THREE
Wind & Rain
The beer flowed down the edge of the glass mug, filling it from the bottom. The foam that formed was bluish-white, illuminated by the techno ambiance of the Faktor Bar. The yellow, effervescent liquid rose as deep and slow beats played, accompanied by ethereal voices characteristic of deep house. When it reached the brim, Victoria tilted the bottle to cut off the flow.
"Would you like anything else?" asked the friendly bot waiter at the bar, only visible through augmented reality glasses.
Augmented reality was a technology capable of adding virtual information to the physical world. These lenses displayed all sorts of images and videos, shopping menus, avatars, and interactive characters known as bots.
Digital advertising and the prevalence of video games driven by the social media conglomerate BitFace had made the use of such glasses as common as carrying translucent smartphones and tablets.
"We're good, thanks," Victoria replied.
"At your service," the bot responded before disappearing with a pixelated effect.
Victoria removed her augmented reality glasses. She slid the mug across the gleaming glass surface to Mauro, who was sitting across from her on a two-seater couch. Liliana was next to him, wearing a white jacket made of smooth, semi-shiny fabric, a black miniskirt, chrome boots, loose hair, and makeup that, due to her fair skin, made her look like a sweet mannequin.
"How's it going with the band?" Victoria asked, her face bathed in a soft light before taking a sip.
Liliana became animated as she clasped her hands between her crossed legs.
"We're touring the city's bars. We didn't expect Faktor Bar to accept us, you know, given the music genre and all, but they loved our latest single."
"How much time do you spend organizing and rehearsing?" Victoria asked.
"What takes us the most time is staying in touch with our followers." She delicately brushed the silver sparkles on her right eye to ensure they hadn't faded, then took a sip of beer. "How did your presentation turn out?" Liliana continued.
Victoria pointed at Mauro with a combined head and eyebrow movement to pass on the question. Liliana turned to him, expecting an answer, but he remained silent.
"What happened!" Liliana insisted, shaking his arm. Mauro maintained his silence while looking into her eyes, and she began to guess the answer. "They accepted you..." she said incredulously.
Mauro affirmed with a gentle nod.
She rejoiced and hugged him without hesitation.
Victoria looked away uncomfortably and took another sip.
"But all the credit goes to Victoria; she's the genius. Thank you so much," Mauro acknowledged.
"Don't believe him," Victoria objected with a wry smile.
"What do you have to do now?" Liliana asked.
"Work," Victoria replied.
"Excuse me," interrupted a voice. Liliana turned and saw a woman looking embarrassed for interrupting. "I'm sorry, are you Liliana Mayberry, right?"
"¿Yes?"
"I love your music," she said nervously. "Could I take a photo with you?"
"Of course." Liliana stood up, and the woman extended her translucent smartphone. They hugged, smiled at the camera, and the device snapped a burst of photos.
The woman thanked her and walked away to another table.
Then, Liliana noticed that a small group of fans had gathered, all wanting a photo as well.
"I'll be right back," she apologized.
"Don't worry; we'll be here waiting," Mauro replied. Liliana joined the group, and they headed towards the stage.
It was a medium-height square platform in the center of the room, visible from all the tables. Here, the band's keyboardist and drummer were finishing setting up a pair of synthesizers on a stand and an electronic drum kit.
The Faktor Bar was a minimalist lounge with deep house and chill-out music. The walls were illuminated by vertical lines of blue light placed side by side, as precise as if they had been copied by a computer. The bar, seats, and lights were all built with simple shapes, and the tables were glass cubes emitting a soft diffused light from within.
"Do you think you'll still have time for her?" Victoria asked, noticing how Mauro was watching Liliana from their table.
"Why?"
"I don't want to correct mistakes like the ones you already know about."
"You've already told me; I'll be more careful." He took a bite.
"Working for Mindsoft will be different; you can't afford mistakes like that. Remember, you're Hispanic, and I have Chinese ancestry. They won't hesitate to let us go to keep the project. Besides, she's getting busier. Can't you see that?"
"Do you think Liliana distracts me?"
"Doesn't she?"
"No, of course not."
"I'm not saying it's her intention, but you get distracted by her."
Mauro was about to respond, but he decided to raise the beer to his lips and take another sip.
"I just want you to take this seriously. This is the opportunity we've been searching for. If we do well, we might convince them to commercialize it."
"Do you think I can't work and be with her at the same time?"
"Do you really think you can?"
Mauro thought in silence for a moment, his gaze distant.
"I won't leave her," he admitted with seriousness.
"Well, I won't leave Mindsoft. Why do you think Shuzuda rejected us? They must already have something similar to what we're working on. They won't sit idle, and I don't think Avtomatika will either. Mauro, this time I won't be able to cover for you."
"I don't see why you should."
"I hope it stays that way."
Liliana returned, and they drank a bit more until the instruments and sound check were ready. Liliana rejoined her bandmates a few minutes before the performance started.
When the time came, the lights on the walls dimmed the room. Victoria and Mauro put on their polycarbonate glasses to access augmented reality.
