by Resa Nelson
Benjamin cocked his metallic head to one side. “Are you quite alright, Miss?”
The bright tone of his voice sickened Zuri, although she didn’t know why.
A memory popped into her head. A memory of a locked box behind a locked door in her own virtual storage space.
While Benjamin had figured out how to open the door, neither of them had been able to unlock the box.
A box addressed to the wealthiest man in VainGlory. A box with a notation of Zuri’s name on its label.
Zuri felt as if someone flipped a switch inside her.
I have to get out.
“I’d like some time alone,” Zuri said in the most convincing voice she could muster. “Could you please diminish everything in my Personal Bubble and make sure no one disturbs me? I need to get some rest.”
“I suppose,” Benjamin said, his voice fraught with worry. “But do you think this is the best moment to rest?”
“Go away, Ben.” Zuri snapped her fingers at him, and the robotic man disappeared. True to his word, her Personal Soundtrack dulled to a barely discernable murmur, and the wall of icons looked like a sheet of gauze, allowing most of the real environment behind it to bleed through.
Zuri wondered if she should take anything with her but decided that if people really were coming to lynch her that she needed every moment to escape. Still surrounded by the gauze-like wall, she ran out to her balcony and circled around the tower to step into the nearest elevator, perched on the exterior wall of the tower. Zuri peered through its glass walls and looked at the city below as the elevator descended. Relieved, she saw no one on the ground below.
What had Benjamin said before he reverted back to the way he was when she first met him?
Meet me at the place where you first landed.
The harbor in the water garden.
Once the elevator thudded to stop at ground level, Zuri stepped outside and stood at the foot of the tower, gazing around to gain her bearings.
The Platinum Tower dominated the heart of the city, encircled by rings of towers of gold, silver, and bronze. Zuri felt as if she stood in the center of a maze.
A few delivery drones buzzed among the towers, but the streets and sidewalks were mostly empty. A pair of women walked away from Zuri, followed by flat-bed robots bearing arms shaped like spades, rakes, and shears.
Zuri imagined the women were city gardeners.
Distant shouts startled Zuri, and she looked toward the sound, seeing no one.
They’re coming after me. Everyone who used to love me is now trying to kill me.
Terrified, Zuri kept close to the edge of the Platinum Tower and followed its curve away from the oncoming voices, rabid with rage.
She caught a glimpse of the women gardeners as they rounded a corner and threaded their way between the rows of towers. They paused, and another flat-bed robot scuttled from a side street to catch up with them. But instead of being armed with gardening tools, this robot carried a pile of transparent objects that sparkled in a thin stream of sunlight.
The Carnival of Animals.
Zuri remembered the city park where the crystal animals roamed. It was where her launch had taken place, where Zuri had punched the shark that attacked Karen. Zuri didn’t know how many parks existed in the city, but she knew of only one that had crystal animals.
And if she could find the Carnival of Animals, it would lead her to the water garden at the edge of the harbor where she’d first landed.
Not wanting to spook the women or place them in danger, Zuri raced down a sidewalk running parallel to their path. At every intersection, Zuri peeked around the corner until she saw the women emerge and continue along their way.
The angry shouts faded behind her.
Without warning, Zuri’s wall of icons exploded back into full view. Angry faces fenced her in. The newscaster who had threatened Zuri pointed with fierce aggression at her and shouted, “There she is! She’s escaped the tower!”
Zuri cowered in fear, frozen at the sight of hundreds of frightening faces looming around her.
Then she remembered she didn’t have to look at them. Zuri pushed both hands at the wall, forcing it back to its former ghostly state. “Ben!” she shouted.
Her Personal Digital Assistant emerged and hurried to walk along her side as Zuri continued her parallel journey by the gardeners. “Miss? Are you quite alright?”
“No.” She pointed at the gauze-like wall encircling her. “Don’t ever let that happen again.”
“Miss?” Benjamin’s yellow eyes quivered. “I’m not sure I comprehend.”
