He walks over and smiles at me. “Is there a problem?”
“No.” I shove the money back in the wallet and stuff it in my backpack. What kind of place doesn’t take cash? And how am I supposed to pay for this stuff? Aether didn’t give us credit cards, probably because there was no guarantee they’d work in the future. The way she looked at the money makes me wonder if the future has some new form of currency. “So, um, what do you take?”
The girl stares at me and the man frowns. I realize my question makes me look like a complete idiot, but what else can I do?
“We only accept fingerprint IDs with DNA scans,” she says slowly, like I’m stupid or something. She gestures to a smooth, black surface on the counter. “You place your hand here.”
“Oh. Right.”
“Don’t mind her. She just needs more coffee,” Adam says behind me, but they don’t look convinced.
I place my hand on the black surface. The fingerprints and DNA must link to a bank or something. Maybe that’s how Adam paid for the food earlier. Will my future self be charged for this? If so, I’m sure I’ll be understanding. After all, I’ll remember this moment. Although this seems dangerously close to connecting with my future self.
The surface under me flashes red, and I jerk my hand back. The woman frowns. “That’s odd.” She presses something on the other side of the counter, her eyebrows pinched together.
“What is it?” the salesman asks.
“There was some sort of error. I reset the scanner.” She glances up at me. “Sorry, could you try that again?”
I place my hand on the surface, and again it flashes red. Dread creeps through my gut.
“I’m sorry,” the girl says, her eyes wide. “But it says you’re not in the system.”
“What does that mean?” I ask, heart pounding. How can I not be in the system?
“I’m not sure. I’ve never seen this before. It could be a glitch or something.”
But somehow I know it’s not a glitch. It’s me.
Something is wrong with my future.
02:09
“The scanner seems to be working fine.” The salesman looks up at me, and I see suspicion in his eyes. The other customers are starting to stare.
“There must be something wrong with the software,” the girl says.
But the man isn’t convinced. I get the feeling he’ll call the cops any second now. If we aren’t in the system, he probably assumes we’re criminals or something. I have to save this, quick.
“That’s really strange.” I glance at Zoe, but she couldn’t buy anything at the fast food place either. “Adam, can you get these for us?”
“Sure.” Adam steps in front of me and places his hand on the counter. This time, no red flash. Instead it turns blue, and the salespeople stare at something behind the counter. They look at Adam, then back at their interface, then back at him.
“Dr. O’Neill!” the girl says. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t realize…You just look so young in person.”
The man is all smiles now. “I get it. This was a test, right?” He gives a little laugh. “You definitely had me convinced you didn’t know how the flexis worked!”
“Um, yeah.” Adam glances at me with wide eyes, but I don’t have an answer for him. All I can think of is the red flash and the woman’s words: not in the system.
“Please accept our apologies and let us know if you need anything else,” the salesman says. “This was completely our fault. Our system must be acting up, but we’ll have it checked out immediately. This is all free of charge for your trouble.”
“I’m so sorry,” the girl repeats. She shoves the boxes in a bag and hands it to Adam, like it’s an offering. “And…thank you. For everything. My grandmother…”
“That’s enough, Patricia,” the salesman says. Patricia bows her head.
“Um, no problem,” Adam says. “Thanks.”
We hurry out of there before they can realize something is wrong. Adam’s fingerprints must have connected to his future self’s profile. The salespeople treated him like he was a celebrity or something—and what was all that about the girl’s grandmother?