The bottom face of a second square above the stage suddenly lit up, and, accompanied by the deep, electric rumble of the music's introduction, it illuminated the band. They were all dressed in white suits made of semi-shiny fabric and appeared to be surrounded by a holographic aura due to the overhead light.
Liliana was in the center, arms outstretched as artificial wind gently moved her hair. The keyboardist was to her left, and the drummer to her right, all surrounded by iridescent frost thanks to augmented reality. They received applause and cheers from their already-packed audience.
A distorted sound grew louder and louder until it burst into a deep melody that created a suspenseful, otherworldly atmosphere. Iridescent frost spread like a shockwave, and the residue began to wander across the stage, giving the show a cosmic travel effect. The crowd erupted in euphoric cheers.
Liliana clapped her hands to the beat of the claps that marked the tempo of the music. A flash emanated from her hands with each hit. The audience's applause synchronized with Liliana's rhythm, and then the beats kicked in.
She brought the wireless microphone she held in her hand—a kind of white hexagonal wand—closer to her mouth, and her voice emerged like a divine melody that seemed to traverse a sea of stars, accompanied by synthesized instruments. It was a delicate and ethereal song that contrasted with the rough tones of the keyboards. Her voice had the power to pull anyone out of reality and immerse them in a gentle, hypnotic trance.
The song's frequencies were imbued with a sense of freshness that, despite nostalgic lyrics, delivered a pleasant feeling of freedom, as if it were suddenly possible to fly at will.
Liliana sang surrounded by cosmic dust in augmented reality, like a fragile and sweet girl radiating her light like a beacon of purity. She paused during the pre-chorus. The drummer, possessed by the bass beats, combined a series of hits on various electronic pads, and, together with the keyboardist, entered the chorus with combined force. Liliana sang it with energy, jumping across the stage to one corner of the square. When she arrived, she bent down to feel a phrase and then returned diagonally as a shooting star traveled over her.
The music emphasized the song's main sound with a watery and celestial synthesizer, perfectly complemented by a fast-paced rhythm.
The atmosphere changed. The stars turned into slow-falling raindrops, and a piece of the city, including a bus stop, a street, and a traffic light, rose from the ground.
The song entered the musical bridge, creating a moment of calm. Liliana turned to the audience and, pointing to the sky, sang a verse. The drumbeat began to grow with fury, heralding a new climax. Liliana reconnected with the rhythm, and when she felt the intensity peak, she entered the chorus with full force, causing her hair to flutter. At the same time, the augmented reality environment lifted the band into the clouds.
Liliana moved, singing amidst the holographic nebulas, leaping and twirling, while connecting with a loop that was growing within the other sounds. The song reached the coda with a combination of beats and synthesizers, where the loop became deeper and more distorted with each repetition. Liliana spun and spun in the center of the stage, imagining herself on the edge of that enormous building. She opened her arms and created a harmless whirlwind in the virtual clouds that surrounded her.
When the sounds reached maximum distortion, the musical elements collided with a final strike, and Liliana stopped in synchrony, causing the clouds to dissolve around her. The frequencies seemed to disintegrate into the wind.
The crowd's euphoria erupted in applause and cheers.
Liliana pulled out a water bottle from a small suitcase she had left next to the drummer and took a sip before addressing her fans.
"Hello!" she greeted with a gentle shout, fixing her hair. The audience responded with excitement. "We are Ninsei, thank you so much for coming to see us," she said shyly as she returned the microphone to its stand.
The next song began, with a cheerful and serene rhythm. In augmented reality, several angled neon arches emerged from the floor and covered them with a tunnel-travel effect. Liliana grabbed the microphone with both hands without removing it from the stand and began singing the first verse. In the augmented reality environment, various musical notes, numbers, and symbols floated in the air, escaping the intense neon glow. After finishing the verse, the drummer emphasized hits on the main electronic pad, and the melody created tension. Liliana was supposed to enter with the second verse...
But she didn't.
Dizziness forced her to lean on the stand with one hand, and she had to bend down slightly to avoid losing her balance. The song continued, empty, waiting for her voice to return. Liliana pulled her hair back and noticed that the drummer was watching her without knowing why she was losing her concentration. Suddenly, she couldn't hear properly anymore. She struggled to catch the rhythm and forced herself to bring her lips back to the microphone. She began the second verse, but she entered it out of sync and had to gasp between the words. She felt her heart racing and her breathing becoming difficult. Then, her vision blurred. A shiver ran through her legs as the world started to spin around her. The arm holding the stand trembled and weakened...
And in front of the entire crowd...
Liliana collapsed onto the stage.
The microphone's impact on the floor and Liliana's fall filled the decibels. The music stopped abruptly, and the electronic remnants reverberated in the room until they faded out, drowned by the concerned commotion of the audience.
The lights came on. Liliana, motionless on the ground, saw her bandmates approaching to help her. She recognized Mauro making his way through them. She noticed him kneeling beside her, trying to look at her face while removing his translucent glasses.
Then, like an exhausted blink, Liliana's consciousness flickered out.
Comments ()