“People are coming to lynch me. You showed them where I am. Why would you do that?” Zuri increased her pace.
“Perhaps there’s been some type of misunderstanding. No one means to harm you. I sense they might have some questions and would appreciate your answering them.”
Zuri snorted in response. “Go away, Ben.”
“Please, Miss. I’m certain we can discover a solution.”
Zuri glared at the metallic man striding beside her. “Go away now. Don’t bother me again, and don’t let this wall change. Understand?”
Benjamin’s voice sagged in disappointment. “Yes, Miss. Of course, Miss.” He blinked out of sight.
However, the shouts in the far distance behind Zuri began getting louder.
Instead of pausing at the next corner, Zuri rushed ahead while considering the layout of the city.
If the Platinum Tower stood at its center, then streets and sidewalks radiated from it like spokes from a wheel. That meant with every block she ran forward, the distance between her sidewalk and the one traveled by the gardeners grew. And as the sidewalk Zuri now walked carried her farther from the gardeners, it would also increase the distance between Zuri and the Carnival of Animals once the women arrived there.
At the next intersection, Zuri turned the corner and headed toward the sidewalk where she’d last seen the gardeners.
The faded wall of icons around her trembled as if caught in an earthquake.
Zuri paused and looked around, ready to admonish Benjamin the moment she saw him.
But her Personal Digital Assistant failed to appear.
When Zuri took another step, her wall shivered again. Walking slower now, Zuri studied everything around her. Gleaming towers with restaurants and stores wedged between them. Delivery drones speeding in and out of those establishments. Looking up, Zuri saw the sidewalk lined with streetlamps.
In unison, they turned their curved necks toward Zuri. But instead of light bulbs, the head of each streetlamp gleamed with the eye of a camera. A red light—the kind of light to indicate the beginning of a recording—glowed briefly above each camera eye.
They’ve found me. They know where I am.
Thrumming with adrenaline, Zuri ignored them and sped toward the next intersection. Looking one way, she saw the gardeners a block behind. Turning the opposite way, Zuri ran as fast as she could, ignoring the new row of streetlamps turning to face her. Now, between soaring buildings, she caught a glimpse of green up ahead.
The Carnival of Animals! I’m almost there.
Her rasping breath and pounding heart filled her ears. Zuri’s aching legs begged her to stop. But she still heard the horrible cries far behind her.
Refusing to slow down, Zuri ran until she entered the Carnival of Animals, recognizing its lush lawns at once. Up ahead, she spotted the bridge where designers had modeled their creations and Karen had been attacked by a shark.
Walking with the thought of being safe here, the sight of more streetlamps scattered throughout the park startled Zuri.
Why didn’t I notice them before? How did I not know so many of them were here?
Quickening her pace, dread filled Zuri when the streetlamps turned in her direction.
A crystal pig stepped onto the sidewalk in front of her and grunted. Its eyes glowed red for a moment.
Zuri’s gauzy wall of icons shuddered.
They’re ca
meras. The pig’s eyes are cameras.
Not knowing where else to go, Zuri continued forward but the pig stood its ground.
It pawed at the sidewalk, chipping its crystal foot. Grunting deeper, it took a threatening stance.
Far behind the pig, a herd of crystal deer came into sight.
Zuri darted off the sidewalk to one side of the pig.
Following her direction, the pig ran to block her new path, only to catch its chipped foot on the edge of the sidewalk and tumble into the grass. When momentum rolled the pig onto its back, the crystal animal squealed in dismay.
Stopping short, Zuri ran to the opposite side and toward the bridge. Skidding to a stop, she ducked underneath the bridge, hiding from the streetlamps, the pig, and the herd of deer.
Her chest heaved, winded from racing. Her blood pounded against her temples, making Zuri feel like someone had put her head in a vise. Her legs ached, not wanting to move again.
What do I do now?
“Truly, Miss,” Benjamin said, popping into view next to the bridge. “I do wish you would let me assist you.”
