Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 99485 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 497(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99485 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 497(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
“Now, I’ve just had this suite redecorated for you and Slade,” Lyrah said to me as she opened an elaborately carved wooden door. “I do hope you’ll love it.”
I stepped into the room after her and saw that it was the most garish one yet.
There was a massive round bed in the center of the room covered in a furry white throw with multiple cube-shaped pillows scattered across it. On the floor was another fur carpet, also white. At least I thought the carpet and bed were white—it was hard to tell because of all the red light in the room, which appeared to be coming from all directions.
I looked closer and saw that the walls and the ceiling were covered in a sea of red which seemed to be moving like waves in the ocean. I touched one wall carefully to see what was going on but the red waves flowed over my fingers without changing. After a moment, I realized it was some kind of light projection. But how had Lyrah gotten it to cover all of the walls from floor all the way up and across the ceiling?
“Do you like it? It’s the latest,” she chirped. “It’s an interactive holo projection. There are sensors in all the walls and the ceiling—and you can even change the colors. Look!”
There was a life-sized statue of a naked man with extremely large, erect genitals standing just inside the door of the room. On his outstretched tray was a small silver remote. Lyrah picked it up and pointed at one of the walls at random. When she pressed the button, the walls and ceiling were suddenly covered with bright green waves.
It was sort of an improvement on the red—I’d been feeling like I was swimming in an ocean of blood. But the bright green was hard on the eyes.
“Could I try it?” I asked politely.
“What? Oh yes, of course.” She handed me back the remote. “And when you get tired of playing with it, just put it back on Mr. Dingus’s tray.” She nodded at the naked statue and giggled. “He’s perfect for holding little items you don’t want to use. You can even hang your handbag on his shaft!”
“Er, yes—I see.” I nodded, not knowing what else to say. I didn’t really want to live in a room with a life-sized naked statue of an excited man, but I sensed I didn’t have a choice.
“Well? Go ahead—play around with it. The remote—not Mr. Dingus!” Lyrah said and let out her annoying giggle again.
I pointed the remote at the wall and pushed a button at random. Suddenly the green waves were deep, dark indigo blue.
“Oh, so soothing! It’s like being at the bottom of the ocean, right?” Lyrah asked, raising her eyebrows.
“It really is,” I admitted. Though the dark blue didn’t feel very restful. It reminded me of stories I’d read about some of the oceans here on Rigelis Nine where the water was so deep and dark the light never reached the bottom and horrible creatures prowled through the pitch-black depths.
“And the best thing is, it never turns off!” Lyrah said to me. “It just keeps going and going and going!”
“Oh really?” I said weakly. “I mean, you can’t turn it off? Not even when you want to sleep?”
“That’s when you put it on the darker settings,” she informed me. “The artist who sold it to me swears it’s very peaceful and good for your brain’s binaural rhythms. That’s a real thing, you know,” she added. “And listen to this…”
She snatched the remote from my hand and pressed some more buttons. At once a low, thundering sound like a giant beating a drum overhead started coming from the walls. She pressed a few more buttons and a flute-like melody joined in.
“See?” Lyrah shouted at me to be heard above the music. “It’s supposed to be very restful. You’ll fall right to sleep every night!”
Honestly, I wouldn’t have minded the music if it hadn’t been quite so loud.
“It’s lovely!” I shouted back. “But can you turn it down just a little?”
“Oh—of course!” Lyrah punched more buttons on the remote and turned down the music, which was a relief. However, she also set the wall and ceiling colors to bright pink and neon yellow respectively. “Now isn’t that nice?” she said, smiling as the yellow light poured down from the ceiling, mixing with the bright pink of the walls to turn the white bed and carpet orange. “Just like standing in a patch of sunshine!”
I wasn’t sure if I agreed with her, but I didn’t want to be rude to my new step-mother-in-law so I just smiled and nodded. I hoped that once I got my hands on the remote again, I could find a way to turn everything way down—way down. I couldn’t imagine sleeping soundly in a room where there was bright light and loud sounds that never stopped or turned off.