The Meat Tree (3 page)

Inspector of
Wrecks

Atta girl! But if you don't like what's going on, remember the signal. We'll have to make a quick decision about which role to play. Watch what I do and we should be all right. Are you ready? Helmets on!

Right. What have we here? Looks like your basic
medieval quest narrative.

Apprentice

Look at those colours! I love those greens and the intricate woodland plants.

Inspector of
Wrecks

Hm. Earth vegetation. Sorrel, yarrow…

Apprentice

It smells aromatic.

Inspector of
Wrecks

Forget the details for now. Let's try to get the big picture. Do you see that group of people over there, outside the castle walls? Can you make your way towards them?

Apprentice

Oops! Sorry, didn't mean to bump into you. The motility software's really primitive.

Inspector of
Wrecks

This takes me back to my boyhood! I used to play with my grandfather's antique games: they were just like this.
Use the console in your left glove. That's better, much
better. Right, I think you're ready to approach the group. And remember, you'll need to switch into one character's point of view.

Apprentice

Like one of those early avatar games?

Inspector of
Wrecks

Yes, a bit. Except remember that you're not in control of your own character. The story's been written by the Master­mind. I'm not being sexist here, but why don't you see if you can take the role of the woman there who's kneeling in front of the blond man who looks like the king?

Apprentice

Got it!

My name is Goewin and I'm the footholder to King Math. I'm a virgin and very beautiful.

Inspector of
Wrecks

I'm going for the character on the left, the one holding a staff. Give me a second.

Right, I'm in. I'm Gwydion, a magician, and this is my brother Gilfaethwy.

Apprentice

Why has everything stalled?

Inspector of
Wrecks

Don't worry, I think the software's just taking a moment to catch up with our choices. Use the time to learn what you can about your persona.

Apprentice

That's weird! The king's got his feet in my lap. They're
quite heavy. Math is the Lord of a kingdom called Gwynedd.

Inspector of
Wrecks

From the names, I'd say that we're in one of those old Celtic fantasies. In the early days of
VR they were all the rage, I don't know why. It was fashionable to imagine yourself as a Welsh wizard or a Celtic maiden. Actually, you look very fetching in your costume.

Apprentice

It's velvet and my torque is gold.

Inspector of
Wrecks

But why are you cradling the king's feet? Are his toes cold?

Apprentice

Don't be disrespectful. It's a special condition of the
character. Math will die unless he has his feet in the lap of a virgin. So I'm the one keeping the king alive. The only time that he's allowed to touch the earth is when Gwynedd's at war.

Inspector of
Wrecks

What a strange arrangement. Now it's quite important that we notice what's being said by these characters. I don't mean verbally but metaphorically. It's all information. Especially
the initial briefs we're given, as they're full of primary
significance. What are you told about this strange job you have?

Apprentice

I think it's to do with the king having to stay in touch with the magical fertility of his land. Though I don't understand it.
A virgin's not fertile, is she?

Inspector of
Wrecks

Only potentially. But it rings a bell. It's something to do
with matriarchy, that the king is at the mercy of female
sexuality. When I was a teenager, I read quite a bit of Robert Graves.

Apprentice

Who?

Inspector of
Wrecks

Poet and mythologist. He wrote about the Goddess, who
was deposed by patriarchal religion. Fascinating. This VR Field may be much earlier than I previously thought if it's using an image of the Goddess right in the Dramatis
Personae.

Apprentice

The what?

Inspector of
Wrecks

Surely you know… oh, never mind. The list of characters.

Apprentice

So I'm a goddess. All right!

Inspector of
Wrecks

Not quite. You're her representative.

Apprentice

But you could just as easily read this differently. That the king is radically divorced from his land. What's the point of being king, if you can't have the pleasure of taking off your shoes and feeling the lush grass under your feet?

Inspector of
Wrecks

So, what to make of two bodies together, like an uncopulating
but coupled animal? Your position looks quite bizarre. Does it feel sexual? The early myths rarely were. They're much more about nature than sophisticated court mores. Nature's rarely sexy. It's only once you've moved one step away from
the land that eroticism comes in. That's Eliade, if I remember
rightly. Ever heard of Eliade?

Apprentice

Who?

Inspector of
Wrecks

Never mind.

Apprentice

OK. I see.
Yes, Math and I are stuck together, like man
and wife, except that there's no hanky panky. Strictly
platonic. Though I'm the most ravishing woman of my
generation. Must be quite tricky for the king. That's all I
have here. Except that I'm totally devoted to Math and
feel that it's nothing but an honour to dedicate my life to keeping him alive.

