Chapter 1
Many of us in SL portray ourselves as separate entities, or an extension of the real self. But did you ever wonder if sometimes it was the other way around? Yes, GoSpeed is fictional. Even here on this blog there is no RL intrusion so the waters of fiction and unreality still flow undisturbed and pure. Something happened the other day that drug me out of world and had me face some very weird circumstances. It made me ponder, how much of GoSpeed is GoSpeed and how much is it the keyboard operator steering me? Where is the line between the two (if there even is one)? Let me tell you what happened:
It was a Thursday night and I was talking to LaDonna Upshaw, a very dear friend of mine. I was testing out one of her new couches as she was building pieces for a coffee table when it happened. The normally sharp, crisp sight of her house suddenly went soft, fuzzy, the dark. It quickly passed and light returned to my eyes. Everything changed, the world was soft and muted, but infinitely detailed. Before me was two monitors and a keyboard. I saw scraps of paper with scribbled notes, business card, speakers, a cellphone, sunglasses, a coaster with a border collie picture. A look to the left, another computer, running KONA Radio! I had only seen the SAM3 interface remotely before. Or did I? A Look to the right, another computer,powered down. My hands! Black, feminine with red nail polish. I look down and see my arms, the rose tatoo on left bosom, my lap. I am here! But where was I? Sounds! Music! It’s is KONA Radio coming from the speakers, and from the headset sitting on the computer to the left. I feel! My right hand settles and touches the keyboard. It is stiff, but gives under pressure with a clicking sound. It was then I noticed the screens again, on the left was a black and white picture of me!
Then the other screen gets my attention. Oh, sweet, Jesus. It is a window into my world. I am on the other side. I see LaDonna typing away, lines of text filling the lower half of the screen. She’s typing to me. “Go, are you still there? Are you OK? What’s wrong with your avatar?”
My avatar, MY AVATAR! I then spot myself still on the couch. “I” am still sitting but “I” am ghosted, transparent even. My animations were off and “I” was froze. Dear God, what am I now? No, No, I am here. Am I? The enormity of the situation hit me, and I felt it as a wave of feelings. Physical too as I grew weak and felt a touch of what? Fear? The word adrenaline popped into my head. My face, my armpits began to sweat. I am out of my proper place!
I hear a voice. A child’s voice and footsteps coming up stairs. “Mom!, Dad!… Can I go outside to play!” WHAM! Darkness. Back on the couch. The world became sharp, bright, colorful again. I look up at LaDonna and see her standing over me in a posture of concern, still typing away. “LaDonna, I do not know what happened. I cannot explain it”. Maybe lag? Yeah, that is it, lag.
What did happen? I am left to ponder…….
Chapter 2
GoSpeed Arrives in the Real World
When the darkness passed Go’s eyed were dazzled by the brightness and she quickly closed her eyes, placing her hands over her face. Slowly she opened them, flinchingly at first and peeked through her fingers. So bright! Whites, yellows, greens, grays and blues. Her eyes slowly adjusted and she slowly turned her head right and left. My God, it was so unreal. The brightness was spectacular and the colors so vivid and yet so muted. Hyper-realistic. She was in a small one story structure open on one side with small metal boxes embedded in the opposite wall. Mail boxes? Yes, mail boxes. The air stirred and suddenly she felt a chill.
Oh My Goodness it was cold! She shivered and wrapped her arms around herself in an effort to keep warm. She turned around and walked towards the opening to get an idea where she was. Oh, the sky was so bright! What setting was this sim on? Fine Day? Turning left she could see a wide road with houses on either side. 2048 Sq Meter parcels maybe? Turning left she saw a service road and that was paralleled by a busy highway with vehicles. Funny, the cars and trucks moved so smoothly and for the whole length of the road she no sign of a sim crossing. No dips or wrecks or cars flying off into the air. In fact it seemed she could see for several sims away.
“Wow, it is like I can see well over 512 meters” she thought. She saw mountains that were in fact well over 4000 meters away. Whoa, was this a new viewer? Maybe a super sized sim of some sort? She shivered strongly. She looked at her arms and they were bumpy! She “looked” at her inventory and selected a long sleeved sweater. To an outside observer it would have appeared that her greenish tank top slowly morphed into bright blue, long sleeved sweater. Shoes, my feet are cold, she thought. A pair of black tennis shoes appeared on her feet, followed up with a pair of white socks for good measure.
Having taken in her environment and satisfying her creature comfort needs she began to ponder where she was. Map, map, that will help me, she murmured to herself. Hard as she tried she could not bring up a map, but a red beacon pole became obvious off to her left. If I can’t map I can’t teleport, maybe I can…. , nope, no flying allowed. “Got to hoof it”, she conceded.
She turned left and walked down the road, keeping to one side. SL drivers were the worst. Never can tell when they’ll lag out of control. Wait… Where are my HUDs?, she wondered. She closed her brown eyes and slowly opened them again. No, HUDs were still gone. Her Friends! Where was her list??? She tried hard, but could not visualize her friends list. Was this some sort of Open Sim? She looked at herself again and concluded that if it was then it was not one she had experienced before. This was her favorite Nora skin, ETD pants and oh, Ginny Talamasca Wrap Sweater (royal). Even this Bad@zz lily tattoo on her left breast was here. I am either on a new grid (IBM maybe?) or some obscure part of the main grid. At least I have my stuff.
