A Caged Bird - Chasing Normal, Arc 5

Scene 26: New Glory's Cyber Layer

Melinda made good on her threat, but she had miscalculated her impact. While most of the animator apprentices ignored Travis and refused to work on any file where she was listed, the apprentices made up only a small portion of the department. Instead of noticing the boycott, Brice noticed that the apprentices weren't keeping up with their workload and pulled them aside to discuss how their quality of work impacted their probation.

Travis sat with her hands folded in her lap, casting little more than a sidelong glance at smug, composed Melinda. The other apprentices were looking nervously at Melinda.

At lunch, some of the apprentices sat together at a table away from Melinda. Travis tried not to smile when she noticed. The queen has fallen.

==

Life as a grounded teenager in New Glory was getting tiresome. She now had so many designs sketched out and blueprinted that she was certain it would take a few years to build them all. But with nothing better to do, and with little interest in the books that she still blamed for getting her into this mess, she started working on a new design.

There was a knock at the door. Travis rose to answer it, but her mother stormed out of her room, "Sit." Travis remained standing, tablet in her hand.

It was Will. "Hello. I was wondering if I could talk to Travis."

Shiri looked him up and down, "She's grounded."

"Yeah, I know. But I was just hoping-," the rest of that sentence was lost as Shiri shut the door. She shot a pointed look at Travis and slammed the bedroom door behind her as she disappeared.

Travis just watched her. I wonder what Oma and Opa did with her when she got in trouble. I can't believe she was any better a kid than I am.

==

When Travis came out of her room the next morning, there were two girls about her age at the counter eating breakfast. Travis paused, stepped back into her room, and then stepped out again and looked. The girls were still there.

"Good morning, Travis!" Lydia emerged from the pantry. "I hope your mother won't mind, but I brought my nieces with me. My sister asked me to watch them, and I forgot." Lydia's wink told Travis the savvy housekeeper hadn't forgotten a thing. "Girls, this is Travis. Travis, these are Gloria and Rose." Each girl waved in turn. "Perhaps you girls can hang out. I"m sure your mother won't want you to be a bad hostess."

You don't know my mother. Travis smiled at the girls, trying to remember what Lydia had told her about them. "Sure," she finally managed, taking the last seat at the counter as Lydia set down a plate of waffles topped with fruit.

The counter was silent as the three finished their breakfast.

"So," the girl closer to Travis started, "Aunt Lydia says you haven't lived here very long. Have you been to the virtual world?"

"I haven't." Travis admitted.

"Oh, you have to!" The other girl leaned back, her grin brightening her chocolate brown eyes. "It's so much fun!"

"Well, in some sectors." The closer girl giggled. "I like to play in CyberMedia's sector. Gloria bounces between MicroTech and First Health."

Travis recognized those as the names of some of the MegaCorps in the city. "Is there a difference?"

"Oh, yeah," Gloria spun in her chair. "Each MegaCorps set up their sector to have a different theme. This sector has a samurai vibe. First Health is all dragons, castles, and wizards. CyberMedia is like legitimate netrunning, except you can't actually affect anything."

"And you can play a technomage." Rosa waved her hands in front of her, casting an imaginary spell.

Gloria rolled her eyes. "Because data ghosts need spells. Anyway, Argent's sector is retro, like the time before the MegaCorps were the city government, and you do not want to go into InfoSyndicate's sector."

"Why not?"

Rosa giggled, "Because it's like you walked into a giant toon. But the code isn't stable. I've heard people can get trapped in there."

"That sounds dangerous," Travis replied. "When I got first got here, I saw a kid with a tablet and goggles. Was he in the virtual world?"

Rosa shifted on her stool, and Gloria shook her head. "He was doing that in public?"

Travis nodded.

"That idiot," she snorted. "Remember how I said CyberMedia's sector was netrunning that wouldn't get you in trouble. Well, that kid was doing the kind of netrunning that gets you thrown in jail and your tattoo shut down." She looked at Travis' wrist. "You do have your tattoo, right?"

Travis held up her arm.

"Nice. Anyway, don't netrun. Don't get caught netrunning. Stick to the virtual world. It's more fun."

"Oh, so you've done some netrunning."

"No," Rosa blurted and then covered her mouth with her hands.

Gloria rolled her eyes with a dramatic sigh. "We haven't, but we know someone who did. He can't go anywhere in town without someone accompanying him because most doors won't let a black tattoo through."

"Oh." Travis didn't know what to say to that. New Glory is more complicated than I thought. "Okay. So... How does one get to the virtual world?"

The girls smiled.