Manifestations by David M. Henley

that thing.’
     
    ‘Of course not. Here, let me help you.’
     
    Zach gently adjusted the straps, reminding her that once the muffs were on she wouldn’t be able to hear anything until she was immersed. He was about to flip the goggles into place when she stopped him.
     
    ‘Why are you being nice to me?’ she asked.
     
    Zach shrugged. ‘Lily said I had to, so there’s no point making this worse than it has to be. Let’s have fun.’
     
    ‘Well, I like nice-Zach.’ She giggled and kicked her feet about. ‘Let’s go dancing.’ She was so keen and excited about her first dive Zach nearly felt bad for putting adhesive over the inside of the goggles.
     
    With Bron safely in the ganzfeld he pulled out his own helmet, which was not a hand-me-down. He had worked hard for the slick foldaways, which were simple unbridged mirror spectacles that hung down from the forehead lattice. He was advanced enough now not to need a full ganzfeld to immerse.
     
    ‘Okay, Bron. Can you hear me?’ He looked over at her but she didn’t move. ‘Just nod or something.’ She still didn’t move. That meant she must be in.
     
    Zach quickly lay on his own couch and dove in to find her stream, waiting in the blank space where she couldn’t escape until he said so.
     
    He saw her standing on an empty grey that stretched to a darker grey. There was no space here, only a sense of space.
     
    ‘Who are you?’ she asked. He was dressed as Musashi.
     
    ‘This is my avatar, Bron.’
     
    ‘Your what?’
     
    ‘My visual representation on the Weave.’
     
    ‘You look like some kind of samurai.’ She started laughing. ‘Is that how you see yourself?’ Her laugh rolled into a cackle and she bent over double.
     
    ‘There’s nothing wrong with it!’ he shouted at her. ‘You just look like your normal boring self, but in here I can be whoever I want. In here I am Musashi and if you don’t like it —’
     
    ‘Musashi? Is that your boffy name?’ she snorted.
     
    ‘Fine, I’ll leave you here.’ He turned to go and began fading from her vision, which was just a trick of making his avatar transparent.
     
    ‘No, I’m sorry. I’m sorry,’ she said hurriedly.
     
    ‘No, you’re not. You’re just a silly girl and you don’t understand anything.’
     
    ‘Zach, wait. Don’t leave me here. I don’t know what to do.’ Her amusement turned to panic as he disappeared.
     
    ‘Press the eject button. I don’t care.’ He made his voice thin and echoey.
     
    ‘Please, Zach. I’m sorry. I won’t laugh any more.’ He stayed silent. ‘I’ll call you Musashi.’
     
    He appeared behind her and made her jump when he spoke.
     
    ‘On the Weave people represent the selves they want to be. You have to respect that.’
     
    ‘I will. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.’
     
    ‘You didn’t. You’re just a silly girl.’
     
    ‘Zach, please — Musashi. I’m sorry. I’ll be good.’
     
    He looked at her and said it was okay.
     
    ‘I didn’t mean to laugh.’ She began looking around at the endless grey. ‘Where are we?’ Bron asked. ‘Is this it? Is this the Weave?’
     
    ‘This is the load space, or dressing room. Here we get you ready for going in. You can’t go on the visual Weave until we’ve sorted your avatar out.’
     
    ‘What should I wear?’
     
    ‘Didn’t you want to become a princess?’
     
    ‘How?’
     
    ‘Think of something. Form the words in your mind and then picture what you want them to look like.’
     
    ‘Nothing is happening.’
     
    ‘This is hard the first time, but once you’ve got it you’ve got it.’ He made a rack of dresses appear next to her, as well as a tall mirror. ‘Look in the mirror. Then look at one of the dresses.’
     
    ‘Oh!’ Her mirror image was wearing a long green dress with sparkly bits. She looked down and saw that she really was wearing it.
     
    ‘It’s that easy. The helmet can connect to what you think. You just have to be