At 250 meters she stopped, looking for obvious signs of a sim boundary, but the world looked seamless. Slowly she preceded and felt nothing as she walked the extra 6 meters towards the presumed sim boundary. She heard a noise and looked over her shoulder. A small yellow jeep came towards her and quickly passed her on the road. Without the slightest jerk or dip into the ground the vehicle passed and turned right at a stop sign.
The red beacon was off to her right so she decided to turn right at the stop sign where the jeep did. Her feet were getting a little uncomfortable; She hadn’t walked this far in a long time. When you can TP or fly, why walk?
Looking down she noticed the grass for the first time. Would you look at that!, she gasped to herself. How many prims did it take to do a whole yard? These were no particles or temp rezz grass, each leaf was a solid entity. All sorts of lengths and shapes and colors. Browns, greens, a few yellow ones. Not only grass but weeds and dandelions too. She stooped down and pulled out a dandelion plant. Why? She didn’t know why, she was just curious. Out it came with about 4 inches of root too. There has to be well over 200 prims for this plant, she thought. And the dirt? Not particles for sure, it was infinitely tiny pieces, prims.
“Amazing! What detail! This sim most be hosted on a super computer of some sort.” So far she had yet to see any water on her short trip. That was truly odd. Landlocked sims were rare indeed and at the edge of every sim or estate was a wide ocean.
Go came to another 3 way intersection and looked right. The beacon was parked right over a two story brick house. It was oddly familiar, but not in a discomforting way. Home, it felt like home. A smile spread across her scarlet lips and she quickened her pace. Every step brought her closer to the front door. Every step brought a stronger feeling of HOME!! She could sense more about the place, feelings, sounds, sights, music. She’d never been here before but she knew it. Knew it well. She cut across the yard and walked up to the front door.
She had her first feelings of doubt, fear. “I have no idea where I am, yet I am so eager to come to his house and knock on the door. Am I nuts?” She turned around and looked out at the cul de sac the house was in and felt very alone. She turned towards the door and felt comforted again, the fear evaporating away.
She summoned her courage and pressed the doorbell….
CHAPTER 3
Look Who Came to Dinner
It was like any Saturday morning in our home. I awoke and rolled over to
see my alarm clock; 7:30AM. Rolling over the other way and I saw my
wife was still peacefully asleep. I slid out of bed and quietly dressed.
I didn’t want to wake her as she had been up late the night before
working on a project. Going out into the hallway I checked on my
daughter to see if she was awake. I heard the TV in the family room and
I knew she was awake.
“Hi Sarah! Did you have breakfast?”
“Yes Dad, I had waffles and milk.”
“Did you clean up? I see a plate laying out….. put it away, the glass
too Sarah.” I intoned.
“Oh, OK!”, she whined, stalking off to the table to put away her dirty
dishes.
Disney channel, bleh. Lot of mind numbing stuff on that channel. I
grabbed the remote and changed the channel to the Science Channel. How
Things Are Made. She loves that show, so do I.
I sat down with my daughter and watched the show with her. My wife woke
up maybe 30 minutes later, walking down the curved steps into the
foyer. I stood up and walked over to her, gave her a hug and a kiss good
morning.
“Going back to your project?”, I asked.
“Yes, I need to finalize all those documents before Kev can proceed.”
“Can I get you something for breakfast?”
“Sure, make me some grits.”
I made the grits for her and toasted a bagel for myself and commandeered
the TV from my child again. Ahh, the latest episodes of Dr Who and
Stargate Atlantis were recorded the night before. Against the
protestations of my daughter I began watching Stargate. A few minutes
into the episode the doorbell rang.
Sarah bolted to the door and looked out the side window. Instead of
shouting the name of the person at the door, she was quiet and had a
puzzled look on her face. I quickly glanced out the window and saw a
short black woman and assumed it was our neighbor Eugena. I unlocked the
door, opened it and began to greet our visitor. In a split second there
was a flash of recognition. This was not our neighbor, she was much
younger, say maybe 26 years old. Her eyes were big and brown. Her face
was round with a delicate chin cheekbones. The lips were full and red
and she wore dark eyeshadow. I began to ask myself, where have I seen
her before when she broke into a large smile, opened her arms and came
forward to embrace me.
The hug and flurry of kisses on the cheek caught me by surprise and I
began to pull back to distance myself from her. It was then I noticed
she had on a low cut sweater that seemed to cling to her skin and I
blushed in embarrassment. Suddenly Sarah shouted; “GoSpeed!, It’s
GoSpeed!”. I was about to tell Sarah to stop shouting when I noticed
the reddish lily tattoo on her left bosom. Like a jolt of electricity I
knew it was her! But, but how? By now my wife had left her desk and was
standing in the foyer with a “what the heck is going on and why is that
woman hanging off of you” look. I shot back a look that replied I didn’t really
know and I asked the woman, “Who are you?”. She did not speak but when
my daughter said GoSpeed again she smiled, pointed at Sarah and shook
her head yes. My wife was again asking who she was and what was going on
wen GoSpeed left me and embraced my wife, planting a big kiss on each
cheek.
Needless to say we were a bit bewildered while our daughter was ecstatic.
For a few awkward moments the four of us stood there, GoSpeed smiling,
Sarah jumping up and down, and me and the wife trading looks with one
another. I decided that we needed to sit down and talk this out
with our guest. I closed the door on the cool April morning air and
gestured everyone into the family room. “Sarah, turn off the TV.”,I
said.
Go (GoSpeed) sat on the end of the couch and I sat on the other end as
my wife sat in a recliner across from us.
