Chương 4: Rebellious phase
The car glided across the ground with movements so smooth that Jessica hadn't even noticed that they had started moving. The streets had been cleared by her sister's security so there was no traffic and the normally busy neighborhood she called home was eerily quiet. Jessica smirked when she remembered walking up and down the streets to get groceries for herself for the first time. She recalled the liberated feeling when she met her first friend who wasn't just the son or daughter of a rich prick that wanted to get closer to her parents. She also recalled the surprise on her face when that same friend saw "the Maria Petterson," pull up in her limo earlier that day.
Jessica turned her attention over to Maria who had already resumed her call on her Sensory Augmentation. The drive to the elevator was going to take at least a few hours once they left the city. She let out a long yawn and decided to look at her TKLiveSpace account. She pressed a button on the SensoryMap watch on her wrist. A holographic visor appeared over her eyes. Jessica was greeted by her avatar which is a cartoonized version of herself with a vintage double barrel shotgun. Her account name was DoubleBarrel which is also the name she used at gaming conventions to hide her identity.
Seeing the avatar reminded her of Kevin since they made the account together. It also reminded her of the time he got doxed. He was worried that they would find her identity as well. No one ever found out or her father would have stepped in and put a stop to it quickly. Jessica was far more worried about her father finding out she was a professional Esports gamer than a rando on the internet.
She scrolled through her feed and saw Kevin's posted pictures of his emptied-out apartment. She smiled and liked the image and the short video he posted. She left the message on the post with a couple of heart and kissing emojis. Almost instantly her post was singled out by their combined followers and replies flooded in. They had already told their fans that they would be moving in a livestream, but this just confirmed everything for them.
Before she could get lost in responding to fans, she got a notification that she was receiving a call from the HTN. She smiled when she saw the name Kevin appear. She quickly answered the call but surprised herself at how nervous she was to hear his voice. She had butterflies in her stomach now that she was finally going to be moving in with him and starting a life together. Now that it was finally moving day it felt almost too surreal for her as she waited in anticipation for the call to connect.
"You are connecting to the Hyperspace Telecommunication Network brought to you by HyronTec Inc. You are a VIP Member; all fees are waived. Please hold as you are connected." An automated voice stated as the ringing continued for a few seconds. "Connection established, thank you for using the Hyperspace Telecommunication Network brought to you by HyronTec Inc."
"Hey-hey, Jessi are you there?" Kevin started as soon as the connection went through.
"Hey, I am in the car with my sister so I can't say too much." Jessica said while looking over to her sister to make sure she was still on the phone. "Don't want to ruin the surprise for them."
"Yeah, I wish I could be there with you Beautiful. I just found out that my shuttle will be delayed."
Jessica sat up in her chair after hearing the news. They had planned to meet at the interchange before going to the colony together.
"Why, what happened," Jessica asked in a higher pitch than she intended. "Is everything alright?"
Kevin went on to describe the event at the port. He sent over a few of the news stories about what was going on so she could take a look at it. The port was closed for two days as repairs were already underway. Luckily, he will be transferred to a new vessel that could make it to the interchange before they were out of range. Jessica breathed a sigh of relief that they would still be able to meet before they went to the colony. She wanted to ask a few more questions but looked back over to her sister and decided against it.
"How about we meet in Deicide so we can talk freely?" Kevin suggested. "Do you have your stuff?"
When playing Deicide your body was placed into a dreamlike state, so you didn't move around and injure yourself. In the game you control an avatar as if you were them. The players with the SensoryMap had to connect additional sensors or have a Sensory console. The limo they were in doubled as a mobile office so the chairs were integrated with sensory tech which Jessica could connect to.
"Yes, I will get it on and meet you in the guild!" She said excitedly. "See you soon, baby."
She covered her mouth as soon as she finished her sentence and looked over to Maria with her eyes wide. Maria raised an eyebrow but could not see Jessica's eyes through the holographic visor. To Jessica's dismay she was no longer on the phone and had been eavesdropping on the conversation.
"Did I hear you right," Maria said with a concerned expression as her lips tensed. "Are you dating someone?"
Jessica took in a short fast breath and exhaled through her nose in frustration at herself. Maria was one of the people that she did not want to find out what was going on until it was too late for her to do anything about it. Jessica thought for a second as she slowly sat up, she was careful not to show her emotions on her face. The members of her family were experts at reading body language and micro expressions. To them it was an essential skill to be able to get into the heads of rivals and business partners alike. If not for the holographic visor obscuring Maria's vision of Jessica's full visage she would have already been caught.
"No," Jessica said, keeping her expression as blank as possible.
"I see, I know you and father had a talk about your rather poor choice of suitors in the past and he has some contacts he would like you to meet. I know that the poor street boys can be…" she paused to search for the right word. "Hmm… fun to toy with, but they are just toys for women of our stature, and it is time you grow up." Maria prodded to see if Jessica would react. "You know, he arranged my partner and I together and we are both quite successful."
"The word you meant there was husband." Jessica jabbed with her words.
"What?" Maria was caught off guard by the statement.
"He is your husband." Jessica answered, her tone flat. "You make it sound like you both are business partners… or trophies to each other's agenda."
"Y-yes, we decided that partner is a better choice in words." She states her eyes now glaring at Jessica even though she had a politician's smile across her face. "You will understand too, honestly I was hoping you would grow out of your little rebellious phase sooner."
"Rebellious phase?" Jessica questions.
"Yes, we all know you left the house just to upset father and mother like some spoiled brat. Did you think you were making some grand statement about our family? Luckily you didn't comeback pregnant with some fucking losers kid it would be harder to cover up than if you had just died."
"I came out here to get away from how toxic you all are." Tears started to well up in her eyes but she refused to let them fall. "I haven't seen you in four years and you are just being accusatory and blaming me for nothing. People I meet in the street treat me with more respect than you. Do you just get a kick out of it? This is why I did not want you to pick me up."
Jessica took a calming breath and turned away from Maria to look out of the window. Jessica's face twisted into anger as she clenched her jaw. She reminded herself it was not the time to go off on Maria. Jessica knew that she had a few more hours in the car to burn and if she said anything now Maria would tell her father and he would most certainly cancel the trip with his connections.
"Father coddles you too much and allows you to indulge in these ridiculous ventures of yours." Maria kept the pressure up with a snake's smile. "I wish I could spend my days doing nothing like you seem to do but some of us appreciate the Petterson name, you just seem to have it."
Jessica was stunned for a second then turned back to Maria. Jessica's face was completely tense at first but relaxed when she took a deliberate breath. Jessica smiled sweetly which put Maria on her figurative back foot since up until this point the conversation seemed to be going her way. The change in Jessica's attitude raised her attentiveness to what she was going to say.
"You are right." Jessica said flatly but with a sweet hum to her words. "I'll have to see about changing my last name. Maybe one of the street boys you spoke about will have a better one I can take." She turned her attention to the console on the armrest of her seat which projected a holographic screen in front of her. "If you will excuse me, sister, I have a meeting I must attend. Disconnect me when we arrive. I am sure you have something you can be doing as well."
SUY NGHĨ CỦA NGƯỜI SÁNG TẠO 
ChildOfAidon
ChildOfAidon Here's a fun fact for you: the only planet that allows for the public use of flying cars is Titan. That is only because infrastructure is still being developed. Most people are not permitted to use flying cars without proper licenses and AI assistants. On Mars and Earth air space is privately owned by corporations making it difficult for even Airlines to fly without paying licencing fees for the use of the airspace.
Tình trạng nguồn điện hàng tuần
-- Xếp hạng
Quyền lực 
-- Đá
Quyền lực