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to allow trucks to back into the building. Each bay was closed off to the outdoors by a rolling garage-type door; each spray-painted with a yellow stenciled number.
    Mara’s phone vibrated and a message from Cam came through. A transport will arrive at Bay 3 in approximately four minutes. Once it arrives, load the gurney and take a seat in the vehicle .
    Mara pointed to the end of the bay, and Sam steered the gurney in that direction and asked, “Why are we going over here?”
    “Cam says that is where the transport will pick us up,” she said.
    “How can he know that?” Sam asked, as he pulled up to the bay and swung the foot of the gurney toward the open side.
    Mara shrugged. “I’m not sure. I think he might have arranged the pickup wirelessly. Remember how he tracked Mom and called you without having a phone?” She waved her phone. “He said they didn’t need things like cells phones, because their synthetic bodies were capable of communicating without separate devices.”
    Ping smiled. “It’ll be fascinating to see a world where people can call a cab simply by thinking it.”
    A yellow light above the bay door flashed, and the door rose. Outside, a white van backed down a shallow incline, passing under the rising door just as it moved out of its path. Stopping just one-quarter inch from the edge of the bay, the van parking lights illuminated and then went dark after its engine cut off.
    A look of concern passed over Sam’s face. “Uh, guys, why is this bay too deep and half the back door of the van is below where we stand?”
    Suddenly a beeping sound came from below, and the van rose by way of some kind of lift underneath it.
    Once the van leveled with them, the beeping stopped, and the vehicle’s rear doors popped open. Mara grabbed one door and Ping the other. She pointed ahead and said, “Just push the gurney inside. The wheels should collapse and fold beneath.”
    Sam shoved the gurney forward, and it slipped inside almost soundlessly. Mara leaned in to see if she needed to secure the gurney but noticed that triangular stops had popped from the van’s floorboard, below the gurney’s wheels, holding it in place. She stepped away and nodded to Ping, who slammed the doors closed. Sam led them up the passenger side of the van to get in and was the first to look through the passenger window. He froze and turned to Mara and Ping.
    “Ah, this thing doesn’t have a driver—or a steering wheel for that matter,” he said.
    “What?” Mara leaned over his shoulder to glance in the window. The driver’s side had no steering wheel, dashboard or a rearview mirror. It was a duplicate of the passenger seat immediately inside the window. “Maybe the driver stepped into the rear to check on things.”
    Mara pushed Sam away and opened the door, leaning into the cab of the vehicle. Behind the front seat was a bench and behind that was the cargo space holding the gurney. She straightened and said, “I’m not sure I understand what is going on here. How did this van get here without a driver?”
    Ping opened the windowless side sliding door of the van and looked inside. After surveying the interior for a few moments, he said, “Clearly this vehicle wasn’t designed to be operated in the manner in which we are accustomed. I’m not even sure how we would operate it.”
    Mara’s phone vibrated. She held it up and read the message from Cam aloud. “Vehicles in this realm are self-driving, auto-navigational. Just take a seat and close all the doors. I’ve entered the destination.”
    Mara pressed her lips together and typed a response. Is it safe?
    After a moment Cam responded, Ironic, considering the only traffic accident I’ve ever been a part of was in your realm .Yes . It’s extremely safe .
    To Ping she said, “What do you think?”
    “It makes sense that a culture which relies so much on technology would have developed a high degree of automation. They probably don’t have the same concerns about