Authors' note - the 'credit' mentioned is worth about 10p, or 15 US cents. The virtual world is what I remember of Worlds3D, embellished a bit, a brilliant 3D chatroom if your computer has the memory to run it. Mine doesn't, hence 'what I remember'.
The next morning Delilah was woken by the chimes, as usual. They were accompanied by a screen-wide visual of the huge yellow ball of the sun rising through a red sky. She yawned and stretched, looking through the window before morning exercises started. Unlike the majority of the apartments, her family's had real plastiglass windows that looked out of the building. They had priority housing, due to Delilah's father's prestigious position in Music Programming. Delilah looked out onto the real world, not a very realistic screen showing an image of it, like everybody further inside the building. A plastic and metal sculpture outside with a mutitude of miniature green shade-plates waved in a nonexistant breeze. The dual-purpose plates contained chemical reactants which recycled the carbon dioxide in the air into breathable oxygen. The residual carbon was collected at the base of the hollow trunk, and sent through a system of underground pipes to the power station where it was burnt effieciently to create electricity.
*It's a beautiful day, the sun is shining, I feel good... and I think I'll write that down before I forget it. Those words work nicely together.* she went to grab her laptop, but as she flippped it open the image on her screen changed to an androgynous CG teenager in the starting position of the morning warmup. *Damn. Oh well, I'll do it later.*
She slithered out of bed and started the warmup, accompanied by the figure on her wall. After five minutes of stretching various parts of her body - mainly her back and legs - she changed out of her pearly-white PVC pyjamas into her blue outfit. She sat back down on her bed to check her email. Amongst the junkmail was one addressed to her whole group, from Poppy. She deleted the others, then opened it.
'Hey guys, just to confirm and remind anyone who forgot yesterday's conversation, we're meeting at the VR arcade at eleven. Oh, and Delilah, if you haven't completely cut yourself off from the world, we can go on a boy hunt for you. See y'all then.'
'Eleven.' Delilah muttered quietly, looking at the time, then went into the kitchen to get breakfast.
'Will!' she whined as her brother snatched the last of the Sugar Snaps. He stuck his tongue out at her. 'You know those are my favourites!'
'So have toast. You finished the last box.'
'Did not.'
'Did so, you always do. It's my turn.'
'You know, I really hate you sometimes.'
'Children, please!' Their father interrupted. 'Can't you two just get along for once without bickering?'
'We're siblings...' Delilah muttered, punching in the code for lightly buttered toast - 'We're meant to hate each other.'
'Well kindly do it away from me. I'm under a lot of pressure right now.'
'S'alright dad, we don't mean it.' Delilah said, sitting down at the table. 'Me and the girls are going out to the VR arcade later, so I'll be out for most of the day.'
'Great. That's what you should be doing, going out and having fun.'*If only I could warn you, if only I could save you. Get out of the house, Delilah. Get out and stay out and you might survive.*
'Hey, that's not fair!' Will said. 'We're going there too, I don't want to go with my sister!'
'Oh for goodness' sake Will, you don't have to arrive with her. You can always ignore each other if you DO meet.' Will muttered darkly into his cereal, and Delilah munched quietly on her toast. It didn't really matter to her whether or not she saw her brother in public.
'What was that?' her father snapped, in response to Will's growling.
'You're not my real dad.' He replied. 'They mixed up the invitrotubes at the hospital when I was concieved. My real dad would never be this mean.' The table went silent.
'Go to your room, and stay there. I will not have you talking to me like that.' Their father said quietly. Will stood up lankily and slouched back to his room, still complaining about how unfair it al was under his breath. 'And I'm turning your comuter off, so don't even think about it.' A loud, over dramatised groan came from behind his door. Delilah looked down onto her plate and continued eating, not wanting to get involved in case the same thing happened to her. Fortunately, her father did not see it as her fault, so said
'Well, at least that's one less thing you need to worry about.'
'What do you mean?' Delilah asked innocently. Her father hesitated for a second. Did she somehow know what he'd had to do, last last night? Mailing her little creation to police headquarters, reporting another budding Bohemian? No, she couldn't possibly have found out.
'You don't need to worry about bumping into Will at the VRcade.'
'Oh, right.' Delilah finished one peice of toast. 'Doesn't really bother me, anyway.'
'No? It bothers most girls.' Delilah stiffened. Was she not, then, conforming?
'I was just being nice...' she muttered 'It'd be SO embarrassing if we were both there.'
'Ah, well that's my girl. Always nice to everybody.'
'Not everybody. I CAN'T be nice to weirdos.'
*Good, keep saying things like that. Be as normal as possible. Maybe, then, when they look at your character they'll let you off lightly. You're not a punk in your behavior, and it's only one song, but considering your mother....*
'How are your funds?'
'Erm...' Delilah said, opening and quickly typing in her wristWAP, 'I got 153 credits.'
'You'll need more than that if you're going out, I'll transfer you another 500. Don't spend it all at once.' Delilah's eyebrows rose.
'Five hundred, dad, are you sure?'
'Of course, dear.' *maybe you'll be able to spend it on something sensible before they freeze your account.* 'Just don't come to me tomorrow begging for more.'
'Don't worry dad, that'll probably last me til next week.'
'Nah, you're a teenager. You'll have spent it before you realise it's gone. When did you arrange to meet up?'
'Eleven.'
'Better get going then. Oh, and Delilah...' for a second he almost made himself warn her, but thinking of the penalty, cowed out. 'Don't worry about getting back early.' *It's the least I can do.* 'Enjoy being young and free.'
'You can be really weird sometimes, dad, you know that? But I love you anyway.' Delilah stooped to give him a brief kiss on the cheek, before grabbing her mostly empty(but very fashionable) handbag and touching up her makeup.
'Of course you do.' he replied as she preened in the mirror 'I just gave you money.' Delilah rolled her eyes.
'Aww, Dad!'
'What? It's only human nature.'
'You know I'm not that...' She couldn't find a word to describe the state she was not. She knew it was the same state almost every other Ga Ga girl was, but there just wasn't a name for it in her vocabulary. 'That... well I'm not like that. Ya know I love you anyway, Daddy.'
'Have fun!' he shouted after her as she walked down the hallway, and out of the apartment, stopping only to wave and yell
'Don't worry, I'll be fine!' after herself.
'I've scheduled a slot for the inspectors to come by. Delilah ought to be home by then, and if not they'll stay until she is.' The holographic woman fizzed into appearance to say.
'Yes.' the girl's father replied, sadly.
'You are showing signs of agitation. Explain.'
