The Mosaic Woman

by Resa Nelson

  Zuri remembered how shy she’d felt when she first arrived in Aspire. It had taken months for her to work up the courage to approach fans of other sites. Even now, she still felt shy.

  It’s not like I have to talk to her in person. I’m in the safety of my Personal Bubble. Nothing bad can happen to me here.

  Zuri jabbed at the Invite button before she lost her nerve.

  Immediately, the image of the interior of a marble temple encircled by soaring fluted columns filled Zuri’s Personal Bubble. Red banners hung among the columns, filling the space between them. The anime woman walked to stand face to face with Zuri. “Hi, I’m Milan. I’m a Blue-Blood VainGlorian. Do you know what that is?”

  “No,” Zuri said. Her empty stomach churned again, and her body felt like a hollow pit. “Does that mean you’re royalty?”

  Milan laughed. “In a sense. It means I’m native. Born and bred in VainGlory.” She raised her chin slightly. “Sixth generation. My great-great-great grandparents were among the original founders of this city.”

  Zuri’s heart raced. If she could get an endorsement from Milan, it could spiral into clusters and breaking trends.

  Milan had the power to change Zuri’s life.

  Milan cocked her head to one side. “Is that really how you want to present yourself to VainGlory? You’re not a kid, are you?”

  Startled, Zuri didn’t know how to answer at first. Finally, she said, “No. Do you think I look like one?”

  Milan walked in a circle around Zuri, the background of the temple adjusting to her stride. “It’s gauche to present your real face in VainGlory.”

  “Are you saying I should make my appearance look like a cartoon?”

  “No one uses cartoons anymore.”

  “But you look like a cartoon.”

  Milan smirked. “Anime. It’s different. Cartoons are for the unsophisticated.”

  “But my supervisor presents as a cartoon. She looks like a caterpillar.”

  Milan raised an eyebrow. “Oh, that’s a strategy. Your boss wants to lull you into a sense of complacency. No one feels threatened by a cartoon caterpillar.”

  Zuri didn’t know whether to believe Milan or not. She argued without thinking. “But there’s a little girl dancing who looks like a kitten.”

  Milan examined Zuri’s appearance. “My point exactly. Little girls make themselves look like cartoons. Grownups don’t.” She spread her hands apart and used them to frame Zuri. “The Impressionist look might suit you. Or the poster type from the Moulin Rouge. The ones done by Toulouse-Lautrec. You know, his posters of the stars of Paris.”

  Zuri brightened. “That’s perfect.” She imagined how wearing Mae Lin’s dresses and displaying them in that form could make them shine and capture the imaginations of VainGlorians.

  Milan rocked a step back to ponder the thought. “I can help you put it together. If you like, we could even bring up a canal behind you and have a shark jump out of it. The shark would have that poster vibe, too, so everyone will know it’s not real. It’s a way to remind them who you are and what you’ve done.”

  Zuri hesitated. “I don’t know if I want people to think of a shark every time they see me. It’s not what I’m about.”

  Milan gave a thoughtful nod. “We could put it on a random loop. Experiment with the timing. Try having it come into view once an hour or once a day. It wouldn’t brand you. It wouldn’t define you. It would be a once-in-awhile reminder.”

  “I suppose.”

  “Good!” Milan smiled and rubbed her hands together. “Let’s get started, Zuri.”

  Zuri recognized an opportunity when she saw one. She could have spent weeks or months trying to get the attention of a true VainGlorian. The reluctance she’d felt when Milan had first invited her to this Talk Room vanished. Zuri trembled with excitement, trying not to show it.

  Milan’s offer to revamp Zuri’s online appearance promised to be the beginning of the kind of friendship that Zuri needed.

  It wasn’t until after they’d spent hours together and planned to meet the next day that Zuri struggled to remember whether or not she had told Milan her name—or if Milan had remembered it from seeing the shark attack.

