Chapter 6
Nathan had never been to Amsterdam, so he was not sure if he was in the famous city; the buildings around did look very European, but, based on the conversations around him, most people nearby seemed like tourists from the USA. Well, that was not too surprising to Nathan, as the Americans were everywhere even before OBU.
Dave led the charge, Gary and Nathan followed. Looking at the tree-lined canal in the middle of street, the typical Amsterdam postcard scenery, Nathan felt quite excited that he finally had the chance to enjoy the exotic city he had always wanted to visit. Then, after noticing the red-light-illuminated buildings and the half-naked girls in the window displays, he realized that they were right in the middle of the famous red light district; he now understood why Dave was so keen to get here.
The bakery Nathan used to work in fifteen years ago was not far from Kings Cross in Sydney, supposedly Australia’s equivalent of the red light district in Amsterdam, but it had no resemblance to the real thing. “Gary, is the real Amsterdam exactly like this?”
Before Gary had opened his mouth, Dave said, “This is actually much better than the real city; if you were walking on the real streets in Amsterdam right now, it’d be like a ghost town because everyone is here, in OBU.”
“I thought people would prefer the real Amsterdam in OBU, rather than a cheaper version of ‘Little Amsterdam’,” said Nathan.
“For tourists, it’s true, but for what most people are looking for, this is better; in fact, ‘Little Amsterdam’ is much more popular than the real city, so the Netherlands’ government has been increasing the entry tax to visitors here each year,” said Gary.
Dave waved his arm to indicate the countless windows of girls. “You know that what we are looking at now is not the exact same dimensions as the physical city area, but the digital extension, easily a hundred times bigger; and the girls are from all over the world, a true global red light district.” Dave stopped beside a large window; inside there was a blonde girl who smiled at them. “Nathan, would you like to have fun with this girl? It’d be my shout for your homecoming.”
“Thanks, mate, but I’ll give it a miss today,” Nathan said. “Do you guys do this quite regularly?”
“Oh no, for a charming guy like me, why would I need to pay to get girls?” Dave said. “This is just giving you a tour, a sightseeing; the real action is at the bars if you want to catch girls, the real girls you don’t have to pay.”
“Yeah, let’s get to our favourite bar; I am tired of this boring window shopping, and I also need my fix,” Gary said.
“Nathan, do you know Gary has a secret lover in OBU?”
“Really, a secret lover, Gary?”
Gary waved his arm to dismiss the question. “Dave is joking.”
Dave turned, looking at Nathan. “Mate, are you done with the red light district?”
“Sure, I am easy,” Nathan said.
The bar was right in the thick of the red light district, so it was no surprise that the waitresses were in extremely short skirts and tank tops. Inside, patrons were speaking all different languages, a true global gathering place of drinking, dope smoking and meat-swapping.
The biggest difference to Nathan between this place and the normal bars he was familiar with, apart from the near-naked waitresses and girls around, was that all the patrons looked beautiful, handsome, elegant, young and fit; if he didn’t know about the secret of the masks, Nathan would have believed these people were actually themselves.
They sat down at a corner table; the waitress spoke English with a British accent—a part-time job during her university studies, Nathan guessed. She took their orders. Dave gave her a very generous tip after she brought their drinks, and dope for Gary. It seemed that they visited this place quite regularly.
Nathan swallowed some of the Dutch beer; it was pretty good, just like drinking the real thing. He watched as Gary lit up his dope, and blue smoke filled the air around them. Nathan turned around, seeing many were doing exactly the same thing as Gary. “Gary, I know this sounds silly, but does smoking dope in OBU feel the same as in the real world?”
“Better, much better.” Gary closed his eyes, keeping the smoke in his lungs as long as possible, and then blew it out.
“How so? I mean, despite it looking like you are smoking, we all know it’s just EMRT interpreting some computer data in your brain,” said Nathan.