'I just can't believe it.' he sighed, holding his head in his hands and staring into his coffee. 'My little girl's a rebel. She never showed any signs of this when she was a child.'
'A late developer. She is 80% her mother's DNA. It therefore stands to reason that her behavioral patterns are similar.'
'And there's nothing wrong with Will. Maybe I should have insisted that both be 50/50 before they were created... but their mother was so persuasive...'
'The responsibility does not lie with you. According to my calculations, these recent changes are not a direct consequence of any single action of yours. Therefore you are not to blame. Do not distress yourself.'
'Oh, it's just the human element, I guess.' he said resignedly. 'I feel protective towards her, despite the fact that she's broken the law. What will happen to her?'
'If she is assessed to have acted with full knowledge, she will be arrested and removed. If she is ignorant of her crime she may be let off with a warning. Taking her DNA into account, however, this is not likely.'
'I suppose that's some comfort. I don't think she did know what she was doing, though. Otherwise she wouldn't have given it to me, would she?'
'It is possible that she believed you would not report her. All possibilities must be investigated.'
'Yes, I know you're right.' he said, going to and switching on his computer console. 'Anyway, this music doesn't supervise it's own programming.'
As Delilah stepped off the walkway outside VRcade, she saw that Kelly and Kylie were waiting for her.
'Hi!' she greeted them cheerfully. 'Poppy and Stacey not here yet?'
'No.' they said together.
'Delilah, we need to talk to you.' Kylie said, quietly.
'Oh? What about?' Delilah felt a sense of unease settle on her. It had to be about yesterday. But whether they were going to challenge her about going off without them, or not telling them where she'd gone, she didn't know.
'What did you say to the freak after we'd gone?' Kelly demanded.
'What?'
'Annelie saw you. She came and told us after.' Kylie explained.
'Oh, that.' Delilah said lightly, trying to think up a decent excuse for deigning to grace the lowly black-clad freak with her attention. She could hardly say what she really said... or could she? Maybe there was one way of putting it...
'I just told her exactly what I think of her.' she said levelly. *And that's the truth.* Both girls smiled knowingly. Delilah was relieved. As far as they were concerned, she had insulted the girl she actually admired. Of course, it would never occur to them that what Delilah thought of her might not be the same as what they did, but that didn't matter right now. What mattered was that they thought she was loyal to the group and accepted her.
'Oh look, there they are!' Delilah said, spotting Poppy and Stacey's hairdos throught the crowd.
'Hi!' they giggled as they formed a circe with the other 3. 'had to get popcorn, and the EFTPOS thingy was playing up.' Stacey pouted.
'Turned out she'd stuck her wrist in the wrong way round.' Poppy giggled.
'How did you manage to... no, don't tell me.' Delilah started to ask, bemused at how it was physically possible to put the wrist unit and thumbpad into the ergonomic scanner incorrectly, but decided not to. It made her mind boggle. But then again, if it was stupid and could be done, chances were that Stacey or Poppy had done it.
'Anyway, we're here now!' Stacey proclaimed. The girls joined the growing queue for the virtual reality consoles. These consisted of fleximould chairs, designed to accomodate every contour of every body with maximum comfort, navigating gloves and, of course, the helmets. These cutting-edge pieces of technology probed directly into the visual and aural cortexes of the brain, creating a direct link to the central computer and convincing the wearer that they are in a virtually creating world, eliminating the need for unconvincing screens or bulky goggles. Accidents were very rare, and victims usually recovered almost all of their brain functions eventually.
The girls managed to get 5 seats in a row, after passing up two clumps of 2 and 3. Delilah settled into her seat, feeling it shift and re-shape underneath and around her. She flexed her fingers before sliding them into the gloves, and waited for the helmet to descend. In the meantime, she glanced at Poppy, who stuck her tongue out at her and continued her conversation with Stacey. She did feel a little left out of the group. It seemed like she wasn't very important to them - after all, they didn't raise much of a fuss when she'd gone off yesterday. It was something to do with the numbers, probably. There was Kelly and Kylie, Candice, Melanie and Annelie, Stacey and Poppy, and then Delilah, who just had to try and fit in wherever possible. It made partner work unpleasant at cyberschool, she didn't have anyone to go with - Melanie was only a fringe member, more closely involved with another group. But she told herself it didn't really matter. They were her friends, right? It didn't matter if they were an odd number. Somebody had to be left out, it was just luck that it was her.
The slight buzz of a motor indicated the lowering of the helmets. Delilah shut her eyes as it settled around the crown of her head, not liking the experience of her field of vision fading to black artificially. She felt a cool spray, and then the odd sensation of her body going numb as it was paralysed, switching her motor functions to her avatar. When she told them to open again, she was in a large entrance hall, decorated electric blue, with 3D advertisements rotating slowly in mid-air. Along the walls were floor-to-headheight animated links to games, each displaying how much each would cost to play, the current jackpot and how many people were currently playing. There were also doors to other rooms, and teleport pads to other 'worlds'. When Delilah entered the world, a slightly pixelated, simplified version of Kelly was already standing there. As she watched, Kylie, Poppy and after a pause, Stacey popped into existance next to her. At that moment, all they could see was the venue and each other, as they had linked together as a group. They all took the time to adjust their viewing parameters, so that they could see all other players in their centre and all those on their buddy lists. It wasn't possible to play with all players visible, although that was an option, as the place would be completely filled with avatars cross-sectioning each other and it would be impossible to see any individual faces. Delilah switched to 'overhead' mode, for a larger view. The only mildly disconcerting thing about it was that she could see the top of her own head.
'So, where do you guys wanna go?' came a sightly tinny version of Kylie's voice, in perfect sync with her avatar's mouth.
'Skyworld?' suggested Delilah. 'There's a new game where you have to ride a pegasus round a maze, and you have to avoid flame throwers but...'
'Ooh no, don't tell me how to do it!' squeaked Poppy. 'It sounds fun, let's go!'
'Wait a second, I want another go at 'Poing!'.' complained Kylie. 'It's closer, anyway.'. Before a proper argument could start, Kelly said
'Well I want a go on 'House of the dead - Diamond'.', which pretty much settled the matter. They trouped with synchronised legs, like little anime schoolgirls, to the Horror World door. As it opened, with a creaking sound effect, they were greeted by the 'Tina' avatar, saying
'Welcome to the Horror World - guaranteed to send shivers up your spine!' and a couple of cartoon bats which fluttered upwards out of the doorframe and disappeared.
