For a microt, Chiana fell through a dizzying mental void. Panicking, she tried to pull her hand back from the device only to find that her body no longer existed. She considered the possibility that she might be dead; after all, kids at school had told stories about people who accepted gifts from strangers and became unwilling organ donors. Bradon and Sephi certainly seemed tinked enough to do that to someone, but this didn't seem like hezmana, not the way they'd described it on Morlon. There should be an arch-hazmot reading a list of her sins, or at least a summary of the main ones, and there should be a couple of minion hazmots ready to slap her in chains and take her to the ice mines.
Her feet-- she had feet again!-- landed on something warm and yielding, and when she looked down, she saw her bare toes half-covered in sand. A rushing sound interspersed with the cries of birds filled the air, and when she turned to look behind her, she saw water lapping at the glittering sand. Wherever she had been transported, it must be a planet, one with blue skies and warm oceans. Hezmana was supposedly a realm of ice and void, so that meant she couldn't possibly dead. She still looked around for hazmots, just in case.
"Are you enjoying the simulation environment, dear?"
Sephi's voice came from behind Chiana, and she whirled around, startled. "Simulation? You mean this is all fake?"
"Bradon's a genius, yes?" Sephi grinned and spread her arms wide. "It's all rendered based on recordings of the Royal Planet."
"But, we're here!" Chiana protested, shaking her head. She drug a toe through the sand just to verify that she wasn't fahrbot. As she moved her leg, she noticed that she wore a short, beaded skirt, and when she looked down at her chest, she saw a garment made from two patches of cloth and some cords. It had beads too, little silver ones that glittered like stars against the deep blue fabric.
"No, actually, we're still in the tavern on Jardereen with our hands on the ensp." Seeing Chiana's confusion, she clarified, "The N-S-P. Neurostimulation projector, or 'ensp'. Think of it like a holochip projector that plays dreams instead of vids."
Chiana nodded, fingering the fabric of her skirt with a twinge of regret. She wished she could bring the outfit with her when she went back to her real body. "I get it. Well, this is pretty, it's just... kinda boring, don't you think?"
Sephi responded with a rich laugh that was far too musical to be genuine. She probably spent arns practicing that laugh so she could pretend to be amused instead of irritated. "It is just the background, Chiana! Code seven six dash twelve."
When she spoke the numbers, people-- more specifically, Sebeaceans-- flashed into existence all over the beach. A pair of deeply brown, golden-haired women played in the waves, splashing each other and laughing as if being hit with water were the funniest thing in the world. Watching them made her homesick for Kaeldryn, so she looked the other way and admired a group of young men playing a game that involved running and tossing a ball.
They all wore shorts made from the same soft fabric as her skirt, and none of them had shirts, so she had a nice view of their well-shaped, if oddly colored, bodies. Her favorite was a tall, slim boy her own age who had hair so light it looked like a Nebari female's. After he carried the ball across a line, some of the men cheered and slapped him on the back, while others, probably members of the opposing team, shrugged and shook their heads in a cheerful acknowledgment of defeat. Like the two women, they seemed so content it was creepy.
"They'll invite you to play, if you like," Sephi told her.
"So they're using ensps too?" Chiana asked.
"Oh, no!" Sephi's laugh sounded real this time. "They aren't people. They're hardly even AI's, to be honest. Bradon has limited staff, and we focus on the visuals, as you can tell. Each character has a specific set of predefined actions. Those young men will play the game with each other, or with an experiencer who decides to join them. If the experiencer wishes a more... personal interaction with one or more of them, that's possible as well, within their parameters of response."
"That explains why they're so..."
"Beautiful?" Sephi supplied. "We are highly selective."
Chiana shook her head. "I was gonna say 'so fake'."
Sephi shrugged. "Reality has its limitations, Chiana. We've transcended them to create a perfect experience."
