by Logan Byrne
“Are you ready to go?” I asked thirty-five minutes later, as she was collecting her belongings in the room.
“One minute,” she yelled back, the ruffling sound of her bag spilling out into the kitchen.
I grabbed my bracelet and clasped it around my left wrist. It was my grandma’s and she gave it to me. I always wore it, no matter where I went, even to work. It was a part of me, and I never wanted to let it go. Besides, only good things could happen to me while I was wearing it. She told me it was lucky.
“Okay,” Saraia said as she walked out of the bedroom, her backpack hanging off of her, a little too big for her frame.
I grabbed my keys, we walked out the front door, and I locked it behind me. I jiggled the doorknob to make sure it was secured, which sometimes it wasn’t. It was this time, and we walked down the steps. Saraia grabbed my hand when we got onto the sidewalk, and off we went for the fifteen-minute walk to her school. Thankfully it was in the same general direction that I needed to go to get to work.
Although the skies were always gray, it was particularly overcast today. Some days there were thin rays of sunshine that were like small bits of heaven breaking through the dark, brooding clouds. Sadly enough, today wasn’t one of those days.
Saraia and I were at a corner, patiently waiting for the light to change so we could walk, when she nudged me, slyly pointing to a man standing in an alleyway nearby. He looked a little suspicious, constantly glancing over his shoulder, like he was expecting somebody, or something, to be there. I saw a kid walk by him, and the man stopped him. I kept a close eye on him, wondering if he was going to start any kind of trouble.
He opened his jacket, and I could see something metallic and shiny hanging inside. At that moment, I knew what he was doing. He had a skimmer in his jacket, held up by a fabric sling, neatly hidden away because of the consequences of having such a device.
Skimmers were illegal, and he definitely knew it. They were dark metal devices, a wristband of sorts, that you wore in WorldNet. They allowed you to hack through the network with special cards that I was guessing the guy was likely also carrying. I had heard about skimmers in school once, but I’d never actually seen one in person. I knew enough to know that you didn’t want to be caught with one in your possession.
Skimmers were legal inside the tournament, and they were actually given to competitors, along with a set of cards to use with them. Swiping the cards inside the tournament allowed you to hack or change the source code, ultimately letting you change your surroundings or how you operated within them. You might be able to make weapons appear out of thin air, gain some sort of superpower, or even literally change and form your landscape and environment. The cards could really do anything, as long as you had the right ones.
Possessing a skimmer outside of the tournament, however, was strictly forbidden. Merely being seen with one meant a mandatory five-year prison sentence, a fate nobody wanted, but plenty of low-lives were wildly tempted. Skimmers went for a lot on the black market, since people used them inside WorldNet to hack into banks, cause trouble for people trying to enjoy themselves, or even just to mess around and act out their wildest fantasies. After all, if you had one and could program a source card, you could do whatever you wanted. There were no true limitations in the digital realm.
The light changed, and Saraia and I started walking. We were going to walk right past the man selling the skimmer. The boy he’d tried to persuade was long gone, as he must’ve realized that he could get in trouble for even talking to this man.
“You look like a smart girl. You want to see something cool?” the man asked me, but I didn’t even look at him.
“I’m not interested,” I said, and squeezed Saraia’s hand harder, picking up our pace.
“Oh, come on. You mean to tell me you like being poor? You like being pushed down at every chance you have to stand up? I’m offering you a chance,” he said, walking beside us.
“A chance at what? Prison? Get away from us before I call a cop over here,” I said sternly, as I stopped in place.
“Whoa, whoa, we don’t need any cops to come over here! I’m sorry if I offended you, I was just trying to help,” he said, his hands up.
“A little piece of advice: don’t ever try to help me again. If I ever see you on this street again I won’t hesitate to make sure you regret it,” I said, looking him dead in the eyes, his expression one of pure fear and regret.
Without saying a word, he spun around, briskly walked away, and turned around the corner.
“Wow, you really scared him,” Saraia said.
“Well, somebody has to. You don’t ever talk to someone like that, okay?” I asked.
“I promise I won’t. I don’t want to be in trouble. Ms. Weldon wouldn’t like it if I missed turning in my homework. She’d give me detention!” Saraia said.
There was such a difference between us; our motives for staying away from that man or people like him were completely night and day. She didn’t even think about getting in real trouble, only that her teacher would scold her, and she’d miss turning in something as trivial and unimportant as homework. I didn’t think about losing my job and source of income, only getting tossed in a cold jail cell without a key in sight. Oh, what it’s like to be young.
Saraia and I soon got to her school, the mass of kids running up the chipped, weathered steps and through the front door, some of them even chasing each other. I looked at the clock that sat plastered atop the front door. There was an hour until I had to be at work. Saraia brought my attention back down to her.
“Is mom picking me up?” she asked.
“Yeah. You’ll stay here until she comes, okay? You’re going to have to stay with the after school group today,” I said.
“Aw, but I hate going in there. It’s no fun,” she pouted, her arms crossed.
