Chapter 8: Dinosaurs of 5022

Dada and I wasted no time to get out of the car. My feet hit the concrete ground, and a rush of underground air chilled me to the bone. Luckily, I had my coat on. While Dada opened the trunk, I took a minute to celebrate making it to the city. I wondered what had changed in the past five years. Oh man, my hands were shaking!

"Here ya go, Daniel," Dad called. He removed my hoverscooter from the trunk and handed it to me. Even he knew I never went anywhere without her. We kept our bags in the car for the robots to take care of. Dada shut the trunk and ordered the car to lock. It did, just like dear old Betsey.

The subway station and track were at the back of the parking garage, behind some mechanical gates. One at a time, Permission Robots stopped parties of people and asked for their IDs. Dada and I had to do that, too. We waited in line behind a family of four that included Mom, Dad, and two children.

"So, Dada, what hotel are we going to stay in? The Marriot? The Hyatt?" I inquired.

Dada laughed. "Oh, you're hilarious, Dan!" He placed his arm around my shoulders. "We're going to stay somewhere even better than a hotel."

My excitement doubled. "Really, Dada? Where, where?"

Dada never answered, because it was our turn for the Permission Robots. There was one at each mechanical gate. They were block-shaped and had two black eyes. Much like the buggies at Publix, there were black screens in their chest.

Dad and I's Permission Robot held its hand out to us. "Halt. Identity please," it said.

I went first. I pulled my driver's license from my pocket and held it up to the robot's screen. It took it away from me and swallowed my ID whole. My information popped up on its screen: Daniel Matton, born 5005, age seventeen.

"Scanning. Scanning," spoke the Permission Robot.

Finally, I got my ID back.

"Clear to enter. Please enjoy your stay in Downtown Greenville."

The gate behind the Permission Robot opened. I thanked him and squeezed through it.

Behind me, the Permission Robot next scanned in Dad. He explained where we were going to stay in its ear. I wanted it to be a surprise, so I didn't interfere. Instead, I made my way to the subway.

A fantastic thing, it was about the size of a miniature Maglev train (white all over with a black nose).

Dada soon joined me. "All right, we're all set, Dan. The robots will take our things to where we're staying," he chuckled.

I grinned at him. "Dada, I have to admit, I'm excited."

***

I felt like I was going to lose my mind on the subway. It moved so fast. Dada and I had to hold onto poles, because we could not find a seat with all the tourists. Thankfully, we weren't the only ones who suffered. Other people did, too. Seriously, what was going on?

I hugged my pole with both hands and locked my knees. Around Dada and me, people chatted about all sorts of things. A few conversations grabbed my attention. One was about how much had changed in Downtown Greenville over the past decade. Another one touched on the idea that it was something called PPMC Day in the city.

Wait, PPMC Day?

At the other end of the car, two slightly overweight women talked with each other. I listened to them, only because I still did not know what the PPMC Project entailed.

"Can you believe it?" one woman asked. "After two-hundred long years, the PPMC Project is finally complete. Do you really think it can travel through a black hole?"

"Professor Chenoa seems certain," her friend replied.

There it was again. Professor Chenoa. Who was that, and what on Earth was all the talk about black holes? An uneasy feeling pinched my gut. I begged to myself that Dada did not trick me. He would never do that to his own son, would he? Oh gosh. What was I doing there in Downtown Greenville?

***

Greenville's Heart Platform was located in the center of the city. That was where the subway took Dada and me. Boy, I never knew that getting off a train would be so satisfying. I think Dada felt the same way.

Both of us stumbled out of the car and into the underground station, with our heads spinning like tops. It took us a minute to recover from the ride.

That station was much smaller. There was only a snack stand and some bathrooms. You see, the subway's tracks went all over the city, so people went to different places at the same time. I wasn't really interested in the new station vs. the starting one. I just wanted to get to Greenville's Heart. That was the most fascinating part of the city.

Dada took a bit longer to recover from the train ride, so I went ahead of him. I pushed past tourists and sprinted up the station's steps. I only tripped once, but I caught myself before I could fall.

Dada yelled, "Daniel!" at me, but I was too excited.

