FAST FORWARD by Darren Wearmouth

Author:Darren Wearmouth [Wearmouth, Darren]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Vast Frontiers
Published: 2016-10-20T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

Maria’s pod whined away from Enfield toward Zone Seven. She gazed out of the rain-spattered window at nothing in particular and reflected about how her experiences over the last few days had altered the way she viewed the world.

She knew it was impossible to change society and truth be told, she liked it for the most part, but she had to take personal responsibility. She could no longer condone working at Timetronic with the knowledge they held people against their will, though she’d held her conviction back from Luke to avoid him facing the might of the Lynch mob.

If quitting the facility meant losing her apartment and job, it was a price worth paying to break free from the self-denial most worked under.

Luke’s crystal clear distinction between right and wrong provided the catalyst for her thoughts. She had never questioned the blurred lines of modern society, but now they took on a dirty feel compared to his moral code. Maria wanted to prove to herself she could live in the same way, using the credit on her strap for a fresh start in another pool’s Zone Seven.

The pod’s overhead holoscreen displayed a trip time of nineteen minutes.

Maria activated her strap and searched for a quiet virtual location where she could decide on an exit strategy, and the right words to use when inviting Luke to join her. Her favorite spot, the Bryon Bay beach bar in northern New South Wales, had a hundred active users.

Only forty online users were active in Fisherman’s Wharf, San Francisco; a vast virtual space with an excellent seafood stand serving clam chowder bread bowls. She bought a session, grabbed a headset from below her seat, and placed it on.

The weightless dark quickly transformed into dazzling sunshine and gust of fresh sea air brushed against her face. She peered across the bay at a white boat plowing through the water toward Alcatraz Island, and for the first time during a virtual experience, she wanted more than anything to visit this place in the flesh. It was like an irreversible switch had flicked in her brain. The love of all things retro had transformed into a need for a simpler, reality based life where she could travel and take in real experiences.

Maria wandered over to the seafood stand and sat at one of the empty tables spread around its service area.

The menu and napkin holders had Timetronic stamped along the bottom of them. An old yellow tram, with Timetronic plastered on its side in bold metallic lettering, rumbled by and its bell tinkled. Maria looked back toward the pier at the company logo painted on the bow of three white ferries.

The advertising used to give her a sense of pride. Most of the population visited these destinations, and the company displayed their logo loud and proud. That feeling had gone, along with the notion that by working at the facility she had positively contributed to society.

A young female waitress, dressed in a white shirt and bow tie, approached her table.

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