“I know, but you have to. I have work, and mom can’t come until an hour and a half after school lets out. You’re just going to have to stay for today, but I promise you and I will have fun once I get home,” I said, smiling.
“Will you braid my hair?” she asked, wide-eyed.
“If that’ll get you to stay after school without a problem, then yes,” I said.
“Yay!” she said excitedly, before hugging me tightly and letting go, joining the other kids in running inside.
I smiled, watching her run out of sight inside the hallway, before I turned and started my somewhat leisurely stroll to work. My walk was going to be pretty stress-free since most of the people in the city were already at work. My boss let me come in a little bit later on days when I had to take Saraia to school, which was about the only kind thing he did for me. I sometimes thought about trying to find a new job, but it would most certainly be suicide for us financially. Not only because it was hard to find a job in the first place, but also because I knew they would want some kind of reference, and this job was the only one I’d ever had. The last thing I needed was some guy calling Mr. Kriegle up and inquiring about a girl named Alexia who just applied at his place. I knew I’d get fired on the spot, and without another job in place it wouldn’t be a smart move on my part.
When I was about ten minutes from work I passed by a shop. A sign in the window immediately caught my eye and caused me to stop in place. The shop was a café, though they didn’t serve any food. They served access to WorldNet, which for some people was far better than even the tastiest cuisine money could buy. Cafes like this were starting to sprout up more frequently, and they offered anyone with a little cash the luxury of logging onto WorldNet comfortably, getting to see the world and an environment that was artificially better than the one I was standing in now.
“First-time customers get twenty minutes free inside WorldNet. Claim your twenty minutes of fun now before space fills up! Spots are limited!” the sign read.
WorldNet was unique in that it worked on a four-to-one ratio between minutes in the real world and minutes inside the grid. For every four minutes that went by in
the physical world, one minute went by in there, which meant my time in the grid would only feel like five minutes in the physical world. That wasn’t that long. I had thirty-five minutes left before work. Twenty minutes in there and a ten minute-walk to work left me five minutes to spare in case anything went wrong, which I knew it wouldn’t. I looked around, saw nobody coming from either direction and, biting my lower lip, decided to take the plunge. I walked up to the door and opened it up, as a little bell rang above me.
There was a screen above the front counter showing all of the pods available. Only one had a green light, which meant it was available. All the others were occupied, which was surprising because they had ten pods and it was a weekday morning. A woman walked out of a door behind the front counter and came towards me with a smile on her face.
“Hello, can I help you?” she asked.
“I’m here for the promotion. I saw the sign,” I said, pointing behind me at the banner strung on the window.
“Oh, yes, please come forward. I can definitely help you with that,” she said.
I walked up to the counter as she pulled up a small screen from below, a scanner from what I remembered the last time I logged on, and looked back up at me.
“I will just need your thumb print, if you’d be so kind. It’s for government purposes, not for us,” she said.
I pressed my right thumb against the scanner, the light behind it going from left to right before the blue screen turned green, which I took as a good sign.
“Good, good. You’re approved for access to WorldNet. Is this your first time?” she asked, putting away the scanner.
“No, but I haven’t been on in a while,” I said.
“Well, you’re about to have a great time. If you’ll follow me, I’ll take you to your pod,” she said.
She walked out from behind the counter and I followed her down a hallway. We stopped in front of a pod with the number nine painted on the door. She opened it, extended her arm, and smiled as I walked inside. There was a somewhat darker room inside lit up only by strings of lights along the trim on the walls. There was a white chair in the center of the room with a large machine behind it, and there were arm and leg restraints on the chair itself, which I remembered was to make sure you didn’t wander off or fall out of the chair.
“If you’d just sit down, we can get started,” she said.
I sat in the chair and got comfortable before the restraints automatically fastened on me, though not so tightly as to make me feel threatened or uneasy. She pressed some buttons on the machine behind me, but I had no clue as to what exactly she was doing.
“Okay, we’re going to get started in a second. Once your twenty minutes are up, the network will ask you if you’d like to pay for more time. If you answer no, you’ll be logged out and woken back up. You’re going to feel a sting in a minute. That’s normal, and it’s just the neuro harness injecting into you so that it can tap into your central nervous system, which allows you to have all of your worldly senses inside WorldNet. Do you have any questions?” she asked.
“No, I don’t think so,” I said.
“Okay then, here we go,” she said.
I heard her press a button before I felt something quickly jab into the back of my neck, shocking me upright. I saw a rush of white numbers surge past my eyes before it turned blindingly bright. A ringing sound in my ears caused my brain to rattle a bit before the white glow started to dissipate, and I was looking around, standing inside WorldNet. Everything around me was white, the entrance devoid of any color or life. Logging in always left a metal taste in my mouth that disappeared within a minute or so.
“Hello, and welcome to WorldNet. My name is Gordana, and I’ll be your guide. What is your name?”
“Alexia,” I said.
“Registering username: Alexia. It’s nice to meet you, Alexia. What would you like to do?” Gordana asked.
