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 Shifting Paradigms:
The four of them continued walking until they reached a point where the street they were on opened up into a common square. But unlike such spaces that Petri was familiar with, in Under City, here those who weren’t actively engaged in trade floated in the space above all the shops and stalls. This, she supposed, was necessary because every visible square inch of the ground, itself, was pack full of merchants and their wares. And business was booming.
As Petri watched hundreds, if not thousands, of transactions took place, of every conceivable variety. Everything from food and sex to vehicles and metal ore were on offer. Petri had never in her life seen a real, flesh and blood animal or an authentic, organic plant in Under City, but here they abounded. Or, at least, that was what her mind perceived as she looked around. The deeper connection to the rainbow that the Arcanum’s taps gave her, even through her mental shielding, made everything feel so real that she had to keep reminding herself that everything she saw, heard, felt, and otherwise experienced here was just a digital representation of those things. Or, at least, a digital representation that her brain was interpreting as things she was familiar with in the real world. She was still struggling to wrap her mind around that concept.
At first, the market appeared to be utter chaos, but after some observation it became clear that there was a bizarre sort of organization, almost choreography, to the confusion. Buyers and sellers communicated fluently. Even when it appeared as though the individuals involved were of species whose methods of communication would normally be incompatible enough to require an intermediary, the trade conducted was brisk and uninterrupted. And once negotiations were completed, transactions were finalized and dispensed with rapidly. The speed with which merchants and shoppers moved from one bargain to the next was dizzying to Petri once she managed to follow what was going on. Like before, it quickly became clear that everyone there knew their parts and what was expected of them; it was only Petri and her friends who failed to blend into the sea of commerce.
“It’s overwhelming, isn’t it?" murmured Chessie. Petri just nodded, not taking her eyes off the tableau.
As Petri watched hundreds, if not thousands, of transactions took place, of every conceivable variety. Everything from food and sex to vehicles and metal ore were on offer. Petri had never in her life seen a real, flesh and blood animal or an authentic, organic plant in Under City, but here they abounded. Or, at least, that was what her mind perceived as she looked around. The deeper connection to the rainbow that the Arcanum’s taps gave her, even through her mental shielding, made everything feel so real that she had to keep reminding herself that everything she saw, heard, felt, and otherwise experienced here was just a digital representation of those things. Or, at least, a digital representation that her brain was interpreting as things she was familiar with in the real world. She was still struggling to wrap her mind around that concept.
At first, the market appeared to be utter chaos, but after some observation it became clear that there was a bizarre sort of organization, almost choreography, to the confusion. Buyers and sellers communicated fluently. Even when it appeared as though the individuals involved were of species whose methods of communication would normally be incompatible enough to require an intermediary, the trade conducted was brisk and uninterrupted. And once negotiations were completed, transactions were finalized and dispensed with rapidly. The speed with which merchants and shoppers moved from one bargain to the next was dizzying to Petri once she managed to follow what was going on. Like before, it quickly became clear that everyone there knew their parts and what was expected of them; it was only Petri and her friends who failed to blend into the sea of commerce.
“It’s overwhelming, isn’t it?" murmured Chessie. Petri just nodded, not taking her eyes off the tableau.
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