Her mom handed her suitcase to her and pulled her phone from her purse. “Come on, we have to catch the 3:50 to Minneapolis. I couldn’t get the direct, I’m sorry. It’ll take all night because of the stops, but I did get us a cabin so you can sleep.”

  Stephanie smiled at her. “That sounds great. I’ve never been on one before and they said they go twice as fast as the airplanes went when there was still air travel. But they said it’s so smooth and they make the optics so you can still see the scenery outside.”

  Her mother patted her on the hand and nodded toward the gate. “Yep, and if you move your booty, we will get to see it in real life.”

  She jumped and hurried after her and had to force herself not to stop when she saw a man in a tall top hat press a button and change his entire appearance right in front of her. Of course, she knew that the technology existed but in the subs, no one had anything like it. And she had pretty much spent her entire life in the subs. They climbed aboard and found their way to their second-class cabin. It was simple, merely a room with a double bunk on one side and a relatively comfortable-looking bench on the other.

  Her mother closed the door and pressed the buttons on the window touch screen. She flashed her tickets and the doors locked. The windows tinted quickly to provide some privacy and she turned and sat next to Stephanie. “If you need to use the restroom, there is one down at the end of the car. Press your palm to the screen and the doors will open or close, depending on which way you go. It’s the extra security feature your father splurged on since he couldn’t come with us.”

  Stephanie took a deep breath and looked out the window as the train crept forward. Before she knew it, and without much jolting at all, they were speeding wildly, but with the scenery focused out the window, you couldn’t tell it in the least. She sat there for most of the evening, daydreaming as her mother read the magazines left in the door holder. When night fell, she took the top bunk and stared at the ceiling that had been made to look like the swirling Milky Way.

  When the TRAM finally reached Minneapolis, they were both dressed in the best clothes they owned. Her mother wore a blue dress that came down to her calves with white buttons up the front and a small matching hat that sat lightly on the side of her head. Stephanie wore plain black dress pants, Mary Janes, and a black top that she tugged on slightly to cover her midriff. They weren’t horrible at all, but they definitely weren’t the wild and fashionable clothes worn by the people who passed in the streets.

  Cindy was used to this as her business revolved around the rich. Their business was what she called background services—basically cleaning, repair, and all the things no one wanted to be seen doing. That meant she had to learn to operate in the world of the wealthy as she was, without shame or issue. She always held her head high and Stephanie loved that about her.

  They hurried through the heart of Minneapolis and Stephanie looked around wildly at everything. She had never been in a city that huge before, at least not one that wasn’t falling into ruin. People talked on their personal comm units using the latest digital technology. They were able to transmit a full image of the other caller in front of them as they walked. It was like having a face-to-face conversation.

  When they passed several restaurants, she could see that they were completely run by droids and slightly higher-level robots. She glanced into one of the pizza places as they walked past and paused as a droid ran into the back of the robot. The larger mechanical looked around and the pizza crust he had tossed landed on his head. She giggled and hurried along for a short way beside her mother before they stopped in front of probably the largest skyscraper in the entire city. She could barely see the top of it from where they stood. Different ads scrolled all around it, some for the college with holographic people the size of half of the building fighting Dreth pirates. The others were business ads, she assumed for the local companies.

  Her mother turned and straightened her shirt, then smiled. “All right, here we are. Smile and remember your manners.”

  They walked into the huge entryway and looked around at the all-white marble floors. A woman at the front talked to the desk clerk in a tight purple dress with shoulder pads that jutted out twice as far as her shoulders and wedge shoes. She turned and put her hands out. Her makeup matched the dress and her hair was pulled back with some sort of holographic bird on the side like a hat.

  “Welcome, welcome!” she said and took each of their hands. “You must be Stephanie and mom.”

  Her mom nodded. “Cindy.”

  The woman, with her lips pressed tightly together, looked from one to the other. “We’ve been anxiously awaiting the two of you. My name is Anastasia and I will be your guide. Feel free to leave your bag with Roger, our robot assistant, Stephanie. He will put it in your room.”

  Stephanie glanced to the side and jumped slightly as Roger walked up. Everything about him looked human, except for his eyes. They were a sparkling purple color, like the Meligorn magic. She handed him her bag and followed Anastasia forward. The woman snapped her fingers at two drones and they took flight and whirled in the air. She turned and put her hands together in front of her and smirked. “You wouldn’t mind if we filmed a little of the conversation, would you? Purely PR stuff, of course.”

  She shook her head and Cindy followed suit, slightly overwhelmed. Anastasia turned and put her hands up. “Wonderful! Come along. There is so much to show you.”

  They stepped into the elevator and she pushed several buttons. The walls seemed to disappear as the elevator moved seamlessly and provided a screen that displayed a follow-along video. It brought up a picture of a pod with a student getting inside. “We use the latest pods with full virtual capabilities, auto-sensing, life-sustaining, tremor proof, air and water filtration enabled, and state of the art body cushioning to form-fit to your body’s every need. Once in, the students learn twenty-four hours a day, every day of the week. Some of the classes are free thinking, free effort, and of course…we encourage that.”

