If you don't know what second life is, please allow me to direct you to
www.secondlife.com The following is fiction. Period. It never happened.
Well. I'd never admit it if it did...
-= Chapter 1 =-
You know, people take reality for granted. No, Really! They do... Take for instance the day I was surfing the net, and tripped over a site called SecondLife.Com.
Well, the site didn’t say much about it, except that it was some kind of online 3D game that you could create stuff in.
Boy! Was that an understatement or what?
Anyway, the last thing I remembered was installing the setup file that they offered, and punching the ‘login’ button.
-=-
I must have blacked out, and was looking around for several moments before I figured out I wasn’t sitting at my desk anymore. I wasn’t even in my house anymore...
Dear Lord... I wasn’t in MY BODY anymore...
I didn’t know whose body I had gotten, but it was wired weird compared to mine. My hands weren’t mine anymore, and my body felt funny in ways I could not even begin to describe. Even stranger, while standing didn’t take much effort, I couldn’t figure out how to sit down. Considering the shock, I did what any person would do under the circumstances.
I panicked.
Well. That lasted me a few minutes, and allowed my brain just enough time to realize that it wasn’t working before forcing me to switch tracks to curiosity.
Ok. I was not in my body, I was in a strange place, and...
Hello? Where was I?
As I looked around for the first time, I mean actually LOOKED, I realized I was near a shoreline. Water seemed to disappear into the distance, and the horizon looked a bit strange... I was standing on a circular platform, and it was surrounded by a rope rail with a path leading off from it.
Manufactured goods = civilization. Check. I’m not totally alone then. Let’s get down to if that’s good or bad later.
Near me was a pedestal with a glowing logo of a hand that was spinning quietly atop it. The hand seemed to be solid, but nothing was holding it up. I did what any curious stranger would do.
I poked it.
Then I panicked again.
Really, you can’t blame me. The previous few minutes HAD been pretty stressful. Combine that with the sudden surprise of having a piece of paper smack you across the face, momentarily blinding you, and anyone would have freaked out...
Pulling it back from my face, I was able to make out the title.
“Welcome to your Second Life”.
Ho, boy...
-=-
“So... That’s how you talk...” I started at the sound of my own voice. It had been a productive few minutes, and I already had figured out how to walk about and speak. In addition, there were notes on how to interact with the world and...
Notes...
...On how to...
...fly?
“Okaaay.” I decided to put the note away and look about. The moment it occurred to me, the note vanished. I refused to be surprised by this.
The path was the only visible direction I had, and it seemed better than standing around. It wound a few feet down a slope, and ended at a pair of posters hung on wooden racks. One poster showed a man, and the other a woman. The man looked to be wearing the same clothing I was.
And in between was a spinning hand floating on a pedestal.
With a nod to myself, I reached out and touched the hand again.
WHAP!
And peeled the paper off my face with a sigh.
This one advised me on how to not only change my cloths, but how to make myself look like anything I like. Not disguises, mind you. I’m talking about changing everything from my weight, ethnic looks, and even gender.
And all without the need of painful internal surgery. Or any surgery. Or any real effort.
The note also mentioned that my clothes were stored in my inventory. I tried to snap my fingers in understanding, failed miserably, and then walked back up the hill to the first pedestal.
A quick touch later and I was wearing the welcome note again. Looking at it, I scanned through the section talking about inventory.
“Ah!” I waved my hand down and to the right, following the example gesture. My vision was suddenly clouded by what looked like a vast warehouse.
It was mostly empty. I shrugged.
A quick scan of it allowed me to see the first Welcome note I had picked up. I also saw a shelf labeled ‘Clothing’. On it were some basic cloths. Jeans, t-shirt, skirt?, women’s shoes?... Ah! There were shelves here for both men AND women’s clothing. Not that I have anything against people dressing in drag, but...
A few minutes later, I was dressed in a reasonably comfortable fashion with the new cloths I had picked. One more look at the note told me what I needed to know about getting out of my inventory, and a gestured appropriately.
That wasn’t so bad...
-=-
I jogged down the hill again while looking at the second note’s info on changing my looks. Let’s see... Gesture like THIS and...
Begin flailing uncontrollably as my vision is ripped from its rightful place in my (someone’s?) skull, spun 180 degrees, and locked into looking at my body’s blank face. Mind you, the only reason it was blank was that I hadn’t figured out how to scream in terror yet.
My limbs were locked spread wide, and I was in a rather vulnerable looking position. It took me a few moments to realize that I could still gesture, even though my hand would not move. Repeating the same gesture, it dropped me back to the ground and put my eyes back where they belonged.
I felt my face to make sure there was no damage. Nope. Eyes were intact. Really, I had known that already. I SAW they were intact when my vision had spun back to look at me. There had been no pain, or even discomfort aside from having my traditional point-of-view snatched away.
I stood up, took a deep breath, and gestured again.
It’s wasn’t even half as bad the second time. I only whimpered a bit.
Tinkering with my looks was a quick lesson in two things. One, it was easy to alter your features in nearly any way. A touch here, a shift there, my height, weight, build, skin color, even hair were easily altered. It was all so easy, it was almost frightening.
Second, I had absolutely NO talent for it, and ended up with something that looked like an ugly purple dwarf with big ears, and arms to my knees. Thank the powers-that-be that I could cancel the changes just by repeating the gesture.
Oh... And I made an ugly woman too...
Putting both notes away, I looked to the path again. Time to move on.
-=-
I was coming to realize this island was some kind of training ground. The paths were easy to see and follow, and each platform I came to offered another small bit of knowledge.
For some reason, I had trouble getting the parrot I found at one waypoint to respond to me. The next one tried to teach me how to move my visual ‘point of view’ to any spot I liked with almost no effort at all. While I understood the idea, and figured it worked much like the way the option to change my appearance did, I avoided that one. I just did not like my vision wandering away like that.
I crossed over a nice little creek-bridge, and arrived at a spot with a table and a beach ball. And another Helping Hand, as I had come to think of them.
