"Yeah, she's in here," a voice said, rousing Ivy from her sleep.
"Huh?" Ivy grunted, squinting her eyes open. She stared at the room she was in. It was a nondescript metal room, full of wires and soft lighting. Where am I again? she groggily thought, rubbing her eyes.
Ivy caught sight of the fluorescent lightbulb, and the memories of the day flooded back: stumbling into the future, meeting the kids, and being hidden from the government agent. So it wasn't a dream? she thought in disappointment. I wonder if I'll ever get back...
The door swung open and in stepped Oak, Syndria, Kronalia, Carbon, and Augaley. "Hi, Ivy!" Syndria said with a grin. "Did you fall asleep?
"Oh..." Ivy sheepishly said. She paused, noticing an unfamiliar individual with them. Behind the kids stood a man whom Ivy didn't recognize. He resembled Oak, with tan skin and dark, messy hair. He scanned the space, his attention flitting between Ivy, the bulb, and her bag of clothes.
Ivy quickly rubbed the drool off her face and scrambled to her feet.
"Oh, I did!" Ivy quickly finished, grabbing her bag and lightbulb.
"I can tell," Oak said. "Your hair's a mess."
"Oak, could you possibly be any ruder?" Syndria snapped. "I have a brush you can use, Ivy," she said in a friendlier voice, turning to Ivy.
"I-it's okay," Ivy stammered, her ears flushed. She set the bulb down and patted her hair, quickly running her fingers through the curly coils and making a half-attempt to detangle what she could.
"Oaktrm, your friend was right," the man sternly said. "That was rude. Apologize to her now."
"But Uncle—" Oak protested.
"That wasn't a request, Oaktrm," he said his thick eyebrows furrowing.
Oak tensed but turned to Ivy. "Sorry," he muttered. "This is my Uncle Taner," Oak continued, subdued. "I called him in to help us get you back."
"You can call me Taner...or Mr. Taner, Uncle Taner, whatever you're more comfortable with," his uncle said, approaching her and smiling reassuringly. "You've probably had a shocking day," he said. "Don't worry, I've already given these kiddos a good talking to." He paused, giving the kids a stern look. Ivy noticed each of them nervously avoided his gaze. "They're gonna help get you back."
"We're really sorry, Ivy!" Syndria said with shining eyes. The others nodded in agreement, their faces reflecting her sorrow.
"So the first thing we'll be doing," Uncle Taner said, clapping his hands, "is getting you registered with the City Bureau."
"But...if I'm registered in The System, won't I be detected?" Ivy asked.
"You will be, but that's the goal."
Ivy frowned.
"Kronalia told me you've had a government official visit this house, right?"
"Yeah?"
"And Augaley explained your health bar beeped when you put on your boots."
She nodded.
"Well, that happened because the health bar scanned an unregistered individual. It's going to report your location to The System every time you put your outfit together. Naturally, they're going to send out an agent to check on those kinds of reports." Uncle Taner took her bag. "Essentially, we're going to be hiding you in plain sight—a registered person is as good as an invisible person to The System. On top of that," he added, glancing at Ivy, "that's probably why those cybervists tried to pick you."
They told him about that too? she thought with a surprised glance at the others.
"It's alright," Syndria said. "We told Uncle Taner about everything today."
"Oh," Ivy said. "So they'd take me because I'm...not registered?"
Uncle Taner nodded. "Unregistered people are rare," he said. "That's perfect for those guys—someone with no trace or record. You're basically a blank slate, so they could do anything with you."
"Oh..." Ivy said, rubbing her arm. "How do you know so much?"
"Uncle Taner's a bit of a...hacker," Oak said, taking the lightbulb and handing it to Ivy.
"I prefer 'technology specialist'," Uncle Taner said as he walked to the exit. "Come on, everyone, let's get in the car."
Ivy took one last glance at the maintenance room as they shuffled out and Augaley shut the door.
The future world (as Ivy started calling it), looked far different at night than how it had in the daylight. The moon shone high in the sky, illuminating treetops and casting soft shadows on the numerous cars zipping about. The glass-front buildings appeared as warm, glowing candles dotting the horizon, casting orange and yellow hues onto their respective lawns and surrounding buildings. Neon tubing running throughout the infrastructure in the city glowed in varying hues, each building having its own color. "Keep it moving," Uncle Taner said, glancing at Ivy. "You can look at the city from the car."