“So, umm, who are you now? You do look familar”, I said
She just smiled and began to make typing gestures with her hands, looked
at them and stopped. She furled her brow, looked at our daughter who
was now standing in front of Go,and pointed at her. At that Sarah said
“It’s GoSpeed!. GoSpeed Racer!”. Go smiled, pointed at herself and shook
her head yes as if to agree. It was at that point my wife began to
recognize who she resembled and her jaw dropped a little. I was still
confused. Yes, she looked very much like GoSpeed, but come on, this was
a real person in front of us. She even makes a dent in the cou…ch.
Umm, just barely. She looked to be 5ft 6 inches tall and about 120 lbs,
but she didn’t sink far into the cushions of the couch. Odd, odd
indeed.
“Can you talk?”
She was quiet for a moment, looked at her hands and shook her head no.
“Are you deaf? Are you reading my lips?”
She shook her head no, again.
“You’re mute”
She considered that for a moment and shook her head yes and for the
first time had a sad expression on her face.
I looked over at my wife and I couldn’t quite decipher her expression. I
suppose she was like me, feeling as if we were in a Twilight Zone
episode. Even though this was quite weird to us a small part of us had
doubts. I mean seriously, GoSpeed was just some avatar from Second Life.
Not real in the physical sense. Somebody was playing a trick on me. But
what a hell of a trick to find a woman who looked like GoSpeed.
Glancing over at my wife I saw too that the original shock and confusion
had shifted to that of skepticism with her left eyebrow lifted up like
a Vulcan. What we saw next defied belief…
Go was tugging at her top as if it was itching her while sitting down at
the couch. It was a crisp 55 degrees outside compared to a warm 71
inside. No doubt she felt a bit warm. Her fuzzy, blue sweater seemed to
defocus before our eyes and nearly disappear. Unsurprisingly she did
not have a bra on and for a second or two we had a sneak peek at her,
ummm, cookies. A light green colored blur covered her torso and it
slowly materialized itself into a light green t-shirt, also very clingy.
All four of us sat quiet for a few moments. Me and my wife had our
mouths open in disbelief while our daughter was pointing at her shirt,
also stunned. Go looked around with an expression that seemed to ask
“What? What’s the big deal?”. In that moment our world changed. We
looked at each other again and realized that one of the most unlikely
things ever to occur, just happened. An avatar came to life and walked
into our home. Say hello to your alter-ego……………
Chapter 4
What’s for Lunch?
We watched as GoSpeed slowly settle back into the couch and drift off to sleep, snoring ever so slightly as she did. Again I noticed that the she did not sink very much into the cushions. It was if she were light as a feather. I looked to my wife expressing my disbelief again. As skeptical as I was, yet intrigued by who or what she really was. Our daughter Sarah, noticing that Go was asleep sat on the couch next to her and held her hand. Now my girl is very friendly and sociable but this was odd. Sarah seemed very much at ease with this new person in the house. Well, not exactly new, she’d seen GoSpeed’s avatar on screen a lot the past year or so. I asked my wife if she saw what I did when Go seemingly changed her clothes while still dressed. No doubt about it she said, we both saw it for our own eyes. How the hell did she pull that trick off? I touched her pant legs and her sleeves and the fabric felt pretty normal. I touch her arm where the sweater covered it before and it felt like normal skin. Baffling, so baffling.
My wife and I talked quietly for about an hour about where she may have come from, who she may be and what would we do with her. We assumed she was some local Second Life user who was a GoSpeed stalker who gleaned enough information about who and where we were in RL. But then again her resemblance to the avatar was striking and the clothes changing trick was something hard to explain. Go stirred slightly and opened her eyes slowly. At first she seemed lost, confused, but seemed to recognize us quickly with a big toothy smile. The same squinty eyed smile her smiling attachment gave her in SL. Her stomach growled loudly and she began to weave a bit as she remained sitting on the couch. “Oh you must be hungry”, my wife said. She got up and got a ripe banana from the counter and gave it to Go. Go just stared at it, then slowly turned it around to inspect it. She looked around the room at us with an inquisitive look. Sarah said, “I’ll peel it for you!” and proceeded to peel the banana open for her. Go took the half peeled banana from my daughter and took a small bite from the end. “Mmmm”, she murmured and began to eat it quickly. In no time at all the banana was gone and if not for the quick actions of my daughter I feared Go would have eaten the peel! Energized, GoSpeed sat up tall and looked about and pointed at her stomach again. “Still hungry?”, I said. Go shook her head yes and again my wife got up and rummaged through the fridge producing a plate with slices of turkey meat, cheddar cheese, and carrots. That plate was soon empty as was the glass of water I gave her.
“Go, can you speak?”, I asked. She opened her mouth as if to talk, but no sound came out. A look of consternation spread over her face as she tried again and again to utter a sound, failing to so much make a peep. Sighing, she shook her head no and lifted her hands to make a typing motion. It clicked in my mind that she wanted to type something. I walked over to the end table and got the small laptop. I sat next to Go who watched with growing curiosity as I booted it up. Firefox launched and I briefly noted an article about the Hadron Collider on my start up page. I minimized Firefox and launched MS Word. I handed the laptop to Go who squealed with delight.
“Go, why can’t you speak?”.
She typed back and turned the screen towards me.
“I don’t know hon, I have the words, but nothing comes out. It’s like a grayed out button.”
“So who are you really? Where did you come from?”
“I am GoSpeed Racer, a Second Life Avatar. I’m from the grid. But this is not the grid, is it?”
“No, this is not the grid and you do look very much like GoSpeed, but she’s just bits of data, you’re flesh and blood. Come on, really, who are you?”