Touch.
Snatch! “Ha!” I had managed to catch this one before it could attach itself to my face like an errant face-hugger. Looking at it, I was offered advice on how to move objects that allowed such activity. It did not take me long to figure out that some objects I would not be able to move because they were secured somehow in place.
The beach ball, though, was supposedly not secured, and was fully capable of being knocked around.
Gesture. LIFT!
...
Nothing.
“Okay... I’m doing something wrong then...” I reread the note, thought about it a moment, and tried again.
Gesture. LIFT!
...
Hmnnn... Right! Reread the note again, and try and read between the lines about something they did not mention because it’s obvious to anyone reading the other first notes.
Gesture. LIFT!
Damnit!
“Can I help you?”
I did NOT squeal like an anime schoolgirl in a cheap hentai flick. I don’t care what he told you. I didn’t even know what a gesture WAS yet.
He explained while I talked my panic button off the ledge.
“We noticed you having trouble with the ball, and thought we might give a hand. We are Linden.” You know, after seeing the mess I made of myself when I tried to change my avatar, seeing his blue skin and glowing eyes didn’t even begin to startle me.
“Ah. Thanks. I must be doing something wrong, because I can’t seem to move it...”
“I understand. New Avatars like yourself often have trouble with some skills at first. We will show you.” His hand came up, flicked a casual gesture...
And the ball didn’t move.
He gestured again.
Nothing.
He seemed to look at his hand, and frowned. Seeing a frown on that face was slightly unsettling, though I would be hard-pressed to say why. It just seemed unhealthy to be near an unhappy Linden.
Raising his hand, he made a new gesture, and the ball vanished.
Note to self: Linden can make things vanish. Do not tick off Linden.
I watched as a new ball appeared, or perhaps the same ball. I really didn’t want to ask. He then raised his hand, gestured, and the ball moved.
“There we are! We have fixed it. Please try it again.” He seemed pleased with himself.
Gesturing again, I was able to put the ball on the table on the first try.
“Very good!” He praised me like a child talking his first step. “Remember this, Avatar: If you are in need of help, you may just do this gesture and someone will offer you whatever help you need.”
I memorized the gesture. Without even another word, he vanished.
Nope. Not surprised at that either. So there!
All right... Maybe a little.
I moved on down the path.
-=-
THUD.
“Okay... Flying sucks.” The sound you just heard was the dozenth such one I had inflicted on myself in my attempts to learn how to fly. Whoever the moron was who decided to put the final waypoint where you HAVE to fly to get to it should be...
Focus.
Okay. Jump, Gesture, and Gooooo!
This time, I didn’t hit the ground again. I mentally patted myself on the back. I willed myself to the ground, and tried it again.
Back in the air, hovering. By George, I think I’ve got it.
All right, now just move over to the temple, and...
WHOOSH!
“Arrgggg!” Trees zoomed by as I missed the temple by a country mile. I turned, trying to correct, and watched as a pillar of the temple came up to greet me, promising to be my best friend for the rest of my suddenly shorter life.
WHAM!
...
“Owie.” I stood back up and looked around. Funny thing: I didn’t really get hurt from the impact. A quick look about showed me the local pedestal and hand. I reached out, caught the note, and immediately had something else slap me in the face.
I gave another tired sigh, and peeled it loose. It was a ticket.
The note advised me my training period was over on the island, and all I needed to do was tear the ticket in half to join everyone else in the rest of the world.
Everyone else? Rest of the world?
I looked at the ticket, looked around at the surrounding temple, and scanned the distant view of the island around me.
I shrugged and tore the ticket in two.
-=-
As the fog rolled back from my vision, I noticed I was in something that looked like a cross between a highway rest-stop and a train station. I looked about for a few moment, and within seconds, someone popped into existence beside me, said “Excuse me”, and walked away.
My eyes scanned the area, and my brain shut down.
An angle (halo, wings, harp... The whole shebang) was chatting with what looked like a cross between a dog and a man. A rather cute looking girl was talking with a green skinned creature that looked disturbingly thin. I woman dressed in nothing but leather straps and bladed spikes seemed to be talking to a group of people that included some kind of floating robot, a walking tree, and what might be an elf of the Tolken variety.
I prided myself on being cosmopolitan and my willingness not to judge other’s by appearance. I was still way out of my depth.
I looked about for the most human looking of the bunch, and walked over to him.
“Excuse me, Sir?” Politeness never hurts, and I figured a conservative stance would help out until I knew what people were like.
He turned around, looked at me with red flaming eyes set in a face covered in tattoos... and said absolutely nothing.
I waited for a bit, and then tried again.
“Sir, I was wanting to know if...” I blinked. He was no longer there, or anywhere I could see for that matter. “Ah... Well...” I blinked and looked about to try again. I was surprised to have what looked like a ten-foot tall humanoid robot standing behind me. Again, I can promise I did not squeak, squeal, or otherwise wet myself. I did take a few steps back, though.
“Hi, Newbie!” His voice seemed at odds with his hulking form.
“Er... Hello?” Was this a person or a thing? Better treat it like people until it proves it’s and ‘it’...
“R u needing help, newbie?” The way he talked was strangely accented, causing me to have to think about what he said for a few moment’s longer than I normally would have. I hazard a guess
“Yes?”
“Cool! Follow me and I’ll show u around and give u some stuff.”
I blinked slowly. His way of talking was not too hard to follow, but did slow me down a bit. By the time I realized what he said, he was flying off fast and fading from view into the distance.
I sighed, hopped into the air, and tried to follow him.
Flying in a straight line wasn’t as bad as last time, though I did nearly miss him and was forced to walk back to where he was when I landed.
“U still learning to fly? It can be hard, flying takes practice and you need to work at it to get better.” I was catching up now. I didn’t even have to pause to think about it.
“Thanks. Where are we?”
“Sandbox. I stay here a lot. U can make stuff here and test your builds.”
“My builds? Sandbox?” I looked around, but no sand was in site. Not even water, really. I could tell I was going to play ‘stranger in a strange land’ today, and I was all out of Grok.
