Out of Body Universe - Part One

by Martin Chu Shui

  Chapter 14

  The gym was in the basement of their building. According to Amy, all of these OBU-age apartment buildings had a gym like this one, usually in their basements. Unlike the kind of gym Nathan was familiar with, this style of gym was rather alien to him and he wouldn’t have had any idea what it was if Amy hadn’t told him beforehand. In the huge hall, there were rows and rows of glass cylinders.

  Some cylinders were empty, and some had a person inside in his or her swimsuit. As Nathan passed an occupied one, he could see the cylinder was filled with some kind of clear liquid, and the person inside was totally immersed and wearing a helmet and a mask with a pipe attached, like a diver, so the pipe had to be used for breathing, Nathan guessed.

  Looking further, Nathan could see more people inside cylinders, and they seemed to be doing all kinds of different activities. Some were walking, jogging, jumping on the invisible ‘liquid treadmills’, while others were boxing against non-existent punch bags; the strangest of all was one woman who was actually climbing up a set of invisible stairs.

  Looking at Nathan’s expression, Amy laughed. “Nathan, go and get changed into your swimming trunks; meet me back here and I will show you what to do.”

  “Push the button to open the cylinder,” Amy said after they had both changed into their swimsuits. “When you are inside, put the helmet and mask on, like you would to enter OBU.”

  Nathan followed Amy’s instructions.

  The cylinder was about ten feet in diameter. He noticed there were holes, large and small ones, on the lower part of the cylinder. Nathan picked up the helmet and the mask from the floor and put them on his head; the mask changed and adjusted to seal his nose and mouth perfectly, and then he felt air flowing into the mask. The difference between this helmet and the other one he used to get into OBU was that here the eye-shield formed part of the mask.

  As the mask sealed over his face, through the eye-shield, Nathan saw clear liquid springing out from the holes, filling up the cylinder quickly. He looked at Amy, who was inside the cylinder next to him, and she raised her thumb. Nathan also raised his, assuming it meant he was okay.

  It didn’t take long for the liquid to cover his head. It felt slightly cooler than his body temperature, quite pleasant, and then the eye-shield became dark, then completely black, and then he was in a room flooded with bright lights: he was in OBU.

  Nathan looked at his body, now clothed in sporty shorts and a T-shirt, and then at Amy, who stood next to him. “Please explain, Amy.”

  “No need to explain very much; you are in OBU and can engage in any fitness activity you like.”

  Nathan looked around, seeing all the standard gym equipment he was familiar with spread out in the vast floor space: treadmills, weights machines, a boxing ring, punch bags and more. “I understand that all of these are software, simulations of real-world machines, but how do they simulate these activities in that cylinder?”

  “Oh, that’s the trick of the liquid you are immersed in now.” Amy waved her arms around her in a circular movement. “The liquid has a very unique property: its density can be controlled by electrical voltage. It could be as liquid as water, or as hard as rock.”

  “So the software controls the hardness of the liquid so our bodies can feel and carry out all of the fitness programs?”

  “Exactly.” Amy turned and pointed outside of the glass door. “We don’t have to do this boring gym stuff. What about climbing up mountains?”

  “Climbing up mountains?”

  “Why so surprised? Anything is possible in OBU, and just a click away. Which mountain would you like, the Swiss Alps, the Andes, or the Himalayas?”

  “I don’t think I am up to Mount Everest yet, so let’s start with the Swiss Alps.”

  “Winter or summer?” asked Amy.

  “Winter. I have never climbed up a mountain covered in snow.”

  Amy waved her arms and brought up a few screens in mid-air; after a few clicks and waves, Nathan found he was no longer inside a gym, but inside a room with many cubicles, like a changing room.

  “It’d be too cold to climb in just sport shorts and T-shirts, obviously. Get some warm clothes from inside the cubicles and I’ll see you outside.” Amy disappeared into one of the cubicles.

  Nathan found a warm jacket, pants and snow boots and put them on. After pushing the door open and walking outside, he found that he was standing on top of a mountain peak. He moved his legs, used his snow boots to stamp on the pure, powdery snow, and then took his thick gloves off and picked up a handful of snow. He put the snow into his mouth and enjoyed the cold, fresh taste.

  Amy walked out from the cabin clad in a blue mountain-climbing suit. “I love the crisp, powdery snow so much.” She threw herself backwards so she was lying flat on top of the blanket of thick white snow. Amy moved both her arms up and down and her legs opened and closed. “I am making a snow angel.” She laughed loudly and happily.

  Amy’s laughter was so contagious that Nathan couldn’t help but also throw himself onto the snow. “I am making an even bigger snow angel.” He had never felt so relaxed. He let go of all his worries, enjoying the pure air and cold, soft snow and all that nature could offer. He felt like he had gone back to his childhood and wished this moment could last forever.

  Finally, they got up. Amy pointed at the next mountaintop on their left. “Ready to conquer that peak?”

  “Sure, let’s do it.”

  Nathan had settled into his new life at a relatively comfortable pace, thanks to Amy’s help at each step. Each morning during the last week, he and Amy had taken turns to make their breakfast and then eaten it together in their apartment. Apart from the occasional special treat of bacon and eggs, they mostly ate cereal and enjoyed it as whatever they fancied in OBU. One morning they even made it into ice cream in the cyber space—yeah, ice cream for breakfast. Anything was possible in the computer world.