“I am GoSpeed, dammit!”, she typed and then put her hands on her hips and gave me a particularly scary looking angry expression, a look that mimicked the expression of an SL avatar. She typed again, “I am who I say I am. I know who I am and I know who you are. You tell me what’s going on. One moment I am TP-ing somewhere and the next I am freezing my ass off by some mail boxes!…. And why is it still light outside?!?!?”
“Who dropped you off at the mailboxes then, your mother?”, asked my wife.
GoSpeed paused, perplexed and confused for a few moments and then typed her response, slowly at first.
“I don’t have a mother or father…, I… You, you made me, Rav.”
“Umm, OK, sure. You look to be about, oh 28 years old, give or take a few years.”
“Take” she typed and grinned and shook her head as if her youth was not to be questioned.
“Ok, at most 28. I am 43. I DID NOT father any children when I was 15 years old. I hardly dated anyone on high school and much less make some black girl pregnant either.” I gave my wife a reassuring look and was relieved when she did not question my protestation of innocence.
“Stop being silly Rav, I am not your flesh and blood, I was born 10 November 2006. Just look at my pro… look it up online.” She looked off in the distance, as if to remember something. “In fact my avatar was male the first few weeks. Thank god I’m better looking now!”
“Well I think you’re narrowing it down a bit with that information. Not everyone knows all the details of your ‘birth’. Again, who told you all this stuff?”
“I know it from you. All I know I know from you. More or less. I seem to have these thoughts about things I’ve never had before. But that is beside the point. I know who I am and where I came from. I just don’t know how the hell I got here.”
With that she folded her arms and sat back. I could tell she was getting frustrated.
“Listen, I’m sorry, but what you are saying is just a bit too preposterous to believe. A mental construct can’t just come to life. Pinocchio just can’t leap off the movie screen and claim to be real. Do you understand where I am coming from?”
“Didn’t Pinocchio become real?”
“Fiction, that was fiction. We are in the real world and this just does not happen.”
Just then a series of white lights spun around GoSpeed and then vanished.
“I’m just putting my sunglasses on. Oh, someone named Carson is approaching the house too.”
The doorbell rang and Sarah rushed to the door to greet her neighbor friend. We told Sarah it was OK to go outside to play and the house became quiet again.
My wife was about to speak when Go lifted her hands up, inspecting the nails. She furrowed her brows and then, amazingly her nails changed from red to plum. Well, I think at that point we began to seriously reconsider our position. Could this really be GoSpeed in the flesh?
“So, what’s for dinner? I’m still hungry!”
Chapter 5 – Tears
I felt full. It felt rather good actually where as hunger hurt, made me weak. I pushed away from the table and stood up. Funny, standing up in a fluid motion. I am so used to just popping out of chairs and snapping into place when I sit. Eating was a pleasant but weird experience. I’ve never eaten before but I somehow knew how to do it. It was like I was programmed to know. But I knew why I knew. Coming to terms with that was the hard part. Damn! All this thinking! Will my mind ever stop? I was so used to being led along and directed. Someone else made me move,thought for me, spoke for me, gave me a life. Now, I was in charge and I felt so lost. I was also a woman but I am pretty sure I was no lady! Sigh, was I destined to be a freak here?
Rav and Iza were murmuring quietly with each other while Sarah kept her eyes on me while I ate. I smiled at her and she beamed right back at me. Children weren’t that common on the grid. Even then they were adults who pretended to be young. Sarah was a genuine child and a sweet one at that. At least she was “born”, I was created. On the grid I was pieces and colors. Polygons shaped my body, textured draped my skins and clothes, and I wore prims for hair, shoes and jewlery. I tugged at my T-shirt and it was loose. I could slide a finger under the sleeve no problem. I rubbed my left foot against my right and the right shoe came off. It came OFF! I stared at it, waiting for it to vanish. Is there autoreturn here? I giggled at the thought. They have an 8 year old child so they better turn it on! I also noticed I had distinct toes. Oh! I could wriggle them too!
“Go, do you have a wallet or purse?”, Iza asked me. I shook my head no but then remembered my Lo-Lo purse. As I sat down again the purse appeared under my left arm. Rav just shook his head and said, “I think that validates her story. This is not normal, no one can simply materialze objects out of thin air.”
Suddenly a yellow squirt gun appeared on the table. Sarah grabbed it and began shooting me! Rav quickly grabbed it took it away to Sarah’s considerable protestations. Then a medicine bottle appeared and dropped to the floor making a loud fart sound as it landed. I kicked the bottle and it made another fart sound. Heh heh, so funny!
“Take it off, now!” commanded Rav. As I took it off my shoulder it recalled what it could do. This purse also drops bricks, kitchen sinks, and condoms. Too late, a Trojan condom still in its foil wrapper dropped to the table. I held my arms out as if to say “Don’t touch it!”
“Nobody touch it, we don’t need sheep running around the house!”, said Rav.
“Go, you have got to be really carefull what you rez here, they can cause real damage. No guns or weapons of any sort. No horses, no sailboats or starships. If you rez something big it could tear up our home. We don’t have phantom walls here Go!”
One by one the objects disappeared, squirt gun, pill bottle, and condom. I wonder, would a real sheep appear or a stuffed doll? Maybe next time I”ll find out.