The girls spent the next hour or so, and between them about 150 credits, slashing up zombies, staking vampires and hacking weird water-beasts' heads off. After that they moved onto the point-earning games, where Delilah won 720 points for lining up rows of small coloured balls and blasting them out of existance, and another 380 for building a 11-layer pyramid out of single pyramids with multicoloured sides that had to be matched up.
'Oh yeah, I'm on a roll!' she said happily, as she beat level 6 of 3D Tetris. Stacey was, by this point, watching her play rather than attempt it herself. Poppy was losing all her credit attempting to beat level 3. Stacey, having a few more grains of intelligence than her, had decided to stop playng a game she was repeatedly losing, and just watched instead. Delilah had just manouveured a tricky block of five squares into place, completing the level, when a voice announced, at the same time as flashing white words,
'You have reached today's limit for 3D Tetris. Why not try some of our other games on offer? In this world alone there are over 500, and -'
She clicked on the 'finish game' button, silencing the voice and removing both the 3d structure and the words.
'Dammit, I guess I'll have to have a go on -'
'Ok, I'm losing all my money here, the Jupiter Coaster's going in three minutes, so let's go on that.' said a slightly sulky Kylie, appearing out of nowhere at Delilah's left shoulder.
'But I was-'
'Oh come on Delilah, everyone else wants to go, don't we?' Kelly appeared in front of Delilah, gesturing towards Stacey and Poppy.
'Yeah, I guess...' Stacey muttered quietly.
'Poppy?' she asked the motionless pink figure. Her eyes had gone to screensaver mode, showing only the spinning Globalsoft logo where the iris should have been. 'Hey! Poppy!' The avatar blinked, and the eyes returned to uniform cyber brown.
'Yes?'
'We're all going on Jupiter Coaster. Come on.'
'But I'm in the middle of a game...'
'So shut it down. You're losing anyway, aren't you?' Judging from her lack of response, Kelly guessed that she was right. 'Come on Delilah, don't be such a spoilsport. It'll be fun.'
'Alright, then.' Delilah said, bowing under group pressure. Well, Kelly and Kylie pressure. Stacey and Poppy would probably do just about anything they told them to. *After all, it's not fair of me to hold up the group.* 'I'm just about done here, anyway.'.
'Ok, I've got it marked, 'port to me.' Kylie said, before disappearing. The other girls pulled down their 'Teleport to...' menus and clicked onto her. For a moment Delilah thought of going off somewhere else on her own, just to prove that she could, but decided not to. There was no point, and Jupiter Coaster was a good ride, after all.
For the next hour the girls convinced their brains that their bodies were being hurled through 360 degrees at varying speeds and in a selection of unlikely surroundings. They stopped for lunch at the designated time. As far as they were concerned, they ordered and paid for their food and it appeared, floating in the air in front of them. In the real world, data was extracted from their wrist units and helmets by the catering division of the corporation. Flavourless masses of vitamins and nutrients were distributed to the individual seats by transporter, and the motor functions returned to the arms, jaw and throat to allow the customer to physically eat. The motions were synchronised with their avatar's, to ensure maximum comfort. Flavour was added by artificial nerve stimulation, by the main computers, so that no unpleasant after tastes could linger in the mouth.
During the afternoon they watched a movie, played some more games and generally spent money on mental stimulation. Throughout their time there, Poppy tried several times, mostly unsuccessfully, to introduce Delilah to a succession of Zone Boys. Eventually, as they went to the bowling alley, she managed to get them an aisle next to a group of 5 clones. Poppy practically vibrated with excitement. Their names logged in alphabetically, putting Delilah first and Stacey last. Stacey whined loudly about always being last, prompting Kylie to say
'Oh, don't complain. At least your name's not Zara.'
'No-one's called Zara.' Poppy scoffed.
'Yeah they are.' Kylie countered. 'It's one of last year's names. But it's right down the bottom of the menu, so not many kids are called it.'
Delilah chose her ball from the thumbnail menu that popped up next to the scoreboard. She plucked it out of the air where it appeared and stood at the end of the aisle, swinging her arm back, ready to throw. She'd turned her tragectory lines off, which automatically doubled her score as it was unaided. The flashing pink dots only got on her nerves, anyway. She released her arm, swinging the ball through in a smooth curve that landed on the virtual alley's surface with a small 'thwock' sound effect and finished at the centre pin. The score screen showed a bird's eye view of the hit, repeated in slow motion. Seven pins went down. An eighth tottered backwards and forwards, but stayed upright. She pouted and clicked for her ball again. Her second throw cleared two more pins. A muted clapping sound effect behind her signified the group's approval. She returned to her seat as Kelly stood up to take her turn. Poppy nudged her sharply in the side to get her attention.
'That boy's looking at you!' she hissed.
'Which one?' she asked quietly, but not in a private whisper. The same rule that applied at school applied everywhere - if it's worth saying, it's worth overhearing. If 'that boy' hadn't been looking at them before, it was very likely that he now was. He was. He nudged his friend and whispered something. Delilah and Poppy pretended to look away - another rule. Never look interested and always try to avoid making the first move. As Kelly whooped at her half-strike, the clone who had been whispered to stood up and came towards them. Poppy and Delilah, again, pretended not to notice.
'Oi, right...' he said. The girls slowly turned their heads, careful not to make him feel comfortable.
'Yeah, what?' Poppy asked for Delilah.
'My mate over there fancies your friend, she wanna go out wiv'im?' Poppy looked expectantly at Delilah, who was doing the obligatory sizing up of the other party. He looked no different to any other guy who'd ever asked her out, so why not? She nodded nonchalently at her speaking representative who lazily replied
'Yeah, alright.'
'Right.' He went back to his group.
'Did you see that?' Kylie said, indignantly 'I got that pin down and it stuck halfway. It's well out of order.'
'Well did you see that? We just got Deli a boyfriend.' Delilah's simulated face flushed prettily.
'Hardly a boyfriend, I just said I'd go out with him.' she mumbled.
'I quite fancy his mate.' Kylie declared.
'But what about Justin?' Stacey asked, slightly bemused.
'Dumped.' Kylie replied shortly. 'I'm through with him and told him so last night.'
The clone who'd got his friend to ask Delilah out for him smiled and winked at her. Her eyebrows rose in surprise when he opened a private whisper to her.
Hi After an indecisive pause, Delilah replied. This was breaking the unwritten rules, contact before introduction.
Hi
I'm Mark. What's your name?
Delilah...
Cool name.
It's not my fault, it's what my mum called me.
No, it is a cool name. I wish I had an interesting name.
In the real world, two government agents had been dispatched to find the source of an alarming conversation being monitored in the VRcade sector UK23/06. They marched down the aisles of paralysed teenage bodies, looking for the console with the red warning light.
