Virtually Dead

Chapter Twenty-Three

What little moon there was seemed to have vanished. The night was black as ebony, the sky studded with tiny jewels of light that reached out to them from millions of years in the past. There was something about that vast, timeless cosmos that made Michael feel very small, and his troubles less than insignificant. But he knew that as the sun rose tomorrow and the first twelve hours of his twenty-four had passed, those troubles were going to loom very large in his mind and seem anything but insignificant.

Janey poured them each another glass of Syrah and set the bottle carefully back down on the stone tiles of the terrace. The silhouettes of tall palm trees bowed in the breeze against the lights of the island below, and a yacht under motor power chugged its way slowly up the channel, leaving shards of shattered light scattered in its wake.

“That money must have come out of Smitts’ account when his AV was destroyed. Transferred to another account that transferred the money to you before it was erased.”

Michael shook his head. “But why would anyone want to put it into my account? Didn’t they know I was broke and liable to spend it?”

Janey laughed. “It must have been a mistake, Mike. The money must have been destined for someone else. Someone made a mistake when they were tapping in a name or a number, and it went to you instead.”

Knowing that it must have been an error did nothing to improve Michael’s mood. He sat clutching his glass, already partially anaesthetised by the wine, and felt himself slipping into an even deeper depression. “They’re going to think I killed him.”

“Who?”

“Smitts. If they think I engineered the theft of the money, they must think I killed him, too.

“Did you?

“Ha. Ha. Ha.”

“Where were you the night of the murder, Mike?”

“Pole dancing at Minsky’s.”

“No, I’m serious. Where were you?”

He turned to look at her. “I was here.”

“On your own?”

“Yes.”

“Great alibi.”

“I don’t need an alibi, Janey.”

“Well, if someone’s setting you up for this, you might.”

A chill ran through him, in spite of the warm night air. “You think I’m being set up?”

“I have no idea. It doesn’t really matter, either way. Whether you’re being set up or if it’s all just some horrible mistake, you’re in deep shit.”

Michael slipped further down in his chair and took a long draught of his wine. “Thank you for those words of comfort.”

They sat in silence, then, for a long time, before finally Michael turned and looked across at Janey in her ridiculous outfit. She was deeply lost in some distant contemplation. But he needed a change of subject, something to take his mind off the same thoughts that kept going round and around his head in never-ending circles.

“So tell me about SL sex.”

“What?”

“That’s what you came for, isn’t it?”

Her head swivelled to look at him as if he were mad. Then she smiled and shook her head. “What do you want to know?”

“How it’s done.”

“Why?”

“Just curious, that’s all.”

“Jesus! Men! Doesn’t matter what other kind of shit’s going down, you only ever think of one thing. Figuring on trying it out on Doobie Littlething?”

“No, I am not.”

“She’s got a sexy AV.”

“Janey, are you going to tell me, or are you going to tease me?”

She sat up. “Okay. But you know, it’s really very simple. There are any number of shops that sell sex beds, sex rugs, stuff like that. And they all come with built-in animations. A menu appears on the screen and you can choose from a selection of animations. Making out, cuddling, sleeping, or having sex. The more it costs, usually, the bigger the choice. You can have missionary, blow-job, doggy, her on top, him on top, gay, lesbian, you name it. There are usually two poseballs. Three or more, if you’re kinky.” She grinned. “You just jump on to the poseball and your AV will be animated in the act of your choice.”

“So it is just cartoons humping. Not much fun in that.”

“Well, it’s not so much what you do, as what you say while you’re doing it. Sex in SL is just like sex in RL. Mostly in the mind. The best lovers conjure up the most vivid imagery and turn their partners on. Of course, the doing of it in SL would just be in your imagination and in the animation of your AV. While... well, while you masturbated in RL.”

Michael blew air out through pressed lips as an expression of his distaste. “I think it might be more fun in the shower.”

Janey laughed. “Only if there’s someone else with you.” They lapsed into another silence and Janey topped up their glasses from the last of the bottle. “What’s wrong with me, Mike?”

He looked at her, surprised. “There’s nothing wrong with you, Janey.”

“So how come no one’s interested?”

“I’m sure they are.”

“I’m sure they’re not. And if they are, they’re pretty damned good at hiding it. The only guys interested in me seem to be in Second Life.”

“But you’re a guy in Second Life!”

She laughed. “That’s my point. I’ve taken to frequenting the gay clubs. Seems the only way I can get myself a man. I’ve had some interesting experiences.”

She turned and gazed off into an unfocused middle distance, and he took the opportunity to reappraise her. It wasn’t that she was ugly. Just plain. And plenty of plain girls got themselves men. And it certainly wasn’t that she lacked personality. But, he supposed, there was something innately asexual about her. She would always be your best friend, never your girlfriend, because somehow you would just never see her that way. She’d always only be one of the boys. He felt suddenly very sorry for her. He had lost Mora, but at least they’d had their time together. Janey had never, to his knowledge, had anyone. He said, “Any guy would be glad to have a girl like you, Janey.” And in almost every respect he meant it.

She turned to look at him. He saw a hurt in her eyes as she went straight to the one respect in which he didn’t mean it. “You?”

And he couldn’t hold her gaze. “You know I’m still not over Mora. Not by a long way.”

A small, sad smile crept across her face, and she turned her gaze back toward the cosmos and her future solitude.