Make IT Real! by Sander R.B.E. Beals (good books to read for young adults TXT) 📕

Sinan wishes us a healthy meal, and puts some food on his plate. As I ask him to hand me one of the green eggs that are in his vicinity, the central plateau of the table rotates, so I can easily take one myself. “How did you do that?”, I ask. Mayra explains that it is the same mechanism that controls the floater outside. She invites me to try it myself, because it isn't that hard. I notice a delicious piece of fruit across the table, and decide to give it a go. I concentrate on choosing the fruit, and the plateau revolves to the point where I can reach in and get it. Of course the girls can't wait to perform their own experiments on it. Unfortunately, they both formulate their requests at the same time, and the end result is that the table voices its objection against this conflict by a short somewhat irritated sound. Kayim laughs, and tells Valerie to let her sister go first. Jane, seated right next to me, chooses her food with care and then mentions to me that Valerie has already learned her first words of Solara Maru from Kayim. I look across the table, and see the two of them exchanging meaningful looks.

I ponder the apparent design choices of the Inner Earth people: their homes seem built for maximum efficiency. Distinguishing them from the houses of neighbors appears to be totally irrelevant. Mayra explains that the spherical shape has been chosen because it requires a minimal surface for a maximal content, thus minimizing the exchange of energy with the environment. Not that they really need it of course, because the season-less weather keeps the outdoor temperature always around twenty degrees centigrade. “We prefer the beauty of optimal solutions to the aesthetics.” Sinan says. I state that even though aesthetics is not their main concern, they haven't lost their eye for beauty. When everybody seems to have had enough, the plateau slowly sinks back to the kitchen level. Mayra points out that the remains of our copious meal will be recycled into the substance that feeds the hydroponics area.

As we stand up, Sinan again draws our attention to the table. The plateau has returned, and the entire surface becomes the scene where a scale model of the city appears. Even my untrained eye recognizes the configuration of spheres, some large and some small. But the differences between big and small are much smaller than between houses and office buildings up top. Mayra explains that massive office buildings are not needed here, as most of the people work from their homes. In fact, most won't call it work, because basically they are just doing what they love to do. The only reason things seem so out of proportion on the outside, is because there everything is controlled instead of trusting that nature will find the right way. “Call me an anarchist, but that reasoning doesn't sound half bad”, I thought. Since consumption here is on a much lower level than outside, big stores are also not needed. Life inside isn't all about money, certainly not. The necessities of life are provided for all, and to acquire luxury items, people trade instead of spending their days doing things they don't like.

With the model, Sinan wants to show us which sights we will be visiting tomorrow. On the left, he points to a fairly large globe, half buried in the forest. This is the city's swimming pool, that has been chosen as an item on our trip because it is markedly different from the surface swimming pools: you simply cannot drown there, because the “water” is far denser, causing you to float easier. “Like the Red Sea!” Jane interjects. “But it isn't that salty?” Kayim asks her. “Help, I didn't bring my swim gear!” Valerie utters with a slight panic in her voice. “Don't worry” Mayra says: “We can pretty much make you any apparel you find suitable.” So apparently, there's nothing to stop us from having a nice swim tomorrow. Sinan points out that this will happen tomorrow afternoon. The morning will be spent with the Elders, who will give us a bit of a history lesson.

I ask Sinan if there is a possibility to access the Web on the outside. I would very much like to update my site with a story of our exploits on the inside. Sinan leads me to a round seat, which envelops me with a spherical ‘screen’ the moment I sit down. It is projected around the seat, and is pressure sensitive. On the edge of the seat is a keyboard, which can be augmented by use of the dictation unit. It doesn’t take me long to get the hang of it. Once Sinan has shown me how to get to the outer web, I quickly find my own site, and am soon typing and talking away to let our readers know how exciting it is down here.

As I finish, I notify Joyce and William. They are on holiday themselves, so I mail them, and send text messages to both their cell phones. I tell them something like “no matter what you hear, we're OK”. That ought to cover any rash actions by the hotel staff, or other people. Gina is up next, and takes the seat.