"I know." Chiana glanced back at the two girls for a moment before fixing her eyes on the silver haired boy. He looked almost nothing like Derith, which was why she could enjoy looking at him without too much remembered guilt getting in the way. "I get it. I do. They can't-- they can't fall in love with you, can't get hurt because of what you do with 'em, no matter how tinked or how krastic it is."
"Don't ever pursue a career in marketing, Chiana," Sephi remarked dryly. "We give the experiencer a chance to live out his or her most amazing fantasies, and you make it sound positively dismal!"
"No. It's drad. I like it here. Look, what is it you want me to do for you? You want to make one of them out of me?" She jerked her head toward the girls.
Sephi nodded. "We would record your responses and movements in various situations."
"I don't know..." Chiana tilted her head from side to side. "It's kinda creepy. I mean, I wouldn't mind playing with one of them, but being one? Nerri's never going to let me hear the end of this, by the way! At least, not unless it's worth so much he can't complain."
"You're a strong negotiator, my dear." Sephi heaved a dramatic sigh and threw up her hands. "Alright! You have me in a corner here! I've been looking for the perfect Nebari for monens now, so I can't afford to let you get away. In fact, I can promise you that the compensation for this project will be enough to last you the rest of your life."
"Frell! I mean, uh, that sounds fair!" Chiana grinned, imagining how Nerri would look when she dropped a sack full of currency at his feet. Of course people with that much money generally used credits, not currency, but still.
"'Frell' indeed. Stay and enjoy yourself Chiana. The exit code is 'wake up'. Say it twice and you'll be back on Jardereen. If you forget, just ask one of the characters. They're not exactly storehouses of knowledge, but they do know that. Wake up. Wake up." With that, she disappeared, leaving Chiana alone with the mindlessly laughing girls and the empty-eyed young men.
***
"You're magnificent, dear, really, except for the scar, which could be covered up, but we're just not looking for Nebari right now." The black-haired Secacean woman smiled at Candra and shook her head, oozing false sympathy.
"Well, I'm looking for you, Sephi Lydian. So I really don't care what you think of my loomas, my scar, or my race. You make this?" She took the ensp chip out of her pocket and flipped it onto the woman's desk.
Sephi looked down at the chip and then up at Candra, her face exhibiting a fascinating color change from brown to red to white. Candra hadn't been around many Sebaceans, so she didn't know for sure, but she thought that color sequence must be Sebacean for "I'm frelled."
"Well?" Candra prompted, leaning forward on the heel of her hand and tapping her fingers on the desk.
"Ah, are you an advocate?" Sephi asked. "Because we reached a settlement with Tikane regarding the quality issues on the Nebari character..."
"Worse. I'm Tranquility Guard."
"I see. Then you have no jurisdiction outside the Nay'savevyen system, so I fail to see how you can walk into my business, make demands, and expect anything resembling cooperation from me!" Sephi reached for something, probably either a comm or a weapon, but Candra grabbed her wrist and twisted hard, making the Secacean whimper in pain. "Ah-- alright! What is it you want from me?"
"Much better." Candra released her wrist and smiled sweetly. "It's simple, really. I want you to watch that chip. You got an ensp handy?"
"That's a ten cycle old chip!" Sephi protested. "You can't possibly expect..."
"You promise your customers retrocompatibility. You lying to them, or to me?"
Sephi reached into a drawer, pulled out a neurostimulation projector, and put the chip inside. "If you expect me to be shocked by the contents, tig, think again. I've seen worse than this little bit of fluff."
Candra reached across the desk and caught both of Sephi's hands in hers, holding them just above the ensp. "See, here's the thing. Before I was a tig, I was mindcraft, and not just routine adjustments and cleansing. I was a sublevel five scholar-- research and development. Taking your scenario and reversing the perspectives? It took me a half arn, at most."
"Reversing the...?" Sephi's skin lightened another shade; it almost matched Candra's now.
"Perspectives," Candra finished, nodding. "You heard right. Oh, and Sephi? There's no exit code, so don't bother screaming."
She slammed both of the woman's hands down onto the ensp and watched as her face went slack.