“I’d like to travel,” I said, after thinking for a few seconds.
“Travel command recognized. Where can I take you?” Gordana asked.
“I’d like to see the beach,” I said, thinking of the first place that came to mind that wasn’t another megacity.
“Transport to beach initiated,” Gordana said.
After her words ended I was thrust forward. The bright white light blinded me as my hair blew back away from my face. A breeze blew swiftly against my cheek, and my hands went up to my eyes to block the light piercing them. Suddenly it stopped, and I opened my eyes. I put my hands down and watched crystal blue waves crash against beautiful white sand. I looked down, spread my toes apart, and felt the warm sand stick to them, seeping between my toes.
I could smell the salty sea wafting through the breeze. I looked around to see other patrons on the beach, although none of them paid me any attention. They just walked around and lay back, taking in all that this view and moment had to offer. It was so beautiful, a place I had never been to but always dreamt of. This was a far cry from the gray skies and polluted streets that I was used to. This place was paradise.
I walked forward, the frothy waves rolling over the sand and drowning my feet. The sand that had stuck to them was washed away, and the cool breeze blew wisps of my hair back. I allowed myself a small smile; my chest didn’t feel tense like it did in the real world. I now understood why people clawed and begged to come here, spending their entire real lives inside a virtual one. This was far better than any reality I had ever known.
I walked back onto the dry sand, where it caked onto my wet feet. I sat down, with my knees up to my chin, and wrapped my arms around them. A shining light blinded me, and when I looked down, I saw my bracelet shimmering in the bright sunlight, like I had never seen it before. The great thing about WorldNet was that when you logged in, you entered exactly like you were when you came in. Sure, you could go shopping in here and change your look with the snap of a finger, but some things are good to keep the same.
“Gordana,” I said.
“Yes, Alexia?” she asked.
“How long have I been here?” I asked.
“You have been logged into WorldNet for approximately ten minutes,” she said.
I had already spent half of my time and I felt like I had barely even scratched the surface of what I wanted to do. I knew I shouldn’t have expected too much in the first place, considering I only had twenty minutes and I had to go to work, but still, I wanted to explore and see more. It almost didn’t feel fair that I had to leave.
“Gordana,” I said.
“Yes, Alexia?” she asked.
“I’d like something, a strawberry smoothie,” I said, smiling.
“That will be ten WorldCoins. Would you like to proceed?” she asked.
I felt my pockets in vain, but I knew I had no WorldCoins, and wouldn’t have any to spare anytime soon.
“No,” I said.
“Request cancelled,” she said.
I did the only thing I knew would be worthwhile, and that was to lie back and feel the warm sun and sand against my cold body, my hands behind my head, with my eyes shut as I soaked in the rays for the few more minutes I had in here before I was kicked out.
I heard a bell ring a few minutes later, and my eyes flew open to see what was happening. A massive picture showed up on the horizon, and then a video started to play.
“Thank you for choosing WorldNet! Our Founding Fathers had only one thing in mind when WorldNet was created, and that was to meld the real world with the digital world, allowing you to see the world and live out your wildest dreams, even if your life’s circumstances don’t allow you to normally. But please, don’t forget, tonight is the drawing for the annual lottery to see who is going to be entered into the competition this year! Each of the six megacities will have four entrants selected, so watch closely tonight to see if your name is called. The chance of a lifetime might just be at your fingertips! The top prize is an ultimate wish, granted by WorldNet and these leading sponsors,” the man’s voice said, as a list of business
es and corporations scanned across the sky.
I loved how they tried to twist this into a positive, like the prize was something that you should want and clamor for, no matter that the sentence for losing was hard labor and a chance at poverty once you got out because you didn’t get paid for three years, even though you’d have to work yourself into a hole.
I tried not to think about it, instead looking out at the sea, taking in the sights, before I heard a bell go off again, and this time the scene I was looking at shot away from me as I was cast into the bright white abyss as before, my time in WorldNet already over even though it felt like it had just began.
“Your twenty minutes have expired. Would you like to buy more time?” Gordana asked.
“No,” I said, sadly.
I opened my eyes, my physical eyes, and looked around the darkened room. The woman was behind me, though I wasn’t sure she’d ever left. I felt the back of my neck, the needle was gone and a raised bump was now there, and I realized the restraints had been lifted.
“I hope you had a wonderful time inside WorldNet. If you’d please follow me, we’ll get you checked out,” she said.
I stood up, my somewhat blurry vision starting to fully come back, and I followed her down the hallway and into the lobby. A man was standing in front of the counter, looking like he was waiting to login to the network.
“If you’d please just scan your print again so that the system knows you’re logged out completely, it would be most appreciated,” the woman said, smiling.
She almost seemed too nice, like she was a soulless robot whose only purpose in this world was to sign people in and out of WorldNet. No, that wasn’t possible; at least I didn’t think it was. I guess the only plausible explanation was that she was brainwashed, and hard.