  She smiled and winked at Stephanie, who looked at the screen and back at Anastasia. “So, we don’t leave the pods?”

  The woman giggled oddly. “No, ma’am. Inside the Virtual Reality System World, our students receive the best care for their bodies and often come out healthier than they went in. While inside, you will still do the normal human things—use the restroom, eat, and sleep, but inside the pod, it will regulate all your needs. So, while you may eat chocolate cake in there, your body won’t feel one single bad calorie from it. That’s my favorite part.”

  Cindy nodded, her mouth slightly open. “Oh, yeah. I’ve heard of this. They use it for some of the new weight loss programs out there.”

  Anastasia tapped her arm. “That’s right, and one of our students actually came up with that concept. It’s so exciting.”

  The elevator stopped and the door slid open to a large room with pods. “These are some of the old pods being sent out to the Federation for use elsewhere. We donate anything we can to the Federation to keep our world running safe and sound.”

  Stephanie couldn’t believe how many pods were in there. It seemed like the room was far bigger than the building looked like it could hold from the outside. Droids floated around with different tools, fixing and buzzing the pods. The doors shut again, and the elevator started.

  “So how do you power all of this?” Stephanie asked.

  Anastasia smiled knowingly and swiped her hand to bring up a blueprint of a massive generator. “There is an enormous power generation station in the basement of this very building. We collect energy from the solar particle panels on the roof and infused into the glass and metal of the entire building. The white boxes on the walls store the unused energy and transfer it throughout the whole building. We had to do it that way as we couldn’t possibly use the city’s outdated mess. We would cause the city to brown-out and power lines to melt. That would be bad for them and bad for our pods.”

  Stephanie was impressed as she watched as an outward view of the building displayed on the screen. “So, this building is specially built?”

  Anastasia nodded. “Mm-hmm. Two years ago, for five days, our school used the most load on the AI of the system ever performed. We are very proud of that.”

  Cindy watched the screen. “How is that accomplished?”

  “Well, either we have a lot of pods doing normal stuff, or someone—or someones—do something so computationally expensive, it will also spike the load.”

  She shook her head. “Spike the load?”

  Stephanie looked at her mom. “It means the load on the system. Basically, the prep school is either enormous or there are a bunch of amazing people doing some amazing stuff to cause the servers to overload. But because NorAm and the Federation depend on the system, there is a failsafe. Immediately, it will spin up new servers to handle the load. It’s apparently a good thing.”

  The elevator doors opened again, and Anastasia led them into what looked like an elegant dining room. “This is a mock-up of one of the dining halls in the systems. Beautiful stonework, gold-plated mahogany tables, and the best droid service you can have. All meals, of course, are included. We have the top chefs program food into our school’s individual system. This is also where a lot of the events happen.”

  Stephanie raised an eyebrow, not enthused. “Events?”

  Anastasia turned swiftly and wobbled slightly on her shoes for a moment. “Mm-hmm. Oh, yes. There are school events in the Virtual Reality that are required. We understand that constant training can be tedious and overwhelming. We also understand that comradery and teamwork are essentials for further careers outside of Pinnacle. These events will give you the chance to meet students, get into groups, and go on training exercises…which can be anything, really. Sometimes, they are group trips to watch the military train, sometimes they explore parts of the system and planets they rarely get to during school, or they are actual training classes for advanced tactics and defense. There are a lot of options and you will have the opportunity, if you stay past the summer pre-semester, to pick and choose what fits best for you.”

  She wrinkled her nose and ran her hand a little awkwardly over the table. “Are they mandatory?”

  Anastasia looked at her but maintained her forced, almost robotic smile, which made Stephanie wonder for a moment if she was, in fact, a robot too. But from the look of the line of makeup on the side of her face and her hazel eyes, she figured not. “Not every single one of them is mandatory but think about it this way…the more you learn, the better you will be prepared for what lies next. We also make those events planned social meetings.”

  Immediately, Stephanie’s stomach dropped. She could already see her avatar taking a tumble on a dance floor. “I’m a little shy.”

  The woman put her hand on her shoulder and started her back toward the elevator with Cindy walking behind. “Don’t worry. They are real social events. A couple of cocktails, and you’ll make friends in no time.”

  Her mother put her finger up as she hurried into the elevator. “Uh, I know the drinking age is eighteen, but…she’s only seventeen.”

  Anastasia tilted her head to the side and raised an eyebrow. “Don’t worry. We are covered. It was in the parental release you signed.” She turned away before Cindy could fight back. “Besides, we want you to learn about everything here at Pinnacle. From education, social lifestyles, aliens and the government, to business and military. It will be well-rounded.”

  The door opened and she sighed, prancing out ahead of Stephanie and Cindy. Stephanie giggled at her mom, who rolled her eyes and walked beside her into what looked like a student hall. It was beautiful, with lounge chairs tastefully arranged, interactive holoscreen televisions, banks of ViD screen computers, and droid-manned snack bars. All the walls, as they walked through, projected a beautiful scene from somewhere on one of the three planets—although Stephanie was certain none of them were Dreth, given that it was dry and almost completely destroyed at that point.