Inspector of
Wrecks

Interesting. Because I wouldn't have expected a…

Apprentice

Look, instead of showing off what you know, why don't you find out about your own character? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…

Inspector of
Wrecks

That's what being footholder to the king does for you. Gives you a certain haughtiness! You're beginning to play your part.

Apprentice

It's as though I'm starting to hear Goewin's tone of voice. You'd better hurry and catch up, I think this programme's ready to roll.

Inspector of
Wrecks

Right, back to basics. I'm Gwydion and the chap standing next to me is my brother Gilfaethwy. I don't want to scare you, but I think my brother has a passion for you.

Apprentice

And should that worry me?

Inspector of
Wrecks

It should if you're wanting to stay a virgin. What he has in mind is not medieval courting or holding hands.

Apprentice

Seems to me that I'm all right as long as the king's around. And he'll only move if the kingdom's at war.

What are your qualities?

Inspector of
Wrecks

I'm a magician and poet: the best storyteller in the world.

Apprentice

Sounds like a much more useful skill than being the king's footholder.

Inspector of
Wrecks

I wonder if this Gwydion is a shadow persona for the
Mastermind of this whole VR. They often gave themselves a secondary character, so that they were both authors of the game and actors in them.

Apprentice

You mean like writing a story about themselves? And what's Gwydion like?

Inspector of
Wrecks

Very clever.
An escape artist with words. His big skill is that he's able to persuade other people to do things against their will. Oh, and he's sneaky. The type of man who pays his way with other people's suffering. And he'll do anything for his brother.

Apprentice

Oh my God! No!

Inspector of
Wrecks

What's going on? Nona!

Apprentice

Get him off me! No!

Inspector of
Wrecks

Shit! Something's gone wrong. It's a VR surge. Must be
because this programme hasn't played for so long. It's going too fast. Oh! That strobe is terrible, I can't stand it.

Apprentice

The smell of him!

Inspector of
Wrecks

Nona! Get out! Time to go. Remember the Escape switch!

Apprentice

In the king's own bed! Oh!

Inspector of
Wrecks

Nona! Right glove! Press it now!

Apprentice

Oh! Thank God!

Inspector of
Wrecks

What happened? Are you all right?

Apprentice

I thought you said that this was primitive VR, that nothing
bad could happen to me in it.

Inspector of
Wrecks

That's what I thought. It's from the same period as the ship.

Apprentice

Well he raped me. Gilfaethwy raped me. And it really hurt.

Inspector of
Wrecks

But the technology shouldn't be able to do that. You saw, we only had on helmets and upper-body suits.

Apprentice

Don't tell me what did or didn't happen. I didn't have a chance. That bastard did it and you set it up.

Inspector of
Wrecks

Something very strange is going on here. I don't understand
it. We must have hit a crease in the field, because these
stories are meant to unfold logically. But while you were screaming, I was seeing these crazy flash frames. Pigs from
the Underworld. Magic stallions and hounds with gold
saddles and leashes, all made from toadstools. Then out-and-out war between the South and Math. That must be why you were alone. Didn't you say that Math could only walk the ground when his kingdom was at war?

Apprentice

Fuck the story. I really don't care. Look at these bruises. These are real. VR shouldn't be able to do that.

Inspector of
Wrecks

No, you're right. Perhaps the programme's faulty. I'll take a look at your suit before we go in again.

Apprentice

Again? Are you crazy? I didn't sign up for this, to be raped by a hairy medieval gangster.

Inspector of
Wrecks

But it's…

Apprentice

Don't tell me it's fiction, that was something else. Why
didn't you stop him?

 

Inspector of
Wrecks

But he was my brother. And I'd promised to help.

I'm sure that if we'd let it run, I could have stopped
it.
After all, if I'm Gwydion, and if I understand my powers
correctly, I should be able to get us out of any kind of
situation like that.

 

Apprentice

But Gwydion planned it! You're my boss and you should
be looking after me, not setting me up to be sexually
assaulted.

Inspector of
Wrecks

I'm sorry. I don't know why I said that, I seem to be still in character. Of course, you're right.

As with any self-teaching programme, as we go on, we have more control over our characters. That's been true from even the earliest days of
VR.

Apprentice

I don't know…

Inspector of
Wrecks

Look, sleep on it and see how you feel tomorrow. You've had a scare. Just put this down to experience.

Apprentice

I keep telling you, that was a real rape.

Inspector of
Wrecks

I'll give you the code for some narco-oblivion meds. You'll be as right as rain in the morning. I promise.

Apprentice

I don't like taking that stuff, but I suppose…