Reality Matrix Effect (9781310151330) Read Free Page B

another by dismantling them molecule by molecule
and then putting them back together.” 
    Rayna shook her head. “Al was fascinated by
Trans-Mat. He wouldn’t use it to travel himself, but....” 
  Suddenly, she chuckled.
    “Ah, the joyful sound of laughter once more
pierces the oppressive bubble of sadness,” Keith said in pontifical
tones. “Mind letting me in on the joke?”
    Rayna smiled and shook her head. “It’s
nothing, really. Just...well, I was remembering my sixteenth
birthday. Al wanted to surprise me with a birthday cake, only he
was out of town. So he sent the cake by Trans-Mat. It was the first
time I ever saw Trans-Mat in operation.”
    “Oh?”
    Rayna nodded as the happy memory lifted her
spirits. “Our building’s system was installed just few days before
that. I remember standing there with my parents and staring at the
receiving pod while the shimmer solidified into the shape of a
cake. I was absolutely fascinated. Oh, and there was a note, too.
It said, ‘These are special good-luck candles. Blow them out, and
all your wishes will come true.’”
     “ So you blew out the candles and
won your heart’s desire. Right?” 
    Rayna laughed. “Not exactly. We didn’t see
any candles. We joked about it and figured we would give Al a hard
time about getting old and forgetful. He wasn’t even 70 yet—just
middle aged, really—but he still thought about ages and life spans
in old 20th-century terms.”  She hesitated a beat before
continuing. “Anyway, when we cut into the cake, we found out what
really happened. There was a malfunction in the memory banks. You
know. The ones that record the molecular configuration. So the
candles materialized inside the cake!”
    “Jeez,” Keith breathed with exaggerated
solemnity. “That’s enough to make any man’s red blood run cold.
Cakes and candles are one thing, but I’d sure hate to have parts of
me rematerializing in the wrong places!”
    They looked at each other silently for a
moment. Then a lascivious smile brightened Keith’s face like a
shaft of light spilling into a dark alley. Rayna laughed and pushed
at him playfully.
    They both knew that a fail-safe mechanism now
prevented anything more serious than a shut-down if the Trans-Mat
system didn’t pass a pre-transmission power, circuitry and
programming check, but Keith rarely passed up the chance for a
little good-natured teasing.
    Rayna cocked an eyebrow and reflected for a
moment. “I suppose the cake foul-up might have left its mark on Al.
As I said, he never liked to travel by Trans-Mat himself.”
    “Maybe he thought the things in that package
were just too important to take a chance,” Keith suggested.
    The corners of Rayna’s mouth drooped as she
followed Keith’s glance in the direction of the permastore box.
“Guess I might as well get this over with,” she sighed. With quiet
resignation, she walked to the sofa and sat down on the edge of the
cushion, back straight, eyes fixed on the coffee table before her.
Moments ticked by.
    Keith dropped onto the sofa next to her and
waited. “Well?” he said, his tone suddenly harsh and impatient.
“You going to open that thing, or are you going to stare at it all
day?”
    Rayna pressed her lips together and looked at
him coldly. She knew her reaction to Al’s death was hard on Keith.
He was the type who prided himself on being in total control of his
emotions, and he expected the same of others. Sometimes, though,
she wondered if that veneer of control wasn’t just his way ignoring
things he didn’t want to see—the emotional equivalent of an ostrich
sticking its head in the sand. It was his warm, gentle side that
she’d fallen in love with, but every once in awhile....
    “Look Rayna,” Keith said uneasily, “I know
you were close. Maybe the old guy left you something special in
that permastore—something to remember him by.”  He ran a hand
lovingly along her bare forearm. “Why don’t we go through