Feb 2018 v01 online

More documents

Recommendations

Info

“Terrible pickup line,” I said, turning around. A man grinned at me; about my age, perhaps 5”9, but with a rough, pleasant face and broad shoulders. Blue eyes, dark hair, medium build. I balked. It’s him! “Go you talking though, didn’t it?” He said. A notification popped up in the right periphery of my vision, notifying me that this man was a 99% match to my specified target. I blinked twice, clearing it from my vision. I knew. He held out his hand. “Hazel,” I said, recomposing myself. “Nice to meet you,” “I’m Dan.” Interestingly, this was true. Another unnecessary notification dinged. My superiors would be over the moon. I reached out and shook his hand. Despite myself, I was surprised to feel it in my own. “The haptic feedback is a cool feature,” he said, noting my surprise. “It’s been around for a few years now. I guess people felt weird being able to see and hear everyone, but not touch them.” He held my hand in his for a moment longer, before I let my fingers loose. “It’s all new to me,” I said. “First time with Živa?” I felt the floor sway under me again. Trying not to wobble, I realised the whole getup was meant to be some kind of cruise liner ballroom. I saw the city lights tilting softly outside. “First time doing this anywhere. I’ve never been to a singles night before, and certainly not at a place like this.” “Well, congratulations!” He put his hand on the small of my back, manoeuvred me with some force towards the bar. “That calls for a drink.” The automated bartender was a real robotic arm with a soft plastic gripper on a sliding rail that ran the curved length of the bar. They couldn't use sims, because they were serving real glasses with real fluids in them – sims were purely sensory, and couldn't interact with the physical world at all. They could’ve had a real person behind the bar, I guess, but that might defeat the purpose of visiting this kind of place. If everything wasn’t one step removed from reality, all those customer inhibitions might come flooding back. “Tell me you’ve never had an Old Fashioned,” said Dan, rocking with the simulated undulations of the room. “I've never had an Old Fashioned,” I said, truthfully. He winked, and ordered two from the robot. It zipped a couple of times up and down the bar, shuffling different bottles and making a show of the muddler, and then deposited two amber drinks in front of us on the bar. Mine was real, Dan’s was not. From his end, it would have looked the other way around. Dan raised his glass, I clinked it, and took a sip. It was sweet and strong – more flavoursome than any cocktail I’d had before. “It’s good!” “Not so bad for a plain glass of water, right?” Dan said, taking a sip. “The colour and flavour is all augmented, like everything else in this room. They even simulate the effect the liquor would have on your brain.” “Really?” I held the glass up to my eyes. The cocktail was indistinguishable from reality, like the expensive décor and like Dan himself. I knew the dimensions of the place. Despite the fact that the ceiling looked a million miles away, if I stood on the bar I’d bang my head. Dan was watching me, leaning one elbow on the bar. I accidentally made eye contact, put my glass down, and blushed. I could almost already feel the fuzz of that simulated liquor. Using a quick
internal command I disabled the reaction permissions on my chip – professional privilege. I couldn't be making a fool of myself on the job. “Tell me about yourself,” he said. “Where are you visiting from?” “I’m in London,” I said truthfully after another sip. I hadn’t been directed to lie. “Chiswick Park.” “Chiswick Park?” Dan exclaimed. “I’ve been to that room a few times. Have they still got that beautiful blonde on the counter?” think that I’ve been in the exact same room that you're in right now.” “That is – that is pretty amazing,” I agreed. If I wasn’t on an assignment – such an awkward one at that – the Živa mechanism would fascinate me. A hundred doors all over the world, portals to the same room – the same party. I took another sip, and tried to be nonchalant. “Where are you visiting from now?” My eyebrows went up. After a moment his face broke back into a grin. “Only kidding,” he said. He’s exactly what I expected, I thought. I wondered who on the team would receive this conversation’s transcript. “I was there about a year ago. Amazing to “Right now I’m in Dubai. Business trip. I'm
Page 4 and 5:
Editor Naomi Moore discusses the po
Page 6 and 7:
_____________ My crash course into
Page 10 and 11:
_____________ Pilot officer Davids
Page 12 and 13:
the machine’s behaviour, screamin
Page 14 and 15:
so Davids told them to ignore their
Page 16 and 17:
Davids started to breathe more easi
Page 18 and 19:
entertainment industry) has been th
Page 20 and 21:
eyond just cost. The flexibility an
Page 22 and 23:
Ransom Stevens “I can’t believe
Page 24 and 25:
_____________ Stacey turned the lig
Page 26 and 27:
Stacey was eating an apple and read
Page 28 and 29: “ “What matters other than how
Page 30 and 31: “ of manmade origin, rather than
Page 32 and 33: - that the true nature of the unive
Page 34 and 35: _____________ Dave only had enough
Page 36 and 37: screams, guns firing, explosions. B
Page 38 and 39: Dave said nothing. He stared out in
Page 40 and 41: touch it, but he couldn’t raise h
Page 42 and 43: He hung up. The sky had faded into
Page 44 and 45: “
Page 46 and 47: equipment, including headsets. It
Page 48 and 49: Another example of the uncanny vall
Page 50 and 51: Thursday, 8 th of February, 2034, 6
Page 52 and 53: legally dump the entirety of a fact
Page 54 and 55: I did it anyway. I put Findlay, sil
Page 56 and 57: power. This client was one of sever
Page 58 and 59: not only would he be exposed for th
Page 60 and 61: he had constructed across the globe
Page 62 and 63: Don’t think it. Don’t think it.
Page 64 and 65: discussing here is commonly known a
Page 66 and 67: simply be a hollow shell with a ren
Page 68 and 69: story poses more questions; if our
Page 70 and 71: _____________ The sunlight from ove
Page 72 and 73: find fascinating allowed people do
Page 74 and 75: _____________ The Živa building lo
Page 76 and 77: Živa. Your booking and online brie
Page 80 and 81: taking the night off.” Bingo. Is
Page 82 and 83: enough -” he put his hand on mine
Page 84 and 85: As of April 2017, 61% of U.S. inter
Page 86 and 87: The world’s rapidly evolving rela
Page 88 and 89: Avery, incensed, tried to rebut. Wo
Page 90 and 91: “Being with you, Ava?” Furrowed
Page 92 and 93: fear shot through Avery as a soft p
Page 94 and 95: all kinds to foster muscle memory,
Page 96 and 97: Greenwald, S. W., Kulik, A., Kunert
Page 99 and 100: Geo AR Games was designed to help d
Page 101 and 102: have your goals and you go for them
Page 104 and 105: _____________ For an organisation s
show all

Feb 2018 v01 online

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?