Ephron - Come and Find Me

COME AND FIND ME

Hallie Ephron

Dedication

For Molly and Naomi, little girls who grew up to be friends

Contents

I f it were up to Diana, thered be weather. Rain, snow, even the occasional hurricane. But climate was one of those things that were out of her control in this always blue-sky world. The terrain, on the other hand, was her choice: a replica of a spot in the Swiss Alps at the base of Waterfall Pitch with the towering North Face of the Eiger looming overhead.

Nadia, Dianas alter ego in the virtual reality of OtherWorld, was barely visible standing at the base of a cascade of frozen water sculpted against the nearly vertical slope. Diana zoomed in on her avatar, who wore wraparound sunglasses, a fitted black leather jacket with a zipper and upturned collar, slim jeans, red boots, and a red newsboy cap. In the real Swiss Alps, shed have lasted about thirty seconds in that outfit; the bitter cold turned any exposed bit of skin pink, then red, then white. Diana recalled the stillness into which tinkling cowbells and voices from the valley below had risen like whiffs of smoke.

Waterfall Pitch had been nearly unclimbableevery placement of ax or crampon risked fracturing the ice, sending chunks crashing down on climbers below. The challenge had only added to the thrill.

With a gentle touch, Diana twisted her 3-D mouse with its oversize trackball to crane the angle of view and take in the pristine beauty surrounding Nadia. In this version of reality, you didnt have to wait days for clouds to shift. It took only seconds for the computers vector graphics engine to rez, revealing the Eigers tip.

Diana twisted the view downward. Even though she knew this was artificial reality, a place shed created herself, fear flickered in her chest and a tremor passed through her as icy crevasses below came into focus. She forced herself to look, picking once again at the unhealed wound as she remembered Daniels last echoey cries. Reaching out with trembling fingers, she touched the frame of her computer screen. It calmed her to trace the boundaries of the image.

Diana had made it back. Daniel hadnt.

She pulled up on the mouse and nudged the space bar. Nadia rose into the air, landed on a narrow outcropping near the top of the peak, and stared out at the void. At her desk, Diana crossed her arms and hunched her body to staunch the shudders of pain that rippled from her core.

With a ding , a text message popped into a corner of the screen.

JAKE: RU there?

Where else would she be? Diana swatted away the message with a click of the mouse. She had a timer ticking down in the corner of the screen, reminding her of their meeting with MedLogic. It wasnt for another twenty minutes. Whatever Jake needed from her could wait.

Diana typed /pray. A single violin keened the opening of Pachelbels Canon, and her avatar dropped to her knees and lowered her head. The somber, stately notes stepped down the scale, stepped down again, and then melodies intertwined and the pace quickened as more violins joined in, their melodies swirling and circling one another.

Diana splayed her fingers and rested them on the screen. Rest in peace. The words repeated themselves in her head, a chanting counterpoint to the music.

A discreet buzzer sounded a fifteen-minute reminder. With a few clicks, Nadia was home. Pixel by pixel, a virtual room resolved itself around her. It was identical to Dianas real office in the house where shed grown up in a Boston suburb, right down to the brightly colored Peruvian weaving that hung on the wall. Nadias office was much neater, though, and its plants were green instead of brown.

Diana shot a note to Jake, telling him that shed be ready. Quickly, she put the finishing touches on their presentation and dragged files for the meeting across the screen and into Nadias briefcase. She was scrolling one last time through her notes for the meeting when a Klaxon sounded. INTRUDER ALERT flashed in the corner of the computer screen.

Dianas heart lurched and her breath caught in her throat. She swiveled to an adjacent monitor. Live video feeds from cameras stationed outside her compact ranch house showed a brown UPS van parked out front, a hulking shadow on this bright sunny day. A uniformed man had just breached her electronic fence and was on his way to her front door with a good-size package.

Diana took a deep breath and steadied herself against the edge of the desk. The alarm continued. The doorbell rang. The meeting buzzer went offten-minute reminder.

Shut up, all of you! Diana screamed. She hit a button to silence the Klaxon. But there was no button to slow her heartbeat or erase the sick feeling that had invaded her gut.

She turned back to the video monitor. At the front door, the deliveryman peered up at the camera from under the brim of his cap. She recognized his face. Wally. Shed never caught a last name.

Through the speaker came his voice: Package for ya.

She knew that her house appeared to be empty; every shade was drawn and the car that she hadnt driven for months, Daniels Hummer, was locked in the garage. Soundproofing kept what little noise she made inside from leaking out. If it had been anyone else, she wouldnt have answered the ring. But Wally would know she was there. She never wasnt.

Diana sighed and pulled over a microphone. Hey, Wally. Whatever it is, can you just leave it for me in the bin?

Come on, Lady Di, came his tinny voice. This one needs you to sign.

She hesitated. Glanced at the clock. She had a few minutes yet before her meeting. But time wasnt really the issue.

You can sign it for me, cant you? Ill never tell, she said.

Im not going down for forgery just sos you dont have to take a breath of fresh air. Its a beautiful day, trust me.

But could she trust herself?

She watched Wally in the fish-eye lens. He was holding the package over his head, showing it to her. Hey, you ordered it. Did you think it was going to transport itself inside? You just let me know when youre ready.

She stood, exasperated, knowing from past experience that he wasnt going to give up. Im coming, Im coming.

She left her office, pulling the door shut behind her, and continued through the living room and on to the front hall. Heart pounding, she peered through the peephole in the door. Wallys eyeball seemed to bulge back at her.

Anyone else out there? she asked.

Uh, hang on, Ill check... He withdrew from the eyehole for a moment. Then returned. Nope, just me. The duke and duchess send their regrets.

A comedian. Diana swallowed a nervous laugh and patted her pocket, feeling for her Xanax, her magic tranquillity pills.

She threw two dead bolts, removed the security bar, and entered a twelve-digit pass code into the alarm. As she opened the door, she felt as if an abyss opened in front of her, like an elevator door sliding open into an empty shaft. She grasped the door frame with both hands.

Wally flashed her a crooked-toothed grin. He was well over six feet, and looked as if his arms and legs were made from the limbs of slender saplings. He touched a long index finger to his cap. Youre lookin spruce.

Diana looked down, taking in her matted furry slippers, sweatpants, and an oversize Smashing Pumpkins T-shirt, black with a silver ZERO printed across the chest. Her face grew warm, and she tried to run her fingers through the tangles in her long dark curls.

Here you go, he said. For Nadia Varata. He held the clipboard out like bait, just beyond her arms reach. Russian?

Pardon?

Varata. Sounds like a Czech or Russian name.

I guess it does, Diana said. What it was, was pure nonsenseVarata and avatar were anagrams, just like Nadia and Diana.