by Amy English
Kirby grit his teeth and walked away. The coach was obviously one hundred percent invested in Dylan Wilson. A serious blow to the effort he had put into playing. Coach Peterson had just a few favorites and Kirby was not one of them. But even showing favoritism toward one particular player over another was not the worst. Kirby’s problems with Dylan extended off the court.
It seemed Dylan would be the thorn in his side. A manufactured problem that didn’t exist since Dylan was totally unaware that there was an issue. It took several knocks to the ground and glares on the court before Dylan finally realized he had an enemy. He inquired and had heard that Kirby was angry about Sunday Jacobs. An eleventh grader that Kirby had a crush on. It was revealed that Sunday was interested in him. Dylan understood but it was too late to undo the fallout. Kirby went ballistic. And it was the start of his descent into his dislike for a boy who had done nothing to him. Dylan wasn’t interested in Sunday. But it didn’t matter. Kirby blamed him all the same. And now with coach Peterson riding the popular Dylan wave, there was no love loss. He didn’t like Dylan. Plain and simple.
Dylan left out of the coach’s office and went to the locker. Kirby rolled his eyes and grabbed his bag then headed out. Dylan opened his locker and pulled his bag out and walked to the exit. Waiting to walk with is was his friend Peter. “What up,” Peter said, extending his hand and fist bumping Dylan. “What’s up,” Dylan replied. “Nothing. We should swing by Joe’s. Or maybe The Sandwich Shop. Everybody said they going to get something to eat. My bet is they went to Joe’s.”
Dylan smiled as the two opened the double doors and exited the school. “I don’t know. I gotta get home. Coach mad. Said my game is shit. My father not going to like it if I let my grades slip and let my game be off. I better get home. I’ll catch you later,” he said. “Yep. I’ll call you later,” Peter said, as he turned and started walking backwards, looking at Dylan.
He wondered about his friend. Dylan hardly ever passed up an opportunity to go eat and he loved Coney dogs. Peter turned around then walked over to the bike rack. He removed the chain and lock from his bike and peddled away towards Joe’s. Dylan glanced back. Peter was peddling fast. He chuckled. He wanted to go. He thought about going. But it was too late, and Peter was going too fast to catch up with. I’ll call him later, he thought, as he left headed home.
Dylan eased in the basement with his mother’s keys and unlocked the storage cabinet. He removed the game and locked it back then snuck back upstairs and looked around for his parents. His father was watching his favorite program and his mother was talking on the phone to a relative. Dylan eased out of the house and hurried to Emily’s house and went to her side door. She was already looking out for him and saw when he was approaching.
“Hey,” she whispered. “Hey,” he replied, shutting the door behind him. “Let’s go to my room. We’re good. My little brother’s here, but my parents won’t be back for another hour. They went out to dinner. They just called to check up on me so were good,” she said. Emily and Dylan went to her room and closed the door. He pulled the system out of the bag and talked her though all the buttons the same way his father had. He showed her all the locations she could visit. He told her about the difference in time and he went into detail about what he had experiences.
“So, you didn’t like the virtual people?” she said, looking confused. She wasn’t sure what he meant. “It’s not that I didn’t like them. It was just weird. You’ll see. I did like the animals though. It felt more normal because most animals don’t really look at you as though their giving you direct eye to eye contact. With the people, its different. It’s like you expect that but then you don’t get it. I liked the safari better. I also liked being a fish in the ocean,” he stated. “What do you mean being a fish?” she asked. “Oh yeah. You can change into an animal. Any animal. Anytime. You think it and it takes a minute but then your form changes and you’re that animal. It’s amazing,” he replied, smiling uncontrollably. Emily smiled. She was anxious. She was ready to play. The more Dylan talked the more excited she became.
