by Resa Nelson
CHAPTER 14
Later that day, Zuri left the bubble she had shared temporarily with Milan and returned to her own. She diminished her familiar wall of icons until she recognized the interior of her new home in the Gold Tower. For good measure, Zuri paced her living room in silence for a few minutes.
Whispering, she said, “Ben? Are you here?”
The image of the robot materialized in front of her, his eyes glowing pale green. “I’m here, Zuri. What do you need?”
Not knowing how he’d react, Zuri took a leap of faith. If she made the wrong decision now, her plan could be relayed to Donna, and Zuri doubted her supervisor would approve. She continued to whisper. “The Privacy Wall.”
As she’d seen before, a gray cloud fell over the wall of icons, blocking them from view. “Privacy Wall” blinked below it.
“No one can hear us?” Zuri said.
Benjamin nodded. “That’s right.”
“I need your help.”
Benjamin leaned closer. “Tell me what you need.”
Zuri decided it would make the most sense if she explained everything point by point so Benjamin could follow her logic. “When I lived in Aspire, the greatest success I had with Mae Lin was when we created an online maze.”
Benjamin’s green eyes wavered. “I don’t understand.”
“We challenged our customers to go through the maze. There were closed doors and overhead panels and trap doors. Behind most of them, there was nothing. But behind some of them, we put one of Mae Lin’s designs. Whoever found it first won it. People loved the maze, and our sales were great. I want to do something like that here.”
“And you want me to help you create a maze like that?”
“Yes. But a regular maze will be too boring for VainGlorians. They want excitement.” The more Zuri thought through her idea, the more she liked it. “We’ll have monsters chase them through the maze, and they’ll have to look for doorways or other ways to get to safety. We’ll put one of Mae Lin’s designs behind some of them—and each design will trigger a weapon that will destroy the monster. When the monster is a vampire, stakes will shoot out of the design and hit the vampire in the heart. When the monster is a werewolf, we’ll use silver bullets. We’ll have all kinds of monsters and weapons. The VainGlorians will get the thrill of a chase, and they’ll be surprised when Mae Lin’s outfits make them feel like warriors.”
“And your supervisor has approved this?”
Zuri glanced at the gray cloud of the Privacy Wall, still firmly in place. “No. I don’t think she would approve. But I don’t approve of how the VainGlorians use people. I don’t like the way they manipulate or feel entertained by tragedy.”
Benjamin tilted his head slightly to one side. “If you don’t seek approval from your supervisor, are you not guilty of the same thing?”
“Maybe.”
If Benjamin had been a real man standing in front of her, Zuri would have felt intimidated by her low status in VainGlory. She would have cowered and fell silent.
But she had no problem talking to a robot.
Zuri continued with passion. “I could go home to Aspire right now, but what good would that do? What if there’s a chance to show VainGlorians that there’s a better way? That they can get the thrills they want without hurting anyone?”
“It could be dangerous.”
“I’ve thought about that.” Zuri resumed her pacing. She’d been thinking about it all day. “The people in real danger appear to be criminals, and low-level ones at that. I’m not breaking any law. I’m not hurting anyone. I’m putting a new twist on promoting Mae Lin’s work. That’s all. And if VainGlorians like it, maybe fewer of them will do terrible things. Maybe they’ll become better people.”
“That’s a tall order. I see no one else doing anything like that.”
Zuri stopped and stared at Benjamin. “That’s my point. If I go back to Aspire, I’m turning my back on something I might be able to change. People who live in murder cities don’t deserve to be exploited. A shoplifter doesn’t deserve to have her head crushed by a gorilla. How can I sleep now that I know what goes on here without trying to do something about it?”
For a moment, she thought the corner of Benjamin’s metallic mouth lifted in a half-smile, but the next moment he looked normal. Zuri decided she must have imagined it. What reason would a program displayed as a robot have to smile?
“Would you like to start now?” Benjamin said.
