Spaceland by Rudy Rucker

stepfather tried to raise her Norwegian. There were a lot of Norwegians around Prescott.
    Jena’s mother Jean was this very buttoned-up country woman
who’d inherited the family ranch outside of Prescott from her Norwegian widower father. Jena’s mother was an only child, and she’d never seen life as any kind of laughing matter at all. I always thought of old Jean when I heard Garrison Keillor talking about Lake Woebegone. According to Jena, Jean had been a virgin till she turned thirty, at which point she’d had a brief fling with a cowboy who worked on her ranch. This had been Jena’s father Sonny. Sonny had died in a motorcycle crash before Jena was born, but thanks to Sonny, mother Jean had finally gotten the hang of being with men, and she married a Norwegian insurance salesman named Oley. Jena’s stepfather. He looked like a long, slimy piece of white fish—like this one particular kind of preserved fish that Norwegians ate. Yeah, Oley was six feet of lutefisk . And a drunk as well.
    It was thanks to Oley that Jena was as screwed up as she was. Oley didn’t like to admit that Jena was part Indian, so right off the bat she’d been told to deny half of what she was. He ragged on Indians every chance he got. And when Jena started blossoming out, the real trouble started. Oley had been totally unable to deal with the notion of Jena going out with boys. He’d even made some halfassed attempts at sexual abuse, and when Jena told her mother, her mother had taken Oley’s side. Jena had needed to stay away from Jean and Oley as much as she could. Chucky’s was a haven for her.
    Chucky’s was a slots, poker, keno and bingo place, with a big native crafts giftshop. The didn’t actually have blackjack there, but Jena had thoroughly researched the whole topic of gambling as her senior project as a Communications major at University of Arizona. She’d drawn up a draft for a pitch the Yavapis could make to the State of Arizona for a full range of games in their casinos, but thanks to a bunch of out-of-state lobbyists from the Vegas casinos, nothing had ever come of it.
    After half an hour of lessons from Jena, I was drawing each of my hands up to the maximum total possible without busting. With
my subtle vision, I knew what the dealer had in the hole card, and I knew which cards were next on the deck. I was winning maybe three-fifths of the time. A nice edge for an even-money game.
    â€œHow long did that alien say your power would last?” asked Jena. “Let’s hurry up before it goes away. Let’s get dressed and pack. I figure we’ll stay up at Tahoe for a couple of days.”
    â€œShe didn’t say how long,” I said, following Jena into the bedroom. “It might be forever.”
    â€œDid the alien want something back from you? In return?”
    â€œIt wasn’t that clear. It’s like she wants me to start a company. Build some kind of machine for the fourth dimension.”
    Jena guffawed. “What would you tell the investors?”
    â€œI could do it,” I said defensively. “I’m a good presenter.”
    â€œAbout the fourth dimension?” said Jena. “What is the fourth dimension, anyway?”
    â€œI have no idea,” I admitted.
    I was ready way before Jena, so I used the extra time to disconnect the 3Set and carry it out to the car. With the added strength of my higher muscles it was easy. When I got back into the apartment, it occurred to me to check my weight, but it was the same as before. Even though I had some extra body parts in hyperspace, the new mass didn’t seem to count towards my weight down here. Good deal.
    â€œWhy’s that stupid machine in there?” asked Jena when we went out to the car.
    â€œI want to drop it off at Kencom before we do anything else. Ken Wong would fire me if he found out I brought it home.”
    â€œYou’re not going to need a job once we