The Brave New World

Unofrtunately, complications ensued right away. James could not communicate with his second self in the New World! He rubbed his implant repeatedly to increase the strength of the signal, but to no avail. A faulty implant? Susanto removed it, congratulating himself silently for having brought extra implant kits. Then he implanted James again, moving to the other end of the little beach before he did so - just in case.

It didn"t help. James rubbed his head until his scalp got sore, with no success. Susanto felt totally flumoxed by this development. He instructed James not to worry, but was very worried himself. What could be wrong? He had no idea. He examined the the four remaining implant kits one by one, but they all looked the same. They looked the way they"d always looked: there were no signs of any physical damage.

There was only one thing left to try. Susanto sighed heavily. He turned to James and said:

"James, I need you to lie down on that mat and make the trip over there. Just to see whether it"s possible at all. I"ll be watching over you here. I"ll wake you up the moment I see the slightest sign of distress."

"You"ll pull my implant, sir?" asked James.

"There"ll be no need, James. The link is broken. Once you"re awake, you won"t feel a thing even if your guy there is being eaten alive."

James swallowed and looked at the ground. Then he said:

"Sir, please. Promise me you"ll remove my implant. We"ll still have three left, one for each of us. I can see now how wise it was, to take those extra implant kits."

"All right," said Susanto, annoyed at James"s clumsy attempt to b.u.t.ter him up. "I promise I"ll pull your implant. Don"t look at me like that. I mean it."

Still slightly doubtful, James obediently lay down on the silver mat. He actually struggled to keep awake for a few seconds. Of course he fell asleep almost instantly anyway, but Susanto"s eyes narrowed at this new sign of disobedience from his trusted manservant.

He told himself familiarity always bred contempt, that it couldn"t be helped: but all the same, he decided he"d let James wriggle a bit before waking him. He could always lie later that the sleeping James had showed no anxiety at all for - how long should he make it? A minute? That amounted to around ten minutes in the New World. Yes, that would be more than enough. Susanto"s experience with the ptero-somethings and the giant mosquitoes had been shorter, and the terror he"d felt had almost made him lose his wits.

He didn"t want any witnesses, so he ordered Candy to move her a.s.s somewhere else: he said her presence impeded his concentration. Pouting, she relocated to a spot twenty steps away. Susanto sat down beside James, making sure he blocked as much of the view as possible. Then he watched and waited.

He stared at the old wind-up watch in his hand, ready to give it a shake if it stopped working. But minutes ticked by, and nothing happened. James was sleeping peacefully; Susanto even detected a trace of a smile on his face. He should have felt good about his manservant enjoying himself in the New World - it meant things were safe - but he didn"t; somehow, it was disquieting. He had expected something else.

He checked the time: nearly ten minutes, an hour in a half in the New World! James kept on sleeping, sleeping so deeply he appeared to be dead, at times. What was going on?

After fifteen minutes - over two hours in the New World! - Susanto could stand it no longer. He reached out, and started to shake James awake.

He got a bad fright; James didn"t wake up for what seemed like a very long time. When he finally did, Susanto felt like kissing him with joy. He said:

"James! Can you hear me? Look at me! James?"

James continued to gaze dreamily into the sky. He said, so softly that Susanto had to bend to hear him:

"It was so beautiful. So beautiful! Sir, I would like to return there right away."

Susanto jerked upright, his face darkening with anger. He said:

"You"re forgetting yourself, James. You are to do as I say, not what you"d like to do best. I"m ordering you to tell me what happened to you over there. And look at me while you"re speaking."

James became contrite.

"I"m sorry," he said. "It was just... it was a very powerful experience, sir."

"I understand it was pleasant?"

"Very pleasant, sir."

"Made you feel good? At peace, and happy?"

"Oh yes, sir. I -"

"I am going to make you distressed and unhappy if you don"t start making sense. I want to know what happened right from the beginning. Starting now."