CHAPTER 15
Keeping the Privacy Wall in place, Benjamin summoned forward the image of a small personal safe. He entered a sequence of numbers on the keypad.
A red light flashed on the door of the safe, and a blast of sound made Zuri cover her ears. “What’s happening?” she said.
Benjamin took a step back and reconsidered the safe. “Someone changed the combination. It’s typically set to the birthdate of the owner.”
“Who’s the owner?”
Benjamin looked at her. “You, of course. This space is reserved for your use.”
“Then why is it locked?”
“The space is reserved for you and you alone. You’re the only one who should access it, and that happens through me.”
“Then how did the combination get changed?”
“Good question.” Benjamin tried entering different combinations, but each resulted in a flashing red light and a blast of noise.
The gray cloud of the Privacy Wall quivered but held in place.
Zuri made several suggestions: Mae Lin’s birthdate, the date Zuri arrived in Aspire, and the date she was accepted to VainGlory.
None worked.
Benjamin tried one more combination. This time, the light on the safe door turned green, and the door popped open. He turned toward Zuri and answered her question before she could ask it. “The date you arrived in VainGlory.”
Zuri smiled as Benjamin manipulated the safe and enlarged it to fill her Personal Bubble.
The robotic man gestured for Zuri to follow him inside. “Illuminate,” he said. Light filled the chamber, which appeared to extend into infinity.
The space reminded Zuri of the interior of a large air duct. The narrow walls allowed only two people to walk side by side, while the ceiling towered high above. Metallic echoes rang with every step they took.
“Is it possible to soften how it looks?” Zuri said. “It’s a bit industrial.”
Benjamin pressed one hand against the wall, and the appearance of the chamber changed.
Now, they walked on wooden floorboards that creaked with every step. Old-fashioned wallpaper filled with cabbage-like purple flowers peeled from the walls. Black-and-white photographs of people with stern expressions and 19th-century garb hung for as far as Zuri could see. Gleaming tin tiles pressed with diamond-shaped designs covered the ceiling.
Benjamin said, “If you want people to get chased by monsters through a maze, maybe it should feel like a haunted house.”
Zuri clapped her hands together. “It’s perfect.”
As they walked through the long chamber, Zuri opened every door, every panel, every nook and cranny, to consider the best places to hide Mae Lin’s designs for fans to discover and use to protect themselves from the monsters in pursuit.
She discovered one door locked, its knob refusing to turn when she twisted it. She spun to face her Personal Digital Assistant. “Ben? Why won’t it open?”
“I don’t know.” Benjamin tried the knob, which didn’t budge.
“If this space is for my use, why would any of it be off limits?”
“I don’t know.”
Zuri would have sworn that worry deepened Benjamin’s voice. Suddenly concerned about being inside this space, she said, “Ben?”
Light from his pale green eyes beamed upon the door knob. He shut the beams off before looking at her. “Now, try it.”
She glanced from Benjamin to the door and back again. “What did you do?”
“I made a suggestion to the door’s pr
ogramming. Try it. The door won’t bite.”
Standing as far away from the door as possible while still managing to grasp its knob, Zuri gave it one more attempt.
The door groaned as it swung open.
“Illuminate,” Benjamin said to the room.
Soft white light cast down from the ceiling, even though Zuri saw no light fixture. The room stood empty except for a locked case in its center. The case looked like a steamer trunk that might have been carried onto the Titanic, covered with colorful travel labels from Paris, Rome, and London. Each end had a thick leather handle, and Zuri imagined it might weigh so much that two people had to carry it, one on either side. A heavy padlock kept the lid shut and inaccessible.
Benjamin walked with a purposeful stride into the room. Once he reached the steamer trunk, he looked back at Zuri. “You should see this.”
The thought of going into the room made Zuri’s skin crawl, which had to be a good thing because it’s how she wanted her fans to feel when being chased through this chamber.
It’s just a room. Benjamin is right here. He’s not going to let anything bad happen to me.
