remembering his brief to protect Allegra Geller no matter what, but he realized immediately that his entire security resources consisted of one electronic wand of untested potential and a soft plastic pink-fone.
He hoped that Wittold Levi and the assistants had the situation safely in hand. But then, he reassured himself, they must have done this sort of thing before.
[ 2 ]
For several minutes confusion reigned in the sweltering hall. The heaving mass of the audience was scrambling to get on the platform, while Pikul helped Levi and his staff fight to keep them off. The atmosphere of enthusiasm was infectious and good-natured, but beneath it there was a distinct sense of fanaticism and obsessive determination by everyone there to be the one, one of the twenty-one, who would be privileged to port into the new game with Allegra Geller.
Finally, order of a sort was restored, and Levi managed to get the crowd to group itself into four lines of more or less equal length. From these eager participants Levi and his assistants chose the privileged twenty-one by a system of random selection based on the third letter of each persons surname: the first twenty-one in alphabetical order were selected to go on the platform. Once they had worked it out, everyone accepted this system with apparent good grace, and soon most of the audience had returned to their places, and the lucky volunteers were waiting to be fitted with their game gear.
For each person, one of the assistants undid the heavy-duty snap-locks on the ski-boot plastic modules and split the case open. Inside, packed and protected in an inner case of thick Styrofoam, was the MetaFlesh Game-Pod. This looked like nothing less than a pale, living kidney, both in shape and size and the way the fleshy exterior was resilient and warm.
Coiled in the “toe” of the ski boot was the UmbyCord for each game-pod. This was a long translucent cord, apparently filled with some kind of transparent viscous fluid. The cord was twisted and sinewy like muscle tissue, and had red and blue veinlike vessels running just beneath the surface. It was Y-shaped, with a connecting socket on each of the three ends.
As the volunteers were handed the pod and its cord, they fell into reflective silence, holding the bizarre equipment with a sense of awe and reverence. With the material in hand, each player was invited to sit in one of the twenty-two chairs placed in a semicircle facing the audience.
They were shown how to sit, and the game-pod was placed in a certain fashion on their laps. The UmbyCord was then uncoiled to its full length and one end was plugged into the port on the side of the game-pod.
The pod rippled in response.
The first time this happened, the volunteers reacted amazingly. The man on whose lap this first game-pod had been placed pushed back his chair with a scraping of its plastic legs and ripped open the front of his shirt. Half standing, holding the game-pod in place with one hand, he tried to reach behind himself with the other end of the UmbyCord and thrust the socket into the bioport that was already implanted in his back.
It was difficult for him to reach on his own, so the assistant swiftly moved in to help him.
Other people began to undo or pull their upper garments free of their waistbands.
Pikul watched all this with fascination.
A young woman sitting opposite the first man, not yet in possession of her game-pod, suddenly moaned. Her face was glowing with sweat and her hair was matted untidily around her face.
“My God!” she said in a low, aroused voice. “Oh my God!”
She too stood up. Her eyes were glazed. She pulled frantically at the front of her shirt, ripping the buttons apart. When she had the shirt undone, she tossed the garment to one side. She wore no bra. Her chest was already shiny with perspiration. The bioport in her back glistened expectantly, and the woman reached around to grab it, caressing it with her fingers. She started to dribble with
He hoped that Wittold Levi and the assistants had the situation safely in hand. But then, he reassured himself, they must have done this sort of thing before.
[ 2 ]
For several minutes confusion reigned in the sweltering hall. The heaving mass of the audience was scrambling to get on the platform, while Pikul helped Levi and his staff fight to keep them off. The atmosphere of enthusiasm was infectious and good-natured, but beneath it there was a distinct sense of fanaticism and obsessive determination by everyone there to be the one, one of the twenty-one, who would be privileged to port into the new game with Allegra Geller.
Finally, order of a sort was restored, and Levi managed to get the crowd to group itself into four lines of more or less equal length. From these eager participants Levi and his assistants chose the privileged twenty-one by a system of random selection based on the third letter of each persons surname: the first twenty-one in alphabetical order were selected to go on the platform. Once they had worked it out, everyone accepted this system with apparent good grace, and soon most of the audience had returned to their places, and the lucky volunteers were waiting to be fitted with their game gear.
For each person, one of the assistants undid the heavy-duty snap-locks on the ski-boot plastic modules and split the case open. Inside, packed and protected in an inner case of thick Styrofoam, was the MetaFlesh Game-Pod. This looked like nothing less than a pale, living kidney, both in shape and size and the way the fleshy exterior was resilient and warm.
Coiled in the “toe” of the ski boot was the UmbyCord for each game-pod. This was a long translucent cord, apparently filled with some kind of transparent viscous fluid. The cord was twisted and sinewy like muscle tissue, and had red and blue veinlike vessels running just beneath the surface. It was Y-shaped, with a connecting socket on each of the three ends.
As the volunteers were handed the pod and its cord, they fell into reflective silence, holding the bizarre equipment with a sense of awe and reverence. With the material in hand, each player was invited to sit in one of the twenty-two chairs placed in a semicircle facing the audience.
They were shown how to sit, and the game-pod was placed in a certain fashion on their laps. The UmbyCord was then uncoiled to its full length and one end was plugged into the port on the side of the game-pod.
The pod rippled in response.
The first time this happened, the volunteers reacted amazingly. The man on whose lap this first game-pod had been placed pushed back his chair with a scraping of its plastic legs and ripped open the front of his shirt. Half standing, holding the game-pod in place with one hand, he tried to reach behind himself with the other end of the UmbyCord and thrust the socket into the bioport that was already implanted in his back.
It was difficult for him to reach on his own, so the assistant swiftly moved in to help him.
Other people began to undo or pull their upper garments free of their waistbands.
Pikul watched all this with fascination.
A young woman sitting opposite the first man, not yet in possession of her game-pod, suddenly moaned. Her face was glowing with sweat and her hair was matted untidily around her face.
“My God!” she said in a low, aroused voice. “Oh my God!”
She too stood up. Her eyes were glazed. She pulled frantically at the front of her shirt, ripping the buttons apart. When she had the shirt undone, she tossed the garment to one side. She wore no bra. Her chest was already shiny with perspiration. The bioport in her back glistened expectantly, and the woman reached around to grab it, caressing it with her fingers. She started to dribble with
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