You do?
Yeah. I bet you're the only Delilah in your class. There's six Marks in mine.
At least it's normal.
I don't like normal.
'Your go, Kylie.' she said absently, out loud.
So what do you like?
I'm not sure I can trust you enough to tell you yet.
What do you mean?
They don't like it. It's... well, there's nothing wrong with it really, but they seem to think - I'd have to show you. It's to do with your name. Would you come with me?
Come where?
It's a secret place. You can't tell anyone where it is, but I think you need to- His avatar disappeared and the conversation box turned grey.
Hello? She said, slightly worried. It wasn't right for people to log out in the middle of a game.
Mark? there was no response. Are you ok? Who don't like it? What is it they don't like?
The officers had found the errant user. The helmet was ripped off his head, and before he could come to his senses he was pulled out of his seat and dragged out of the building. They'd had their eyes on this one for a while - and now they had him. There was one less budding Bohemian in a growing number to worry about.
'What happened?' she asked out loud.
'What?'
'He just disappeared.'
'Oh, him.' Mark's friend, now talking to Kylie, replied. 'Probably crashed. He always does.'
'Oh, right.' Delilah said, slightly confused. *He must have been logged in at home, then. He should be back on soon, then, once he's rebooted.*
He didn't return. But by the time he'd been gone long enough for anyone to worry, the arcade had done it's job of distracting them into a euphoria of competitive bowling.
By the time they decided to leave, there had still been no sign of Delilah's date but Kylie had acquired a new boyfriend(by the name of Luke), so no-one noticed. As they left, via the entrance hall, they went to the prize kiosks to trade their game-earned points into little plastic trinkets. Delilah was the only one to be able to choose one from the 1000-1500 point range. Out of the items that cirled in front of her, including several pieces of cheap jewelry and cyber celebrity holograms, she chose a mini keyring torch. She didn't really know why she chose it, except that it was the most useful-looking thing on display. It completely failed to strike her as odd that she had chosen something on it's practicality value when she had been conditioned her entire life to value things on appearance. The blurb that flashed up next to the spinning hologram promised that the torch would last for up to 3 months' continuous use, and that if she wanted to, she could trade in her remaining 100 points for a spare battery. She did, seeing as they wouldn't be carried over to her next visit. As they exited through the main doors, displaying a banner asking them to return soon, they entered a black filled void. Again, Delilah closed her eyes to smooth the transition between virtual and real world. When she opened them again, she was back in the physical VRcade hall, waiting for the sensation to return to her body. Her prize was recorded in her account details, ready to be collected when she could move her arm enough to log in to the matter transporter unit. A light strain of directionless music played while medicinal sprays and the chair's massage function worked to bring back the circulation to her arms and legs - a process which had actually begun as soon as Kelly had notified the management that they were preparing to log out. Delilah tuned herself out, letting her brain tick over in neutral and her mind go blank, as she had learnt to do at a very early age. There had been a time when she would think about things in these empty moments, but that had led to discontentment and frustration and the child psychologist her parents had consulted had put her on a corrective programme to blank out the thoughts when they came. Now she could stop herself thinking whenever she needed to, and join the rest of the kids in their blind acceptance of whatever Globalsoft(c) decided to market at them.
When she had full control of her body, just in case she hadn't noticed, a green light lit up and a voice announced
'Complete control of bodily functions has now been restored. You may now leave your seat. Please come again.'
She leaned forwards and placed her wrist unit and thumbpad on the reader on the transporter-plate and waited a few seconds for her torch to materialise. It was a bit smaller than advertised. As she stood up, she hooked it onto the zip of her bag. The girls made their way to the entrance of the nearest mall, dragging Luke in tow, where they just sat on the edge of a decorative fountain for the rest of the aftrnoon. He was basically the same in real life as he had been in the arcade, just spottier. They spent about an hour sitting there, doing nothing but give passing people dirty looks and a little idle flirting with the boy they'd managed to pick up, before deciding they were all bored and went home.
Delilah's father drummed his fingers on the table agitatedly. The police investigator and his two officers had been there for almost an hour, since Delilah had logged out of VRCade. They could only wait for an hour for her to return - they had a pretty tight schedule to keep, with all the rebellious kids popping up everywhere. They were getting harder and harder to keep track of and control.
*Just a few more minutes, Delilah. A few more minutes and they'll have to go.* He had made up his mind. He would overcome his fear. If Delilah managed to avoid the officers tonight, he would warn her and tell her to leave, no matter what they would do to him. *You're still my little girl, dammit! They can't have you!* He had already been questioned, himself, and told them everything he could - which wasn't much. Only that she had given him the song and said she'd written it herself. He'd asked them to consider her character, and that she might have gained undue influence from the girl in her class they'd arrested the day before or even possibly had help. He'd though he'd done everything he could but was now determined to do more.
Rather than going straight home, Delilah stopped off at the nearest fast food joint. The chain had been called McDonalds before it had been absorbed by Globalsoft. She ordered GaGa meal 1 from the Express Express queue(just like the Express line, but faster) and decided to eat walking, rather than sitting down, because she was on her own and didn't want to look like a loner. At some point in the middle of the 22nd century, world obesity and heart disease rates had got so bad that someone had had the revolutionary realisation that people didn't want to eat healthy food because, quite frankly, it tasted of cardboard, no matter what packaging it was put in. So, rather than trying to make healthy food appealing, they realised that they had to make appealing food healthy. The idea was, naturally, stolen by Globalsoft(c) and applied to the recently acquired McDonalds chain, to huge success - and the techniques for altering the DNA of and injecting vitamins and minerals and other such nutritious stuff into junkfood were refined for the next 200 years, until a Big Mac was actually considered by all to be a well-rounded meal. Then the health officers knew they had got it right. That is why, in this day of computer generated perfect models, although the kids eat nothing but junk food, they all have disgustingly perfect bodies.
He was now counting down the minutes on his watch. Five minutes. Four minutes. Three. Two.
*Come on, Deli. Just stay away for a little while longer...* The chief investigator broke in on his thoughts.
'Mr Forbes, we may need to come bach tomorrow.'
Delilah binned her wrappings at the corner of the block. She still hadn't finished her drink as she stepped into the lift to get to her floor. She left the half-full coke in the litter disposal unit outside the lift doors before walking the short distance to her door, and punched in the code to unlock it.
Her father started to seriously hope. But as he stood up to show them out, he heard the door unlock, and felt his heart sink as his daughter's voice rang out down the corridor, loud and clear.
