The sniper loaded his Phaser-plasma rifle and lowered it noiselessly. In front of him spread out a vast plantain field, desolate but for him. He crept forward, his every limb wrought with pain. He paused momentarily, and stiffened with fright as a python slithered its way around him.The sniper exhaled sharply, and reached for his night vision goggles. An essential tool for guerilla warfare, it facilitated crystal-clear vision for him. He then began his lengthy, nerve-wracking sojourn across the field, carefully negotiating land mines, enemy snipers - and snakes.Two hours slipped by before the sniper could reach point rendezvous. A lax observer would easily be tricked into mistaking him for an irregular landform. The camouflage and netting that he donned blended him effortlessly into the soil.The sniper started fingering his radio set, wincing at the loud static produced all at once. He attempted to contact Base-Ops, and succeeded. He announced his coordinates, albeit in a whisper, and turned off the machine with a sigh of relief. He stared at the run-down shack which stood in front of him and frowned. He had his orders to blow up this supposed bomb-dump via remote control. But those orders said nothing about the bed of stinging nettles surrounding the shack on three sides.The sniper now had to manoevre his way to the back of the shack. He proceeded to do so, slowly, mechanically, monotonously.His movement displaced a rock, and thus set off a chain reaction of succeedingly larger boulders. And suddenly, in a flash, an enemy sniper emerged from the shadows, alerted by the noise. The sniper turned around and fired his phaser-plasma rifle in a blind arc. There was a brief exchange of gunfire, resulting in a combined sound which surprised even me. A second later, all was quiet.My father lowered his newspaper and glared at me. ``That's enough Aditya'', he said, ``you've been on that computer for two hours now. Go and study, will you?''I meekly got up from my chair, bent over and shut off my computer, thus ending my game of the most exciting one in town - Commando.