-=-
I was surrounded by over a dozen people in the distance. Nearly all were silently gesturing and bringing what looked like shaped blocks of wood into existence. They would then take that block, and attach it to whatever they were creating. One was building a jet-fighter, while another seemed to be building his own robotic arm.
The robot who had guided me here pointed at me and gestured. I heard a female voice whisper into my ear that I had been offered a ‘Shotgun’, and asked me to accept or decline.
I accepted automatically, and looked about. Nothing that looked like a shotgun. Must have went directly into that warehouse.
That female voice then began peppering me with the very same question about dozens of other items: Plasma disruptors, 57 magnums, missile launchers...
Where the HELL was I, and why did I need to pack a frigging ROCKET LAUNCHER?!
“Er... Thanks?”
“Np, newbie. Hope you like them.”
I thought about it, and decided that I had better ask now.
“Er... Is it THAT dangerous here?”
“What do u mean?”
“You did just hand me an arsenal that the government would envy. Why do I need it? Are muggings by things that need a rocket launcher to take out that common?”
“LOL. Your funny. No you just get those because I had them and they are free. Here is some other stuff too.”
The little voice continued to call out things being dumped into my warehouse. I think she was getting a bit strained by the time he was through.
He then waved at me, said “l8er” and vanished.
It took me days to figure out what that meant.
And now I was lost.
-=-
I want to thank Baccara Rhodes for the wonderful donation.
Here we go. This is where I go off the beaten path...
-=-
Well. I wasn’t that bad off. I knew how to do everything I had been told about so far, though obviously there was much I still didn’t know. I knew I could fly, after a fashion, and was able to move things and pick them up.
Everyone looked busy here, and I figured that going it alone was the next step.
Three steps, jump and away a go.
Heck I even missed the trees this time!
This time it was the building that just seemed to appear in front of me that wanted to get to know my face intimately. I obliged it.
“Owie. Again.”
I floated up above it, and flew out again, looking at the view...
And watching things appear randomly around me as I moved?
Things would often appear near the edge of my visual range, but even more disturbing was the tendency of a few items to suddenly materialize near me.
Often right in my flight path.
I experimented with waiting a few moments in my flight, and found that the more detailed the building, the longer it took to appear fully to me. It seemed that it took time for me to see things in a new place, or for them to appear. It was hard to tell which it was.
I was in an area filled with buildings, and some people seemed to be milling about. I landed, this time right where I wanted to, and looked about to get a fix on my surroundings.
It was amazing.
The buildings were as unique as the people. I looked at a Victorian mansion that sat right next to what looked like a ginger-bread house with a Godzilla-sized bite taken out of it. A white tower stood behind them both, rising above them in terrible majesty. I also noted a log house, rocket ship crashed nose first into the ground, and what I think was a tomb.
Rather eclectic little layout, it seems...
“Want to know how far this rabbit hole goes?” The voice behind me seemed amused. I must have been gawking too long. Not to be undone by a touch of humor, I gave the proper response.
“Why, oh why, didn’t I take the blue pill?”
I turned and looked him. He looked to be human, and old, if not elderly. He was sitting on a rock nearby, carrying a staff he sat across his lap as he waited.
“Kind of fitting, since I don’t seem to be in Kansas anymore.”
He stood and bowed. “Greetings, Avatar.” He looked up while still bent at the waist. “Did you come seeking knowledge of the world you have been thrust into, or shall I let you wander and learn on your own?”
“I... I’m not sure. I was just looking about...”
“As do we all, when we first came here. I still wander, which is why we just met.” It was so smoothly added, I didn’t mind the interruption. “Some might call it fate, others providence.”
He stopped bowing and looked me in the eye, “I will always call it ‘Fool’s Luck’”.
I paused, not sure how to respond. He seemed friendly enough, but...
“What would you need from me?” I hated asking the question, but could not think of a better way to phrase it.
He didn’t even blink. “A single dollar. Pay enough I think for my skills and knowledge.”
I thought about it, and looked in my inventory. I saw no money listed.
“I’m sorry, I don’t think I have...”
His voice was measured, friendly patience. “You don’t look for how much money you have. Think on it, and you will KNOW how much you have.”
Within a few minutes, he had shown me not only how to figure out how much money I had, but also how to pay him a dollar out of the two-hundred and fifty I had appeared with.
Funny thing is, it took me days to realize he had taken the money just to keep me happy. A dollar won’t buy much. Not even in second life.
-=-
He ran his fingers through his hair, his bearded face lost in thought for a moment. He seemed to come to a decision with a snap, and turned to look at me.
“We have three ways to go about this, son. I can take you on a whirlwind tour of our world, answer your questions here, or I can take you to a nice spot to sit back, relax, and ask whatever you like.” He really didn’t inflect much about which one to choose, but for some reason it seemed to be a test of sorts. Perhaps to find out more about me. Or maybe to just decide if I was worth the trouble.
I decided to be clever about it. “What would YOU do?”
“Well, lad... I would tell you that as a hired servant, I have no place in telling you WHAT you should do. I give options and information. I don’t make decisions for ye...” His eyes almost glowed with glee.
“Right. I’ll take the quiet relaxing spot then.”
He slapped his knee and hooted. “Good choice, lad. Keep in mind, there were no bad ones either. Sometimes, a question is just that: A question.”
And then he disappeared. I looked about in confusion a moment, wondering what happened. About the time I decided I must have offended him somehow, I heard a chime and something smacked me in the face.
It was a ticket. I KNEW this one already.
As I tore it in half, I swore I would ask him about some way to stop having things hit me in the face all the time.
-=-
I appeared in a clearing, near what looked to be a large tower that was capped with a glass dome. My new ‘guide’ was standing on a porch in front of it waiting for me.
Instead of following him directly to the tower, I looked about for a moment. A castle, looking somewhat unfinished, was to my left, to my right a series of beach chairs facing what seemed to be the shore and a scoreboard. I also saw what looked to be a saloon nearby. In the distance, I could see what looked like a church. I even saw sails from what I assumed were boats or ships.
