“Where are we?” I wondered.
“In one of the expansion zones. Hurry, we need to find a train to catch in order to take us to Central. Everyone should be getting off work soon and it’ll be the most crowded place in the city—easy for us to disappear into the crowd.”
We followed Dr. Wilcox to the nearest train station, Dylan still glaring with hatred at Dr. Wilcox. Not wanting to add fuel to the fire, I kept my mouth shut.
Eventually, the train made its way to Central and we switched train lines. The area was so crowded that we had to pack ourselves into the only available train car. Mixing in with those individuals, we disappeared into the crowd and quickly left Central and the sadistic mayor behind us.
Every few minutes, there seemed to be a stop where some people got off and even more came on. Trapped in the center, I was squished against at least four other people, including Dr. Wilcox and Dylan. We were pressed so tight together that there was no point in holding on to the bar to stabilize ourselves for stops.
After we left the edges of Central and the largest residential district, the sea of people in the train car began to thin out and I could finally take a normal breath again. On Dr. Wilcox’s instructions, we got off the train at the very next stop—the Entertainment District.
Surprisingly, it was much more inhabited than when Dylan and I had first gone there several weeks ago. We exited on the other side of the district, the area where I hadn’t been to before. Shops crowded each side of the street boasting all kinds of fun experience simulations: amusement parks, jungle adventures, skydiving, rock climbing, hunt your own dinner and more.
Dr. Wilcox veered suddenly into one of the stores on our right, stepping into what I assumed was Oceania’s equivalent of a futuristic arcade. Screens with individual stations were scattered throughout the one-room venue, with no windows other than the one in the front door. The only sources of light came from the screens themselves in which virtual projections like those at Dylan’s house was displayed. Every piece of equipment the players used were merely projections of the same blue-light material I’d seen at Dylan’s.
At the furthest corner from the door was a restaurant that served pizza, hot dogs, hamburgers, and the like. We found a place nestled in the back where we could sit and talk. The arcade was so loud that there was no chance anyone could overhear us.
“We need to find a place to effectively disappear for a while. We have to get in contact with someone that can find a place for us. The mayor has surveillance cameras everywhere. I’m sure she’s searching them right now for us.”
“That’s not our only problem,” I added, glancing from Dr. Wilcox to Dylan. “What I said before is true. If I don’t show up at home tonight, my grandmother will call the police and go looking for me.”
“Yeah, and then they’ll find out I don’t really exist in your world.”
“Yeah, she’ll freak out.”
“All right, we’ll figure out a solution to that, but for now, we need to hide somewhere where Mayor Aldridge won’t think to look. It has to be somewhere she doesn’t have surveillance.”
“The only place she doesn’t have surveillance are basically private bathrooms. Even every apartment unit can be turned onto the surveillance network if she suspects someone there is up to criminal activity or harboring a criminal.”
“Yes, but she needs a search warrant for that.” Dr. Wilcox looked to the left in thought and rubbed his chin. An idea must have come to him because he turned to us and uttered, “There is one place where there is no surveillance!”
“Where?” wondered both Dylan and I at the same time.
“Aquatics.” Dr. Wilcox clapped once and then pointed at nothing in particular. “And I know just where we can go to get what we need.”
Chapter 24
Dylan pounded on apartment number 716. I glanced nervously down the opulent hallway lined with elaborately designed woven carpet streaming down the center of the floor. I couldn’t help but feel that we were breaking some social norm with our incessant knocking in a place of such grandeur. No one peeked their heads out of any of the other apartments, so I returned my gaze to the ornately decorated door in front of us.
The door swung open to reveal a very lavish foyer lined with dark cherry-colored carved wood matching the front door, fresh flowers in an antique vase on a golden stand, and a panoramic painting of a landscape.
Max’s thin frame only garnered a small amount of space in the wide doorway, his teeth shining brightly in his signature grin. “Hey, Dylan, what’s eating you? Unsatisfied with your birthday gift?”
“Max, just let us in.” Dylan’s mood hadn’t improved very much from Samantha’s capture. Not in the mood for jokes, he brushed past Max, forcing himself into the Granger household.
“All right then, welcome to my home.” Max bowed slightly and raised his arm out to the side as Dr. Wilcox and I quickly walked in.
Dylan glanced around and then turned to Max. “Are your parents home yet?”
Closing the door, Max followed us into the adjoining living room. “No, my dad was just here, but he had to go back out.”
“Good. We need your help,” stated Dylan, going straight to the punch.
“Yeah, whatever you need.”
“Your dad is a maintenance engineer for the Aquatic Department right?”
“Yeah,” Max looked from Dylan to me, and Dr. Wilcox still standing awkwardly near the door.
“Okay, I’m going to tell you a crazy story, but I’ve gotta shorten it because we’re running out of time.” Dylan walked over to me and placed his hand on my