I left the purse on the table as we retired back to the family room. I sat back down on the couch and leaned my head back, looking at the ceiling. Rav tapped me on the shoulder and handed me the laptop. No, not now I gestured. I put both my hands to my head and shook it. This was getting to be too much. I was getting overloaded with information; words, thoughts sounds, sensations, eating, smelling, tasting. I just needed quiet. I closed my eyes, but the tears came anyways. I cried, softly at first, and the sobs got louder and deeper as I let go of my pain. Every sob releasing my pent up fears and frustrations. Sarah
quickly hoped on the couch and put her arms around me, hugging me. I wrapped my arms around her and hugged her back. Rav and Iza came up to me, Rav kneeling and Iza on my side. Rav held a free hand and Iza placed a hand on my shoulder, trying to comfort me with words.
“GoSpeed, it’s OK. Youll be fine”, said Sarah, trying her best to cheer me up. Iza handed me a tissue as I blew my nose. Blew my nose, yet another weird thing I had to deal with. This is so hard. I just want to log off. I closed my eyes and concentrated but I could not see a menu to even log off with! I’m stuck here, great.
“Go, do you want to lie down and rest?”, asked Iza.
I nodded my head yes and focused in my mind on the inventory menu. Pajamas, yes, I have a few pair. I selected them, but before I wore them I crossed my legs and folded my arms across my chest. I think the last change of clothes upset them. I followed Iza up the staircase. Boy, so many steps, and it’s work to walk up them! She led me into the guest room and showed me the bed. I was half expecting pose balls when the sheets were pulled back. I slid into bed, marvelling at the softness of the mattress and and coolness of the sheets. The coolness faded away to be replaced by a comfortable warmth as I lay still in the bed looking up at Iza.
“If you need something, come get us. The bathroom is the first door on your right.”
I smiled a “thank you” to her and she left the room, closing the door behind her. I rolled to my right and looked at the tree shadow on the shade and closed my eyes….. darkness….
.
Chapter 6 – Dreams
To say that any of us slept that night would be a mistake. Me and my wife were coming to terms with who and what our new guest was. We agreed that the weird things we saw simply could not be done with any known science or parlor trick illusions. We wondered how she came to be. People simply do not spontaneously appear out of thin air and greet you as their creator. The only thing that came to mind was Douglas Adams’ Infinite Improbability Drive. In the Hitch-hiker novels he wrote that whenever the drive was used seemingly impossible things appeared, like 10,000 Monkeys drafting a screenplay on typewrtiers, or a Sperm whale appearing above the surface of a planet. In our case a 20-something year old black woman conceived in a virtual world knocked on my door. What if something somewhere caused a similar effect? I created her avatar but I sure didn’t have the power to bring her to life. I chuckled as I thought of that movie, Weird Science. Thank god my RL brother wasn’t anything like Chet! After a while we succumbed to our exhaustion and drifted off to sleep. I don’t remember dreaming, but I was to be awaken later that night in an interesting manner.
GoSpeed slept peacefully at first, but after a time she began to stir. She was dreaming again, this time the dreams were more vivid….
I was falling, arms and legs akimbo as if falling from a platform several hundred meters up. Fly, Fly FLY!!! Finally I was able to hover gracefully, arms flapping gently as if they alone held me up. I was back on the grid, but not really. It didn’t feel quite right as I could actually feel air moving around me. The sun was very warm too. I slowly drifted down to the ground doing a pirouette as I landed. This was Ahern,the welcome area. It was vacant, not a soul to be seen nor a single green dot on he minimap. I look at the Friends List, no one is online. I walk around a bit remembering my first few hours in SL. Slowly the scene dissolves before my very eyes and a big red barn materializes in front of me. I remember this place well indeed. I met some of my first friends here in Nantucket.I walk inside of the barn, peeking into the alcoves. Again like Ahern it’s devoid of people. I do see an empty Tako drift by sporting a green sail with a cartoon witch on it, bumping off the
docks, making scraping noises…
The scene changes again and I am a clubhouse on a hill. The smell of a roasting hot dog fills the air. Mmmmm, It makes me hungry. I walk towards the fireplace where a roasting hot dog on a stick is balanced above the fire. Suddenly, I hear wicked cackling laugh, no, 3 cackling laughs! “GoSpeed! We Love you! Ahaa haa haaa!!!!” Oh no! They’re after me! Haven’t they harmed me enough? Walking up the cobblestone path towards me are 3 ugly women, blonde, redhead and black haired. I close my eyes…. and I am somewhere else…
The sound of the surf, a large TV screen. Pictures adorn the wall and I hear music from a radio on the end table near my feet. Odd, there are three feet? I’m lying on someone, I can feel them breathing. A pair of arms hug me tight and a sweet voice says “Have a good nap baby?” I twist my head to see who was holding me. A beautful black woman with green eyes smiles at me and then kisses me on the cheek. I smile back at her and it fades to black…
I thought I was dreaming at first. A hand touched my cheek, then traced my jawline, and a soft fingertip traced my lips. I smiled thinking my wife was awake and touching my face. If I opened my eyes she might stop so I kept them closed, pretending to sleep. If she wanted to rouse me she’d need to get a little more provocative than that. A second hand joined the first, cradling my face. Her face came close to mine as I sensed her heat,her breath and smell. Soft lips pressed against mine. She began to kiss with more passion, parting my lips with hers. Wait… wait, something is not right, this isn’t my wife, she’s lying to my right and these lips are above me… I lift my hands up, cupping soft breast as I push this intruder away. The intruder makes a soft squeak sound and dashes out of the room. Shocked and then embarrassed as I realized who I
touched in a rather inappropriate manner. My wife stirs and asks me if I am alright. I tell her I am fine, I just had a weird dream. “Did it involve you kissing me? You were smooching me on the cheek a while ago.” I turn on my flashlight and notice red lipstick on her right cheek. I wipe it away and explain that I left a little toothpaste on her cheek. She gives me a dirty look about that as I apologize for being such a slob. I put on a pair of sweat pants and go to GoSpeed’s room. I crack open the door, peer inside and see she is asleep. Uh-huh, Right, you’re sleeping alright. I wonder if she was sleep walking. I close the door and head back to bed. We’ll have to have a talk with Go in the morning about this…….
