Displaced - Book One of the Alternate Reality Series

Chapter 24

"Wait, wait, wait," Kim said, her eyes closed, her fingers pinching the bridge of her nose. She opened her eyes and refocused. "You mean to tell me, that you've been sneaking around a v-world, as a chick? A chick named Lana?"

Eric, standing just inside the living room, with Kim sitting on the couch, nodded.

Five minutes ago, he returned from his meeting with Arvin, and just now, he informed Kim of everything. He figured he had to. He intended to borrow one of her avatars, then make a final attempt to save Alice, so explaining why he needed one was only fair. And besides, he planned to update her anyhow, to shed some light on his recent behavior. Still, he never imagined updating her in to this extent.

"But like I said," he went on, walking towards the adjacent love seat and sitting, "I became her for a reason. It's not like I had some fetish thing going on."

Kim smiled. "Of course not. And even if you were satisfying a fetish, there's nothing wrong with that. People are free to express themselves however they like."

Eric cleared his throat. "It served a practical purpose. I needed to close in on my target, and I figured that becoming female would help. Turns out, I was right."

She shrugged. "I suppose that makes sense. Actually, smart move on your part." Her cheer worked back into place. "So, what did you think?"

"About closing in on my target, or about living inside a woman's body?"

"What do you think I'm curious about?"

Eric roughly rubbed his chin.

Right now, Victor was probably whistling some creepy tune while sharpening his blade, so now wasn't the time to reminisce over net space ventures. Still, Eric recalled owing her an explanation. "It was kind of interesting–living inside a woman's body–though at first it shocked the hell out of me. I mean, I opened my eyes, looked down, and saw..."

"Female parts?"

"Exactly. So after cursing at the sight of my boobs, I finally calmed down, then followed my normal routine of moving around, which always helps promote net space acclimation. With Lana, acclimation took a little longer, but only because of her unfamiliar female form. The um, hip-to-waist ratio is a little different."

"So I've noticed."

"Yup. And wearing female attire didn't help either, like heeled shoes."

Kim's brow rose. "Heels, huh?"

"Tall ones. Well, not all the time. Normally, I just wore two-inchers. But one night, while getting ready for a Friday night dinner, I put on some pumps from hell."

Now Kim laughed.

Eric couldn't blame her reaction. After all, it was him describing these ventures in tech. "But most interesting of all was how much I became Lana, and correspondingly, how much Eric disappeared."

"That tends to happen. But still, you're right. It's strange how much people become their characters, which calls into question where the self comes from."

"Not exactly. The self comes from our biology. It's a conception we hold within our brains."

She eyed him. "You think your brain could've created the Lana concept so thoroughly, so quickly?"

"I mean, I found it strange how fast she emerged, but yeah, I think it could."

"And what about creating a new self, every day, thirty days in a row?"