Alan groaned as the door rapped once again. At first, he’d been confused at the sound. His sleep had been muddled with odd nightmares: exploding suns, being eaten by bugs, and running for his life from his ex-girlfriend. His last dream had been a futile attempt to break out from his pod, his hand beating uselessly in an attempt to escape. Thump, thump, thump.

“Alan, may I speak with you.” A voice called through the door.

Alan struggled to sit up, as the almost irritatingly polite voice of Mrs. Dubai called from the other side. His whole body ached and protested any movement he made. When he finally did sit up, his clothes stuck to him uncomfortably. It seemed he’d sweat through his white shirt that night. He took a belabored breath, as he was deciding if he should grab a glass of water, go to the bathroom or answer the door first. All felt exhausting.

Thump, Thump, Thump.

There it was again. The ever persistent, but always polite Mrs. Dubai.

Licking his lips, Alan managed a “One minute” before finally deciding that he needed water first. After he downed a glass of water, he shuffled over to the front door, opening it to the anxiously awaiting Mrs. Dubai.

“Good morning dear.” Mrs. Dubai offered, and after taking a second look at him continued, “Oh my, you look exhausted, I hope I didn’t wake you.”

Alan had briefly checked the time, it was 8:00 am. Mrs. Dubai’s had a very clear idea of when a young man ought to be up and about.

“I had a rough day of work yesterday. Had to come home late” He tried to run his fingers through his hair, in a vain attempt to look a bit more presentable. He was keenly aware he was wearing a very wrinkled suit and pants. Looking back at her, Alan noticed that she seemed to be looking him over closely, especially at his face.

“Hmm….” She finally said, “Well you know what they say, early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.”

Alan tried not to roll his eyes.

“Anyway,” she continued, “A gentleman came over to my home yesterday, and tried to get into your place. He insisted that you’d requested movers and was setting up a time for them to come over this morning. Well, I told him that it couldn’t be the case. You would have informed me first, and if they tried to take your things, I would be calling the police.”

Alan could only stare blankly at her for a few moments. He was far too tired to be having this kind of conversation. In the back of his mind, he remembered something about having someone take his stuff to a storage unit...

“So?” She asked, as Alan continued to ponder the situation.

“Uh….” A few awkward moments more and his mental motor suddenly started to turn, finally catching up with the situation. “I’m Sorry Mrs. Dubai, I meant to tell you earlier, but I’ve recently needed to change a few of my living arrangements.”

She seemed to give a slight gasp. “Alan, I’m concerned for you dear. When I agreed to rent you this studio, it was because I’ve known you and your mother for years. You’ve always been such a responsible young man. But this last week you’ve changed. Vandalism, strange late-night visitors and I heard from your mother you dropped out of college?” She leaned in very close and almost whispered, “Do you have money problems, are you on drugs?”

Alan didn’t know whether to laugh, or be upset. If she hadn’t been so serious, he would have chosen the former. Instead, he took a deep breath, and channeled the patience he’d worked for in space. “I’m sorry to worry you Mrs. Dubai. I’m doing just fine. And no, I’m not taking any drugs.”

She looked at him skeptically, again paying particular attention to his eyes, not convinced.

His eyes must have looked bloodshot, since he hadn’t bothered to take out his colored contacts. He sighed. Mrs. Dubai had actually been his mother’s friend for years; it's why he’d been able to get the studio apartment. In his last life, she’d generally been rather sweet, bringing him cookies, inviting him for dinners, while he’d do odd jobs around the house. She’d been a widow for the last 10 years of her life. And Alan suspected she took an interest in others' life more out of loneliness than anything else.

Trying again he approached her more sincerely, “I’m really sorry Mrs. Dubai. I am sure things have been pretty strange lately. To be honest, I’ve been making a lot of changes for the better.” He gave her a brief explanation of his break up, and tried to explain how he’d been doing better financially because of ‘his new job’ at Cosmos. She didn’t seem convinced until he wrote her a literal check equivalent to 6 months of rent for the inconvenience of leaving so soon. “I promise I’m doing well.”

She looked at the check questioningly, but then seemed to make up her mind. “Hmmm...well I guess you might be doing better than I thought. But since you’ve paid me 6 months’ worth of rent, I’ll be sure to keep it ready if you stop by, even if the movers take your things.”

