My eyes open up to the rusted ridges on my aluminum roof. My stomach growls loudly and I am still tired. I wonder which I got more of: sleep or starvation. I'm not sure if it's day or night outside since I'm underground.
I tap my Econ and ask, "What time is it?"
The female voice informs, "The current time is 6:48 a.m. Do you have an appointment you would like me to set an alarm for?"
Someone out there thinks I do, but I'm not going to make it this or any other morning. "Nope, no appointment."
"Very well. Notify me if you need anything else. Goodbye."
I give a silly farewell. "Goooodbyyyye."
The Econ disconnects and I continue to lie down. I'm not interested in being set up into anything new right now. I'm thinking that whoever sent that letter just wants to talk, although now I'm getting this nagging feeling that someone broke me out to try to kill me. I don't have many enemies, but there could be someone Trex had me steal from who would want revenge. I'm definitely going to be a no call/no show today, but I do need some food and clothes.
The outfit I have on right now is my favorite. Just like every businessman has a suit and every ninja has a second skin, this one is mine. The shop that makes my suits doesn't deliver down here, nor does anyone else, so I go pick them up myself from the cleaner each week. This one is in bad shape, so I have to go get a new one after I eat. My stomach groans again.
I cave in to my stomach, "Okay, we'll go eat."
I get up and dust myself off, then leave my house. Outside, the Deserted are still just walking around in a daze, holding their heads and talking to themselves. I make my way around them and up the first ladder to the south tunnel, then to the second ladder to reach the city. I climb the ladder and push open the manhole to reveal a weak daybreak outside. I climb up, close the cover, and walk to the nearest sidewalk.
All of the city's lights turn off at seven in the morning, so everything is still pretty unnecessarily well-lit, but not for long. Traffic is very light with only a few cruisers on the street level. I walk down the street toward the nearest restaurant. The lights around the city go out which is my indication that it's seven now. I approach a restaurant and the daily special pops up on the right side of me.
A lot of the stores use holograms to display their specials and discount prices to bring people in. I find it creepy because, as a person walks by the hologram, it follows them around like a set of eyeballs in a stationary socket. I don't want the special they have to offer, but I'll go in since my stomach has clearly had enough walking. I enter the restaurant and sit down at a booth in the farthest back corner with a view of the door.
A MechCi server approaches me and greets, "Good morning." It places a small, circular panel down in front of me. "Here, valued customer, is our selection menu, unless you would prefer to simply order our daily special."
"I'll browse the menu for a little bit."
"Very well. May I start you off with an ice-cold beverage prior to your selection?"
"Not yet."
"I will promptly return in three and a quarter minutes to take your order."
The MechCi putters away. I press the button at the bottom of the digital menu and a little 3D schematic of a meal hovers up in front of me displaying the ingredients in layers. It circles around to show everything on the plate. I slide my finger across the panel to show the next selection. Four selections later, I choose an omelet breakfast and keep the hologram in front of me so I can show the MechCi when it returns.
When it gets back I dive into curiosity at its hasty return, "Was that really three and a quarter?"
"That can't be, I haven't taken your order yet for you to have made a payment."
I clarify, "I mean for the time you said. Three and a quarter minutes."
"Oh, I understand."
The MechCi initiates a controlled, fake laugh. Their wiring makes them all seem real in order to keep the people at ease and to make them lovable. It may work for everyone else, but not for me. I just sit and wait for it to stop.
It continues, "You are a funny one indeed. Of course it was. Is this the option you have chosen?"
I answer, "Yes."
"And what shall be your selection of beverage this morning?"
"I'll take water."
The MechCi shuts off the digital menu, scoops it off the table and inquires, "Sparkling or filtered?"
I test my awful sarcasm on the machine, "Can I have both?"
"Separate glasses?
"No, in the same glass."
The MechCi starts laughing again. I smile and look down. They make these MechCi so lifelike. They're like people without flesh and bones that connect at the joint; their dark chrome colors and body type are what distinguish them from ordinary men and women.
