The Treasure of Lei Fong Wu

Chapter Twenty-Seven

River was entertaining herself by examining the number of shoes available at the shop, analyzing their sizes, prices and styles, and extrapolating based on her analysis the number, ages, and social position of the women of Lincoln City. It was an amusing exercise, and she was mystified that so many women would pay so much money for shoes that they would briefly and painfully wear. Even as brain damaged as she was, and as clinically insane as she was, River could think of no reason why she should indulge in such sadomasochistic foolishness. She had yet to try on a single pair – her combat boots were adequate. She preferred no shoes at all. But it was, she decided, a useful commentary on intergender roles in the social mating cycle.

While she did this, Kaylee was trying on yet another pair of shoes she had no intention of buying. These were bright red flutes with a single strap across the instep, and a cubic zirconium flourish to draw attention to her feet. Kaylee paced back and forth in front of the six mirrors the shop set up to show off the shoes to best effect.

“Closer,” Kaylee said to the mirror, and it obliged by focusing in on her feet for her. “Now how about a distance holo?” she asked, and immediately the mirror displayed a full 3D image of Kaylee as she would have looked if viewed across a room.

“Hmm,” she grunted meaningfully. “They’re cute ‘n’ all, but not really me,” she said finally with a sigh. “I do look great in them, though. If you didn’t know it was me, you’d think I was glamorous!”

“The holo is designed to flatter you,” River observed. “It is artificially correcting the image, increasing your height by almost an inch, increasing your bustline by two, subtracting about ten pounds and adjusting lighting and coloration to make you appear more attractive than you actually are.”

“Really?” Kaylee asked, shocked. “But I look so . . . good in these!”

“I thought you said they really weren’t you.”

“That was before I