Turning back to the tower, He seemed to be waiting patently for me to notice him and follow. I did so.
“Sorry. Was taking a look around.”
“Not a problem, lad. Something for you to keep in mind: When you appear in a new place for the first time, it can take a few minutes for everything to appear fully. Most people understand this, and will give you a few minutes to adjust before pushing you to move.”
“Yeah! I noticed that when I was flying. Things would just pop in if I moved too fast. Made flying hazardous.”
“The effect is called ‘Rezzing’. It has a few meanings, but generally when a place, person or item is appearing or still ‘fuzzy’ they say it’s rezzing”
He pointed to an open section of ground and gestured. I watched as a fountain appeared quickly and colored itself to look like marble and stone.
“It happened quickly, but if you watched closely, you would see each Prim that made a part of the fountain appear.”
I caught that. “Prims? They make things? Like some kind of fairy?”
He laughed. He really ‘laughed’. The full motion and all. “Sorry, lad. My mistake. I meant that the fountain is made FROM Prims. Prims are the building blocks you see for everything in Second Life.”
His hand waved and a series of wooden shapes appeared. A sphere, cone, cube, cylinder, and a few others I didn’t know names for.
“Just like playing with blocks as a wee lad. You stack them, shape them, and color them into whatever you like. Toys, jewelry, buildings.”
I nodded. The idea was simple enough. "So, how do I do that?"
He waved his hand and all the ‘Prims’ vanished. “Hold there, lad. Let’s try and get you used to this place before I unleash you on building. Trust me, building is the least of your worries yet.”
I felt a little cheated by this. “Why should I have to wait? You offered to answer any questions I had.”
He smirked. “All right lad. Take me to a sandbox of your choosing, and I’ll show you the basics.”
I stopped being irritated, and looked around in confusion for a moment.
“Okay. Where’s the sandbox?”
He looked at me patiently. I fidgeted.
I gave up. “Right. You win.”
“No lad. YOU win. Just keep in mind, some of us had to learn the hard way. It’s possible, but I would NOT advise it as the way to go for most people.”
He turned and walked into the tower. “Come on in, lad. We can take a moment to sit down and figure out where you want to start.”
As I followed him in, I already knew what I was going to ask him first.
I mean, how DO you sit here, anyway?
-=-
The inside of the tower was almost gothic. Rows of church benches sat in front of a speaker’s podium sitting on a stage. He turned and sat on the edge of the stage, and offered me a seat on one of the benches.
I looked at the bench. It mocked me for not knowing something as simple as sitting on it.
“Just gesture with your off hand, and then think about sitting.”
I took the offered gesture and repeated it toward the bench. I then walked over to threw my legs over the back of the bench, and laid back-down on the seat. I looked up at him and sighed.
He never even snickered, though the pleasant smile never lost it’s place. “Try again lad. Just think about standing up, and you’ll be right as rain.”
He was right. I got up without any problems. It tried it again, and this time ended right-side up... Or in this case, down.
“To be fair to yourself, lad, sometimes chairs don’t work quite right. It helps to gesture at the exact spot you want to place your bum.”
I filed that away. “So. Where are we?”
“My guild hall. I often use this for teaching classes, having get togethers, watching movies...” He nodded to the back. “I also run a small shop from here, selling my wares.”
I looked back, there were two picture frames that contained pictures. Below each were dollar amounts with arrows on either side.
“Those are called ‘vendors’. They allow you to buy things, and for me to sell them. They can look like anything, but that kind is one of the most common.”
“So I spend money on things here? What do I need to buy to play?”
He nodded. “Let’s get something straight right now, lad. You don’t have to buy anything to enjoy your time here. You don’t need to eat, drink, or seek shelter. There is nothing out there that you can buy that you can’t build yourself, given you put the effort into it.”
I had noticed that I didn’t feel hungry here.
Sitting back, he then changed his tone. “But!” He paused to make sure he had my attention. “Buying things here is one of life’s simple pleasures. While I love to build, I also love to see others’ works as well. Sometimes I see one I think is so grand that I buy it for no other reason than to reward the person who made it for entertaining me with such a wonderful toy.”
“When I go to play bingo with some friends, I put money in the pot as a courtesy. Also, when someone sets up an event, I put a little something in their tip jar to show my appreciation for such a fine time they gave me.”
“Money can be used for even more than that, but that’s for later. Right now, you should know that cash is as much a toy as a tool here, and that being broke should never mean you have to do without fun.”
I thought about it a moment, and asked the obvious question. “So how do I get more money?”
“Many ways, nearly as many as the first world. You can make things and sell them. You can work for someone and get paid for your time. You can even try your luck at the local games, like bingo or tringo, and see if you can win a few dollars here and there.”
“You also have an allowance that offers you some basic spending cash each week. Keep an eye on your money, and you’ll see when it increases.”
“How much of an allowance?”
“Well, lad. That depends on a lot of boring factors you would not understand yet. Best way to know how much you would make is to wait until they dump the allowance on you. It won’t matter until then anyway.”
I couldn’t argue with that logic.
He clapped his hands together. “Well. Shall we go over some of the basic functions you’re going to need? Using the functions for Find, Maps, and Friends?”
I learned a lot that day. Wish I could remember most of it.
-=-
“So, lad... Have you got all that?”
I sat numbly on the bench. I felt like someone had tried to jam a manual into my brain through my ears.
I nodded just to make it stop.
“I thought so. Information overload, they call it. Let’s go meet some people, shall we?” He stood up and waved for me to follow him.
We walked to the back of the room, and he showed me two blue glowing buttons. With a nod toward them, he began explaining.
“You will find many things here to interact with, and may ways to get from one place to another. The buttons are my version of a teleporter. If you gesture at them, and then think about teleporting to wherever they lead, you’ll be transported there.”
“Do I have to know where they go?”
“Not at all, choose the one for the 3rd floor, lad.”
