The Neon God

VII

So the lights that softly glow

On the robots down below

Shine on lives without much meaning,

Shine on deep internal weeping,

Shine on those who deep down know what's wrong,

That stalks them all,

And locks them in the sound of silence.

After about ten minutes of quiet I finally spoke up.

"I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me. Over us, I guess."

"What came over you," said the old woman, "was the overwhelming truth about this backward world. You finally snapped and let yourselves be vulnerable."

Liz took my hand in both of hers and looked me in the eye. Neither of us had been able to pull that off before. "I think we all needed to hear that. I feel like a whole new person, like a massive weight is finally off my shoulders!"

"Puppies can do some amazing things," observed the old woman.

"I wouldn't say it was the puppy, although she is about the cutest little thing I've ever seen," I replied. "I think it was what you said before coupled with how Liz and I feel about each other that brought it about."

"We've been fighting our own brains for years, and I think we finally won. I don't know how I could ever repay either of you, and I don't think we even know your name to thank you properly," added Liz.

"Rachael. Rachael Deckard," smiled the old woman.

"Isn't that the-"

"Yes," she interrupted me, "it is. Total coincidence."

"In any case," said Liz again, "thank you, Rachael."

"There's nothing to thank me for," said Rachael. "That was all you two. I'm sorry, what are your names?"

"I'm Elizabeth, but I go by Liz."

"I'm Peter."

"Peter and Liz, thank you for restoring my faith in humanity," said Rachael. "You two come back and play with the puppies anytime you want."

"We will, for sure," said Liz.

"Speaking of coming back," I said after a glance at my holowatch, "I think it's time for us to say goodbye so we can stay on our schedule for the night."

We got up, said our goodbyes, and headed out of the store and back into the quiet streets.

Our next stop was the gaming store a few blocks farther down the road from the pet shop. The new full-immersion virtual reality rig had been all anyone could talk about ever since it had been announced, despite the prohibitively high cost. That didn't stop people from lining up at the store for the chance to play a demo. Luckily, Liz and I had timed it well enough that we beat the typical Friday afternoon rush and the wait wasn't very long.

They had cleared out a whole corner of the store just to make room for the things. They looked like all the old science fiction movies had imagined cryogenic stasis pods. The area around where a person's face was supposed to be was clear acrylic, but the rest of the pod was encased in sleek carbon fiber that was available in black, white, bright green, soft pink, scarlet, navy blue, and woodgrain. One of each was present in the store. I took the soft pink while Liz took the white one adjacent to mine.