From: JENKINS@agvax2.ag.ohio-state.edu (Kent Jenkins)
Subject: Page of Pentacles
Summary: Yet Another Night at the Chat
Date: 9 Jul 92 23:15:57 GMT

"Ever since Ratz installed those netlinked holos, it's been like a zoo in
here."  The words fell out of Thenomain's mouth in an even pattern, hitting
like a handfull of pebbles, tossed only to stir the waters.

Ripples extended from the sentance, reaching people's ears, intruding on their
thoughts.  Even if they dismissed the sound as standard bar banter, it had some
sort of effect on them.  Even minute ripples caused great changes.  There was
so much of this in the hole-in-the-wall bar that it was hard to second-guess.

There was an older woman with Thenomain.  Dark hair starting to gray, looking
color-designed as it reflected neon that haunted the empty stage.  She brushed
her hair, long and straight, over her ear.  A pair of earrings hung from that
one ear, the design modern, the application simple - they were recording the
conversation to chip.  The subversion launched another set of ripples, more
subtle, but detectable.

"Aww, now.  Theh-ya's a doll."  She toyed with her drink, smiling.  A single
ripple, meant to counter, in synch, with others. "Wha's so bad 'bout somethin'
y'all can't touch?"

The younger man removed his fedora and starting fanning himself with it.  The
summer's heat and the bay's humidity were nearly unbarable themselves.  In a
bar packed with anxious people, the problem was compounded.

"It exists," Thenomain said, motioning at something near a booth.  "In some
kind of reality, it has cause and effect just like everything else."  He was
staring at the thing. His stern look and slight frown did nothing for his
looks and only made reading his emotions that much easier.  "Unfortunately,
that /thing/ is also in /my/ reality."

The woman clucked her tongue in diapproval.  "If'n y'all don' like what it
looks like, don' look at it.  Wat's a photon 'tween computers an' peoples,
anyway?"

Thenomain shook his head and looked back into the woman's light brown eyes.
They could have been hazel, but it was very hard to tell in the confusing
light.  "It's more than that.  It's... say, for example, we were only real
because someone was thinking that we were."

The response was immediate, almost interrupting.  "You're scarrin' me, boy.
I don' like none o' this philo crack."  More ripples.  A head one table over
turns for a moment.

"Alright.  It bothers me because I'm on the net all the time, and there are a
lot of crazy people on the net, a lot of people with grande ideas and thoughts
of their own superiority that the wouldn't under normal conditions.  We..."
Thenomain falterd a moment.  "They used to call these people ruggies.
Munchkins.  But that was before the net came about and it all became real."

"And you're 'fraid that they can do ta anyone the things that they couldn't?"
The older woman chuckled and leaned back in her chair, tipping it onto its back
legs.  "You think they're crazy, don'cha.  Hell, boy, you're jus' paranoid."

"You didn't get that old by being careless, either."

"True," the woman admitted.  "But there's a line 'tween careful an' paranoid."

Thenomain was eager to make his point, ripples confusing the atmosphere around
them as he quckly spoke.  "There's no line between reality and imagination.
Not really.  And anyone who can type on a turtle can play with that reality.
And you know what?  There's very little concequence."

"An' you're the kid who goes about rightin' the wrongs?"

"No."  Thenomain shook his head.  "I'm the one who doesn't go around pretending
I'm a god.  I'm damned good.  People know that.  I'm not," he waved his hand
in the direction of the thing, "an illusion.  Or manipulative."  The air was
almost calm, the word 'maipulative' threw the air into the same kind of fervor
as the rest of the bar.

"You're honest, you mean."

"I try.  It's a price you pay when you don't want to go over the edge.  There's
a difference between the net and reality, but it can be ignored.  I've seen
what happens to people who ignore it."

The woman nodded, grimmacing.  "Like, uh..." she looked over to the booth with
whatever thing they had been talking about in it.

"Yeah.  Like that.  But worse."  He blinked and placed his hat back on his
head.  "And gone.  Just like that."  He looked back to the woman across the
table.  "Ever since Ratz installed that holo system, this place has been a
zoo."
...

If anyone wants to run with this, go ahead.  Thenomain's mine (of course), but
the woman and the magic/psychic-sensitive who is watching this conversation
aren't.  Any objections to the southern accent, well, that's my fault.

Let's see what else we can do to bastardize... erm, write in this group.

			-Kent Jenkins
			("Thenomain")