Most guys didn't make me nervous, but for some reason, Kevin did. I wasn't afraid of him or anything like that. It was the good kind that made me feel giddy.

I lifted the seat on my chair, so I had more room and got out of the car. It was more difficult than I anticipated because I was closer to the ground than usual.

By the time I circled the car, Kevin had pulled out his last piece of luggage. There was a lot more there than I could see in the dark cab.

“Want some help?” I asked.

Kevin looked down at the two small bags on the ground and then at his hands which had two suitcases already in them.

My mind drifted as I imagined two more arms popping out of his body and grabbing them. I let out a small laugh picked up the bags, and said, “This way!”

“Hey!” he said as he caught up to me. “My mom was going to come down and help.”

I shrugged. “Well, now you can surprise her.”

We approached the large cylindrical building. A glowing seven indicated we were at the right place. Encircling it were over a hundred spheres—at least a dozen per floor. The whole thing was lit up, but the top radiated a natural green hue. From there, I saw people moving around in their homes. I loved the modularity of it all. If we decided to move to another smart city our whole home would be shipped there. If we planned it right we could get passage on the same maglev train as our home.

Kevin stopped and stared.

Most of the people who lived here grew up around this place or another like it, including myself. I wondered what it would be like to see it for the first time. He was taking a really long time, and patience wasn’t one of my virtues, so I decided to observe him instead.

He was probably fifteen centimeters taller than me. Along his lip and chin were thin strands of brown facial hair. It looked like it was still filling out. His face was angular, with a chin that came to a short point.

Eventually, he turned to me. His mouth had dropped, and his eyes sparkled.

I’d never seen anyone in such a state of awe.

I smiled and asked, “How do you like it?”

A tear streamed down the side of his face, which he quickly wiped away. He cleared his throat and spun to face me. “You just live here?”

“Uhh, yeah,” I said.

He shook his head. “This place is—”

“Amazing?” I said with a smile.

Some smart cities were better than others, but each was strategically placed with abundance and sustainability in mind.

He nodded.

“You’re gonna char your pants when you see the gardens,” I said.

Kevin gasped and then broke out into a coughing fit. He covered his mouth.

“Are you okay?” I asked as I resisted the urge to pat his back.

He put a finger up and, when he finished, said, “Yes.”

“I don’t suggest breathing saliva. Nasty habit,” I said with a smirk.

“You people are nothing like what they said you would be like,” he said.

I cocked my head. “You people?” I asked.

“Tech’ers,” he said.

The term was new to me. “What are tech’ers?”

“It’s just what they say about people who live in smart cities,” he said.

It sounded like a derogative term. How could you bunch people in a box like that? At school, they taught us to embrace individualism.

“They who?” I asked in a not-so-friendly tone.

He backed up a step. “The people I used to live with.”

“Who—”

“Can we not talk about them?” he interrupted.

If he thought he was going to insult me and then just walk away without limping he had judged me poorly.

Then his whole body slumped as if he were carrying way too much.

I resisted the urge to kick him and bit my tongue.

He closed his eyes, exhaled, and opened them again. “I’m sorry.”

Our gazes met, and I saw a deep-rooted sadness in him. This kid witnessed something he shouldn’t have. It was almost like looking in a mirror. I wondered if he had night terrors too.

It was me that broke the stare first. “Grab your luggage and let's go inside,” I said.

I waited for him to pick up his bags, and when he did, I led the way inside.

A cool breeze from the temperature control washed over us as we entered. It reminded me of my control undead skill in DO. Then I remembered that it wasn’t working anymore, which further lowered my mood.

The floors were sleek and made of black marble that reflected the lit-up lobby. Seamless metallic walls lined the center of the building, and glass lined the entryway. From this vantage point, the spheres above seemed to be floating.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Several elevators and a single door lined the walls. There were three more entrances on the other sides of the building that mirrored the one we were in.

Deeper inside, there were dorms. There were fifty rooms on each level. After graduating, kids preferred living in them. Families usually lived in the spheres because they were more spacious.

Darryl lived in the dorms. His parents had one right next to him. They preferred the closer quarters.

I had to admit that the dorms had a great variety of food. I would often delve into our floor's depths to browse the vendors.

That reminded me. “Hey, what floor are you on?”

“Eighth,” he said.

“Dorms or Sphere?” I asked.

“Uhm.” He fumbled through his pants pockets for his phone. “S2,” he said.

I nodded. “Zix, can you guide me to level eight, sphere two?”

“Sure thing, Az,” he responded.

The brick road leading to the elevator didn’t change, but the map expanded, showing an additional five levels added.

Kevin's eyes shifted in one direction and then the other.

“Zix is an A.I.,” I said before he could ask.

“Okay…” he responded.

I approached the elevator and tapped the button. Kevin followed.

“When are you going to get your specs?”

He leaned against the wall. “My what?”