"Well, sir," said James, swallowing, "I found myself on top of a big cliff, a little like the ones here. I had a good view, there were a few big bushes growing around, some reached higher than me, but I could still see clearly in all directions. And -"

"Wait. Did you see the ocean?"

"Yes. But it was much further out. The beach below the cliff was much, much bigger than ours. There seemed to be some funny-looking objects lying down there. I thought about investigating them, I didn"t find a way to get down the cliff."

"Okay, never mind that. What about about the rest? Did you see any, er, birds or any other animals?"

"No, sir. I saw angels."

"What!?"

"Angels, sir. That"s what they looked like. Beautiful women, floating in the air. I asked them to come closer and they understood me! They didn"t speak, they just floated in close to me and... and..."

"And what? f.u.c.k! And what?"

"They made love to me, sir," said James. "They made love to me. All of them. One angel would go, and a new one would take its place. It was heaven."

"What happened after that?"

"Nothing, sir. You woke me up."

"James," Susanto said sternly. "Are you making this up? Okay, I know you wouldn"t, but maybe you"re exaggerating a little. Adding a little color. Right?"

"No, sir. I swear. This was exactly what happened."

"But people don"t float in the air! You were f.u.c.king people, correct? Human beings? You could feel them, am I right? Flesh and blood?"

"Yes, sir. But they weren"t human beings. They were more than that. They were angels."

"And I guess all of them were beautiful women with t.i.ts like watermelons," snarled Susanto.

"Yes, sir. That"s correct."

Susanto was struck dumb. He had no idea what to think. First, there was that loss of communication; and now, this. James had to be wrong. This just wasn"t possible. Candy"s beach was less than two kilometers from the camp. A move like that could not result in a totally different environment around the corresponding spot in the New World. Angels instead of dinosaurs? Nonsense!

It was obvious he"d have to make the trip himself. For a moment, Susanto contemplated sending Candy, or taking her along. But if even a fraction of what James had said was true, the stupid b.i.t.c.h would go crazy with happiness. She would be of absolutely no use to him; she would be a hindrance instead. He"d have to go alone.

He stood up, brushing the sand from his legs, and looked down at the lying, lying James. He was sure his manservant was spinning him a story, and it didn"t matter if James himself believed it or not. It had to be a lie.

"Get up, James," he said. "I am disappointed. I expected you to spend your time there exploring. Instead, you were busy having s.e.x with figments of your imagination. Your sense of duty has failed, James. I am not sure I can trust you to do the right thing any more."

That hit James hard. He clasped his hands and raised them in supplication; Susanto half-expected him to fall to his knees.

"Sir, I am so sorry. I did not lie to you. What was happening made me lose my mind. I am so sorry, sir."

"All right, all right," said Susanto. "Now listen: I"m going to have a look myself. I want you to wake me exactly after three minutes have pa.s.sed. Here, take this piece of s.h.i.t. No wait, I"ll wind it up first. Watch this long thin red hand like a hawk. It measures seconds. It sometimes stops briefly, and you have to give the watch a knock. What the f.u.c.k is Paco doing with a piece of s.h.i.t like that? I pay him well enough to afford a decent timepiece."

"It used to belong to his father, sir," said James. "And his grandfather before that. It"s sort of a family heirloom."

"James! I want you to concentrate. Three minutes, no more. Got it?"

"Yes, sir. You can count on me."

"Don"t let Candy distract you. Lose any thoughts you might have about s.e.x. Understood?"

"I"ve already lost them, sir."

"Good."

Having requested James to move the mat to a spot with deeper shade, Susanto spent some time choosing an implant kit for his personal use. They were all identical, there was nothing to choose between them, but performing this meaningless little ritual put him in the right frame of mind.

He told Candy to stay where she was and keep quiet, then returned to James. He put the implant above his right ear, where it could be easily removed; then he lay down on the mat and instantly closed his eyes. He would show James how this was done -

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