Chapter 7 – You got some ’splainin’ to do!
Her senses came back slowly. The feel of the bed, blankets, clothing. The light penetrating her eyelids, demanding attention. She moved a leg and heard it whisper as it slid between the sheets. She felt warm and cozy and didn’t want to open her eyes. As she lay there she listened as birds twittered outside and a lawnmower droned off in the distance. Soon a new sensation began to make itself more prevalent as a tightness formed in her abdomen. “This isn’t good”, she thought to herself, “What does this feeling mean? Am I getting ill?” In a sudden flash it came to her. “I gotta go!”. She was confused as to what she was supposed to do until another insight painted a picture in her mind as to what her course of action should be. In a jerky motion she pulled back the covers, sat up and then kicked her legs off the bed. Brrr, it was a little chilly! She stepped into the hallway and entered the bathroom….
GoSpeed left the bathroom, a bit shocked by what she had to do. She’d heard about it, but never had to releive herself before. Well, dummy, she thought, you’ve never eaten before either. She stood in the hallway now fully awake and energized. She looked at her room, looked at Sarah’s room, the foyer before her and then to the master bedroom on the right. She froze on the spot when half remembered dreams came back to her. The images were mostly from the grid, blocky, jerky, and full of mismatched textures. But one image stood out, it was from this place and it was “high defintion”. “Oh my, did I really do that?” She placed a hand over her mouth as if to stifle a gasp. She peaked into the bedroom and saw Iza and Rav still asleep. Yes, she did it and it didn’t feel right. She did something wrong. Why it felt wrong she couldn’t say.
Rav stirred, opened his eyes and looked at GoSpeed. By the look on his face the memory was still fresh in his mind. Go wanted to be invisible at that moment and slink away to a corner. Seeing her discomfort Rav softened his expression and motioned her to go back to her room. He quickly dressed himself and went to her room. “Let’s go downstairs and talk”, he said. Go followed him downstairs and they sat on the couch. As she nervously fidgeted on the couch Go powered up the laptop so she could type to Rav.
“So, did you sleep well?” asked Rav.
Go shook her head no.
“I didn’t either. Seems I had a visitor in my room last night who was rather affectionate.”
Go blushed, averted her eyes and looked down at the keyboard.
“Do you remember entering my room?”
She shook her head yes.
“Well I don’t know what it was all about but what you did was inapproprite. Not only kissing me but my wife!”
Go blushed even more and hung her head in embarrasment. “How could I do that? I’m such a weirdo!”, she thought.
“Now listen, I know your life on the grid was pretty carefree and liberal, but here in real life things are a bit more conservative. The consequences of your actions are a bit more unpleasant here.”
Go typed out “I am sorry. I don’t know what I was doing. I think I was sleep walking.”
“It’s OK, No major harm was done. But there may be hell to pay if Iza remembers it and takes offense. You know she says you’re my ‘kid’.” Rav smiled and continued, ” I’ll do what I can to teach you what you need to know to make it here.” (Assuming she would stay a permanent feature here, she could just magically disappear as easily as he appeared).
Go relaxed and smiled, feeling a sense of relief. To her the past day was incredibly overwhelming.The world showed no signs of letting up with new discoveries and problems to overcome. Well, if she can go potty and not freak out then the rest can’t be too tough.
Rav saw her grin and guessed that he put her at ease. Looking at the clock he noticed it was 8AM and he was hungry.
“Are you hungry?
Yes! She shook her head vigorously.
“I’ll make some omlettes. Why don’t you rez some fresh clothes and come over and lend me a hand. I promise not to look!”
Go clapped her hands together and smiled brightly at the invitation. Cooking! This should be fun!……..
Chapter 8 – Breakfast of Champions
The black skillet did not betray its temperature until a thin strip of margarine landed in the middle and melted quickly. “Crack” went the egg against the lip of the skillet. Rav pulled the shell apart and the gooey insides plopped on top of the bubbly margarine. The spatula split the yolk and it ran over the top of the now solidifying egg.
“This is a friend egg, not an omelette. Sarah doesn’t care for omelettes.” , Said Rav matter-of-factly.
GoSpeed watched as Rav cracked open 3 eggs into a Tupperware bowl and whipped them up with a fork creating an yellowish blend. In went the chopped onion, mushrooms, bits of American cheese, bell pepper and bits of bacon. The smell was beginning to make her drool. Embarrassed, she wiped her lip hoping Rav wouldn’t notice.
Sarah had awakened and came downstairs drawn by the smell of food. Rav directed Sarah to the toaster and she bean to make toast.
GoSpeed watched, fascinated. She hungrily eyed Sarah’s food as Rav put the fried egg on her plate. As Rav took the plate to the toaster to retrieve the toast Go fought the urge to stick her finger into the uncooked omlette and give it a taste. Rav added a bit more margarine to the skillet and was about to pour the omlette when he decided to give it to Go. Go poured the mix into the skillet and watched as the gelatinous goo solidified and turned whitish. Rav handed her the spatula and told her to stir it up a bit.
“There, scrape it of the bottom, this is scrambling in a way. You have to make sure it’s fully cooked, yet does not get burned.”
