A Grand Day Out (IC)

[Avenger Assembled]

Late January 2011

It was a cold day outside as Sharl slowly walked back and forth through Gina's upper floor. The novel physical sensations of existing in the 'real' world, the faint tingle as his feet sunk into the carpet, the way everything felt almost, but not quite real, was distracting enough to pull him away from the distracting spectacle of the snow outside. He hadn't asked about her plans to restore him to his home and family, right now he was fascinated enough by the world she was showing him that he was able to compartmentalize Tronik away in another part of his mind. He'd have so many stories to take home, and so many things he could tell his family.

"This is really going great, Gina," he told her, looking over at where she watched him. On her screen, she could see that the projection system was running fine, the teenage program easily navigating the changes in his programming language that let him get around the house as part of the hard-light and magnetic holographic projection. "You know," he said, wandering up to the window and peering out, "I've been thinking. With all these modifications you're making so I can get around in your computer, could you tweak me enough so I could get around in other systems?" He shot her a curious look. "Like, project myself elsewhere? Or even send myself to other computers?"

[Electra]

"Actually, I've got another project just coming off the drawing board that'll do something like that," she told him. "I've got the house rigged with stationary projectors now, but what I've been working on is a mobile self-contained projector, one that will project your body, but can also be contained by your body. That is to say, you'll be able to carry it in your pocket, even while it's creating the stuff your body is made of," she explained. "A mobile projector would allow you to move around freely, even to places where there are no stationary projectors. That's a much safer project than attempting to streamline your programming to keep you cohesive while traversing the internet," she told him sternly.

Having Sharl able to walk around her house, as happy as it made him, made Gina increasingly uncomfortable the more realistic the hologram became. And yet her own pride kept her tweaking the program towards greater perfection, just because she knew that she could. Talking to him about his programming and the holoprojectors helped a little bit, at least helped to reinforce the knowledge that he wasn't real.

[Avenger Assembled]

He sighed. "I guess so. I understand if some things can't be done, you've already done so much for me already. The projector sounds really awesome anyway," he said, walking over and putting his hand lightly on the side of the window. "I might like the idea of being able to face my fears again, but you're right, this is so much better. It means so much to be able to walk around here in the real world, even as alien as it is..." He cocked his head and looked over at Gina. "What's it like?" he asked her. "Walking around on the streets out there, with a real sun in your face and with all those tiny buildings? And all those faces!"

[Electra]

Gina looked down intently at her pad, scribbling a few obviously very important notes on her pad rather than answering what she apparently considered a rhetorical question. "Emerson!" she called down the stairs. "Start the dishwasher!" After a few more notes, she told Sharl, "Listen, how about I give you the projector and you can walk around in the backyard? Don't get too far away from the house, but you'll be able to test how it works in a controlled environment. And you can feel the grass under your feet and stuff."

[Avenger Assembled]

As Gina had hoped, Sharl was excited enough by that prospect that he didn't object to what she was suggesting: as a matter of fact, he agreed enthusiastically! He took the projector from Gina, tossing it idly from hand to hand before she firmly reminded him that his program was running through there, and after that neatly slipped it into his pocket for the trip outside. The cool, bracing air of Freedom City was a revelation to him, smelling to his biased nostrils like grass and green things, the semi-suburban neighborhood of Hanover a sharp contrast to the world he'd left behind. He said nothing at first, simply walking out beneath the bright blue sky over Gina's yard, feeling the grass crunching under his feet as he stared up at the heavens. "It's...it's beautiful!" he called to Gina, waving to her through the window. "You should come out and see this! I can't believe how...how much sky you have! Is it always like this in winter?" He bent down, marveling at the grass underneath as much as the sky above.

[Electra]

Gina's voice came from his pocket, obviously she'd wired some sort of communicator into the device as well. "No, usually there's a lot more snow on the ground," she told him. "We had a quick warm snap a couple days ago, but we're supposed to get more snow in the past couple of days. If you like, I'll remote-unlock the gate for you and you can go into the front yard and see the rest of the block." The gate on the wooden privacy fence was sealed with a keypad lock, but as Sharl approached it unlocked itself so he could swing it open.

The front yard was a bit of a revelation, even though he'd seen some of it already through the living room curtains. There were houses all up and down the street, each one different in its own way, some bigger and some smaller, all different colors, each designed to house only a single family. In front of some of the dwellings were cars, primitive combustion vehicles that Sharl knew were common here. Even as he watched, a car drove past down the street, and as it passed, it slowed down! The driver looked out, directly at Sharl, with an expression of curiosity, before continuing on and pulling into a dwelling down the road.

[Avenger Assembled]

Sharl waved, but didn't do more than that. He'd seen how friendly people were on television, but his own life hadn't been like that. Part of the way people kept themselves together in Tronik was by avoiding too much contact, something hard to avoid in a city of tens of millions living on top of each other. If your neighbor was too friendly, how could you avoid him if you wanted privacy? He knew people were different here, though, and no wonder! You'd have to be a real jerk to be unfriendly in this bright, shining city of blue sky and green grass. He walked up and down the sidewalk, marveling at domestic animals and children playing freely in huge green yards, and wished for a holo. _I'm just a kid. They should have sent a poet!_ He stood at the foot of Gina's yard, looking up at her house, and thought of Gina.