“Specs,” I said.

The dumbfounded look on his face made me smile. A couple sitting on a bench near us pinched their fingers and stared at Kevin. One of them gawked at him and quickly vacated the lobby.

Kevin didn’t seem to notice.

“Look at my eyes.” I got close to him and gazed at his face.

His head tilted back. Then his eyebrows went up. “Rings, you have golden rings around your… What are they called?”

“Irises.”

The elevator dinged, and the doors opened. I turned away from him and sauntered inside.

He followed me. “Did it hurt?” he asked.

“Nope.” At least I didn’t remember it being painful. I was two years old at the time, and my issues didn’t start until a few years ago.

We both leaned against the railing as the doors closed.

Kevin glanced at me and then focused on the front of the carriage. When we started moving, his eyes went wide.

I wasn’t sure what he was surprised about. However, the take-off was a little rough, so I brought my menu back up, selected the elevator, and reported it.

“Are you telling it where we are going?” he asked.

“No, it was a little jerky, so I let maintenance know about it,” I said.

His jaw dropped. “That fast?”

“Yeah, it was only a few buttons,” I said.

He recovered and asked, “How does it know where to go?”

“Zix did it,” I responded.

“Really?” he asked.

I nodded.

“Your, what did you call them?” he asked.

“Specs.”

“Did all that? ”he asked.

Our stop was coming up, so I pushed away from the rail. “Yup.”

The elevator stopped, and I walked out. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kevin scramble to grab the handles of his suitcases and rush to catch up.

“It’s this way,” I said.

His sphere was on the opposite side of the building, and my parents were expecting me, so I increased my pace.

Since he didn’t say anything, I decided to change the subject to something I was more familiar with. “Do you play video games?”

“Doesn’t everyone,” he stated.

I laughed. “There’s some really great AR/VR games for the specs. Have you ever tried VR?”

“Only the older ones, like on the Q.U.B.E.,” he said.

That stopped me in my tracks. Those were all destroyed in the A.I. exodus. He had to be lying.

“Did you bring it with you?” I asked, trying to be as nonchalant as possible.

He passed me and then turned. “Yeah, I can show you it later if you want.”

I definitely wanted to. “That’d be cool.”

Holy bits! Every fiber of my being lit up.

I’d have to get ahold of my friend Jakson. He lived in Massachusetts, where the first smart city was built. He’d sell his left arm—if he had one—for it. His field was Quantum electronics.

Kevin pressed his lips together and then started walking again.

There were numbers on the portals leading to each sphere so he could find his home if he needed to. I shook off my excitement and asked, “Where’d you get it?”

“It was my dad’s,” he said.

“Cool,” I said. “He doesn’t mind if we use it?”

“Nope.”

I could tell he was holding something back, but so long as I got to check out that PC, I didn’t care.

“What types of implants do you have?” I asked. If he had mid-80s tech, he likely had some awesome implants.

He glanced at me. “I don’t have any.”

“None?” I asked.

Our tech was still catching up to the 80s, as far as I knew.

He shook his head.

“You’re required to get specs to live here,” I said.

It was his turn to stop mid-step. “Really?”

“Yeah, but like I said, it’s not painful.” As far as I knew, the procedure hadn’t changed since I got mine.

“Do they have to do surgery on my eyes or something?” he asked.

I laughed. “Nothing like that. If you want, I can go with you and record it.”

“How do I get ahold of you?” he asked.

“I live on the third floor in S5,” I said.

He opened up one of his suitcases and pulled out an honest to bytes ink pen, and wrote it on his hand.

I only knew what pens were because my friend Pilynn was into physical art.

“I like your clothes, by the way,” he said and put the pen away. “You’ve got a whole reaper princess vibe going on.”

That made me blush.

“Looks like you rolled around on the ground, though,” he said, immediately killing the mood.

How did he? Then I remembered that he didn’t have specs and facepalmed. I couldn’t believe he was still talking to me.

“What were you doing to get so dirty?” he asked.

My face felt warm as I looked away. “Playing a game.”

“Football?” he asked.

“No! An AR game,” I said.

“Augmented Reality, like in those Black Mirror shows?” he asked.

I’d seen that show before. “Yeah.” Some of the technology in it was pretty similar to what we had now.

“I’ve got some stuff like that on my phone,” he said.

Kevin's sphere was in view from where we stopped.

“There’s always room for more shamblers on the undead side,” I said.

His eyebrows shot up. “You like that type of stuff?”

“Reaper Princess,” I repeated his words.

“I probably should have guessed that,” he said with a grin.

I shrugged and glanced to the side smiling.

“Your sphere’s right here,” I said, pointing it out.

We strode to the door, and I set the bags I had picked up in front of the portal.

“Thanks for helping—”

The door opened, revealing a woman standing there.

She pinched her fingers together. “Hi, Azerail,” she said.

***