Bright sunlight blinded me when I reached the outside world, but after my eyes adjusted, all I could say, "Whoa! So cool!"

Dada and I were right smack in the heart of Downtown Greenville. The skyscrapers literally almost went into space. People were all over the place.

I ducked under a few hoverscootists, who flew over my head, and took in everything.

People rode on moving walkways of all different colors, and spaceship-like trolleys escorted others everywhere. A few children ran by me, and they hurried over to a display of holographic dinosaurs. They ran under their legs and played prehistoric-themed games. I definitely did not remember that dinosaur display. That was new.

Tourists grabbed snacks and drinks from robots and laughed at one another.

I passed a child who struggled to get his trash in a Trash Can Robot. It kept running away from him.

Laughing, I watched them chase one another.

The moving walkways, like the subways, went to different parts of the city, such as Falls Park, the library, the art museum, the Peace Center, etc. My hoverscooter shook under my arm. I think it wanted to join the other hoverboards. I walked under a holographic image of an Alamosaurus, a long-necked dinosaur that lived during the late Cretaceous. I tried to touch it, but my hand went right through its leg.

Not today, Dan. Not today.

The holographic Alamosaurus said otherwise. It stopped on its tracks and backed away from me. Interesting. It knew I was under it.

The Alamosaurus met my big, brown eyes. Huffing, it lowered its long neck and put its face right up to mine. It liked me. But it was a hologram.

The dinosaur sniffed me up and down. It circled me a few times.

I ducked under its tail, even though I knew I would go right through it. It was incredible. I literally felt like I had befriended a real dinosaur. "Oh, Mother, I wish you could see this," I whispered.

The holographic Alamosaurus seemed to smile. It did that by opening its mouth.

I peered inside to its plate-like teeth and smiled back.

Eventually, the dinosaur had to go. It gave me a quick duck of its head and lifted its neck.

"Daniel!" Dad's voice snapped me out of my real-life daydream. He had caught up to me. He swerved in between the Alamosaurus's legs. "There you are. Well, what do you think?"

My eyes did not leave the holographic dinosaur. "That dinosaur likes me." With both hands, I clutched my heart. "Oh, I love it!"

"I'm glad," Dad replied. "We worked hard to put together this display for you."

I was too excited to make full sense of his sentence, but I know he said that. At the time, I did not think much about it. How could I? A holographic dinosaur just interacted with me! I could not wait to get Dad and mine's "hotel". He told me we first had to take the Green Walkway to the library, then the Yellow Walkway to the art museum, and finally the Purple Walkway to our destination.

Dada offered to carry my hoverscooter for a little bit. I let him, even though it was a bit difficult to let her go. We walked under another holographic dinosaur and towards the walkways. I was oblivious to what was in front of me, because my attention remained on the Alamosaurus.

"Hm, I wonder why... Ahh!" I accidentally stumbled onto the Green Walkway. Arrows on it pointed me in the direction of the library. I was stupid enough not to see the back arrows next to me. "Help, Dada!" I yelled. I tried running back to Dada, but nothing happened. I merely ran in place.

The people riding on the back arrows laughed at me.

"You know there's an easier way back," said a young man. He looked no more than twenty.

"Easy for you to say!" I shouted. I kept running in place, but then I tripped and fell onto my front.

Plop!

Dada made haste to join me. He hopped onto the moving walkway and pulled me to my feet. "You okay, Dan the Man?" he asked.

"I'm fine. I just never expected to look insane on the Green Walkway," I answered. "Now, where's the library?"

Dada set my hoverscooter down on the walkway next to his ankle. He pointed at a titanic skyscraper in front of us and said, "Right there."

I nodded. "Ah, I thought so."

The library was at least a hundred feet tall. It had billions of books of all different genres and a huge Ancient Collection. The Ancient Collection consisted of books from the 1500s, 1700s, 2000s, 3000s, and 4000s. I hoped that Dada would take some time to explore the library a little bit. I wanted to do a little more research for my story.

However, Dada was in a rush. He wanted to reach our hotel before we got too comfortable.

And the only question I had was, "Why?"