ヴィスタ

Despite Caspian’s warnings, the sun still rose again. The wind barely blew as the warm spring weather brought along a scent of freshly bloomed flowers.

Around me, classmates scurried to class as the bell ticked ever closer to rigging. Protel University wasn’t the kind of place where you arrived late. Just getting the privilege to attend class required more dedication to studying than the average student would give in a lifetime, that three percent acceptance rate wasn’t getting any higher.

The fact I’d somehow made it was a miracle in itself.

From above, drones zipped about with packages in hand. Each felt quieter than an eagle mid flight. The few students without class to attend promoted clubs to the freshmen, my enke showing blaring colorful advertisements. Just one of those existing in reality would have been enough to blind me. The few that tried calling me over fell silent at a single glare, the one club I’d been suckered into was more than enough.

I hefted my backpack up as I passed through the stainless glass doors of the student union, a rare sight.

Part of me still couldn't believe students in the old world bothered to lug these things around every day. Fifteen minutes in and my shoulders already wanted to end it all.

Inside, the union opened the doors to another world. Glowing lights shot like bullets through the walls. Around every corner, some new anomaly caught my eye. On the left, a group of students were fighting with holographic boxers. A digital volcano exploded next to them, the smell of ash and sulfur nearly making me run for it.

Protel University was exclusively the home of the smartest students in the world. It just so happened a lot of them happened to be some of the most eccentric as well. Street racing, parties? Forget it.

My destination wasn’t any of those, however. Instead, I fought through classmate after classmate, heading up to the sixth floor.

Up here, their crowds from below had mellowed out, leaving the occasional processor at most. There were no lights against the walls, massive holograms five times my height, even students blaring advertisements larger than my apartment. Just simple walls and corridors.

At the end of one of those simple pale yellow halls, a rickety LCD display glowed red, displaying Vista Club in all caps.

Half the students who ventured this far couldn’t grasp the sign was physical, the other mystified on why such a thing would exist. No need for that with an enke. The few physical screens in all of Iero were reserved for highways, and even on those I couldn't see the pixels.

“I’m back,” I said, pushing open the door.

Inside, Kat laid down on the wooden conference table, her curly black hair falling loosely around her sweatshirt. A green clip adorned her hair. On the other end, Sky was typing away against his digital enke keyboard.

Sky wore his normal green button up shirt, long white lab coat loosely laid over his shoulders. His emerald eyes barely glanced up as I entered the room.

With a face equally as feminine to mine, not to mention his long light brown hair, most people we ran into assumed he was a girl at first glance. Me, I was most people. I’d known him for a year and still couldn’t believe it half the time.

Kat leaned her head over, still sprawled out. “You bring the laptop?”

“Arrived last night,” I said, heaving my pink backpack on the table. “Why else would I lug this stupid thing around?”

“I don’t know, because it looks cute?”

“I’m sure my leather jacket also adds to the cuteness.”

Kat shrugged, finally leaping up from her wooden bed and leaned against my shoulder. “Come on, let's take a look at the thing! You didn’t jump over a cop to use the thing as a doorstop.”

“You jumped over a cop?” Sky raised an eyebrow. “Caspian’s gonna have a field day.”

“You're a bit late for that,” I muttered, grabbing the silver hunk of aluminum from my bag. “One thousand credits down the drain, better hope it turns on.”

“You didn’t check?”

“Nah, just charged the thing Kat.” There wasn't much too the laptop, a thin sheet of silver metal cut in two, with a small hinge connecting them together. Inside, the screen reflected the classroom through a glossy black sheen. I pressed against the keyboards. The tactile painted letters pressed back, rigid yet soft to the touch.

This was what the Vista club was all about. Tech from the old world, useful or not, still could be found if someone bothered to look for it. Whoever founded the club named it after some old operating system. And it still somehow survived to this day.

“Here goes nothing.” I pressed the sleep round power button, feeling the tactile sheen. The screen burst alight with life, more colors than the entirety of the room condensed into one singular paine slightly larger than my head. Sure, enke could produce this a hundred times over, but even they couldn't replicate how vibrant everything felt.

“Not bad.” Sky muttered, walking over.

“Not bad? This is amazing! All this color in such a little box,” Kat said. “There's nothing like this today.”

“I guess…” He shrugged, returning to his work. That sure was Sky. Either something interested him, or he wouldn’t bother giving it a glance.

“That’s amazing. How’d you find something like that?” From behind, Caspian walked in, followed by our advisor Professor Juri.

“How do you think, dear brother of mine?” Our eyes met, a silent agreement made. “There was an auction online, I happened to get it at an extremely good price.”

“What a lucky score!” Professor Juri said, leaning over the device. She was a taller woman, though still a head shorter than Caspian, with black hair tied in a bun and a pair of sharp glasses. Honestly, she reminded me of a librarian more than anything.

“I’m known to make a few.”

Caspian took his place at the head of the table as the rest of us settled down. All in all, there were five of us counting Professor Juri. Not the largest club in the world, granted, I would have refused anything bigger on the spot. Way too much hassle.

“President, ready to start the meeting?”

“Absolutely.” Caspian stood, glancing around the room. “Everyone, me and Professor Juri have been talking, and using my positions as student body president and president of the Vista Club, I was able to convince the administration to grant us access to Protel’s underground archives.”

“Seriously?” Even Sky glanced up for that one.

“I know it's short notice, but tomorrow night is the latest they offered.”

“Still, what kinda strings did you have to pull…” I said. Protel was infamously built on the ruins of a university of the old world, any freshmen unlucky enough to suffer through orientation could speak about it for hours. But as far as anyone knew those tunnels were sealed off a long time ago.

“You have no idea.” He leaned against the table, the little blue streak in his hair swinging like a clock hand. “I’ll see everyone there tomorrow at seven sharp. Be prepared to see some shit we couldn’t imagine.”