“Are you Ok?”

  Yaeh held out the question for Cecil to read.

  Her partner’s breathing had returned to normal after what had happened earlier in class. Since recovering though, he’d retreated into himself and wore a frustrated look.

  Cecil read the question, then nodded curtly. His eyes wandered to a place far away and Yaeh found herself wishing she could read the nuances of his facial expressions.

  Another aspect of physical life that media had only barely prepared her for.

  In Plugnet, the avatars they used had a more restricted range of expressions. People would often use gestures or emotes to convey their mood or emotions, but if they wanted to keep their inner thoughts hidden, they wouldn’t have to betray a single hint.

  However, human faces and bodies leaked emotions constantly through a seemingly infinite range of minute expressions and physical tells. Some, Yaeh could inuit easily enough, but others, like the look in Cecil’s eyes, she couldn’t so easily parse.

  Was he angry, annoyed, embarrassed… afraid?

  “What are you thinking?” She wrote.

  He saw the message and another indecipherable expression flashed across his face in a flickering moment, then he sighed and his body released the tension held in his neck and shoulders.

  “I’m fine. I’m just irritated, I guess.” He confessed.

  Yaeh frowned. “At me?” She asked, concerned.

  “No! No, not at you.” Cecil clarified hastily. “I’m just annoyed at myself… I guess.”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Cecil paused. That had been a lie.

  “No, I just… Let’s talk about this tonight at home. I need some time to think.”

  Yaeh responded with a small thumbs up of acknowledgement.

  They walked at the back of the small group that was the third floor students of VC37.

  Aeon brought up the front and was pushing Lulu’s wheelchair as they both chatted amicably with Sana and Isla. Petal and Forger followed behind quietly, always near each other. And at the very back of the group in self imposed isolation was Karkos who trailed the others like a spectre, hands in pockets.

  Class had broken for lunch and Isla was navigating the group towards the campus cafeteria.

  Yaeh was hungry. Which was something that happened regularly to all of them now, so they’d committed to eating full, solid meals for lunch. Another step towards acclimation.

  The group entered a large hall with tables arranged in long rows and dozens of students milling around in separate groups.

  It seemed the room was far below capacity in terms of available seats. Something Yaeh felt grateful for.

  “Oh, I think we get the food from those machines.” Aeon exclaimed and pointed towards the objects that he had spotted.

  They did indeed look like service terminals.

  Yaeh perked up and stepped onto her tiptoes to see them. She hadn’t anticipated becoming so enamoured with the physical machinery and technology of the physical world, but it had happened almost instantly.

  She hurried over to inspect the new machines and was disappointed by how little mechanisms she found. Just a simple touch screen displaying various food items and their associated costs. Nothing else to tinker with or observe. Expected, but still slightly disappointing.

  She instead turned her interest to the food on offer.

  Most of it was somewhat familiar. The “food” in Plugnet was, after all, based on real world recipes and dishes.

  In reality, Plugtank users were physically nourished via a nutrient IV that the machine administered while its occupant slept, so the food they ate in Plugnet had no actual nutritional value or purpose.

  Instead, the food prompted the tank to trigger nerve responses associated with taste when consumed. All flavour, no substance.

  So far, the physical food she’d seen on this side of reality seemed the reverse. The word that came to her mind upon inspecting Cecil’s rehydrated food pouches was “slop.”

  Hesitantly, Yaeh chose a stir fried noodle dish, then presented her tablet for payment when prompted.

  The machine peeped to indicate a successful transfer of funds, then a timer displayed on the screen. Four minutes and forty-nine seconds.

  She watched in silent amazement as a section of the wall beside the machine became transparent revealing a small window.

  Looking through the window, Yaeh could see what at first looked like a traditional kitchen. However where once, human chefs would have been running around from station to station with steaming pans of cookery in progress, each station was instead manned by a robot.