“Whoo hoo! I am cooking”, thought Go. After a few minutes Rav said it was done and took the spatula from Go. He cut it into 3 equal pieces and placed the slices onto plates. They sat down to eat and drink at the table
with Sarah. Go savored every bite, making yummy sounds as she did. Rav heard her, but it took him a moment to realize that she was vocalizing.
“Taste good?”
GoSpeed shook her head yes. Rav was hoping to hear a spoken response. Maybe in time. Go did have vocal cords, she just didn’t know how to use them (yet?).
“Iza will be down in a bit to get her portion, are you hungry for something else?”
No, she shook her head in response. Now that’s willpower, she’ll stay lean in real life for sure Rav thought wryly. OK, what next? Really, where do I go from here, he pondered. Sunday morning, things were slow paced on the weekend. Lets just see where things take us I suppose.
Sarah in the meantime had opened one of the shades in the dining room and Go’s eyes were immediately drown to the outside world. It was late April and the buds were beginning to sprout on the trees. In another week or so it would be time to mow the grass too. A squirrel darted up a tree trunk right outside the window.
Go’s mouth opened in amazement.
“Do you want to go outside?”
“YES!”, she nodded excitedly.
“OK, can you rez a jacket, it’s a little chilly out there, about 50 degrees.”
In a blink a red jacket with a hoodie appeared. A Frangipani freebie from last March, he recalled.
“OK, lets go out side then.”
Rav collected his jacket and led GoSpeed out the front door into the bright morning sun. GoSpeed squinted in the bright light and sheilded her eyes. She removed her hand to reveal a pair of sunglasses.
“Nice shades. ROLE sunglasses!”
Go smiled and looked down the steps, considering them. She seemed to hesitate until Rav offered a hand. Rav noticed she seemed a bit heavier than yesterday. Perhaps that was affecting her balance. Together they walked into the grass pausing by a tree. Go closed her eyes. She felt the warmth of the sun, the coolness of the breeze, the sounds of the birds, the drone of a power mower in the distance. She took a deep breath…. and could smell, grass, pine needles, and stone? Asphalt she thought, whatever that was. This was intoxicating, she had to sit down before she fell down.She sat on the grass, leaned back and looked into the skies, watched the birds flitter about, the clouds drift over. “I could learn to love this she thought and she tugged on Rav’ pant leg and motioned him to join her…..
Chapter 9 – Lost In Space
GoSpeed rotated her head back so she could look straight up again after Rav situated himself on the ground. The ground was hard, cool and slightly damp. “Yuck, I hate being wet in my clothes”, she thought. That’s OK, I can rez some dry ones later, she realized. A few birds flew overhead and she watched them go from one side of the sky to another as they disappeard behind some trees. A slight puff of wind would occasionally blow across her making the tip of her nose feel cool only to warm up again from the sun’s rays. The smell…. earthy, grassy, maybe a touch of decay from dead leaves. A few hundred yards away somebody started their riding mower and it emanated a low rumble and hum heard throughout the subdivision. Even closer, to her right, a few children were in the yard playing with their toys and engaging in playful banter.
Rav walked ahead of Go and opened the front door failing to notice her suppressing a giggle as she noticed his wet backside……
Chapter 10 – Logging in
As Rav went upstairs to change his clothes GoSpeed wandered into the computer room with Sarah in tow. She stood in facing the L shaped desk with the 3 computers computers enticing her. The one on the right had some flickering displays which she quickly discerned to be the KONA Radio computer. In the middle was a large LCD screen with a screen shot of herself as wallpaper. “Hmm, I look cute”, she thought while grinning to herself. The left hand computer was off. She sat down in the main chair waiting as Sarah circled around asking questions. GoSpeed paid scant attention as she began to ponderwhat she was about to do.
Rav came downstairs to see GoSpeed seated, with elbows on the desk and hands on chin, deep in thought. He walked up and placed a hand on her shoulder. GoSpeed looked up with apprehension that turned quickly into a smile that seemed to say “Oh, am I in your seat?”. “Don’t bother.Here, slide over here to the left.”, said Rav. GoSpeed scooted over to the computer that was turned off as Rav rolled up another chair to the main computer. He pushed a button on the monitor and instructed GoSpeed to push the silver button on the front of the computer down by her calves. As the computer booted up Rav launched his Second Life client and prepared to log in. She watched the bios screen flash by, then the XP splash screen, a light blue screen and then the desktop appear. She waited, and waited not knowing what to do next. She knew what this was in theory, but had no experience or even instinct to fall back on.
In the virtual studios of KONA Radio a puff of white smoke appeared and pulsed by the desk. A grey male figure flashed into being, the cloud dissipated, and the form began to color in. Caucasian skin, brown hair, blue eyes, jeans, Hawaiian shirt…. .
At the Keyboard Ravishal turned around to face GoSpeed who was still staring at her computer. “Do you know what to do?” “GoSpeed shrugged. “Here, you click this.” Rav took her mouse and clicked the Second Life icon on the desktop. “OK Go, type in your name and password and meet me at the studio.”
GoSpeed typed in her name, GoSpeed <tab> Racer <tab> _____ …. . Password? She had no idea. She tapped Rav on the shoulder and pointed at the empty password field and shrugged. “Watch this.” said Rav as he slowly and deliberately typed in the password so she could see what he typed. In world a puff of smoke appeared in the corner of the studio as
GoSpeed rezzed into Second Life.
