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<blockquote data-quote="Dr Midnight" data-source="post: 6886110" data-attributes="member: 69"><p style="text-align: center"><strong>Chapter 3</strong></p> <p style="text-align: center"><strong>It's Been Forever</strong></p><p></p><p>Three years later, Murray was lounging in a comfortable chair modeled after one he'd owned in the real world. He'd grown skilled at replicating familiar things from his past. They gave him comfort when he wasn't adventuring, which was more and more often these days. The chair was a hideous pattern of orange flowers on a white field. The fabric was frayed in all the right places. He was scribbling at a crossword in a newspaper braced against his leg.</p><p></p><p>The house had been his as well. It wasn't the house he'd owned as the head of his own family, it was the house he'd grown up in. This he hadn't replicated himself. He'd paid a $75 charge to have the house built for him by an automated service that obtained old blueprints from the county clerk. The yard work, carpets and paint he'd had to do himself, but that hadn't taken him more than an hour.</p><p></p><p>The real bitch of it was the little things. Even though the house was built to the exact specs of the blueprints, the angles didn't always feel right. The molding wasn't the exact pattern either, though Murray was damned if he could remember what that pattern looked like. The sunlight didn't come in the same way even though the house was positioned to face southwest. The trees and surrounding foliage played some large part in that, but there was nothing for it. He'd lined the property with tall pines, just like he remembered, and had plopped a huge elm in the backyard. As a child he probably could have recalled most details of that elm, as he'd crawled over it and swung from its boughs through many a sunny afternoon. Now he could only remember that it was immense, had a burl at its base and a long horizontal branch pointing off to the east. Everything else was auto-generated. The refrigerator wasn't the brand and model his father had brought home new from Sears in 1983, but there was only so much time you could spend staring at models of old refrigerators before you started to question your path in life. You could get a more perfect version of any structure, but it cost $13 per square foot to scan a space and Murray didn't think it'd be worth it. Besides, another family lived there now and most homeowners demanded a fee to have their home scanned.</p><p></p><p>In the end he'd gotten over the little things and the house felt like his. If he went back to the real house now, he often thought, it'd be the one that felt wrong.</p><p></p><p>A knock at the door. He jumped. No one knocked on doors here, ever. He got up and looked.</p><p></p><p>Lily was standing at the screen door. She was notably older, now, and had her hair was shortened and curled. Her once-gangly arms and legs had found their grace, and she was probably about as tall as she was likely to get. She wore a gray hoodie and black pants.</p><p></p><p>Lily saw Murray and grinned. "Hi Grandpa."</p><p></p><p>"Lily!" Murray dropped the newspaper and opened the door. She began to wave and grunted in surprise when her grandfather embraced her. "It's been forever, how old are you now?"</p><p></p><p>"Fourteen."</p><p></p><p>"Geez how you've grown. Look like you're towering over the treetops. What are you doing here?"</p><p></p><p>She laughed politely. "I thought I'd visit, is that okay?"</p><p></p><p>"Of course it's okay, are you kidding?"</p><p></p><p>"Oh, good." She shuffled her feet. "Dad's got a new job and after school he doesn't get home for a while. I thought I'd stop by."</p><p></p><p>"Great! I haven't had a visitor since... well, since you guys. Come in!" Lily stepped inside and looked around. Murray ran a hand over his pate. "Don't mind the mess, I always keep it like this."</p><p></p><p>She laughed. "Geez, Grandpa, I was sure you'd be living in a mansion or something. This house looks like any other house."</p><p></p><p>"I did live in a mansion, for a time. You'd be surprised how uncomfortable they can be. All that open space. I gave up on it pretty quickly."</p><p></p><p>She wrinkled her nose and thought. "Yeah, I get that. So how've you been? Playing anything cool?"</p><p></p><p>Murray flapped a hand. "I haven't played anything in a while. There's a new <em>Grim Lords of Frostmyre</em> module coming out next week, but... ehh."</p><p></p><p>"Honestly, I was a bit disappointed to not phase in with you in the midst of some intense action again. Way to let me down, Grandpa."</p><p></p><p>He chuckled. "Yeah, right? I dunno. I guess all the possibilities got old. Now I just sit around."</p><p></p><p>"Sit around and watch TV, huh?"</p><p></p><p>"Nah, not even that. TV costs money."</p><p></p><p>Lily raised her eyebrows in mild surprise. "It does? I thought everything was free in here."</p><p></p><p>"Well, it's like this- anything that's not copyrighted is free for the taking. We could have a steak dinner on a yacht on the seas of another planet right now, but if you wanna watch TV, you've gotta pay real world money. You've gotta buy a cable package here, same as outside. Hell, I can go see a new movie, but I have to pay as much to see it as you do. It all comes out of my monthly billing."</p><p></p><p>"That's too bad."</p><p></p><p>"It's okay. There are a lot of good books in the public domain."</p><p></p><p>Lily stood suddenly. "Oh, wow, look at that!" She approached the framed photo above the hearth. It was an enormous print of Lily as she tasted the lobster, and her father and grandfather smiling in her direction. "Ooooh," Lily said. "That food was so awesome. How did you get a photo of that day? There wasn't a camera, was there?"</p><p></p><p>"Nah, you can take photos or video from any angle of anything that's occurred. That's kids' stuff. I just wanted a keepsake. Say, how is your dad, anyway?"</p><p></p><p>"He's okay. Same as ever. He doesn't change much."