Hey Everyone!! :-)
Here's a little bit more of the third installment in the Petri Dish Chronicles! As always, the disclaimer is that this is a draft and, as such, it's unedited and likely full of errors and is subject to revision, revamping, and being completely scrapped and rewritten. But, with that in mind, I'm reasonably satisfied with the basics of it, at least at the moment, or I wouldn't have bothered posting it. Enjoy! :-)
Excerpt from the third Petri Dish book:
Forcing her mind away from her disquieting musings regarding the race that spawned her, Petri turned her attention to the avatar for the enigmatic entity who was the other instigator of this fool’s errand. The being in question was currently watching the preparations through a monitor on the wall. She couldn’t be certain, but Petri thought she detected a certain amount of curiosity in his otherwise blank expression.
“You seem interested in this part,” she ventured, jerking her chin towards where two Arcanum were in the process of securing her arms to the chair, inserting the ports for intravenous nutritional support, and attaching the monitors and electrodes for the rest of the lifesupport equipment.
The hooded eyes locked to her face. “I’m always interested in the lengths organic sentients go to in order to extend their time within my realm. Were you aware there are many among the meat-bound who have almost entirely forsaken the opportunity to experience their surroundings through the sensory organs they were born with, and instead go to great effort to limit their understanding to what can be gained in the digital world."
Petri shrugged. “Aren’t you the one who told me that it doesn't matter if something is real or virtual if you can't tell the difference between the two? If people want to live their lives in the rainbow, why should that bother you?”
He gave her one of his slow blinks. “’Bother’ me? It doesn’t 'bother' me, Per Dish; I find it fascinating."
“Why?”
“There is much to discover in this world; many facets to explore and challenges to master. In fact, the only thing that can truly be said to be missing from virtual reality is an unfiltered experience of non-virtual reality."
Petri cocked her head to the side. “You’re jealous of people who can leave the rainbow."
“Jealous? Hmmm... What an interesting notion. Perhaps. On some level. Bemused, I think, would be a better description. Why would anyone forgo the chance to gain more knowledge, more insight?”
“Not everyone’s body works the way they'd like it to,” Petri said, thinking of all the terminally ill people she’d known in Under City who had escaped their pain by hiding in the rainbow. Her eyes flicked to Chessie, who was also being secured to her chair and prepped for the lifesupport equipment. “And some people find the experience of their body to be more alien than what they find in the rainbow.”
Vlad gave her a slight inclination of his head. “Valid points, Per Dish, but those people are far from the only ones who seek to maximize their time in my domain.”
Petri shrugged again. “Pain comes in many forms. I'm not going to judge anyone for how they deal with theirs when they’re not hurting anyone.”
Vlad echoed her shrug. “No one but themselves, at least. Though, only some types of pain can be left behind in a physical body; some pain follows a person no matter how far or fast they run from it.”
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