Cassidy took an empty seat at a bistro table closest to the busy sidewalk. She draped the shoulder strap of her bag on the back of the chair, leaving the seat across from her empty. She preferred sitting outdoors when she was on the prowl. This way she increased the possible number of matches by including not only diners in the cafe but also passersby. She removed a book from her shoulder bag and opened it to a random page. She wasn’t there to read.
Cassidy opened the SoulSync app in her holospecs’ augmented reality interface. Colored plumbobs suddenly appeared over the heads of several diners and people walking by on the sidewalk. A few people looked in her direction once she’d opened the app, noticing the plumbob now hovering above her head. The color of her plumbob would appear different to each individual depending upon the strength of their compatibility. A vibrant green indicated the highest possible compatibility, and then it faded to yellow, orange, and finally red.
With a slight gesture of her finger, she selected the cafe’s welcome notification hovering unobtrusively in her field of vision. She opened a menu of options, including the food menu. She scrolled down to the beverage portion of the menu.
A waiter approached to take her order. His wavy light brown hair fell over his holospecs and reminded her of an Old English sheepdog. He filled her water glass. The sleeves of his form-fitted black button-up did not quite reach the ends of his wrists.
“Will you be expecting anyone?” the waiter asked. He didn’t have a plumbob over his head. He was wearing holospecs of course, just like everyone else, but not everyone was on SoulSync. The SoulSync community referred to non-users as NPCs, or non-playable characters. Perhaps the dating app was disallowed during working hours. Perhaps he was married, although that didn’t stop Kevin.
“Miss?”
“Oh, sorry. No, it’s just me. Can I just get a latte?” She quickly scrolled through the beverage menu. “Make that pistachio.”
“That’s my favorite. Anything else? The chef just put out fresh danishes.”
“Mmm . . . tempting.” She scrunched her nose. “I’ll just stick with the latte for now.”
“Of course.” The waiter started to turn but then spun back toward her. “I’m Nick by the way. Let me know if you need anything.”
“Cassidy.” Her face felt warm. She felt a little silly giving her name. He was supposed to give her his name—that was his job. What would he need with her name?
“Nice to meet you, Cassidy.” He tossed the wavy locks from his holospecs with a twitch of his head and smiled before turning to attend to a nearby table.
Cassidy exhaled and noticed the heart icon in the upper left corner of her field of vision was blinking more rapidly than usual. She pulled a ribbon of hair behind her ear and opened her book again. The number beside the heart rate icon gradually began to decrease. A notification blinked in her center of vision—SoulSync’s logo and the words: You have a message!
A slight hand gesture opened the message.
Hey.
It wasn’t the best opener, but a lot of first messages started this way. She opened the AR keyboard that projected onto the table and texted back: Hey yourself.
Are you expecting anyone or may I join you?
Cassidy looked up. A gentleman with a navy blue sweater and camel chinos waved inconspicuously from across the patio. His plumbob was pale green—within the acceptable range. It was blinking to indicate that he was the one she was texting with. He looked a little older, maybe by ten or fifteen years, and had a thick dark head of hair that matched a full, well-manicured beard. She suspected he had dyed them both. She zoomed in to get a better look at his left hand—no ring.
Be my guest.
The man took the cloth napkin from his lap and placed it on the table. He made a signing motion in the air to pay his check and walked over.
“Nice day out,” he said.
Cassidy smiled and nodded. “It is.”
“I’m Hal.”
“Cassidy.” She gave a weak smile. Up close she could smell his cologne. He looked down at her breasts. Cassidy averted her eyes so as not to make him feel uncomfortable or ashamed. Besides, it was no accident that she wore that blouse in the first place.
“So . . . do you live in the neighborhood?” Hal asked.
“I do. Just a couple blocks up 7th. You?”
“I live in Hamstead. I work over on Montgomery St.—in the Liberty Building.”
Cassidy nodded. She took a sip of her water as she discreetly scrolled through the data on his profile. He was a Quantitative Analyst, whatever that was. She assumed it had something to do with finance, which she had no background or interest in. Thirty-nine. Virgo. INTJ on the Meyers Briggs. 4.0 in Finance from UT.
“See any red flags?” Hal said with a smirk.
“You caught me!” Cassidy said.
“It’s cool. I was looking through your profile before I sent the message. Take your time, but I think the algorithm is pretty accurate. We’re a solid match.”
“It appears so,” Cassidy said. She found herself staring at the hair on the back of his hand.
The waiter approached and placed her latte on the table. “Will you be needing anything else?”
“No, thank you,” Cassidy said. Heat radiated from her neck to her cheeks. She had the irrational feeling that she was doing something wrong. She told Nick earlier that she wasn’t expecting anyone and yet, here sits Hal. Hairy hands, Hal from Hamstead.