</p><p></p><p>"Don't I know it." He shifted his weight in that way that tends to signify a change a topic. "So how long do you have to hang around, today?"</p><p></p><p>She shrugged shyly, hoping to feign that it hadn't occurred to her that she might be invited to stay for a while. "Hours. Two, at least. Why?"</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Dr Midnight, post: 6886110, member: 69"] [CENTER][B]Chapter 3 It's Been Forever[/B][/CENTER] Three years later, Murray was lounging in a comfortable chair modeled after one he'd owned in the real world. He'd grown skilled at replicating familiar things from his past. They gave him comfort when he wasn't adventuring, which was more and more often these days. The chair was a hideous pattern of orange flowers on a white field. The fabric was frayed in all the right places. He was scribbling at a crossword in a newspaper braced against his leg. The house had been his as well. It wasn't the house he'd owned as the head of his own family, it was the house he'd grown up in. This he hadn't replicated himself. He'd paid a $75 charge to have the house built for him by an automated service that obtained old blueprints from the county clerk. The yard work, carpets and paint he'd had to do himself, but that hadn't taken him more than an hour. The real bitch of it was the little things. Even though the house was built to the exact specs of the blueprints, the angles didn't always feel right. The molding wasn't the exact pattern either, though Murray was damned if he could remember what that pattern looked like. The sunlight didn't come in the same way even though the house was positioned to face southwest. The trees and surrounding foliage played some large part in that, but there was nothing for it. He'd lined the property with tall pines, just like he remembered, and had plopped a huge elm in the backyard. As a child he probably could have recalled most details of that elm, as he'd crawled over it and swung from its boughs through many a sunny afternoon. Now he could only remember that it was immense, had a burl at its base and a long horizontal branch pointing off to the east. Everything else was auto-generated. The refrigerator wasn't the brand and model his father had brought home new from Sears in 1983, but there was only so much time you could spend staring at models of old refrigerators before you started to question your path in life. You could get a more perfect version of any structure, but it cost $13 per square foot to scan a space and Murray didn't think it'd be worth it. Besides, another family lived there now and most homeowners demanded a fee to have their home scanned. In the end he'd gotten over the little things and the house felt like his. If he went back to the real house now, he often thought, it'd be the one that felt wrong. A knock at the door. He jumped. No one knocked on doors here, ever. He got up and looked. Lily was standing at the screen door. She was notably older, now, and had her hair was shortened and curled. Her once-gangly arms and legs had found their grace, and she was probably about as tall as she was likely to get. She wore a gray hoodie and black pants. Lily saw Murray and grinned. "Hi Grandpa." "Lily!" Murray dropped the newspaper and opened the door. She began to wave and grunted in surprise when her grandfather embraced her. "It's been forever, how old are you now?" "Fourteen." "Geez how you've grown. Look like you're towering over the treetops. What are you doing here?" She laughed politely. "I thought I'd visit, is that okay?" "Of course it's okay, are you kidding?" "Oh, good." She shuffled her feet. "Dad's got a new job and after school he doesn't get home for a while. I thought I'd stop by." "Great! I haven't had a visitor since... well, since you guys. Come in!" Lily stepped inside and looked around. Murray ran a hand over his pate. "Don't mind the mess, I always keep it like this." She laughed. "Geez, Grandpa, I was sure you'd be living in a mansion or something. This house looks like any other house." "I did live in a mansion, for a time. You'd be surprised how uncomfortable they can be. All that open space. I gave up on it pretty quickly." She wrinkled her nose and thought. "Yeah, I get that. So how've you been? Playing anything cool?" Murray flapped a hand. "I haven't played anything in a while. There's a new [I]Grim Lords of Frostmyre[/I] module coming out next week, but... ehh." "Honestly, I was a bit disappointed to not phase in with you in the midst of some intense action again. Way to let me down, Grandpa." He chuckled. "Yeah, right? I dunno. I guess all the possibilities got old. Now I just sit around." "Sit around and watch TV, huh?" "Nah, not even that. TV costs money." Lily raised her eyebrows in mild surprise. "It does? I thought everything was free in here." "Well, it's like this- anything that's not copyrighted is free for the taking. We could have a steak dinner on a yacht on the seas of another planet right now, but if you wanna watch TV, you've gotta pay real world money. You've gotta buy a cable package here, same as outside. Hell, I can go see a new movie, but I have to pay as much to see it as you do. It all comes out of my monthly billing." "That's too bad." "It's okay. There are a lot of good books in the public domain." Lily stood suddenly. "Oh, wow, look at that!" She approached the framed photo above the hearth. It was an enormous print of Lily as she tasted the lobster, and her father and grandfather smiling in her direction. "Ooooh," Lily said. "That food was so awesome. How did you get a photo of that day? There wasn't a camera, was there?" "Nah, you can take photos or video from any angle of anything that's occurred. That's kids' stuff. I just wanted a keepsake. Say, how is your dad, anyway?" "He's okay. Same as ever. He doesn't change much." "Don't I know it." He shifted his weight in that way that tends to signify a change a topic. "So how long do you have to hang around, today?" She shrugged shyly, hoping to feign that it hadn't occurred to her that she might be invited to stay for a while. "Hours. Two, at least. Why?" [/QUOTE]
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