'Hi dad! I'm home!'
TBC. And yes, I know this one took weeks to get posted. It took weeks to write.
The next morning Delilah was woken by the chimes, as usual. They were accompanied by a screen-wide visual of the huge yellow ball of the sun rising through a red sky. She yawned and stretched, looking through the window before morning exercises started. Unlike the majority of the apartments, her family's had real plastiglass windows that looked out of the building. They had priority housing, due to Delilah's father's prestigious position in Music Programming. Delilah looked out onto the real world, not a very realistic screen showing an image of it, like everybody further inside the building. A plastic and metal sculpture outside with a mutitude of miniature green shade-plates waved in a nonexistant breeze. The dual-purpose plates contained chemical reactants which recycled the carbon dioxide in the air into breathable oxygen. The residual carbon was collected at the base of the hollow trunk, and sent through a system of underground pipes to the power station where it was burnt effieciently to create electricity.
*It's a beautiful day, the sun is shining, I feel good... and I think I'll write that down before I forget it. Those words work nicely together.* she went to grab her laptop, but as she flippped it open the image on her screen changed to an androgynous CG teenager in the starting position of the morning warmup. *Damn. Oh well, I'll do it later.*
She slithered out of bed and started the warmup, accompanied by the figure on her wall. After five minutes of stretching various parts of her body - mainly her back and legs - she changed out of her pearly-white PVC pyjamas into her blue outfit. She sat back down on her bed to check her email. Amongst the junkmail was one addressed to her whole group, from Poppy. She deleted the others, then opened it.
'Hey guys, just to confirm and remind anyone who forgot yesterday's conversation, we're meeting at the VR arcade at eleven. Oh, and Delilah, if you haven't completely cut yourself off from the world, we can go on a boy hunt for you. See y'all then.'
'Eleven.' Delilah muttered quietly, looking at the time, then went into the kitchen to get breakfast.
'Will!' she whined as her brother snatched the last of the Sugar Snaps. He stuck his tongue out at her. 'You know those are my favourites!'
'So have toast. You finished the last box.'
'Did not.'
'Did so, you always do. It's my turn.'
'You know, I really hate you sometimes.'
'Children, please!' Their father interrupted. 'Can't you two just get along for once without bickering?'
'We're siblings...' Delilah muttered, punching in the code for lightly buttered toast - 'We're meant to hate each other.'
'Well kindly do it away from me. I'm under a lot of pressure right now.'
'S'alright dad, we don't mean it.' Delilah said, sitting down at the table. 'Me and the girls are going out to the VR arcade later, so I'll be out for most of the day.'
'Great. That's what you should be doing, going out and having fun.'*If only I could warn you, if only I could save you. Get out of the house, Delilah. Get out and stay out and you might survive.*
'Hey, that's not fair!' Will said. 'We're going there too, I don't want to go with my sister!'
'Oh for goodness' sake Will, you don't have to arrive with her. You can always ignore each other if you DO meet.' Will muttered darkly into his cereal, and Delilah munched quietly on her toast. It didn't really matter to her whether or not she saw her brother in public.
'What was that?' her father snapped, in response to Will's growling.
'You're not my real dad.' He replied. 'They mixed up the invitrotubes at the hospital when I was concieved. My real dad would never be this mean.' The table went silent.
'Go to your room, and stay there. I will not have you talking to me like that.' Their father said quietly. Will stood up lankily and slouched back to his room, still complaining about how unfair it al was under his breath. 'And I'm turning your comuter off, so don't even think about it.' A loud, over dramatised groan came from behind his door. Delilah looked down onto her plate and continued eating, not wanting to get involved in case the same thing happened to her. Fortunately, her father did not see it as her fault, so said
'Well, at least that's one less thing you need to worry about.'
'What do you mean?' Delilah asked innocently. Her father hesitated for a second. Did she somehow know what he'd had to do, last last night? Mailing her little creation to police headquarters, reporting another budding Bohemian? No, she couldn't possibly have found out.
'You don't need to worry about bumping into Will at the VRcade.'
'Oh, right.' Delilah finished one peice of toast. 'Doesn't really bother me, anyway.'
'No? It bothers most girls.' Delilah stiffened. Was she not, then, conforming?
'I was just being nice...' she muttered 'It'd be SO embarrassing if we were both there.'
'Ah, well that's my girl. Always nice to everybody.'
'Not everybody. I CAN'T be nice to weirdos.'
*Good, keep saying things like that. Be as normal as possible. Maybe, then, when they look at your character they'll let you off lightly. You're not a punk in your behavior, and it's only one song, but considering your mother....*
'How are your funds?'
'Erm...' Delilah said, opening and quickly typing in her wristWAP, 'I got 153 credits.'
'You'll need more than that if you're going out, I'll transfer you another 500. Don't spend it all at once.' Delilah's eyebrows rose.
'Five hundred, dad, are you sure?'
'Of course, dear.' *maybe you'll be able to spend it on something sensible before they freeze your account.* 'Just don't come to me tomorrow begging for more.'
'Don't worry dad, that'll probably last me til next week.'
'Nah, you're a teenager. You'll have spent it before you realise it's gone. When did you arrange to meet up?'
'Eleven.'
'Better get going then. Oh, and Delilah...' for a second he almost made himself warn her, but thinking of the penalty, cowed out. 'Don't worry about getting back early.' *It's the least I can do.* 'Enjoy being young and free.'
'You can be really weird sometimes, dad, you know that? But I love you anyway.' Delilah stooped to give him a brief kiss on the cheek, before grabbing her mostly empty(but very fashionable) handbag and touching up her makeup.
'Of course you do.' he replied as she preened in the mirror 'I just gave you money.' Delilah rolled her eyes.
'Aww, Dad!'
'What? It's only human nature.'
'You know I'm not that...' She couldn't find a word to describe the state she was not. She knew it was the same state almost every other Ga Ga girl was, but there just wasn't a name for it in her vocabulary. 'That... well I'm not like that. Ya know I love you anyway, Daddy.'
'Have fun!' he shouted after her as she walked down the hallway, and out of the apartment, stopping only to wave and yell
'Don't worry, I'll be fine!' after herself.
'I've scheduled a slot for the inspectors to come by. Delilah ought to be home by then, and if not they'll stay until she is.' The holographic woman fizzed into appearance to say.
'Yes.' the girl's father replied, sadly.
'You are showing signs of agitation. Explain.'
'I just can't believe it.' he sighed, holding his head in his hands and staring into his coffee. 'My little girl's a rebel. She never showed any signs of this when she was a child.'
