(eng) Mike Resnick by The Branch (2011)

Author:The Branch (2011) [Branch, The]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

11

It had achieved a measure of fame out of all proportion to its appearance. It was structurally unimpressive, just a little building divided into a foyer, a file room, and twenty cubicles. It was a branch of the Reality Library, known by reputation to tens of millions of people, and misunderstood by almost all of them.

Moore left his bodyguards at the door, entered the building, and walked up to the sole attendant, a portly, middle-aged man who sat behind a cluttered counter.

"Yes?"

"My name is Moore. Solomon Moody Moore, I made an appointment."

The man typed the name into his computer terminal. "Ah. yes, Mr. Moore. I've reserved cubicle number seven for you."

"Do I pay you now or later?"

"Our fee is twenty thousand dollars an hour, and we require at least two hours' payment in advance."

"Fine," said Moore, scribbling down the identification number of his personal account.

"Thank you," said the attendant. "You can begin in a few moments, just as soon as our computer transfers the funds. Your bank has been notified that this transaction will take place, hasn't it?"

"Yes."

"Have you ever used the Library before?"

"No," said Moore.

"Do you know how it works?"

"Only what I've heard."

"Then perhaps you might appreciate a little backgrounding," said the attendant, producing a pamphlet from behind the counter. "Here. You might want to read through this. If you have any questions after you've finished with it, I'll be happy to answer them."

Moore thanked him, then walked over to a chair, sat down, and began reading.

The Reality Library, said the pamphlet, despite the incredible complexity of its techniques, was basically a form of entertainment, the logical culmination of all that had gone before. Phonograph records and audio tapes appealed to only a single sense, theater and the cinema to only two—but even if one found a medium that appealed to all five senses, as the short-lived feelies had attempted to do back in the 2020s, one would still be only a spectator, a voyeur whose experience would remain totally vicarious.

But the Reality Library had changed all that. When a user (the pamphlet disliked the word "customer") sat down in his cubicle, he would find two nodules that he would attach to his temples, as per the carefully rendered illustration. He then flicked a switch on the right arm of the chair, and contact with the main bank of the Library in Houston was immediately established.

The Library had more than a quarter million works of literature recorded. The user had merely to select any character, no matter how great or small, from any book in the tape catalog, and he would for all practical purposes become that character for the duration of the tape.

He would feel exactly what the character was feeling, know what he knew, see what he saw. The user would be unable to act independently or change the prerecorded pattern of what occurred in the chosen work of literature; rather, he would seem to find himself in a secret section of the character's mind, sharing every thought and experience, and following him through to the conclusion of his saga.

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