_She's not like the people on TV either._ He'd spent a lot of time in the last weeks watching television and surfing the 'Net to see how people acted, and the people he saw on there liked to go out and about, smiling and meeting each other in the street, barbecuing in their backyard, legally partnered to the gender of their choice. Leaning close to the commlink she'd given him, he asked, "Hey Gina, how far can I go wearing this?"

[Electra]

"The projector contains part of your program right now and backs up in real-time to the stored data in my mainframe," Gina told him over the comm. "Theoretically you can go anywhere as long as you're getting a 3G signal that allows data transfer, but if you drop into a dead zone, you could hang or partially discorporate. You can go around the block, but let's keep it close to home for this first outing."

[Avenger Assembled]

Sharl walked around the block, taking in the sights and sounds of an alien world. The sky was an impossibly pale blue overhead, its clear, unblocked expanse almost shockingly bright. He'd seen pictures of open sky, of course, and even seen it a few times himself on rare trips to the highest levels of a district, but seeing it unshackled was a gorgeous sight to behold. _And to think they all live like this, all the time!_ A few passing people stared at him as he knelt down and ran his hands through the crunchy snow, but he didn't care, there was so much to see here! Of course, some things weren't worth seeing."Eww! Animal feces!" got a definite reaction from people walking by, and Sharl irritably wiped his hand on his pants as he realized the mistake he'd made. _It's not like on TV!_

Of course, wiping the dog poop on his pants just got them dirty too. "Aw, man! Stupid dog..." Looking down the street, he picked out the owner of the animal whose waste he'd accidentally grabbed, the four-legged animal looking fat and sassy. "I can't go back like this!" He'd just get dog poop on Gina's floor, and she'd be mad at him again. He thought for a moment, hmming. "Maybe if I fade out again, I can make the stuff fall off! He took the projector out of his pocket, gently setting it on the floor. "Here goes nothing.." He closed his eyes and concentrated, reaching down inside himself for how he'd felt when he'd first appeared and been clipping through everything. A brief moment of vertigo later, like holding his breath, and..."Yes!" Looking down at himself, he was sparkling clean! "Awesome!" He picked up the projector, put in his pocket, and resumed his walk happily.

"Hey, Gina!" he announced to the machine as he got close to her house. "You have an awesome neighborhood! I can't believe how many people have so much space!"

[Electra]

"Just wait till you get a look at North Bay," Gina's dry voice came over the comm. "These houses are nice enough, but they're nothing compared to where the really rich folks hang their hats. That can wait for another day, though. Head back in now, I want to make sure the battery use is in line with my projections and make sure your pattern is still fully patent. I saw one strange bobble in the readings while you were out, so that's something to check out."

[Avenger Assembled]

Once inside, Sharl explained to Gina what had happened. "It was pretty neat," he admitted. "Just sort of concentrating on myself and clipping, like I did in the basement earlier. And so much cleaner!" He shook his head, looking down at himself. "I can't believe that you have animal droppings just laying around on your streets with no one trying to recycle them. You have such a wealthy world here." He looked up at Gina and said, "Did it all go OK? It was really fun, and I'm really glad I got to do it. I'd love to go more places, if, uh, you think that would be okay. I won't be any trouble."

[Electra]

"Yeah, I can probably manage to get something set up for you," Gina told him. "I'm going to be pretty busy this next little while. Trying to get you home and handling all my other projects is really tying my schedule into knots. I think I can line up a friend of mine to take you out to see some different places around the city. I don't want you going out alone yet. If something happens, your projector could get stranded and stolen or broken, and it's got a lot of expensive parts in it."

[Avenger Assembled]

"That'd be great," said Sharl, studying Gina. He was disappointed she couldn't, or wouldn't, come with him, but the idea of meeting new people and seeing new places was really very nice. "And I understand that someone has to come out with me. I mean, I'm a stranger here, and...well, stranger than most," he admitted with a glance at his projector. "I can't wait to see Freedom Hall, and the Super Museum, and all the beautiful parks...so I'll be able to tell everyone back home about them," he added quickly. "And none of it would be possible without you."

[Electra]

"This isn't a great time of year to see parks, but you can see the museums and stuff like that." Gina took back the projector and turned it off, making Sharl shimmer momentarily as his projection was picked up by the in-room holoemitters. She studied the machine thoughtfully, running a few instruments over it to make sure it was within tolerances. "You'll like my friend," she told Sharl, as though sensing some part of his disappointment. "She's a much better tour guide than I would be."

[Avenger Assembled]

"I understand if you're too busy," said Sharl, his glow eventually settling down to his regular almost-human appearance. "I mean, you're helping me, and being a science hero, and all that stuff...you've got a lot happening." He studied Gina from the monitors, not quite sure if he believed his friend or not. _Maybe she doesn't think I'm that important...or maybe she just doesn't want to go outside._ It didn't seem like Gina ever did. "I'm sure your friend is really cool. And hey, the more people I meet, the better!" Not wanting to raise an unpleasant issue with Gina any further, Sharl decided to try other things. He couldn't resist the urge to try his trick again, and as they talked he concentrated, focused on his hand, and stuck it right through the wall. "Awesome!"