The Illusionists Read Online Free

eyes again in case she lost it.
    The previously bare, grey walls of Wren’s room were covered in people. Little, perfectly drawn people in beautiful colours, with flowing hair and dresses so vivid they looked alive. It was hardly a surprise to see they could move. As she watched, a girl near her head on the wall winked at her as she drew water from a well. She was only six inches or so high.
    â€˜Grad take me,’ she whispered. ‘Is she alive?’
    â€˜It’s only wallpaper,’ said Wren, sounding amused. ‘From
Old Times
. It’s a Life game – we’ll play it sometime. Everyone plays it in World, it’s very popular.’
    Rue looked up further. The people were all moving, two-dimensional creatures going about their business. There was a drunk man who kept falling over, his nose all red. Girls scattering grain for pigs. A boy that in a flash reminded her strongly of Pake – the pleasant but dull farmer’s son she had once caught the fancy of back in her old village. He was lying on a wall, looking up at the sky, a smile on his face, until a man next to him walked over and cuffed him about the head. He fell off and rubbed his skull ruefully. Then, as she watched, he moved back to his wall, and the man moved back to his place a little further on. It repeated. The boy lay down, looking dreamily upwards. The man came along and cuffed him, his face twisted in annoyance.
    â€˜It’s not so different to where I’m from,’ said Rue.
    â€˜I suppose not.’
    â€˜Why do they like it so? They should just visit Angle Tar. T’would be the real thing.’
    â€˜Don’t be silly. They wouldn’t be allowed. And anyway, most people prefer a game to real life.’
    â€˜Is it a story?’ said Rue.
    â€˜Not at all. It’s just wallpaper, so it’s not as sophisticated as the game. It’s a set of pre-programmed clips, repeated. That’s all. We’ll play later.’
    She turned her head, sensing that he wanted to show her more. It was annoying, though. There was so much to see and learn that she felt like she didn’t have time to take it in. Wren was always moving forward, onto the next thing. At least she could count on never growing bored.
    â€˜How does it work?’ she said, looking up. The ceiling had changed, too. It was an endless, textured black, peppered with small dots of light, stars that twinkled and winked. It was just as a night sky in summer would be, a clear one with a still wind.
    Wren shook his head. ‘I couldn’t begin to explain. Some of the mechanics I don’t even understand myself. It changes your perceptions of what you see, and hear, and touch. I don’t think they’ve been able to do taste or smell yet. Surface Life overlays everything you see around you with Life. There are trees lining the streets, outside, now, and the buildings will have beautiful paintings on their outside walls. There are gardens that are bare of art outside of Life. A lot of World artists only make art that can be seen in Life, nowadays. The weather in the sky is simulated in Life, and changes with the seasons. Everything in World is more beautiful in Life.’
    â€˜But why not make all that real?’
    â€˜If it’s not real, it can’t hurt anyone or cost so much. Do you know how much credit it would cost to run a garden, the people to maintain it, the space? It’s so much better for our environment to have the things people want in augmented reality, rather than really existing. So much less damage, so much less cost. And, you’ll see, Life is how everyone in World connects. You can meet up with anyone you like in Life, people from three thousand miles away. You can talk to whomever you want, and you don’t have to take a ridiculous journey to get to them. You can buy anything, or learn anything, in Life. If you don’t know the answer to something? Jack in, find it in Life. All the