He was obviously waiting for me to try it first, so I did.
And I was in the glass dome of the tower I had seen before. It was filled with a full garden, with plants and trees set neatly to offer a comforting view of the area.
My mentor popped in beside me.
He took a deep breath and smiled wide. “This is one of my little hideaways. Made it to allow me a moment of peace now and again.”
I looked about for a moment. “And what’s here?”
He grinned. “Nothing, lad. I just like showing off my handiwork. One of my few and fatal flaws.”
“Oh. Well, it is nice.” I wasn’t humoring him. It was comfortable.
“But I do have another quick lesson for you...”
I knew it.
“All you need to do, is gesture this way, and make a landmark for yourself to find my tower again later.”
I followed his instructions, and was rewarded with it being added to the warehouse I called my inventory.
“Out of curiosity, how much can my inventory hold?”
“How much do you want to put in it, lad?”
I was getting a bit peevish by this point. “It’s a straight question. Can’t you just answer it?”
His eyebrow rose, and he paused for a moment. “All right, lad. I did answer it, but I can take a hint when someone’s temper is raw. It can hold anything, any size, and any number. That good enough for you?”
I felt a bit irritable by this point, not at him, but at myself for snapping over something so trivial. He didn’t wait for an apology and continued on.
“All right lad, with that landmark, you can teleport to the nearest tele-hub and get a visual pointer to this tower. You can make other landmarks for yourself as well, and even share them with others to show them places you’ve been and found interesting.”
I followed most of that easily enough, and even thought I knew what a tele-hub was: Something like that place I first teleported to. Must be a lot of them scattered around.
“Now, I’m going to give you a landmark for the next place were going to go, and you’re going to use it to find your way there.”
I paused. “You’re not going to teleport me straight there?”
“No, lad. You need practice navigating on your own. Don’t worry though, I can find you if you get lost again.”
“Good point. Ok.” I started to tear the ticket in half, and paused. “Oh, I forgot to ask. What’s your name?”
“Foolish Frost, Avatar. And I’m sure and pleased to meet you. Be off now, I have someone waiting to greet you there.”
And with the ticket ripped in half, I began the next step of my journey in Second Life.
-=-
You know, following a red column of light that shines like a beacon from heaven can really help hurry your travel. I don’t even remember half of what I saw on my way there from the tele-hub, but that red glow kept calling me forward like a depressed lemming on speed.
And I only hit three or four buildings this time. What they were doing floating in mid-air I’ll probably never know, but from the sounds coming from inside them I really would rather not examine it too closely.
Flying was really a great way to travel. It’s not only extremely pleasant, it’s reasonably fast as well. I watched as the clouds rolled by, letting my mind wander a bit as I followed the column in the distance...
And I passed the column...
Whoops!
Turning around, I started toward it and downward.
When I got back below the clouds, I was mildly surprised to see the beacon was focused on a tree sitting near the shore of an island.
A big tree.
A dock was sitting out in front of it, and someone was standing on it. I decided to be clever and land on it.
Did you know, when you fall in the water in Second Life, you don’t drown? In fact, you don’t even get wet.
Pity I didn’t realize that then.
It must have been impressive. A man soars from the sky, lands feet first on the dock, bounces and slides into the water without even a splash.
Then, doing what I do best, I panicked and turned off anything I might have been using for a brain. I turned ran for the shore, and got myself totally trapped in the netting around the underside of the docks.
“Hi, Avatar. Are you okay?”
I turned, thanked the pretty bark skinned girl with green eyes for asking, and continued panicking in the net.
I stopped.
“Can’t drown here, huh?”
“Nope.” She smiled, her hands held behind her back comfortably as she watched me.
She was a wonderful looking woman, if that's what she really was. Her skin looked to be made of treebark and her hair was like smooth green grass. She was clothed in nothing but leaves that made up her top and skirt. A few stray vines wrapped around her legs and arms. The most striking thing about here was her eyes. They were not just green, they were a green that pinned you to the spot when she looked at you.
“So...” I paused, trying to thing of anything intelligent to say.
“Would you like a tour of my tree?”
“Please. Thank you.” I followed her out of the water, walking up and onto the beach. Flowers were growing everywhere, and small lights wafted by on the breeze, bobbing as if living things. The tree towered above us, its purple leaves offering a magnificent view. The trunk was huge, tinted in red bark. A building of some kind was partially hidden in its branches.
“You live up there?”
“Nope. That’s the Commons. We entertain visitors there.”
“Oh.” I looked around and noticed a gazebo-like building made of stone and iron sitting next to the tree. Not much else was visible nearby.
Her hand came up with a practiced move and the tree trunk... Well... It’s hard to describe, but part of it just vanished leaving an opening into a hollow tree. Smiling, she walked into the opening and waved me inside.
Upon entering, I noticed two things: It was cozy, and no furniture was anywhere to be seen. She walked to the far wall, and pointed at a pair of glowing blue flowers.
“Do you know how to use teleporters, Avatar?” I looked at the flowers a moment, not making the connection.
Both the buttons at Foolish Frost’s tower and the flowers were blue.
“So, they can look like anything, but are always blue?”
She frowned. “I don’t understand. What is always blue?”
I knew I was probably wrong by this point. Her confusion warned me of that. “I thought that since both teleporters I had seen were both blue, that all of them were. Not really right, huh?”
“Well, you did notice a pattern, but it’s only that Foolish like the blue color for buttons. They can look like anything, really. He just likes to be consistent in some small ways.”
“Ah. Others don’t do the same thing?”
“Not like he does, but you will notice a lot of common designs. You’ll also notice a lot more exceptions to that rule. No one has to conform to any one design style when building here.”
“Ah... Umnnn... Then how do you know what a teleporter looks like?”
“You don’t, sometimes. Most people put notices or signs near them, if they want them to be used by others. Another way to see if something does something is to focus your attention on it and see if you’re able to activate it.”
I hovered my hand near the flower, and felt it welcome my touch. Reaching toward the nearby wall, I did not feel anything.
