Virtually Dead

Chapter Eleven

The huge brownstone building that housed the Body Doubles shopping mall stood on the edge of a lake bordered by trees that swayed in the breeze. Twist and Chas TPed into an arrival point just outside. Large posters of seductive AVs on the wall advertised the store as image consultants. A ramp led across a moat, guarded by a tiger, to the main entrance. Just inside the front door, a scantily clad blonde wearing a bra, a Stetson, and not much else stood on a circular podium welcoming shoppers to the store. Beyond, a vast two-tiered gallery displayed images around four walls of glamorous-looking men and women, film and rock star lookalikes.

Chas gazed around in amazement. He recognised AV doubles of Josh Duhamel, Halle Berry, Jessica Alba.

Chas: What on earth is this place?

Twist: This is where we’re going to buy you a new body shape, and maybe a skin.

Chas: Skin?

Twist: LOL. The outside bit. Just like on real people. The stuff that makes you look the way you are. Come on.

Chas followed Twist up a flight of semicircular stairs and along the length of a catwalk populated by Body Doubles models, one sporting a new Dita Von Teese shape, another the double of Scarlett Johansson. None of the models paid them any attention as they walked past and climbed a long flight of stairs to the upper gallery.

The whole right-hand wall was devoted to male sports stars, actors, and singers. Tiger Woods, Tom Cruise, Mick Jagger.

Twist: So who would you like to be?

Chas: I don’t want to be anyone. What’s wrong with how I look now?

Twist: Well, for a start there will be thousands of others who look just like you. And anyone who’s been in here for five minutes can spot a newbie at a hundred paces. What about Russell Crowe, like he was in The Gladiator?

Chas: No.

Twist: Elvis Presley.

Chas: Definitely not!

Twist: Enrique Iglesias, then. He’s sexy.

Chas: Twist...

But Twist interrupted.

Twist: Brad Pitt! Oh, yeh. Gotta be, Chas. I have always fancied Brad Pitt. He is soooo gorgeous.

Chas glanced around to see if anyone was listening to them.

Chas: Hey, keep it down, Twist. People’ll think you’re gay.

Twist: LOL. Listen, Chas. You’ll find out pretty fast. People in here don’t give a damn what you are.

Twist led him along the gallery to the Brad Pitt poster. The lookalike AV was posing bare-chested, and from another POV, wearing black jacket and blue jeans, arms folded high across his chest.

Twist: Look at him, he’s adorable. Do you have any money?

Chas: Not that I know of. How can I tell?

Twist: Top right hand side of your screen. Small green letters. Tells you how many Lindens you have.

Chas: Lindens?

Twist: Linden dollars. SL has its own economy, Chas. A real economy with its own currency and a fluctuating exchange rate with the US dollar. Currently around 245 Lindens per dollar. People have made millions in here, literally. Mostly buying and selling virtual land.

Chas laughed.

Chas: You mean, people are making millions buying and selling nothing? Pixels?

Twist: You’d better believe it. And no way to trace the transactions. The money can come in from anywhere, pass through any number of hands completely undetected, and go out the other end with no way of tracing it back. And I’m not just talking millions of Lindens, I’m talking millions of dollars, Chas.

Twist swivelled to look at him.

Twist: I’ll transfer some cash to you right now. You can pay me back. Next time you go on to the website, register a credit card and you can buy as many Lindens as you like.

A cash register sounded, and a confirmation appeared that Twist had just paid Chas L$5,000.

Chas: Jeez, Twist. Five thousand?

Twist: LOL. That’s about twenty bucks. I’ll want it back tomorrow. So, go ahead. Buy Brad. He’s only five hundred.

Chas did as he was told, and a cash register rang again to confirm the sale.

Twist: Okay, that’s gone into your Inventory folder. Everything you have and will ever own is going to be stored in there.

Chas opened up his Inventory and saw the folder of Brad Pitt items he had just bought.

Twist: A notecard should tell us where to go for the rest of you. Skin, eyes, clothes. LOL. You are going to be such a hunk by the time I’ve finished with you.

The classy indoor mall where Twist and Chas shopped for the recommended skin, hair, and eyes to go with the Brad Pitt body shape was called Naughty Island. The skin was labelled Gabriel, Golden Tan with Facial Hair 4, and a picture of it showed a pretty boy who looked pretty much as you imagined the archangel might look. They found poster displays of it on a wall in the Naughty Store.

Twist: Goddamn! It’s 1500 Lindens!

Twist was incensed.

Twist: It’s a ripoff. Five hundred for the shape, then you have to fork out another fifteen hundred for the skin. God knows what the hair and eyes will cost!

As it turned out, the Paris Blue Eyes cost L$500, and the Untamed in Golden Bay Multitonal III hairstyle, available in the Influence Store right next door, cost another L$300.

Twist regarded Chas speculatively

Twist: Okay, let’s try it all on.

Chas: What, here?

He looked around. The place was full of customers.

Chas: People will definitely think we’re gay!

A shop assistant called Queen Akina approached. She was stunningly beautiful, with long silken brown hair, a low-cut blouse, and baggy plus-four shorts above the curve of shapely calves that were stretched taut on extremely high heels. She ignored Chas, and some animation she possessed made her bare her teeth at Twist in what she imagined was a seductive smile.

Queen: Can I help you?

Twist: Well, if you’re free this evening, that could probably be arranged.

Queen Akina giggles.

Chas’ IM dialogue box opened up and a message appeared in it from Twist.

Twist turned back to the shop assistant.

Twist: So what do you say, babe?

Queen: Well... I finish here about seven. So if you want to drop me an IM...

He moved away to find a quiet corner and walked into a display rack laden with boxes of hairstyles. He tried to correct and walked smack into a wall. Heads turned in his direction.

Back at the Naughty Store, there was a corner partitioned off for customers to try on demo skins, or skins they had just bought. Chas was about to make the whole transformation. Twist followed him behind the screen.

Twist: Better if you take your clothes off. We’ll get the full effect that way.

Chas: I’m not stripping off in here, Twist.

Twist: Oh, don’t be so modest, Chas. No one’s looking. LOL. Except me. And in any case, you don’t have any dick to cover up.

Chas: I don’t?

Chas was unaccountably disappointed.

Twist: No. If you want a penis you’re going to have to buy yourself one. I would recommend a multisized, tintable, with and without foreskin, and a side order of nipples. But that’s for another day. Now, come on, strip off.

Reluctantly Chas did as he was told and was soon stark naked, standing only in his shoes. It seemed odd to have nothing dangling between his legs. If he could have blushed, he would.

Twist: Right, now just drag and drop everything we have bought on to your AV. Body shape, skin, eyes, hair.

Chas watched in amazement as he transformed into a tanned, muscular young man with startling blue eyes, a shock of blond hair, and just the hint of a light goatee. He particularly liked his six-pack. No matter how much he worked out in RL, he had never managed to produce muscle tone like that.

Twist: Wow! Baby, you are HOT!

Chas blushed beyond his screen, quickly found his clothes in his Inventory, and put them back on.

Twist: Spoilsport. Oh, well, never mind. Time to get you a gun.