The Best Laid Plans…

Nico ignores my question. “Hi, nerd,” he jeers. “Welcome to the year 2000.”

The thumping bass of the electronic music makes it hard to hear him, so I get closer, leaning over him with a frown. “Kids under eighteen aren’t allowed to Linx into clubs.”

“Shhh, they could be listening,” he jokes, a wicked grin on his face.

“Yeah right.” If Linx knew about this, it would’ve already been shut down. “I’m not stupid,” I shout over the music. “But you are, if you’re doing illegal stuff just for your own entertainment!”

“What are you going to do? Arrest me?”

I glare at him. “I don’t care what you do. Just don’t get me in trouble too.”

“You’re the one who called me.”

“Yeah, because we need to reschedule!”

Now it’s his turn to frown. “What? Why?”

“...I have more important plans.”

“More important than your fifty volunteer hours?”

He has a point. I hate that he has a point. “Maybe.”

He tuts, clicking his tongue at me like a disappointed parent. “I’m sure your beloved Nova University would love to have a student who can’t stick to a schedule.”

I’m starting to get a headache from the club music, or maybe just having to talk to him, so I say, “Can we go somewhere else? This is crazy!”

He smiles, and suddenly we’re in the backseat of an old car, flying down an open highway. A loud siren blares, blue and red lights flashing around us, and through a line of bars I see a man in a blue old-fashioned uniform steering the vehicle after another one, a white car far ahead of us, weaving through traffic. I’ve seen this kind of thing in movies before, but never in VR because… “This is banned footage too,” I gasp, tumbling into him as the car takes a hard turn. “How are you doing this?”

I realize I’m practically in his lap, clinging to him so I don’t get thrown around more. He seems to find that amusing. “It’s fun, isn’t it? Doing things you’re not supposed to.”

“A-are you serious?” I stutter. “This isn’t fun at all. Get us out of here!”

He rolls his eyes, and the scene changes again. Now we’re hurtling through the air, wind whipping across my face so hard it almost hurts. I can see the pinpricks of houses down below and realize what I’m seeing is Earth—the greens and blues and yellows of surrounding pastures and lakes are too distinctive for us to be anywhere else. “How about this?” he yells, just loud enough for me to hear him. “Having fun yet?” Beside us are two screaming girls holding hands as they tumble through the sky. They’ve each got goggles and backpacks on, with tiny square cameras strapped to their helmets.

Nico grins, but I’m not smiling. The force of the wind in my face has me struggling to breathe. Is this… skydiving? Just as I’m starting to get dizzy from the sight of the ground below getting closer and closer, I have the good sense to hang up the call, and I’m back in the front hallway of my home, breathing heavily.

He’s crazy. I take a few shaky steps and catch my breath. My VR adjustment training kicks in and I look at my hands, squeezing them into fists, then look at my feet and tap them against the tile. Deep breath in. Hold for four. Deep breath out. That wasn’t real. Nothing in VR can hurt me. I am safe. The mantra slows my heartbeat back to normal, and I shake the rest of my nerves off with a shudder.

What a jerk. We didn’t even reschedule.

The sound of orchestral music and people talking draws my attention to the living room, where my mom is always planted on the couch, watching her show: Lunar Lovers. And there she is. Per usual.

The show is a soap opera or something, and she’s been watching it since she was twelve years old. I don’t bother saying hello to her; even though she’s not in VR and I can see the holo of the drama playing out before her, I know better than to try to get her attention while she’s engrossed in something.

My stomach grumbles. I should really make us lunch and forget all about stupid Nico. So I go to the kitchen and unwrap the ingredients for a Colony-sponsored rice bowl for the two of us. It comes premade, fortunately, so all I need is to pop the preservation seal, split the portions, and grab a spoon. I get her chopsticks. Then I bring the two bowls over to the living room and slide hers into her hands. Once she’s got a firm grasp on it, I steady my own in my hands and plop down beside her on the couch. She eats automatically, though she doesn’t seem to register that I’m there.

On the holo, Josephine and Gerald are holding each other in a passionate embrace.

“I’m sorry, darling,” Josephine says. “I was drawn in by the enigmatic Hunter, and I let my heart grow weak in resolve.”

Gerald pulls back so he can see her face, and he brushes her hair out of her eyes with great gentleness and affection. “My love,” he whispers, “It is his nature to deceive and manipulate. You falling for his tricks only highlights your purity, your goodness, and speaks no ill of you. It is he who is at fault for taking advantage of your kind soul.”

I take a bite of my rice bowl. This show is weird, but Mom loves it, and at least it’s a way for us to spend time together. I glance over at her and realize she’s crying openly, the tears flowing down her cheeks in waves. I look down at my food. She always cries at this show.