“I see.”
“Yes. You will also find there are times the only way to learn what something does is to touch it and see.”
She waited, the smile cheerfully playing across her lips.
I took the hint and touched the bottom flower.
That female voice from earlier instructed me on how to use the teleporter, and that it would send me to the second floor of the tree.
A simple gesture later, I was looking at a simple round room that was only occupied by the two teleporters and another flower on the far wall. She appeared next to me without fanfare and continued with her tour.
“Foolish made this place for me so that I could have a tree and a home in one, and I like open places, so...” She touched the flower, causing the side of the tree to open and show a balcony that looked like a tree-mushroom coming out the side with iron railing.
I walked out and looked around. The view was about as good as you can get without being breathtaking. “Nice.”
“Thank you.”
I caught up with something she had said, and turned toward her. “You said Foolish made this? It’s made of Prims too?”
She nodded. “Everything here, other than avatars like you or me, is made of Prims.” She nodded to the view behind me. “Tree’s, flowers, stones... The only things not Prims in that view is the ground itself and the water.”
I nodded again.
“Would you like to see around the base of the tree?”
“Very much. Thanks.”
“No problem. I enjoy showing off my home.”
I followed her as she showed me the land surrounding her tree, until I realized something.
“Wait. You OWN this? You can own land here?”
She nodded, stopped short for a moment, and then nodded again. “Yes, but it’s a bit complex. You could describe it this way: I bought and paid for this land, and own it. I also have to pay the Linden for the RIGHT to own land, and that’s another monthly charge. Did that make sense?”
I thought about it, and shook my head. “So you’re renting?”
She sighed and tried again. “Think of the money as a monthly ‘tax’ I have to pay for the right to own land. If I don’t pay that tax, I lose the right to own land, and obviously lose the land. Got that?”
I nodded.
“Good. But I also bought this land from someone, and paid them money to transfer this land to my name. I could do anything I want on it now, including sell it to someone else. Still following?”
I nodded again.
“That’s all there is to it, really. Pay the monthly ‘tax’, we call it ‘tier’, and buy as much land as you’re allowed to have.”
“How much are you allowed?”
“Depends on how much you’re willing to pay the Linden each month. The more you pay, the more land you can own.”
Ah. I think I got it.
“Great! Now, let’s go to the Commons and relax with some friends of mine...”
-=-
You know, it’s funny how life works some times... You wake up on your day off, thinking you’re going to relax in front of the tube and catch a couple of shows...
And you end up competing to solve a riddle against a green-skinned orc, a demonic looking fellow shrouded in night-black robes, and an elf with green wings that was constantly arguing with his talking pet... Well... I don’t know WHAT it was, but it about as obnoxious as they come.
Foolish was behind the bar and Botany, the girl who had shown me around the tree, was leaned back on a barstool. We were all in the Commons, a tavern they ran in the bough of Botany Black’s tree. Botany and I had been hanging out for a few hours with people wandering in to chat, when Foolish showed up and put something on the chalkboard that sat behind the bar.
(santa’s helper, to have interpreted written words) (strike, pointed extension on a horseshoe)
It was a riddle of some kind.
“Ohhh. Another one, Fool?” The demon leaned forward and become quiet.
The orc turned to look at it. “Hurmnnn. What’s the theme?”
Foolish flashed a smile. “Try it without a clue for a bit. If I have to give a clue, then you don’t get the pride of doing it all yourself.”
The elf’s pet piped up. “I know what the answer is.”
“Quiet, you flying twit.” The elf swatted at it and missed.
“Keep it up, ya flop-eared dandy, and I’ll give the answer to ugly over there.”
Both the demon and the orc looked at each other, shrugged, and went back to staring at the board.
“Stow the bug, lad.” Foolish sounded amused, but firm.
“As you say, Mi’lord.” The elf pointed at his pet, causing it to fade from view. Silence ruled for a few more moments, until Botany spoke up.
“I have the first part figured out, but I’m having trouble with the horseshoe one.”
I looked at the board. Reaching out, I touched it and had a note appear in my hand. The game was deceptively simple. Each of the phrases referred to a word. The word was then similar to the sound that was part of another word. Words were shown by the use of parenthesis, so this riddle was two words long.
And I did not have a single clue as to what the answer was.
The demon seemed to nod. “I think I have that part too...”
Foolish came around the bar and sat in a chair near the table. “Anyone mind some music?”
Assent was voiced around, and he waved a hand toward the ceiling. A cheerful song about a woman solder in London began playing. Seems the Foolish was a Celtic music fan.
Mind you, even though I’ve never been a fan, I had to admit that it sounded right for this place.
The elf stood up. “Got it. The answer...”
The explosion from outside drown out whatever he was going to say. I was thrown part way across the room, and then froze in midair. I could barely make out Botany running for the door, and Foolish hit the floor with curse.
“What the BLOODY HELL is he doing?” In the few hours I had meet him, I had never heard Foolish talk like that. He was looking at... No... THROUGH the wall of the commons, and was obviously watching something outside.
Was the wall warping, or was I imagining things?
Botany yelled through they door. “Physics Sim crash attack. He’s collapsing it right next door!”
When I looked back at Foolish, he was holding a small phone and tapping a finger with the patience of a man who had no choice but to wait.
“Hullo, Linden? This is Foolish Frost. Sorry, not a social call I’m afraid.” He paused a moment, sticking a finger in his off ear to hear over the din of whatever was happening. “Well, I have this little problem... Yes, well... It seems some bloody griefer is trying to bring down the Sim we’re in around OUR BLOODY EARS!”
He wasn’t shouting from anger, or at least I don’t think he was. It was just that at about that time the noise and shaking got so bad that I couldn’t even make out the walls anymore.
And then I was nowhere.
“Hello?”
It was grey, ugly, and literally contained nothing. No ground was under my feet, no sky.
*Ding* Foolish Frost would like to speak to you.
Well. That was new. I accepted the call.
[Hello?]
[Hullo, lad. You good?]
