How are you enjoying this serialization experiment? I’m going to wrap up Chapter 1 and see what the survey says (as it were)…
[[Want me to show you some short cuts then?]]
That, as I’ve planned, gets his attention and forestalls a possible argument. ADAM isn’t unreasonable. He’s just a child, like any other flesh and blood five-year-old. Only this one has access to the entirety of human and velyr knowledge.
ADAM is a quick study, of course. He is a computer, after all. I show him a few tricks of the trade when it comes to designing a background. You can start with an actual room, for example, and just add components as you like. Or you could just use one of the guest apartments the colony keeps for visitors and not change the furniture at all. Maybe swap out the paintings and books on the shelves for authenticity.
ADAM is pleased with the beginning he’s made on his “apartment” by the end of our session. He’s picked one of the guest apartments as his prototype, adding furniture he’s seen in online stores and adverts. I have to caution him not to add too much furniture, or his imaginary guests won’t be able to walk around inside his room.
I stand up, ready to retreat to my physical body before Tel and his father finish their tour of the gardens. [[Next time, we’ll work on decorations for your place. Why don’t you look at some paintings and sculptures and stuff before then?]]
[[I CAN HAVE ALL SORTS OF FAMOUS ART IN MY APARTMENT!]]
Oops. Better nip that one in the bud. [[You don’t want all famous stuff. Nobody else will have anything that nice, especially on your salary. Pick local artists, or lesser known ones at least. And remember, less is more. Don’t—]]
I’m in the middle of a thought when the brightest light I’ve ever seen goes off. There’s a “whoomph” in my mind’s ear, and I’m suddenly floating free. I can’t feel my physical body at all, not even the cord connecting my two parts. I’m no longer inside ADAM’s compound, either. I don’t know where I am. It’s bright and crackling with energy and there’s a tunnel up ahead, radiating white beams.
I think I just died.
