Into the future - Anna's adventure (for Renton)

[justmedk]

Anna praised her lucky stars that by all accounts Angel hadn't noticed. She realized that she was going to have to make sure to not make a mistake like that in the future. She was enough of an intrusion into Angel's life without imposing herself even further like that. And the fact that Angel suggested that she spend time with her sister was just amazing - a position Anna hadn't expected to be in, but which she accepted readily. It could be fun to spend time with people her own age again. Not that she didn't appreciate everything Angel did for her, she very much did, and had seen and experienced more in the past few days than most do in a lifetime.

But she also missed, as much as she hated to admit it, just being herself.

Anna listened more and more exitedly to each part of the plan for the day. For the moment, she had to admit to herself that the Fun House seemed like the most...well...fun. Not realizing the monumental achievements that were the botanical gardens, and never having experienced the majestic beauty of earthrise, Anna thought as a kid again.....for the first time, she would realize years later, in a very long time...

And so she suggested that they'd go to the Fun House first, with ever so slightly more exitement in her facial expression than she had intended to display. After all, that thing sounded suspiciously like a bouncy castle, and that was for little kids.
But once she wast there, she looked around, and decided to just go for it. After all, it was a place MEANT to be jumped in...so jumping was not uncool.

At first she just bounced a little, but when she realized that her "bounce" here was similar to the most she had ever jumped on Earth, her eyes widened in surprise and exitement, and then made sure to jump as high as she possibly could.

She gave out a little scream as she seemed to soar towards the cealing of the dome, but couldn't help but giggle like a child half her age when she returned safely back down, dopamine levels of the scale, and Anna was unable to hide her exitement when she touched the ground again.

"This is awesome!", she couldn't help but exclaim as she looked at Angel with fire in her eyes, a bright fire that spoke of simpler pleasures than Anna had known in years.

What Anna didn't notice, was the people who looked at her, at first grinning widely at what they reasoned was the reaction of a girl who had never experienced this before. But then their faces changed into puzzled, even alarmed faces. There was something about Anna's pronunciation, and syntax, not to mention her accent, that was off in a way they couldn't explain.

The effect was rather like someone from the 20th century speaking fluent Elizabethan English in public as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

Anna didn't notice this at all, at the moment, however. She was too busy being exited about something she hadn't been exited about in years: Bouncing.

[Renton]

The Fun House's dome towered over everyone, and as Angel helped Anna into her straps before putting on her own she began to have some trepidation; moon gravity or not, they could go VERY high in here.

But then, they had a perfect safety record, and Angel realized she was just having some second-hand anxiety leftover from the incident with the airlock.

Anna's first bounce was aided by a pulley, but from there on out it was just momentum. The system was automated to prevent people from colliding, and then Angel jumped in and felt the thrill of being propelled upward, some 25 or 30 feet in the air, before floating back down at a pleasantly slow speed. It was like magic.

Angel didn't regard the people giving Anna curious glances; no doubt they found her speech odd, but they could deal.

When their time was finally up, Angel was winded and giddy and she could only imagine how Anna felt.

"So, that was fun, wasn't it?" she asked as they climbed out of their bungee gear. "Where to next? Personally, I'm famished."

[justmedk]

Anna was beside herself with exitement, and her adrenaline level was through the roof...though fortunately not literally. There were hardly words to describe the experience. She had never done a bungee jump, of course, since she was too young to be allowed to do that. But she had to believe that this was as close to it as she could otherwise come. And she was having a blast, not really noticing that time was passing.

The reinforced dome was also tinted, allowing the people inside the opportunity to gaze out at the literally millions upon millions of stars, while still being protected from the blinding light of the Sun, which was not dampened by any atmosphere.
It was perpetual starry night, to a degree not seen on Earth even on the brightest of nights.

When it was over, time seemed to have passed away before she had noticed it, and Anna was a little sad that it was over, but didn't say anything. She was having the time of her life.

"That sounds great!", she exclaimed, a little bit more exited about lunch than she normally would be, due to the effects of her rapidly declining adrenaline high.

When they arrived at their chosen place, Anna had almost forgotten what had happened the night before, and sat down at their table a little too quickly. It was only her incredible skills at keeping a straight face, and a good portion of luck, that kept her from yelping out loud and jumping up. As things stood, she did neither, but she did close her eyes shut and grip the table tightly as she recovered from the sudden impact.
She was nowhere near as sore as the night before, of course, and while the sting was still there, it wasn't as urgent or throbbing, meaning that she could sit relatively comfortably and eat her lunch. And the way the day was going, Anna was having a blast.

"This is awesome", she said to Angel. "What's next??"

[Renton]

Angel considered Anna's question. After the adrenaline high of this place, something calming would be good. "Let's go to the Lunar Botanical Gardens. They have some lovely sights there, and good food too."

A cab arrived as soon as they exited the Fun House, and Angel only had to say "the garden" before it took off. It weaved around the massive Luna facility, which really was essentially a building the size of a city. When they arrived at the garden they were greeted by a holographic receptionist. "Welcome to the Lunar Botanical Garden, Ms. Ocampo. Will you be taking a boat tour this afternoon?"

"Yes, but after lunch. What do you recommend?"

"Well, based on your taste in food I think you will love Cafe Mediterranean, on the second level. It has a variety of foods from Earth's numerous Mediterranean cuisines that you will be sure to enjoy!"

"Thank you," Angel said, before taking Anna's hand with a smile and heading in.