“Gerald,” Josephine whimpers. Then she leans in and kisses him. I look away and make a face. Ew. My mom, however, lets out a choked sob.

When she finishes eating, I take her bowl out of her hands and wash up in the kitchen sink. I run the utensils through the disinfector then slot them into the storage module robotically. At least that’s done now. I head to my room and shut the door quietly. Posters of Earth cover my walls, mixed in with some Nova University merch and photos of Tori, Zach, and I at middle school graduation. My made bed calls to me, begs to be used, but it loses my attention when my eyes catch on the picture of my dad and me on my dresser. It was from my last visit with him. We’d met up at the Ursa Minor Space Station during my sophomore year field trip. It just so happened he’d had a show there at the same time, and I’d gotten to attend with my class. I stare at the picture, at our faces. We both looked so… happy.

I should give him a call.

I tap my wrist, my eyes flicking to Confirm as my brain conjures up his name and image. Then I wait for him to answer, listening to the ringing in my ear as it goes on, and on, and… “You’ve reached Maxwell Ricardo, pianist for the New Angeles City Orchestra. For business inquiries, please visit my personal server at—” I hang up. I’m sure he’s just busy. He’s always got a lot on his plate, especially with my two little half-siblings running around and causing a ruckus. It’s fine. I can just call again later.

I bite my lip, then decide to send Sol a message. I don’t want to interrupt his call with his parents if it’s still going on, but maybe a text will be okay.

Hey Sol! About our lunch tomorrow… could we push it back a couple of hours? I forgot that I had plans.

Right as I press send, a text from Tori in our group chat with Zach flashes before my eyes.

Are you still hanging out with that Earthling guy?! How’s it going? He was so cute!

I sigh and reply:

No… he had to call his parents. What are you guys up to?

Immediately, she sends me an incoming VR call. I sit down on my bed and answer.

Zach, Tori, and Adrien are all there, lounging about on crumpled blue bean bags in Tori’s VR gaming room. They’re in the middle of arguing about some old video game that Adrien and Zach are playing on a holo with old-timey controllers, Zach overwhelming the two of them with details about the lore.

“Controller playing is a lost art. It’s like typing. There’s a beauty—a physicality—to pushing the right buttons at the right time and moving the stick fluidly that is completely lost when you’re fully in VR. And we miss out on expansive narratives like this when we’re too busy playing modern games that lack nuance!” Zach’s face is bright red with excitement, or frustration—I’m not sure.

“Wow,” I say. “You almost sound smart, Zach.”

His eyes brighten as he notices me, but then he sticks out his tongue and goes back to ranting at Adrien. Tori, on the other hand, jumps up and throws her arms around me. “You’re here!” she says happily. “What happened with your guy? And why’d you leave us after your meeting?”

I explain to her everything that’s happened, which draws the attention of both Zach and Adrien as I start spilling the tea on Nico. I leave out the bit about Nico doing illegal stuff, as I don’t want Linx to flag me for saying anything on a monitored server.

Zach lets out a low whistle when I’m done. “So what’s he like? Nico, I mean.”

Tori huffs. “Who cares. He’s a weirdo. He has all the same opportunities as anyone else, minus any stigma since he’s a scientist kid. He has no excuse to be failing anything. I heard they had to create summer classes just for him.”

Adrien leans in and adds, “I heard he killed his parents.”

“What?!” All of us turn to Adrien.

“Really?”

“Where’d you hear that?”

Adrien waves his hands dismissively. “It’s just a rumor. My dad was on the case for his parents’ deaths. He acted like it was some big secret and that they had to tell everyone it was a lab accident to keep from scaring people.”

“No way,” Tori says. “You’re such a gossip, babe.” She pokes Adrien’s chest playfully, and he grins at her, leaning in for a kiss.

Nico’s strange, sure, but a murderer? “I don’t know if I believe that,” I say quietly. Though I guess it wouldn’t be impossible. Still… murder? No one’s been murdered in fifty years, and no one’s ever been murdered on Mars.

My Linx pings and a text flashes across my vision. It’s from Sol.

Hey, Petra. Sorry for the late reply. I actually have a flyover tour scheduled at two, so I can’t do later unfortunately. Should we just reschedule?

My heart sinks. But then I feel another rush of boldness—the same surge of confidence that had me offering to be Sol’s tour guide.

Do I want to hang out with Sol, the cute Earthling, or Nico, the possible murderer? I text Sol back.

No worries. I can do noon tomorrow. I’ll see you there.

I hope I don’t regret this.