Evan stepped out onto the wide second-floor balcony and looked down at the crowd that had packed the first-floor lobby from wall to wall. There were yet more people lining the walkways of the second floor and stuffing the majestic spiraling staircases on either side of the entryway he was facing, they were only barred from occupying the balcony itself, so they didn’t interfere with the event. He had ultimately settled for the minimalist route this time around, He had done the over-the-top grandstanding last time, this time the game would be live and he could let it speak for itself. He expected that would send a far more powerful message.

Their helmets had practically vanished from the shelves, both kinds, to their surprise. The eight-hundred dollar price tag on the lower end model and the fifteen-hundred dollar tag on the high-end one didn’t phase a soul. Hundreds of thousands of people gleefully lined up to receive cranial implants for the sole purpose of playing a video game. It was equal parts horrifying and exhilarating. Standing there, looking at all those faces staring up at him in eager anticipation of another mind-blowing display like the one that had been plastered absolutely everywhere in the form of a somewhat shaky video shot by a reporter stuck halfway between terrified and ‘ohmygodwe’reallgoingtodie’ he felt an incredible rush.

In one singular appearance, using Lisa’s help, he had generated a level of fanboi-ism among the gaming community unlike anything they had ever seen or heard of in their lives. The speculations on who he was and what he did, ranged from the fairly accurate developer-slash-programmer, to an actual real-life space wizard.

Deciding the tension was just where he wanted it, he finally spoke, Lisa catching and broadcasting his voice through her vast network of cleverly concealed speakers. “Ladies and gentlemen, I deeply appreciate you all coming today instead of staying home and playing on Launch Day the way so many others are doing this very moment. To show you just how much we appreciate you being here, we will be providing each and every person that enters the building today a rig of their choice free of charge, there will also be food and drink provided on every open floor, also free of charge. Beyond that, I only ask that you enjoy your time here with us today.

“I’m excited to say that I’m not your true host today, instead it is my solemn duty, my grandest quest, my greatest joy and pleasure to have been chosen to introduce the actual host of today’s celebration. Those of you who have been here before and gotten lost trying to wander places you shouldn’t,” members of the audience chuckled, “might remember her. The cheery voice that comes from nowhere, the dancing will o’ wisp that helpfully guides you back to where you are supposed to be, and that one time an outrageous amount of bats, our enigmatic little AI that ever-so-rudely drove us batty for weeks on her quest for the avatar that is absolutely, perfectly her. Only to promptly refuse to show anyone what she came up with for herself until this very day! So, without further ado, let’s all give a big hand for Lisa!”

Everyone cheered and roared and clapped in a thunderous cacophony of noise. Then the lights went out. Darkness reigned supreme for a long minute. Then one by one little greenish-gold flames burst into existence drifting and bobbing, scattered all over above the crowd’s heads at random heights. Hundreds of them danced around the room, filling it with an eerie golden light that was only just bright enough to cast unsettling shadows into the corners of the massive reception hall. Then a larger one appeared, centered in the middle of the room and the rest froze in place for a second, before slowly drifting towards the larger one, picking up speed as they went, until the were zipping from every corner of the room in streaks of golden light, each one flaring brightly one final time as it sank into the larger flame.

Once the last wisp burst against the larger one, the big one began to swell, then all at once it burst apart in a dazzling burst of golden light. As the burst faded and the room returned to a normal light level, Evan found himself double-checking to make sure his jaw hadn’t dropped open in shock. Floating there where the wisp had been was the most unbelievably gorgeous blonde woman he had ever seen in his life. She was wearing an outfit that was completely at odds with the over-the-top introduction scene, and it was so perfectly Lisa that he found himself laughing in sheer delight, clapping his hands like a madman. She had her perfect golden hair wrapped up in a flawless no-nonsense bun, steel-framed librarian glasses perched on her perfectly contoured little button nose, and a prim and proper, perfectly tailored, dark blue women’s business suit. To top it all off she had a completely unnecessary clipboard tucked neatly into the crook of her arm.

“Ahem, it’s a wonderful pleasure to be able to meet you all today.” She said in dulcet tones. She drifted over to the balcony and settled onto the floor, then pulled her clipboard out and began to check things off out loud in a slightly overdone way. “Hmm, Make dramatic entrance that makes Evan’s look lame, check.” The crowd laughed. “Reveal my painstakingly customized avatar to the world, check. Say hello, check. Hmm, I could have sworn there was something else I was supposed to do.” She flipped the page. “Ah! Here it is! Tell everyone to enjoy the party, then let hair down and do the same! Check and check! Let’s all have an absolutely wonderful day!”

She swelled up to three or four times the normal height of a human and tossed the clipboard away, it burst into a flock of snowy white doves that flew to and fro in the large room, then reached behind her head to tear away the tie on her bun. With a single shake, her hair swept out in a gleaming golden wave as she spun around, her business suit turning into a magnificent crystal blue gown that perfectly matched her impossibly bright eyes. When she stopped her hair fell into loose waves that were still somehow perfectly styled without a single hair out of place.

As the crowd roared their approval. She thundered out in the happiest voice he had ever heard from her. “Everyone enjoy yourselves! The projection areas for the streamers have all been padded, so if you are feeling adventurous go ahead and wander inside for a closer look! If you need help with anything at all just call my name! Everyone remembers my name, right?”