Zuri thought she heard the whirr of streetlamps turning toward the sound of Benjamin’s voice, even though he existed inside her Personal Bubble. Then she heard the clatter of hooves crossing the sidewalk, seeming to come in her direction. She held a silencing hand toward Benjamin and listened with intent.
The shouts of the mob pursuing her sounded louder.
While keeping her Personal Soundtrack and all other clamor from her icons muted, Zuri brought her wall out of suspension in order to track what was happening.
Banners filled the wall, reading:
Track her down!
String her up!
Kill Zuri!
The individual icons now meshed together, bringing everyone inside them into a united mob, which thrummed and made Zuri’s entire wall vibrate. The crowd appeared to be running down the same sidewalk that Zuri had taken, currently located by the innermost towers surrounding the Platinum Tower.
They stopped running and stood together, everyone looking in a different direction. A young man gazed from the wall of icons until he locked eyes with Zuri. “There she is!” he shouted. “I found her!”
“Miss, please!” Benjamin said.
The herd of deer nosed around him, sniffing at empty air.
“Stop it!” Desperate, Zuri took the contacts out of her eyes, throwing them onto the ground beneath the bridge and stomping on them with her shoes.
Her Personal Bubble evaporated, and the sense of utter aloneness stunned Zuri into silence.
No longer seeing Benjamin or the wall of icons, Zuri reached up and steadied her hands against the underside of the bridge above.
The herd of deer started at Benjamin’s sudden disappearance, staring into space as if something magical had happened.
Are they going to hurt me?
Zuri stood still, wondering how to defend herself against a herd of animals made from crystal. She tried to quiet her breathing, but she still panted heavily after running.
Sniffing at the air once more, one deer ventured on its delicate feet below the bridge, coming within inches of Zuri.
Shaking in fear, she shrank away from the creature.
But the deer paid no attention to her. Instead, it pawed at the ground and then walked under the bridge to the grass on the other side. The rest of the herd followed, and her discarded contacts crunched under their feet.
Zuri wondered if the destruction of her Personal Bubble had anything to do with the reason why the deer ignored her. Proceeding with caution, she followed them out from under the bridge. She looked up at the streetlamps lining the sidewalk winding through the Carnival of Animals.
All streetlamps had reassumed their default position. Each lamp head looked down at the sidewalk, oblivious to Zuri’s presence.
Before she realized it, the angry mob rounded a corner a short distance away.
Zuri ran in the opposite direction, toward the harbor.
“I see something!” a man in the crowd shouted. “Running that way!”
The mob rushed after Zuri.
Still winded from sprinting into the Carnival of Animals, Zuri struggled to keep moving but her legs failed her. When she saw a crystal peacock strut nearby, Zuri used her remaining energy to step off the sidewalk and roll in the grass toward it. Desperate, she tried to hide behind it.
Dozens of men and women jogged past the point where Zuri had left the sidewalk, slowing to a stop and looking all around the park. Others lagged behind.
“Where did she go?” a matronly woman said. “How did she get away?”
“I don’t know,” the young man who had spotted Zuri moments ago said. “But she’s got to be here somewhere.”
When the peacock strutting between Zuri and the mob cried out loudly and fanned its tail open, Zuri stifled a scream, convinced her presence would become obvious.
Everyone looked at the peacock. Within seconds, they all looked away from it, still searching the grounds for Zuri.
Zuri came to a quick realization.
They’re all inside their Personal Bubbles. I destroyed my Personal Bubble. That means my virtual presence no longer exists. They can’t see any sign of the virtual me. The real world—the real me—is muted. I’m in their background.
She thought about the man who had led the crowd because he claimed to see Zuri running.
When I ran, he probably saw some kind of blur in the background.
I don’t have a virtual presence anymore, and that’s all they can see.
None of them can see what’s real.
None of them can see what’s staring them in the face.
Emboldened by her thoughts and desperate to live, Zuri crawled slowly from behind the peacock, staying on the grass and keeping silent.