“Dylan. I want to go in now,” she said. “That’s not a good idea Em. Your parents will be home at any time. You know how they are. They say an hour then show up like fifteen minutes later,” he said shaking his head. Emily knew just what he meant. “You’re right. I’ll do it late, when I know everyone’s asleep,’ she said. Dylan smiled then began rubbing and pulling on his finger. Emily knew about his injury since the first day she met him. She noticed the limitations he had with it. Emily was bright. She didn’t miss much. She noticed everything. “Why are you messing with your finger. Is it bothering you?” she asked. “No. It feels different though. I first noticed it this morning. It’s nothing,” he replied.
He tried to give her as much information as he could think of. He told her the system was set up so that they could log on at the same time and meet up on the other side, in the virtual world. He told her he would log on at the same time as she did so they could play and explore together. “Text me later tonight, as soon as you’re ready to go in,” he said. Emily was studying information systems and was planning to graduate and study IT in college and went to all the same seminars with Dylan. He knew she was bright and he trusted her with his father’s unit.
The clock struck midnight. Emily awoke and looked over at her clock. She had fallen asleep waiting on her parents to go to sleep. Her mother Cindy was a night owl. And every time she thought her mother was asleep, she would hear her movements through the hall again. Cindy constantly got out of bed and walk to the bathroom or down to the kitchen. Emily believed her mother was dealing with another bout of insomnia. And so, she had inadvertently fallen asleep.
She grabbed her phone. Dylan had texted her over a dozen times. She called his phone then sighed when she got no answer. She looked at the game she had hid under covers. She wanted to log on. She wanted to explore. And she was upset she had missed her chance. “Come on Dyl. Wake up,” she said, as she called him a few more times then sent a text. When an hour went by with no returned call, Emily pulled her covers back over her. She didn’t want to go in alone. She needed Dylan and he wasn’t up. She fell back asleep. Her journey would have to wait until the next evening.
“Hi Frank. You got a minute?” Peggy asked. “Come in,” he replied, as he wrote notes on a prototype for a cell phone. His latest work was a cell phone that doubled as a hand held gaming system and would be marketed to teens and young adults. It had buttons on the side for volume and power. But with one switch, turned into left and right maneuvering buttons for use as a joy stick. Frank stopped writing to allow Peggy a chance to talk.
“What’s going on?” he asked. Peggy flashed her famous smile. The one that got her the job and the one that helped catapult her into the executive chair. No one minded. Peggy was smart and she was their top salesperson for years. She had earned the spot.
“I want to help you push Espanys. The work you put into it and what it does…It needs to be in every kid’s home. It needs to be a part of people’s lives. I can help,” she stated. Frank sat his pen down and sighed. Peggy was well respected but their CEO was a tough nut to crack. She was newly in her position. Frank didn’t believe she could convince Mr. Stallings. And even more difficult to convince was Mrs. Lancaster. And her opinion mattered.
“I can’t Peggy. Not now. I need to wait until I get more information. Then present it to Mr. Stallings and Mrs. Lancaster. Without their approval, it is a waste of time. Plus, the EE303 is taking up my time. The cell phone that doubles as a gaming system. The project I presented a week ago. The phone now has over five hundred games. Able to hold a charge for a full twenty four hours. And it charges complete within an hour. It will be the next big thing. Espanys is on hold until further notice,” he stated.
Peggy sighed. She hoped to get information on the system. But Frank had moved on. He had something else worthy of his time. Something spectacular. The reason Silverfish invested so heavily in him. He usually prod
uced winners. Espanys was too ahead of its time. But Peggy believed in it. She had reasons to want it viable and available. And now she would have to wait. “Well. If you change your mind and want help talking to either Mr. Stallings or Bridgette, let me know.”
Silverfish rolled out several new prototypes. Peggy has sat in on more meetings than she had ever attended in the past. Her drive home was uneventful. She took a deep breath as she pulled into her driveway. She looked down and across at the Wilson’s house. She could see that Frank still had not made it home. Neither had Zach. She assumed they were still working on EE303.
“He’s going to be so disappointed,” she said as she sat in her car. Her son Josh was in possession of the gaming system she took. A system he had trouble operating. He could turn it on. But that was as far as he could get. He was unaware that there was a small button that looked like an emblem on the headphones that he needed to push in order to turn them into AI compatible headphones. Otherwise they could only be used for sound.
