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Earn Big Money While You Sleep was Alan Grant's first
published story as a professional comics writer, although it
appeared under John Wagner's regular byline of T. B.
Grover, a nom-de-plume that both writers would share
over the coming years. It replaced Strontium Dog in
issue 16.
Max
Hibble lived in the thousand-mile wide Cityhive-9, a vast
sprawl of steel and concrete. Max's pride and joy was his
garden, probably the only one in the city, which Max guarded
jealously, allowing no-one to enter. Following a row with his
wife, Max discovered that they were broke. He also discovered
that his wife hated his garden and detested him wasting all
his time there instead of getting a job. If he didn't find
work, she threatened to leave him.
Max
checked the Situations Vacant, but the only jobs available
required him to work five hours a week. He couldn't possibly
spend that much time away from his precious garden. Luckily he
discovered a company willing to pay 25 credits an hour to use
the untapped resources of his brain whilst he was asleep.
Max
rushed down to the offices of Rentabrain, where he was told
how the company would use the un-utilised portion of his brain
tissue to conduct research studies. Rentabrain could conduct
research into a study on insects, for example, whilst Max
slept in his own bed. So keen was Max to earn money for
sleeping, he ignored the salesman's warning that there were
some dangers involved in the process.
Having
'worked' his first shift, Max was woken by the sound of a
computer, telling him how much he'd earned during the night.
As he rolled over to kiss his wife, he was greeted by the
sight of a giant insect in his bed. The insect insisted that
she was his wife, and Max began to sense all was not right
with the world.
Returning
to the Rentabrain offices, all Max could see were insects
where there should have been people. Even Benson, the salesman,
appeared to have become a giant bug. Benson had an unpleasant
surprise for Max as he showed him a full length mirror. The
problem was of massive hallucinations caused by the triggering
of the dormant cells in Max's brain. Although Benson tried to
warn Max of the dangers in the contract, Max's mind had
experienced enough. The story concluded with Max's wife crying
over a pile of unpaid bills as Max, convinced he had been
transformed into a giant maggot, crawled round the garden
eating the plants.
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