Dane ate and was quickly ushered out into the streets by Reggie, who seemed eager to show him around. He brought him down the dark ‘residential’ streets, pointing out the dangerous alleys.

“A gang lives behind that corner. Just avoid that area entirely..” Reggie shook his head, thinking about the violence they’d caused.

“What kind of gang?” Dane had only heard about gangs on TV before this. Now he was living near pockets of them, in the crossfire. From what he understood, no area was safe from the chaos.

“Well. They’re a human gang who beat the shit out of aliens for fun for being on our planet. So.. they’re assholes. I don’t want to live by them, but pickings are slim..”

The walked out onto one of the main roads, assaulted by bright lights and music coming from various stores. Reality was augmented here, with each shop showing glowing pop-up holograms about sales as they passed.

“Okay, so.. a lot of these are fronts. They’ll still sell you things, but they’re.. not fun to be in. If you’re around too long they get twitchy. The laundromat is legit. The VR cafe is too and that street’s stores are all good...” He was pointing around at various places.

“A VR cafe?” Dane stared at it, bright green letters flickering in welcome. It had a thick black door and no windows.

“It’s a little creepy in there, but those guys are all about their virtual living. I think it’s kind of sad, but.. who can tell you it isn’t real if you experienced it, right? If they’re happy, I won’t knock their use of technology.” Reggie hurried them past.

“You’re given that some thought…”

“A little. It’s easy to slip into that world and replace all of your thoughts and memories with virtual ones. It’s a great fun in small doses, but sitting there getting fed nutrients through a tube is where I draw the line.” Reggie sighed, “But again.. why deny them the pleasure if they’re happy? I don’t know where to draw the moral line. You can’t force anyone to keep their physical body moving around in meatspace if they’re happy elsewhere..”

ANDI chimed in to Dane, “I like him.”