Peggy was unsuccessful in getting Frank to talk about it. Josh would have to figure it out. He had a few friends that came to visit him. Peggy hoped he could find out from one of them. Part of her feared him discussing it with anyone. But it was worth the risk. His happiness meant everything to her. Even if she would suffer consequences for stealing the defunct property of Silverfish. Even though they voted it down, it was still considered their system. She hoped its sophisticated games, with its human electrical impulse compatible wiring, would allow her son to walk again. Even if it was a simulation. And hopefully pull him out of the fog he had been in lately.
“Josh!” Peggy yelled out. “Yeah mom,” he replied from up the stairs. Peggy sat her purse on the foyer table and glanced at her mail, piece by piece. She sighed then sat the mail down. “You hungry?” she yelled out, as she opened her fridge.
“Hi Mrs. Temple,” the sitter said, as she entered the kitchen. “Hi Amy. Did everything go ok?” she asked. “Yeah. It was uneventful. He was in a good mood since he had company today,” she said.
Peggy shot her a quick look. “Company! Who?” she asked. Amy hesitated. Peggy never told her Josh couldn’t have any of his friends over. And Josh told her it was a school buddy and that they were going to do homework. “Oh. Um, some kid name Kirby. A nice young man. They said they had homework.” Peggy sighed.
She knew Kirby. He was on the basketball team and she knew his mother well. “Oh Kirby. Yeah, that’s fine. But please call me if that happens again. No issues. I just want to know who’s in my house,” he said, smiling to reassure Amy that she had done nothing wrong. Ok. Well thanks. I’ll see you tomorrow,” Amy said, as she grabbed her backpack and left. Peggy waved goodbye then walked back in the kitchen. She opened her refrigerator and pulled out a pot and placed it on the stove then jogged up the stairs to see what her son was doing.
“Hey honey,” she said, kissing him on the cheek. “Hey mom,” he said, turning his attention back to his online game. He was playing a war game with an international group of players. He was playing a young man who resided in Canada. “So… Kirby stopped by? I haven’t seen him in a long time. When did you two start hanging out?” she asked, concerned because she was unaware that they had become sociable.
“We had homework. We’re not besties mom. Just working on a project,” he said. Josh only had one friend and he moved to New Jersey. He had some associates at school. But no one he liked enough to invite over. His mother believed he was becoming a loner and was shunning his peers. But Josh very much wanted to be part of the in-crowd at school. He just didn’t know how to fit in.
The truth was he wanted to be Kirby’s friend. And so, he bragged about the gaming console he had in an effort to get him to want to stop by. Kirby was the cool kid and like Dylan, other teenagers gravitated towards him. Josh hoped to win a friend if he shared the game. He told Kirby there were only a few in the entire world. A fact that Kirby confirmed then made his way to Josh’s home. The two had tried to play, unsuccessfully. Kirby was determined to figure it out. He studied the controls and the headphone and after several hours gave up.
He wanted to do research on the unit. Ask friends in the gaming community. He took pictures with his cell phone to send to a guy he played chess with in Europe. The guy was touted as an expert in new techy gadgets. He promised Josh he’d get it figured out and they would play then left.
“Oh honey. I’m sorry. I have bad news. I still haven’t found out how to operate the game. Give me more time,” she said. “It’s ok mom. I’ve started a new online game. I get to play people across the world. Some game you download online. It’s fun. It has a bunch of levels to it. And right now, I am undefeated. I have taken over a whole civilization. I am their new king. I’m in no hurry,” he said. Peggy smiled and touched her sons head then turned and left out. He seemed happier. She was glad he found something to occupy his time. She was glad he was socializing. She wanted him happy. The games were an escape and they always seemed to help him escape from his disability. Even if it was always short lived.
Three
Illuminating Effects
E
mily sat on her floor. She was excited. She was anxious and she was ready. I’m ready to go in, she texted. It was a little after midnight and she hoped Dylan hadn’t fallen asleep again. She had waited until she could hear her father snoring before she sent the text. She didn’t worry about Cindy. She had taken melatonin to help her get sleep and she had already beat everyone to bed. Emily waited for Dylan. Soon a reply came back. Me too. Let’s go to Safari. Set it to be there for ten minutes and set it to begin at exactly twelve fifteen, he texted. Ok, she replied.
