Kevin followed me as I led us back to the lobby.

We passed through the doors, and I paused. “See ya, Julia.”

She was behind the counter. “You’re leaving so soon?”

Whenever I visited, I would sit with her after my appointment, and we would chat about whatever for a few hours.

Kevin turned and closed one eye.

“Yeah, he’s gotta eat,” I said as I thrust a thumb back at Kevin.

She laid her head in her hands and sighed. “Okay…”

“After Kevin’s done eating, we can meet up in the verse if you want?” I suggested.

Kevin glanced at me. “What’s the verse?”

“Had-e-Verse. You know,” I said.

He shook his head.

“It’s kind of like that old movie ‘Ready Player One’ but with a lot less cinematics and gaming. It's more about hanging out,” Julia said.

His implants weren’t fully formed, so I relayed what she said, and Kevin stared at me. “We couldn’t connect to the web where I lived.”

“Where did you live that—” I stopped. “You don’t want to talk about it do you?”

Julia gaped.

He put his head down. “Not really.”

“Could you watch old movies?” I asked.

“Some but nothing VR-related,” Kevin said.

VR gaming wasn’t stigmatized in most of the world as far as I knew. It was actually the most popular way to play games. People in Smart Cities tended to avoid centralized servers that combined the Qweb and the Web. The verse was still centralized and was slowly migrating to the Qweb. They’d been at it for years.

My parents told me that the verse was where everyone hung out when they were younger. The graphical fidelity was like something out of the late 2050s which was okay if you liked that type of thing.

A lot of people still used the verse, but I didn’t trust the older software and preferred to create Virtual Dimensions. VDs were great. I could make the settings anything I wanted. Since I spent a lot of time creating worlds with Stephanie, I was rather good at making interesting locations. Unfortunately, they took a lot of memory and most of mine was being used for school.

I had a couple of VDs set aside just in case, though.

Kevin gave up on closing his eye and covered it with a hand instead. “My mom might want me to come home right away.”

If that happened, I could go with him and see if he would show me his Q.U.B.E. I could always also show him the AR and VR features from there too.

It would only take an hour or two for Kevin’s implants to form.

“We can connect from anywhere,” I said.

“Really? They’re that advanced?” he asked.

I nodded.

“I’ll see you guys later then,” Julia said and waved.

Kevin waved back and smiled at her.

I wasn’t a jealous girl, but the way she eyed him made my stomach twist, so I walked out without saying anything else.

Kevin came out a few seconds after me.

“This way,” I said, walking down the sidewalk to an alleyway leading to a door that guided us into the mall.

This wasn't the same way I entered the mall as last night with Molly, but it was still pretty close to where we were.

Dark Offerings still made me feel giddy seeing how transformative its AR could be. For example, the town of Chardance had buildings with thatched roofs, stone walls, and a clear view of the sky. This place had solid white walls with shops above and below us.

The layout of the mall was circular, but there were multiple ways to cut through the middle. There were probably six or seven food courts on the first floor alone.

I stopped, and Kevin almost ran into me. We were in the middle of a large hallway with people scattered everywhere.

“What do you want to eat?” I asked.

When he didn't respond right away I grabbed his hand and pulled him to the wall so we were out of the way.

“What is there to eat?” he asked.

I let go of his hand and leaned against the wall. “You can get just about anything.” There were exceptions but our hydroponics building grew almost any plant you could think of and the labs grew most meats too. “Indian, African, Chinese, Japanese, American…”

“Can I get a burger?” he asked.

I smiled. “I know just the place.”

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

We weaved through the halls and rode a multi-layered escalator two floors up. It took us out next to a custom clothing shop. A small walk north and we ended up at food court fifteen.

An aroma of mixed foods hit me, causing my mouth to water.

A growling came from behind me, and I turned.

“What?” Kevin asked.

The sound was too close to be from anyone other than Kevin. It was likely his stomach. Nanotech took a lot of fuel, and while Kevin's implants would be created within the hour, it would take him weeks to build up a larger reserve for more advanced functions. Unless we boosted the process.

“Have you ever eaten something, and it felt like you could eat a thousand more of them?” I asked.

“Yeah…” Kevin said.

I grinned. “This way!”

Kevin kept up with me easily as I led us to my mom Jennifer's favorite burger shop.

“Why are you smiling like that?” Kevin asked.

Most people had augments already, but people without them, like Kevin, were rare. I once watched a VR video of someone increasing their nanobot production so high they ate for thirty minutes straight. The person in question had a rare disease where their blood needed to be replaced every so often, and since that's where most of our nanotech is stored, they needed to constantly replenish their supply.

If Kevin planned to play DO with me, he would have to ramp up the production anyway, so this was the best way to get him prepared.

Kevin followed me as we got in line for the burger place. Its name was “Sal’s,” and was one of the places that would modify food any way we wanted.

“You want to be able to play the game I play, right?” I asked.

He nodded.

