As
Erick looked around the room he now found himself in, he had the feeling that
this was no ordinary VR. He felt more like he was in some waking dream whose
detail he would not forget. There was a sense of foreshadowing about the room
itself. He had never been in it before, but he knew that he would visit it in
the future, and not in VR either. The room's architecture resembled the architecture
of the corridors in Nairobi. There were vidscreens and consoles covering the
walls and ceiling, but they had been muted and dimmed so that they faded into
the background.
The lone furnishing in the room was a huge
round table. Erick recognized it immediately a the symbol of the legendary King
Arthur's unification of England. There was a lone figure seated at the table
with his back to Erick. Erick wanted to walk to him and see who he was, but
he was compelled to remain where he was. Now men were entering from the door
that Erick had entered. They ignored Erick and he assumed that he was a passive
member of the VR. He somehow recognized them all as Knights of the Round Table,
and even knew their names and feats. Soon all the seats around the table were
filled. The lone figure had been silent as the rest had entered, but now he
stood up and began to speak.
"I welcome you all to the first meeting
of the Round Table. We have fought battles together and even against each other,"
at which Lancelot bowed his head. Erick frowned as he found the reference incongruous
with the chronology of Arthurian Legend. "We now come together in order build
a better country and a better world instead of destroying it. This peace will
not last forever, but we must strive to make it last as long as we can.
"I can tell you that stagnancy does no good
for our people and that is one problem that this Round Table will fight. We
will use the diversity of thought assembled at this table to further our people's
lives. We welcome the ideals of Lancelot and those of you from nether regions."
As Erick listened to the speech, he knew
that King Arthur wouldn't have made such an eloquent and impassioned speech
about England in this way. In fact the speaker had avoided making references
to anywhere in particular. At first he had thought that the speaker would be
King Arthur, but now he was not so sure. At that moment the speaker turned his
face toward the side of the room that Erick was standing in. Erick was shocked
to see that the speaker had no face, no features, no eyes, nothing.
