by E. M. Foner
“A few,” Jan admitted.
“I was just trying to reach a new audience,” the clone said. “It’s not easy running a chocolate shop on the same station as the grandson of ‘My Recipes.’ I spent my first paycheck on the pirated Gem translation.”
“You read my grandfather’s book?” the Swiss chocolatier asked in surprise.
“Of course, he was a genius. I’ve petitioned our so-called government to create a holiday on his birthday, but they said that it would set a bad precedent.”
“I would have thought that if anybody was ready to base a holiday on chocolate, it would be the Gem,” Kelly commented with her mouth full.
“The thing they objected to was a holiday to commemorate the birth of an alien. Our chocolate lobby is trying again with the publication date of the cookbook, and it looks like this time there’s a chance it will pass.”
Eighteen
Marilla and Jorb were waiting at the designated lift tube when Samuel and Vivian arrived. The four students boarded the capsule together.
“Take us to Jeeves,” the Horten girl said out loud.
“You’d think he could have provided a better description of our destination other than to say that he’s in it,” Jorb complained.
“Maybe it keeps changing for each group,” Samuel speculated. “Isn’t this supposed to be like a final exam?”
“What’s that?” the Drazen asked.
“Humans like taking lots of tests in school,” Marilla explained. “Then at the end of a course, they take a final exam that replaces all of the earlier tests. It’s a weird system.”
The capsule arrived at its destination and Jeeves beckoned to them from an open door down the corridor.
“Come in and grab a pod,” he instructed the students. “You can leave your gear on the floor. We’ll be alone here for the length of your immersion so nobody is going to steal it.”
“What is this place?” Vivian asked.
“One of my workshops,” the Stryx replied. “I’ve chosen your group for an experimental platform I’ve been developing. Don’t worry. I already tested it on Paul.”
“He didn’t mention anything about it,” Samuel said doubtfully.
“I swore him to secrecy. The pods are merely sensory deprivation chambers that will levitate your bodies and keep you from making contact with anything that might destroy the alternative world I will create through your implants.”
“So what’s the advantage of this over a LARP studio?” Marilla asked.
“It’s not widely known, but in the absence of external stimuli, the combined input of your audio and visual implants can be used to present a rather convincing imitation of reality. Of course, it requires a high order of artificial intelligence to create a real-time stream of interactive environments, and I don’t suppose any of the other Stryx have ever cared to bother.”
“You mean we’re guinea pigs?” Vivian demanded.
“As I told you, Paul aided me with the proof of concept. The idea was partially his, from something we once discussed as a potential Libbyland attraction.”
“So you’re saying that while we’re floating in the dark, you’ll be supplying images to our heads-up displays and direct audio to our translation implants, and that will be enough to make us think we’re somewhere else?”
“I may have a few other tricks in the pods as well,” Jeeves admitted. “If you want to quit at any time, just say so, and the lid will pop open.”
Samuel removed his backpack and his sword belt before climbing into the pod. “Like this?” he asked, lying back with his hands crossed on his chest.
“Whatever makes you comfortable,” the Stryx replied, triggering the lid to close.
Vivian and the two other students followed suit, and they soon found themselves floating alone in the universe. Then there was a flash of light and a muted orchestral score began to play.
“Welcome to Enhancement,” a voice spoke over the music, and all four students suddenly found themselves standing on a rocky plain.
“Hey, we’re ourselves,” Jorb said. “I thought we had to play aliens.”
“Don’t go out of character,” Marilla warned him automatically.
“How can I go out of character when I’m me?”
“I think she meant about accepting our new setting as reality,” Samuel said.
“There are no penalties in this LARP,” Jeeves announced without making himself seen. “As you have discovered, you begin by playing yourselves, and the only question is where you decide to stop. The sole rule is that each of you must choose a minimum of one enhancement from the starter menu.”
“What starter menu?” Jorb asked.
“It will appear when the living metal is activated. Please step back, Vivian.”
The girl took one step back, and a silvery fountain sprang up from where she had been standing. A menu appeared floating in space in front of the liquid metal, and Vivian found she could scroll through the list with eye movements, the same way a standard heads-up display was operated.
“It’s like a picture within a picture,” Jorb muttered as he skimmed his own version of the list. “Is everybody seeing the same options? No, I doubt any of you would want a longer tentacle.”
“Some of this stuff is pretty yucky,” Vivian said. “I don’t want to change the way I look or how I think.”
“I’m going to try enhanced spatial perception,” Samuel announced. “I’ve always wondered what it would be like have an artificial person’s ability to look at something and be able to read off the dimensions, like a 3D blueprint.”
As soon as the ambassador’s son made his choice, a thread of silvery metal reached out and touched his forehead. It seemed to pool up on his skin for a moment before being absorbed.
“Are you okay?” Vivian asked after a few seconds passed without any reaction from the fountain’s recipient.
“It’s amazing,” Samuel breathed. “This would save so much time in engineering. It’s like night and day.”
“Your eyes have changed color. They’re silvery now!”
