96

Chalidah is sitting in a chair near the holo wall, which this time is displaying video feed from the cameras outside the building. It appears Chalidah is keeping an eye on the crowd that has started gathering. "So," she says. "I see you've had the welcome you deserve."

"Indeed," you say. "I have."

Chalidah looks at you and smiles knowingly.

"What's going on outside?" you ask.

Chalidah rubs her chin, glancing at the feed. "We'll see," she says. "It's too early to say."

"I don't like it."

"I don't either," she replies. "But that doesn't matter for now. Lori wants to talk to you."

"Talk to me? As in actually talk to me?"

"That's right."

"How? Are you not going to ask me to burn or cut myself again?"

Chalidah stands up and comes up to you. "You know that feedback loop that happens sometimes when a user connects to a feeder?"

"Yes. That's not supposed to happen, is it?"

"No, it's not," Chalidah says. "But we thought, since it is happening, why not try to exploit it?"

"Exploit it? To what end?"

"To allow two-way communication between feeders and users." She looks at you for a moment, to see if you understand. "You see where I'm going with this?"

"Two-way communication with the parameters of Virtual Experience? Both parties sharing sensations at the same time?" That sounds intriguing. Failure as an opportunity.

You should know a thing or two about that.

"Yes. It's experimental and flawed, but it works."

"Flawed how?"

Chalidah shifts uncomfortably, as if hesitating to disclose the full scope of this new aspect of the technology. "It can leave things behind. Like leftovers. Things that stay with you but are not yours."