[ WP ] After brushing your teeth in the morning you go downstairs to fry an egg , but when you try the frying pan buzzes at you and text appears reading , `` level 18 cooking required to use object '' .

The words were still flickering there. 
 
 With a trembling hand, Alison tried again to crack the egg into the pan. A light shock raced up her arm as she encountered what felt like a slight force-field. 
 
 `` No, this is n't real,'' she said calmly. `` Not real, not real, not real.'' 
 
 A nightmare, it had to be. After she'd badly burned her hand with the pan a few ago, she'd been slightly afraid to cook for herself again. It made sense that fears about it lingered in her subconscious. She'd also played way too many games lately... this whole'level 18' business made sense, in that context... 
 
 She pinched herself to wake up, and felt only sharp pain. But the words were still there. The force field, still there. 
 
 Alison moaned and rocked on the spot as her sense of reality trembled and began to disintegrate. 
 
 -- -- -- -- -- 
 
 `` What's wrong with you? The simulation is ruined!'' Andy snapped at Russel. Just his luck, having to train the dumbest intern in the lab. `` What were you thinking, activating the words? The level requirements? That's for *you* to see, not them, numbnuts!'' 
 
 `` Sorry, sorry,'' Russel babbled, switching it off in a panic. In the stimulation, Alison stopped moaning and gingerly tested whether the force-field was still in place. 
 
 `` She would have burned herself again, I must've activated the back-up safety measures instead of redirecting her activity...'' he muttered. 
 
 Andy rolled his eyes. `` Well, activate shizophrenia, I suppose. That will provide a rational explanation for her. Pull yourself together man, do you want to be taken off the project?'' 
 
 -- -- -- -- -- - 
 
 `` There, the stimulation came up with the idea itself,'' Professor Anderson announced to his colleagues crowded around the massive screen. 
 
 `` Russel is unsuitable. Get rid of him. Make him quit, car accident, natural disaster, a stab in the alley, I do n't really care - just bring in someone competent. He almost derailed the entire thing. This is the first time in history a simulation has successfully initiated its own simulation. We ca n't afford any screw-ups.'' 
 
 `` What if we're in a simulation ourselves?'' Tina suggested. 
 
 Anderson rolled his eyes. Not that tired joke again. As if their perfect, intricate society could be a mere simulation. His genius, a simulation. 
 
 `` Please, Tina. There is absolutely no proof of that,'' he said. `` Get real.'' 
 
 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 
 *Hope you liked my story! You can find more of my work on /r/Inkfinger/. *
