March 23, 2080

“Kyle Sanchez! If you don’t get up and out of this house and see some sunlight, you are going to forget what it looks like.” Ms. Sanchez had picked her son up by the shirt collar and the back of his pants and tossed him out into the backyard pool. “Stay outside and don’t come home until I call for you.” 

Kyle knew how to swim, of course but that was no reason to toss him out when the water was still freezing cold. And wasn’t like he was without being harmed. The automation of the city that kept him and everyone else safe was never far away. A new change of clothes was provided, a quick strip and blow dry, and a spoonful of fast acting cough syrup and he was back to full health. Or so he would like to have thought.

Truth was Kyle had been connected to the net when he had been unplugged and thrown into the cold. His real life was within the internet to explore the unknown and see life anew. Thousands of new and mostly unexplored planets lay within his reach. The internet was no longer restricted to Earth. Using advanced satellites and space wave transmitters, people that left with the colony ships were not the only ones that could leave the planet. The Digital Integrator Mind Meld, or DIMM, allowed any mind capable of complex thought the opportunity to control drones that are far out of reach for the user. Kyle was a space explorer using the DIMM. The place that he had been exploring, before being rudely pulled out, was full of lava and very dangerous. 

Kyle was now making his way down main street lamenting that his latest drone would most likely be dead by the time he got back to it. Such was it when his mother tossed him outside.

The outside was boring to him. Everything had its place and was made sure to follow its rules. The people that lived outside were of no importance to him, they felt like complete strangers to him even though he had known them for his whole life. Mr. and Mrs. Davis had a daughter that was about his age. They lived a few doors down. He went to school with their daughter. They went on vacation about a week ago. Their house stood resolute in the noon sun, empty yet clean. Kyle moved on as he saw no movement on the inside.

On his adventure outside he wandered into a street market. The smells and sounds of food cooking was something that could not be ignored. He stopped at the grill and bought a kebab. The meat was soaked perfectly with the spicy vegetable juices. He devoured the food hungrily. It was so good. Kyle went back to the food stand and there was an older boy getting a kebab. Kyle waited for his turn, when the older boy turned around he had six kebabs, one in between each finger gap. He seemed to be eating the meat sticks in one or two bites. The grill was empty of food by the time Kyle got up to purchase his next one. 

Feeling distraught at the empty grill, he felt a tap on his shoulder. The older boy stood there and offered an unfinished kebab. 

“Here,” he said. “They’re really good! Such food is meant to be shared!” He smiled real big, still having a wooden stick in his mouth. 

“Thanks.” Kyle said timidly, as he took the kebab. Kyle had never been one to take to new people very often. This boy, though older, was dirty but seemed friendly. 

“My name’s Raoul. My family’s from what was western Europe…or what was Europe. With only England being left over there, I might seem to be weird. Anyway, who are you? You seem like the inquisitive sort, I am naturally curious about anything and everything. My father tells me that it is one trait that I have that he wishes he could still have. I have two sisters. Do you have any siblings? I have always wanted a brother, but dad says that his new kids will be more like cousins to me rather than brothers. It is really weird when he said that. Do you like sports? I love sports, baseball, soccer, football, gravityball…”

Raoul was speaking fast and about everything that Kyle could barely get a word in. Kyle screamed stop in order to get Raoul to stop and take a breath.

“Dude! Calm down! You’re like a dog in a tennis ball factory.” 

“Right, right, sorry about that.” Raoul looked down, once again, acting like a dog. Kyle thought that he really was a strange person.

“Okay. My name is Kyle. I have no brothers or sisters. I don’t really like doing things with my own body. I like to explore other worlds with my DIMM gear. I prefer that to being outside. I’m only here ’cause my mom booted me out of the house.”

“Why do you like exploring other worlds?” Raoul asked as he began to walk down the street. 

“This place is boring and there’s not a lot to do. I mean, robots tend to all are needs and there is not much to do.”

Raoul seemed to mull over this for a moment. “Have you considered that there is not a lot to do because you are limiting yourself on what can be done?”

“What do you mean?” Kyle asked a bit more than a little confused.

“Like do you ever meet new friends on your journeys exploring? Or do you have wonderfully rich food?” 

“No, not ever.” 

“Well then I would say that you have accomplished more today than you have with a thousand hours in space. You think of reality as nothing more than a hindrance, when in fact, it is the best thing in the world.” 

He detoured into a park with an incredibly large tree at its center. With almost a yell of excitement, he ran around the tree three times before leaping up, grabbing a branch and hoisting himself into the tree. He looked back down and offered his hand to Kyle.

“C’mon!” 

Though it went against his brain, Kyle jumped up and grabbed Raoul’s hand. Together the pair climbed the tree all the way to the top. Though Kyle was hesitant to go higher than the first few branches, at his friend’s urging they continued to go up until their heads were above the foliage and they could see the sunset. Kyle saw an unusual thing at the top, an etching in the bark of the tree. (K.D.) in a circle. It was something truly unique.

“I probably need to get home now.” Kyle said.

“I think we should get down to the ground first. Don’t you?” Raoul said with a big smile still on his face.

 The climb down was not as difficult as it had been on the way up. The two came down with no problems. Kyle even had some cuts, but he was not bothered by them and didn’t even call for a robot that he knew was patrolling the area, to bring him a bandage. He wore his scratches like badges of honor.

Raoul and Kyle walked back to the marketplace and said their goodbyes and parted ways. Kyle felt so good about making a new friend that he ran all the way home. He slowed for a minute as he passed by the girls house once more. The Davis’ house, and their daughter Kate. He wondered if it was her name that was imprinted at the top of the tree.

 He opened the backdoor and ran into his mom. For reasons that he could not explain, for many years after, he hugged her long and tight. 

The pair of them sat down and had dinner together. Then after dinner Kyle went back to his room. He looked at his DIMM, but did not put it on. He instead went to his window, which led out to the roof. He opened it and it made a loud crack in the slide sideways. He clambered outside onto the roof.

He looked all around at the city lights that were on and at the people that were inside. They were unaware of the outside, just as he had been.

“Kyle?” His mom said from the window. “What are you doing out there?” 

“I wanted to see the stars, and not from my video screen.” 

She toss a winning grin his way and turned back into his room for a minute, she threw out an old blanket. “Spread this out on the roof. It will be softer than the gravel that is there.” 

He did as she said and she clambered out on the roof with him, and together they both laid down to watch the stars of the night sky.

After a while, the power of the city lights began to dim as the power was being limited. The night sky became more beautiful.

“So, I have to ask, what happened to day?” His mom asked as she looked down at him, gently stroking his hair.

“It was as if I had been looking through a keyhole all my life and you sent me out into the world. I met a friend that took me up into a tree and I saw my world. Not through the eyes of a camera, but through my own. I could only see the keyhole and he opened the door.”

She hugged him tightly and then scooted him off to bed where she tucked him in and kissed him on the forehead. “Goodnight and sleep tight.”

“Hey mom, can we go somewhere tomorrow?”

“Like where?”

“Somewhere new and unlike anywhere else.”

“Yeah, that’d be nice.” She said. She turned off the light and left the door cracked open.

Kyle went to sleep dreaming about dancing trees.