Free Shadows Burned In by Chris Pourteau Page B

tank had become popular in the last
decade as a way for the stressed-out to relieve their tense backs. Users
climbed in and lost themselves in the coffin-womb, shutting out their troubles
and floating on a sea of gravity-free endorphins. The tanks soon merged with
interactive gaming, and now they drew people into entirely new realities. After
stepping into the tank and sealing themselves away, they could float away to
Victorian Britain, Ancient Rome, or worlds that had never even existed. The
electrolytic fluid was thick enough to buoy the person up and actually helped
conduct sensory input into the suit. Suspended in the tank, Elizabeth could
experience the sights, smells, sounds, and tactile sensations of 3V space. The
salty wind on the deck of a sailing ship. The peaty odor of horses in a stable.
The cold feel of stone in an old English castle.
    But at that sweetest of moments before she entered 3V space,
she could still hear her parents’ voices. Elizabeth climbed into the tank and
lay on her back in the thick but yielding liquid that had the power to
transport her to her favorite fantasy.
    (five)
    “C-close and connect,” she half whispered to the 3V
controls. Her insides were rolling, but her queasiness was soon soothed by the
familiar feel of the tank’s electrolytic solution. The doors to the outside
world began to close.
    (four)
    “Where would you like to go today?” asked the too-placating
voice of the Web.
    (three)
    “What did I ever do to deserve this?” came her mom’s shrill
voice from the living room.
    (two)
    “G-game Central,” Elizabeth said, more loudly now, knowing
she couldn’t risk a misinterpretation by the Web. If she didn’t get in-game,
and soon, hearing her parents’ voices arguing might just cause her insides to
explode all over her room.
    (one)
    “. . . and don’t let the goddamned door hit you on the way .
. .”
    click
    The quiet sound of the overhead doors latching gave her
permission to breathe again. The screen above her flickered to life with a set
of controls. She was now floating in an egg of electronica. Her entire body
began to relax.
    “Welcome to Game Central, Elizabeth Jackson. Begin game
where previously ended?”
    “God, yes,” said Elizabeth as the soundtrack flooded her
ears from the cocoon around her. Here, in the world of 3V, Elizabeth could give
complete control to her 3V self. Here Elizabeth became another person, reveling
in the freedom of the universe she’d created, forgetting everything outside it.
When she put on the thin, electrode-laced bodysuit that interacted with the Web
through the electrolytic fluid, she entered a reality of her own creation, a
fantasy world she loved more dearly than real life.
    The 3-D projectors inside the tank flickered into life,
opening up a green landscape before her—hilly plains slowly rolling to meet the
nearly cloudless blue sky of the horizon. A cool breeze touched her face and
she smiled, smelling the scent of spring grass and the familiar, reassuring
presence of nearby horses.
    “Elsbyth!” shouted a man’s voice. He emphasized the first
syllable of the name so it came out ELZ-bith .
    She turned toward the man, noting the new weight of the
heavy helm on her head. The suit doesn’t miss a trick , she thought for
the thousandth time. Whenever her character felt weight, like the helm,
Elizabeth experienced it through the pressurized response of the sensors
embedded in her Lycra suit. As the suit brought the game to life, she shed her
old name like an old skin, becoming Elsbyth, Warrior-Queen of the Kingdom of
Rheanna, who took up sword and shield in defense of her kingdom.
    She reined her horse, Caomos, around to find the man. She
settled down into the saddle, feeling the firm leather and wood beneath her,
the broad back of the stallion working between her thighs as he followed her
lead. The shield with the seal of Rheanna emblazoned upon it rested heavily on
her left arm, and her sword and scabbard bob-bobbed at