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Lyda blinked and looked away from the screen. Tepa was sitting on the floor watching her.
"Well over an hour, near as I can judge, he said.  And the whole time, a green haze obscured you, the
screen and the chair you're sitting on. I couldn't tell what kind of reaction you were having."
Lyda sighed at the return to reality. She had enjoyed the venture so much and had related to the
supporting personalities as if they had been her own loving parents. She suspected right then that if she
returned to the screen and brought up a vision of Mom and Dad, she would be instantly transported into
their simulated presence and feel every bit of the emotion such a reunion would bring. She shook her
head vigorously to get rid of the idea.
"Tepa, I see the danger of this place already. It's a dream palace, an escape mechanism where you can
go and feel as if you're living a real life with all the enjoyment and pleasure and none of the pain. It even
let me think up my own adventure and live in it just as if I were there. Can you imagine how enticing
and addictive this could become? Reality as you want it, not as it is."
"I see, Tepa said slowly.  You'll notice I'm sitting on the floor. I was tempted to go another of the
preprogrammed pleasure trips while waiting on you. And I'll confess, I didn't consider trying something
from my own fantasies. Perhaps you have a more inquiring mind than I."
"That's not it, Lyda said diplomatically, though she suspected he might be right. She told him the truth.
 I've lost one man I loved, and another I think I would have come to love, so recently that I didn't
consider a romantic adventure; not even one of those suggested by the screen."
"The ones already there are tempting enough. I don't know whether we should experiment much with
our own fantasies. As you say, it is the perfect escape mechanism."
"I think I'll have to try, Lyda said slowly after a long moment of concentration.  Otherwise, how can I
know enough to warn others away from it?"
"Ah, but can you escape entrapment yourself?"
"I'll still risk it. Maybe you could stay and observe and try shaking me or something if it goes on too long.
But not now. I want to think about this some more first."
"Excellent. This indeed requires thought."
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Lyda was amused at the very precise English Tepa had begun speaking in such a short time and the way
it was becoming contaminated by imitating her own east Texas twang. His stilted language mixed with a
country accent sounded so funny that she had trouble not laughing. She found herself liking him very
much.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
As was done before where there was no discernible difference between night and day, Lyda and Tepa
decided to call a sleep period a  night and the time they were awake a  day". The problem, as before,
was getting everyone to adapt their biorhythms to the same schedule. It would be a gradual process,
Lyda knew, and would take a while to accomplish. In the meantime, she searched for and found what
she hoped she would, a big parklike area surrounded on all sides by places to sleep. It would be perfect
for a central area to congregate and return to after explorations, for that was on her agenda, too.
Once she and Tepa each picked a place to sleep, they began trying to induce others to join them. Some
did; others were perfectly content to go their own way and enjoy the new luxuries. Lyda didn't feel she
had any more time to waste. She got Tepa to watch her again while she sat in a chair in one of the
pleasure rooms and induced the simulated reality to take over her mind. She deliberately chose to
imagine a romance, not with Gavin in particular, but a man with his general attributes. Before allowing
herself to sink into the dream, she formed the thought that it would not involve sexual acts. She was smart
enough to know her first sexual experience with a lover should be real, not a lifelike fantasy, yet the
simulated romance involved the touching of her breasts as Gavin had just before they were separated. It
was ecstatic, as were the kisses and hugs and even holding hands.
When Tepa shook her out of it after the hour she had allowed, she was shaken and emotionally drained.
The imaginary lover had been real enough to touch and sweeter than the nectar of fruit warmed by a hot
summer sun, and his touch had heated her body even more.
"Never again, she told Tepa.  If we settle down here, we have to try and find some way to convince
people to stay away from the damn pleasure rooms. They are worse than any drug ever invented on
earth and I suspect even more addicting than drugs, especially since there doesn't appear to be any
physical withdrawal symptoms. She shivered, thinking of all the ways the rooms could be used and
abused.
"I have to agree. I tried a room once more yesterday when we separated. I wanted to see my wife
again. I should have left well enough alone. His face saddened with the tragedy of an all too vivid
reincarnation of his lost love, and the knowledge that in a way, he had reversed time, canceling some of
its healing balm.
"I thought you had done something like that, Tepa. Thank you for telling me."
"I should thank you for believing the rooms shouldn't be used. But how can we convince others?"
"I don't believe in coercion. We have to persuade everyone to stay away from them by reasoning. Not
only that, we can't have any of our people sneaking off to the rooms once they agree to stay out of them;
not if we can find a way to keep them away. It would corrupt the rest. Tepa, those rooms are the hidden
danger of this place. If we are kept here indefinitely, damn near everyone will succumb to them."
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So far,  our people consisted of Lyda, Tepa and half a dozen other adults. She had yet to see a child.
That, if anything, was causing her to lose sleep. Had the visions in the transport been so horrible that no
child's mind could stand them? She hoped not, but it didn't look promising. She got Tepa and the others [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]