[ WP ] Since using drug substance has become illegal and harder to acquire in the future , people connects themselves to a machine that virtually recreates the drug effects . One day a person acquires some real drugs and connects himself to the machine .

`` How long?'' the dark-skinned attendant at the counter asked as Zak handed over a wad of cash. The light on his right wrist blinked methodically, an ubiquitous reminder of the far-reaching grasp of the Government. Outside, the streets bustled in a carefully organized chaos, watchful guards peering down from parapets and whisking away anybody who deviated from the permitted activities. The usually clean, white walls of the city had burst into a myriad of colors when Zak took the pill and it was all he could do to keep from sprinting to the shop. 
 
 `` One,'' Zak answered and the man typed something into the register before handing back the change. Zak took a deep breath, hoping his eyes would n't betray his anxiety and wishing that the distorted rainbow coming out of the man's mouth would disappear. 
 
 `` You on something?'' the attendant asked, squinting suspiciously. Zak dutifully shook his head, forcing back the bile that rushed up his throat. The man looked doubtful but nodded towards the capsules. `` Second capsule on the left. Out the same way you entered once you're done.'' Zak mumbled his thanks and pushed past an exiting unicorn leaving a trail of smurfs in his wake. Zak shook his head to clear his eyes and the man pranced out the door. 
 
 Zak turned into the second capsule and lay down with a sigh, allowing the winding tubes to pierce into his wrists. He flinched as the bright purple snakes seemed to bite him before melting into his arm. A moment later, the machine beeped quietly and he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. 
 
 `` Listen,'' a scantly clad man commanded, raising a finger to his lips. Zak looked down at himself, still dressed in the white Citizen uniform with the single black stripe indicating his status. The attire was completely out of place next to the man's bare skin and the virgin nature that surrounded them. There were trees; more trees than Zak had ever seen. In the city, there were ornamental trees in gardens or around fountains but here they seemed to swallow the world whole. Tiny animals bound past the two men and a symphony of chirps and squeaks soothed Zak, the sounds so different from the robotic beeps and mechanical grinding of the city. 
 
 `` Birds?'' Zak asked and the man nodded and smiled. He had read of them in history books; great winged creatures that rivaled the hovercrafts and planes with their maneuverability. `` They sing... It's beautiful.'' The man nodded again, offering a hand to help Zak over a small stream. They walked for what felt like hours and Zak struggled to catch his breath, stunned by the grandiose and purity of the world he was seeing. `` Where's the city?'' Zak asked finally as they saw a deer feed a fawn. 
 
 The man's face turned dark and colored before swirling into a vortex, pulling Zak back towards the capsule and the shop. He struggled against the feeling, reaching out his hand to catch the man. Instead, he found himself whisked upwards, seeing the city from above as he had never seen it before. Not from where the hovercrafts and planes saw it but from further, so that it was smaller than his fingernail. And beyond the walls and the barren wasteland and the sister cities he saw the world the way the books said it once was. Forests stretched until the mountains and beyond before turning into endless oceans, still with as much water as before the Drought. 
 
 `` Thank you for your business,'' he heard a robotic voice say and he stumbled out of the capsule, blinking to accustom his eyes to the dim lighting. The attendant at the counter stared at him curiously as he staggered towards the door, nodding his thanks. The man caught his arm as he passed, staring at him hard. 
 
 `` Did you see the world?'' he demanded quietly, glancing around nervously. Zak shook his head in panic, horrified at the way the man's ears had turned into wings and at how his eyes morphed to look eerily similar to the President's. The attendant grunted and pushed Zak out the door back into the whitewashed streets. A guard nodded curtly and Zak smiled nervously before heading to attend to his scheduled tasks. 
 
 ***** 
 
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