  The cooking robots were long, nimble arms attached to every station of the kitchen. Each one expertly equipped and programmed to carry out their assigned tasks.

  Yaeh watched as a pan of sizzling noodles was passed down the line of robotic arms, each one adding ingredients and stirring the dish before finally it was delivered to a bench where it was plated and shrink wrapped.

  She leaned forwards to marvel at the technological kitchen, eyes eagerly sucking down as much information as she could gather before inevitably, her dish made its way to the small window she watched through.

  The window opened, and the wrapped plate of food was dispensed on a sliding rail. She picked it up, then watched in disappointment as the wall reverted to opacity.

  She must get into that kitchen at some point.

  Yaeh looked down at her plate of brown noodles and veg. It bordered on hot, causing her hands to feel a sensation uncomfortably similar to pain. She wouldn’t want to hold it for very long.

  “Utensils are over here.” Aeon called out nearby, holding his own plate of food.

  Yaeh found some chopsticks and took a pair of the firm plastic utensils before following her group to an empty table.

  The third floorers began to eat together. For all of them except Cecil, eating physical food using the unfamiliar utensils was uncharted territory.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  It was messy and undignified work, but nobody cared. Each student’s focus lay on the task of getting a workable quantity of food into their mouth at a time, rather than how sloppily their neighbours were eating.

  The chopsticks, Yaeh realised, might have been a mistake.

  She tried her best to maneuver the delicate instruments, but her fingers were weak and unsteady. It was slow progress as she ate her noodles, often one at a time.

  The faintest fleeting whisper of flavour diffused each mouthful, which soon vanished as the food became a bland and unappetising mush in her mouth as she chewed. At least her hunger was sated, which had been all that she had expected from the food.

  “Have you guys checked out the files for the first group assignment?” Sana asked once her plate was cleared.

  “Nope.” Aeon answered cheerfully through a mouth full of potatoes and gravy.

  “Yeah. What the hell are they expecting us to be able to do with all that?” Isla answered more elegantly.

  “Right?” Sana complained. “Apparently, Hereon and I have to diagnose, repair, then propose upgrades for a broken Type-IX ion drive. That’s not even a real drive yet, I checked! The newest model is only a Type-VII”

  “Interesting.” Isla mused. “Ours is to rewire a faulty electrical system on some kind of massive ship. Apparently, its power generator is broken so there isn’t enough power for all systems. We have to explain in detail which areas and systems on the ship we cut off from power and why.”

  “Yikes.” Aeon muttered. “Sounds like a headache.”

  “Bloody hell.” Lulu muttered, reading her tablet. “Aeon, we have to write a sequence of essays detailing the process of turning off life support pods on a colony ship when the power begins to fail. We have to decide who dies first and then in what order, and who to keep alive for arrival at the final destination.”

  “Oh lovely. Not grim at all.” Aeon chuckled.

  Yaeh had read through the files already while class was wrapping up for lunch.

  Her and Cecil’s task was on a similar theme as the others. Recharting the navigation systems for an interstellar ship with limited fuel after a disaster on board.

  Like the others, their task seemed to be based on hypothetical technologies and situations. It didn’t strike her as particularly difficult, just time consuming to meet all specified criteria.

  “Apparently, all five groups have to link their reports and essays together to make sure that all systems and proposed changes are intercompatible.” Isla explained. “We have all month to complete them, and we can get specialised training while in classes to help. But we’ll also be in full withdrawal…”

  Yaeh agreed, that would be the real challenge. Not to mention, who knew how reliable Petal and Forger, let alone Hereon and Karkos would be. It would likely fall upon the most willing individuals on the floor to carry additional weight over the course of the assignment.

  It was as much of a social challenge as an academic one. And oddly specific too. Yaeh wondered if the other floors had similarly themed tasks. Ones resolving around hypothetical colony ships.

  As she pondered that question, she felt the outline of a realisation click into place within her thought processes.

  There was more to all this, but she set the thoughts aside to focus on eating her noodles.

