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lightoffyoursailsJim had been solar-surfing through the industrial canyons of Montressor when the pull caught him, and his solar surfer with it.
Montressor didn't have malls, so Jim didn't recognize the building that had suddenly appeared around him in place of all the dangerous machinery, or the large mercantile displays within, or why this place was populated by only one species.
He also didn't know that the Terrans milling around couldn't see him yet, or that he was insubstantial to them, which is why he panicked.
"Ahh! Get out of the way!"
He jerked his solar surfer through the crowd, blazing by too fast to notice that the people he was narrowly missing didn't notice his passing at all. He was on fire, though, piloting the recreational machine better than he ever had in his life, and he'd always been a good surfer. The board and sail responded as if they were reading his mind for commands.
He skidded to a stop - right in front of a Terran who, with heavy headphones covering his ears and his eyes fixed firmly on the small flat computer in his hands, didn't see Jim in his way.
"Look out!"
Jim tried to move aside, but the guy walked through him. Right through him. The warmth of the guy's body passed through his, seemed to take all the air out of Jim's lungs with it, and left him gasping in shock as people continued to mill around as if a guy hadn't nearly crashed his solar surfer into a bunch of them at all. A few more even walked through him, as if he was a hologram. Or they were.
Holograms. Okay. Jim began waving his hands at the people around him and, when no one continued to acknowledge him, through them.
Holograms too. And they were all Terran. The homogeneity of the species in this program was freaking Jim out as much as having stumbled into a massive hologram in the first place. Who was behind this thing?
Jim shouldered his board and walked straight through the wall back into the main crowd of the mall, looking for anyone who seemed to be real in the crowd.
Montressor didn't have malls, so Jim didn't recognize the building that had suddenly appeared around him in place of all the dangerous machinery, or the large mercantile displays within, or why this place was populated by only one species.
He also didn't know that the Terrans milling around couldn't see him yet, or that he was insubstantial to them, which is why he panicked.
"Ahh! Get out of the way!"
He jerked his solar surfer through the crowd, blazing by too fast to notice that the people he was narrowly missing didn't notice his passing at all. He was on fire, though, piloting the recreational machine better than he ever had in his life, and he'd always been a good surfer. The board and sail responded as if they were reading his mind for commands.
He skidded to a stop - right in front of a Terran who, with heavy headphones covering his ears and his eyes fixed firmly on the small flat computer in his hands, didn't see Jim in his way.
"Look out!"
Jim tried to move aside, but the guy walked through him. Right through him. The warmth of the guy's body passed through his, seemed to take all the air out of Jim's lungs with it, and left him gasping in shock as people continued to mill around as if a guy hadn't nearly crashed his solar surfer into a bunch of them at all. A few more even walked through him, as if he was a hologram. Or they were.
Holograms. Okay. Jim began waving his hands at the people around him and, when no one continued to acknowledge him, through them.
Holograms too. And they were all Terran. The homogeneity of the species in this program was freaking Jim out as much as having stumbled into a massive hologram in the first place. Who was behind this thing?
Jim shouldered his board and walked straight through the wall back into the main crowd of the mall, looking for anyone who seemed to be real in the crowd.
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