Whoa! So that was the Holographic Dinosaur Show? Dan and Ben had just stepped off the train onto the Heart Platform. The Colored Walkways branched off from the heart-shaped stage in its middle. Holographic dinosaurs stood on top of it, the skyscrapers hovering over them like vultures, and a group of children hustled toward them.
A boy stopped and attempted to throw his trash away in a Trash Can Robot, but it kept running from him.
Dan's hoverboard shook under his arm until he finally dropped it and shouted, "Dinosaurs!" It was almost a dream come true for him. He always wanted to see a real-live dinosaur, but the holographic ones would have to do since he didn't expect to time travel anytime soon.
Dan hurried up Heart's stairs onto the platform. He jumped when a giant foot almost crushed him and looked up.
The holographic Alamosaurus lowered its long neck and looked at him. It tilted its head and sniffed Dan.
"OMG! OMG! OMG!" Dan clapped and shuffled in between each of the dinosaur's legs. He wondered what dinosaurs had to do with the PPMC Project but was too excited to think straight. His smile, though, vanished when he had a sudden coughing fit.
Dan smacked one hand on his chest and covered his mouth. He dropped to his knees and coughed for one minute straight. It was so brutal that his eyes started to water, and mucus ended up in the palm of his gloved hand, alarming him slightly.
The Alamosaurus turned its body and put its head up to his.
Dan eventually caught his breath and glanced at it. "Don't worry, I'm okay. I'm just recovering from a cold." It wasn't uncommon for a cough to linger after one, but were fits normal?
The Alamosaurus still looked concerned.
Dan stood and faked a grin with all his white teeth. "You know, you're my second favorite prehistoric animal," he told the dinosaur. "If only you weren't a hologram."
Ben soon appeared at the base of the stairs and flicked his wrist. "It's time to go, Dan. We're running under a tight schedule."
"Aw, but, Dad—"
"There will be more dinosaurs where we're staying."
"Really?" Did the hotels have Holographic Dinosaur Shows, too? This PPMC must've been a bigger deal than Dan thought. "What's the PPMC, Dad?" he tried again as he and Ben approached the Purple Walkway.
Arrows on it pointed toward a gap in the skyscrapers, and there were also back arrows that headed for Heart.
Dan and Ben hopped onto the walkway, and Ben answered, "I already told you, Dan. It's a surprise birthday present."
"But I don't like space," Dan whined, taking his hoverscooter from him.
Ben lifted his brow. "What makes you think it has to do with space?"
"I heard it on the train—something about black holes, wormholes, and white holes. For some reason, people also seemed to know me."
Not surprisingly, Ben fell silent and studied his shoes. It was like he was a stranger to Dan. A minute passed before he sighed and stated, "Daniel—"
"OMG! It's Daniel Matton!" The new voice belonged to a girl about Dan's age. She and another girl—her friend, Dan assumed—came within reach of him and Ben, a yellow-orange fire blazing in their large, blueberry eyes like excited anime characters. They were pretty but didn't replace Dan's love for Molly.
The first girl clapped and shoved her tablet into his face. "We knew you'd come! You're the Dan Matton! Please! May I have your autograph?"
Dan leaned his hoverscooter on his leg and held up his hands. His mouth gaped, but no words escaped.
The girl's friend pushed her aside and showed him her own tablet. "Now, just wait a minute, Annika! I was the one who read up on the PPMC Project and PPMC Day, so I should get the autograph first."
"Oh yeah, Ruby?" Annika stamped her foot and shook her long brown curls. "I was the one who learned Dan is the lucky goat to travel through a wormhole. So I should get the autograph first!"
"Screw you, Annika!" Ruby's tablet floated out of her hands, and she clenched her fists. "I'm the only child, so that autograph is mine!"
"She's lying!" Annika got into Ruby's face. "I'm the only child! Trust me!"
"Shut up!" Dan felt like his head was about to explode. He noticed Ben had shuffled away from him and was now almost out of sight on the walkway.
Dan faced the girls and lowered his voice. "Look, I have no idea what you're talking about. What do you mean by I'm the lucky goat?"
"It's you, Dan!" Ruby plucked her tablet from the sky and started to scroll. She showed him an article on the Greenville News website. "You're the Star of the PPMC Project!"
The article jumped out of the tablet and hovered between Dan and the girls. A robotic voice announced, "This weekend, Downtown Greenville is celebrating the completion of the PPMC Project. Benjamin E. Matton, one of the scientists who helped build her, has agreed to send his son, Daniel Matton, into space to serve as PPMC's guinea pig. In a recent interview, Ben said Dan is the 'perfect' candidate for this historical breakthrough, and everybody at the Downtown Greenville Space Center agrees. PPMC is scheduled for blast-off on Saturday, August 5th, at 10 a.m. We hope you will join us in celebrating the Star of the PPMC Project."
What a pig! Ben tricked him. He tricked his own son! The AI confirmed that the PPMC Project did have to do with space. Not only that, but Ben wanted to get rid of Dan. Couldn't he have dumped him at an orphanage instead of blasting him into space? Was that really how much he hated him?
Truthfully, Dan hated him, too. Ben had never been a dad to him, unlike Becca, who showered him with motherly love daily.
He gritted his teeth and clenched his paling fist. "That jerk."
Still grinning, Ruby tossed her arms into the sky. She almost hit Annika. "Good luck, Dan! You're blasting off at 10 a.m. in two days!"
Dan threw his hand back. "I don't wanna talk about it anymore!" He thought about flying away on his hoverscooter, but his instincts pulled him toward Ben, who hid like a ship on the horizon. He wasn't getting off that easily. He had some explaining to do.
Dan saw a shift in the cityscape on his way to his dad. The walkway curved around Falls Park and headed for the city's edge, where the lake and... Crap! Dan remembered it now.
The Purple Walkway took people to the space center.
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