Virtually Dead

Chapter Eighteen

Chas dropped to the ground, crouching to keep his balance, and then stood up as a grey figure before him rezzed into the grinning Twist. He still hadn’t got used to seeing Janey as a man, with long red and blond hair and a bare chest. He looked around, as a large floor area divided by tall partitions took shape around him. Promos for combat systems and teleporters and object scanners covered the walls.

Twist: Hiya.

Chas: Hi. Where are we?

Twist: The TalTech Weapons store at the Galleria.

Chas: What are we doing here?

Twist: I got your IM. About the geckos. LOLOLOLOL. Very SL. Hahahaha. If you’re planning to go to Sandbox Island to talk to Nevar Telling, we need to get you some protection first.

Chas: I’ve got a gun.

Twist: Not enough.

Chas: And a radar system. Doobie made me buy that yesterday.

Twist: Who’s Doobie?

Chas could almost feel the jealous aggression in the question.

Chas: Doobie Littlething. She’s one of the dancers at Sinful Seductions. She was the one that dealt with Tommy Tattoo.

Twist: And the one you took to dinner?

Chas: Yeh.

Twist: Hmmph. Well, you still need more than that. What you really want is a shield and weapons system combined.

Chas: Do I?

Twist: Yes, you do. And I’ve found two things here that I think you should buy.

He turned toward the wall.

Twist: These two. The Immortals Combat System, and the gKill HUD. They should provide you with protection against just about anything, as well as giving you a whole range of attack options. A blinder, a trap, a trasher and several kill versions. You’ll need to familiarise yourself with it all before you go in the field, though. Don’t want to be fumbling with a menu when someone’s bearing down on you all guns blazing.

Chas: I’m not sure I like the sound of any of this, Twist. Doobie took me to a beautiful island yesterday, with mountains and trees and waterfalls. Not a weapons system in sight.

Twist: Yeh, well, just like the real world, Chas, SL has many sides to it. But if you want to go to Sandbox Island you need to be prepared. Just like when you have sex for the first time, it’ll be helpful if you have a dick.

Chas looked at the weapons systems that Twist wanted him to buy. The gKill HUD claimed that it would break through shields and attack a target from anywhere on the grid until told to stop. The Immortals Combat System allowed you to deform avatars with a trasher. He sighed.

Chas: How much for all this?

Twist: A grand total of twelve hundred and fifty. Cheap at the price.

Chas: I don’t have that much Twist. I haven’t had a chance to set up a credit card yet.

Twist: How much you got, then?

Chas glanced at his green Lindens total and frowned. And kept staring at it for a full fifteen, maybe twenty seconds.

Twist: Well?

Chas: There must be some mistake.

Twist: How much?

Chas: According to this I have 780 million Lindens.

Twist: Hahahaha. Yeh, right. Must be a screw-up with the server. That would be around three million dollars. You don’t have three million dollars, do you, Chas?

Chas: No, I do not.

Twist: Hey, I thought you were rich.

Chas: If I was rich, I wouldn’t be back at work having to put up with people like you.

Twist: Hahaha. So what happened to all Mora’s money?

Chas: Gone, most of it, Twist. And Mora’s first husband’s family look like getting most of the balance. The house is worth a few million, but there’s a home loan on it that I can’t pay, and the bank’s foreclosing. So chances are I’m going to walk away without a penny.

Twist: Shit, Chas, that’s rough. And there was me thinking I could seduce you and marry into a fortune. But, hey, maybe I still can if you’ve got three million in your SL account.

Chas: How is that possible, Twist?

Twist: It’s not. It’ll be a phantom figure, Chas. A glitch. It’ll probably be gone when you relog.

Chas: Well, I know that at least 500 of it’s mine. From the geckos.

Twist: So get the gKill HUD and we’ll come back for the Immortals another time.

Chas paid for the weapons system, and the SL cash register rang up the expenditure. Almost at the same moment, an IM came in from Doobie.