The gardens were vast in a way that always caught Angel off-guard. It was a biodome with a ceiling more than 300 feet high. An artificial sky, with moving "clouds" and artificial sunlight that was warming without any harmful UV rays, made it feel exactly like being outdoors, only there was no location outdoors in real life that was quite like this. Plants from all over the world were here, laid out depending on how they best grew with regards to climate. As they walked to the elevator to the second floor, it felt like walking through an actual woodland forest, then suddenly crossing into a Mediterranean garden. It would be easy to get lost here, but there were guides all over, both human and robot, ready to spring to anyone's aid. They stepped onto the elevator, which looked like a floating platform with no other mechanism attached to it. As they headed up, Angel spotted the artificial river, which wound like a snake through the entire facility. It had fish, too.

When they arrived at the cafe, a handsome waiter brought them a cold glass bottle of water and asked for their orders. "All vegetable and fish dishes are from ingredients sourced in this very garden," he said, proudly. "Meats are delivered fresh daily from the Lunar farm via hyperloop". Ah, yes, the Lunar farm. An experiment in which meat was grown from cow and pig cells, all without any actual animals on location . The technology had been around for centuries, but now it was refined to such a point that Lunar farmers could "grow" a t-bone steak that looked and tasted exactly like one cut from a cow. On Earth people still found the idea too odd to eat, but on Luna the demand for any sort of meat dishes meant there was a thriving local market. This information was on the menu, of course, for the purposes of full disclosure.

"I'll take gazpacho and greek salad for starters," Angel said, as she glanced over her menu at Anna.

[justmedk]

Anna followed along where Angel led her, very much content to stay close to her from now on. She had learned her lesson the day before, both from almost getting sucked into space, and from what had happened afterwards back at the hotel.
She didn't say much, but she smiled at the suggestion of Mediterranean food. She'd always loved the "exotic" foods more than "normal" Danish food. That was too fatty and bland for her taste. Mediterranean and Middle Eastern food, on the other hand, was her favorite.

She was awed when she walked into the Botanical Gardens and looked up. She could hardly believe what she was seeing.

"Are....are you sure aliens didn't build this?", she asked rhetorically. She remebered being told that First Contact hadn't happened yet, but what she was seeing defied belief. She had been amazed when she had visited New York with her family and looked up at the Empire State Building. But this? This was something else entirely. This was out-of-this-world. Well....literally, too.

Anna pretended to know what the waiter was talking about and what the significance of that farm he mentioned was,, even as she tried to take her eyes off him. He was just so hot, and though Anna thought she did a good job of hiding her "instant crush", she really didn't.

"I....I'll have...the greek salad and chicken?", she said. She'd always loved lasagna, and that was indeed on the menu here, but she figured she'd have more opportunities back on Earth for that. Right now, the most important thing was to appear as if she was more cautious of what she ate than she actually really was. She didn't want to look like a fat slob in front of this guy, who, while he was old, at least 20, was just so good-looking.

[Renton]

Angel tried to hide her amusement at Anna's immediate infatuation with the waiter; with his looks, she'd figured him for an actor if they'd been on Earth, most likely paying the bills between auditions by waiting tables. But on Luna, commuting a full day between the moon and Earth wasn't feasible for a working artist, so odds were he was just a regular but very good looking student at Luna University.

"He's a charmer," Angel said as the waiter took their orders and left them. Angel's last couple of relationships had been with women, but in general she didn't particularly care about gender when it came to potential partners. When Anton (that was the name on his tag) arrived with their orders, Angel was highly appreciative. The greek salad was fresh and perfect, and the gazpacho was rich and cool and lovely. "God, the computer was right. This is wonderful," Angel said, looking down over the incredible scene in front of them.

When they were finished, Angel felt a bit bad having to drag Anna away from the restaurant and the lovely Anton, but there were handsome guys aplenty in the galaxy and only one botanical garden on the moon. They headed for the river tour, and almost as soon as they reached the "river bank", a boat that fit two comfortably pulled up. "This will take us around the entire garden," Angel said, excitedly. "Also, it's completely safe here. The river has a safety mechanism, so that if someone falls in they are immediately lifted to shore. It's amusing, actually, as it's literally a robotic arm that plucks you out of the water."

They climbed into the boat and began their tour, Angel keeping an eye on Anna the whole time, invested now in showing her a good time after the stresses of yesterday.

[justmedk]

Anna hadn't known that Angel had noticed how she looked at the waiter, and now that she knew, she blushed crimson.

"He...he's alright", she said, trying to downplay her helpless crush on a man at least 20 years old, and not even fooling herself in doing so.
She was happy at the change of subject when the food arrived, and it really WAS delicious. She ate her meal happily, not remembering the last time she'd had a salad that actually tasted like anything else than almost-week-old-lettuce and some oily dressing. She was almost sad when it was all gone, but also quite full, and she was happy to move on, though she couldn't help glancing at Anton as she watched him work other tables, and then try to turn her head away from him in time for him not to notice he was being observed.
That attempt failed obviously at least a couple of times, and she turned red in the face like a tomato when that happened, leading to her trying even more to appear "casual" when she was anything but.

Anna followed Angel when she wanted to leave, reluctantly though it was. Anna knew that simply sitting in the restaurant wouldn't be much fun in the long run, and there was still enough child left in her to tell her that there was no way she was going to let one guy, cute though he undoubtedly was, overshadow the fact that she was ON THE MOON and had a million different things to see and do.
She got into the boat and couldn't help herself looking around in awe. The idea that humans built this small touch of Eden, on the moon, was truly mind-boggling to her.

"Is...is that a palm tree??", she asked, pointing to something that vaguely resembled a palm tree like she'd seen in American movies set in Florida or Los Angelesk but also looking very much different. It was MUCH taller, almost reaching the top of the dome, and its "crown" was wider than normal palm trees.