Stephanie looked around. “You call this the treatment? Man, you have buried yourself in the subs for far too long. This is one step up from that cab ride we took three years ago when we got lost.”

  He straightened. “Not true. That thing was disgusting, and he smelled like beef jerky and a wet seal. This is nice—like living in suburbia and driving my sedan.”

  The car pulled up in front of the house and he opened his door, paused, and turned to Stephanie. “I wanted to say thanks.”

  She grinned and rolled her eyes. “For a ride home?”

  Todd chuckled as he shoved his hair from his eyes. “For everything. I wouldn’t be going out with Amy if you hadn’t helped.”

  He put his fist up and she raised hers awkwardly and held still as he fist-bumped her. It was probably the most awkward and uncomfortable way he had ever said goodbye. They weren’t intimate by any means, but she was a girl and they did happen to hug from time to time. He climbed out of the car and leaned his head in, both hands on the top of the door frame.

  Stephanie looked at him for a moment, unsure if the secret handshake had more parts. He tapped the roof. “Bros before hos.”

  He smirked and winked before he shut the door and jogged toward his house. The car didn’t budge, but Stephanie didn’t even notice. She watched until Todd was inside and had shut the door behind him. She felt absolutely befuddled by what had just happened. Bros before hos? What the hell was that? Do I look like a bro? Oh, God, is that how he thinks of me? I have been friend-zoned. She began to feel like she had made a really huge mistake setting him and Amy up—or whatever she had done to basically hand the guy she liked over to another woman. In an instant, she went from his best friend to his bro. And she was fairly certain he’d just referred to his girlfriend as a ho.

  The sound of the AI’s voice shook her back into reality. “Are we going to TimeWarp?”

  She rubbed her face and glanced at the dash. “Uh…yeah. I want to get a session in today so I can get home by dinner time. And if you would, maybe drive through the renovated part of the city to get there? I like to see the view.”

  “Absolutely,” the AI answered. “Calculating. Route set. Shall we go?”

  Stephanie glanced quickly at Todd’s house and nodded. “Yeah, let’s go.”

  They accelerated out of the subsidized housing and turned right toward suburbia. As she stared out the window, she realized there was a distinct difference between the poor and middle class as far as what the area looked like. And it wasn’t a subtle change. It was dreary and gray one minute, with a tall stone wall, and then suddenly, lush and green. All the houses stood very close together, all were similarly built, and even the grass was the same height. Kids were getting home from school, minivans were parked in garages, and dogs played in fenced-in yards in the back.

  Besides her neighbor having her dogs, the other residents of the Gov-Subs were restricted from having pets. Once they passed through the middle-class living area, they entered the edge of Chicago. She had driven through there every day since she was given the time at the pods but had never really noticed how clean it was. Everyone seemed to belong to some other society. She felt like she was completely out of her element. The separation of people had never felt so strong, and she herself felt different than even the people with whom she surrounded herself. This was her last set of hours before the next week, except for battery work. She decided that next time, she would simply pass by the city with as minimal interaction as possible.

  The car finally pulled up in front of the building and the door opened. She stepped out and listened as the vehicle drove away and parked. As soon as she walked in, the employees all stopped what they were doing and waved to her. A couple of the women came over to the counter as she approached. They thought it was fascinating that she had those free hours. They had no idea what she did in there but decided it must have been thrilling and exciting since it was paid for by someone else and she never talked about it. When she reached the front, they all greeted her warmly.

  Stephanie, not used to all the attention, laughed nervously. “Hey, guys. I’m here early today. I keep missing dinner with my parents so thought I would come directly from school.”

  The main woman—whom she had discovered was called Julie—shook her head. “You can come in any time you like. You’ll use the same pod if that’s okay? We cleaned them all about an hour ago.”

  Another woman beside Julie clapped her hands. “And we just got a crazy shipment. A brand new, top-of-the-line pod. It’s all boxed up and in the back. It doesn’t look like anything any of us have seen before.”

  Julie breathed deeply. “It definitely is strange, but we were told it will be for invited guests only.”

  The other woman leaned forward with her chin in her hands. “Maybe it’s for you. Maybe you’re the special person.”

  Stephanie laughed and tilted her head back. “I won’t deny that being picked for this has been really awesome, but I doubt that my luck extends that far. Besides, the ones I use are awesome. They are better than the school ones, that’s for sure. I was told they were really old versions. They did the trick, though. Same system but different ways to deliver you to it.”

  Julie smirked. “You are special already so it wouldn’t surprise me if it was something for you. I guess we can only wait to be informed. Until then, we should get you back to your pod so you can get started. I know you didn’t come here to gossip with us. Let me run to my office and grab the clipboard.”

  Stephanie nodded, stepped away from the desk, and looked around the lobby for the first time. It was surprisingly plain with crisp white walls and floors and a large symmetrical rug in bright colors. She could hear the other girls talking about the new pod in the back. “They didn’t say who would be able to use it, only that it was reserved for invites only. So far, no one has been invited. I’m not even sure if we are supposed to set the thing up or not.”

