Hopscotch
Chapter One
As night fell, the city fractured into a kaleidoscope of lights,
like neon sparklers reflecting from rain-washed facades. Unabashedly
garish, Club Masquerade hosted a dazzling assembly of humanity-new
people, old people, everyone wearing a different body for the
evening.
Outside the entrance to the Club, lighted sidewalk panels flashed
patterns, numbers inside squares illuminated by each pressing
footstep. A gimmick. Split doorways led into tailored environment
chambers: a British Empire Safari Club, a discotheque with mirror
balls and strobe lights, a rustic Sequoia Room, an Arabian harem
with colorful rugs and sweet perfumes, a domed Martian colony
chamber with red rock and thermal springs.
The specialized alcoves opened into the main interior of Club
Masquerade, a wild environment of lights, music, exotic food, and
unusual people. ID patches worked overtime to keep track of who was
who, which mind in which body. Sometimes the people had trouble
sorting it all out in the morning.
A person could be anyone or anything here, for a limited
time-provided the desired body type was available. Pick a ph ... read full excerpt from Hopscotch ebook
