Jack and Luca sat at opposite ends of Jack’s VR school train with Tan standing cross-armed between them. Luca held a book in his hands called, ‘A boy called Wolf’, while Jack worked math equations on his VR screen. Not all Aeden children had their own private A.I. device, most children with multiple siblings were forced to share. The A.I. devices weren’t cheap, and with upgrades needed to be purchased every year, the devices could get very expensive. Luca and Jack had never had to share an A.I. before, and they didn’t want to start now. When Tan had announced that he was taking Luca’s bear and the boys’ would have to share Jack’s A.I., the boys had rebelled. Luca’s bear was to be used exclusively as a communication device back to Jack’s grandfather — it hadn’t been Tan’s idea, but ordered by Jack’s grandfather. The war of wills reached such a crescendo that Tan had called Jack’s grandfather. Lord Aestar arrived with a stern expression. Jack caved immediately under the withering gaze of his grandfather, but Luca had foolishly continued to argue for half-a-minute until Lord Aestar had brutally laid out Luca’s options. Luca was an orphan and could either accept that he was now a ward of House Aestar with Tan as his assigned guardian, or he could be left at the next gate on his own. Jack winced at the proclamation and thought it was going too far. Tan had thought so too and stepped between Luca and Lord Aestar. “Now hold on,” said Tan. “We’re not abandoning Luca.” Lord Aestar turned on Tan next. “And if you can’t handle two small boys, I’ll take the risk of sending someone through the gate to replace you.” Tan’s face reddened with anger, but he was certain the man was good for his threat. “Yes, Sir.” Lord Aestar closed his connection to Jack’s VR and vanished. Tan took a deep calming breath. Luca came up next to Tan. “You’re not going to leave me, are you?” Tan put a hand on Luca’s shoulder. “I won’t leave you, I’ll never leave you,” promised Tan. “I made a mistake, I shouldn’t have called Jack’s grandfather to solve a problem I should be able to deal with.” Jack nudged his shoulder against Tan. “We didn’t give you a choice, I’m sorry, I’ll share with Luca.” “Alright then, no more fighting,” said Tan. “No more fighting,” agreed Luca as he grabbed the book he’d been reading. “Hey, Jack, did you ever read this book, it’s really good.” “I read it,” said Jack. “My dad bought an extended pack for me when I was your age, that’s one of the additional books. Just ask Aya for the whole list, and she’ll provide it for you.” Luca plopped down in one of the booths. “Aya, show me the extended reading list.” The list appeared on the VR screen. Luca’s jaw dropped. “Oh my gosh, this is the Million Book Kid’s Pack, it's super expensive.” “It was a birthday present,” said Jack. “You should check out the extended game pack I have.” Luca called the game list up next. He spotted a game on the list and bounced up and down on the bench. “You’ve got Dare Devil Galactic Aviators!” “And Dare Devil Galactic Aviators II, The Matium Invasion,” said Jack. Tan backed away as Jack joined Luca at the VR screen of game titles. The boys had found common ground. Jack hadn’t considered that he’d have someone to play video games with now. Tan left the VR and returned to reality. The boys were both laying on their bunks, the only safe position when entering VR for any length of time. He stood and stretched. Taking care of two boys was exhausting. The hurricane was in its fourth day and didn’t seem to have any intention of winding down. Tan went to the food table and made a sandwich, then wandered over to a window to look outside at the rain. Lightening lit the up the sky, followed by thunder. He was about to turn away when the lightening highlighted a figure out in the rain. Tan’s blood turned to ice as the figure of a massive Sherata cat was illuminated by the bluish light. The cat was easily 8 feet tall and had fangs two feet long descending from its jaw. The cat turned its head in time to see Tan standing in the window. Tan backed away, but it was too late. The cat hunched it shoulders and ran towards the building. Tan dropped his sandwich and rushed to the side of the double doors