Nick turned to Hal. “Anything for you, sir?”
“A glass of water, please.”
“Of course.”
“Actually, can you bring us some of those macaroons?” Hall looked at Cassidy. “Have you tried their macaroons? They’re excellent.”
Cassidy shook her head.
“I’ll have those right out,” Nick said and walked away.
Cassidy felt a pang of remorse—for what she wasn’t sure.
“You’re going to love these. The chef here is amazing.” He looked down at her breasts again.
“So what do you do for work?” Cassidy asked, snapping him out of his temporary trance.
“I’m an analyst at the Brookstone Group. We make financial products for risk management . . .”
Cassidy immediately tuned him out and spotted Nick leaning over the bar, talking to a cute red-headed bartender. The bartender did have a plumbob over her head. So they could be on SoulSync at work. Was Nick an NPC? The SoulSync community seemed to consider NPCs to be untrustworthy like they must have something to hide. Cassidy wondered what Nick must be hiding.
“ . . . I know. It sounds kind of boring,” Hal said with a chuckle. “But the pay is decent. What about you?”
“What?” Cassidy was staring at that redheaded slut bartender, who was now laughing at something Nick must have said. “I’m sorry. I need to use the ladies. Excuse me.” She got up and walked into the cafe to get within earshot of Nick’s conversation with the redhead, but by the time she arrived, Nick had walked back into the kitchen.
The bartender turned to Cassidy. “Can I get you anything?”
“Um . . . where’s the restroom?”
“Straight back through that hallway,” the bartender said pointing a wine key toward the kitchen.
“Thanks.” Cassidy didn’t move. “Hey, can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“Nick. Is he an NPC?”
“He’s totally an NPC. Why? Are you interested?” She smiled with an open mouth and leaned her tattooed forearms on the bar.
“I . . . uh, I was just curious, I guess. Everyone I know is on SoulSync.”
The bartender raised an eyebrow. “What color is my plumbob to you?”
Cassidy blushed. She was even cuter up close. “Green.”
“Why bother with the unknown when you have a sure thing staring at you?” Now the bartender was staring salaciously at her breasts. She wasn’t even trying to hide it.
A quick scan of her profile let Cassidy know that the bartender, Emily, was only into women. “So you weren’t flirting with Nick?”
Emily scoffed and shook her head. “No.”
“Is he seeing anyone?” Cassidy asked.
“Not that I’m aware of. Personally, I think you could do better.” Emily’s lips remained parted, her eyes scanning Cassidy’s body.
“Thanks.” Cassidy pulled her hair behind her ear. “Excuse me.” She headed toward the restroom when Nick emerged from the kitchen.
“Oh, hey. Cassidy, right?”
“Yes?”
“I was just about to come out there to let you know we’re all out of macaroons. We must have just run out. I’m sorry.”
“Oh, no, don’t worry about it.”
“We still have those danishes. I can bring you a couple, on the house.”
“No, it’s fine. Really.” Cassidy stood there much longer than she should have. She forgot where she was going.
“How is the latte?”
“What? Oh, good!” She nodded, then furrowed her brow. “Actually, I haven’t even tried it yet.”
He gave her a puzzled look.
“That man came over to talk to me and—” Cassidy looked out the window and saw Hal turned in his chair talking to a blonde woman at an adjacent table.
“Let me guess. You found a match on SoulSync.”
“Yeah. Are you not on it? I mean, you don’t have a plumbob.”
“Nope. I don’t do the apps. Takes the fun out of it.”
“What’s fun about wasting time with people you’re not actually compatible with?”
“How do you know the algorithm is correct? I mean, how long have you been on SoulSync?”
Cassidy pulled her head back, a bit flustered, mouth agape.
“How long?” Nick asked again.
“That doesn’t matter. Just because I’m not exclusive with anyone doesn’t mean I haven’t met a lot of really great people.”
“Like that guy?” Nick pointed at Hal, who was walking away with the blonde woman in a short skirt.
Cassidy crossed her arms. “It’s not like we were together.”
“But you were compatible.”
“Yeah.”
“If it weren’t for the algorithm saying so, what makes you think you were compatible?”
Cassidy was getting increasingly frustrated with Nick’s questions. “I don’t know, Nick. We didn’t have much of a chance to get to know one another. I’m sure after spending more time together we would have found more in common. At least I know he matches my criteria.”
“Your criteria?” Nick asked with a smirk.
“Yes. Everyone has criteria.”
Nick shrugged. “Okay.”
“So what’s your deal? Do you just go around blindly talking to people you know nothing about?”
“I’m talking to you.” Nick grinned.
“And you were talking to Emily, too. Did you know she’s a lesbian?”
“I did not know that. But I’m sure I would have found out sooner or later.”
