Trixie Plaza was an uptown shopping center that rose five stories high, part of a commercial district in New Sumer whose three spacious wings represented three neighboring villages. With five levels of storefront and kiosk, its roof provided a sixth with its domed garden and Special Cone ice cream stand.
Faster than any smart cars en route, Jessica hovered over the sidewalk and into the parking structure, bending her knees up the spiral vehicle ramp. She almost touched the ground then stood tall at the rooftop. It was empty. Perfect. She casually skated to one ledge, revolved, and assumed a racer's stance.
Then, thrust forward, exhilaration took hold and coursed into rapid-fire heartbeats flexing her chest. She dove into a freefall. The board spun until she landed directly before the plaza's main entrance.
Only a few strands of hair fell out of place. After landing, knees bent, head down, a big fat grin curled her lips. Padding herself off, she removed her goggles and casually sauntered toward the stainless glass, but not before fixing her jagged bob, never once noting the passing family: a mom and teenaged girl gawking, and a young boy tugging the mother's blouse.
"Tell her to do it again, mom!"
Jessica entered the first floor, greeted by French maid attire who offered up trays of free dumpling samples.
"Totally!" she said, fiddling a stick. The maids curtsied and stepped aside, leaving her free to roam.
Aisle after bustling aisle brightened within the white plaza. At the center lay a marble fountain, in between all the rising floors, and it sprouted holographic advertisements. Granules of light coalesced into humans and retail products, followed by the word 'Sale.' A new color brought a new ad, blue, violet, then green in spiraling rotation.
"Mission Start," she said, taking a bite of her dumpling. Toward the escalators, she nearly bumped into three families and two couples, which made her relish that it was not Saturday. At the escalator precipice, her attention wandered to a few early Christmas decorations. A terrible trend, especially since it was barely July. Accounting for Azarean culture, there would be many holidays between now and December.
"At least make it Halloween?"
After the third floor's alabaster tiles, the fountain played another ad. This one was red, arrested every shopper's attention, and spiraled into uniformed humans and Azareans side by side.
"Find your calling within the devout upper echelon of interstellar forces. Join the Azarean Expedition Front," said the male voiceover. "Earn a fulfilling education in loyal service to the Union." The propaganda included skits of aliens and humans occupied in several tasks: space station construction, lab research, and rescue. The dramatic last cut came with a diverse legion of uniforms saluting below the backdrop of the regime's banner: a star-spangled spacecraft. "A galaxy awaits!"
The shoppers went about their lives.
A mermaid. Jessica saw another one, like the one on the first floor. Mermaids on café fronts were common to every realm of retail. Star Mermaid Coffee: White letters on a ring around a crowned mermaid. She already had coffee this morning so continued down the aisle until she saw black walls. Hotter Topic read the jagged font overhead. Their shirts were works of art. Unfortunately, every time she had entered, in the past, a group exceeding one person would crowd the store.
"This Summer, behold one man's struggle against a tyrant..."
Jessica got a kick out of movie trailer voiceovers, even when the movies looked terrible. They were so magnetic with their drama.
She sighed away from the rails, right after the rating: "Rated D for 'Don't bring your kids'!" A message popped on her watch. "Hmm." I'll be there soon, it read, so she decided to peruse the rest of the third floor.
Nova Pac clothing, an athlete's favorite retailer for some reason; it preceded the electronic game store, Game Nonstop. Jessica stopped to browse the novelties behind the display window with voiced animation: "Pokemans Ellipsis and Spiral Galaxy versions, now with less water!"
She considered how gaming became a frontier for hackers, bad ones. Cheats and modifications became the least of a developer's worries – Player profiles were consistently hijacked, and many gamers lost access to hard-earned content. The web got more complicated after the industry meshed with cyberspace. Azareans had to outlaw game-making algorithms, lest the industry collapse. It did in places where they had no gravitas.
To this day, she fawned over old stories about video games that required no digital signatures. "Splitscreen was underrated."
Her vision suddenly went black. She felt a pair of cool hands on her eyes, a silent presence that had arrived without her notice. "I know it's you," she said.
"'You' who?" replied the feminine voice. Jessica brought the hands down and turned around. She saw a face whose shadow danced between light and tan, with loving brown eyes and brunette tendrils. The girl was about her age, in a sleek, black leather hoodie over a yellow blouse. Underneath, a pair of tight jeans held firm to her legs. She spread a wide and white smile of recognition, glossy lips stretching ear to ear. "I knew I'd find your nerd ass here!"
"Homegirl..."