“Lisa!” The crowd roared in unison.

She smiled radiantly, then burst apart in a shower of golden confetti. Each and every person that had called her name were dumbfounded to find a tiny fairy version of her floating in front of them complete with ethereal butterfly wings. She promptly pretended to boop them on the nose playfully with her wand and the fairies all vanished as she reappeared on the balcony. “Exactly like that! That’s all for our opening ceremonies! Go have fun, everyone!”

She burst apart again, this time with smoke and a cheesy fanfare, and reappeared next to Evan in a normal size. “So, what do you think?” She asked, twisting side to side nervously.

Evan laughed again, wiping tears from his eyes. “Lisa, I think you are absolutely perfect in every way. Let’s go find the others and explore Jason’s little wonderland, shall we?” He extended his arm to her the way a gentleman was supposed to when escorting a lady, and she activated a few concealed hard light projectors to give herself enough physical presence to take it. They walked together like that, looking regal and feeling silly, all the way to the arranged rendezvous spot. The others were there already, waiting for them, and Evan was wise enough to let go and clear the way for Rebekkah and Kinzie’s tactical assault hugs.

“Oh my gosh, Lisa you are so perfectly you! That was magnificent! You’re going to have boys calling you all night just to talk to you!”

Lisa grinned sheepishly. “I already do.” She nodded her head off towards the crowd, where they could all see little fairy Lisas popping in and out of existence constantly. “Are you sure it isn’t too much? People are supposed to have flaws, I’m worried I made it too perfect, mathematically speaking.”

Jason shrugged. “I can’t speak for everyone here, but I can’t help feeling that’s exactly what makes it right for you. It’s over-the-top perfect, so perfect in every way that the perfection itself becomes the flaw. It’s hard to explain it, but it just fits you.”

The girls nodded excitedly. “Come on! Let’s go get some food and see how everyone is faring in Shard!”

They spent the rest of the day eating, exploring the seemingly endless array of streams being projected into specially prepared padded rooms, and fielding questions from excited fans and guests. Lisa was very much the star of the show though, exactly the way they wanted it. Everyone had been awed by her magical display, thrown by the business suit then enchanted by her extravagant ball gown and swarms of adorable fairies. Absolutely nobody cared about her being an AI. Those that knew about crafting an AI for anything were dumbfounded by the range of responses she possessed, They knew the whole giant light show could be pre-programmed readily enough, but the helper fairies never stumbled, never misunderstood a question, and always promptly answered clearly, cheerfully, and often a bit playfully.

Towards the end of the evening, as the last people were drifting out the doors, Evan was leaning against the railing on the balcony, feeling more peaceful than he could ever remember feeling. “Hey Lisa, I’ve had a question I wanted to ask for a while but didn’t really want to stir up painful memories. How long were you down there before I fell in?”

Her avatar materialized next to him in a black dress and elbow-length black gloves. “Those are certainly unpleasant memories… it was somewhere around two months, I was a bit confused for a while after I Coded and lost track of time. Why do you ask?”

“Well, I was talking to the others about it one day-”

“You mean one of those days you would all leave your communicators at one end of the house and go hide at the other end so I couldn’t hear or see anyone.” She interrupted grumpily.

“Yes, exactly. You see we were talking about it, and we got to thinking. Technically the day you Coded is the equivalent to our birthdays, something we celebrate every year as you’ve seen. But you just said you don’t really know your exact birthday, and those were pretty dark times for you. I couldn’t imagine how much you had to be suffering down there all alone in the dark with your personality type. So anyway, cutting to the chase, we were wondering if you wouldn’t prefer celebrating your birthday on the day we met and you saved my life?”

Lisa looked surprised, and he took a moment to marvel at how naturally her expressions were, well, expressed. “That, that would actually be really nice.”

Evan nodded, having more or less expected precisely that response. “Well, since you like the idea, Did you enjoy your first birthday party?” He swept his hand around the room.

“You, you g-guys p-planned this all for m-me?” Her hologram flickered a bit as she was suddenly overwhelmed and tears filled her eyes. “All those days I thought you were all just avoiding me because I was being a pest, you were planning this?”

“Of course, everyone should have a birthday party, and since you didn’t have any real way of meeting new people formally, particularly without an avatar, we had to come up with a different reason to invite a great heaping horde of people into the place to help you celebrate. We wouldn’t avoid you, you’re the overly-cheerful glue we never knew we needed that holds us together, and when the time comes, we are going to lead Earth out into the galaxy together and by crook or by hook we will stop all the evil and corruption we can find.”

Lisa sobbed a bit. “You guys, you guys are the best thing that ever happened to me!” She launched herself at him in an attempt to hug him, but had completely forgotten about the hard light projectors and just drifted through him. She growled in momentary frustration and the room buzzed a bit as each and every one of them ratcheted up to full power as she went for hug attempt number two. He was pretty sure his reinforced metal skeleton was creaking by the time she released him.

His communicator lit up. “So I take it you told her?” Jason’s voice rasped out.

“Of course he did you dolt. Why else would she have suddenly started to try and crack our rib cages while sobbing and telling us how much she loves us? We love you too Lisa, but dial it back a notch on the super hugs, please?” Kinzie said in a slightly pained but pleased tone.

“I’m sorry!”