Like A Fairytale

Chapter 46

Lena

Colorful lights buzzed through the small, magnificently decorated ballroom. The lights came from golden projectors and showed mythical creatures and animals made of iron and glass, crisscrossed by moving gears and surrounded by colorful will-o'-the-wisps. They moved through the fascinated guests. They instinctively avoided the images, even though they could not touch them.

Lena smiled when a false will-o'-the-wisp flew through her.

"Just a system error?" Annabella grimaced. A servant had rushed to inform her.

"Has the error been fixed?" Samuel asked.

Lena listened to the two curiously, while strangers scurried around her. Young ladies, all of whom Lena had had to greet personally and whose names she had already forgotten. Girls from fixed groups of friends who quickly came together.

Lena felt like a foreign body.

She did not belong to any of these groups.

The many girls chatted happily, helped themselves to the buffet, or danced exuberantly to the music of a bygone era. There were not many recordings of early music left, but Lena's uncle had a considerable collection of 'party music'.

Just now, a silly song about a red horse with a fly problem was blaring through the hall.

Lena liked these past sounds better than modern music, well, not this horse song, but later there was to be a live band from Flugstadt (Flying City). Five young guys who moved from city to city every two years to delight the better-off population with their votes. They had a lot of fans.

Gear Pop Boys.

Known for their daring clothes, perfect choreographies, and pleasant voices.

When they weren't on tour, they worked on new songs, which they released, like clockwork, running forever. They had songwriters, but they also wrote some things themselves. Their music videos ran across most of the holographic displays of the towns and villages in front of which fans gathered. Especially when a new song was released.

Mainly girls of Lena's age.

"Miss? When is the band coming?" One of her guests suddenly stood next to Lena. She wasn't the first to try to start a conversation with her. "Is it true that they are presenting their latest song today? That's so exciting, don't you think? Are you also a fan?"

"Fan? Partly. I like some of their songs." Lena nodded. "My uncle said something like that. About a new song."

"Oh!" The girl wore a lemon-yellow cocktail dress, which went just down to her knees at the front, but reached the floor in puffy ruffles at the back. "It's really wonderful that they come here! Their last tour was only two months ago! And now they have so many appointments! Live shows, autograph sessions... When the latest album comes out, I'll buy the recording. The albums are always terribly expensive, don't you think?"

"Yes." Just like the holographic record player that was needed to project the recordings. Only the broadcasts on the billboards and occasionally via the AI boxes were free.

People need music.

Joy.

Distraction.

The entertainment program of the New World offered films and shows. Lena knew that one of the many screens on Level 3 of Burgstadt showed the most important live shows and that Minnie could show the entertainment program to all residents via tiny holographic screens. The rich, and some of the residents of Level 4, on the other hand, had large, holographic 3D projectors. These were available in different sizes. Some played the show small enough that the picture fit on a table; others needed entire rooms for the ultimate experience.