The following week, after several quiet days spent reading, walking and talking with her father and her friends, Xara remained obsessed with the young man from the burger bar.
It was not a romantic obsession, at least not in the usual sense. It was something more visceral, as though, in that fleeting instant, she had glimpsed a flaw in the code, a piece out of place within the perfect machinery of modern humanity.
Every afternoon, once her classes were over, she sat in her private study—a bright room surrounded by holographic shelves and data cubes—to connect to the Global Network and search for clues. She used advanced facial-recognition tools, adjusting the filters with surgical precision: skin slightly paler than usual, brown hair without a pronounced wave, almond-shaped eyes but less so than average, refined facial structure… Nothing. Hundreds of faces passed before her eyes, yet not one matched the vivid memory she carried within her.
But Xara was not someone who gave up. The very concept of “surrender” felt alien to her. She had never entirely understood it. Why stop trying when something is not impossible? What does it mean to surrender if one can simply keep trying?
At last, in the early hours of the fourth day, she found him.
She was reviewing images of campus social events—almost as a reflex, like someone hopelessly leafing through a book already read—when she spotted him in a group photograph from a second-year Climate Control celebration. There he was. The same young man. He was smiling naturally, surrounded by fellow students at what appeared to be a reception held to mark some academic achievement.
Xara spent several minutes gazing at the image. She did not know what she was seeking, but she knew she could not ignore whatever was driving her onwards.
The following morning dawned clear. It was Thursday, the day of optional in-person tuition. Although she was hardly fond of early starts—in fact, she possessed a natural talent for sleeping soundly until the very last minute—she rose early that morning.
She showered quickly, activated her nutrition capsule and selected an energising breakfast with the aroma of floraníes and the texture of moon nut, a combination that helped her concentrate. As she ate, she rehearsed her plan: she would attend only her first class, then skip the next two and visit the Faculty of Climate Control. That was where the mysterious young man studied.
She told her friends that she would not be having lunch with them that day.
As on every Thursday during the first part of the academic year, the day’s opening class concerned “The Great Change”. It was her favourite subject, and not merely because of its content: there was something spiritual in hearing how humanity had been transformed at its very roots.
—It was the first wave to alter humanity on a global scale —the professor’s recording was saying—. Since then, the transformation has continued gradually and cumulatively.
Xara followed the class with her senses divided between the lesson and the unease simmering beneath her skin.
—In ancient times, evolution was a slow, chaotic and random process. Some mutations helped a species adapt to its environment, while others disappeared or drove it to extinction when it proved incapable of adapting to changes in its surroundings. Today, we humans are the architects of our own evolution. Powerful nanogenetic processors allow us to optimise each new generation according to the needs of the planet and the collective consciousness.
The Faculty of Climate Control building had been designed as an ascending spiral. Its shape channelled air currents so that their behaviour could be studied and helped sustain small microclimates and internal weather systems.
Xara positioned herself at the top of the broad outdoor steps beside the main entrance, pretending to review content on her communicator. In truth, her attention was split between the doorway and the faces emerging through it one after another.
The wait dragged on. Scores of students passed by, some alone, others in groups, many of them laughing. But nothing.
Then, just as she was considering leaving, her patience was rewarded.
He was descending with two other young men, talking with a natural smile as though his face harboured no secrets. They walked slowly and at ease, apparently in no hurry to reach anywhere at all.
Xara recognised him immediately. That calm. That restrained energy.
When she saw them heading towards one of the entrances to the Tube, she did not hesitate. She followed discreetly, blending into the stream of other students. They descended to the subterranean level and boarded a magnetic-levitation capsule within one of the worms. Xara sat several rows away, concealed behind a partial-transparency field that afforded a degree of visual privacy.
After three stations, one of his companions said goodbye. At the next stop, the mysterious young man also stepped out of the capsule. Just as the doors were about to close, Xara made an instinctive decision: she leapt out. Her heart racing, she followed him.
The streets along which he walked were peaceful, adorned with bioluminescent vegetation whose stems bent in response to human presence. After roughly ten minutes, she saw him enter a spacious house surrounded by a garden arranged in intelligent floral patterns that reconfigured themselves according to the temperature of the day.
Xara committed the location to memory. “Now I know where you live,” she thought, caught between excitement and embarrassment. It was not like her to do such a thing, yet something within her seemed to justify it.
She decided to walk home. It was not far, and she needed time to process everything she had done.
During the journey, she surprised herself. She had skipped class and followed a stranger. She felt a mixture of excitement and determination unlike anything she had ever experienced. And she liked it. She felt… alive.
She had almost reached home when a voice stopped her in her tracks.
—Wait! Please, wait a moment!
Xara turned. The young man was there, a few metres away, approaching with a slight frown but no trace of aggression.
—I’m Alan —he said naturally—. This might sound strange, but… did you follow me from the university to my house a few minutes ago?
She froze. She had imagined this moment in a thousand different ways, but never with such disarming directness.
—Well… yes —she said after a moment’s hesitation—. I honestly don’t know why I did it. I don’t usually behave like this —she added with an awkward smile.
Alan studied her without losing his composure.
—And what is your name, mysterious girl?
—Xara. I’m sorry I didn’t introduce myself before. Pleased to meet you.
—Likewise. Although I must admit, I never imagined I possessed enough magnetism to make someone follow me in secret —he joked, with a smile that dispelled any remaining tension.
Xara did not know how to answer. She merely laughed, a little embarrassed.
—How about giving me your contact details so we can talk? We could meet this weekend and have a proper conversation.
She hesitated again. For a moment, she remembered the scene in the burger bar. That reaction, as impossible as it had been real. But her curiosity was stronger.
—Yes, of course —she said, sending him her contact details—. Saturday would be better. I already have plans on Friday.
—Perfect. I’ll think of a way to surprise you.
Alan said goodbye with a sincere smile and began walking away down the street. Xara remained where she was, watching him recede into the distance, her heart still beating rapidly.
When she arrived home, her father greeted her from the sitting room. He was seated beside a virtual recreation of his former pet, tenderly stroking the air. The floating sofa glowed in a soft shade of brown that matched the animal’s fur.
Xara returned his greeting with a quick smile and went straight upstairs to her room.
She had a name, an address, a date… and far too many questions.