The MechCi excitedly speculates, "You are beyond funny, ma'am. Unfortunately, I cannot approve your request."
"Filtered will have to fit the bill then."
"Your meal will take eight minutes to prepare and one minute to serve. Do you disagree with the wait time?"
"No."
"Terrific. I will be back shortly."
The MechCi walks away and I slide to the end of the booth. I kick my feet up as I rest my back, tilting my head back against the wall while I wait. I have a pretty lonely life, but that's because I can't trust people. Being in foster homes, group homes, and prison my whole life led me to hold a grudge against all of these untrustworthy people. Everyone can trust a friendly person easily. When everyone is friendly, people let their guards down. Not me, though.
I'd rather be alone and alert than friendly and stabbed in the back. I can honestly say I get along better with the MechCi than with actual people; actually, that's not entirely accurate because I do get along with criminals. See, they always stab someone in the back, so with people like Dayio and Trex, it's already expected. Don't get me wrong, I'll prefer if Dayio wouldn't. Trex is a businessman who would throw anybody under his feet for funds.
The MechCi brings my food and asks, "Will there be anything else you require at the moment?"
"No, thank you."
"Enjoy your meal citizen."
The MechCi walks away and I eat my food like I have never eaten before. It is beyond delicious. The food in prison was delicious as well, though, once I got used to it, it became a little nauseating to eat.
Once I'm done, the MechCi putters over to me with a pocket-sized scanning machine and says, "The charge for the meal and beverage comes to thirty aers. IDN please?"
I stand up and stare at the MechCi. It points the scanner at me. A white horizontal line appears from the device and the MechCi moves it slowly down from my head to scan my entire body. The scanner is a payment device to process aers. With aers, no one has to worry about losing or having money for people to steal. The only way people can transfer aers is to go to a treasurer at a DSC building.
Once there, they'd have to ask them to setup a connection between the sender and receiver. If a crook is brave enough, they can kidnap someone, then have them setup a link to that person. They would have to disappear far and fast if the Regs were notified. Aers allow a debt limit of ten thousand only on food before the IDN's funds are shut down; that means that anyone can safely go into debt without fear of repercussion.
Since aers are digital, any currency someone makes goes directly to paying back the aers that are owed. Then, whatever they make from there is theirs to spend freely once the debt is cleared. For responsible, upstanding people, going into debt is almost impossible; now my debt starts.
The MechCi finishes the scan then notifies, "The payment has been complete. Thank you for your business and have a wonderful day citizen."
"You too."
The MechCi walks away and I leave the restaurant. I go stand out front. The first thing on my agenda today is to get some aers. I have to see if Trex has any work for me. Too bad there's no bulletin board where I can just go pick a job off a wall, but I'm not good at one hundred percent of the legal ones. I start to make my way over to Trex's place farther south. The transit systems here are free services to everyone.
There are trollies for outskirt and inner city traveling. There are only two trollies that cut through the city from direct center locations; from aerial view, the system should look like a circle with a plus sign in the middle. Taxis are also still around at an additional cost. I take the transit trolley down towards the south checkpoint of the city to get back to the bakery. When I arrive, Feegle is up front working with his MechCi.
"Good morning, Feegle."
He looks up at me, then excitedly recognizes me. "Vanessa, sweetheart! How are you? What happened to your clothing?"
I had completely forgotten that I've been wandering around the city in torn-up gear. After I talk to Trex about a job, a change of clothes is my next pit stop.
"I had a welcome back party last night. I need to speak to Trex."
Feegle remarks with bland kindness in his tone, "That's a true understatement. Go on through, darling."
I go through the door to the sparkling clean ballroom. Being in here when it's empty is actually quite soothing. There aren't any windows behind the huge purple drapes on the back wall; I guess the décor was intentionally placed there to make it seem like there is. I cruise through the ballroom, looking at the empty tables lined up along the right wall where the customer bathroom door is centered.
