City of Golden Shadow by Tad Williams Page A

particular store in the services directory, we could have beamed straight there."
    "Beamed?" !Xabbu's head was tipped back on his simulated neck. It reminded her of how amazed she'd been by the displays when she had first traveled on the net.
    "It used to be an old science fiction term, I think. Kind of a net joke. It just means to travel directly instead of going the long way 'round, RL-style. RL means 'real life,' remember?"
    "Mmmmm." !Xabbu seemed very quiet and withdrawn. Renie wondered if she'd shown him enough for a first visit-it was hard to know what an adult mind would make of all this. Everyone she knew had started net-riding in childhood.
    "Do you want to go on with our simulated shopping trip?"
    !Xabbu turned. "Of course. Please. This is all so . . . astonishing."
    She smiled to herself. "Good. Well, as I said, if we wanted a particular store, we could have beamed directly to it. But let's browse."
    Renie had been a professional for so long that the thrill of what was possible had worn off. Like her little brother, she had discovered the net at much the same time as she discovered the real world, and learned her way around both long before adolescence. Stephen was still interested in net for net's sake, but Renie was well past the sense-of-wonder stage. She didn't even like shopping, and whenever possible just reordered from an existing account.
    !Xabbu, however, was a child in these virtual realms-but a manchild, she reminded herself, with a sophisticated and adult sensibility, however primitive her city-dweller prejudices made his background seem-so it was both refreshing and a little horrifying to accompany him on this maiden voyage. No, more than just a little horrifying: seeing it through his eyes, Lambda Mall seemed so huge and loud, so vulgar. . . .
    !Xabbu stopped in front of one store's outside displays and gestured to see the full advertisement. Renie didn't bother. Although his sim was standing motionless before the shop's coruscating facade, she knew that he was currently in the middle of a family melodrama in which the crusty but benign father was slowly being brought around to the joys of purchasing a Krittapong Home Entertainment Unit with multiple access features. She watched the Bushman's small sim speaking and reacting to invisible presences and again felt a slightly shamed responsibility. After a few minutes, !Xabbu shook himself all over like a wet dog and stepped away.
    "Did tight-fisted-but-basically-kindly Dad see the error of his ways?" she asked.
    "Who were those people?"
    "Not people. On the net, real people are called 'Citizens.' Those were Puppets-constructs which look like people. Invented things, just like the stores here and even the Mall itself."
    "Not real? But they talked to me-answered questions."
    "Just a slightly more expensive form of advertising. And they aren't as smart as they act. Go back and ask Mom about the Soweto Uprising or the second Ngosane Administration. She'll just tell you all over again about the joys of Retinal Display."
    !Xabbu thought this over. "They are . . . like ghosts, then. Things with no souls."
    Renie shook her head. "No souls, that's true. But 'Ghost' means something else on the net. I'll tell you about it one day."
    They continued along the street, floating forward at walking speed, a comfortable pace for browsing.
    "How can you tell the difference?" !Xabbu asked. "Between Citizens and Puppets?"
    "You can't always. If you want to know, you ask. By law, we all have to respond-constructs, too. And we all have to tell the truth, although I'm sure that law gets broken often enough."
    "I find that thought . . . upsetting."
    "It takes some getting used to. Well, we're pretending to shop, so let's go on in-unless something in the advertising offended you."
    "No. It was interesting. I think Dad should get more exercise. He has an unhealthy face."
    Renie laughed as they stepped through into the store.
    !Xabbu gaped. "But it is just a tiny space seen from