Earth, 35th Century. You can cheat death by downloading your consciousness into a Virtual Universe, with thousands of imaginary worlds to choose from, and countless 'lives' to be 'lived.' But someone of vital importance to the Virtuaverse has been m...
"Stop right there, cutie," Wanda cautioned, "Their security's gonna be tighter than a missionary's ass."
Tessa pounded her fist into her palm. "You're looking for info on the Dromedaries. I promised Old Vera that I'd keep her secret, but this trumps her need for solitude. Get your stuff, and let's get in the Lunar Jeep."
"Jeep? What about the train?" Teepee scratched his head, which shifted into a mass of blond curls. Sunny's facial piercings, he'd kept.
"It's AI powered, son. It might not run at all, and if it does, it would certainly alert the Consortium as to our whereabouts, if they don't already know them. Where is this Old Vera?" I hadn't expected to make a friend of Tessa, but my luck seems to still be working. Thanks, Coyote.
"She's in Mare Serenitatis, a good hundred miles from here. Load up that extra fuel, will you? We're going to need it. And there's a 10-gallon metal jug outside my cabin. We can take it as a present."
"I'll get it," Wanda says. I'm about to ask her how and remember that she's got arms and legs now. Never in 30 years had I thought to ask her if she'd wanted a different shell. "Thanks, sweetheart," I shout, in real gratitude.
"Uh-uh, don't start calling me sweetheart, sugar. You never sweet-talked me before, and for good reason. Besides, as impressive as your plumbing might be, it ain't gonna do nuthin' for me!"
"Who's Old Vera?" Sunny asks.
Tessa grinned. "She's millions of years old, if you can believe it. She's a dromedary that's been here on the moon for a long, long time. She loves Earl Grey tea and will watch any English mystery show on holovid. I literally stumbled upon her when I was about your age, and we've been friends ever since. But she likes her solitude."
The Lunar landscape is like the desert on Earth – vast, all-enveloping, majestic in its quiet and dangerous in its hidden pitfalls. All the while, the incredible star-filled blackness of space sparkled above us. It would be easy to forget the petty squabbles that seem to consume humanity's brief time as physical beings, that caused us to nearly condemn our species – and so many others – to extinction.
The others chatted, discussing our rogue's gallery of suspects. I was fairly certain none of them guessed the truth. Although, the AI Consortium's sudden complicity surprised me. I thought they'd be more reasonable, but they may have gone farther down humanity's road than we give them credit for. Who knows what they've been bribed with?
It was 2 hours before we reached our destination. There was a ridge where a bus-sized meteorite had hit, and tucked inside it was a metal shack, about the size of three or four newsstands. Teepee picked up the 10-gallon container. The shack had been painted to look like an old English cottage, if you can believe it.
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There were painted windows with small painted curtains appearing to be inside. Along the ground, in front, were clay pots with minerals that glittered and crystals that glowed. There was even a flat slab of rock in front of the door painted like a welcome mat, with the words 'Leave Me Alone" on it.
