"Maybe you can convince your parents to take you to the holodeck." Yeah, right. She tried not to envy the kid. Summers when she was his age meant the blessing of more wild food to potentially gather from the encroaching foliage of parks and abandoned homes. It meant less need to stay in bulky clothing that protected you, but made movement slightly more difficult. But it also meant many of her hiding places underground became flooded with spring runoff mixed with some sort of toxic sludge which burned her nose just getting near it.

She found herself visibly shaking off the memory. Great. She was doing that again. She was looking...Well, obviously different.

"Or you can reserve time to go have a summer in there. Just ask the computer to schedule you."