But the math was checking out. If the tips were good, he could get enough to cover the two months rent before his deadline was up. It was a long shot. But as long as he got just a bit lucky and pushed himself to his limit, he’d be able to pull it off. As long as-
This time Julian couldn’t even swear. It was just a wordless groan. Gasoline. He’d pulled into the parking lot on fumes yesterday. He had just enough to make it to the gas station. But if he didn’t have the money in his account, he couldn’t put anything in his tank.
“I am well and truly fucked,” Julian said, then paused to consider the words. That wasn’t quite right. “I have well and truly fucked myself.”
There. At least that way he was owning it.
Julian cast his eyes around his apartment. The Playstation...did he have enough gas to make it to the game shop and the gas station? He could probably get a hundred from that. That would give him just enough to fill his tank and make a minimum payment on his cellphone bill.
His eyes came to rest on something else, however. A box of spare electronics in the corner of the room. He dove into that to see if anything in there would be sellable before he got rid of one of his few remaining sources of entertainment.
Instead, amidst the assorted wires, random computer parts, and miscellaneous bits of plastic, he found a prototype that represented the closest he ever came to making it big. He picked it up reverently. “Hey, old friends,” he said to it in a hoarse whisper.
He held the two devices with the same reverence a priest showed the Eucharist. One was about as big as his palm, connected to an elastic headband. The other was a bulky black glove which hid wires and sensors attached to each knuckle. The case was white plastic and had sleek lines that made it resemble a smoothed arrowhead. In 2013, he’d paid a pretty penny to have the case 3D printed. It had a piece of clear plastic that he unfolded. Smiling to himself, he put the headpiece on, and slid his hand into the glove.
The current date and time appeared on the left side of his vision. With a flick of his fingers, he switched over to his text messages. Even though they were still a barren wasteland, seeing them like this took the sting out of it. He flicked again and brought up his map program. Even when the grey “Offline” box flashed in his vision, it still couldn’t stop the smile spreading across his lips.
It’d been ages since he’d last touched this. The Augmented Reality Enhanced Vision Experience, AREVE. It synced to a cell phone and gave the user access to all their phone’s features, displayed right over their vision. In theory. He’d only gotten a few things working - time, date, texts, and maps, QR Scanner, and Barcode Scanner. The last was the real triumph. It would let you use the AREVE to scan prices of items at nearby stores in real time, just by looking at the barcode. He’d had investors interested, and had a lawyer he trusted draft paperwork to ensure he didn’t end up getting shafted out of his own company.
Then the first big AR headset by a tech company came out. Suddenly, everyone decided that no matter what, you looked stupid with something hovering in front of your eye. Investors pulled out, and no one else was interested. Even as the big companies kept working on Augmented Reality, no one was interested in taking a risk on some nobody that didn’t even have a degree.
Especially not when a final estimate had come back for a suggested retail price of ten grand.
He noticed the power bar in the top corner just before the 1% display vanished, and the AREVE powered down. Julian sighed, feeling empty, and took them off, sliding them into his pocket. He grabbed the power cord from the box too, with the adaptor that let it plug into his phone. He’d never considered using it during his delivery, but having the maps hovering would make driving safer than having to look away from the road. Nothing in the box would be worth anything to anyone who wasn’t him. At least, not worth enough to make selling it a viable option. The Playstation would have to go.
Come, Champion. Build a better future.
The words echoed through the wall, and Julian rolled his eyes. His neighbors were blasting whatever shitty Anime they were watching so loud he could make out dialogue. Not your problem right now. If he made it to where he could sell the Playstation, he could walk to the gas station. Buying a can of gas would cost extra, but it would let him fill the tank.
“It’s so pointless.”
Speaking to himself was a habit he was developing rapidly, but it was hard to stop with no one else to talk to. The words stopped him short. What was the point of trying? He’d sell one of the few things that gave him joy and in exchange he’d get a slight extension until the next crisis. The power being out would make everything harder. Maybe it would be better to get evicted, save the money and live in his car. He could travel south where it would be warmer in the winter.
Even that felt pointless. So what if he did? Eking out a living driving for people? Bad credit keeping him out of homes? No health insurance so when he finally did get sick, he’d get slapped with a massive hospital bill?
Come, Champion. We need you.
Maybe that was all that was left
