Can't Stop it But I'm Gonna Try

"Six months?! Goddamn it, I'm thirty-five minutes late to work today! Christ, this stupid game is gonna cost me my job!"

Dan Fogelbert started working at Atlas Records, the largest music store in suburbia, sometime in 1996 while still in high school. He had started working at Atlas during the summer of 1996 to start earning money for college when he graduated from high school the next year, figuring it would be a temporary job that he would move on from once he left for college. Unfortunately, Dan cracked up away from home for the first time in his life, and he quit school after just one month, having missed at least 50 percent of his classes. Dan returned to Atlas while he figured out what to do with his life.

Over the next few years, Atlas underwent a major expansion thanks to its longtime owners, Mr. and Mrs. Jimmy Fielding-Kulka, winning close to $285 million in the state lottery. The Fielding-Kulkas poured their new fortune into Atlas, purchasing a vacant retail building formerly home to a K-Mart, extensively remodelling it, and moving the record store from its longtime location to the new building, now called the 'Atlas Records SuperStore'. To fill the building, merchandise was increased dramatically, and a new section for books and magazines was opened to fill one third of the store. The Fielding-Kulkas also managed to get three fast food restaurants (Subway, Wendy's, Sbarro) to open as tenants in the front of the building, complete with a decent looking dining area, and later, they welcomed an independent comic book dealer who lost his lease in his old store down the highway. The expansion paid off, and Atlas Records saw its profits skyrocket for many years. During this time, Dan made his way up in the ranks from sales clerk to cashier to department manager (music), and finally, to his current position since mid-2005, store co-manager.

Also during this time, Dan had only missed three days of work in eleven years, one due to illness, and two for bereavement after his grandfather died suddenly in 2002.

However, he never expected to go out for coffee one evening with friends, black out, and find himself on a remote South Atlantic island, according to the paperwork. Some little one horse town called Jamestown, Dan read. He was, for the time being, stuck in this decent little flat in one of the larger buildings in town.

Just then, Dan noticed a small, handwritten note taped to the back of the manila folder in his hands: Dan! Call #3456! About your job. Don't panic!

Ten minutes later, Dan settled back onto the sofa, greatly relieved. His job wasn't in jeopardy, and his bosses were already informed of what was going in after Dan consented to take part, which he does not remember doing, despite the copy of the contract he signed in his hand. That was one problem solved. Now, to get back to America...

1. The games begin NOW.

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