BEYOND THE PALE by Senan Gil Senan

Author:Senan Gil Senan
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, pdf
Publisher: Senan Gilsenan
Published: 2014-09-29T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nineteen – Bad Date

He awoke the next morning realizing that he had another day in his own company. He made a drink and returned to his room waiting for everyone to set off for work. He was feeling a bit rejected after the events of yesterday and this was fuelling his growing sense of loneliness and isolation.

He didn’t want to stay at home, and neither did he want to spend another day in Central. He opted instead to spend half a day downtown. This time he wouldn’t have a running commentary supplied by Ray Scott, but he would have much more freedom to blend in and have a look around.

He chose District 18 as his destination and headed to the nearest Metro station. This journey was clearly going to require a number of interchanges. There were no direct routes to Downtown on the elevated lines, so he had to get off at a main terminus that provided a descent service. This was a large box lift where each lift car was about the size of a freight container. The station he chose only had two such lifts and yet this service was overly subscribed.

He had to join a queue and wait for a space on a descending lift. He didn’t manage to get a seat and he had to hold on to an overhead support and hold his balance until the lift reached ground level 400 yards below. He then followed directions supplied by the readout on his glasses to find a tram stop on the relevant tram line which would take him into the heart of District 18.

Holly Bush was the closest precinct to the tram terminus, and it was as good a place as any to get off and have a look around. The first impression that struck River was the garish and tawdry overtone to the place.

Unlike the Central Zone, there were no personalized adverts appearing on the display of his glasses, but in place of that was a welter of conspicuous and obtrusive advertising on everything from flyers to animated billboards, shop fronts and any rentable space.

There was little variety in their messages. There were brazenly sexual in their imagery, or they were pertaining to the culture of gambling that was so pervasive here. The implication was that an instant purchase of something or other could provide an instant payout or offer a lottery chance of a life changing win.

All the small independent shops used a prolific amount of neon which had to stand out to compete with each other and against the bigger purveyors of neon like the clubs, casinos and arcades. There was a spectrum of colors, much of it flashing and some animated which illuminated the streets making up for the lack of natural light.

Holographic projectors placed life-size imagery in the middle of pavements and walk ways. The images were of exotic dancers or salesmen presenting their products. They would appear realistic apart from the blue or green hues and their semi transparency.

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