New York Blues by Eric Brown

Author:Eric Brown
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9780575073012
Publisher: Gollancz
Published: 2002-09-12T04:00:00+00:00

Twelve

Sergio Mantoni tanked and entered the security-coded site where he’d installed the girl.

It was the archetypal desert island, pristine and timeless: a fringe of lazy palms fronted by a crescent of fine white sand, and a placid expanse of sapphire sea which merged at the horizon with the equally blue sky.

Mantoni wore the persona he always used in her company. He leaned against the trunk of a palm and watched the group of revellers disporting themselves around the beach-hut bar.

She seemed to be enjoying herself, heedless of how long she had spent in VR. She was talking to a bare-chested young man and drinking from a long glass. She was barefoot and topless, wearing only a cheesecloth sarong.

The other partygoers in this site were all constructs, personas taken from the files stored in the data-banks at Mantoni Entertainment HQ. Little did the girl know, but she was flirting with nothing more than the visual icon of an intricate but lifeless computer program.

She looked up and saw him. He was gratified to see that her face registered what looked like genuine pleasure. She touched the guy on the chest, murmuring something to him, and danced across the sand towards him.

She raised her hands above her head, swinging her hips in time to the music belting out from the speakers. Droplets of alcohol splashed over the salt-encrusted skin of her radiant face.

‘Ed! Great to see you. Come dance. We’re having a wild time!’

He reached out, snared her, pulled her to him. Her breasts pressed his chest.

She giggled, drunk, leaned forward and planted a misplaced kiss on his chin. ‘Thanks for bringing me here, Ed! ‘S really great!’

‘Hey, the least I can do, kitten.’

She stared up at him, her eyes attempting to focus. ‘How long have I been here, Ed? A day, more?’

He slipped an arm around her shoulders and walked her down to the water’s edge. Docile wavelets lapped the shelving sand. He sat and pulled her down next to him. She hiccuped and stretched out in the sun.

‘I explained earlier,’ he said. ‘It’s a time-extended site. It’s still in the experimental stages, which is why we need volunteers. It might seem like a day has elapsed in here, but out there in the real world only a few hours have passed.’

She shook her head in drunken teenage wonder. She believed every word he said - but, then, why shouldn’t she? ‘That’s like incredible, Ed. I mean ... wait till this is released on the world. We’ll be able to practically live in VR!’

She frowned, realising something. ‘But... I mean, okay, so it seems like a day’s passed, Ed, but you say only hours’ve elapsed in the real world. But... but you can spend only four hours in a tank, yeah?’

‘That’s the so-called safe upper limit imposed by the VR Bars. We’ve been pushing that for the past six months. The safe upper limit we’ve arrived at is around forty hours.’

She tipped her head back, showing a delicate length of perfect neck, and laughed.

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