Even when you can’t see them

So I’m sitting there
Watching these people’s lips move
Can’t hear anything
A strange psycho-acoustic filtering of voices
The sounds of feet, glass, liquid, still audible
Strange
— Translator’s busted.
I turn around, raise my eyebrows
— It is. I just checked with the Arranger.
Cherry, I imagine, has her name because of her sass
I don’t know where she works
Or what she does all day
From her cutting wit I’d say she was a Conscious module
Perhaps even in Dialogue
— You gonna stay here and watch the silent movie?
I turn around to the Windows
— This place always creeps me out.
– You don’t have to stay.
— Came here to see you.
– Oh?
I turn around
Eyebrows raised again
— There’s vitamin D out. You should go get some.
That isn’t the real reason, but it’ll do
I sigh as I get up
— Jesus, how long have you been here?
– A few days.
Up the stairs
Through the labyrinth of buildings
Out onto the street
Night
– Where’s this vitamin D without sunlight?
— It’s in the air. Pills remember.
So we start to walk slowly
Citizens are out for the night life
Alleys and arcades
Some places are loud, some places discreet
I’m glad Cherry came to fetch me
— Kite…
And now the real reason she did
– Hm?
— Do you think…
The people disappear
This has happened once before
When Cherry gets serious about something, she messes with time and space
Dialogue isn’t the only trick in her book
— Do you think this is real?
– What do you mean?
Trying not to sound unsettled by the sudden quiet
— I mean, I know it’s a construct, but…
She starts walking and I fall in step beside her
— You spend a lot of time at the Windows, right?
– I do, yes.
— The physical world, I mean, the real real world, how does it… compare… no, that’s not what I mean.
– Let me see if I can help you a bit;

The construct is an abstract of the physical world, yes. This much is definitely true. However, the physical world itself cannot be viewed or experienced in any other way other than through Perception. Perception is just a series of physical inputs that are translated into abstracts; in a way, the physical world actually doesn’t exist in any other form than the abstract. This makes the issue of the perceived and translated Construct an interesting one. It’s a complex matter. Who knows what is really real? Is it our Construct that exists in the physical world? Or is the physical world itself merely another construct?

— But some of the things that are possible here aren’t possible in the physical world.
– True, but only in our experience of it. Perception can bend all things, and often does beneath our notice.
Cherry stops and looks at the ground intensely
– One thing I do know Cherry, is that you and I are very much alive and real, wherever we are, and that I like you very much.
She looks up at me for a moment, then smiles
— Thank you Kite. I’m not sure you answered my question, but I’m not sure I was very good at asking it. I like you too, very much.
Her smile is infectious
– Why don’t we get something to eat?
— OK.