Zuri shook off her anxiety.
I’m being ridiculous. There’s nothing to be afraid of.
When Zuri joined Benjamin’s side, the first thing she noticed on the steamer trunk was the large label, addressed to Franklin Buckingham.
“Franklin Buckingham?” Zuri said, her trepidation giving way to confusion. Although Zuri had never owned anything grander than a pair of Slim Goggles for connecting to the world before coming to VainGlory, she knew all about the impressive technology the city had to offer and the man behind it. “He invented the Personal Bubble. He owns the company. What is a case addressed to him doing in a space that’s supposed to be for me to use?”
“That doesn’t worry me,” Benjamin said. He pointed to finer print below the address. “This does.”
That fine print consisted of one thing.
Zuri’s name.
CHAPTER 16
The sight of Zuri’s name on a case addressed to the most powerful man in VainGlory spun her into a new level of anxiety.
Karen’s words haunted her.
There’s something wrong here.
Zuri chewed on a fingernail. “How do you explain this?”
Benjamin’s voice remained calm and even. “I can’t.”
This can’t be right.
She shot a frightened glance at him. “Can you open it?”
Just as he’d done to change the appearance of the chamber, Benjamin placed his hand against the surface of the steamer trunk, which sizzled and popped at his touch.
Benjamin withdrew his metallic hand in a swift move. “The lock is more powerful than anything I’ve seen before.”
I know they say fame is the name of the game, but it’s not worth dying for.
Zuri paced. She waved her hands at her own face. “Do that mojo you did with your eyes to unlock the door.”
Obeying, Benjamin cast beams of pale green light from his eyes.
The surface of the trunk crackled, extinguishing Ben’s light. One end of each leather strap detached and unfurled, forming arms that stretched while the trunk made a yawning sound.
“Darken,” Benjamin whispered to the room’s ceiling.
Two fist-size cameras emerged from behind the case. Attached to thin metal rods, they looked like the wandering eyes of a crustacean.
The light in the room blinked out before the cameras could aim at Zuri and Benjamin.
Zuri bolted out of the room before Benjamin could suggest it. He followed close on her heels, shut the door, and beamed his gaze at the knob until the door locked back into place. “I wouldn’t advise letting your fans into that room.”
“I agree,” Zuri said. “What was that? Did it see us? Does it know who we are?”
Benjamin’s eyes paled so much that they seemed devoid of color for a moment. “Probably. With the light out inside the room, we were backlit. But considering this is your space, it limits the number of suspects.”
“Suspects?” Zuri said in a panic. “We’re suspects now?”
“Possibly. If someone asks, tell them the first thing you noticed on the label was your name, and you assumed it was meant for you.”
“You think anyone will believe that?”
“Possibly. Tell them as soon as the case refused to open, you realized your mistake.”
Zuri suppressed a shudder. She wished she were a skilled liar and worried that she’d never convince anyone of that story.
Although she’d been keeping her Personal Soundtrack at the lowest volume possible, she didn’t mind when it increased in sound without her asking and played bright, happy music that melted her concerns away.
CHAPTER 17
After contacting Mae Lin and deciding which designs to use, Zuri directed Benjamin in their placement in the maze. Zuri then checked all the monsters he’d created and placed within the program of the maze, whose entrance now appeared as the façade of a haunted house.
Once Benjamin worked out the details of how each fan would enter and connect to the experience, Zuri tried to reach Mae Lin once more, unable to find her friend within her personal icon, their business icon, or at any of their favorite places.
Zuri stared at her wall of icons, humming along to the catchy tune played by her Personal Soundtrack. “Where are you, Mae Lin?” Turning to Benjamin, she said, “Can you find her?”
His pale green eyes deepened in color for a moment. “I can’t search Aspire. The Privacy Wall surrounding VainGlory won’t let me out.”
“Oh,” Zuri said, unable to hide the frustration in her voice.
If Mae Lin lived in VainGlory, this wouldn’t be a problem.