An hour or two later, even though the internal sun is still high in the sky, it is the moment of sleep. Mayra leads us to the bedrooms a little lower, and gets us something to wear while in ‘bed’. I am very curious about the force field that acts as a mattress, will it be easy to lie on? We first go into the room designated to the girls. Mayra demonstrates how you can just walk onto the lower disc, after which you will be slightly lifted up to the levitation center of the field. After that, it is easy to position your body any way you like. The kids get into their nightly attire, step onto the pads, and immediately start doing rolls and other tricks. I wonder how long they will be doing that before falling asleep. As for the lack of night, the windows have their own mechanism to remedy that: they slowly fade from transparent to dark blue, creating a great nightly look. Mayra, Gina and me leave the kids to their tricks, and go into two other rooms, one for Gina and one for me. After I’ve dressed for the night, it is my turn to try the ‘bed’. I step onto it, and feel myself being slightly lifted. It is a weird sensation, because there seems to be no extra pressure from below, like when you’re sitting on a bed. It is more the absence of gravity, without the lack of oxygen normally found in outer space. But it also does not seem to be quite like normal weightlessness, for there is a certain friction between the force field and my body, that makes it easy to move around. I experiment a little, but it doesn’t take much time to find my optimum position. I doze off quickly, forgetting all about my peculiar surroundings.

But it doesn't last long. Not seven minutes later, I wake up terrified, because I just realize that I forgot my pills! I get dressed again, and think about why oh why I don't keep the bottle in my pocket at all times. Since our trip to the pyramids was only supposed to last a few hours, I'd plain forgotten about it, since I didn't need them till bedtime anyway.

I step onto the landing, and almost bump into Mayra. She sees the worried look on my face, and asks what is wrong. I explain the predicament of missing medication to her, and she looks me into the eyes: “Fortunately, we do have a remedy, a permanent one even”, she smiles. She leads me to the lower level, speaks some words I haven't heard yet, and grabs what seems like a futuristic motorcycle helmet from an opening container. “Here, put this on”.

I do, and Mayra pushes the shiny red button that is now on my forehead. A weird sensation, a tingling starts right below the button, inside my skull. “What is it doing?” I ask. Not that I'm scared or anything, because during my manic episodes I've felt similar sensations. “Basically, it does what you would call a defragmentation of your neural net.” Mayra volunteers. She goes on to say that where I come from, the Lithium would be used by my brain to perform a similar function itself. This just is more thorough, and will last me about a year. If needed, she can even have me taken to see another Inner Earthling, who will then cure it permanently.... After that, I have no problem getting back to sleep.

Friday, March 12th, 2010, 22:12

Let me think, just when did I stuff those thirty dollars into an envelope to acquire what is at least closer to Heaven until Selina physically arrives? March 2nd, now ten days in the past. The site promised me nearly 8000 photos of the one lady that stole my heart, and even though they named her differently, there is no doubt in my mind: the six photos they showed with that announcement bear the 'sign of the cross', Selina's tiny little crucifix without the Jesus figure on it.

Sure, you have to be careful with the hoaxes reported to go around the web nowadays, but how could this be a hoax? Why would anyone send me an angel just to fool me in some way? She worked with me for over a year, I saw her there almost every day, and that seems an awfully big investment to con a guy who is not that important. They'd have to be able to get millions from me, which I don't have....

Sure, the photo site could be a hoax, delivering nothing and just cashing the money guys like me send in. But let's face it: had I not met Selina in real life, then paying for a bunch of pictures would be out of the question, especially since there is so much free stuff available. And I'm sure I won't miss thirty dollars if it's gone down the drain...

Actually, I've been thinking about that whole porn site movement on the Web, especially since I was once offered a programmer's position within such a company. And even though the thought of spending my working days with beautiful female test data seemed highly enticing, I never let it get in the way of my principles. In hindsight that may have cost me the chance to meet Selina live way earlier, but you can't win them all. At least I am confident that destiny cannot be outrun or frustrated, and neither should we want to. In the end it will all turn out for the best, no matter what we do to avoid it.

My sticking to my principles cost me that job, but it also started me thinking about this 'business' that I could not see the profit position of: unless it was cashing in on the natural urge of people (mainly men) to wanna see more of the same. But surely that didn't make for a profitable proposition.

Only recently did I see a far more farfetched possibility in it, that made great sense if you are a Sci-Fi writer like me: What if, through these sites, someone is steering events to help destiny along?

In a world where ladies like that are looked down upon, such sites will be like the sandpaper that erodes a judgmental attitude. Those that hate it will continuously bump into them because there are so many.