Abandoned Highways

Damien had said something that made Stephanie giggle. She teased him back, and they both laughed for long enough to lose the thread of the conversation. Evening sunlight spilled into that silence falling on the living room loveseat where they both sat. The red-gold light scattered around the room filling it with the warm, tired glow of the setting sun.

Stephanie held his gaze like that for a long moment then leaned forward, her hands on her knees and a provocative glint in her eye. "Do you know what I wish?"

Damien couldn't guess. He grasped for the earlier fluff hoping to spin it for another laugh, but he had lost that light thought already and was left vulnerable to his girlfriend's sudden intensity. "I don't."

"I wish that I could reach out and touch your face."

"Oh, you mean like. . ." 

"No," Stephanie shook her head. "I just want to reach out and touch you. No equipment or miles between us - just my hand on your cheek." She brushed her 'hand' along his arm. Where she touched him the holographic illusion of a three dimensional woman broke down as the computer printed a rough two-d image against his shirt. Damien felt a little warmth where the laser light fell on him. Stephanie pulled her hands back to bury her face in them.

"Steph, it's OK."

She was starting to sound angry, "No it's not! You're there and I'm here. We're half a world away from each other."

Now Damien wanted to touch her. As though that would re-establish the connection they felt before, Stephanie was swept up in this emotion which had left him behind. Damien fumbled for something to say, feeling helpless and ineffectual. "Only until I come to you."

"Oh, 'forever' then!"

"I could come. I think I could anyway."

"What?" Stephanie looked up. The shortcomings of the hologram made the wet trail of a tear across her cheek shine more than it should have, as though the moisture had been laced with glitter. "I don't think it would be safe. You couldn't."

"The old systems should be in place. They'll still know how to run themselves. I can come." Damien tried to interject confidence into the statement.

"I don't want you in danger," Stephanie said. _But I do want you here,_ her eyes added. _I want you to come to me._

Damien laughed, "I'm not going to walk! I'll be fine."

Stephanie jumped up and threw her arms out to hug him but stopped before breaking the illusion they were together. Instead, she posed demurely, "That'll be waiting here for you," she smiled, "with interest."

* * *

After declaring he’d travel to Tokyo and disconnecting from the conversation with Stephine, Damien paced around the apartment trying to decide what he should pack and what other plans he needed to make. He eventually decided he didn’t need anything. If he never came back to his apartment he wouldn’t miss it. His possessions could be replaced as easily as they’d been acquired, and the only thing that had been hard to get had been the holo-emitter which only mattered because he needed it to talk to Stephanie. He had a few mementos, photos of his parents and the like, but they were all digital.

So he just left.

He took the elevator directly to the maglev terminal; that convenience was one reason he'd chosen to live in his current apartment. When it arrived, the terminal lights were off. Its motion sensors couldn't detect the doors opening from their position near the tracks. He had to take a few steps into subterranean darkness punctuated only by the elevators yellow glow spilling out onto the platform. As the elevator started to close behind him, florescent lights above Damien flickered on with a series of electric snaps.