Chapter 8

It'd been a tumultuous year at Claiborne. It had started out as an almost non-stop orgy, spiced with a very tough education. The sex had been eliminated, except in certain cases, but the curriculum had stayed the same (Shannon almost laughed as she recounted the latest failed effort to emasculate the learning at Claiborne).

The Graduation Ceremony was held at a hall in the town now adjoining Claiborne. I'd wondered how they were going to do it. Trust the Construct people to have a way. We, the graduates, were all in full VR. Our parents were in avatars holding a spyeye; but this one allowed more than just viewing. They got to hear, feel and everything. They just couldn't make their avatars do anything except clap.

After the ceremony we were put back in the individual offices. There was punch and cake for the grads and their families. Mom and Dad were almost ecstatic. Just before they'd put on the helmets that let them watch, they'd been informed that I'd been accepted into college with a full scholarship that included living expenses, books, and so on. It was a complete free ride. That made Dad especially happy. The only thing my folks would have to pay for was getting me to college.

I spent the summer working in Seaside, part-time as a waitress at a breakfast restaurant on the east side of town, and part-time in the Construct offices. When mid-August rolled around, Mom and Dad rented a car and made it a family trip. We left the beautiful Oregon coast. I was sad to leave it. Sure, it rained more than it did in other places, but so what. And a winter storm almost had to be experienced. There was a bluff a few miles away where you could stand and watch the waves thunder ashore while the wind whipped your hair and clothes into a frenzy.

The less said about the trip until we got to Colorado, the better. The land might be beautiful, but to someone who saw the Pacific Ocean every morning when she got up, it looked too dry. The mountains were impressive, but we had those in Oregon. Mt. Hood and the Sisters look a lot more impressive than a range of mountains that were even higher.

After Colorado, the ground flattened out. Lewis and Clark called it the Great American Desert. We did some tourist things in Kansas City and St. Louis. The temperature and humidity were both too high, but when we got to our destination in southern Wisconsin that seemed to go away. We were real close to Lake Michigan—just a few minutes drive away—and I felt a knot ease inside me. Something inside me needed to be near a large body of water.

The special moment came when I hooked up with the others. Irene simply drove up from Chicago, her daughter by her side. Jared and his dad arrived the next day. I didn't want to make a big demonstration when I saw him, but as soon as our parents left we'd get reacquainted, and put my birth control to the test. Alex arrived right after that, completing us.

The Construct people had found a place for us to live, an upstairs/downstairs type of place. Irene and I were roomies on the upper floor, while Alex and Jared had the downstairs. We'd have to be a little careful; Irene's daughter was of that age where she'd tell everyone what was going on. We were also within walking distance of campus and the Construct offices.

School started, our parents all left, and that night Jared and I stared at each other over dinner. Finally Irene laughed. "You two! Eat later!"

We laughed self-consciously. He offered me his hand, I took it, and we retired to the bedroom we'd set aside. There we proved to each other that what we'd learned at Claiborne worked perfectly well in person.

Classes were not as hard as at Claiborne, and we benefited by being able to use what we learned in class almost right away. Jared would find something in history, I would model it, and Alex and Irene would code it. That made money for the Construct Corporation, which was part of the whole idea. We also created a vacation place for us, but as good as the Construct was, there was something special about vacationing in real life.