Ivy hurried to close the gap that she hadn't realized had formed and climbed the ladder.
Uncle Taner's car was far more spacious than the small taxi Oak had rented (and even Augaley's larger taxi), easily fitting the seven of them with room to spare. "This is nice!" Ivy said, hugging her lightbulb and bag.
"Thanks, kid," Uncle Taner said as he busily typed into a holoscreen in the center of the vehicle. He pressed a button.
The lights lowered in the car and it effortlessly glided into motion, sending them onto the unseen magnetic pathway. Ivy watched in awe as buildings and trees whizzed by. "It all looks so different!" she excitedly said.
"I like the city at night," Syndria said, nodding in agreement.
"What's all the neon tubing?" Ivy asked, noticing the tubing increasing in frequency the deeper they drove into the city.
"Those are what powers all of these buildings and the city," Carbon piped. "It's quite fascinating, isn't it? Those are supply lines for residential nuclear reactors—"
"Okay, Carbon," Kronalia quickly said. "Before you overwhelm Ivy again with all of your facts, why don't you leave it there?"
"Very well," Carbon said with a pout.
"Why are they glowing different colors, though?" Ivy asked, casting an apologetic smile to Carbon.
"No reason," Kronalia said with a shrug. "I think they're just built like that—I remember when our family chose the tube colors for our home when we first moved in." She sighed. "I still say red would have looked better than the blue we have... But anyways," she continued with a small shake of her head, "I think the colors are from artificial lighting."
"That is correct," Carbon said with a nod. "I'll spare you the details of how exactly that artificial lighting is achieved, however."
"Aw, I thought it was interesting," Augaley said.
"So, we're going to go to the City Bureau, register Ivy, and then what?" Oak said, restlessly shifting.
"We'll figure out our next steps from there," Uncle Taner said, distractedly typing on a small holographic screen in front of himself.
"What if we get caught at the City Bureau?" Ivy said, watching the waterfall that was once on the distant horizon grow larger. She noticed the surrounding buildings became denser, eventually sharing bases instead of having their own. The buildings were crammed tightly next to one another and left no room for cars to weave in between. "I don't see how we could run away here..." she said.
"Don't worry," Uncle Taner said, without raising his eyes from the screen. "I can override this car's speed limiter if push comes to shove. And besides," he added, glancing at Ivy, "do you really think I'd take on a task as dangerous as this and not have a backup plan or two?"
"I guess that makes sense," Ivy said, looking at the bulb in her hands. She glanced out of the windows. "Hey," she exclaimed, "are we driving straight through the waterfall?"
The waterfall filled the horizon, overwhelmingly engulfing the view of anything else. Its rushing streams of water reflected the surrounding neon in a dizzying array.
"Of course!" Uncle Taner said. "The City Bureau is behind it."
The car pushed through the waterfall, and to Ivy's surprise, the car stayed dry. There was no sound of pounding water on the car's roof and the passage through the falls was quicker than she had expected.
"The waterfall is holographic," he said with a small chuckle at Ivy's confusion. "It gives the building privacy."
The building — or City Bureau — was surprisingly traditional. It looks like the capital building at home, she thought. Stately columns centered grand stairs and warm golden light illuminated the area. "Wait, I just realized," Ivy said, "It's nighttime. Should the City Bureau be closed right now?"
"Of course not!" Uncle Taner said, swiping his holographic screen close. "The City Bureau is open 24-7."
"Then don't the employees sleep?"
"There are no in-person employees," Oak sniffed. "Except for government agents and officials, The System runs everything else."
"We just need access to the government terminal to register you," Uncle Taner said, scooting to the door as the car rolled to a stop. "Of course, I could always just use my," he paused, "technology specialist skills," he finally said, "and do it directly from my lab, but I want to minimize your digital footprint. This is the safest way."
He slid the door open and hopped out. "Let's go," he said, waving everyone out of the car. Ivy carefully tucked her bag and lightbulb onto her seat.
"Hurry up," Uncle Taner called as he watched Ivy pack her things. "We don't have all night."
"Coming!" Ivy called as she scrambled from the hover car.