The young man had been walking for days, wending his way through endless aisles of household consumables. Food, cosmetics, utensils and bric-a-brac; all stacked neatly on never-ending shelves.
He had lost all track of time, with only fluorescent lighting covering a vast ceiling and no sign of any windows. In fact – no walls! Just the occasional pillar, displaying pictures of the very latest products.
He knew where he was. Instruments on board his ship had told him that the planet below was only fifty kilometres in diameter, with no life forms present.
It was one of several commodity planets being constructed in the sector by the galaxy.
He had been studying the ships’ readings when his crystal-powered space drive went into meltdown. With the help of on-board charts he had managed to locate the planet’s crown and put down without too much trouble.
The crown was a circular area, the only part of the planet not covered by a roof, and about one kilometre in diameter. It was a great launching and landing pad that, when the shopping planet was finished, would be used by space shuttles to ferry shoppers in and out.
He had made his way in through the nearest of the fifty entrances to the complex.
Knowing there was a good chance of finding the components required to carry out temporary repairs, he had started this marathon journey without hesitation. He desperately needed an overall plan of the planet’s layout; showing the various sections and what they contain.
But as time went by he realised that the one thing that an unfinished super market doesn’t have is signage!
The racks, shelves, occasional seats and waste bins were all in place. There were drinking fountains, toilets, changing rooms, and of course, countless tonnes of non-perishable product already packed neatly along most of the aisles – but no signs. He desperately needed some sort of clue as to where on the planet they had put the electrical components.
In order not to lose track of his ship he had decided to walk in a straight line. This would bring him back to the crown eventually. He had figured the circumference was something over one hundred and fifty kilometres.
He had managed quite nicely on the food and drink that was available to him, used the waste bins, toilets and washrooms, and slept reasonably well on the bench seats.
He sat down on one of these, exhausted, and began calculating in his head. He could only estimate the days, walking speed and distance; but even a conservative estimate told him he had been around the planet at least once. This meant he had not maintained his bearings and had passed the crown!
A sick feeling swept over him as he layed down and stared up at the ceiling. He was lost. Lost in a very large shop. A shop with no signs. He fell asleep.
As he slept he dreamt he was lying on a soft mattress, with the smell of disinfectant and the chattering of voices close by.
“I don’t know what happened,” a woman was saying. “One minute he was looking at the model space ships over there and the next thing he was stretched out on this rug”.
The voice was familiar, yet not fully recognisable – it went on.
“He didn’t get much sleep last night and he played two games of rugby yesterday,” His mother went on “He hates walking round these places… do you think he’ll be alright?”
His eyes opened with a start as he recognised his mother’s voice. He stared blankly at his surroundings. His mother wasn’t there, nor was the complex.
He was on his craft watching the warning light flash above his head. The ship was in trouble and he knew he had to land. The planet below was only fifty kilometres in diameter. No life forms were detected but it looked a good place to put down while he worked on the problem. The craft came to rest on the planet’s crown.
This was one of the new commodity planets. As he stepped out onto solid ground, the place felt strangely familiar. He shrugged the feeling off and made his way to the nearest entrance…