“Why? Were you planning on asking her out?”
“I was considering it.”
“See? If you had SoulSync, you wouldn’t be wasting your time.”
“I don’t consider it a waste of time. I’m sure she’s still worth knowing.”
“But you would have saved yourself the embarrassment of getting turned down.”
“Well, thanks to you, I won’t have to make that mistake. Listen, I have to get back to work. Would you like to continue this convo another time? I’m off at four.”
Cassidy knew better than to waste her time with an NPC. Who knows what kind of maniac he could turn out to be? He was cute though. Was he even asking her on a date? It was a . . . a conversation. No. Her best friend went on a date with an NPC last fall and he turned out to be a Republican. Besides, it was still early in the day. She’d probably find another date for tonight—an algorithmically sound match.
“I better not. But thanks . . . for the latte.”
Cassidy paid and left the cafe, feeling a nagging sense of regret. As she strolled past several shops and eateries, her holospecs identified each business. They alerted her to any sales or specials they might be running: Bath Bombs—buy one get one free, 50-75% off all winter apparel, Focus Fitness—first month on us! She had nowhere to be and didn’t feel like going home. She wandered into a couple of shops, but she didn’t buy anything. She noticed a few people with green plumbobs above their heads but didn’t feel particularly interested in conversation, so she logged off the SoulSync app and the plumbobs disappeared.
She walked to the park near her building, which was always heavily trafficked on Saturdays, especially on a beautiful Spring day like today. An artist surrounded by canvases sat at an intersection of pathways with a stone fountain at its center. He spotted her from a distance as she approached the fountain and looked at her with such deep curiosity that it was impossible to ignore him.
“Would you like me to sketch you?” the artist asked as she walked by.
Cassidy placed a hand on her chest. “Me?”
“Yes. I’d like to sketch you. It’ll only take a few minutes.” He never stopped looking deep into her eyes, like he was tracking some activity no one else could see. Her holospecs had always provided a sense of protection or anonymity to a degree. But this man was looking right through them as if she weren’t wearing any at all.
Cassidy sat in the wooden folding chair across from him and he flipped to a blank page in his large sketch pad and placed it on the easel. And then he did something quite unorthodox, audacious. He removed his holospecs!
“What are you doing?” Cassidy asked with a jolt.
“I can’t see clearly with them,” he said. “Too much information gets in the way. I have to be able to see my subjects’ inner truth without all that clutter.”
Cassidy wasn’t sure how to respond, so she remained silent and watched him work even though she could not see what was on his side of the easel. She was careful not to look directly at his eyes. It was very unusual for anyone to expose their naked eyes in a public space, but he didn’t seem to have any shame about it. She thought perhaps he may have had some kind of mental illness. That was true for other artists, she recalled.
Others had stopped to watch the artist work. One woman covered her mouth as she gawked at the sketch. Her friend swatted her and they giggled and walked away. Another man stared with wide eyes. An elderly woman sneered and shook her head as she walked by. Cassidy’s face flushed and she felt exposed.
“What are they laughing at?” Cassidy asked. She wondered if he was drawing one of those silly caricatures that accentuated a person’s most prominent features. “Are you almost done?”
“Just about,” the artist said. “Just about.” He made some finishing marks and sat back to admire his work. He tore the page from the sketch pad and handed it to her.
“Oh my God! Oh my God!” Cassidy cried. “Why did you do this?”
“It’s you, the real you,” he said.
The sketch was a perfect rendition of her face—her naked face. Her naked eyes were hauntingly realistic and seemed somehow to be on the verge of tears. Although holospecs were somewhat transparent, there was no way he could have seen her eyes that closely—to render them so exactly.
“Why did you do this?” Cassidy asked again, softer.
“Because I tell the truth,” said the artist.
“This is not okay.” She rolled up the drawing and pointed the offensive tube it at him. “Not okay.”
He calmly gazed back at her without rebuttal or defense.
“I’m not paying for this,” she said and stormed off. It occurred to her to report him to the police, but she wasn’t that kind of person. She wasn’t certain it was technically a crime. Still, how brazen can someone be?
She walked across a footbridge and sat on a bench away from most of the parkgoers. When she was certain nobody was around, she unrolled the sketch and studied it. He was good. It was like looking in the mirror, except there were no tan lines. The painful truth behind her eyes stared back in a way that only she could have known. Besides medical professionals, no one had seen her naked eyes since she was in pre-school. Even when she made love, she kept her holospecs on. She felt violated, and in a way she hadn’t previously been prepared to acknowledge, she also felt seen.
Cassidy ran back to the spot where the artist was stationed. But he was gone.
“Cassidy?”
She turned.
“Nick?”
“What a coincidence! I got off a little early.”