Alan was about to protest, the check was meant as a gift, but she turned on her heels and ended the conversation as abruptly as it started. All Alan could do was rub the tired from his eyes, and look to get ready for the day. While he showered and changed, his mind drifted to his past, last he heard she’d been relocated to a small housing unit in a refugee complex. A punitive and meager life. It was both away from the garden she so tenderly cared for, and far from the home she had lived in with her spouse since being married. It must have been torture.

Refreshed and now fully awake, Alan had some time to reflect on weeks past events and his next steps. Though inconvenient, unexpected death gave him a little time to reflect on his current plans. With his plans for manufacturing energy, building capital, and supporting his family he recognized one very potential flaw. His situation was going to become more and more dangerous, and he needed more allies. He’d been relatively lucky going to the wastes and only having to fight a few times. Honestly, he’d been pretty foolish to do it on his own.

He reached out to his phone. There were a number of un-responded texts and missed phone calls. Selecting one of the numbers, he hit ‘call.’

Bzzt. Bzzt.

“Alan you dog, I haven’t heard from you in over a week!”

“Hey Nick, long time. Sorry, I’ve been busy.”

“I’d say, I just heard that you ended it with Denise. I can’t believe you broke it off with her man!”

“Yeah, it’s been crazy.”

“Well, I need to know all about it! What are you doing for lunch? Don’t answer that. Lunch is on me and Adrian, we’ve got to celebrate!”

***

“Alan over here.” Nick bellowed; he was sitting in a booth at Hank’s Burgers.

The diner was a local favorite of the high school crowd. The theme was the 1950's. Though it’s hard to call it a theme since it had opened around that time. An antique jukebox sat in the corner playing a song from Elvis Presley. Pictures of hot rods hung from the walls along with antique vinyl records. There was even a glass case with an old guitar signed by Buddy Holly. Even the servers wore uniforms of the era.

Nick stood up from their traditional booth to greet his friend. Nearly six and a half feet tall, he wore an imposing flaxen beard and ponytail, which he’d been growing since starting high school. If it wasn’t for the green shirt sporting the classic video game Zelda pasted on its front, you'd have mistaken him for a Norse Viking. Nick took Alan in a grand bear hug, nearly crushing him. Alan squeezed back. It was literally like hugging a long-lost brother.

As they sat Nick started in his gruff voice, “Adrian’s just in the restroom. Had to wash up first.” He grinned at Alan knowingly.

Alan grinned back. The two were nearly inseparable. The only difference between them was their level of cleanliness. Thinking back, he’d known both since junior high, where they all had been in the same history class together. Their teacher had given them a group project and from that time forward they had been fast friends. That was until he started going out with Denise. His now ex-girlfriend had preferred Alan spend his time with her social group. Spending less and less time with his friends.

A moment later a young latino, clean shaven with short dark hair and a handsome complexion walked from the restroom. Alan stood up and gave him a big hug. “Adrian, it’s good to see you!”

“Hey brother, long time no see.” He spoke calmly, without the bravado of the other but with the same intensity.

Alan smiled at them both, “It’s been too long” his voice catching at the sight of his friends.

“Are you doing all right?” Adrian commented, noticing his friend’s reaction

“Yeah, it’s just good to see you both again.” Alan tried to quickly recover his feelings. He took some quiet, deep breaths to calm himself. He couldn’t afford to tear up and alarm his friends. Also, his color-contacts couldn’t take it.

“Well it's been a few weeks, but I’m glad to see you too.” Nick chimed in.

They all ordered. Nick insisted that Adrian and he pay for lunch, claiming it was the reward for Alan finally breaking up with that “Medusa” and overcoming the she-devil’s curse. Adrian nodded in agreement.

When the food came, he tore into his cheeseburger with bacon like it was manna from heaven. Between bites, Alan recounted his breakup and a few of the subsequent encounters. Though, he did the Cosmos-related details out of it. Like how her car had conveniently stopped working outside his house.

“Dang Alan! I can’t believe she actually showed up to your house to chew you out!” Nick laughed. “I would have paid money to have seen her face.”

“It seems she really has it out for you.” Adrian chimed in with a smile. “I’m just glad you caught onto her little tricks. We’ve been trying to tell you for years, you know? But I’m glad you finally saw through her. Do you think she will come after you again?”

“Maybe, it all depends on her, and whether or not she can let it go.” Alan sighed.

