“Are you sure you really won, and your mom wasn’t just trying to sneak you a present without you feeling bad?” Lisa asked.

“Pretty sure,” Ryan said. “There was a message in my inbox once I set up the PerSpectives that congratulated me for winning. They even said they were impressed with my essay.”

“Well, there is definitely something fishy going on,” Derek said. “But either way, this is frickin’ awesome!” He clearly didn’t care how Ryan had got his hands on the ‘Specs so much as the fact that he was holding a pair in his hands. AR technology wasn’t particularly popular in the outlying districts, which had a more rural feel to them, and Derek was a big city boy on the inside, wanting all the modernization that that entailed. “To be honest, I would have been really hesitant to tell anyone about these, if I were you. If word got out that you had these, there would be a serious target on your back at school.”

“As if there isn’t one already,” Lisa muttered.

“To be honest,” Ryan echoed. “I did hesitate to tell you guys. But things started going a little bit sideways and I wanted to get your input.”

“Can I try them on?” Derek asked.

“Go for it,” Ryan said. “Though I don’t think they’ll work for you.”

Derek slipped the goggles over his head. After a moment he frowned. “Unauthorized user,” he mumbled.

“I told you,” Ryan said. “Let me see if I can change the permissions.” Ryan held his hand out and Derek reluctantly handed them back. After sliding them back on a familiar message appeared.

Warning
Unauthorized user has handled the device.
Automatic lockdown has been initiated.

“Helios, how can I—”

“Helios?!” Derek and Lisa said simultaneously, laughing together. “Nerd,” they mocked.

“I know, that’s what I said,” Ryan admitted. “Do you want me to see if I can add you as a user or not?”

“Sorry, sorry,” Derek said, stifling his mirth.

“Helios, how can I allow other people to use this device?”

Device is licensed for one user only.
Additional users are prohibited.

“Well,” Ryan winced apologetically. “Looks like it’s a one user device. That’s kind of lame.”

“Have you considered jailbreaking it?”

“You want me to potentially brick the most sophisticated piece of technology that I’ll likely ever get my hands on?”

“Yeah, it sounded like a bad idea once I heard it come out of my mouth.” Derek admitted.

“Nothing new under the sun,” Lisa said. It was Derek’s turn to roll his eyes.

“Can you at least stream your vision so we can see what you see?” he asked Ryan.

“Oh, I guess not all your ideas are bad,” Lisa said.

“It is an interesting one,” Ryan agreed. “Helios, is there a way to stream my view?”

PerSpective Vision can be streamed to local devices or via the cloud.
The latter is not recommended, due to privacy concerns.

“How can I stream to local devices?” he asked.

Devices must download the Sifting Visuals app, which contains features that allow it to connect to PerSpective Vision.

“It says you guys have to download an app called ‘Sifting Visuals’ in order to connect to my device.” The other two started tapping away on their devices, looking for the app.

“I didn’t know Sifting had an app,” Lisa said. “They’re usually pretty big on marketing their products. Here it is. Kind of a large app, isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” Derek agreed. “This will take a minute to download with the bandwidth out here. So, what did you do all day yesterday?”

“I worked on daily tasks, got some side quests, earned some CP, did some light reading.”

“Reading?” Derek asked, incredulously.

“Yeah, I got a few reading assignments with some serious CP rewards, and I really wanted to show my mom what I could do with these, income wise.”

“What kind of reading assignments?” Lisa asked while Derek asked, “What kind of CP rewards?” at the same time. Ryan shook his head at Derek. Both of their devices let out alerts indicating their downloads had finished.

“I guess I can just show you. Helios, can I start streaming to these two devices?” Ryan focused on Derek’s phone and Lisa’s tablet respectively, the PerSpectives highlighting each in turn.

Capturing packet data.
MAC Addresses identified.
Begin pairing.
User’s must select “allow” within the app.

Both phones popped up with a security notification that a device was attempting to pair with them. Derek had already been ready and hit the allow button before he even had time to read it. Lisa was a little more cautious but assented to allow the pairing procedure after only a moment’s hesitation.

Welcome to Perspective View by Sifting Visuals, a subsidiary of Sifting Technology division.

Current Player View: Aitherios
CP: 1723
Level: 3
Location: 1km west of Minerva Node 7

A truncated view of what Ryan saw appeared on their displays, with his stats floating in the upper left corner. Ryan looked out towards the pond, his headset identifying the various birds in his view and their number. When his gaze stayed on one in particular, a separate window opened up in his HUD that zoomed in on the animal. Considering he hadn’t accomplished this feat before, he felt cheated out of an achievement, but conceded it was a known feature of earlier versions of the device.

“Dude,” Derek’s excitement was palpable. “Zoom and Enhance cliché!” On their respective devices Lisa and Derek saw the detailed information of the birds he was focusing on.

Species: Mallard Duck (Anas Platyrhynchos)
Sex: Male
Description: Common waterfowl species. Males have iridescent green heads and necks, and chestnut brown chests. Females are mottled brown for camouflage.
Habitat: Freshwater Rivers, Lakes, and Ponds
Population: Stable

Ryan changed his point of focus and the system responded.

