The venue is packed with fans and shimmering with energy. All around them, holos stretch and warp across the crowd, advertising drinks, merch, or rippling arrows to show the way. His haptic suit shifts under his fingers as he pretends to adjust it, covering for the first-date awkwardness.
- Okay. Would you like to get lenses or drinks fixed first? We still have time before it starts.
- I’m not sure about the lenses.
- Why? It’s the band’s preferred filter.
- I prefer my own setup. Here, let me tune my preset to match.
Focusing her gaze, she cycles through recommended filters. Her pupils dilate, and the iris flickers in tiny pulses as the settings rotate until the band’s settings warp and settle into a warmer palette of the tour.
- Sure. Can we sync earbuds?
- I thought you would never ask.
She nods a confirmation at him, and a low purr sweeps through his earbuds, followed by a faint tickle as their feeds merge.
- I layered you over my stream.
- Thanks. I’m not a fan of shouting matches with the crowd or the music.
He adjusts his long, dark hair with his palm again.
- Is this a studied move to win my compassion by openly showing nervousness?
- Well, let’s just say I’m not very good at this kind of situations.
- Am I making you nervous? We have full date insurance. Bail anytime if the vibe tanks. We don’t need to do this.
- If the algo is so certain about us, it sets the date insurance, full refund, no score penalty… Well, what if it’s right? I don’t want to mess it up but maybe I’m just overthinking.
- Don’t worry. You won’t beat me at overthinking. That’s for sure. What would you like to drink?
She overemphasises the intent, initiating the order at the closest bar.
- I’m a simple man. Just a neurobrew martini.
- Neurobrew martini? Simple man? Please. That stuff’s brewed to tune focus to your dopamine curve, you’ll be grinning before we get to our sector. You know what? Let’s make it two.
He looks at her quizzically, and she points them towards the bar that accepted the order. She touches her collarbone, enveloped in the iridescent haptic suit, and speeds up her pace.
- Shoot. I can feel we’re running low on time. Can we enjoy drinks on the way to our sector?
- No probs… If you’re okay with me panicking about spilling stuff on you, we can even run.
- Point taken. Do you know this band?
- Not really but I believe it’s the algorithm’s way of level-setting the experience for us. I’ve only heard some of their songs inside games. I like their featured drink though.
- Let’s just go with it and see what happens.
The pickup zone outside the autonomous bar glitters with frost, dozens of drinks hovering in superchilled slots, tagged with floating nameplates. He smiles, spotting their order.
- You got us the spill cups?
She hands them the drinks for a toast.
- I’m not taking any chances. To the evening!
- To the evening!
The neurobrew martini looks stunning. Mesmerising chocolate brown whirlwind enclosed in a transparent cup. She takes a sip and nods in approval.
- Mhmm. This is good.
- There’s a reason it’s featured in that banger you can’t get out of your head.
- I’m pretty sure my cup is leaking. My drink is disappearing suspiciously quickly.
She nods towards their sector gate, projecting a countdown animation.
- The warm-up holoshow has already started. Shall we go?
- You’ve been warned.
They step over the floating projection into a corridor where animated posters lunge, wink, and play promo clips from past events. One more curtain projection passes them through. They enter the pitch and gasp at the holo show in full swing. Waves of air aromatised with citrus and cold metal wash over them, syncing with the bassline. They gasp at the suit’s shifting temperature map, instantly swept into the hypnotic rhythm.
The usual stadium’s role is unrecognisable behind all the holos, lights, and decorations, creating an out-of-this-world view. Millions of tiny reflections elevate the experience further, shimmering on the iridescent haptic suits of the moving crowd. Feeling their haptic suits shiver as the rhythm accelerates makes even simple walking no longer a trivial task.
- This is insane! Can you see if my head is still on top of my body? I feel like it has just exploded.
He turns around and looks through her excited eyes with a dead serious face.
- I’m sorry, it’s gone. It’s a shame as I was just sort of preparing to start to like it.
The surrounding crowd around them thickens as they walk deeper into their sector. The next wave pushes them closer. Music pulses through their bodies. Their hands touch for a moment, brief enough for him to freeze with an uneasy smile. She turns to him.
- You having fun, or what?
She hooks his arm and pulls him deeper into the crowd.
- Well, this is going to be an interesting one…
- Only if you’ve got better jokes. And hey, the audio sync was your idea.
They stumble forward laughing, bass thundering in their chests in perfect sync. For a moment, he can’t tell if it’s the music, the suit’s pulse, or her stitched into his feed that’s pulling him under.
Memories to build from this future:
Think back to your first experience of sharing synchronised sensory feeds through haptic wearable technology with someone else:
How did it feel when you realised your physical reactions were being mirrored in real time?
What new forms of empathy and understanding emerged when you could literally feel what others experienced?
How did this change your approach to remote collaboration and to what "presence" means in professional settings?
Try to recall your first time drinking "neural brew," beverages designed to optimise your brain chemistry for specific mental tasks.
Which cognitive improvement felt most natural, and which seemed unnervingly artificial?
What questions came to your mind when you realised how effectively it could alter your mood?
What competitive dynamics would emerge in your industry if some workers had access to cognitive enhancement while others didn't?
Think back to when your organisation launched its first "experience insurance" algorithm that could predict and compensate for failed experiences before customers became dissatisfied.
What operational restructuring was required to shift from reactive customer service to predictive intervention?
How did offering real-time compensation change customer expectations and behaviour during ongoing experiences?
What new pricing models and risk management frameworks would your industry need for predictive compensation systems?
Each memory from the future you build sharpens your strategic instincts for the decisions ahead.
Build enough memories.
Shape better futures.
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