  CHAPTER 10

  The next morning, Zuri woke up to the dim light of her Personal Bubble with its wall of icons muted and trembling for attention. She kept them that way until having dressed for the day, even though everyone connected to her would see the new Toulouse-Lautrec image that Zuri projected of herself. Following Milan’s advice, Zuri adjusted her image to continue wearing Mae Lin’s bubble dress but in another altered form. Today, she commanded the dress broadly outlined in the style of Toulouse-Lautrec to transform into knickers and a vest. Touting the artist’s style of bold shapes and solid colors, the outfit appeared solid black with bright red bubbles drifting up and down the legs of the knickers, while letting the vest shift between solid black and solid red.

  After ordering breakfast and picking it up from the delivery cube built into her wall, Zuri sat down on her living room sofa to eat her croissant, fresh from a local bakery. She brought the icons forward, removing the mute.

  The onslaught of noise from the hundreds of icons made her wince. When she lived in Aspire, Zuri could rarely bring up more than a few sites at once because of her Slim Goggles’ limitations.

  Now inside her own Personal Bubble, the icons seemed infinite. Zuri wondered if she’d ever get used to the noise.

  Her Personal Soundtrack kicked in, easing ominous music over the disharmony of the icons.

  Responding to the music, Zuri tensed, even though she sensed no reason to be alarmed.

  Although she’d done nothing to approve it, the icon of an owl with a letter-size envelope clutched in its beak flew front and center. Once the icon enlarged to the size of a door, framed with the words “Incoming Message,” the owl dropped the envelope at Zuri’s feet and flew away.

  Zuri’s name appeared in large block letters on the envelope. A bright blue button materialized under her name. The words “Press Here” flashed inside the button.

  Cellos and violins, supported by the heartbeat of a drum, played music in a minor chord. Zuri took it as a warning.

  But when she tried to dismiss the Incoming Message, Zuri couldn’t force herself to do it.

  Instead, she reached down with one fingertip and pressed the button.

  The envelope opened itself, and a realistic visual of Karen stood in front of Zuri. “By the time you get this,” Karen’s image said, “I’ll be gone.”

  Startled to see the woman who had tried to upstage her, Zuri clutched her croissant before she could drop it, causing it to shed flakes on her lap. Zuri couldn’t imagine what Karen wanted or why she would have any reason to contact her.

  Karen pointed to her bandaged arm. “First, thanks for this.” She paused and then corrected herself. “I mean, you saved my life. That shark would have killed me. The doctors say I’m alive because of you.”

  Zuri softened. She knew this was a pre-recorded message, not a live conversation. Even so, Zuri whispered, “You’re welcome.”

  Karen’s message continued. “We’re from different places that aren’t so different. You’re from Aspire, I’m from Ascend. We both know what it’s like to start with nothing and build a life. And getting to VainGlory makes us the cream of the crop.”

  Zuri felt the butter from the croissant, slick on her fingers. Her stomach growled. She didn’t want to take her eyes from Karen’s face but she didn’t want to take another bite of the croissant without watching for flakes crumbling off its surface. Enough had already fallen.

  “Look.” Karen looked at Zuri directly, and her voice held no nonsense. “This is what everybody wants. To make it to VainGlory. To get rich and famous.” Karen’s voice lowered to a whisper that Zuri had to strain to understand. “But there’s something wrong here. A shark attacks me in the middle of a park? When we’re at a show that’s meant to introduce us to the elite that we hope will be
come our customers?” Karen shook her head. “This can’t be right.”

  Zuri’s mind raced. Everything had been explained to her. Sharks lived in the waters surrounding VainGlory. One finding its way into the city had been a glitch.

  Just a glitch.

  Karen kept her voice to a whisper. “I know they say fame is the name of the game, but it’s not worth dying for.” She appeared to search Zuri’s eyes. “Is it?”

  Before Zuri could think of a response, Karen spoke in her normal voice again. “Because you helped me, I thought you should know that you have one less competitor. I’m going back to Ascend. I’d rather be a big fish in a small pond than shark bait in VainGlory.” The recorded image of Karen searched Zuri’s eyes once more. “Maybe you’d like that, too. Think about it.”

  The image of Karen folded up until it reduced to the size of a letter and stuffed itself back in the envelope.

  That envelope burst into flames and quickly smoldered into ashes. The cartoon figure of a faceless maid stepped into the frame of the Incoming Message icon and swept the ashes up with a small handheld vacuum cleaner. Without further ado, the large doorway of the icon condensed back to its small size and returned to the wall of icons.

