Finally, the girl muttered her amens and stood up. She moved slowly so as not to trip over her own overcoat. She brushed off her knees and said, "Hello there. Thank you for waiting."
Jenny blinked. "Er, no problem. Though when someone kicks in your door and starts yelling for you, don't you think that you should get up and do something about it?"
"Perhaps," the girl said with a short giggle. "But cutting off a conversation seems like poor manners, especially when it's with God."
She turned around then. Jenny wondered if this was really the person responsible for all this – she seemed too young and her eyes a bit too wild to believe she had spent a fortune to set up a floating dome with a lighthouse. Though her skin was pale, her cheeks still had some color. She just didn't seem like she saw much sun.
"Well, despite your rather...abrupt entry and the fact that you're holding a weapon, I suppose that since you're not offering me immediate violence your intentions are not hostile?" the girl asked.
"Only if I have to," Jenny said, trying to maintain some semblance of a threat. "But no, me and my friend washed up here, and we really need some directions. Also, food. Definitely food."
The girl nodded. "A couple of travelers who have lost their way. There seems to be no lack of them here."
Jenny wondered how anyone could even find this place, let alone more than one group of them, and then she got it. She rolled her eyes. "Oh, for crying out loud. Look sister, I really don't have time for your religion. If you can help us, that would be great. But save the preaching for someone else."
The girl studied Jenny's face. Jenny, who felt herself growing more irritated by the second, stared back. "Yeah?" she snapped. "You got something to say?"
"Lost indeed," the girl sighed. She shook her head and let a small, sad smile touch her lips. "Well, it would be unbecoming of me to turn away those in need, though I don't know what assistance I can offer." She held out one grimy hand. "Tendolin Shafire's my name, but just plain 'Sha' will do. Pleased to meet you, Jenny Thain."
Jenny almost took the offered hand, but fortunately her brain caught up. "Hold up!" she shouted, jumping a step back. "How'd you know my name? You're...Aw crap, are you working with the folks who sent those bots after us?"
Sha smiled. "No, but I do make it a point to research anyone who shows such a particular passion for entering my private domain." Sha then pulled back one of her sleeves to show a holoprot on one wrist. Outside of the open square that generated the image, the item looked like a fancy bracelet with some of the same patterns that were glowing on the walls. Sha caressed one of the points, and a projection shone up of a slightly healthier version of Jenny – likely taken before her recent trip.
"Great," Jenny murmured, "then I suppose you know I have a strict no autographs policy."
Sha's eyebrows lifted at the comment. "Given I understood you left Earth in part because of the scandal surrounding your stardom, I'm surprised you would bring that up."
"Oh, and I suppose that means you used to be a fan too? Look, I could really..." and at this point Jenny's stomach rumbled once again to add emphasis to her point, "really use some food. Private performance afterwards if you insist but..."
Sha waved a hand. "No, I happen to be aware of the reason behind your cover story. I will be happy to provide food and shelter as long as I can in return for a few answers – for my own curiosity of course." Sha began moving to the staircase, and then began going down it.
"As long as you can?" Jenny asked only a couple steps behind.
Sha didn't turn around, but answered, "This dome is listed, on the official records, as a resupply dome. The lighthouse uses some cloaking technology..." Sha tapped one of the symbols as she continued down the stairs, "... well and some other tricks to try and keep nosy intruders out. I hadn't thought to add any visual camouflage because of my location, but it appears I may need to rethink that."
Jenny was still having trouble marrying the appearance and high-pitched voice with the words coming from Sha. She wondered just how old Sha really was.
As they approached the bottom of the stairs, Jenny noticed some movement and realized that Terri might be planning something. Jenny hadn't given her any kind of "safe" sign and Terri was likely planning to throttle Sha in short order.
In an overly loud voice, Jenny said "Oh, and I'm sure my friend Terri can see how well we're getting along and will come out and join us."
A rustle of feathers, and the sound of what Jenny assumed were multiple knives hitting the floor, and then Terri stepped out from her hiding place just barely in front of where Sha was standing.
"Interesting." Sha looked Terri up and down, and Terri began to blush at the sudden attention. "Less of an angel and more of a hawk with sharp talons?" Sha laughed at her own joke, and then walked past Terri to the table they had passed on their way in.
Jenny and Terri seated themselves across from Sha, and Sha then made several gestures that were followed by a bright light, and then sandwich fixings, bread, condiments, and some mugs of tea appeared on the table.
Jenny wasn't sure if they had been supplied from within some hidden compartment of the table, or if Sha had equipped a Materializer in the room. Hunger won out over curiosity, and Jenny was halfway through a ham and cheese and turkey and bacon monstrosity while the other two were still picking up their bread.
"Are you always this trusting?" Sha asked, causing Terri to pause as she had begun layering ingredients.
"Nope." Jenny managed to get out around another bite. "But at this point I figure if you wanted to hurt us then poisoning wouldn't be your first choice. You could have materialized a weapon or some other item. Besides, you have a kind face."
"You'd be a lousy poker player." Sha shook her head and Terri resumed setting up her own, smaller version of Jenny's sandwich. "You really think that you've been through so much today that you wouldn't really mind even if someone did try to hurt you. You're welcome to be as careless as you wish, after all I didn't end up with all this from 80 years of preaching. But I'm not sure that's completely fair to your friend here."
Jenny paused. She had in fact been thinking something along those lines. And did Sha just imply that she was 100 years old or more? More to the point, if she knew so much about her, Jenny wondered how much luck there had really been in finding this dome. Had she and Terri been guided here? Jenny knew her special ability could have given her that kind of insight, but she was reasonably sure that Sha hadn't hacked her.
"Excellent questions." Sha said, seemingly answering Jenny's thoughts. Terri looked up as if about to ask what she had missed, then saw Jenny and Sha looking at each other, and decided to keep eating.
Jenny carefully took a sip of tea. Then watched as Sha got up from the table and walked over to the wall near the staircase.
Sha cleared her throat as if beginning a lecture. "The problem is that you are the pinnacle of what is considered normality. Or reality if we put it in your terms. You've been given an ability to know everything happening around you and to tap into the possibilities from various actions in response to that."
Terri leaned across the table. "Jenny, sounds like you have something to tell me later?"
Jenny had hoped to avoid telling Terri about this particular aspect of her life. She knew that Terri even knowing about it probably increased the risk of her getting killed if they were ever caught. But it appeared she would have to spill the beans eventually. "Later, sure."
"Ahem," Sha continued with a knowing smirk. "as I was saying, you are based in a normal reality." Sha pulled back one of her sleeves, and then slowly push her hand into the wall. She kept going almost up to her elbow. "The problem really is that normal reality is just a consensus of opinions and results of how your mind chooses to interpret data from the world around it. Even with your augmentation you do not see how unreal your reality is."
Sha removed her arm from the wall, and then motioned for Jenny to come try it.
"Nah, not going to fall for a parlor trick." Jenny wasn't sure how Sha could have pulled that off, but she was sure that it was something she could figure out with a little bit of time.
Sha sighed. "Ok, well we won't have enough time for me to convince you today, and there are a couple things I'd still like to discuss with you. Let me just add a reminder that most of the things you see around you that you consider 'solid' are actually 99% space with just nuclear forces making you think that they are really there."
Jenny had to admit that Sha had suddenly given her something to think about. She'd heard that statement in a class once and had wondered why you could sit on a chair if that was true. If Sha had figured out a way to..
With a smile, Sha returned to the table and poured herself another cup of tea.
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