Sam and Jessica walked to the curb; seven seconds later, the flying car landed in front of them. Sam pressed a few buttons on her phone to adjust the car’s colors, and watched as it changed from yellow to pink and black. The car’s doors glided open and disappeared into its body.
Jessica entered first, and flopped into the front seat facing the rear. Sam entered second and flopped into the rear seat, facing the front. The doors slithered shut, their windows playing a commercial for Coca-Cola. Sam muted the ad, then buckled her lap belt and motioned for Jessica to do the same. Jessica ignored her and continued rifling through her handbag.
“Car won’t take off without it, Jess.”
“Ugh, fine,” she said, complying. Jessica then removed a small object from her purse, roughly the size of a stamp. She peeled off its translucent film and placed the rest against her forearm. Lines grew and stretched across her arm. Jessica grabbed her phone and asked Sam, “What do you think? Is it a snake night?
“Sure,” she said.
Slowly, an anilius formed around Jessica’s entire arm, half-tattoo and half-relief sculpture.
“Good choice,” Sam said.
“Ugh, how much farther is this party?”
Sam looked at her phone. “We’re still about 250 miles away, so about twenty minutes.”
“Man, this sucks,” Jessica said. “Weren’t we supposed to have teleporters by now?”
“I know, right?”
The windows of the flying car played an advertisement for a chewing gum that makes you taller.