The next morning, Urban woke, sore and on the cold, tiled floor.
She startled as she realized the time. There was no chance to tell Lillian. They’d have to catch up after class.
Throwing on some clothes, she pulled her hair into a messy bun and checked the mirror. She had botched her eyeliner, and she also had weird wrinkles on her face from sleeping on the floor.
“Ai ya,” she said at her reflection.
She threw open the curtains to give her more light to fix her makeup.
Brilliant rays of saturated plum, vibrant orange, and rich cinnamon lit up the cityscape. Blinking back the sudden brightness, she lingered, staring at its beauty. Something was different today.
A lightness filled her chest when she saw the ink stains on her fingers, and a smile crept across her face.
“Jue wu jin you,” she whispered. “Unique.”
It all came back to her.
She stood there a moment longer, enjoying the beauty and filling her lungs with big, slow breaths of air.
Then her retina display beeped, and she was jolted back to reality. She quickly touched up her makeup, then darted to class.
She was relieved to find the way there peacefully empty. For once, she was grateful her first class was so early. A faithful green triangle trailed her. She’d almost forgotten about Trig. His presence brought her a wave of comfort. I’m never ditching him again.
In AI Foundations, Urban would have given anything for Coral’s enhancements to blend into her surroundings. Students around her kept taking selfies with her in the background. They shot her sideways glances and whispered. She felt like a KOL. She was a KOL. That would take some time getting used to.
But the students weren’t the only ones to take an interest in her. Halfway through the lecture, Dr. Xi called her out. “Lee Urban, are you present today?”
Urban nervously stood, trying to recall the appropriate response.
“Urban here is a perfect example of how artificial intelligence can only go so far. At some point, even the most advanced AI, such as Samson, will be overcome.”
Dr. Xi leaned forward, using her desk to steady herself in her excitement. “Tell us, how did you do it Urban? What enhancements do you have that could confuse the most sophisticated Gaming AI?”
The class collectively turned to her.
“Uh,” Urban faltered. “I’m going to keep my enhancements private for now.”
“Come, come. There’s nothing to be ashamed of.”
Urban shifted uncomfortably.
Dr. Xi was gripping her desk so hard her knuckles turned white. “I realize some people consider enhancements a private matter. Really though, it’s something to be celebrated.” She paused a moment, as if hoping Urban would reconsider. When Urban remained silent, she reluctantly began her lecture.
Urban sat down, relieved.
Her mind replayed the events of the past few days, over and over. It all seemed like a weird dream.
She looked at Dr. Xi, droning on from the front of the room, and shook herself. She was definitely sitting in class right now and not asleep.
She kept sorting through her messages. There were a couple of random pings from her new fan club, more invites, and several ridiculous screenshots from Lucas, which she ignored.
Nothing from Everest.
Her gut was crushed, run over by a hoverboard.
She’d thought maybe he would have messaged her. After all, she’d almost died.
But, of course, he hadn’t. He’d already moved on—like she should.
She wanted something to give her hope for them again. But there was no hope. They really were done. Get over it, she berated herself.
“I’ll be reading off the highest three and lowest three scores in the class.”
Urban’s attention jerked back to the present as Dr. Xi spoke.
“This has your latest test factored in. Last place in the class we have Li Apple, Ye Tu, and Gua Chenchen.”
Urban let out a breath. She wasn’t last in the class.
“And in first place,” the professor continued. “We have Qing Angel, Sun Trace, and Wong Fawn. Well done to all of you.”
Qing Angel? Urban’s blood ran cold. She’d completely forgotten about Angel. She’s in my class? What is she doing here? Which student is she?
Urban tried to remember what Angel had looked like in XR. All she could remember were her enhancements. The only physically noticeable enhancement was retractus flameous, which had allowed her hands to convert into flamethrowers.
Her eyes swept the classroom, searching for anyone who might have that. Most the student’s hands were under the desks or hidden from sight. With a class this big, how was she ever going to find out who Angel was? She couldn’t exactly go up to each student and examine their hands.
Urban considered just asking the teacher who Angel was but thought better of it. Angel was a KOL. Most KOLs had agreements with anyone who had access to both their online and physical identities in order to keep their privacy. Dr. Xi would be legally bound to keep Angel’s identity secret.
But it came to Urban that maybe she could use her fame to her advantage. She could voluntarily take pictures with the students and use it as an opportunity to catch a glimpse of their hands while she was at it.
She discarded the idea quickly. Angel wouldn’t be lining up to take a selfie.
Then another idea struck her. It would still require using her newfound influence but with her teacher instead.
Urban waited until all the other students cleared out before approaching her professor. “Dr. Xi, may I speak with you in private?”
“Why of course.” The teacher hastily ushered Urban to her office.
On two of the walls, projections displayed logs updated in real time. Ancient calligraphy covered the other two. Urban’s footsteps crunched with each step as she entered. Dried sunflower seeds littered the floor.
Xi took a seat behind her giant wooden desk and pushed a bowl toward Urban. “Snack?”
Urban politely took a handful of seeds and began shelling them. Not because she was hungry, but because she thought the gesture might help.
Dr. Xi smiled approvingly and popped a sunflower seed into her mouth.
“I’m working on a research project,” Urban began. “I’m trying to test a hypothesis of mine about certain . . . genetic enhancements and class rank.” She paused, collecting her nerve, then plunged forward. “I’m wondering if I may have the class roster containing the list of lethal enhancements.”
Dr. Xi’s hand momentarily hovered over the bowl. She regained herself and began cracking sunflower seeds again. “That’s highly confidential information.”
“I don’t need access to the whole list. I’m really just trying to find out if there’s any sort of reverse correlation with top performers in class and dangerous enhancements. I’d only need the top three.”
“I’m afraid that wouldn’t be prudent.”
“You know,” Urban said slowly. “I haven’t told anyone about how I cracked Samson. The press has been hounding me, along with friends, roommates—everyone.”
Dr. Xi leaned forward in her seat.
“It’s confidential information. But I might be willing to give you a clue as to how I did it if you shared something confidential in exchange.”
Dr. Xi was torn, her eyes darting from Urban to her sunflower seed stash and then back again. She bit her lip and regarded Urban carefully. “I suppose it would be all right for me to share three students’ information. It’s not the actual list after all.”
“Oh, thank you!” Urban held out her wrist.
“I’m removing the rest of the students.” Dr. Xi’s eyes darted about feverishly as she carefully modified the data. She nodded to Urban, and they bumped wrists. Urban’s tatt vibrated, and a file popped into her private feed labeled Advanced AI Class: List of Lethal Enhancements.
“Now.” Dr. Xi nearly grasped Urban’s arms in excitement, but stopped herself. “Tell me. How did you do it?”
“The clue I’ll give you is a simple one: how is Samson trained?”
Dr. Xi’s eyes narrowed in concentration.
“Think about it.” Urban stood. “I’ve got to get to my next class. Thank you again.”
“Yes, yes,” Dr. Xi said absently as she gazed off into space, thinking.
As soon as she was out of Dr. Xi’s office, Urban opened the file. Sure enough, there it was, Qing Angel and a laundry list of lethal enhancements, including her flamethrowing hands. Urban quickly scanned the file until she found Angel’s school ID. Then she copied the ID into the school’s public database.
A student’s face appeared, and Urban gasped.
Staring back at her was none other than her roommate, Qing Coral.