Читать книгу Step into the Metaverse онлайн | страница 10

Terry knew she hated those adverts, so he reached out and grabbed the advert and then tossed it across the mall like a frisbee.

“Oh, look,” Terry added, changing the subject quickly. “D'Argento is having a sale. How about that necklace we saw last time?”

Laya started smiling again. She connected her holographic hand to Terry's digital hand, and together they strolled into D'Argento, an upmarket jewelry store for both the physical and digital jewelry lover.

The inside resembled a classic turn-of-the-century jewelry shop. The glass display cases of various shapes and sizes were full of beautifully crafted items of aesthetic pleasure. Above and besides the physical pieces, digital jewelry floated and glowed. Signs stating NFT certified and Unique Digital Items were proudly displayed in AR fashion.

Together, they perused the selection, eventually agreeing on the same necklace they'd flirted with a few times before. Terry paid this time, swiping the palm of his hand across the card machine. Once the payment was confirmed, the necklace appeared in Laya's digital inventory.

After she equipped the necklace, they stood there for a moment admiring their buy in a virtual mirror, giggling and whispering sweet nothings like they did when they were younger. In the midst of Terry telling Laya how beautiful she looked, a red flash appeared in the corner of Laya's vision—the word Ae on the screen. She had to take it. For a brief moment, Laya had forgotten about her age, about her job. “Yes, Ae? I asked not to be interrupted.”

“Ahh, duty never takes a day off, Prime Minister,” Ae quipped as she strolled into Laya's vision.

“And apparently you never listen to your programming.”

Ae narrowed her eyes at Laya but kept the conversation focused. The Cultural Protection Program had just landed a celebrity spokesman, pleasant news to Laya's ears, plus it was almost time to go to Mia's school for her show. Mia was Laya's 15-year-old and eldest child.

Laya thanked and dismissed Ae. She turned to her husband with a sad look in her eye. She was so grateful for Terry. Many other men wouldn't support a spouse with a job like this. But Terry, Terry got it. She wondered how she would've coped 20 years ago before the metaverse helped them steal days like this every now and then. Before we had virtual AI assistants to do the paperwork.