Richard Powers | Plowing the Dark | 2001

Dear Taimur,

That was some bum luck the way you got captured. And not just captured, but thrown into a tiny room, shackled to a radiator, beaten. I know you were "of Iranian extraction," a phrase that always seems weird to me, like you're describing spirits or candy, but I'm sure that didn't make you feel any better about your captivity. Extremists beat. That's one lesson learned. And I know you didn't know a thing about the group in Seattle, Adie and the others, who were trying to create virtual reality. If you had, you might have thought long and hard about how your impoverished actual reality could possibly have been compensated for with technology, or faith, or imagination.

I leave you only with this thought: in dark rooms, things develop.

Trapped out here,
Ellen