The boardwalk is a busy and loud place. There are all sorts of food stands, novelty kiosks, and other attractions run by people hoping to make money off of tourists, and maybe even off of locals. The people themselves are, thankfully, dressed much like myself.
I am wearing jeans and a simple, undecorated shirt. I glance down at myself and note that my clothes are completely unchanged, but I can faintly sense that that rule only applies to my clothes. Franky, it's a bit surprising that my clothes appear undamaged given the devastating crash I was in. That's got to have been something the stranger did for me, as a bit of an unspoken bonus.
I already know I can fly, somehow I doubt that that's the only thing I can do. A part of me can tell, intuitively, that there must be more I can do but I know better than to operate under that assumption. If I decide to assume that it's true that I can do more than fly and I'm wrong I could easily get into trouble I can't get out of. I refocus on the matter at hand and walk like I know where I'm going as I attempt to gather information.
Some things stand out to me right away. The weather conditions here can best be described as "Temperate", but I can still see people in swimsuits and bikinis. Curiously none of them go onto the beach, but also none of the people here seem to pay me any mind even though I came from the beach… Hell, I didn't even hide that I came from the beach, not that I could have if I had wanted to.
I wander a bit aimlessly, still doing my best to inject purpose into my stride, but I don't really seem to need to. No one here is perturbed by my presence, and everyone really seems into the activities they are doing. I eventually wander far enough along the boardwalk that I can see a distant pier. At the sight of it I lightly smile and now have an actual purpose.
Reaching the edge of the pier takes me about ten minutes and during that time I don't stop walking. The pier is covered with people, and this portion of the beach even has people on it who are frolicking and playing on the sandy shoreline and in the water. No one goes out terribly far, but it's nice to see people on the water.
I walk onto the pier and look at the various rides, kiosks, and booths that decorate it. It stretches out for some distance and eventually ends with a massive restaurant where many people sit by the sea and eat dishes that I am pleased to see I can recognize such as hamburgers and hotdogs. This is a pleasant sign that means that wherever I am there are at least some commonalities between my homeland and this place.
I step past some booths containing the same games I'd expect to see at a county fair in Montana, my home state. A lady spots me and shouts for me to come on down and play a round of her game, and I glance in her direction and politely shake my head. She is behind a counter just inside one of the larger booths. Beside her rest some water guns and a number of small, self-contained shooting ranges.
I proceed past the lady, who quietly accepts my rejection and doesn't make a big deal about it. I appreciate that. I am studying the various attractions and looking for somebody I think I can safely approach, and I am annoyed to find that if anybody here is working security they are doing so in a plainclothes way.
I eventually approach a ride operator, a young woman with raven-colored hair who is studying a console that is tied to some pirate ship ride. I reach the front of the line, an easy feat since no one else is in line waiting for the ride, and call out to her. My words rouse her from her work and she turns to face me curiously. I notice a pair of strange, but cute, cat ears on her head and to my surprise they flex and twitch as she studies me.
"Hey, I'm really sorry to interrupt you but I… I need help. I just woke up on the boardwalk some distance from here and I don't have any memories. Like none at all. I need to try and figure out who I am but I don't know how." I tell her. I reach into my pockets and pull them out of my pants to show her I have nothing in them and her eyes widen.
"Oh, shit that sucks. Uhh I'll… I'll call security and see if they can figure out a way to get you some help!" She says before she reaches behind her and grabs a cell phone. I watch her fiddle with it and tap some keys before she holds it to her face.
"Hey, so I've got someone over here who is suffering from amnesia. I'm in the middle of my shift, can you send some security officer over here or can I send him over to the security office?" She asks. She nods and smiles when a voice on the other line tells her to send me to their office. She looks up at me and points towards the restaurant, which makes me nod at her and begin to walk towards it. I hear her thank whoever she was speaking to, and tell them she's sent me on my way.
The restaurant is only a two-minute walk away, and when I reach it I see a pair of men in uniforms that mark them as security officers step out of a side door and look around. When they see me they smile and beckon me over.
"Hey there. Are you the amnesiac?" One of them, a tall white man wearing shades, asks. I chuckle a bit at my own lie, and nod.
"That's… that's me. I wish I could introduce myself, but I don't know my name." I reply, and the man's eyes fill with a touch of sadness.
"Hey buddy, that's fine. We're just happy to see to your safety and swift recovery." He says, before welcoming me into the building. We enter a small reception room where a brunette dressed in a simple and professional outfit and seated behind a desk nods at the men and then smiles at me. I can see a strange device in the middle of it: a circular pad a few feet wide on the floor that quietly hums with energy. I instinctively sense that the machine is some sort of teleporter but the sense that this information is derived from is completely alien to me.
I can also faintly feel something else occurring in the back of my mind. The longer I stare at the tech the more I understand it, and the more I can picture how to make something like it using simple cogs and clocks, which is completely bizarre. Also, I am not the smartest man in the world but I know that teleporters are the sort of stuff that is out of a science fiction book, not things that meaningfully exist. I must be wrong about the machine, but a part of me intuitively senses that I am not, despite my disbelief.
