In his vain search for Princess Heather, Nick died a couple more times. Once, when he landed on the unmapped planet Thenia, a black man with a lizard head approached him and told him to leave, that there was nothing but trouble on Thenia. Nick ignored the warning and moved away from his shuttle in a land rover. He narrowly escaped a volcanic eruption only to be trapped and eaten by a gigantic slime mold that oozed out of the ground in the vicinity of his shuttle landing site.
In another reincarnation Nick encountered Samantha, Princcss Heather’s sister, played for a couple of scenes by Julianne’s buxom friend Corinne. Actually, Troy had made Corinne up to look like Susie Q, the famous porn queen of the early nineties, and most of the actual pictures that appeared on the game screen were taken from her ribald classic Pleasure Until Pain. Deft interleaving of new footage with the borrowed shots gave the illusion of being in the movie with Susie Q while she offered sexual delights beyond refusal.
Samantha alias Susie Q alias Corinne seduced Nick and then stabbed him to death with a small dagger while he was lying naked and expectant on the bed. By this point the two men were drinking their final six-pack of beer and the combination of the pornographic scenes and the alcohol had made their conversation coarse and degenerate. “Shit,” exclaimed Nick, entreating Troy to replay the scene where a naked Samantha/Susie Q comes up to the camera to take his erect penis in her mouth. “I have never, no never, even heard of a computer game where you almost get a blow job. Man, you are twisted. A genius, yes, I’ll agree. But absolutely fucking twisted. What on God’s earth induced you to put sex scenes in this game?”
“Hey, man.” Troy laughed, putting his arm around Nick as they half staggered into the living room, “the name of the game is sales. And right here, in Entertainment Software (he picked up a magazine from the table), it says that seventy-two percent, seventy-two fucking percent, my friend, of all the people who buy computer games are 16- to 24-year-old males. And do you know what that group likes in addition o computer games and science fiction? Sex, my man. Can’t you just see some teenage nerd retreating into his room to play this game and whack off? Eeee yaaa!” Troy fell down on one of the easy chairs and beat his chest.
“You’re crazy, Jefferson,” Nick said, watching Troy’s display. “I don’t know if I can ever again be alone with you on a boat. You are a certified nut case. I mean, just imagine the reviews. Alien Adventure features an encounter with Susie Q the queen of pornography, in an underground castle on the asteroid Vitt. Which reminds me, how in the world did you get all those movie pieces in there?”
“Lots of research and hard work, Professor,” Troy answered, starting to calm down a little. “Lanny and three of his friends have spent maybe a thousand hours watching film for me, trying to find exactly the right clips. And none of this would be possible, of course, without the new data storage methods. We can now store an excellent digital version of every movie ever made in the United States in a warehouse not much larger than this duplex. I’ve just used data base capabilities to the fullest.”
Nick crushed a beer can in his hands. “It’s fabulous. Really. But I don’t know about the sex business. And why do you have the player register his race at the beginning of the game? Don’t you think that will offend some people? I never saw anything in the game that was based on the racial information.”
Even though he was drunk, Troy became momentarily serious and almost somber. “Look, man,” he said firmly, “sex and race are both a part of life. It may be true that people play computer games primarily for entertainment, and that they would prefer not to be confronted by some topics when they are amusing themselves, but I must be allowed some creative license. Race is with us every day and ignoring it, it seems to me, only contributes to the problem.”
Troy brightened up. “Hey, Professor. That lizard-man who warned you on Thenia was black. You went ahead anyway despite his warning. What if he had been white? Would you have turned around and gone back to the shuttle? A black man playing the game encounters a white lizard-man on Thenia. It’s part of the show, man. There are twenty or so changes in the scenario that are based on racial input.”
Nick’s expression was clearly disbelieving. “Really,” Troy said, standing up to return to the room where they had played his game, “I’ll show you. Watch how the game starts if you register that you are a black male.”
Nick followed Troy back into the computer room. His curiosity was clearly piqued. Troy turned the game on and Nick entered the biographical data, changing his race to black. This time, when the television picture in his space station cabin came into focus, Princess Heather was black! The princess this time was, in fact, Angie Leatherwood. “Well, I’ll be damned,” Nick said, looking over at a beaming Troy. “You are one clever dude, Mr. Jefferson.” Nick walked out of the room whistling and shaking his head again. Troy turned off the game and followed.
“Okay,” Nick began, once they were back in Troy’s living room and seated on the couch, “one last question and then let’s forget the game for the time being. How did you get my name into it? I thought that was very impressive.”
“It was originally Lanny’s idea, based on a movie he watched about a speech therapist. Lanny had all the minor characters spend a day mouthing all the vowel and consonant sounds in a test session. Then we just put the sounds together with what are called audio analytic continuation techniques.” Troy laughed. He was feeling ebullient and basking in the compliments. “But it does have its drawbacks. Our interpreter only knows how to read simple English words. We may have to suppress that feature if we sell the game abroad.”
Nick stood up. “Well, I’ve run out of superlatives By the way, are there more of you, brothers, sisters, anything? I guess I’d like to warn the rest of the world.”
“Only me now,” Troy replied. a faraway look fleetingly crossing his face. “I had a brother, Jamie, six years older than me. We were very close. He died in an automobile accident when I was fourteen.”
There was an awkward silence. “I’m sorry,” Nick said, again touched by Troy’s openness. Troy shrugged his shoulders and struggled with the sudden memory.
Nick changed the subject. They talked about the boat and then about Homer and his crew for several minutes. Suddenly Nick looked at his watch. “Jesus Christ,” he said. “It’s after four o’clock. Weren’t we supposed to meet Carol Dawson at four?”
Troy jumped out of his chair. “We sure were. Some partners we turned out to be,” he was grinning again, “spending the entire afternoon drinking beer and playing games.” The two men shared a small hug, threw the empty beer cans in the trash, and went out the door toward Nick’s car.
7
CAROL was clearly irritated as she sat in the communications room at the Marriott. She was drumming her fingers on the desk while she listened to the telephone ring. There was a click and then Nick’s voice said, “I am not at home at the present time. But if — ” She flipped the switch off hastily and completed the sentence, her sardonic mimicry releasing some of her frustration, “But if you’ll leave your name, your number, and the time that you called, I’ll get back to you as soon as I return. S-h-i-t. Shit. I knew I should have called before I left Miami.”
She dialed another number. Bernice answered and put her right through (on video) to Dr. Dale Michaels. Carol did not bother with a greeting. “Can you believe that I can’t even find the stupid bastard? He’s not on his boat, he’s not at home. Nobody knows where he is. I could have stayed in Miami and taken a nap.”
Carol had not told Dr. Dale much about Nick and Troy. And what she had said about Nick had not been flattering.
· ‘Well, what did you expect?” Dale responded. “You wanted to go out with amateurs as a cover. Why would you think that he would be easy to find before your appointment? That kind usually stays in bed with his dame of the day until he has some reason to greet the world.” Dale chuckled to himself
Carol found herself strangely annoyed by Dale’s disdainful comment about Nick’s love life. She started to say something but decided against it. “Say, Dale,” she said instead, “is this phone line absolutely secure? I have a couple of sensitive items to discuss with you.”