  Nathan and Amy had developed quite an interesting schedule for their after-work hours, combining fitness activities with sightseeing: climbing all the way up to the top of the Eiffel Tower; hiking towards Monte Rosa in the Swiss Alps; tracing the crumpling ruins of the Great Wall of China. There was so much to experience and see, and they both enjoyed their adventures and each other’s accompany. Though Amy’s face always wore friendly smiles, Nathan could tell her smiles these days were from genuine happiness; he felt happy for her and also for himself, too.

  Meanwhile, teaching classes was also becoming easier each day. Nathan had got to know the kids quite well, particularly James, the eighteen-year-old son of the chief of a bushman tribe. James was slender and slightly shorter than Nathan. When Nathan asked him why he chose James as his English name, he said he liked watching 007 movies.

  Based on his background reading about bushman tribes, Nathan was fascinated that the bushman tribes, although much less frequently now, still used the walking-hunt method to hunt, basically chasing their prey until the animals were exhausted to death. During one conversation, James told Nathan that their tribe’s men gave up the practice long ago because the government had forced them to adapt to an agriculture-based lifestyle. Looking at James’ face, Nathan couldn’t help but sigh inside. More and more traditional customs and practices, together with many heritage sites, were disappearing around the world; he wondered how long it would take for everyone to speak English. Even though he agreed with Cathy about the food revolution in the OBU age that had ended hunger, junk food consumption and starvation and had instead moved towards slow, local, organic food, OBU had enforced and sped up the elimination of cultural diversity.

  After all the students had gone home, and Lucie and Pierre had gone to one of their love parties, Amy came to Nathan’s classroom. “Nathan, Vicky came to talk to me today in private; she has a serious problem.”

  “Who is Vicky?”

  “She is sixteen years old, the daughter of the chief of a Zulu tribe; I mentioned her to you a couple of days ago.”

&n
bsp; ‘Oh yes, I remember her now. What’s the problem?”

  “Come on, Nathan, you can’t remember anything I told you,” Amy said. “Vicky had her eye on James; actually the feeling is mutual.”

  “It’s ringing a bell now; so they fell in love with each other. Is that the problem?”

  “Yes, it is. The Zulu and bushman tribes have been enemies for a while. If her father finds out, Vicky is afraid that there could be a tribe war. She asked for my advice. I told her that I’d think about it and talk to her tomorrow.”

  “It is a serious problem and quite a tricky one too. We all know Zulu tribes are very tough and good at fighting,” Nathan said. “What about suggesting Vicky goes to study in the West?”

  “No, it wouldn’t work. I have talked about it with her. The problem is that her father has already made a promise to marry her to a chief’s son from another Zulu tribe, and the wedding is at the end of this year so there is no way her father would allow Vicky to study overseas.”

  Nathan thought very hard for a while but still had no idea how to solve the problem. “Amy, there is no simple solution here. Why don’t we both talk to Vicky and James tomorrow and find out more details about the arranged marriage and the hostility between the two tribes.”

  Amy nodded.

  The next evening, back at their apartment, Nathan and Amy sat down to talk. “Amy, what did you found out about the arranged marriage?”

  “Well, not surprisingly, considering how beautiful Vicky is, many chiefs’ sons proposed marriage. I suspect, in addition to her beauty, it’s also because Vicky’s father’s tribe is the most powerful one in this area. Anyway it’s little surprise that Vicky is to marry the chief’s son of the second most powerful Zulu tribe.”

  “How many chiefs’ sons of Zulu tribes proposed to Vicky?”

  “Three in total.”

  “It means the chiefs of the other two tribes can’t feel very happy about the result.” Nathan thought deeply.

  “What’s James’ story?”

  “He told me his father was against the affair, too, because he is worried about a tribe war. There are never marriages between bushman and Zulu tribes. He also told me the details about the relationships among tribes in this area, which is quite interesting actually.”

  “Oh, I forgot to tell you one more thing. Vicky told me that she is six weeks pregnant.”

  “What? How could she get pregnant in OBU?”

  “Not in OBU; they have met in the real world.”

  “Oh shit, this is now a real problem.” Nathan thought about it for a long time. “The only solution I can think of is to get both James and Vicky to the West. If they are not there, the tribe chiefs may decide to forget about it.”

  “I wish it was that simple.” Amy wasn’t convinced.

  “I know, but at least Vicky and James could escape any harm that might come from the potential tribe wars.”

  “How could we do that? I mean how could we get them to the West?”

  Nathan thought about it for a few seconds. “Why don’t we ask the OBUarity field staff to help us? I believe that there are quite a few of them in that region. If OBUarity could offer them scholarships to study in Europe or the USA, James and Vicky could sneak out and escape. When they return with their newborn baby, Vicky’s father might forgive her and James when he sees his own grandchild.”

  Just then, the phone rang. It was Dave and Gary inviting Nathan on an outing.

  “I don’t have time to visit the strip bar in Little Amsterdam right now.” Nathan covered the phone with his hand, speaking to Amy.

  Amy thought for a second. “Nathan, I think your idea of getting Vicky and James to the West is a possible solution, and I’ll get on it right away. You wouldn’t be able to help me arrange it anyway, so why don’t you just go ahead and have some time off.”

  “I don’t feel comfortable leaving it all to you.”

  “Nathan, you have worked out the solution, so just go out and enjoy your time without me; you must be sick of being with me all the time by now.”

  “Amy, please don’t say that. I really enjoy your company, and all of your help.”

  “I know that, little brother.” Amy smiled; somehow Nathan sensed a slight bitterness behind her smile, but it disappeared immediately. “Nathan, you can’t be with your elder sister all the time; you need to spend time with your mates. Go, enjoy your evening out.”

  “Thanks, Amy. But please keep me informed.”