“So, the monster will definitely be back.” Nick winked. “Next time you think she’s going to show up, just make sure to have us there.”

Adrian added with dry humor, “We wouldn’t want to see you turned to stone.”

They all laughed.

Finishing their meals, they all sat back contentedly. Their food hadn’t even had time to start digesting, when Nick spoke up.

“All right, your girl problems aside, Adrian and I have something important to tell you.” He looked at Alan meaningfully. “You know how we talked about Cosmos a few weeks ago?” Alan nodded trying to recall, but before he could say more Nick continued passionately. “Have you recently heard how amazing it is!? There are rumors on the web that the items you can take out of it are 100% real. I saw this video of a guy using his matter ring and totally making an entire car disappear!”

Adrian chimed in, “Yeah....if you believe it wasn’t edited to look that way.”

“Come on man, it looks way too good to be CGI!” Nick countered, “What about all the genetic modification stuff?”

“Professional makeup.” Adrian offered flatly.

“Ok, so what about all the rumors about people being able to trade platinum for gold!” Nick became more heated.

“I don’t buy it. Besides, there have only been a few reports. Besides, have you heard the reports about people trading all their gold for ‘virtual credits’ ? It sounds like Cosmos knows how to make a profit, even if it has to do a few trades for publicity. Don’t you think it is a little suspicious that even if you could trade it now, you couldn’t bring any gold back here?” Adrian's calm continued despite Nick’s passionate arguments.

“Come on man, you know there is something there! Why else did you agree to sign up to go with me!” Nick nearly shouted.

At the comment Alan couldn’t hold back any longer, “Wait, you guys signed up for Cosmos?”

“Yeah,” Nick answered. “We were going to tell you, but you haven’t responded to any of our texts or calls.

“That, and we felt bad, since we know you’ve got to pay for school, rent...you know.” Adrian offered. “It's pretty expensive, and we didn’t want you to feel left out.”

Alan suddenly recalled his past. His friends had, at one point, asked if he’d wanted to try out Cosmos with them, but he hadn’t had the money. In fact he’d been just as skeptical as Adrian when Cosmos opened up.

“No worries, I’ve been pretty busy.” He dismissed their concerns and asked excitedly. “When are you guys going?”

Nick grinned at Adrian in triumph and turned to Alan. “Tomorrow! Can you believe it! We signed up a few days ago.”

Alan didn’t hold back, “That's great guys!”

“Yeah, we’ve been scouring the internet reading up on all the genetic modifications, knowledge downloads, planets people have been too, and how to get credits. It's tough to find good information since it's a pretty new game, and there have been only a few posts online.” Nick held up his phone to a recent blog, “One of the best is this blogger, TravelsInWonderland. She seems to have one of the better starting guides. She has a lot of info on a few of the worlds and really knows her stuff about setting up your character.”

Alan took the phone and started reading. Adrian followed up, “I didn’t think you’d be so excited for us. Last time we talked; you were pretty skeptical of the whole Cosmos thing.”

It took Alan a moment to respond as he was scanning the Character Guide written by

TravelsInWonderland. A lot of the insights she was writing were really advanced. If he’d seen this guide in his last life, he might have made some big changes around his character creation. Funny thing was, he’d never even heard of this blogger before in his past life…

“Hey Alan” His trail of thought was cut off by Adrian.

“Huh? Oh yeah sorry. What was that?” Alan’s mind returned back to the conversation.

“I was just saying, it seems like you’ve had a change of heart. How come?” Adrian persisted.

Without too much thought he responded, “I signed up on opening day and been going there every day since. It’s why I’ve been so busy this last week.”

Both Nick and Adrian’s mouths dropped.

Alan felt a little awkward at their obvious surprise. The silence was broken however, by the ringing of his cell phone. Recognizing the caller, Alan quickly answered it. “Hey Shelley, it’s good to hear from you, I was just going to call you so we could set up a time to meet…”

Both Nick and Adrian didn’t have to say anything. But looked at each other with knowing glances, grinning wildly.

Alan noticed their glances. He could only imagine what his friends were thinking. Where did our cautious, strait-laced, responsible friend go? Who was this Shelley that Alan was clearly excited to talk to? Nick and Adrian were obviously excited. And curious. They were trying to listen into the conversation. Alan walked quickly, stepping outside to finish his talk with Shelley.