Otherland. Vol. 1 City of Golden Shadow

10. Thorns

1. Orlando & Fredericks

2. Christabel & Mr. Sellars

2. Christabel's dad, Mike & Captain Ron Parkins

1. VR: Terminal Row, then Last Chance Saloon, then Orlando's electronic cottage (all in the Inner District).

2. The Base in North Carolina

Orlando engages in a simulation about dying on death row.

When it is over Fredericks asks Orlando why he likes these death simulations.

Orlando asks for a replay of his adventure where Thargor is killed. The replay fails to show the crack in the wall where Thargor saw the golden city. The replay has been altered!

Christabel brings Mr. Sellars some soap which he eats. He needed the chemicals in it to bring his body back to life - he had almost died because he had forgotten to eat.

RL: Orlando is in a bed with an IV tube in him.

"You can't interpret somebody else's experience through a different brain. It doesn't work." [p. 175]

The Last Chance Saloon is a sim environment where the characters act more like their real persona, and where the names of the characters are those of RL.

The Inner District is a sim-world for the general public; Mister J's is one such room that is much more sophisticated. It is a portal to a higher level of simulation.

Someone is able to even alter the replay of previous episodes. Not only has someone inserted an event into a simulation but they have then removed any trace of having done it. Very sophisticated indeed. My candidate for this is still Mr. Sellars.

Captain Parkins is portrayed as very hard and cold. I wonder if we will see him again.

Mike and Captain Parkins are aware of Mr. Sellars, who appears to be some form of prisoner.

Mr. Sellars said that he had been working very, very hard. He also knows how to send messages to Christabel through her reading glasses. He is clearly very clever with electronics and simulations. He also is kind and considerate.