“What do I do? How do I move?” she thought. Without thought she reached out for the mouse and held the ALT key and was moving her camera around, pivoting around her avatar, zooming up close and then pulling back. Her camera got stuck on the other side of the wall and she quickly hit the Esc key to brin ghe camera back close to her avatar. She found the movement keys and advanced her avatar towards the couches and chairs. Without much thought GoSpeed was quickly mastering the keys. She may have been stumped by the Windows interface but she quickly recalled the Second Life interface. This was starting to feel comfortable and weird at the same time. She knew what to do, but everything was oddly skewed. Friends list. What had always been a mental picture was now a pop-up menu that blocked part of the screen. Mini-map, Inventory, user menus, all of those had been mental abstracts now were pictorially rendered on the screen before her. What had required a thought to bring into view now required a click. “What next???”
Ravishal clicked the cushion next to her on the couch and sat down
Ravishal Bentham: Welcome back to SL, how does it feel?
GoSpeed Racer: Weird, really weird. I remember how it “felt” to be in here, but I don’t feel anything like that. I feel the chair I am siting on, the keyboard and mouse in my hand, the noise the computer makes and your daughter talking into my left ear.
Ravishal Bentham: Sorry bout that.
“Sarah, Give Aunt Go some space, ok?”. GoSpeed grinned at her new title of “Aunt Go”. An indignant Sarah stomped off in search of mom to complain at how mean dad was.
Ravishal Bentham: Ok, do you want to meet somebody?
GoSpeed Racer: Ummm, OK. Sure. Who???
Rav opened his friends list scanning it up and down, finally stopping at LaDonna Upshaw. He opened a conference between the three and invited LaDonna over.
LaDonna Upshaw: OK, but it has to be quick, I am preparing to launch a new line of furniture soon and I’m falling behind.
A third avatar rezzed into the studio and stood before Ravishal and GoSpeed.
LaDonna Upshaw: OK, what is it you need to show me.
Ravishal Bentham: LaDonna, fire up Skype. I need to show you a visitor in my computer room.
Rav could have sworn he detected a sigh coming from LaDonna’s avatar as its AO caused her to fold her arms and look up at the ceiling.
LaDonna Upshaw: Hold on, one minute.
Rav saw LaDonna’s name pop up on his Skype contact list and immediately called her.
“Hey LaDonna, I am going to fire up my camera so you can see who I have here sitting next to me.”
“It better be Cal Ripken, I’m awfully busy today.”
Rav grinned and said, “Oh, much better than ole Cal hun.” A video window popped up on Ladonna’s computer and it did a fade in from white to reveal Rav seated in his chair wearing a headset. Off to his left was a dark skinned woman with short, bobbed hair wearing a v-neck top. LaDonna paused a moment, mouthing but not quite vocalizing the phrase “what tha…” .
“Rav, who is that? Do I know her”
“In a way you do. You’ve met her before in SL.”
GoSpeed was looking around wondering who or what Rav was talking to. Sarah came back with mom in tow and stood behind Rav with arms folded.
“Oh, this is Sarah and next to her is my wife Izabella”
“Oh, OK, so that woman seated next to you is not your wife”
“Oh lord, not at all LaDonna. Here, lets get a closer look.”
Rav scooted aside and motioned Go to look at the webcam on top of the LCD monitor. Go came over, eyed the webcam and beamed a big smile.
“OMG Rav! She looks just like GoSpeed! Look at her eyes!” Go leaned back in her chair revealing her top and LaDonna gasped again. “The tattoo. She has a rose tattoo!”
There was a moment of silence and Rav spoke up.
“She showed up at my front door yesterday. Her resemblance to GoSpeed is incredible, down to the tatto, skin tone, eyes and clothes. Oh Go, show her the clothes trick. Nothing sheer. How about that INDI outfit, the Sienna.”
GoSpeed nodded and her clothing began to change. A brownish white blur covered her as her black pants and white top were replaced by brown shorts, a white top, a jacket vest and suspenders. GoSpeed looked up and a hat and new hairstyle appeared on her head. Withing the space of a few heartbeats her clothes had fully rezzed and solidified. LaDonna was shocked, speechless. Rav and the family were still wowed by the demonstration too. GoSpeed smiled a big smile and stood up to demonstrate her outfit. She lifted a leg to show off her boots to the camera.
” I don’t know what I just saw Rav. You either are showing me a neat trick or you’ve got a modern miracle in your home.”
“Tell me about it. We’re all trying to figure out what this means. She can’t talk at all, but she can write and type so we can communicate with her.”
In the meantime GoSpeed turned her attention back to her avatar and began moving about the virtual studio.
“How real is she? I mean, is she human?”
” I don’t know. She’s eaten with us and umm, did other stuff. She sleeps too. But you saw what she did with her clothes.”
“If I were you I’d take her to a doctor and have her checked out.” , said LaDonna.
” I think you’re right. God, she may not have an immune system at all! She could get very sick if exposed to a virus.”
Izabella spoke up, “Safe bet would be Urgent Care in town. There would be less questions.”
Rav nodded with agreement. “We should do that very soon.” He turned around to address the family. “OK, no physical contact with GoSpeed until she gets a checkup. I have no idea if she is resistant to disease or not. And Go, no kissing, ok?” GoSpeed blushed and nodded in agreement.
“OK LaDonna, it appears I have a plan of action for today. I’ll get back with you later.”
Rav closed the connection and turned to GoSpeed who in the meantime found her Huddles AO and was dancing away on the studio couch.
“OK frauline, get something plain on and lets see about getting you to a doctor.”…………………………..
You DO know I’m lovin’ this story, don’t you?
*kisses*!