Josiah Li lives in a flooded world, where global warming has taken its toll and technology is intertwined in every aspect of daily life. To pass the time in between virtual classes, he finally takes the leap to sign up for a popular game, Starlia. H...
The boba place Aileen and I frequent is located downtown. I pick her up in my mom's car, and together we lounge while watching the roads fly past. The brutal sun attacks us even with the AC at full blast, but we're mostly used to it by now. We sit in a comfortable silence. With Aileen, sometimes I don't need to have an audible conversation to communicate. The quiet between us is never awkward, but comforting.
Boba Xpress is run entirely by robots. We pull up to the drive-through, place our orders by speaking into an intercom, and wait while the machines do their job. Our drinks are handed to us with mechanical arms that reach toward my car's window. We take them, having no one to thank, but I nod in the direction of the booth anyway.
"Have you figured out why Nathan invited us into the guild?" Aileen asks.
I chew on a tapioca pearl while parking in the nearby lot. Thankfully, high-tech sun shades cool down the area. There are a few other cars here, but otherwise we have the whole place to ourselves. It's not so much a luxury anymore, as most people's homes are more comfortable—especially with the VRS to keep them distracted and busy.
"I've found out nothing," I say. "It keeps bothering me though. It's like he doesn't want us to find out about the former two members."
Aileen's face darkens. "Maybe he killed them."
I start laughing, but then Aileen's seriousness calms me down. "Are you kidding me? I don't think Nathan seems like the serial killer type."
Aileen shakes her drink, a taro milk tea, almost fluorescent purple. "It's entirely possible. Sometimes people who appear the nicest turn out to be the opposite on the inside."
I shake my head, sipping on my classic milk tea. "I think you're being ridiculous. If Nathan really did do something bad to them, wouldn't the other members quit?"
"Good point," Aileen says. "Still, he can't be trusted. You saw how suspicious he looked when he was dodging our questions at the cafe."
Aileen and I brainstorm a bit, but we come out with nothing. We lead ourselves in circles, coming up with crazy propositions that have no real backing to them. Aileen ends with the thought that Nathan could be an alien or AI. I joke that he's actually Mars Nakamura and is running an experiment on new players in Starlia.
We finish our drinks. "Here's what's crazy," Aileen says, throwing her cup out the window for the machines to pick up. "I tried looking him up. Nathan Lum. I found close to nothing. There were only posts about him in the Starlia discussion forums. But there was no social media. No Internet presence besides the discussion posts. It's like he's a ghost. Isn't everyone supposed to be online these days?"
I throw my cup out as well. "That leaves us with one hint. Nathan Lum can't be his real name."
Aileen raises her brows, almost to a comical point. "We're dealing with a person with a secret identity?"
I shrug. This is getting more mysterious than the whole deal with the weathering fragments. "It's something we can't rule out. Nathan could be a government figure, or someone important enough to have a fake name."
Aileen quiets at that. "We'll check in again when we have more info on him. He can't just only be a pro player. There's something more that he's hiding."
"Agreed." Then, my heart aches as I change the subject. "How is house hunting coming along?"
Aileen bites her lower lip. "Not very well. Apartments are either completely full or crazy expensive. It's close to impossible." Of course. Everyone's moving further inland because of the flooding.
"How much longer do you have with your current place?" I ask.
She shakes her head, looking toward her lap. "Maybe two months? Our building will be eaten up by the ocean by then."
I cringe. Two months? We have to work quickly. "I'm going to work as hard as possible to find the fragments."
"You don't have to do that," Aileen says. "Just enjoy as you play and explore the game. I don't want you to become too stressed about me."
"There's not really a choice here. I'm stressed for you whether you like it or not."
My best friend almost whispers. "Why are you doing this? Finding the weathering fragments, I mean."
I make a thin line with my lips. "Besides the fame and fortune?"
"Besides trying to help me win some cash," Aileen says.
I think back to the moment we met Nathan, when he rescued us from the slime king with a flurry of power. I think back to my mom in the peaceful pasture, where she told me I was fighting for a worthy cause.
"I think I'm doing this because I'm tired of being ordinary," I say.
"That's not a good reason," Aileen says. "You're far from ordinary."
"No, it's true." I think of the name Josiah Li, finding nothing awesome to note. "I go to school, get good grades. I attend church. I'm looking at colleges which will lead me to a good future, well at least for the time this earth allows us to survive. But I'm not special in any way. I haven't really found my true passion. But maybe while looking for these weathering fragments, I can make a name for myself. With support from Mysteriously, I can even become a pro player. I mean, I've never seen myself as a gamer. But Starlia is changing my opinion on that day after day."
My friend scrunches up her face. "Josiah, you are already a special person. You don't need Starlia to become a person of value."
I shake my head, even though I know she would never agree with me on that point. "Still. I want to have my shot of becoming a hero. It sounds conceited, I know. But if I can save even a few homes with this so-called weathering machine, all the hard work will be worth it."
We sit for a few more minutes before I drive Aileen back home. She's right about the ocean coming to suck her building away. Even as I drop her off at the curb, the ocean laps up the raised foundation just a couple of yards away. It won't be long before her apartment building becomes uninhabitable.
She's telling me not to look for these fragments just for her. But seeing the ocean so close is enough for me to change my mind.
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Hi reader! Thank you for joining me as we go into March together. Are you ready for cherry blossom season? Even though I can't really see the cherry blossoms that much here in Hawaii, I hope you can see a few trees where you are. Enjoy this season by trying something new. Maybe a new drink at the cafe?
