Love Story of Namine 4

True Dave carries the palm-sized projector beneath the transit hub’s bright awning, his wild Afro outlined by fluorescent light. Namine’s blue holographic body hovers above his palm as buses sigh to a stop and pull away.

A public charging kiosk glows beside the route map, offering unfamiliar connection options, diagnostic ports, and a prompt to identify the terminal’s origin. Dave keeps close, watching the screen and Namine’s flickering face.

He shifts the projector carefully, keeping his palm level while commuters stream around them. The terminal’s connection menu brightens, reflecting in his eyes and across Namine’s translucent shoulders.

A bus pulls away, opening a clear view of the city route map. Several destinations pulse in amber, while the kiosk waits patiently for a connection.

Namine turns toward the illuminated city route map, her small blue figure sharpening as she compares amber destinations, transfer lines, and the gaps between them. Without direct access to the map, her calculations remain partial.

The kiosk cycles its display before Namine can resolve the full sequence. Familiar streets blur into overlapping symbols, and the safest complete path slips beyond her reach.

Dave angles his palm toward the map without touching the kiosk, giving Namine a steadier view. The river corridor remains visible, branching toward an outer neighborhood marked by a green arrival symbol.

Namine examines the kiosk’s connection list, tracing each permission line and diagnostic note before selecting the option marked origin scan. The interface accepts her inspection without requesting control access.

A pale status panel opens beside the route map: harmless read-only query, no data transfer, no external command privileges. Beneath it, the scan identifies the projector as a displaced navigation archive with emergency routing functions.

The scan supplies a partial origin marker: frontier transit network, registry damaged, last synchronized beyond the northern river corridor. A small green symbol confirms the archive is still functional.

Dave looks from the result to Namine’s steady blue outline, his guarded expression easing into a crooked smile. He turns toward the river-line platform and keeps his palm level for her.

Dave nods and carries Namine toward the platform booth. A middle-aged woman in a navy transit jacket looks up from her schedule board, silver hair braided neatly over one shoulder, her petite build and round glasses lending her a tidy, attentive look.

The route map updates with a clear green segment. Dave relaxes, but the attendant studies the unusual blue figure hovering above his palm before returning her attention to him.

The river train sighs open. Dave steps forward with Namine’s projector balanced in his palm, but a departing passenger clips his shoulder, forcing him back as the doors begin to close.

Dave catches the handrail for a heartbeat, but the safety chime sounds. He steps away rather than force the door, leaving both of them safely on the platform as the train departs.

As the last carriage clears, the platform display redraws the route. A street-level river shuttle appears, marked as an active transfer to Northbank without the crowded stairway.

Dave turns toward the newly marked shuttle entrance, keeping his palm level and the projector secure. The missed train becomes a safer route choice, not a dead end.

Dave follows the shuttle’s marked entrance down to the river platform, keeping Namine’s projector steady as the arriving car settles with a soft hydraulic sigh.

When the doors open, Dave steps inside and offers his palm toward the nearest clear seat. Namine’s blue figure crosses the threshold with him, her projection holding steady.

He sits beside the window and shelters the projector between both hands while the shuttle pulls away. River lights slide across the glass and through Namine’s translucent form.

The platform recedes behind them. On the route display, the river corridor remains green, and the shuttle carries Dave and Namine steadily toward Northbank.

At Northbank, the shuttle doors open onto a quieter riverside platform. Namine directs her blue projection toward the staffed information counter while Dave keeps the projector steady in his hands.

A young adult woman in a green transit vest steps from behind the counter. Her dark curls are pinned close, and a bright enamel badge marks her as the evening route coordinator.

Namine compares Inez’s spoken route, a petite young adult woman with warm brown skin, a round face, and charcoal trousers beneath her green vest with the shuttle map and confirms the sequence: riverside line, East Junction, then the northern transfer. The route is open and verified.

Inez enters the route into her desk display and hands Dave a printed transfer slip. The onward path is secured, though their unusual travel is now recorded for the next staff member.