“Let me show you something cool.” After a brief silence, Lucy hopped down from the terrace, pulled two BD wreaths from a side drawer, and waved them at David.
“Know how to wear one?” “These things…
I’ve used them before.” David took one, running his fingers over the inside rim.
BDs from unknown sources were dangerous.
But considering Lucy hadn’t abandoned him when he passed out earlier…
maybe he should trust her.
“You’d better lie down.” Lucy was already lying on the couch, stuffing a cushion under her head and putting on the wreath.
David hesitated before lying down on the other end of the couch.
Separated by the cushion, they could hear each other’s breathing.
“Ready?” “…Yeah.” The indicator light turned on, and his vision went black.
The braindance constructed the very thing Lucy dreamed of—the Moon.
The lunar soil lay gray and exposed.
Beyond it was the pitch-black expanse of deep space.
“The resolution is so high!” David looked down and tapped the lunar soil beneath his feet; gray-white powder slowly swirled up in the low gravity.
He had seen plenty of BDs, but image quality like this was rare.
“The sun…
is so hot!” The glaring sunlight forced David to raise a hand to shield his eyes.
“It lets you feel the sun’s temperature through your personal link,” Lucy stood behind him, hands on her hips, her tone carrying a hint of pride.
She was quite pleased with David’s amazed reaction.
“If it were set to reality, it’d be too hot, so it’s calibrated to what a human body can tolerate.” The simulated low gravity caused David’s body to float upward uncontrollably.
He scrambled to stabilize himself, but the more he struggled, the more he lost his balance, ending up suspended upside-down in midair.
His shadow drifted across Lucy’s face.
She looked up at him.
“Want me to turn it off?” “It’s fun!
This is fine!” David laughed.
He never knew he could float in a void like this.
Lucy couldn’t help but laugh at his comical display.
“What kind of pose is that?” She lightly kicked off the ground, floating gracefully up to land beside him.
“Not bad, right?” Maybe the Moon wasn’t actually that wonderful, but so what?
Everyone needs a reason to keep living.
“It’s awesome!” David said with delight, like a kid visiting an amusement park for the first time.
“Right?” Lucy smiled and stepped forward.
“Follow me.” They landed on the lunar surface one after the other, their footprints winding forward across the pale soil.
Not far off was the lunar colony base.
A few workers in bulky spacesuits were busy outside an airlock, their movements slowed by the low gravity.
Lucy walked ahead with light steps.
David noticed her hands folded behind her back, her fingertips slightly curled, as if waiting for something.
His heart skipped a beat.
Hold hands?
Before David could make up his mind, Lucy grabbed his wrist and leaped forward with him.
The two traced an arc through the low gravity, landing on an off-road rover.
Lucy tucked a stray hair blown messy by the wind behind her ear, the corner of her lips curving up.
In the next second, the rover launched forward.
The wind whipped through their hair as the craters on both sides stretched into gray-white blurs.
They crossed the fake cosmos, speeding across this wilderness free of iron jungles, their tires kicking up pale moon dust and leaving behind a shared trail.
They put on astronaut helmets.
Lucy tossed her half-finished drink to David, her mischievous smile hidden behind her helmet visor.
The drink bottle tumbled slowly in low gravity, drops of brownish liquid escaping the straw and floating between them.
David caught the bottle.
He glanced at the straw, noting the bite mark left on it.
After a second’s hesitation, he lifted his helmet and put the straw in his mouth.
Does this count as an indirect kiss?
Even if it’s inside a braindance…
Just as David was thinking, bubbles exploded in his throat, making him cough violently.
He looked down.
Printed on the drink container was the word ‘carbonated’.
It was the carbonated drink he hated most.
Seeing her prank succeed, Lucy burst into laughter.
Even through the visor, David could see her eyes crinkling with amusement.
He took off his helmet in annoyance and threw it at her, but soon he was laughing, too.
He had never felt such freedom before.
Even if it was just fake freedom…
They sat side by side on the edge of a crater.
Lucy’s slender legs swung back and forth over the drop as she lowered her voice.
“This is the first time I’ve ever watched this with someone else.” “Really?” David looked up at the blue-and-white planet above them.
“Then why’d you show me?” “Why…” Lucy swayed side to side, like a child dangling her feet in a pool.
“Felt like showing you wouldn’t hurt.” Maine took a job and was looking for David.
As a member of the crew, she was supposed to help complete the job.
They were on their way right now.
This was nothing more than a little trick to stall for time…
She forced herself to think that.
David didn’t comment on her answer.
He just sat quietly, feeling the cool lunar soil beneath him and the faint scent off the girl beside him.
“We…” Lucy turned her head and looked at him with a smile, “will make good partners, right?” Looking at Lucy’s bright eyes and the subtle red glow flickering beneath them, David made up his mind.
“Definitely,” he said quietly.
He turned his head to look at the blue-and-white planet in the distance, thinking back to her words about dreams.
He had never thought about what his own dream was.
But right now…
he wanted to take Lucy to the real space, to float in the airless wasteland with her, to watch the sun rise over the crater’s rim together, to drink carbonated sodas together…
As David was daydreaming, a gruff voice abruptly broke his thoughts.
“Found you, kid.” Before David could figure out what was happening, the BD wreath was violently yanked off his head.
He sat up abruptly from the couch.
Three unfamiliar faces stood in front of him.
In the center was Maine, dark-skinned, wearing sunglasses, impossibly massive, his steel fists gleaming with a cold light.
Behind him stood a blonde woman showing plenty of skin, wearing only a blue jacket loosely draped over herself, but possessing a strong build rivaling Maine’s.
Standing behind them was a tall, skinny man thin as a rail with an absurd mohawk and unnaturally long hands, staring curiously around the room with great interest.
“Kid, sorry to ruin your mood,” Maine stretched his metallic fingers, his tone not overtly aggressive but far from friendly.
“But now, it’s time for you to come home.” David looked over at the terrace in shock.
Lucy had already logged out of the braindance at some point, sitting cross-legged at the edge of the terrace and smoking a cigarette.
She didn’t look surprised by what was happening; she blew out a few smoke rings indifferently.
They were together…
David finally realized.
Everything that had just happened in the braindance was just a scam Lucy wove, nothing more than a pipe dream…
“You…” Before David could speak, a heavy punch from Maine slammed into the back of his head.
His vision gradually faded to black.
Just before losing consciousness completely, he saw a flash of fire outside the window.
A rocket was slowly rising from the launch silo on the outskirts of Night City, its exhaust trailing across the sky and turning half of it orange-red.
That was the real rocket heading for the Moon…