'A late developer. She is 80% her mother's DNA. It therefore stands to reason that her behavioral patterns are similar.'
'And there's nothing wrong with Will. Maybe I should have insisted that both be 50/50 before they were created... but their mother was so persuasive...'
'The responsibility does not lie with you. According to my calculations, these recent changes are not a direct consequence of any single action of yours. Therefore you are not to blame. Do not distress yourself.'
'Oh, it's just the human element, I guess.' he said resignedly. 'I feel protective towards her, despite the fact that she's broken the law. What will happen to her?'
'If she is assessed to have acted with full knowledge, she will be arrested and removed. If she is ignorant of her crime she may be let off with a warning. Taking her DNA into account, however, this is not likely.'
'I suppose that's some comfort. I don't think she did know what she was doing, though. Otherwise she wouldn't have given it to me, would she?'
'It is possible that she believed you would not report her. All possibilities must be investigated.'
'Yes, I know you're right.' he said, going to and switching on his computer console. 'Anyway, this music doesn't supervise it's own programming.'
As Delilah stepped off the walkway outside VRcade, she saw that Kelly and Kylie were waiting for her.
'Hi!' she greeted them cheerfully. 'Poppy and Stacey not here yet?'
'No.' they said together.
'Delilah, we need to talk to you.' Kylie said, quietly.
'Oh? What about?' Delilah felt a sense of unease settle on her. It had to be about yesterday. But whether they were going to challenge her about going off without them, or not telling them where she'd gone, she didn't know.
'What did you say to the freak after we'd gone?' Kelly demanded.
'What?'
'Annelie saw you. She came and told us after.' Kylie explained.
'Oh, that.' Delilah said lightly, trying to think up a decent excuse for deigning to grace the lowly black-clad freak with her attention. She could hardly say what she really said... or could she? Maybe there was one way of putting it...
'I just told her exactly what I think of her.' she said levelly. *And that's the truth.* Both girls smiled knowingly. Delilah was relieved. As far as they were concerned, she had insulted the girl she actually admired. Of course, it would never occur to them that what Delilah thought of her might not be the same as what they did, but that didn't matter right now. What mattered was that they thought she was loyal to the group and accepted her.
'Oh look, there they are!' Delilah said, spotting Poppy and Stacey's hairdos throught the crowd.
'Hi!' they giggled as they formed a circe with the other 3. 'had to get popcorn, and the EFTPOS thingy was playing up.' Stacey pouted.
'Turned out she'd stuck her wrist in the wrong way round.' Poppy giggled.
'How did you manage to... no, don't tell me.' Delilah started to ask, bemused at how it was physically possible to put the wrist unit and thumbpad into the ergonomic scanner incorrectly, but decided not to. It made her mind boggle. But then again, if it was stupid and could be done, chances were that Stacey or Poppy had done it.
'Anyway, we're here now!' Stacey proclaimed. The girls joined the growing queue for the virtual reality consoles. These consisted of fleximould chairs, designed to accomodate every contour of every body with maximum comfort, navigating gloves and, of course, the helmets. These cutting-edge pieces of technology probed directly into the visual and aural cortexes of the brain, creating a direct link to the central computer and convincing the wearer that they are in a virtually creating world, eliminating the need for unconvincing screens or bulky goggles. Accidents were very rare, and victims usually recovered almost all of their brain functions eventually.
The girls managed to get 5 seats in a row, after passing up two clumps of 2 and 3. Delilah settled into her seat, feeling it shift and re-shape underneath and around her. She flexed her fingers before sliding them into the gloves, and waited for the helmet to descend. In the meantime, she glanced at Poppy, who stuck her tongue out at her and continued her conversation with Stacey. She did feel a little left out of the group. It seemed like she wasn't very important to them - after all, they didn't raise much of a fuss when she'd gone off yesterday. It was something to do with the numbers, probably. There was Kelly and Kylie, Candice, Melanie and Annelie, Stacey and Poppy, and then Delilah, who just had to try and fit in wherever possible. It made partner work unpleasant at cyberschool, she didn't have anyone to go with - Melanie was only a fringe member, more closely involved with another group. But she told herself it didn't really matter. They were her friends, right? It didn't matter if they were an odd number. Somebody had to be left out, it was just luck that it was her.
The slight buzz of a motor indicated the lowering of the helmets. Delilah shut her eyes as it settled around the crown of her head, not liking the experience of her field of vision fading to black artificially. She felt a cool spray, and then the odd sensation of her body going numb as it was paralysed, switching her motor functions to her avatar. When she told them to open again, she was in a large entrance hall, decorated electric blue, with 3D advertisements rotating slowly in mid-air. Along the walls were floor-to-headheight animated links to games, each displaying how much each would cost to play, the current jackpot and how many people were currently playing. There were also doors to other rooms, and teleport pads to other 'worlds'. When Delilah entered the world, a slightly pixelated, simplified version of Kelly was already standing there. As she watched, Kylie, Poppy and after a pause, Stacey popped into existance next to her. At that moment, all they could see was the venue and each other, as they had linked together as a group. They all took the time to adjust their viewing parameters, so that they could see all other players in their centre and all those on their buddy lists. It wasn't possible to play with all players visible, although that was an option, as the place would be completely filled with avatars cross-sectioning each other and it would be impossible to see any individual faces. Delilah switched to 'overhead' mode, for a larger view. The only mildly disconcerting thing about it was that she could see the top of her own head.
'So, where do you guys wanna go?' came a sightly tinny version of Kylie's voice, in perfect sync with her avatar's mouth.
'Skyworld?' suggested Delilah. 'There's a new game where you have to ride a pegasus round a maze, and you have to avoid flame throwers but...'
'Ooh no, don't tell me how to do it!' squeaked Poppy. 'It sounds fun, let's go!'
'Wait a second, I want another go at 'Poing!'.' complained Kylie. 'It's closer, anyway.'. Before a proper argument could start, Kelly said
'Well I want a go on 'House of the dead - Diamond'.', which pretty much settled the matter. They trouped with synchronised legs, like little anime schoolgirls, to the Horror World door. As it opened, with a creaking sound effect, they were greeted by the 'Tina' avatar, saying
'Welcome to the Horror World - guaranteed to send shivers up your spine!' and a couple of cartoon bats which fluttered upwards out of the doorframe and disappeared.
The girls spent the next hour or so, and between them about 150 credits, slashing up zombies, staking vampires and hacking weird water-beasts' heads off. After that they moved onto the point-earning games, where Delilah won 720 points for lining up rows of small coloured balls and blasting them out of existance, and another 380 for building a 11-layer pyramid out of single pyramids with multicoloured sides that had to be matched up.