I looked around. [Er... No... I don’t think so.]
[Well, where are you lad?]
[I don’t think I’m anywhere...]
He said something unrepeatable by a gentle soul like myself.
[Okay, lad. I’m going to try and send a teleport. If that doesn’t work, then worse comes to worse, you just log out and back in. ‘Kay?]
[Fine by me. How do you log out?]
[...]
[Foolish?]
[Let’s just try the teleport first, son.]
Why did that response not instill me with confidence?
-=-
I’m not used to real discomfort here.
Seriously. Since the time I had been in Second Life, I had never felt anything more than momentary disorientation I tended to think of as pain, but this was different. The grey of the this empty place was starting to make me a bit nauseous, especially when combined with the fact I didn’t have any point of reference for up or down.
[Frost?]
[Just a moment more, lad. I’m finding an empty Sim to teleport you into. The less lag the better your chances.]
I closed my eyes and concentrated on his voice, distant as it was. [What’s a Sim, Frost?]
[Lad, Botany is going to talk to you now. I have to run a search for someplace safe to ‘port ye to.]
*Ding* Botany Black would like to speak to you.
I slammed the mental accept switch. Probably a little too hard, but in the moment that Frost was gone, I felt more alone than anything I could have ever imagined.
[Avatar? How you doing?]
[Just dandy! Did you know that we can’t hurl chunks here either?]
[It’s only going to be a few minutes. He said you wanted to ask me something?]
[What?] I was having trouble concentrating. [Right! Sorry. What’s a Sim?]
[A Sim is a physical section of land in Second Life. The land is made up of hundreds of square land sections that border off the world into separate parts. The borders are mostly invisible, and crossing them is usually not even noticeable unless something goes wrong. You probably crossed dozens on your way to my tree from Fool’s tower]
I loved the sound of her voice. Pity I wasn’t paying a lot of attention to what she was saying.
[Avatar?]
[HERE!]
[...Frost is going to send you a TP, and he wants you to wait until I tell you to use it.]
[Got it. Don’t tear the ticket in half in blind panic. I can do that.]
[Good.]
When the ticket arrived, I held it in my clenched fist and waited.
...
[Botany?]
[Just a couple of more seconds, Avatar]
[Okay.]
About a million years later, she gave me the go to teleport.
I tore the ticket in half.
-=-
“WAUUUUUUUGGGGGG!!!!”
That scream was brought to you by the ground, which was coming up to meet me at a speed that would have normally made me need new underwear, if I had the option of that bodily function anymore.
Yes, I know you can’t get hurt hitting the ground, but can you really ever believe that when traveling toward it at high speed with the wind whistling past your ears?
And can I watch at a safe distance and laugh when you make the same sound?
The ground came up, I kissed my kiester goodbye...
And went right on through the ground without even slowing.
Damnit. I was in the grey again.
[Son, what happened?]
I sighed and told him.
[Good! It at least didn’t tell you that you were stuck there. Try it again.]
I took the ticket that appeared and ripped it in half.
Falling. Ground coming up to meet me. Prepared for the grey place again.
Another ticket appeared. I tore it in half automatically.
And I was greeted by a VERY solid feeling ground.
Nah. Didn’t hurt. Really.
“Son, how ye doing?”
I looked up from the ground and saw Foolish and Botany kneeling down next to me. The orc was nearby, talking with the demon. The elf was nowhere to be seen.
“Much...” I savored the way there was sky above me, and nice hard ground I could smash my body into again if I wanted. “... Better.”
When I got up, all of us walked across the hills for a while. Foolish was adamant about not trying to teleport or move too quickly from Sim to Sim until a little time had passed. Something about the Asset Server possibly being unstable for a few minutes.
“When you’re in a Sim, lad, you are actually being moved from one tiny part of the world to a new one. The Asset Server is the accountant that coordinates this, and if it goes haywire, we can accidentally get sent to the Void.”
I nodded. “That’s where I was, right?”
“Aye, lad. Nasty bit of work, that. It’s not a place, but the absence of a place.” He shook his head. “Purgatory for an avatar.”
Botany spoke up. “I’ve been there once or twice myself.” She shrugged. “Not something I want to repeat.”
It was a long walk. Foolish must have been hunting a while for the Sim to pull me to. We finally were able to fly the rest of the way, and passed a tower that looked a lot like Foolish’s Tower.
We landed on a bridge attached to it and walked to the end.
Of the world, it seemed.
The bridge ended suddenly, with nothing beyond it except strange looking ocean.
“Where are we?”
Botany was seething. I put two and two together.
“The tree is gone?”
Foolish was quiet as he rezzed his phone and dialed. “The whole bloody Sim is gone, lad.”
I blinked. “You can lose a Sim?”
Botany nodded. “Just like first life, Avatar. Anyone can make a bomb and knock down a building. Anyone here with the right knowledge can wreck a Sim.”
“Why do they let people do that?”
Botany shook her head and Foolish started talking to someone on his phone. “They can’t stop them for the same reasons that you can’t stop a first lifer from making a home made bomb. They use the available tools to do this kind of damage.” She shrugged helplessly. “You can’t have places like my tree without leaving the door open for someone to make a bomb the same way...”
It was sudden, and beautiful as well. The ground became visible like a thick fog had fallen away. In the distance, the bridge literally formed from the air, materializing before us piece-by-piece in mere moments. Foolish began walking across without a word.
We arrived to utter devastation. Botany’s tree was ruined.
Really, the most horrible thing about it was the way half of it was just... missing. The Commons had no floor, and the trunk of the tree itself was missing huge chunks. Even the standing stone circle was damaged, missing two out of its four majestic stones. The iron ring above it just hung in midair.
I must have made a whimpering sound, because Botany put a hand on my shoulder and nodded toward Foolish. “It’s okay, Avatar. Watch.”
Foolish did something that caused me to nearly choke. He began waving his staff around in sweeping gestures, causing everything nearby to begin vanishing. Within seconds, the land was bare, with no sign it had ever been there.