  Everything was lush and soft and gave a feeling of comfort but definitely high-end. “This campus can also house any students who choose not to go home on breaks. Sometimes, we have students who don’t come from the best home environments so they choose to stay with us. Those programs allow them to work in the admin office during the break to pay for their room and board. Usually, inside the system, but they come out at five. So they lounge, study, socialize, and live out here as they would in a regular job.”

  Cindy pulled Stephanie close. “She’ll come home on breaks.”

  Anastasia smiled awkwardly again. “Of course she will. Because family ties are important to us here at Pinnacle and we encourage students who want to go home for breaks. But if there is ever a change...” She shrugged meaningfully. “There is a pool on the next floor up with a full gym. Those who stay in shape out of the pod tend to see better results in it. The amenities meet these needs when the students aren’t in the pods during break times.”

  Her mother nodded and continued to scrutinize the area. “It’s definitely nice. Not what I imagined a campus to be.”

  The guide followed her gaze. “We put all the amenities in but remember, with every one of the students in pods, there is no need for a traditional large-grounds campus like the historical universities had, some of which still operate today. Fascinating.”

  Stephanie poked at a droid that hovered near her and it buzzed, blew air into her hair, and sped off. She grinned and straightened her hair quickly. Anastasia gestured to the hall dorms with her arms. “We must begin the prep classes so you can jump right in. I am usually inside too, but I came out to give you a tour.”

  The time had come to say goodbye. She turned to her mom, who hugged her tightly and kissed her on the cheek. Her forehead was wrinkled in worry. “I’ll send you on your way, then. If I don’t get home soon, your father will have blown up a building. He means well…” she said with a quick glance at Anastasia, “but sometimes, he gets a little aggressive when he tries to help.” She pulled Stephanie in and hugged her again. “I love you. And if you need anything, you contact us. Send me emails.”

  She smiled and nodded. “I promise. It’s only a couple of months. I love you.”

  Anastasia nodded to Cindy’s right. “Roger can take you down.”

  Her mother turned and jumped when she noticed the human-looking robot standing very close. “Oh…he doesn’t have much regard for personal space, does he?”

  Roger walked beside her with a slightly odd gait and stood to the side as they stepped into the elevator. “My apologies. We aren’t always thoroughly programmed with a human perspective. I’ll show you out.”

  Stephanie stood and watched a little nervously as her mom put her hand up to wipe a tear in the corner of her eye. The door closed and she was left alone in the enormous building with Anastasia.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  The guide walked her down a narrow hallway. The floors were all marble like the entrance on the bottom floor and the walls displayed an ocean scene. Above, the ceiling looked like a clear blue summer sky, but much clearer than anything she saw in Chicago. There, the technologies hadn’t been fully utilized to assist in clearing the smog and C02 from the atmosphere. While they did have blue skies, there was always a haze to them.

  They stopped in front of a door and Anastasia put her palm on the reader. It scanned her hand and the door clicked open. She walked inside first and Stephanie trailed behind, still mesmerized by the fact that it felt like she was actually at the ocean.

  As they entered, the lights in the room all flickered on. The walls were painted a deep-turquoise hue and high ceilings created an illusion of space. A closet and a bathroom were situated on the right and a dresser on her left. She moved her bag on top of the dresser. “I think I brought far too many things with me.”

  Anastasia opened the handscan-secured closet. “Don’t worry. You can store anything you like in here. It’s a common first-semester mistake. Students often don’t realize they will be in the pod for the entirety of their stay. Once you’re in, you don’t leave until you are woken. You receive a constant drip of serum—one which is perfectly safe—and your nutrients are fed through an itsy bitsy needle in the tip of your finger. The rest is scientific mumbo jumbo. But the pod takes care of everything from waste to keeping your teeth clean and fresh. I’m sure if you want to inquire about the process further, the AI in your pod will be able to assist you.”

  Stephanie set her suitcase in the closet and closed the door. Anastasia had her place her palm on the secure lock to reset it so only she could enter. The guide then handed her what seemed like a feather-light bodysuit that even included feet. Silver tracks were woven all through the inside. “I will leave you to it. Put this on, climb inside, and shut the door. The AI will help you from there. Enjoy, and I will see you in the Virtual World, I’m sure.”

  She smiled and waited as the woman left the room until she heard the door lock behind her. With wide eyes, she looked at the bodysuit and sighed. “This should be interesting.”

  A deep, slow breath helped her to settle a little and she changed out of her clothes, hung them on the empty hangers in the closet, and climbed inside the pod. The bed within was definitely much more comfortable than the others she had been in, but the screens and buttons on everything else weren’t that much better than those in the one she had used at the pod rental group. As she closed the door, she chuckled, “A lot of hype….”

  The AI came on almost immediately. “Welcome, Stephanie Morgana. I am Artificial Intelligence 6489LPK, but you can call me June. I will be your guide for the rest of your time in this pod. Please lay back and put both your arms on the rests to your sides. We will prepare you for the long sleep after you have been administered your first initial jolt of serum so that the preparation is more comfortable for you.”