“And I can see right into your eyes. You know how you’ve been complaining about some things seeming blurry in the distance? If I knew anything about vision, I could prescribe corrective lenses or do the surgery. I mean, all the numbers are superimposed when I just think about it.”
“I can’t believe it,” Marilla said. “There’s an enhancement that will allow me to control my skin color.”
“But showing your emotions on the outside is a big part of being Horten,” Vivian said. “It would be like giving up your identity.”
“We weren’t always this way,” Marilla replied irritably. “I’m going to try it.”
“Wait,” Vivian protested, but the Horten had already made her choice, and a silver finger reached out from the fountain and touched her forehead.
“Do you feel any different?” Samuel asked. “I was looking right at you and none of your measurements have changed.”
“Who said you could check out her measurements?” Vivian growled.
“I feel exactly the same,” Marilla told them, sounding slightly depressed.
“Your skin looks a bit silvery, though,” Jorb pointed out. “And wouldn’t your skin normally turn sort of orange from disappointment?”
“Grey,” Samuel corrected the Drazen. “Test it, Marilla. Do something obvious.”
“Like what? I don’t think I can intentionally embarrass myself with you guys, or suddenly be happy or angry.”
“Try lying,” Jorb told her.
Marilla froze for a moment at the audacious suggestion. “You know that Hortens can’t lie,” she said in a low voice. “Our skin gets black blotches and we break out in a terrible rash.”
“So try a little lie.”
“There’s no such thing as a little lie,” both girls responded at the same time.
“I’ve got an idea,” Samuel said. “Who was your favorite character on ‘Let’s Make Friend’s’ when y
our sister was in the cast?”
“My sister.”
“Now I’ll ask you again, but say it was Shaina’s son Mikey. Who was your favorite character on Aisha’s show?”
Marilla braced herself like she was expecting something to fall out of the virtual sky and crush her. “Mikey,” she whispered.
“Well?” Jorb demanded.
“I don’t feel any different,” the Horten girl said. “How does my skin look?”
“No change. Try a bigger lie.”
“I wish I had a tentacle because I think they’re really cool,” Marilla responded instantly. “Hey, this lying business is kind of fun. What are you going to pick, Jorb?”
“It’s something I’m kind of embarrassed about,” the Drazen admitted. “I never really put in the time to learn musical notation, so the women in my family are always singing over my head, and I don’t know if they’re discussing the price of vegetables or making fun of me. And when I read our books, I know I’m missing ninety percent of the meaning because I’m just getting the plain text.”
“And there’s an option on your list for instantly learning musical notation?” Vivian asked.
“I’m choosing it now.” Jorb staggered when the silver fountain reached out and touched his forehead, and then folded himself into a martial arts meditation pose to regain control. “It’s incredible,” he said. “I’ve been missing out on a whole world I knew nothing about.”
“How are you testing it?” Samuel asked.
“My heads-up display,” the Drazen replied. “I keep a copy of Korf’s classic combat manual in the queue for quick reference, and now I see that in all of these years I’ve only scratched the surface of his philosophy. I thought that the diagrams were the heart and soul, but the notations, they’re brilliant. Throw a punch at me.”
“What?”
“I won’t hurt you. Five minutes ago I would have done a block or thrown you across the room, but this is better.”
“Better for who?”
“For both of us,” Jorb said, rising to his feet. “Come on and punch me already.”
Samuel sighed, then he shuffled forward in the boxer’s stance his father had taught him and threw a right cross at the Drazen’s chin. Somehow Jorb was suddenly beside him restraining the human’s wrist, and the overall effect made it look like the two were performing a martial arts tango.
“I barely saw you move,” Vivian said. “How is that even possible?”
“It’s all in the hidden meaning,” the Drazen replied. “If I can still read musical notation when we get out of here, I’m going to drop out of the Open University and become a monk.”
“You could always just learn it the hard way, by studying,” Marilla pointed out.
“I’m too old already. There are over ten thousand symbols, and that doesn’t count the timing notation and the fractional notes and beats. You have to start when you’re a little kid and stay with it.”
“Your tongue is sort of silvery,” Vivian told him. “I saw it when you were talking. And your ears look a bit shiny now.”
“They don’t feel any different,” the Drazen said, squeezing an ear gently with the tip of his tentacle. “What are you going to choose?”
“I’m kind of scared,” the girl admitted. “There’s nothing here I want, and I keep thinking about the abandoned decks in Libbyland which had been occupied by species that turned themselves into cyborgs.”
“This is different,” Samuel said. “There’s nothing mechanical about it and I feel exactly the same. Our implants are more like that cyborg stuff than whatever the fountain is doing to us.”
“How do you know what it’s doing?”
“None of this is real,” Marilla reminded the girl. “We’re lying in sensory deprivation pods and Jeeves is manipulating everything we see and hear.”
“Wait. That might not matter to the rest of us in here, but what if lying made your body break out in blisters in real life?”
