Spaceland Read Online Free PDF Page B

cold. I was alone here with—what?
    â€œWhat are you?” I asked.
    â€œI’m a woman from a higher order of reality,” said Momo. “I come from four-dimensional space. We call our world the All.”
    â€œI don’t know anything about the fourth dimension,” I said. “I majored in History and I got an MBA. I don’t read science fiction. I don’t want to hear about any freaking fourth dimension. How did we get out in the park?”
    â€œWe traveled through the fourth dimension. I pressed in upon your sides lest you be torn asunder.”
    I sighed and put my money away. “What do you want from me, Momo?”

    â€œYou must help me change your world,” she said. “You’ll speak to your fellows of the fourth dimension, Joe, and with my guidance, you and your adherents will develop a miraculous technology. You will prosper. My mission is to help you change your world—which we call Spaceland. I want to do something very special to inaugurate the onset of your new Millennium. I plan to augment you: to give you four-dimensional skin and a third eye.”
    â€œI heard the Millennium doesn’t really start till next year,” I said uneasily. “You’re too early.”
    â€œYour planet is most favorably located relative to my city just now,” said Momo. “It’s convenient for me to approach you.” She paused for a moment, then took a different tack. “You haven’t had sex for many days. If I augment you, it would enhance your abilities to read your wife’s moods—and thereby become a better lover.”
    â€œYou’ve been hovering over me all week?”
    â€œNot at all. The first I saw of you was when you returned to your home, although I admit I used my subtle vision to read through your personal papers while I was waiting. If I know that your reproductive reservoirs are rather full, it’s because I can see inside your body.”
    This was a definite turn-off. It was nasty to think of Momo peering into the crannies of my private parts. Was she maybe talking about dissecting me? I cocked my head, looking for the glint of a knife.
    â€œYour increased heartbeat indicates fear,” said Momo. “Calm yourself. Ratiocinate. I’m trying to tell you about subtle vision. My retina is a solid ball, rather than a flat disk as is yours. In observing you, I form an exact model of your full body inside my retina. An actively working mimicry. I can very easily read your physical signs, although I confess that it lies beyond my abilities to decipher your thoughts from the flickers of your brain.”

    â€œI don’t understand how you see inside me,” I said finally.
    â€œYou have no skin facing towards the fourth dimension,” said Momo. “I can touch your insides. Behold.”
    There was a sudden wriggle in my mouth. Something smooth, the size of a beetle. I tried to spit it out, but I couldn’t. In the dim light I noticed that one of Momo’s arms was pointing towards my head, but the arm ended in a rounded-off stub. The forearm and hand were invisible, with one of the fingers somehow materializing at just the right spot to touch my tongue.
    â€œStop or I’ll scream again,” I said thickly. The finger went away. I took a step back from Momo. Her lumpy yellow top shone dully, reflecting the lights of Route 85. Her face was still puffed and crooked. But I was slowly getting used to her.
    â€œHave you ever augmented anyone before?” I asked.
    â€œIndeed we have,” said Momo. “Though I confess that it’s not always led to happy results. Your fellows are savage, fearful brutes, implacably against the new. But this time will be different. Joe Cube shall triumph! We’ll not speak of religion or magic. Business and technology will be our path. You will spread the word of the fourth dimension, gather a coterie of followers, and build a wondrous device.