'Oh yeah, I'm on a roll!' she said happily, as she beat level 6 of 3D Tetris. Stacey was, by this point, watching her play rather than attempt it herself. Poppy was losing all her credit attempting to beat level 3. Stacey, having a few more grains of intelligence than her, had decided to stop playng a game she was repeatedly losing, and just watched instead. Delilah had just manouveured a tricky block of five squares into place, completing the level, when a voice announced, at the same time as flashing white words,
'You have reached today's limit for 3D Tetris. Why not try some of our other games on offer? In this world alone there are over 500, and -'
She clicked on the 'finish game' button, silencing the voice and removing both the 3d structure and the words.
'Dammit, I guess I'll have to have a go on -'
'Ok, I'm losing all my money here, the Jupiter Coaster's going in three minutes, so let's go on that.' said a slightly sulky Kylie, appearing out of nowhere at Delilah's left shoulder.
'But I was-'
'Oh come on Delilah, everyone else wants to go, don't we?' Kelly appeared in front of Delilah, gesturing towards Stacey and Poppy.
'Yeah, I guess...' Stacey muttered quietly.
'Poppy?' she asked the motionless pink figure. Her eyes had gone to screensaver mode, showing only the spinning Globalsoft logo where the iris should have been. 'Hey! Poppy!' The avatar blinked, and the eyes returned to uniform cyber brown.
'Yes?'
'We're all going on Jupiter Coaster. Come on.'
'But I'm in the middle of a game...'
'So shut it down. You're losing anyway, aren't you?' Judging from her lack of response, Kelly guessed that she was right. 'Come on Delilah, don't be such a spoilsport. It'll be fun.'
'Alright, then.' Delilah said, bowing under group pressure. Well, Kelly and Kylie pressure. Stacey and Poppy would probably do just about anything they told them to. *After all, it's not fair of me to hold up the group.* 'I'm just about done here, anyway.'.
'Ok, I've got it marked, 'port to me.' Kylie said, before disappearing. The other girls pulled down their 'Teleport to...' menus and clicked onto her. For a moment Delilah thought of going off somewhere else on her own, just to prove that she could, but decided not to. There was no point, and Jupiter Coaster was a good ride, after all.
For the next hour the girls convinced their brains that their bodies were being hurled through 360 degrees at varying speeds and in a selection of unlikely surroundings. They stopped for lunch at the designated time. As far as they were concerned, they ordered and paid for their food and it appeared, floating in the air in front of them. In the real world, data was extracted from their wrist units and helmets by the catering division of the corporation. Flavourless masses of vitamins and nutrients were distributed to the individual seats by transporter, and the motor functions returned to the arms, jaw and throat to allow the customer to physically eat. The motions were synchronised with their avatar's, to ensure maximum comfort. Flavour was added by artificial nerve stimulation, by the main computers, so that no unpleasant after tastes could linger in the mouth.
During the afternoon they watched a movie, played some more games and generally spent money on mental stimulation. Throughout their time there, Poppy tried several times, mostly unsuccessfully, to introduce Delilah to a succession of Zone Boys. Eventually, as they went to the bowling alley, she managed to get them an aisle next to a group of 5 clones. Poppy practically vibrated with excitement. Their names logged in alphabetically, putting Delilah first and Stacey last. Stacey whined loudly about always being last, prompting Kylie to say
'Oh, don't complain. At least your name's not Zara.'
'No-one's called Zara.' Poppy scoffed.
'Yeah they are.' Kylie countered. 'It's one of last year's names. But it's right down the bottom of the menu, so not many kids are called it.'
Delilah chose her ball from the thumbnail menu that popped up next to the scoreboard. She plucked it out of the air where it appeared and stood at the end of the aisle, swinging her arm back, ready to throw. She'd turned her tragectory lines off, which automatically doubled her score as it was unaided. The flashing pink dots only got on her nerves, anyway. She released her arm, swinging the ball through in a smooth curve that landed on the virtual alley's surface with a small 'thwock' sound effect and finished at the centre pin. The score screen showed a bird's eye view of the hit, repeated in slow motion. Seven pins went down. An eighth tottered backwards and forwards, but stayed upright. She pouted and clicked for her ball again. Her second throw cleared two more pins. A muted clapping sound effect behind her signified the group's approval. She returned to her seat as Kelly stood up to take her turn. Poppy nudged her sharply in the side to get her attention.
'That boy's looking at you!' she hissed.
'Which one?' she asked quietly, but not in a private whisper. The same rule that applied at school applied everywhere - if it's worth saying, it's worth overhearing. If 'that boy' hadn't been looking at them before, it was very likely that he now was. He was. He nudged his friend and whispered something. Delilah and Poppy pretended to look away - another rule. Never look interested and always try to avoid making the first move. As Kelly whooped at her half-strike, the clone who had been whispered to stood up and came towards them. Poppy and Delilah, again, pretended not to notice.
'Oi, right...' he said. The girls slowly turned their heads, careful not to make him feel comfortable.
'Yeah, what?' Poppy asked for Delilah.
'My mate over there fancies your friend, she wanna go out wiv'im?' Poppy looked expectantly at Delilah, who was doing the obligatory sizing up of the other party. He looked no different to any other guy who'd ever asked her out, so why not? She nodded nonchalently at her speaking representative who lazily replied
'Yeah, alright.'
'Right.' He went back to his group.
'Did you see that?' Kylie said, indignantly 'I got that pin down and it stuck halfway. It's well out of order.'
'Well did you see that? We just got Deli a boyfriend.' Delilah's simulated face flushed prettily.
'Hardly a boyfriend, I just said I'd go out with him.' she mumbled.
'I quite fancy his mate.' Kylie declared.
'But what about Justin?' Stacey asked, slightly bemused.
'Dumped.' Kylie replied shortly. 'I'm through with him and told him so last night.'
The clone who'd got his friend to ask Delilah out for him smiled and winked at her. Her eyebrows rose in surprise when he opened a private whisper to her.
Hi After an indecisive pause, Delilah replied. This was breaking the unwritten rules, contact before introduction.
Hi
I'm Mark. What's your name?
Delilah...
Cool name.
It's not my fault, it's what my mum called me.
No, it is a cool name. I wish I had an interesting name.
In the real world, two government agents had been dispatched to find the source of an alarming conversation being monitored in the VRcade sector UK23/06. They marched down the aisles of paralysed teenage bodies, looking for the console with the red warning light.
You do?