  The other woman shrugged. “I don’t know. It came in this big box that has ONE R&D on the side. I guess that’s the new company that bought us. Weird—I never heard of them before. Suddenly, they are all over the place. I guess there’s a mystery guy in there somewhere.”

  Julie stepped in front of Stephanie with a smile and led her to the back. As she passed the storage room, she glanced in and saw the same logo on the box that had been on the batteries. Strange, but not all that strange since they were the funders for the whole thing anyway.

  The assistant punched the information in as she always did, and Stephanie entered the pod. A few minutes later, she stood in the avatar room and selected a Bon Jovi T-shirt, lace leggings, and ankle boots. She decided that if she would be all alone, she might as well pay tribute to her best friend. From there, she ended up back in the amphitheater, but alone yet again, which she was more than happy with. Still, she couldn’t help wishing there was some way to bring her notes in with her and made a mental note to ask about that when she left.

  She went to work, set the batteries up in front of her, and began her different experiments. Her mind was so focused in the Virtual World. There was nothing to distract her, she was safe from lectures and judgments, and she simply worked through what her brain told her to do. She could almost imagine that this was exactly what it would be like if she could go into her own mind. It was a weird thought but it seemed to fit in the quiet of the amphitheater.

  On that specific day, she had come up with some theories on how she might achieve certain functions of magic with the human body. The first thing she wanted to test was her theory of drawing magic efficiently into the body. She seemed to have some tolerance for the energy so she closed her eyes and focused on her chest. With the stone held tightly in her fist, she kept a close watch on the presence of the magic as it flowed up and through her.

  It was an almost surreal experience to stand there and feel every thread, every wisp, and every tingle of Meligorn magic flowing through her. Had she never had that experience before that moment, even if it had been on a very small scale, she would have described it as pumping through her veins. But no, it was more than that. She could feel the tendrils of thaumaturgy twist and wind, not only through her body but through the very essence of who she was. Whether it was the soul, the consciousness, or the mind, the conjuring of mystical atonement filled her from top to bottom. On the inside, with her eyes clutched tightly, she could feel the warmth, and on the outside, streams of purple hues poured from her body.

  Within that meditation of magic, she remembered that it was not the only step. There were more. She wanted to be able to go from that moment to understanding how to store it—if it was even possible to store the magic within the creases of her own human skin. She released the battery and allowed it to fall and bounce on the table. Her mind focused, she held the magic as hard as she could and pushed it gently to the corners of her body. She tried desperately to help it understand that she wished to keep it safe and pull only what she needed—that she only wanted to learn how to enhance the efficiency of the magical use.

  Finally, it became too much for her delicate human frame to take and she exhaled to send the magic spiraling out and around her. It whirled her like a cyclone and danced in the virtual breeze of the digital world. She smiled as it fluttered past and dissipated into the sky above. She looked at the battery but it no longer displayed the majestic purple and silvery strains. She had pulled all of it from the stone and held it in her chest to inhale and exhale with its will.

  As she reached for the stone, she couldn’t help but feel the frustration building. She was so close to learning how to harness the magic, to refine its edges and produce a power that would yield so many fantastic changes on Earth. Instinctively, she grabbed the stone but paused, set it back down, and lifted her hand in front of her face. Her skin shimmered in the artificial virtual light and she could still feel the remnants of the magic pushing through every part of her.

  Stephanie realized in that moment that, although frustrating, she had not failed. She actually held the magic in her flesh. Encouraged, she motioned with her hands and whispered whatever words came to her mind. As she pictured the outcome she wished to have, small drifts of flower petals suddenly appeared after each stroke of her hand. They lingered in the air for a moment before they fluttered down slowly and swayed back and forth before they landed.

  Somehow, even if it were subconsciously, she had managed to do at least part of what she had come there to do. It had been the first successful venture for her since she’d first started.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Stephanie pulled her bag from the locker and looked around before she retrieved the stone. She slid it into her pocket and pulled her book bag onto her shoulder, feeling good about what she had accomplished. Sure, some disappointment lingered in her chest when she woke up and no purple tendrils shimmered on her skin, but she focused on the accomplishment with a quiet inner glow of satisfaction. Julie waved goodbye as she left and climbed into the car.

  For some reason, the vehicle seemed to go slower than usual, like it knew she needed some time to decompress and refocus on life. She pulled her bag into her lap and scrabbled in the front pocket to locate a Federation dollar. She thought about it for a moment and smiled. “Could you stop at the Slimco Convenience store about a mile from my house? I would like to purchase something and maybe walk the rest of the way. I need some fresh air.”

  “Of course,” the AI responded.

  She intended to grab a small and very cheap candy bar as a way to celebrate using money she’d received from helping her parents clean a building a few months back. While she never did things like that, she had also never reached an achievement like this either.

  The car drew up and the door opened. “Thank you for riding, Stephanie. See you soon.”

  Stephanie smiled but she always felt awkward talking to the car. “Thanks.”

