Twelve-year-old Johnny receives a pirate edition of the new video game Only You Can Save Mankind from his friend Wobbler.

After accepting the surrender he finds himself inside the game in his dreams, where he must deal with the suspicious Gunnery Officer as well as the understanding Captain, and work out exactly what they're all supposed to do now.

For instance, since Kirsty refuses to see the ScreeWee as anything other than alien monsters who exist to be shot, they are much less human-like in her presence than when only dealing with Johnny.

This inspired an interactive fiction game developed by Julian Fleetwood, Journey to Alpha Centauri (In Real Time).

A UK national tour is planned for opening in late 2011 with director Nikolai Foster.