"Oh, do you like the teleporter?" The other guard asks. He is an equally tall black man dressed in a finely pressed uniform. He doesn't have shades on.
"It's the newest model. Mayor Electronica paid for all of the private security people to have them and to sync them up to the police station and city hall." The guard tells me. The receptionist waits until the man is finished speaking before she speaks up.
"If that man is an amnesiac then he's one from out of town. None of the city's cameras have ever picked him up before. I already called the police and they told me to have him sent to city hall to set him up and wait to see if his memories recover. We've been given special permission to teleport him to city hall given the day it is." She explains. She flashes me an apologetic smile and I grin nervously at her.
The men beside me nod and I watch one of them pull out his phone and tap into it. The device on the floor begins to glow, the strange circle turning from blue to a vibrant green. I look at the men and decide to ask a simple question.
"What day is it?" I ask, genuinely unaware. The men chuckle audibly and the white man replies to me with a simple declaration.
"It's Guide Day." He explains, and I wonder what he means before he urges me to follow him as he steps forward and onto the device. He vanishes the second he sets foot on the circle, and I quickly follow after him.
I instantly go from standing in the middle of the reception room to standing on the edge of a large entrance hall. Before I can process the astounding implications of the machine I have just used the man tells me to follow him and I do so quickly.
We spend a minute passing through a series of machines that I realize quickly are metal detectors but have nothing but my belt to detect so I can pass through them with ease. And then we walk over to a solitary door and the man opens it up for me. As I am about to enter he stops me for a second and begins to speak.
"So you're going to be given an orientation into the basic rules of Vaporwave City. I will go ahead and do you a kindness here and give you a head's up: if you are lying about having amnesia, that's okay." The man says, and then he pauses and waits to see how I react. I look at him in confusion and he sighs before continuing.
"Vaporwave City is a… metropolis for those in need of a second chance. Today is the 83rd anniversary of our founding, and our founders were all sent here by a mysterious being that we've taken to calling 'The Guide'. He is a strange trickster being who will, on this particular day of the year, shunt people from all over the multiverse to the city." The guard explains, and I don't let my surprise at this show on my face.
"Because of that, our city has a robust infrastructure in place to support newcomers and we accept all sorts. The presentation you are about to see will explain all of this and more, and then you will be asked to fill out your information and make choices regarding your temporary housing accommodations. Once you do that you can find and take a bus to whatever housing you've chosen." The man tells me, before opening the door and revealing a stark white, completely empty room. I step into it and listen as the man shuts the door behind me. I watch a chair materialize in the middle of the room.
The floor beneath me shifts and turns black other than spaces that remain the same strange stark white color that are purposefully patterned to make an illusion in the shape of arrows. The arrows point towards the chair and I follow them and sit in the chair when I reach it. The moment I do the entire room turns black other than the wall in front of me which is some sort of projector wall as it suddenly begins to show me a home movie depicting the city before it became a city, back when it was uninhabited and covered in vividly colored grass and trees.
"Welcome to your new home! This is Vaporwave City before we felt the industrious touch of humanoid life. Less than a century ago this place was completely untouched by sapient lifeforms. Nowadays we produce the most pivotal technology for the Democratic Republic of Hildegarde." The presentation begins, being narrated by a gentle and calm male voice and I am suddenly hit by the realization that I am no longer on Earth. I know for sure there is no country called "The Democratic Republic of Hildegard", at least not on Earth.
"You have arrived on a significant day of the calendar year. Today marks the 83rd anniversary of our founding, in the wake of a group of humans and elves being sent here from a world named Avalon. They were sent here by a kind-hearted and mischievous stranger that they and many other alien arrivals have dubbed 'The Guide'. This mysterious being has consistently sent newcomers here from all over the multiverse on this day in the calendar year, every year since our founding." The presentation continues.
"We recognize that you may have been distressed when you first arrived. The purpose of this presentation is to help you relax." The voice tells me, even as the video on the wall begins to change. I watch as the nature-filled area projected onto the wall begins to change, trees are cut down, homes are erected, and the area becomes first a small village, then a more bustling town, and finally a city.
"Many newcomers who are quick-witted attempt to feign conditions which might explain why they have limited, if any, knowledge about their situation. Amnesia is a common explanation. We do not hold this against newcomers, as we recognize how frightening this situation can be to those who were not told the proper background before arriving here, so no one will question you regarding whether or not you have amnesia." The voice narrating the presentation says, causing me to facepalm. That… that explains a lot. I feel a wave of embarrassment wash over me but as I am about to sigh in annoyance the video suddenly shifts and shows a man and a woman. The woman is floating in mid-air, and the man's hands are outstretched in the direction of a small car. The car begins to move, seemingly of its own volition, and I feel myself visibly pale when I see this.
"Some newcomers arrive in the city and discover that they have superpowers! These individuals are extremely rare, but usually, we'll get one or two every 'Guide Day' as some citizens have taken to calling this. We normally get somewhere between one hundred and one thousand newcomers every 'Guide Day' though we've had days where we get more and days where we get less." The voice says, droning on in a fairly monotonous voice.