  She shut the door, slung her bag over her shoulder, and stuck one hand in her pocket to guard her battery. With her round dollar Federation coin clutched in her hand, she perused the shelves of the candy aisle in search of exactly the right thing. She really struggled to find something that fit the bill so she finally shrugged and grabbed the first one her hand touched. “Carmelo. Huh, who knew they still made these?”

  Her candy paid for, she headed out of the store and set off along the sidewalk. She passed a mother who held her baby on a bench. The woman glanced at Stephanie and smiled and the child cooed in her arms. She smiled back, unable to help it. The child was so cute and the mother reminded her of her own with the way she cuddled her but also held her with strength. She continued her walk past a row of stores and over to a bench a few feet from the sidewalk. Across the street and between two buildings was a large swath of land originally put in for a park but never finished. Beyond that, though, was a view of downtown Chicago.

  Stephanie put one leg underneath her and sat, setting her bag next to her. The view was amazing, and she could almost imagine the city bright and shining like the pictures she had seen in her textbooks. A city of history and splendor, all destroyed in one monster storm that blew in off the Great Lakes. How fickle things could be. One moment you lived your life in a beautiful city and in the next, your home, your loved ones, and possibly even your own life was destroyed by the severity of a storm created by the pressure human beings put on the natural occurrence of climate change. They ramped it up to create super storms, flooding, fires, and even shifts in the weather patterns. What was left of Hawaii was usually snowy, now. And Stephanie couldn’t remember the last time it had snowed in Chicago.

  Shaking her head, she focused on her candy bar, pulled the wrapper back, and broke off the first square to pop it into her mouth. She closed her eyes, savored the taste, and could almost hear the laughter of her friends around her as a child. A carefree spirit swirled in her chest. Maybe that was why she liked cupcakes so much—they made her think of a more innocent time. One when the world was huge and the planets were close and exciting. When it didn’t matter to you if you lived in the Gov-Subs or suburbia. And no one could tell you that if you reached for the stars, you might never find them.

  She swallowed the bite and leaned against the bench to watch the evening sky fill with radiant colors from the setting sun. People milled about, doing their evening grocery shopping before they walked back to their homes in the Gov-Subs. Sure, the place was riddled with crime at night, but during the day, it was like any other normal thoroughfare.

  A small breeze blew over her and it felt warm and welcoming, especially since summer was coming so soon. After that, a single semester would see her on her way. She wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad one. When that happened, she would be released to the cruelty of the world even more than she already was. But now, there would be no one to shield her from it, like the mother who walked down the sidewalk toward her with her child tucked against her chest. That child would see a different world than she had, just as she had seen a different one than her mother. Hopefully, things could start to change so that kids out there could stop growing up without hope.

  Stephanie eased her hand into her pocket and fiddled with the battery, twisting it around her fingers. She fidgeted because she was in deep thought and the unconscious activity was a normal thing for her. When she glanced back at the mother and baby, she no longer saw them walking. She scanned the area and directed her gaze back to the street. Her face began to change slowly as she watched the woman with her baby step off the pavement without looking. Instantly, Stephanie pushed to her feet as everything suddenly seemed to move in slow motion.

  A self-driving semi-truck barreled down the road. These vehicles had only been approved for road travel over the last decade. Although the cars had been out for longer than Stephanie had been alive, there had been a lot of negative circumstances with the trucks. Nonetheless, there were protocols engineered into the system.

  Inside the truck, the sensors detected the person in the roadway but because of the sheer mass, it couldn’t stop very quickly. There was a set of rules that each went through when a detection occurred. The first rule was that if it would hit a human, it must first see if it could move out of the way with minor damage. If that was the case, the truck would swerve and possibly crash but save the life of the person in the way. It was a common-sense failsafe for the vehicle since there were no passengers inside who could be injured. Still, that wasn’t always effective, and the woman had still not noticed the vehicle that hurtled toward her.

  The system began to run a list of diagnostics using the scanners and cameras built in on all sides. To the right, if the truck were to swerve, there were at least six people whom it calculated would not be able to get out of the way. It scanned the left and identified a group of elderly people walking along the sidewalk. With their inability to move quickly from the path of the truck, all of them would surely be killed. A small change in trajectory would not work either since the street was lined with cars, some with passengers inside although others were empty. At its present rate of speed, the truck calculated that hitting one of the cars would launch a chain of events.

  It would impact with the unoccupied car, be launched into the air, and would crash down on the grocery store, currently occupied with twenty-nine people. All but one were calculated to be fatalities. The computer scanned and scanned again and received the computed assurance that no matter what it tried to do, someone would die. In that circumstance, the AI was instructed to make the choice that would cause the least number of casualties.

  It did one more thorough scan, which took less than a second, and that projected the best route would be to strike the human who caused the problem. The woman with the child would be killed instantly but the truck would not take more than those two lives. It was the only scenario to choose. The vehicle had been created as a system and was incapable of any sort of emotional response. It was created and programmed to find the best possible outcome of any situation and take that. Accordingly, it remained on track and continued toward the woman.