“Hi.” The heart icon in the corner of her field of vision was blinking faster.
“Are you going somewhere?”
“I’m going . . .” She pointed with her thumb over her shoulder and then rolled her eyes. “I mean, no.”
“Are you alright? You seem a little . . . I don’t know, shaken up.”
“Yeah, no, I . . . this artist . . .” she pointed to where the artist had been stationed, now occupied by skateboarders. “He asked to draw me so I let him, but he drew me without my holospecs.”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah. And he wasn’t wearing any either. He said something about them getting in the way of seeing my inner truth or something.”
“Can I see it?”
“What? No! Of course not.”
“Why not? It’s just a drawing. It’s not like it’s a real picture.”
“I know, but . . . it’s very realistic—too realistic.”
“How could he see your eyes that closely?”
“I don’t know. That’s what’s freaking me out.”
Nick scratched his head. He looked up at the sky for a moment and then asked, “Can I walk with you?”
“I guess,” Cassidy replied nonchalantly. She reminded herself that he was an NPC and this was not a date.
They walked down one of the paths leading away from the fountain, toward a grassy lawn where a tall man was flying a giant geometric kite. A woman in a baseball cap played frisbee with a golden retriever. They walked in silence for a minute or two.
“What color are their plumbobs?” Nick finally asked.
“Oh, I turned it off a while ago. I have to admit, it can be kind of exhausting after a while.”
“I bet.”
“Sometimes I wish I wasn’t on there. You’re always comparing people and calculating their metrics. A lot of times they match on paper but there’s just no spark when you’re in person.”
“Do you ever feel a spark with someone you don’t match with? Or like, with an NPC?” He was grinning.
“Oh, aren’t you smooth,” Cassidy said smugly.
“Do you have some rule about dating NPCs? I mean, what’s the worst that could happen?”
“You could turn out to be a serial killer or a climate denier, I don’t know.”
“I’m neither. What else do you got?”
“Like anyone would admit to being a serial killer. SoulSync would flag antisocial tendencies through their analytics. You can’t just trust what people say.”
“Don’t you think it’s a little sad that we trust algorithms more than actual people?”
“Well, when you put it that way, I—”
“I mean, that artist guy, he saw you without any external data to tell him what you were about and he captured you perfectly, right?”
“That was creepy.”
“But why? I mean, sure maybe it was . . . unconventional, but why should it be creepy? Don’t you think it’s weird that we put ourselves, or at least a version of ourselves, on display for everyone to see, but the whole time we’re hiding behind these holospecs so no one can really see our real unfiltered selves? Don’t you ever want to just exist like a human being without the aid of some technology spoon-feeding your so-called reality?”
Cassidy’s heart rate icon was blinking rapidly and her knees felt weak. That technology he was disparaging had been curating her preferences since she was in grade school. She couldn’t remember making any decisions without it. She received a notification from SoulSync. Even though she wasn’t logged in, it was always running in the background.
Friendly Reminder: Spending too much time with NPCs is not recommended. Log in to find compatible singles near you!
She had always given the app, and the holotech operating system it was built for, the authority to guide her behavior, including what to eat, when to increase her water intake or activity level, what jobs to consider, what music to listen to and shows to watch, and even who to interact with.
“Maybe you’re right,” she said with words made scarcely more than air.
“Sometimes I just wish I lived in the old days before we were all tethered to the algorithm. When it wasn’t weird to look into someone’s naked eyes and feel a natural connection, without the interference of some AI telling me what it thinks I should want. It feels like we’re not even human anymore.”
“How would you know though? I mean, how do you know if you’re compatible if you don’t have any data to go on.” This wasn’t a challenge. She genuinely wanted to know.
“It’s not like you have no data. What about your feelings?”
“You know, even when the app says I’m a better match with certain people, I don’t always feel more attracted to them.”
“See? It isn’t always right.”
“And we’re just blindly going along with it,” Cassidy said.
“What if we tried it?”
“Tried what?”
“You know.” Surely he wasn’t suggesting what she thought he was suggesting.
“You’re crazy!” She pushed him.
“Maybe. But why not? Nobody’s looking. What if, on the count of three, we both take them off, just for like five seconds.”
“No! You’re insane.” Cassidy looked down the path in both directions. “What if someone sees?”
“Five seconds.”
“This is nuts!” Her heart pounded. She was rocking back and forth on her heels and wringing her sweaty hands.
“So you’ll do it?”
“I . . . oh my God. Fine. Hurry, before I lose my nerve.” She looked past him down the path checking for possible witnesses, and then behind her.
“Okay. Ready?” He reached his hand up to his device and she mirrored him.
Cassidy joined him as he began to count.
“One . . . Two . . .”
I always enjoy your stories so thoroughly, they are so well written, and really captivating
Great story!