Yeah. I bet you're the only Delilah in your class. There's six Marks in mine.
At least it's normal.
I don't like normal.
'Your go, Kylie.' she said absently, out loud.
So what do you like?
I'm not sure I can trust you enough to tell you yet.
What do you mean?
They don't like it. It's... well, there's nothing wrong with it really, but they seem to think - I'd have to show you. It's to do with your name. Would you come with me?
Come where?
It's a secret place. You can't tell anyone where it is, but I think you need to- His avatar disappeared and the conversation box turned grey.
Hello? She said, slightly worried. It wasn't right for people to log out in the middle of a game.
Mark? there was no response. Are you ok? Who don't like it? What is it they don't like?
The officers had found the errant user. The helmet was ripped off his head, and before he could come to his senses he was pulled out of his seat and dragged out of the building. They'd had their eyes on this one for a while - and now they had him. There was one less budding Bohemian in a growing number to worry about.
'What happened?' she asked out loud.
'What?'
'He just disappeared.'
'Oh, him.' Mark's friend, now talking to Kylie, replied. 'Probably crashed. He always does.'
'Oh, right.' Delilah said, slightly confused. *He must have been logged in at home, then. He should be back on soon, then, once he's rebooted.*
He didn't return. But by the time he'd been gone long enough for anyone to worry, the arcade had done it's job of distracting them into a euphoria of competitive bowling.
By the time they decided to leave, there had still been no sign of Delilah's date but Kylie had acquired a new boyfriend(by the name of Luke), so no-one noticed. As they left, via the entrance hall, they went to the prize kiosks to trade their game-earned points into little plastic trinkets. Delilah was the only one to be able to choose one from the 1000-1500 point range. Out of the items that cirled in front of her, including several pieces of cheap jewelry and cyber celebrity holograms, she chose a mini keyring torch. She didn't really know why she chose it, except that it was the most useful-looking thing on display. It completely failed to strike her as odd that she had chosen something on it's practicality value when she had been conditioned her entire life to value things on appearance. The blurb that flashed up next to the spinning hologram promised that the torch would last for up to 3 months' continuous use, and that if she wanted to, she could trade in her remaining 100 points for a spare battery. She did, seeing as they wouldn't be carried over to her next visit. As they exited through the main doors, displaying a banner asking them to return soon, they entered a black filled void. Again, Delilah closed her eyes to smooth the transition between virtual and real world. When she opened them again, she was back in the physical VRcade hall, waiting for the sensation to return to her body. Her prize was recorded in her account details, ready to be collected when she could move her arm enough to log in to the matter transporter unit. A light strain of directionless music played while medicinal sprays and the chair's massage function worked to bring back the circulation to her arms and legs - a process which had actually begun as soon as Kelly had notified the management that they were preparing to log out. Delilah tuned herself out, letting her brain tick over in neutral and her mind go blank, as she had learnt to do at a very early age. There had been a time when she would think about things in these empty moments, but that had led to discontentment and frustration and the child psychologist her parents had consulted had put her on a corrective programme to blank out the thoughts when they came. Now she could stop herself thinking whenever she needed to, and join the rest of the kids in their blind acceptance of whatever Globalsoft(c) decided to market at them.
When she had full control of her body, just in case she hadn't noticed, a green light lit up and a voice announced
'Complete control of bodily functions has now been restored. You may now leave your seat. Please come again.'
She leaned forwards and placed her wrist unit and thumbpad on the reader on the transporter-plate and waited a few seconds for her torch to materialise. It was a bit smaller than advertised. As she stood up, she hooked it onto the zip of her bag. The girls made their way to the entrance of the nearest mall, dragging Luke in tow, where they just sat on the edge of a decorative fountain for the rest of the aftrnoon. He was basically the same in real life as he had been in the arcade, just spottier. They spent about an hour sitting there, doing nothing but give passing people dirty looks and a little idle flirting with the boy they'd managed to pick up, before deciding they were all bored and went home.
Delilah's father drummed his fingers on the table agitatedly. The police investigator and his two officers had been there for almost an hour, since Delilah had logged out of VRCade. They could only wait for an hour for her to return - they had a pretty tight schedule to keep, with all the rebellious kids popping up everywhere. They were getting harder and harder to keep track of and control.
*Just a few more minutes, Delilah. A few more minutes and they'll have to go.* He had made up his mind. He would overcome his fear. If Delilah managed to avoid the officers tonight, he would warn her and tell her to leave, no matter what they would do to him. *You're still my little girl, dammit! They can't have you!* He had already been questioned, himself, and told them everything he could - which wasn't much. Only that she had given him the song and said she'd written it herself. He'd asked them to consider her character, and that she might have gained undue influence from the girl in her class they'd arrested the day before or even possibly had help. He'd though he'd done everything he could but was now determined to do more.
Rather than going straight home, Delilah stopped off at the nearest fast food joint. The chain had been called McDonalds before it had been absorbed by Globalsoft. She ordered GaGa meal 1 from the Express Express queue(just like the Express line, but faster) and decided to eat walking, rather than sitting down, because she was on her own and didn't want to look like a loner. At some point in the middle of the 22nd century, world obesity and heart disease rates had got so bad that someone had had the revolutionary realisation that people didn't want to eat healthy food because, quite frankly, it tasted of cardboard, no matter what packaging it was put in. So, rather than trying to make healthy food appealing, they realised that they had to make appealing food healthy. The idea was, naturally, stolen by Globalsoft(c) and applied to the recently acquired McDonalds chain, to huge success - and the techniques for altering the DNA of and injecting vitamins and minerals and other such nutritious stuff into junkfood were refined for the next 200 years, until a Big Mac was actually considered by all to be a well-rounded meal. Then the health officers knew they had got it right. That is why, in this day of computer generated perfect models, although the kids eat nothing but junk food, they all have disgustingly perfect bodies.
He was now counting down the minutes on his watch. Five minutes. Four minutes. Three. Two.
*Come on, Deli. Just stay away for a little while longer...* The chief investigator broke in on his thoughts.
'Mr Forbes, we may need to come bach tomorrow.'
Delilah binned her wrappings at the corner of the block. She still hadn't finished her drink as she stepped into the lift to get to her floor. She left the half-full coke in the litter disposal unit outside the lift doors before walking the short distance to her door, and punched in the code to unlock it.
Her father started to seriously hope. But as he stood up to show them out, he heard the door unlock, and felt his heart sink as his daughter's voice rang out down the corridor, loud and clear.
'Hi dad! I'm home!'
TBC. And yes, I know this one took weeks to get posted. It took weeks to write.