Come on a journey through the stars and planets of No Man’s Sky. Welcome to Player 2’s Stories from the Universe.
Stories from the Universe: A One Night Stand
No Man’s Sky was a one night stand, we met for a date and the whole outing cost me a grand total of $79.99 and then we went back to my place. It was new and exciting and I can even now recall the anticipation as we texted each other about how awesome the experience would be before we met, how much we built up this time alone we both craved so much. Ironically it was I who was played, it was I who woke up to an empty apartment and a note on my mirror reading “Thanks for last night” and that was it, alone again in my dank existence to continue the daily grind that had become my daily
First I had to fill my car up which cost me a fortune, it honestly took me so much time to scrounge up enough money to fill my tank but I managed and headed to work. There was no one on-site when I got there so I just started chipping away at the massive mound of work I had in front of me, I kept thinking of anecdotes and idiotisms I wanted to share with my co-workers but nobody showed up today. Strange.
At the end of my shift, I clocked out and went to the nearest convenience store to collect my wage from an ATM. I noticed fuel prices had gone up throughout the day and was currently in a bad spot but it turns out my gas guzzling shitbox needed more fuel so I paid up, nearly half the money I pulled out. I needed to take better care of myself, my health was in a terrible place and I needed to patch up these worn out work clothes, I left the store almost penniless while the attendant was babbling on in some foreign language and didn’t even acknowledge me leaving.
I drove home without seeing another soul out in the endless nightscape, eagerly awaiting getting back to my shitty apartment so I could eat and check the local news. Life has just become so lonely, an endless slug of working just to survive in the harsh and unforgiving world. I know tomorrow I am going to get up and do almost the same thing again but for what?
Every day I get a little closer to a brand new car or a brief holiday but in return I am slowly chipping away at my very soul. Working to live, living to work. It never ends. I have no friends, I can’t say I have even seen a single living being outside of the people who have to talk to me to make a transaction. I never thought living would be so lonely, humans are social creatures and this place just seems barren and sad without someone to share this with. I now long for the one night stand, at least in the build up to that night I felt something….
Matthew Ballinger
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