Species: Canada Geese (Branta Canadenesis)
Sex: Likely Male (80% Chance)
Description: Large, black-necked geese with white chin straps. Known for their honking calls and V-shaped migratory formations.
Habitat: Wetlands and urban parks.
Population: Thriving due to governmental protections.

Something different from all the other birds caught Ryan’s attention and he shifted his gaze in that direction. It had a deep grey color that was almost blue, tall, with long skinny legs, an almost equally skinny neck, and a sharp elongated beak.

Achievement Unlocked!
Spot a rare species!
Species: Great Blue Heron (Ardea Herodias)
Sex: Male
Description: Tall wading bird with slate-blue feathers, long legs, and a sharp, yellowish bill. Known for its patience and hunting precision.
Habitat: Marshes, ponds, and estuaries.
Population: Once thriving, this now endangered species has become a herald of fortune.

Reward: 100CP, Bronze Nature Trophy

Almost as soon as that message appeared a new one popped up.

New Task!
Bird Watching
Objective: Find the three rarest birds known to frequent District 7
Reward: 100 CP per bird, Random Boon, additional CP upon completion depending on time between bird sitings.

The new task message went unnoticed. All three of them watched the heron in awe as it turned and let loose its broad majestic wingspan, taking off and soaring over the pond. The perspectives assisted in tracking and enhancing the image for the streamer’s view. It landed on the opposite side of the pond and became stock still, fishing.

“Well, way to show off your new view,” Derek spoke in a reverent tone as they all kept their eyes on the rare bird. Lisa had looked up from her tablet to see it with her own eyes. Ryan was looking at the location information that he had not noticed before in his HUD. He glanced over in the direction of the abandoned building, jarring Derek from the moment as the perspective on his phone shifted.

“Hey!” he protested.

“Sorry,” Ryan apologized. “Did you know that building had a Minerva Node in it?” The other two looked towards the structure which was barely visible over the treetops. They all seemed to have the same idea at once as, without a word, they began climbing up the boulders until they were all three standing atop the tallest one.

“I had heard rumors, I mean, we all have I’m sure,” Lisa said. Derek nodded but had a skeptical grimace on his face.

“Yeah, maybe we heard it used to belong to the Ministry Paradigm, I don’t think I’ve ever heard it housed a Minerva Node though.” As Derek spoke Ryan squinted his eyes, really focusing on the building. “You’re the Minerva expert, dude. Your research ever mention anything like that?”

“I know the Minerva device required repeaters to extend the wave propagation. I guess I never really thought about what that meant, or where they would be housed. But now that I think about it, where else would they have put such things.” As he spoke his right hand was in his jacket pocket, moving the Concentrated Firmament around with his fingers. The PerSpectives began scanning the distant compound, noting points of structural weakness. He had the odd sensation of something tugging at him, as if he was being magnetically drawn towards that old, abandoned structure.

“There’s a theory,” Lisa said, “that the reality tears first appeared around those nodes at the beginning of the Catastrophe. As if reality was weakened where the field was the strongest.”

“There aren’t many substantiated records from those days,” Ryan said absently, examining some information that was appearing on his display. “Not until reality was stabilized at least.”

“All goes to prove, that terrorist did more harm than good,” Derek muttered.

“Really, Derek?” Lisa said condescendingly. “You think we’re better off being mindless drones of society?”

“That’s not what Minerva did, and you know it,” Derek argued. “It is a fact that the rate of violent crimes skyrocketed in the wake of the Minerva Down Incident.”

“It’s also a fact that birth rates more than doubled,” Lisa reposted. “Because people could actually feel something for one another again.”

“It’s not like Minerva shut off emotions. Ryan, help me out here.” Derek turned to Ryan who hadn’t taken his eyes off the building in the distance.

“My dad was three years old when Minerva went off-line,” Ryan said absently. “His mom was driving him home from a park, a lot like this one I imagine.” Lisa and Derek both stopped bickering to give Ryan their attention. He’d rarely, if ever, talk about his father. “They were in an accident, the car flipped. One of his earliest memories was of his mother’s lifeless eyes. That’s what drove him to find the man responsible for it all. That’s why I never got a chance to meet him.” He moved to wipe the moisture from his eyes and his hand hit the visor of the PerSpectives. He let out a bittersweet chuckle and moved them up his forehead so he could clear out his suddenly blurred vision. “Anyway, I don’t know if it was good or bad. I just know the way it was shut down was important to my dad.”

Lisa put her hand on his shoulder, and he gave her a sad smile. Derek gave him a friendly punch on the shoulder. “So, am I the only one who noticed how much CP you have after one day?” he said, knowing his friend would appreciate a change in topic and mood. “Eighteen Hundred? That’s like a hundred and eighty bucks!”

“Oh yeah,” Ryan said, pushing the goggled back down. “Got most of that from completing one of my reading assignments. That’s actually how my whole experience with the goggles got weird.” He pulled up his task list for them to see and started telling them about his morning.