Free Complete Atopia Chronicles by Matthew Mather Page A

to get some juice.”
    Little Ricky let out a loud squeal as she left, wriggling in my arms. The overhead lights reflected brightly in his wet little eyes and moist little lips and he smiled a toothless, gummy grin at me.
    When we’d ordered the proxxid, it had come with some warnings, but I had a hard time seeing how an imaginary baby could be dangerous. We’d just try this one, and it certainly seemed to be doing Cindy a world of good.
    Adriana, my slingshot lead at Command, stood beside me and poked Little Ricky gently in the tummy, tickling him to generate more squeals and giggles.
    “Isn’t he just the sweetest little thing, Commander?”
    If I wasn’t married and holding my synthetic baby, I would have sworn she was flirting with me. I couldn’t resist.
    “He sure is, just like his daddy,” I replied with a smile.
    She was the one with the sensorgy artist boyfriend. To me, it all seemed like pornography, but to them, well, I was just old. She smiled at me, and then looked back down at Little Ricky.
    “Look at those bright blue eyes—you guys just have to make sure you get blue eyes when you have your kid, so beautiful...he’ll be a lady killer!” she exclaimed, winking at me, or so I thought. She tickled Little Ricky’s ribs again for more squeals. “What a happy boy!”
    I laughed. Was she referring to him or me?
    I bounced Little Ricky up and down a bit, basking in Adriana’s attention and thinking that this was what one did with babies. Perhaps it really was best to have a proxxid before attempting the real thing.
    Cindy returned and tapped me on the shoulder, taking a sidelong glance at Adriana.
    “I’ll take him back now, tiger,” said my wife.
    She nodded towards the door. Vince Indigo, the famous founder of the Phuture News Network, had just appeared. He’d been one of the people who’d gone out of their way to welcome us onto Atopia. He looked tired and stressed, but smiled at me as I looked his way.
    I gave him a small wave, and then cooed at Little Ricky one more time before handing him back to my wife. I walked over to grab a drink and say hello to Vince. It looked like he could use a drink as well.
    “Congrats Rick!” he exclaimed as I neared, reaching out to shake my hand.
    I motioned him over to the bar, taking his hand firmly. Again, I felt slightly foolish.
    “Thanks Vince. Oh, and thanks for those flowers the other day, Cindy really loved them.”
    “No problem at all.”
    We’d reached the bar.
    “So, what’ll it be?” I asked.
    Vince surveyed the bottles, but then shook his head. “Nothing for me, thanks.”
    That wasn’t like Vince.
    “You sure?” I asked as I dropped some ice cubes into a cut glass tumbler, topping it off with some whiskey.
    He shrugged.
    “I’m just kind of busy…” His voice trailed off and he stared at the floor.
    Definitely not the Vince I knew. I wondered what was up. Maybe he was trying his best not to offend me, thinking this whole thing was ridiculous.
    “This thing, it’s just a little game,” I laughed, shaking my head and looking towards my wife holding our simulated baby. “I’m just doing it to keep her happy, you know how it is.”
    At that, Vince’s attention seemed to suddenly sharpen.
    “No, no, absolutely this is the best thing,” replied Vince warmly, “you need to do this, it’s the way of the future!”
    He clapped me enthusiastically on the back. I snorted and took a sip of my drink, feeling less self-conscious.
    “I mean it, Rick, you should have as many proxxids as you can before going on to the real thing.”
    Vince seemed very genuine about it.
    “You really think so?” I asked.
    “I do my friend, I do.”
    He put his hand on my shoulder and squeezed it.
    “Listen, I have to get going, though. Sorry. Give Cindy a kiss for me, okay?”
    “I will.” I nodded, smiling.
    He hesitated. Something was wrong. He wanted to say something but couldn’t. He just needed to be somewhere else, and not some baby