Dylan set his console for ten minutes. He then selected Safari mode and dialed in his start time of 12:15 a.m. and put his chrome headphones on. Emily reached up, selected Safari mode, set the timer for ten minutes and selected 12:15 a.m. and put her chrome headphones on and laid back.
They had just two minutes before the game would begin. Dylan knew the routine and was calm as he waited for the system to start. Emily was nervous. She didn’t know what to expect. Dylan had told her the probes wouldn’t hurt and that the time while in, seemed longer and that the system put you to sleep. She was nervous about all of those points but she was ready. She was brave. She had waited for this and she wasn’t going to back out now. At 12:15, the metal needles slowly exited the headphones and moved into their ears making its way to their eardrums. Emily closed her eyes tight. She wasn’t sure what to expect. Dylan laid on his bean bag calm, ready to find and explore with Emily When the round bulb touched their ears, their eyes slowly closed and after a few minutes of darkness, they emerged in the virtual world.
Emily immediately looked around. She looked at her hands. She looked down at her legs and could see that she had on clothing. She could tell she had on the same ankle length pajama pants that she had been laying there with. She looked around at the vast wilderness full of animals. Wild animals that walked right past her with mild, unthreatening and gentle ways. Animals that in the natural world would have attacked or been more aggressive. She gently touched a wild boar as it walked right past her. She was amazed at the life-like feeling and texture of its skin as her hand glowed bright. She tried to reach out and touch a buffalo and her hand lit up bright again. She noticed that she was brighter than all the animals, the grass and the sky. She had an illumination that attracted the animals closer to her.
As she looked around, she got nervous when she spotted a lion coming close. Her initial reaction was one of fear. But she sensed that everything was ok. The lion walked as if he hadn’t a care in the world. There was no show of aggression in the lions’ movements. He walked like a gentle cat. The lion walked right past her and she touched his back.
Emily was so blown away at her surroundings that she hadn’t noticed Dylan walking up to her. She could tell it was him. He looked the exact same except all his features were an electrical outline. Dylan looked closely at Emily. He was shocked.
She had pupils. She was looking straight at him, directly in his eyes. He smiled at her and held out his hand. Emily took his hand and the two walked through the wilderness. Because they were unable to actually talk to one another, Dylan had to do a lot of pointing and facial gestures to communicate with her.
He put up his finger signaling her to wait and then looked at her before closing his eyes, running and turning into a Gazelle. He ran around for a few seconds then turned into a bird and flew high up to the night sky. Emily watched in amazement as he turned into four different animals. She tried to do it but wasn’t successful. He walked back to her and she shook her head. He pointed to his head then closed his eyes tightly and turned into a Zebra. After a few moments he changed back. Emily closed her eyes but didn’t turn into anything. She shook her head in disappointment.
The two walked then started running through the tall grass. They frolicked and played and ran with the animals. Just as Dylan’s father had told him, as they ran, the animals ran with them. As they slowed, so did the animals. Emily was amazed by her surrounding and the environment. She felt the wind as the breeze swept through the land, causing the trees and grass to move. She looked up towards the sky and watched as the stars twinkled and the moon shined bright. Even the brightness of the moon, although brighter than everything else, was not as bright as her and Dylan.
Their bodies illuminated like bright beams. And their lights were different shades like the many colors of the people in the natural world. Emily looked at Dylan and watched as he pet a giraffe. She walked over to join him. She touched the giraffe and smiled at Dylan. She was amazed at the feel of the giraffe’s skin. It felt real. She felt the warmth and texture she expected to, with such an animal. Dylan walked away and went over to a large tree with dozens of branched and climbed to the top. Emily followed, climbing and sitting on a limb. The pair sat, enjoying the breeze and the night, as the exit time neared. Suddenly they were pulled out of the game.