‘That’s exactly the reason, mate,” Gary continued after blowing more blue smoke into the air. “Normally when you smoke dope, the chemicals would have to be in your lungs, absorbing into your bloodstream and then flooding into your brain, and only then can you feel high, but this shit cuts all the middle men out, and jumps straight to the final stop. Nathan, you should try it, pure heaven.”
“No thanks,” said Nathan. “I suppose that, smoking in OBU, you at least don’t get lung cancer; getting high without the negatives.”
“Not always.” Dave pulled his eyes from the girls and waitress and back to their table. “Some dope is better than others, but if you smoke the dodgy stuff, you could get a brain tumour or memory loss.”
“Really, do people get brain tumours from smoking a piece of software?” asked Nathan.
“Unfortunately it has happened, more and more actually,” Gary said. “Although your brain only accepts signals, the repeat stimulation sometimes causes damage to the brain, particularly the cheap and illegal dope in OBU.”
“Well, it seems nothing is totally positive after all.” Nathan swallowed more beer.
“That’s why I don’t smoke dope, and don’t drink much alcohol either,” said Dave. “But girls are the must. There haven’t been any reports about brain damage related to orgasms, so sex is the way to go, mate. Gary, what do you think about the girl on the left, four tables down?”
“I would have to put my sunglasses on.” Gary took a pair of sunglasses out and put them on. Dave did the same.
Nathan turned around, looking at the girl Dave was referring to. She looked like she was in her middle twenties and in Nathan’s opinion was quite plain, not really to Dave’s taste.
“She is definitely pretty and attractive, but seems a bit shy, that’s why she chose the mask she is wearing,” said Gary.
“I agree with your assessment; I love a shy girl. You know, she could be a virgin,” said Dave. “I’ll see you guys later then.” Dave stood up and went over to the girl.
Nathan looked at the girl again; to be politically correct, he wouldn’t say she was ugly as such, he would say she was average at the most, but definitely nowhere near pretty or attractive. Nathan couldn’t imagine that any girl in the world would choose a mask that made her look less attractive than her real body. “Excuse me, Gary, have I missed something about this girl?”
“Yes, you have indeed.” Gary took his sunglasses off, shaking them in his hand. “What do you think this is?”
“A pair of sunglasses.”
“No, it’s more than just a pair of sunglasses.” He lowered his voice. “They enable you to peel off people’s masks and see their real faces and bodies.”
“Really? You are able to see people’s real faces?”
“Ssh,” Gary said in a low voice. “It’s illegal to possess these type of sunglasses theoretically. Only law enforcement officers have the privileges; they’re called ‘seekers’.”
“Theoretically?”
“Well, it’s against the privacy law, but it’s not enforced; still, you don’t want to tell everyone in public that you have seekers.”
“How do they peel off one’s mask?”
Gary drank a mouthful of whisky in between dragging on his dope. “Whatever you see here is just computer data, so seekers strip off the extra data to show people’s real bodies; having said that, it’s not as easy as it seems, as there are always new versions of masks coming out, so there are also new seekers.”
“Like computer virus and anti-virus software?”
“Yes, it’s the same princi
ple; both masks and seekers are software after all.”
“Where do you get the seekers?”
“You can’t buy them in normal shops the same way you would buy your masks, for obvious reasons, but you can get them if you know where to look; anyway, this is the latest version so they’ll be able to see through most people’s masks.”
“Gary, can I have a look through your seekers?”
“Of course you can.” Gary passed the sunglasses to Nathan.
They looked just like a pair of ordinary sunglasses to Nathan. Apart from everything getting darker, all the people around him looked just the same. He gave them back to Gary. “I don’t see anything different.”
“It’s because they’ve been set up for my eyes only, just in case the police by chance want to check on them. Don’t worry; I can help you to get a pair later.”
“Thanks, mate.”
“No worries, that’s what friends are for.”
“Gary, what’s the point in knowing what someone’s real body is like? I mean, as long as you don’t wear seekers, you would only see their masks anyway.”