Feegle caters well to the people and earns excellent business in return. I walk to the left and enter the basement door, then down the stairs to the secret door in the right corner. I reach out to the right wall without looking and press a false shingle to open the hidden door. I watch it automatically slide open. One thing I always used to wonder is how a crook like Trex and a feminine male like Feegle met.
Who thought the decision to put a smuggler's cave in a social hotspot like this would be a good idea? I never cared enough to ask, but then again, I've never seen them talk to each other face to face either, so my curiosity hasn't come up in conversation. There has to be something to that. I make my way through the passage and knock on Trex's office door.
He instructs, "Come in." I walk in and he continues. "Just the girl I wanted to see." He reaches into his desk drawer and pulls out a digitized page, then slaps it on the desk. "Check that out."
He smiles immensely as I step over to the desk with minor caution and tap the page with my finger. It reveals an old man standing at a podium speaking to a crowd. The words are inaudible. He looks familiar, although I can't quite put a finger on his name or what he does. I spent two years too many in prison forgetting faces to remember some old guy.
I ask, "Who is this?"
Trex excitedly reacts, "You can't possibly call yourself a resident of Gharis City and not know who he is. That's thee Gene Archibald."
There is a brief pause. I'm not sure if he expects me to know who the guy is or what.
I shrug my shoulders and ask, "So?"
Trex continues holding his expressed excitement. "So, the package we took from the courier was a delivery for the Menta-Life Corporation."
There is another pause. He is clearly excited, but I don't see why. We pretty much got their courier killed, then stole the package. He's happy about that? With Menta-Life being the most important corporation known to man, having stolen from them should be a problem for us.
I question in an annoyed tone, "So, is this winding up to the part where they want to kill us or is this just conversation?"
"No. I found out the package was for them and turned it in. I told them that we found the package and they paid out one hundred and twenty-five thousand aers for it."
That's more like it. My first day out and I already snagged the big fish with a fat reward under it.
I ask, "So what's my take on it? Forty thousand?"
He reminds me, "Don't forget about your debt from two years ago."
I speak under my breath, "How can I?"
He continues, "With that, your cut is twenty-five thousand. But then there's the IDN..."
The minimum wage for working is five hundred aers per week regardless of how many hours worked or overtime. For the job I was sent to prison for, he was only giving me twenty-five thousand aers, which by the regular split rate, that package was not worth much. In short, he is trying to cheat me out of a lot of aers.
I contend, "With how little my cut was going to be for that package, the deal couldn't have been worth more than forty thousand. And seeing as you picked out the people that took the package, I'd say the debt is on you. Now I can forgive you for trying to deny me my full cut or I could walk around this desk and start with an arm."
"You know, you're a hard woman to please."
I place my palms on the desk and clarify, "I'm impossible to please."
"Forty thousand aers it is then."
He does deserve payment for my new IDN. If it weren't for him, instead of paying for my food I'd have gotten arrested and sent back to prison faster than the time it'd have taken to digest what I ate.
I show my appreciation, "Keep half for the IDN and we call it square."
I put my hand out for a shake and he swiftly obliges. "Very well, it's been a pleasure doing business with ya, as always. Did you want any work?"
I back away from his desk. "I did, but I'll just get settled in and take a tour of what I missed for two years."
"Want to go for a run with Dayio? He usually runs around the city during the day."
"He still does that?"
"That's how he stays in shape."
"I had to save his skin last night, so it seems he needs a new regimen. Where is he?"
Trex presses a button on his retro landline and calls out, "Dayio?"
Dayio voice exits the speaker, "Go ahead, Trex?"
"Van is coming out."
"Okay."
He presses the button then says to me, "He's at his post."
I turn around and walk out of the office then through the passage to the forest.
Hey guys! Don't forget to tap that vote button below, before continuing forward with the story! Also tune into my website at averynunez.com or tweet about the story on twitter: averynunez1