“I hope you have a better opinion of me than that,” their LARP orchestrator’s voice spoke out of the fountain. “I understand your reluctance to enhance yourself, Vivian, especially given the indoctrination my parent no doubt pounded into your head in her experimental school. But if you don’t choose something in the next ninety minutes, I’m afraid I won’t be able to give you university credit for the course.”
“Come on, Viv,” Samuel encouraged her. “Jeeves wouldn’t do anything that would hurt us. Isn’t there an enhancement you’re even curious about?”
“Well, I’ve often wondered what it would be like to fly. Really fly, with natural wings, not like the magnetic levitation in the Physics Ride or the powered Frunge wing sets.
“I saw a choice for flying in the menu. It was in the section for physical alterations.”
“But still…”
“One enhancement was just the minimum, you know. Why don’t I add wings and then I can tell you—”
“No, I’ll do it,” Vivian said. “We don’t know what stacking enhancements might do to us.” She took a deep breath and made her choice, and the fountain reached out to her with a thicker finger of liquid metal than it had used to reach the three other students. A moment later, an enormous pair of silvery wings sprouted from her back.
“Are you alright?” Samuel asked immediately. “Does it feel funny?”
“I’m not sure,” she replied, a strange expression on her face. “It’s like nothing has changed, but I know it has. I mean, it feels like I’ve had wings all of my life and I know exactly how to use them.”
“Aren’t you going to fly?” Jorb asked, glancing up from the cross-legged position he’d resumed on the ground where he was poring through the combat manual on his heads-up display and singing under his breath.
“Maybe I’ll just stretch them a little.” Vivian’s silvery wings extended slowly to a wingspan more than twice her height, and they would have knocked Marilla over if the Horten girl hadn’t dodged back.
“You look like an angel,” Samuel murmured, his silvery eyes alight. “An angel covered with dimensional notations. I can tell you exactly how many feathers are showing if you want to know.”
“Can you actually fly?” Marilla asked the other girl.
“I think so. It feels like I can. Give me a little room.”
Samuel and Marilla drew back to stand on either side of Jorb, and Vivian turned a little away from them and began working her wings. From the first forward thrust, her feet left the ground, and with each additional wing beat, she gained altitude.
“I can’t believe all this bobbing up and down isn’t making me sick,” she cried to the students below.
“Try gliding,” Samuel advised. “That should be smooth.”
Legs extended behind her, Vivian tried to maintain altitude without flapping, and found that by wiggling her wingtips, she could maneuver smoothly in circles and swoops.
“This is incredible. I want to keep them.”
“Just stay up there,” Samuel shouted back. “I’m going to add wings too.”
The fountain reached out and touched the youth, and a minute later he was soaring after Vivian, the two engaged in an aerial game of catch-me-if-you-can. Marilla hesitated for several minutes, watching the humans fly about as if they had been born with wings, then gave in to the temptation herself. It wasn’t long before the three of them were taking turns swooping at the Drazen, who remained in his lotus position as if he were in a trance.
“You’re going to miss the opportunity, Jorb,” Samuel shouted while making a pass overhead. “The LARP has a two-hour max.”
“I’m good,” Jorb sang back, surprising himself and the others with his new-found musicality. “You guys go ahead and look around.”
“Just the thought of having to land is depressing,” Marilla called to her flying companions as they winged off towards a nearby cliff that seemed to attract them all on some fundamental level. “Was there a reason that should bother me? I can’t remember.”
&n
bsp; “I saw an enhancement for mood that would take care of depression,” Vivian said. “I wonder if it would work this far from the fountain.”
“It still shows on my heads-up display. I’m going to try it.” A thread of silver sought out the flying Horten and briefly brushed her temple. “Oooh. You guys have to try this to believe it.”
Two more threads reached out from the fountain as Samuel and Vivian made the selection, after which the three students didn’t talk again until they found themselves coming in for a landing on a high ledge.
“This is better than real life,” Vivian declared.
“No argument from me,” Samuel concurred.
“We should try all the enhancements,” Marilla said. “I never thought I’d be envious of artificial people, but they must be laughing at the rest of us for being limited biologicals. I wonder why my species makes so few of them.”
“I’m getting encyclopedic knowledge,” Samuel told the others, and a silver thread from the fountain found him a moment later.
“There’s an alien psychology enhancement,” Vivian said, and the liquid metal raced to bestow its blessing on her.
“Do you guys see the option to complete our university educations?” Marilla asked. “It can’t be serious.” A filament from the fountain reached out and touched her forehead. “It’s true. I can finally get on with life.”
“Did you hear something?” Samuel asked, twisting his head as if he were an owl.
“There’s an enhancement for that,” Vivian told him, and the fountain found her again. “It’s just Jorb singing.”
“We should head back and make him grow wings,” Marilla said. “He’ll never forgive us if he misses this.”
The three dove off the cliff and found that with thermals arising from the rocky plain, they didn’t even need to beat their wings to glide back to the fountain. Before they could even see him, they heard Jorb’s clear singing, though the song only had one line repeated over and over again.