“Masks are good for looking at, but when you have sex, it’s better to take them off.”
“Do you mean the mask desensitizes one’s physical sensations, like wearing condoms?”
“Not like wearing condoms, more like having sex through a pair of winter pyjamas,” Gary said. “Believe it or not, people do keep their masks on just because they don’t want the other person to see their real bodies.”
“That wouldn’t work, as the other one would know, just because he or she wouldn’t take their mask off.”
“Not if he or she wears two sets of masks.”
Chapter 7
While Gary closed his eyes and enjoyed each deep drag of his dope, Nathan scanned the people around them. A couple of girls climbed up on top of the counter, crawling and twisting their bodies, obviously part of the attraction of the bar. Men, and some women, were cheering and whistling.
Nathan was not used to this kind of situation; although he had been to skimpy bars before, he had never been comfortable. He lowered his gaze and concentrated on his beer; suddenly he had a feeling that someone was watching him.
Nathan turned around, scanning the crowd. He could see nothing unusual, but he was certain a pair of keen eyes were observing him somewhere in the crowd. Nathan looked up, pretending to stare at the girls crawling on the bench top, but really busily scanning the crowds: still nothing.
Nathan closed his eyes, concentrating and focusing his mind’s eye, the technique he had learnt from Master Wuwei. After feeling his heartbeat slow down, the noises around him seemed to disappear from his ears; he opened his eyes and what he saw took his breath away: the patrons were not what they appeared at all. Instead of the glamorous, young and fit-looking people, there were men with bald heads and protruding midriffs, aged and overweight women, and obviously under-aged teenagers.
Nathan turned to Gary and saw him in his real body, rather than in the rock star mask. Then Nathan’s eyes caught the person who was watching him: a very attractive woman in her early twenties. The pair of blue eyes under her red hair were electrifying; Nathan felt his heart skip a few beats. He could feel the chemical attraction he had towards this girl.
Nathan blinked his eyes and everything went back to normal. He didn’t know what had happened; maybe it was just a delusion. However, he did locate the person who was watching him, except she was not the attractive girl he had seen a moment ago, but an ordinary guy, holding a beer bottle and sitting among a group of young guys. There were six of them in the group, cheering and whistling at the show girls. Nathan closed his eyes and tried to concentrate, hoping to reproduce the same effect, but without much luck: the young guy remained a man.
“Gary.” Nathan patted Gary, who opened his eyes, blowing out a large cloud of blue smoke.
“What’s the matter, mate?”
“Gary,” Nathan whispered. “Look at the guy, at the third table to the left, the one with the checked short-sleeve shirt and jeans.”
“What about him?”
“I don’t know how but for a moment I saw him as a very attractive girl.”
“Let me have a look.” Gary put his sunglasses on. “Well, although his real body is quite young and fit, he is definitely a man, not a girl.” Gary looked at Nathan, very concerned. “Nathan, have you turned gay, maybe as a result of your lost memory?”
Nathan shook his head. “I am not gay, mate. I swear that I saw him as a girl, red hair and blue eyes… Never mind.”
“Yeah, enjoy the show.” Gary stood up. “I need to go to the bathroom.”
“What? How can you go to the bathroom in OBU? And why do you need to go to the bathroom anyway, because you haven’t eaten or drunk anything real.”
Gary sat down again. “Mate, people’s bodies in the real world still need to go to the bathroom. Instead of peeing your pants there is a specially designed software in OBU that synchronizes your projected body in OBU and your real body, so you can relieve yourself in the real world; of course you would need to have a toilet to go to in your home first.”
Nathan though for a moment. “In that case, one could synchronize other activities, such as drinking real water and eating real food, so you could actually live in OBU for a very long time.”
“Indeed you can, and most people are doing exactly that; so now you understand why we live in a high-security apartment building. See you later, mate.” Gary left.
Out of Body Universe - Part One Page 7