  Zuri returned her attention to the croissant in her hands, startled to see that she’d gripped it so tightly that flakes now covered her lap, the sofa, and the floor below.

  CHAPTER 11

  “Zuri?” Benjamin materialized next to her on the sofa after Zuri finished her breakfast and cleaned up the mess made by the croissant.

  Despite knowing that Benjamin was nothing more than a program built into her Personal Bubble, Zuri realized she was growing fond of him. Most interruptions annoyed her, but she didn’t mind it when Benjamin popped into view. “Hey, Ben. What’s up?”

  A gray cloud fell over the wall of icons, blocking them from view. At the bottom of the cloud blinked the words “Privacy Wall.”

  Zuri pointed at it. “What is that? What did you do?”

  “It blocks out the rest of the world. No one can hear us.”

  Feeling disconnected made Zuri distraught. “I don’t understand. Why would anyone want to do that?”

  “I heard what Karen said.” His pale green eyes blinked but his metallic face held no expression, as usual.

  Zuri forced what she intended to be an amused laugh, but it sounded strained and forced to her ears. “Yeah? So?”

  “I’m supposed to give you advice when I see a need for it,” Benjamin said. “I see a need for it.”

  Zuri turned to him in surprise. “Now? Why?”

  She would have sworn she heard him sigh with worry.

  “You’re an artist,” Benjamin said. “Like a painter or a musician or a dancer. There’s one thing all artists have in common: passion and purpose.”

  “That’s two things.”

  The hue of Benjamin’s eyes intensified. “Technically, yes. But they boil down to the same thing. Karen may not have stated her passion and purpose, but she made a decision based on them.”

  “I don’t think so. I think she’s spooked. If they’ll let her, I bet she comes back next week.”

  “Zuri, the world isn’t always as it seems, especially here in VainGlory. The one thing that can keep you on course is passion and purpose.”

  “Still two things.” Zuri fidgeted. She tried waving her hands to dismiss the Privacy Wall, but the gray cloud remained in place.

  “Why are you a designer?” Benjamin said.

  Frustrated with him, Zuri made no attempt to prevent the edge in her voice when she answered. “You already know why. Everybody in VainGlory wants the same thing. Fame is the name of the game.”

  “You want to be famous? Why?”

  Zuri tried punching the gray wall and then kicking at it, all to no avail. “Because I want to be happy.”

  “You think being famous will make you happy?”

  Zuri rolled her eyes. “Have you ever seen anyone rich and famous who isn’t happy?”

  “Yes.”

  Zuri’s tone darkened. “What do you know? You’re not real. You don’t know what it’s like to be alive. You don’t have to worry about being unhappy.” She pointed at the gray cloud. “Do something! Get rid of this.”

  A wall of photographs emerged from the cloud.

  One photograph showed Zuri as a giggling child, holding a puppy. Others displayed her family. More showed Zuri and Mae Lin together in Aspire.

  The sight of the photos disgusted Zuri. In every picture, she saw failure. The failure to get noticed. The failure to achieve. The failure to be connected to a world that needed to love her.

  “Get rid of those,” Zuri said, feeling more hostile by the moment. “Delete them. I never want to see them again.”

  A beam of light cut through the gray cloud, and an icon from the wall behind it burst forward. Before Zuri could react, Benjamin and the photographs faded away, while the Incoming Connect icon opened up into a large doorway. Milan appeared inside it, leaning against the doorframe. “Have you heard the news?”

  Startled by Milan’s unexpected arrival, Zuri didn’t know what to say. She felt small in Milan’s presence. Knowing that Milan was a VainGlory native, Zuri could only guess at her new friend’s wealth and prestige. By comparison, Zuri felt like a nobody.

  Milan snapped her fingers, and a book-size icon materialized in her hand. “That woman you saved? She left VainGlory. And her sales are going through the roof!”

  “Karen?” Zuri remembered Karen’s warning but didn’t feel right sharing it with anyone. Karen’s message had been for Zuri, not the entire world. If Karen had wanted to make a public announcement, that’s what she would have done. Zuri was sure of it.

