Xenoman

30 Red Curtains

It wasn't hard to find the merchandise. Through the storefront glass of Red Curtain Media, Xeno could see a life-size cardboard cutout of Holly with her wrists tied to the arms of a Gothic cross, sticking out her tongue, with a communion wafer dangling from the tip. He entered the store, went to the rack beside the promotional display, and picked out a copy of Hollymonde's Crucy Fix 5-track for himself. He then scanned the barcode with the side-edge scanner of his Intellegella badge. The transaction registered on the micro-telepane in the upper corner of the badge, and the purchase was complete. Savoring that brand-new-album-aroma tingle, he flipped over the 5-track and mused over the contents:

HOLLYMONDE

CRUCY FIX

TRACK 1: CRUCY FIX (MAIN CONTRUCT)

Probably the construct where Holly invested all of her creativity . . .

TRACK 2: CRUCY FIX (PARTY MIX)

TRACK 3: CRUCY FIX (OCTAVE MIX)

TRACK 4: CRUCY FIX (SPOKEN WORD)

TRACK 5: CRUCY FIX (REVERSE SPOKEN WORD)

Probably the constructs where Holly invested none of her creativity, wasn't even around for, crammed with reconstituted voice samples, autopilot drum beats, recycled game engine environments, video dungeon catacombs with the same monotonous brickwork for miles . . .

Below the track list was the collectible communion wafer, stuck to the 5-track casing, with a bead of tacky adhesive. The wafer was embossed with Holly's face, sticking her tongue out with the wafer on the tip, creating a sort of wafer, within a wafer, within a wafer, within a wafer, illusion of infinite regress. Was it a nifty marketing gimmick? Xeno wondered. Yes. Did Holly have the intellect to conceive of that by herself? No way.

Going along with the marketing gag, he removed the communion wafer from the 5-track, and placed it on the tip of his tongue, waiting for something product-interactive to happen.

"May I help you?" asked the eager female clerk, with a head of short neon pink hair.

Xeno pointed to the communion wafer on his tongue, indicating he couldn't speak right now, because he was doing something stupid in the middle of the store.

"I'm Tanya. Welcome to Red Curtain Media." She shook his hand gently. "The wafer is made of plastic. It's not edible."

"Uhhh . . ." Xeno took the wafer off his tongue, looked it over, then looked over Tanya, noticing something about her tall, athletic, semi-spartan physique, her striking pool-blue doll's eyes.

"Then what's the point?" Xeno asked.

"It's just a collectible item." Tanya shrugged. "I think there's a board game that goes with it, where you can flick it like a bottlecap."

"I see . . . The whole marketing thing is all starting to come together for me." Xeno stuck the wafer back on his Crucy Fix 5-track.

"If you'd like to demo the 5-track for any defects before you leave the store, you're free to take a spin in one of our customer hoppers," she waved her arm towards a series of plexiglass booths, "so you don't hurt anyone inside the store, should you freak out."

"Well, that's very thoughtful of Red Curtain Media. . . to go to such lengths to protect everyone . . . except me." Xeno scanned the hoppers, occupied by kids merging with black box electronica, tripping to the trance of their favorite 5-tracks, having full blown conversations with thin air, foxtrotting with an imaginary partner, some guy in a sword fight with an invisible dragon. At the end of the central corridor was a stand alone hopper, with red paneling and gold enamel trim, much like the one Xeno saw in Blouse Demise's master bedroom. The interior behind the door was obscured by drawn silk curtains, with a glaring red sign above the entry: