The History Of My First Life

In the summer of 1994, my friend Geordie built a 286 for me. It was
quite a step up from my Commodore 64 (it even had a 40 meg hard
drive!), but the component I was most excited about was its 1200 baud
modem. I plugged my new computer into the phone line and spent the next
few months lurking around local Seattle bulletin boards. I even signed
up for my first internet (text-only) access. Then, in the fall, I saw
an ad in Puget Sound Computer Users for something called "King Of The
Cats." It advertised itself as an online graphical world, where users
could move around, explore, and interact with each other. They could
even change their environment. I had heard that pictures existed on the
internet, for people lucky enough to have a Windows-capable computer,
but I had no idea how an "online world" would work. With a bit of
skepticism, I dialed in. My modem connected, and a welcome screen
informed me that, in order to enter King Of The Cats, I would need a
free program called Ripterm. Would I like to download it? I typed "y",
and was informed that, at 1200 baud, the download would take something
like 17 hours - perhaps it would be better to have the program mailed
to me. I agreed.

A couple of days later, an envelope arrived from KOTC. Inside was a
diskette and several instruction manuals. I tossed the manuals aside
for future reference, and installed Ripterm. I started the program and,
for the first time, was using a mouse to make a modem connection. I
connected to King Of The Cats and set up an account. (It was cheap
enough that I decided to skip the free trial period.) Then I built my
cat. I'm not sure why I chose to name my cat "Beatnik" - on other
bulletin boards I was known as "Rico." It was an impulsive thing -
maybe I was reading Kerouac at the time. I chose to color my cat solid
black, because it's my favorite color. I chose Manx as my cat's breed,
just to make my cat tailless, and therefore unusual. Finally, it was
time to see what this was all about. But I had one more decision to
make - Where did I want to enter? Ethyl's House? Atwood's House? The
corner of Poe and Strand? I had no idea what any of these places were.
Maybe I should have read those manuals. I clicked on the random
location option. The screen redrew and I found myself in the middle of
a street, facing a lake in the distance. To my left was a cemetery. To
my right was a building of some kind. (It looked to me like a library
or museum.) I figured that getting out of the street would be a good
idea, so I clicked on the right side of the screen, toward the
building. The screen redrew, and I was looking at the side of the
building. I saw something small on the side of the building, toward the
bottom. I clicked on it. I was then looking at a rectangular grating. I
clicked on a hole in the corner of the grating.

I was inside an air duct, looking at four silver surfaces recede into
the distance. I've never been claustrophobic, but I suddenly felt
uneasy about being lost in - wherever I was. I turned around, but found
I couldn't get out of the grating I'd come in through. I continued down
the air duct. I came to another grating. I clicked on it. I found
myself looking through the grating at a man and his son embalming a
dead person. This was no library. The man was scolding his son - the
dead person's eyes kept opening. Why hadn't the son found more cat gut
to sew the eyes shut? Right then, the kid looked over and saw me in the
air duct. I ran down the duct, and came to another grating. Through
that grating, I saw an office - with a desk, a lamp, a coffin, and a
doorway. I managed to push the grating open. The kid appeared in the
doorway. I clicked in the ample space between his feet. My cat made a
futile dash toward the doorway. The kid caught me. Next, I was in a
small room, my tail tied to a rope hanging from the ceiling. (Never
mind that my cat was tailless.) The floor was littered with cat
skeletons. My life was rapidly decreasing. Since I knew nothing about
the ability to swing myself free, I had no choice but to watch my cat
die. During my first 20 minutes in Fleattle, I had lost my first life.
Eight more lives to go. I wanted to log on again. But first, I would
read the manuals.

Top Of Page
Back to KOTC