Black Betrayal Part 1

by Ming Zhou

       Kip and I met on a large expanse of sand and gray pixels. It was a beach somewhere. Not a nude beach or a beach attached to a casino or nightclub. Not even a real beach, really. Just a solo large inland parcel textured to look of bright sand and vast and empty beach skies. A lonely beach. One that I’d believed no one knew about except me.
       I was gazing out at the beach’s perpetual sunset, textured out in the distance along the parcel’s property lines, when I heard a familiar clattering break the normal silence of the music-less land. Turning around, I saw a blurry avatar—Kip—with unrezzed gray parts attached all over him. With a sweeping motion, he finished airtyping.
       I stared at him in the awkward silence of the lag between the end of his typing AO and the arrival of his message. Right-clicking, I forced his textures to rez.
       The grayness that was all over him disappeared into panes of shiny blue and white metal. He was a knight in shining armor. The gray blob on his head rezzed into a white metal mask, a shield for his face.
       “Nice beach,” He said, “Quit, picture-beautiful, perfect for introspection.”
       I smiled at him, wishing to return to my solitude, yet longing for companionship.
       He airtyped. I lagged, then received his words, “Mind if I share the beach?”
       I nodded. Even on SL, where communication is supposedly all verbal, I still act like my real life self. I tend to resort to gestures instead of speech. I’m taciturn, keeping my words locked up in my head, along with the rest of me.
       I want to trust the world, but… I can’t.