“The tree is a funny thing.” Botany’s voice came from behind me. “Did you know many breeds of tree will not flourish unless razed by fire and allowed to re-grow?”
Foolish’s staff came up a final time. With it, I watched as roots appeared in midair, followed by the huge trunk of a tree. The leaves exploded from it’s top, shrouding the newly restored Commons.
And in total silence, it lowered into the ground and sat.
Foolish’s grin as he looked at me spread quickly. “There’s a good lesson for you, lad: Always carry a spare.”
-=-
We were still chatting near the base of the tree when a guy flew in from somewhere and landed next to us. He was dressed in the some clothing that I first appeared with in the game, and really did not even look like he had changed his avatar much, if at all.
In his hand materialized a nasty looking item that screamed ‘weapon’ to me. I looked down the barrel of the thing...
And the next thing I know, I’m flying through the air at high speed and a sneaking suspicion of how I got there.
Another ticket appeared in my hand, and I tore it in half with a frustrated rip.
I was back. The new guy was pointing the gun at foolish and firing a devastating onslaught...
Foolish for his part nodded at him as he sat on his rock, a friendly smile on his face that didn’t look quite right to me.
“Boyo, I want you to know that you have actually spited me today. It’s a feat I’d not envy you for, but...”
Foolish raised his hand. The maniac was thrown bodily from the ground nearby, and slammed into the side of a nearby hill.
Botany looked at me. “You can eject anyone you like from land you own.”
I watched as the... Griefer? That’s what Foolish has called him... He got back up and waved his own hand. A large collection of bars, balls, and cubes began forming next to him.
Foolish smiled. “Not again, ye of little wit.” He hit a button on his phone.
The griefer was getting ready to do whatever he was going to do, and never saw the Linden appear behind him. I watched as Linden’s glowing blue eyes turned into red flaming storms. He didn’t even move as I watched the griefer become frozen in place with a startled look on his face.
“MALTOKICA BRELLACORE. YOU HAVE BEEN FOUND GUILTY OF DISRUPTING THE BALANCE OF THIS SIM. WHAT HAVE YOU TO SAY FOR YOURSELF?”
The griefer’s mouth seemed to unfreeze. “Ths aint your deal, go way and let me go.”
“YOU DISRUPTED A SIM. YOU MADE THIS MY BUSINESS. THE EVIDENCE IS HERE WITH YOUR PHYSICS CRASHING DEVICE, AND IN THE RECORDS OF THE LINDEN. THIS IS YOUR THIRD OFFENCE IN ONE MONTH, USING TWO DIFFERENT AVATARS.”
The Linden pointed at the griefer.
“I SENTENCE YOU TO PERMANENT BANISHMENT. EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATLY.”
I watched in horrid fascination as the griefer vanished in a slow, and very permanent looking fashion. The sounds he made as he faded from view would stay with me for a while. They didn’t sound pleasant.
When I looked back at the Linden, his eyes were normal again. Foolish for his part looked tired, but undisturbed by the scene. The orc looked a little greener than normal.
The Linden approached. “Is everything in order?”
Foolish carried a grin that didn’t reach his eyes. “I had hopes for that boy. Pity.”
The Linden nodded. “He was a very talented scripter. Not that it matters now.” I saw a moment of sympathy. “He chose his path.”
“Aye. Right off a cliff.” Foolish stood up and held out his hand. “Thanks for the save, Linden.”
“Better late than never?”
“You weren’t late the second time.”
The Linden vanished without even letting go of Foolish’s hand.
Foolish grimaced. “I could use a drink.”
I looked at him and shrugged. “I thought you said you can’t drink here?”
“Nay, lad. I said you didn’t HAVE to. I need a cup of the Ishkabaha, and I’m buying.”
We went back to the commons and found our cups.
-=-
“Soooo...” I sat back in the chair, drink in hand. The Commons looked just like before, without even a picture out of place on the wall.
“Aye?” Foolish was kicked back on the barstool closest to the fireplace.
“What was all that...” I waved my hand around vaguely. “...about?”
“Ah.” He slumped slightly and shrugged. “Difference of opinion on a philosophical issue, I’m afraid.”
I waited quietly, turning his own patient look back on him.
“Right then...” He took another drink. “When a new person comes to second life, many will go and take them under wing. Offer lessons and help, as just a part of common courtesy.”
I cut through the fog. “You helped him out like you did me, and he turned out to be a jerk.”
He winced, and raised his glass to me. “Nothing as simple as all that, but...” He nodded assent.
Botany was sitting on the bar itself. “He seemed nice at first, but got worse quickly.” She shook her head. “It’s easy to make a good mask to fool people for a while, but with the nastier people...”
Foolish finished for her. “They can’t keep the blackness of their twisted little mind from showing eventually.”
I took a guess. “But by then, you had already taught him what he needed to know to be a problem.”
This time he didn’t just wince, he flinched. “Aye.”
“So why are you acting like it’s your fault? He was the one doing it.”
He shook his head. “Nay, lad. You misread me. I don’t balk ‘cause I think I did something wrong. I just had high hopes for him, and he turned out to be a braggard bully in need of a hiding.” He shrugged. “I usually have better taste than that.”
Botany grinned evilly from behind him, but let it pass.
So did I, considering I was supposedly his current pupil.
Everyone else had gone for the night, and I was getting a bit tired myself.
Foolish stood up. “Well, lad. It’s about time for my beauty rest. Lord knows without it I’m even a sorrier sight than I am now.”
Botany nodded. “I need to go too.”
I remembered something then.
“WAIT! How do I log out?”
Foolish looked at me and showed me a gesture. I tried it.
-=-
I was sitting in front of a computer, in a heavy body that would never fly under it’s own power. It was tired, and telling me I needed to take care of basic needs I had neglected for far too long. The blurring of my vision told me that sleep was one of them.
I had to go back. Soon.
Very soon.
-= End Chapter 1 =-
Hope you enjoyed that.
Go to
www.secondlife.com for more info on Second Life!