  Isla finished her plate of bland food and lay her cutlery down on the plate and leant forwards with her elbows on the table. Another lull in the conversation had allowed her attention to wander.

  She’d spotted Lanc.

  Her boyfriend sat at a table across the room with the rest of the first floorers. He sat next to Ea, his partner. Every time they spoke to each other, she smiled at him and he looked so comfortable with her already.

  It pissed her off.

  Should she go over there? Cause a scene? Demand to speak to him in private?

  Honestly, was he even her boyfriend anymore?

  As she watched them, it didn’t seem like he was.

  Lanc was still avoiding her like the plague.

  When the class had broken for lunch she’d made a beeline to him and called out his name. He had pretended not to hear her, instead hurrying to group up with the rest of his dorm-mates.

  “At least have the spine to actually break up with me you asshole.” She muttered icily under her breath.

  Sat next to her, Karkos flicked an aware look her way but otherwise pretended not to have heard the bitter accusation as he lazily ate.

  She almost stood up on the very verge of deciding to confront him, but hesitated at the final moment.

  Did she even want to hear whatever he had to say to explain his behavior? No explanation could be good enough.

  But, was that a good reason to prolong the inevitable?

  What if she made the decision herself? That they’d broken up. Firm and final in her mind so that she could move on and leave him in the rearview. Let him stew over the words unspoken. At this point, she felt so much hurt and betrayal towards him that the relationship was already dead and buried to her. So why not?

  She thought of all the long nights they’d spent in each other's company on the other side of the net. Their avatars pleasantly curled up together as they watched media, or just talked for hours. He had made her laugh so often…

  What he was making her feel now was so alien and cold compared to those warm memories. Had she ever really known him? Known his true heart?

  His eyes strayed over to her table and they made eye contact for a brief and uncomfortable moment. His eyes widened with guilt and she felt her own narrow with accusation. He looked away quickly, and did not turn back.

  Rage flared up, hot and energetic like plasma.

  Oh slab this bollocks. She decided, rising to her feet.

  “Excuse me, one second guys, I’ve got to pull out a dead tooth.” She declared to the table with cold resolve.

  In the distance she saw Lancs eyes flick her direction as she rose, then look away quickly as if hoping she wasn’t about to approach.

  Tough luck dickhead.

  She inhaled to steel her nerves, then strode purposefully over to the first floor table, grateful for her long legs and how quickly they carried her.

  As she approached, Lanc couldn’t help but look her way and expression of horror fell over him. Was he that scared of a confrontation?

  She stood before the table and planted her hand on her hips. She said nothing, simply locking eyes with her cowardly boyfriend who squirmed under the glacial daggers that were her ice-white eyes.

  “Um, hello?” Another student from the group asked uncertainly, not recognising Isla.

  Isla waited to see if Lanc was going to say anything.

  “Can we help you?” The student pressed, looking from Isla to Lanc nervously.

  “Say something.” Isla demanded.

  Lanc wasn’t able to look at her.

  Ea, who sat in the seat next to him, watched with concern.

  Lanc remained as silent as the grave and his breathing fast and heavy, he clutched a hand to his chest as his eyes stared at his lap.

  For god’s sake, was he having a panic attack?

  Isla couldn’t bring herself to feel any sympathy, but decided to end this quickly to mitigate any unnecessary damage.

  “Ok Lanc. I’ll make this easy for you then. We’re done!”

  She spun on her heel and took two steps back towards her own table before spitting out, “Coward.” Just loud enough that one of them might hear.

  As she returned, Isla briefly considered veering off towards her apartment and bailing on the rest of the day so that she could curl up under all of the bedsheets and cry.

  But she had classes.

  She sat back down at her table with a huff, then folded her arms and crossed her legs.

  Aeon watched her sit down, unsure what to say. Had he really heard what he thought he had heard?

