true.”
“Well, almost. Anyway—accumulation of differences.”
“One being that we A-dwellers use omnis for reading and here you have tr—paper books.”
“We do use omnis for news stories and such, but not for anything that needs more than a few minutes’ worth of attention. I don’t know how you do it. I like to scribble notes in textbook margins. And my shelf hosts a P. G. Wodehouse collection.”
“That’s like a whole tree right there, Bean.”
“I know. But I started collecting them as a child—if we’d lived in Universe A, we wouldn’t have been able to afford an omni anyway.” She shrugged and reached for a shriveled grape, then changed her mind and left it on the plate. “Kitchen user guides here are your basic paper kind, by the way. We call them instruction manuals. Just text and a few pictures.”
“Huh. The user guides I put together at Wagner’s Kitchen begin with a demonstration showing how the product is used; then I add example recipes for the customer to try out, culinary hints, witty anecdotes from the history of cooking…well, you get the idea. I once put together a seven-hour user guide for a pair of kitchen tweezers.”
“What on Earths does one use kitchen tweezers for?”
“Deboning fish. Did you know that only 4.2 percent of our customers bother viewing the guides?” The DIM officials, having finished with movie star Gabriella Love, were now looking in my direction, but Quarantine Case 19, whose name I’d forgotten, came in at that moment and was pounced on by the officials. I don’t know what came over me. I leaned forward and whispered, “I’ve hired a private detective to find out all I can about Felix B.”
“A detective? Did you really?” Bean said, seeming impressed. “If I were you, I wouldn’t worry too much whether he’s writing a book or not. As I said, accumulation of differences usually guarantees that alters’ lives are unalike. In fact, alters aren’t usually even the same height due to variations in childhood diet and environment. Though I do feel sorry for her , I have to say. It’s tough having a famous alter.”
“Who?” I followed her glance to the food table, where Gabriella was turning up her nose at the offerings.
“You didn’t know? Her alter here in Universe B is Gabriella Love, the famous actress. She herself is Gabriella Short. Love must be a stage name.”
“She’s an A-dweller with an alter? Well! I assumed she was a unique. She looks too young to have been born before Y-day.”
“Makeup,” Bean said dismissively. “And that unnaturally white hair.” She reached for the unwieldy omni resting against the neck of her gown and checked the time. “I have a meeting with Professor Max and the rest of the group coming up. Since the earliest they’ll let me out is lunchtime, when my forty-eight hours is up, I’ll have to do it from here.” She waved around the room, indicating either the cafeteria itself or the quarantine wing. “And I’ll have to say I have appendicitis, though obviously Arni will know I’m lying and everyone else will know too because Arni is not exactly reticent. I wish they’d let us change back into our clothes. These gowns are silly.”
“Perhaps they are worried we’d try to escape if we had our own clothes on.”
“I don’t know about you, but I probably would.” She paused to throw a sideways glance at the DIM officials, who were handing a pen to Quarantine Case 3, the insurance salesman, then lowered her voice. “Are you the kind of guy who keeps shelves lined with childhood mementos and photos?”
“Am I the—not really. My desk at work is so cluttered that my apartment ends up being rather sparse and tidy in comparison. When a new item adds to my desk clutter, say a set of oven mitts or a turkey baster, and I realize I have to come up with a fresh idea to describe the turkey baster—well, I wouldn’t be surprised if one day I go berserk and baste everything in my office. And I
“Well, almost. Anyway—accumulation of differences.”
“One being that we A-dwellers use omnis for reading and here you have tr—paper books.”
“We do use omnis for news stories and such, but not for anything that needs more than a few minutes’ worth of attention. I don’t know how you do it. I like to scribble notes in textbook margins. And my shelf hosts a P. G. Wodehouse collection.”
“That’s like a whole tree right there, Bean.”
“I know. But I started collecting them as a child—if we’d lived in Universe A, we wouldn’t have been able to afford an omni anyway.” She shrugged and reached for a shriveled grape, then changed her mind and left it on the plate. “Kitchen user guides here are your basic paper kind, by the way. We call them instruction manuals. Just text and a few pictures.”
“Huh. The user guides I put together at Wagner’s Kitchen begin with a demonstration showing how the product is used; then I add example recipes for the customer to try out, culinary hints, witty anecdotes from the history of cooking…well, you get the idea. I once put together a seven-hour user guide for a pair of kitchen tweezers.”
“What on Earths does one use kitchen tweezers for?”
“Deboning fish. Did you know that only 4.2 percent of our customers bother viewing the guides?” The DIM officials, having finished with movie star Gabriella Love, were now looking in my direction, but Quarantine Case 19, whose name I’d forgotten, came in at that moment and was pounced on by the officials. I don’t know what came over me. I leaned forward and whispered, “I’ve hired a private detective to find out all I can about Felix B.”
“A detective? Did you really?” Bean said, seeming impressed. “If I were you, I wouldn’t worry too much whether he’s writing a book or not. As I said, accumulation of differences usually guarantees that alters’ lives are unalike. In fact, alters aren’t usually even the same height due to variations in childhood diet and environment. Though I do feel sorry for her , I have to say. It’s tough having a famous alter.”
“Who?” I followed her glance to the food table, where Gabriella was turning up her nose at the offerings.
“You didn’t know? Her alter here in Universe B is Gabriella Love, the famous actress. She herself is Gabriella Short. Love must be a stage name.”
“She’s an A-dweller with an alter? Well! I assumed she was a unique. She looks too young to have been born before Y-day.”
“Makeup,” Bean said dismissively. “And that unnaturally white hair.” She reached for the unwieldy omni resting against the neck of her gown and checked the time. “I have a meeting with Professor Max and the rest of the group coming up. Since the earliest they’ll let me out is lunchtime, when my forty-eight hours is up, I’ll have to do it from here.” She waved around the room, indicating either the cafeteria itself or the quarantine wing. “And I’ll have to say I have appendicitis, though obviously Arni will know I’m lying and everyone else will know too because Arni is not exactly reticent. I wish they’d let us change back into our clothes. These gowns are silly.”
“Perhaps they are worried we’d try to escape if we had our own clothes on.”
“I don’t know about you, but I probably would.” She paused to throw a sideways glance at the DIM officials, who were handing a pen to Quarantine Case 3, the insurance salesman, then lowered her voice. “Are you the kind of guy who keeps shelves lined with childhood mementos and photos?”
“Am I the—not really. My desk at work is so cluttered that my apartment ends up being rather sparse and tidy in comparison. When a new item adds to my desk clutter, say a set of oven mitts or a turkey baster, and I realize I have to come up with a fresh idea to describe the turkey baster—well, I wouldn’t be surprised if one day I go berserk and baste everything in my office. And I
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