  “Whatever,” Milan said. With a flick of her wrist, she pulled dozens of fan bubbles out of Karen’s site, each filled with someone talking and gesturing. “Look at what people are saying.”

  As always, the voices talked over each other and were so loud that Zuri couldn’t pick any words apart. “I can’t understand any of them.”

  Milan flicked her wrist again and said, “One at a time.”

  A bright white light illuminated a fan bubble containing a woman wrapped in a towel and drying her hair. “Karen, don’t go! We hardly knew you. Give me that dress you wore when the shark attacked you.” The towel-wrapped woman raised her hand forward, and a green light glowed on the fleshy skin between her thumb and forefinger.

  Zuri recognized the glow of the woman’s implanted identity chip. Most people stored their money on their chips. Here, the toweled woman used hers to pay for Karen’s dress.

  The light left her bubble and lit up the one below hers, where a matron sat in an antique chair and sipped from a china cup. “Honestly, young lady. There’s no need to give up so soon. Find your fortitude.” She raised her hand, and it glowed green. “I’ll have one of each from your collection.”

  The light shifted again, brightening an adjacent bubble of a bald man sporting a black goatee streaked with white. He seemed to be naked in bed with the sheets gathered around his waist. A dozing woman sprawled next to him. He spoke in a hushed voice. “My wife bet you’d be the winner of this year’s new crop of designers. She’ll be disappointed when she finds out you’re leaving. I’ll take the first dress you wore.” When he raised his hand and it glowed green, he amended, “Make that in my wife’s size, not mine.”

  Baffled, Zuri said, “What is this?”

  Milan offered a blank look. “Karen’s fans. They’re upset she’s gone. They’re buying up her stock while it’s available. Once she goes back to HayTown or Cornville or wherever it is she comes from, her goods will be shunned by VainGlory.” Milan rolled her eyes. “There’s not much tolerance for quitters.” Milan paused and reconsidered. “Well, except for whatever fan base you manage to acquire before you quit. But I don’t advise it!”

  Zuri couldn’t help but remember Karen’s warning.

  There’s something wrong here.

  Mila
n’s voice took an alarmed edge. “Zuri, tell me you’re not thinking of quitting!”

  “No,” Zuri said, but even she wasn’t convinced by the hesitation in her own voice.

  “Please, Zuri,” Milan said. “I need you.”

  Startled, Zuri stared at her in disbelief. “But you have everything. Why do you need me?”

  Milan wrung her hands. “Think of it. There’s one thing every native VainGlorian wants: to discover the next big thing. Usually, it’s a new artist—a musician, a dancer, a singer—or a designer. I think you’ve got the potential to become the next big thing. If I’m the one who discovers you, that makes me the darling of VainGlory. I’ll do anything to help you. So, please stay. Please.”

  Milan’s revelation surprised Zuri but also made her feel the greatest hope she’d experienced since the day of learning she’d been accepted to VainGlory. “I’ll stay.”

  Milan clapped her hands together in triumph. “Wonderful! Come inside and we’ll start planning.”

  “What do you mean? Come inside where? And how?”

  “Silly goose.” Milan laughed. “There’s so much about VainGlory you haven’t seen yet.” She gestured for Zuri to follow as Milan exited the doorframe of the Incoming Connect icon and vanished. Her voice drifted faintly. “Follow me.”

  Dumbfounded, Zuri looked around for her Personal Digital Assistant, seeing him nowhere. “Benjamin!” she whispered. “Where are you? I need help.”

  Zuri remained alone, staring at the empty doorframe of Incoming Connect. Not knowing what else to do, she stood and walked toward it.

  As she walked, the doorway eluded her, seeming to back away.

  “Ow!” Zuri said when she walked into her living room wall, so focused on the doorway that she didn’t notice the walls of her home in the faint background of her Personal Bubble.

  “Not that way,” Milan’s distant voice called out. “Use your mind. Think about where you want to go, and you’ll go there.”

  Zuri rubbed her forehead where the wall had banged into it. With outstretched arms, she felt her way back to her sofa, not wanting to change her vision inside her Personal Bubble. When she recognized the fabric of the sofa by touch, Zuri wrangled her body to sit on it. She then gave all her attention to the empty doorframe.