  Lulu’s eyes flicked from Aeon to Isla, waiting for someone to say something.

  Isla thought she saw concern in the girl’s expression.

  The whole table was looking at her.

  “We broke up.” She explained, hugging her crossed arms tighter to her chest.

  “Are you Ok?” Aeon asked cautiously.

  “Fine.” Isla answered. She changed the subject, wanting it to become anything but herself. “So Cecil, Yaeh, how did you two get so many points huh?”

  Cecil had only half been paying attention and the question caught him off guard.

  “Oh, um. We looked at the points after class, it was mostly because we got the milestone for hugging first. They gave us 50 points just for that.” He explained hesitantly.

  “Aww.” Sana cooed happily. “Cute.”

  “Yaeh was cold…” Cecil mumbled, blushing.

  “Oh my god, I’m so jealous of how close you two are.” Sana huffed. “Hereon is so annoying! I tried to get him to come to class today but he’d already chugged more sleeping pills right after waking up.”

  “Is that going to become a problem?” Isla asked.

  “Hopefully it’s just a one off. If he makes it a habit though, yeah probably.” Sana answered miserably.

  “So I’ve been looking at all the daily points that we can earn.” Lulu started, pausing occasionally to catch her breath. “There are lots of things we can do each day to generate a stable income of points. Stuff like spending time with and talking to our partners, that should be easy… for most of us.” She clarified with a guilty glance to Sana and Isla.

  “Class attendance should also be easy enough. But the daily maintenance stuff. Um, I’ll need help with some of that.” Lulu finished sheepishly.

  “Oh, like bathing and stuff?” Sana asked.

  Lulu nodded. So far, her female dorm-mates had happily agreed to help with her physical needs. But Lulu was broaching the prospect that this would need to continue indefinitely.

  “Yeah Lulu, that’s fine. We can take it in turns. Yaeh, Petal, you guys will help out too, right?” Isla asked, looking to the quieter two girls.

  They both nodded. Petal hesitantly and Yaeh enthusiastically.

  “Thank you guys.” Lulu said with a wavering voice. She wiped away a single tear then masked her feelings with a grateful smile.

  “No worries Lulu. I’ll help with anything else you need.” Aeon approved, giving the rest of the girls a big grin.

  “So what other “milestones” do you think there are?” Sana asked cheerfully. “We only know of hugging so far.”

  “Holding hands too.” Isla added.

  “Right.”

  “I don’t know, don’t those both sound kind of… romantic?” Aeon asked, knuckle to his chin as he pondered the question.

  “Yeah, I thought that too.” Lulu agreed, blushing slightly.

  “So maybe other physical stuff like… a massage, or cuddling, or uh, like caresses?” Sana offered.

  Yaeh held up her tablet. It read, “Kissing.”

  The table read it together.

  Lulu’s eyes went to Aeon. Aeon’s eyes went to Isla.

  Isla noticed both reactions in the corner of her vision, then pretended not to.

  “Isn’t that a bit too…” Sana trailed off, gesturing meaninglessly with her hands, unable to pick the right words.

  Yaeh wrote more onto the tablet.

  “No. Romance is the point. This whole project is designed to engineer romantic relationships.”

  She turned the tablet slowly for them all to read.

  Cecil frowned, then blushed as comprehension dawned on him.

  “Yaeh wait, you can’t be serious.” Cecil stammered.

  Yaeh shrugged.

  “No, I think she’s right.” Isla said quietly, looking over at the first floor table where the students were crowding around Lanc. Ea had her hand on his shoulder and was leaning in close to speak to him.

  “She’s absolutely right.” Karkos agreed coolly. It was the first thing he’d said since they’d sat down.

  Isla turned to scowl at him; a potential outlet for her frustration.

  “Don’t get any funny ideas Karkos.” She hissed at him.

  Karkos leveled an apathetic look at her as he sipped at a warm beverage.

  “Please. You’re not my type.” He smirked dryly.