymen when you leave,’ said Tom.
‘Yeah, I’ll do that,’ said Zak, with a sigh.
‘We’ll keep in touch,’ said Tom. ‘It’s just a shame we never got to meet face to face.’
‘I’m sure we will one day,’ said Zak. ‘As soon as I turn eighteen, I’ll dust myself off, and return to live on Planet Earth.’
