But the man isn’t convinced. I get the feeling he’ll call the cops any second now. If we aren’t in the system, he probably assumes we’re criminals or something. I have to save this, quick.

“That’s really strange.” I glance at Zoe, but she couldn’t buy anything at the fast food place either. “Adam, can you get these for us?”

“Sure.” Adam steps in front of me and places his hand on the counter. This time, no red flash. Instead it turns blue, and the salespeople stare at something behind the counter. They look at Adam, then back at their interface, then back at him.

“Dr. O’Neill!” the girl says. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t realize…You just look so young in person.”

The man is all smiles now. “I get it. This was a test, right?” He gives a little laugh. “You definitely had me convinced you didn’t know how the flexis worked!”

“Um, yeah.” Adam glances at me with wide eyes, but I don’t have an answer for him. All I can think of is the red flash and the woman’s words: not in the system.

“Please accept our apologies and let us know if you need anything else,” the salesman says. “This was completely our fault. Our system must be acting up, but we’ll have it checked out immediately. This is all free of charge for your trouble.”

“I’m so sorry,” the girl repeats. She shoves the boxes in a bag and hands it to Adam, like it’s an offering. “And…thank you. For everything. My grandmother…”

“That’s enough, Patricia,” the salesman says. Patricia bows her head.

“Um, no problem,” Adam says. “Thanks.”

We hurry out of there before they can realize something is wrong. Adam’s fingerprints must have connected to his future self’s profile. The salespeople treated him like he was a celebrity or something—and what was all that about the girl’s grandmother?

We run into Chris and Trent outside—or rather, they crash into us. Before I can ask why or tell them what happened to us, Chris says, “This way. Hurry!”

He rushes past the stores and around the back, into an area behind the shopping center where deliveries are probably dropped off. I don’t know where we’re going or why we’re running, but I’m happy to get away from Smartgear and out of sight.

Chris stops between two huge trucks that look similar to the ones in our time except they don’t have a spot for drivers to sit. He and Trent check to make sure no one is following us. “Okay,” he says. “There’s some crazy shit going on here. The stores won’t take cash, and when they scanned us, we weren’t in the system.”

“The same thing happened to us,” I say.