“You won't be able to unless you have a big enough storage of nanobots,” I said. He seemed to be following what I was saying, so I continued, “If we ramp up the process, you could play tomorrow.”

The little red light in the corner of my vision was still on, and my notifications were empty. If Kevin's mom had a problem with where I was going with this, I wanted to be sure I knew as soon as possible.

He squinted. “Okay, how does it work?”

“Can you access your menu yet?” I asked.

“Menu?”

“Press your pointer finger and thumb together like this.” I demonstrated.

Kevin pinched the air with each hand. “Nothing's happening.”

That put a damper on things. “Hmm,” I said. “Let's just start out with a couple of burgers then and test it after you eat a little.”

We stood there for about five minutes chatting about older games when we finally hit the front of the line. I was having fun outside of video games, which wasn’t very common.

It turned out that Kevin was quite the gamer. Most of the single games he played were emulated over the Qweb now. He was worried that he wouldn’t be able to ever play them again after he moved so he took the Q.U.B.E. with him. I’d prodded to see if he would give up any more information about where he’d come from, but he’d resisted.

“If it isn’t Azerail,” Sal said as we strolled up to the register.

Sal was taller than most men I’d met. His blond hair was locked behind a pill box chef’s hat. A bead of sweat slowly raced from his brow into his light-colored eyebrows. Dark brown eyes stared at me, his white teeth on full display as his mouth hung open in a full grin. He had a well-groomed beard and mustache combo that were only a few centimeters long each.

I smiled. “Hey, Sal.”

“Who’s this guy?” Sal asked.

Sal liked to do things the old-fashioned way and didn’t like checking profiles.

“This is Kevin,” I said, leaning on the counter. “He needs a fiver.”

Kevin glanced between Sal and me. “What’s a fiver?”

“Five burgers, five fries,” Sal replied.

“That's just to start,” I said.

Kevin watched as an order was being prepared behind the counter. The buns were about thirteen centimeters in width which was smaller than my hand but pretty big for a burger. Piles of vegetables and flattened beef mustard patties jutted out the sides.

“I can't eat five of—”

Kevin's stomach interrupted his little speech.

I leaned forward. “He's gotta build up his nanos,” I said.

“A fiver should do it. The extra heme is on the house,” Sal said.

Sal’s was great. I often ordered trays from him on the weekends. They weren’t the same as getting them fresh but were close enough that we still ordered them. Sal was all about doing what he loved, and cooking was in his blood, or so he said.

“What about you, missy?” Sal asked.

A burger wasn’t something I was craving at the moment. “Nothing for me.”

“Not even some fries?” Sal asked.

I shook my head. Sticky rice, spicy ground beef, and soft tofu were what I wanted. “Gonna have some mapo tofu.”

Sal squinted at the Chinese food place across the eatery. “That Nainai of yours is stealing my customers.”

He was talking about my grandma who owned the offending shop.

Most of the money these places made went directly back into the business. The workers received very little payment but they weren’t in it for the credits. Their main interest was tantalizing the tastebuds of their customers with a human touch.

Some chefs were out to prove that machines couldn’t make food better than a person could. In many cases they were correct. However, there were some machine-made meals that couldn’t be beaten. The meals in trays were made to be cooked in multiwaves, everyone’s sphere and dorm came equipped with one.

Multiwaves were an older technology but the premise was that it was a precise microwave that cooked each meal perfectly. The key was multiple magnetrons positioned in certain layouts so that the food could be cooked at different temperatures all at the same time.

I smirked. “I’ll make sure to tell her that she’s doing a good job then.”

Sal’s hand went to his chest, and he feigned pain. “He pays extra for heme then!”

“I hear this place uses rat meat,” I said, raising my voice. It was a bad joke, but I thought it was funny.

The customer behind us cleared their throat.

“Oh no, you’re going to scare the customers away,” Sal deadpanned.

Most of them had been coming here since before I was born. Besides, rat was a pretty common meat and there were plenty of people who enjoyed it.

I’d had it before, but like all the other meat there it was lab-grown. Reproducing the same thing over and over eventually made the flavor diminish. The rat vats probably needed to be refreshed with a new live animal extraction.

I elbowed Kevin. “Tell him what you want on your burgers. There are people waiting.” I eyeballed the guy behind us and smiled to let him know I was kidding.

He shook his head, and a hint of a smirk appeared.

I win!

While Kevin gave Sal the details, I asked Zix to have Nainai Hua make an order for me. I didn’t dare send her a message or she would talk my ears off. Knowing her, she’d pick them up, put them back on, and keep talking.

“Looks like table forty-six will be ready soon. Head over there, and I’ll have James bring your food,” Sal said.

As we walked away, I turned and yelled, “Thanks, Sal!”

He waved, then winked at me and continued helping his customer.

When we reached the table the two people sitting there were finishing their meals. We kept far enough away that our presence didn’t disturb them but close enough that others knew we were waiting for the table.

Then I realized who we were waiting on.

Fen Li Huang and Jasper Evans.

The players behind Lily and Koffer from DO.

***