"Additionally, members of powered species have arrived in Vaporwave City of their recognizance before. Such individuals, such as dragons and elves are encouraged to identify themselves in a range of ways so that non-powered individuals do not make potentially fatal mistakes." The presentation states, even as the video changes what it is showing again and presents a close shot of a man whose face is covered in brilliant ruby-colored scales.
"In the minutes to come you will be asked to fill out various forms. These forms will allow you to learn of the possibilities before you as a resident of Vaporwave City, and will also allow you to get outfitted with various basic goods such as a cellphone and an I.D., as well as a stipend card that will allow you to get groceries and two meals a day for your first month in the city." The voice explains.
As I hear this I relax. It seems that, assuming this presentation is accurate, I'm out of any serious danger.
Still, it's bizarre to me that the Guide, which I assume must be who sent me here, has sent so many people to the same place. I wonder if he can only send people to this specific area for some reason? The presentation then shows some people working at various jobs before the voice begins to speak again.
"In exchange for our generous welcome package we ask that people sign up for a job. Numerous different companies have floating positions wherein they welcome newcomers, and in exchange for working with newcomers, the companies get minor benefits such as tax breaks and discounts on rental costs. Each of these companies agrees to cover the cost of your housing in exchange for your labor, though they also pay you a regular salary as well. We'd found that getting newcomers employed fast helps with the transition, and that remains true even when people are actually suffering from amnesia." The voice explains as I watch a montage of different people working in a range of professions.
Some of the careers make sense to trust to newcomers, like being a janitor or a receptionist. Others are decidedly less logical, like being a police officer or being a law clerk.
I am watching the video when I hear the wall to my left open and a small machine in the shape of a child, or perhaps a fantastical if short race, approaches me. It places a stack of papers and a pen in my lap and immediately turns and leaves. When it slips past the wall the wall closes behind it.
I look at the papers, making use of the faint illumination provided by the projector wall to study them. The first paper is a list of the amenities the welcome package offers people. According to it I'll be getting a cellphone, an ID, a stipend card, housing at a place of my choice filled with basic furnishings and a few other niceties such as a simple wardrobe filled with basic, impersonal clothes. I sign it, which is required, and then move onto the next page. This one outlines the different housing options I could choose from, and after looking through the various options on display, such as a Hispanic district, an Asian district, and more generalized apartments located in more multicultural districts I decide to sign up for an apartment in a multicultural district.
The next few pieces of paper outline the different jobs I can do. Some of these jobs are clearly bait for people with powers, such as a job working for a company named "Recovery Corporation" that states outright that this is a high-paying job for people who wish to explore the worlds between worlds and save people. The detailed description describes some of the spaces that employees visit and several of them sound eerily like multiple levels of The Backrooms.
Most jobs, thankfully, are quite normal and do not involve powered people in any meaningful capacity, being things like working as a pizza delivery driver, which suggests that teleportation tech is extremely rare or limited in some capacity, or working as a metro conductor, a job which promises me the chance to explore the city, a fact which it advertises heavily in its blurb on the paperwork.
I contemplate the different options laid out before me. A part of me is tempted by the "Recovery Corporation" position, but when I recall the pain I was in when I got hit by a truck about two hours ago I realize that high-stakes adventuring isn't really for me. I pause and think about what tempts me about the job before I realize that it's the appeal of being in a new world, and the thrill of exploration.
The other job that emphasizes exploration is the conductor's job. I study its description for several moments and note several other benefits. The trains are automated, according to the description given in the paperwork, and so the conductors are mostly PR and get to do minor things like help guide people to certain destinations in the city. It's a job about being a people person, and that's fun. I think about it for a bit and decide to sign up to be a train conductor.
The last piece of paper asks me for my name, or at least to name myself, and asks other personal details. It begins with an assurance that this data is highly private and confidential, and details revealed here will not be revealed anywhere else, but I still only give out the barest bits of information. I sign my name as Luke, which was not my name back on Earth, and do the same for various other sections it asks me to fill out. When I finish filling it out the same machine from earlier returns and takes my paperwork. The machine then hands me a wallet, and begins to speak. As it talks I open the wallet and see the various things promised to me in the paperwork, including a thin phone and various cards.
"Hello Luke. It is nice to meet you. I am Little Al, an artificial intelligence that pilots multiple bodies throughout City Hall. I am happy to welcome you to Vaporwave City. Please follow me." The machine says, before turning slightly and heading towards the wall to my right. I do as the machine asks, and the wall opens up to reveal an escalator heading downward. Little Al and I head onto it and we descend into what I immediately recognize as a subway station like the ones in Washington D.C. or New York City.
The sounds of a busy metro station begin to fill my ears and I get to see a diverse crowd waiting for trains. I can see some people dressed in military-style combat gear, a few people who are clearly non-human with wings or who are too big or too small to be human, and a range of professionals wearing a variety of suits and other prestigious clothing. I guess Vaporwave City. and presumably the rest of this world, eclectically fuses elements of urban fantasy and sci-fi. I highly doubt I'll be bored here, that's for sure.