Warden

broke the news, did he? Well, you’ll be happy to know Master Bardain won’t be charging more than thirty creds.” When she didn’t answer, he apparently took her silence for disapproval, because he added: “Hey, we’re bettering you in the ways of self-defense and teaching you the important skill of Outlands survival. That’s something you’ll carry with you for the rest of your life. Or at least until your next mind wipe!” He waited, as if expecting her to laugh. Several seconds passed, and when she remained quiet, he appended: “Sorry, that was insensitive of me. Anyway, this training is well worth the time and effort you’re putting in, and any debt you might accrue along the way. Believe me.”
She wasn’t sure that shooting at random augmented reality spheres under Bardain’s tutelage was any better than playing with some random target practice app she could download from the Net. But she held her tongue, instead saying: “You don’t mind waiting in the settlement while I train?”
“Of course not, we need you trained if you’re going to be of any use to us,” Will sent. “Besides, I’ve been in the Outlands for over a month with only Horatio for company. Sure, he’s a great robot and all, but eventually you start to grow tired of talking to the same AI all the time, you know? We’ve heard all our stories multiple times, and they’re starting to grow a little stale. I deserve a little break from my robot friend now and then… a chance to forget about the Outlands and indulge in the luxuries of civilization for a few nights. And that’s exactly what I intend to do. Hey, did those bleepers open the front door for you yet? I’m going to ping the owner again.”
Horatio glanced at Rhea. “He’s right. Things have been a little… stale… between us lately. It’s going to be good to have some new blood on the team.”
“I’m probably only staying until I’ve repaid my debt,” Rhea said.
“We’ll see,” Horatio replied.
The door finally clicked open, and Gizmo took up a guard position on a nearby rooftop.
Rhea exchanged a glance with Horatio, and then the robot led the way inside. A wide, floor-to-ceiling cylinder dominated the center of the room; past it, a couch was shoved against the far wall, with a small, empty coffee table arranged beside it. A trashcan-shaped robot attendant next to the table extended a telescoping limb toward the wall above the couch.
“Please proceed to your designated rooms,” the attendant said in a monotonous voice.
There was nothing on that wall, so Rhea momentarily reenabled public AR access. Sure enough, a virtual diagram overlaid her vision, and appeared to hang from that wall. It seemed to represent the home’s cargo containers: five stacked rectangles lay one atop the other, with a tube passing down the middle through all of them.
“Horatio is in room B, Rhea room C,” the robot clarified.
Rhea glanced at the diagram and saw the appropriately labeled rooms.
“Where are you, Will?” she sent.
“D,” Will replied.
According to the diagram, that was just above her own.
The front door closed behind her and a panel slid open in the room’s central cylinder, revealing a ladder that led upward.
“Age before beauty.” Horatio beckoned toward the opening.
Rhea gave Horatio a weary smile as she walked past into the tube and climbed the ladder. Soon she heard the repetitive clang of Horatio’s metal feet on the rungs below.
She ascended past a circular ledge, reaching the hatch labeled B, and kept going. Below her, Horatio paused before that door and glanced up, waiting for her.
She passed another circular ledge and arrived at the hatch labeled C. She stepped onto the ledge and there was a flash as some sort of scanner activated. Then the hatch swiveled open. As she entered, she peered over the ledge and saw that Horatio was finally entering his own room below.
Making certain I enter, or ensuring I’m safe?
When she was inside, the hatch sealed behind her. She found herself within a compartment that was roughly half the size of the first floor. Behind her, the entrance tube formed a cylindrical shaft that rested against the wall: the space on either side of the shaft was empty, forming a small aisle between the wall and the bed which took up the remainder of the space. Upon second glance, she realized that wasn’t a wall behind the shaft, but a partition that separated the bedroom from another chamber. A sliding door was partially open in that wall, and she peered past to find a sink, toilet and shower crammed into the remaining space.
There were no windows anywhere in the rental. Though she supposed with AR, who needed windows anyway? She ran a media search on the Net for “scenic city panoramas,” and found a spectacular night-time view of Aradne city taken from the upper floors of some skyscraper. She used that video as the source for a virtual window she overlaid onto the wall above the bed.
She crawled across the quilt to that window, rested her hands on the virtual windowsill, and peered out across the many buildings arrayed before her. Each of them had unique patterns of light climbing their exteriors. The glow from these lamps painted some buildings entirely red, and others blue; it also served to highlight the unique designs of some of the buildings, including one particularly grand structure shaped like a lowercase n. She smiled wistfully, wishing she truly resided in that city right now, in a spacious loft at the top of a skyscraper instead of a cramped cargo container in the slums. She ran an HourlyBnb search on the costs of such a rental, and quickly closed it when she saw the prices.
She heard a muted clanging behind her, emanating from the central shaft. She slid off the bed and lingered next to the hatch, where she waited expectantly for the visitor to show himself.
The clanging rose in volume, but then began to diminish as the climber continued past.