just as the doors exploded inward. The doorway was too small for the large beast to get all the way through the door. Tan pulled his fist back and hit the cat on the side of its head with all his strength. The cat’s head snapped to the side as its body collapsed on the ground. Tan didn’t consider himself exceptionally strong, but Jack had said he came from a heavy gravity world. Tan only now realized what that meant — being from a heavy gravity world would give him an advantage on a lighter gravity worlds. Tan ran to the bunks where the boys were laying. “Aya, emergency exit from VR.” Both boys’ eyes snapped open. Jack looked up at Tan. “What’s wrong?” “Get up, we have to leave now,” replied Tan in an urgent tone. Luca saw the Sherata first. “Holy Sky Gods! Look at that.” Jack sat up and looked where Luca was pointing. “What happened?” “He didn’t knock,” said Tan. “Get your things together, we’ll go out the back.” Luca was on his feet whooping with glee. “Let’s go back to Tan’s world and hide there, the Sherata couldn’t get us there.” Jack shook his head. “You better hope nobody ever finds Tan’s world if they’re strong enough to knock out a Sherata.” Jack turned to Tan. “Tan, no matter what, don’t ever tell anyone the name of your world, if you can do that, my people will see your world as a threat.” Jack looked at Luca. “You can’t ever tell anyone about this, or they’ll kill everyone on Tan’s world.” Luca’s expression turned somber. “I won’t tell, I promise.” The boys gathered their few possessions and ran to the back door with Tan. Tan put his hand on Jack’s shoulder. “The Gatekeeper on my world would know, how is it the Aeden don’t know yet?” Jack’s eyes flicked to the ground and back up. “Remember Luca’s father? He wasn’t supposed to fight, but he did, because he’d fallen in love with that world. I’d guess it’s the same on your world, the Gatekeeper knows, but he’s been keeping it secret.” “After this over, if I go back to my world, they’ll know where I’m from,” said Tan. Jack dropped his eyes. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for this to happen. You can’t ever go home.” *** Deep Learning A.I. Inc. Standard Models (Special order Models available) One free environment and game with Model 5 through Model 18. Model 1 – Crib mobile Model 2 – Teething Ring Model 3 – Stuffed Rabbit Model 4 – Stuffed Wolf Model 5 – Stuffed Tiger Model 6 – Stuffed Bear Model 7 – Panther Backpack Model 8 – Wolverine Backpack Model 9 – Raven Backpack Model 10 – Hawk Backpack Model 11 – Eagle Backpack Model 12 – Necklace (available with birth stone) Model 13 – Bracelet (available with birth stone) Model 14 – Ring (available with birth stone) Model 15 – Earring (available with birth stone) Model 16 – Aeden Battle Dagger (available with House Emblem) Model 17 – Aeden Battle Sword (available with House Emblem) Model 18 – Wrist implant Our most popular add-on packs: (call for pricing) . Medical A.I. (adult implant only) Flight A.I. (adult implant only) Survival A.I. (adult implant only) Combat A.I. (adult implant only) Expanded VR environments. (Choice of 6 environments from 400 professionally engineered environments) Expanded Gaming environments. (Over 20,000 games included) Monthly environment pack. (one special release environment upgrade per month) Monthly Gaming pack (one special release game per month) Expanded Library. Million Book Kid's Pack Athletic Pack (200 of the most popular sports) Sailing Pack (includes five additional mix and match choices of surfing, deep-sea fishing, or scuba environments) Wilderness Camping/Hiking Pack (includes five additional mix and match choices from rafting, climbing, or skiing environments) Restricted Pack (adult implant only) Contact a sales representative today. *** The fake V.R. ad is actually from my index card notes, and even though I'll never use all that information, I think readers can sense when some tidbit is a worked-out idea, or just something thrown in. Once I realized the VR was going to be a useful plot-point to the story progression, I sat down and worked out the reality of the VR devices and what each model and its features meant. I feel like there should an official ad post now for the VR device.