False Idols - Published Version

Chapter 7

"Let's go to the Beijing Duck Restaurant," suggested Laura. She reached out, grabbed his hand, and took off into the air. In a moment, they had flown across the wide floor of the casino and arrived at a round table in a finely appointed restaurant. Laura slid smoothly from midair into her seat, while Nick landed off balance and nearly fell out of his.

She thought aloud. "Hmm... let's get a whole roast duck with plum sauce, and some zajiang noodles, and fried jinying mantou with lianru."

"You're mixing buns with noodles?" asked Nick, screwing up his nose. He'd grown up eating with his discriminating mother, and as a result he had mastered most of the world's culinary traditions. "That's a bit of a faux-pas in Beijing cuisine... Why don't we have some basi xiangjiao instead of the mantou? I love fried bananas with caramel!"

Laura raised her eyebrows. Nick guessed she wasn't used to being corrected. But then she shook her head and smiled. "For someone whose family got rich making food in laboratory vats, you know your way around a kitchen." She waved her hand in the air and the three dishes appeared, along with a pot of steaming tieguanyin tea.

Nick used the chopsticks that had appeared in his hand to pull a sliver of meat off the golden brown duck. The greasy flesh melted in his mouth, while the crisp skin remained for him to chew, releasing new flavors with every bite. "Wow! This is amazing. The flavors -- it's the best duck I've ever had!" he exclaimed.

"Try the noodles."

"These are amazing too! What spices did they use? I can make out the thyme and ginger, with a light jiangyou... and there are other things in here that I can't even name!"

"Food is always better in the ether."

"But at home I only eat the finest foods! How can this fake, imaginary stuff taste better than gourmet cuisine made from fresh produce by a Michelin-starred chef?"

"You really haven't been making the most of your MindWave. If you think the food is good, you should try the sex."

"Uh..." Nick paused with a piece of basi xiangjiao hanging tenuously off of his chopsticks halfway to his mouth. A long hair-thin strand of molten caramel that had stretched between the fried banana and his plate hardened and cracked, slowly floating back down to the table.

"Don't worry, I'll show you after lunch," said Laura with a flirtatious smile. "Now, what were those questions you wanted to ask me?"

Nick blinked, making a concerted effort to get his mind back on topic. He looked around to ensure they were alone and then leaned towards Laura to ask in a low voice, "Why is everyone in the ether a teenager? And why do they all look like supermodels?"

Laura gave him a once over. "You're not so bad looking yourself, Nick."

"Um, thanks."

"Do you look like this in real life?" Her tone was that of a teacher using the Socratic Method to lead a slightly slow student to an obvious solution.

"Well, mostly," he said, slightly uncomfortable at the question. "I mean, pretty close."

"You're about two inches shorter and your shoulders aren't this broad, but yes, basically you look like this in real life. Why's that?"

There was no use hiding anything from Laura. "Well, my parents had me designed this way. Genetic engineering."

"And is that procedure inexpensive or expensive?"

"Pretty damn expensive."

"And what about your MindWave? Expensive or cheap?"

"That was even more expensive."