The matron spoke up. “I heard something.” She paused, reminding Zuri of the way the herd of deer had sniffed the air around Benjamin.
A teenage girl raised her hand. “I found a way to bring up her PDA. I’ll put him on Speaker.”
“Oh, my word,” Benjamin’s voice said. “Where am I? Who are you?”
Zuri froze in place, terrified that Benjamin would point her out to them.
How can he? Benjamin exists in connecting space, not in the real world. Even if they’ve hacked into him, how could he see me when we’re not in the same place?
Hoping her logic would hold, Zuri stood up while everyone in the mob turned to face the teenage girl.
“Where is Zuri?” the teenager said.
Taking slow steps to avoid creating a blur of motion, Zuri walked across the grass toward the sidewalk beyond the horde of incensed people.
“I’m sure I don’t know.” Benjamin’s disembodied voice floated through the air. “Miss Zuri has vanished. I can’t find her anywhere.”
Zuri aimed one foot toward the sidewalk but then thought better of it, remembering how she’d heard the clatter of hoof steps against it when the herd of deer crossed it. Instead, she kept to the grass but followed the path of the sidewalk toward the harbor.
The Animated Garden full of vibrant and inquisitive flowers loomed ahead with the water garden beyond. If she could make it to the water garden, maybe the mob wouldn’t think to go that far to look for her. Maybe they would assume she’d head back into the city.
The teenage girl wielded a sharp knife and spoke to Benjamin. “Tell me where she is so I can slice her throat.” The girl paused. “If you don’t, I know how to snuff you out of existence. All it takes is a few keystrokes.”
Zuri fought the fierce urge to bolt. She turned her back on the mob and continued her slow and steady pace.
“Truly, I don’t know!” Benjamin cried.
A sizzling sound cracked through the air.
“Well, he was useless,” the teen said.
The water park grew closer. Just a few steps ahead, the sidewalk in the Carnival of Animals led into the Animated Garden. Beyond it, Zuri could see wh
ere the garden’s sidewalk turned into a marble walkway flanked by sparkling clean canals stretching in all directions. Alongside the canals, dozens of fountains sprayed streams of water in time to distant music.
Behind, the man who had first seen Zuri said, “If she’s here, there’s a reason we can’t see her. Maybe she’s outside her bubble. We should take ours off.”
Hoping she’d put enough distance between herself and the throng behind her, Zuri dashed through the Animated Garden and then into the water garden, hurrying toward the harbor.
“I see her!” the man shouted. “She’s going into the water garden!”
With cries of rage, the mass of people swarmed after Zuri.
Catching sight of the harbor ahead, Zuri’s heart sank when she saw no one there.
But how could anyone be there to help her? Benjamin had promised to help only to become useless.
Now what?
Frantic to save herself, Zuri darted off the path to hide behind a fountain.
“There!” the matronly woman yelled, running with the assurance of a marathoner despite her age. “She’s by that fountain! We’ve got her cornered.”
Zuri considered her options.
Canals and fountains flanked the sidewalk. She saw nowhere else to run.
She remembered Karen and that shark that had leapt out of the canal near the bridge in the Carnival of Animals.
Sometimes sharks come out of the ocean and into the canals.
Zuri saw a solution. She stepped inside a large fountain shaped like a crescent moon and sank into its water, only two feet deep. The fountain shot a steady fan of water that waved back and forth.
“Somewhere around here,” the matron shouted, pulling up alongside Zuri’s fountain. “Spread out. She can’t hide forever.”
But after failing to locate Zuri, the mass of people shifted deeper into the water garden and then back toward the Carnival of Animals, fuming and baffled by her disappearance.
Still inside the fountain, Zuri remained between narrow rows of underwater pipes, still clinging to them to make sure she stayed underwater. Periodically, she lifted her nose just far enough above the water’s surface to take a deep breath. Hearing an absence of voices, Zuri raised her head high enough, still camouflaged by the water streaming from the pipes, to take account of the situation.
