As soon as Eric was in his room, he began unpacking the box that contained his new computer. As a laptop, it was fairly simple to set up. Eric plugged the power cord into the wall, then pressed the power button and waited for the machine to boot up. He was surprised to see the message that appeared on the screen.
"Thank you for choosing the MasterPC XD350, a new hardware product from MasterPC industries. While the MasterPC software is compatible with all home computers, the XD350 is the ideal machine for all of you reality writing."
Strange, Eric thought, Must be some new OS I've never seen before. Well, I could get used to it.
Finally, the main screen loaded. It looked similar to a Windows desktop, but there were a few differences. There was only one icon on the screen, labelled "Command Center". This must be how I set up the computer, Eric thought. He clicked on the icon, and a new window came up. He read a message on the screen as the program loaded:
"Welcome to Master Command Center, your own personal command center. The Master
allows you to become a virtual god to the people around you. You now possess the power to bend their reality to your specifications. You are the Master."
What? Is this some kind of joke? A prompt appeared, which said "Enter User Name:". Eric was about to enter his name, when the phone rang. "Eric, it's Jason!" his mom called up the stairs. I guess this will have to wait, Eric thought as he went to get the phone.
