"It was a blonde. A blonde to make a bishop kick a hole in a
stained glass window."
Raymond Chandler
WIRED
by Niklas Pivic
There was once a person called Wilma Thearson. Wilma had worked
for the "National Publicist" for twenty years, and was now in her
early forties. Wilma was the sort of person who didn't have many
friends, mainly because she wouldn't change her principles - or
anything other - for anyone. Some called her obnoxious.
Nevertheless, Wilma was a widow, and her husband had died an
early death, which was someone she rarely talked about. Her
friends sometimes caught her talking about him in a spiritual
sense, but never dared to ask her about him, not for any reason.
Now, Wilma didn't have a lot of life. But at this time
everything changed for her. One of her friends asked her if she
wanted to join her working nights at the municipal greenhouse (!)
with small things like mending broken pots, planting flowers,
etc. Anything a greenhouse had to offer, for short, come good and
bad. She accepted it, hoping it would decrease her sadness, which
she almost always feltinside. One night, she met Arthur. Arthur
showed to be what Wilma called "a perfect gentleman", who was in
his late fifties and made her feel young again. And happy. They
started going out to restaurants, and suddenly Wilma smiled when
she was with her friends, telling them of what had happened on
her latest meeting with Arthur. Her pessimism almost vanished. It
almost was as if she were brought back to her youth's days, when
there were no troubles at all. Then Arthur made her the proposal.
They were getting "hitched properly", as she told her friends.
There was a big ceremony, almost all of their friends attending,
but only Arthur's father - their other parents were dead - came,
leading him to the podium and Wilma walking by herself. They were
happy, very happy.
At the wedding night, after a lot of drinking, singing, dancing,
etc., Arthur carried Wilma over the threshold and they made love.
Some minutes after, Arthur was excited. He was very keen on
showing some kind of machine to Wilma, which was supposed to be
"a blast". She waited for him to unpack some kind of strange-
looking case he had under the bed, and in some way, connect it
betweenthe phone cable which went to the phone, standing on the
bedside-table. The machine which seemed to split the cable,
consisted of a box with a tube in the middle, sticking out at the
edges (up and down).
"Wilma, you know I wouldn't do anything in the world to hurt
you, now would I babe?" Arthur asked Wilma, looking at her
excitedly.
"I do know that, Arthur, but what's that machine for?" Wilma
asked, looking awkwardly at the machine which AT&T didn't put
there.
"Darling, you know that I've been busy these few days before the
wedding, right? I mean, except for the normal absence?"
"Yes?"
"Well, I've been putting the finishing touches to this little
machine," Arthur said, pointing to the machine. "It's going to be
our own little pleasure-dome!"
"Oh yeah, how?" Wilma asked, raising a brow and a corner of her
mouth.
"Well, I'll show you," he said, putting the machine on his side
of the bed, now sitting on the floor with the machine between him
and her. He suddenly inserted his right index-finger into the
tube and said "Now all you have to do is to press the number I'll
be telling you," at the same time as he gave her a machine,
oblong, with a lot of digits and a button with an arrow on it.
"But what's going to happen?" Wilma asked.
"Oh, just complete pleasure," he answered, smiling wide.
He did what he instructed her to do, pressing the right buttons.
"Now, point the controller towards the machine," he instructed
her. "And press the button with the arrow on it." Wilma did so.
"All we now have to do is wait." he said, smiling and sitting
with his legs crossed.
A minute passed. "Here it comes," he said, watching Wilma as she
pulled back a little to her side of the bed. "No, nothing bad is
going to happen to me, even if it looks that way--" He was
interrupted by strong convulsions, his body turning straight on
the spot, having spasms like an epileptic during an attack.
"Arthur!" was all Wilma could say. Suddenly Arthur came to. He
sat straight up, looking at Wilma as though he had slept for ten
hours and not had seen her since. "It was terrific," he said,
looking at her terrified eyes through his calm ones. "Nothing to
be afraid of. Mixing electrical currents by adding my own machine
to it, suddenly changes a person's vibration level. You feel like
you could take over the universe or something! Gives you a
great self-confidence, anyway. I thought you'd like to try it,"
he said, as he climbed onto the bed, finally kissing Wilma on her
mouth.
"I...I..." was all Wilma could say, as she pressed her right
hand to her chest, looking into Arthur's eyes with her very
opened ones.
"Trust me. It will take you to other worlds." he said, kissing
her again.
Wilma lay down, the bed and other things around her carefully
put away, with her left-hand index-finger in the tube.
"Don't worry," Arthur said, pressing a lot of numbers on the
controller, and then, pointing it towards the machine, pressed
the arrow.
"That should do it, my dear! You'll feel like a queen in a
matter of seconds! Nothing's too good for my lovely!" he said,
smiling and caressing her face. Suddenly he looks into her eyes,
and doesn't look as nice as he previously looked. His shape
changes, turning into a whirl-pool of images from their wedding,
the day they met, etc. Suddenly the pictures aren't post-Arthur
anymore. They reach back. Long time back. Limitlessly. Colours
and shades are not of any importance anymore. She knows how the
Universe is built up, and she has reached her apotheosis.
Arthur is no longer of any importance. The world is hers any
shred of humanity flows within her blood. Anything else stands as
a speck of intelligence within her, the Earth itself is no longer
any intelligence to speak of, Time isn't any problem, there are
NO LAWS for her anymore. She is no longer one with the universe.
She Eats the Universe-.
"Hey kitten! Wake up! You've been in there for a full minute!
That's enough! Anyone can't stand that much power at first! Up!"
Arthur's voice came ringing out to her.
Wilma suddenly felt like someone had given her a thousand-
dollar-note, and then ripped it to pieces. She slapped Arthur.
"You idiot! How dare you!" she howled at him, discovering
nothing but the way her finger still was stuck to the machine.
"Hold on! Hold on!" Arthur said, as he tried to grab her hands.
"What's this? First you show me something... Something...-"
"Yes..." he grabbed her hands. "You've entered a world only we
two know about. I've been developing this for the last five-
"But... But..." Wilma started shaking the machine like nuts,
when phone started ringing.
*****
When Wilma woke, she saw Arthur lying in a pool of blood across
the floor. She looked at her hand and couldn't see her fingers.
Or the rest of her hand. Her ex. hand was covered by the tube,
which had increased, becoming one with it.
What we (the Netrunners) see at the screens everyday had become
one of her everyday impulses. She was connected. The net had
absorbed her totally. What she knew was the everyday fantasies
coming directly from us, The Netrunners. Everything she had ever
known became none, and her psyche became the net. She controls us
everytime we think of her and vice versa. Her brain is no longer
one with "the universe". It doesn't have to be "fantastic". Look
at what we have and try to improve this instead of dreaming. Or
shall we skip the whole idea for something new?
Disclaimer
The text of the articles is identical to the originals like they appeared
in old ST NEWS issues. Please take into consideration that the author(s)
was (were) a lot younger and less responsible back then. So bad jokes,
bad English, youthful arrogance, insults, bravura, over-crediting and
tastelessness should be taken with at least a grain of salt. Any contact
and/or payment information, as well as deadlines/release dates of any
kind should be regarded as outdated. Due to the fact that these pages are
not actually contained in an Atari executable here, references to scroll
texts, featured demo screens and hidden articles may also be irrelevant.