But remembering her new best friend, Zuri brought forward the Outgoing Connect icon from her wall. Moments later, Milan stepped into the icon’s doorway.
“Zuri,” Milan said in a sleepy voice. “Where have you been?”
“Working.” A moment of panic and shyness seized Zuri, and her throat tightened. She focused on the fact that today Milan displayed as the murky figure that an Impressionist might have painted—not as her flesh-and-blood self, which Zuri had yet to see. The mere thought of looking at someone real made Zuri nervous, so she focused on the pretty colors and waviness of Milan’s chosen shape.
“I’ve made something special,” Zuri continued. “Something I think a lot of people in VainGlory will appreciate. I’m going to make the announcement on my business icon in five minutes. Would you please connect to it? I’d like to see you there.”
“An announcement?” Milan’s voice sounded suspicious. “It’s been sanctioned?”
Her question posed an issue that Zuri didn’t know how to answer. Zuri never had to have anything authorized or even approved when she lived in Aspire. Along with Mae Lin, the two women were free to do as they pleased when it came to spreading news about their work.
Zuri decided that if she pretended she hadn’t heard Milan’s question that Zuri wouldn’t have to answer to any consequences.
“Thank you,” Zuri said. “I’ll see you soon.” Before Milan could speak again, Zuri disconnected the icon and sent it back to the wall where it belonged.
Turning to Benjamin, Zuri said, “Let’s go.”
CHAPTER 18
Zuri gazed at the hundreds of icons on the wall surrounding her inside her Personal Bubble. She brought the icon for the business site she owned with Mae Lin forward, still frustrated at having no luck giving her friend a heads up about what would happen momentarily while at the same time believing it wouldn’t be wise to wait. Zuri hoped Mae Lin would be pinged by her automatic notification of any change to their site and that her friend would understand.
For a moment, Zuri froze in terror.
What am I doing? What if I fail? I could ruin everything, not just for me but for Mae Lin.
Zuri took a deep breath to calm her nerves.
What if I do nothing? Hundreds of
people are invited to VainGlory every year and most go back home in weeks or even days. Look at Karen. She went back to Ascend the day she arrived in VainGlory. She didn’t even last a day.
If I hesitate, I could lose Milan’s friendship. Everyone knows how fickle VainGlorians are. I need to do something while I have her attention. She could forget about me and take up a new best friend tomorrow.
Zuri requested a Messenger. An array of animal images displayed: a snowy owl, a black-gloved fox, a velociraptor, and a winged horse. She dismissed the first two choices, because she worried they might be ignored.
Zuri beckoned for the velociraptor to step forward. It lunged for the horse’s neck, but the other animal flew away without injury. The velociraptor turned its beady eyes toward Zuri. Its claws clacked against the floor as it walked toward her.
“Take this message to my friend,” Zuri said, reminding herself that the dinosaur didn’t exist, no matter how real it seemed. “Ask her to come to this icon at once.”
The velociraptor snapped at Zuri, its teeth barely missing her hand. An envelope addressed to Milan materialized, impaled on its teeth. With a blood-curdling shriek, the velociraptor sprinted out of sight.
Benjamin emerged into view at the opposite end of Zuri’s living room, standing inside the edge of her Personal Bubble. “Ready?”
Zuri gave him a quick glance. “Ready.”
The icon of the business site she shared with Mae Lin came forward, and its outline glowed in bright lights to indicate its eagerness to broadcast Zuri’s message.
A dozen bubbles surrounded the icon, showing the current visitors.
A new bubble popped into view, showing Milan sprawled on an elegant chaise lounge. She extended her hand and gave Zuri a thumbs up of approval.
“Welcome, everyone,” Zuri announced to the small group of fans. “I’m here to announce something special.”
Benjamin cleared his throat. Hearing him made Zuri realize she’d prepared with his help. No Personal Digital Assistant would steer his client wrong. She decided to trust his expertise.
