Robert looked at the handwritten address in his hand, and then at the ugly building. This had to be it, Michael’s new house. The difference with the Alphaville villa where his parents still lived could not have been bigger. He wiped a drop of sweat from his forehead, took a deep breath and walked up to the front door, where he discovered that he had to find his way in an enormous plate full of doorbells with mostly handwritten names, and no intercom. Finally he found the word ‘Michael Adams’, written in pencil on a yellow tape, and pushed the button, but nothing happened. He waited for a while but there was no movement, so he pushed the button again, and again nothing happened.

After a while he heard footsteps, and the door was opened. It wasn’t Michael, but the head of an old man that appeared in the opening. ‘Hey you, stop playing ding-dong ditch, you’re too old for that. We all have heard that noise too. What do you even want here?’ He looked at Robert disapprovingly, an unrated old man with a wild unkempt beard.

‘Eh, good afternoon sir. I’m looking for Michael Adams.’

The man looked at his Gamma-3 badge and nodded his head. ‘The new youngling? I don’t think he’s home. He’s working most of the day. Good boy at that, some here could learn from that. But you can ask his Wife maybe. If she even opens the door for you.’

Robert was completely taken aback. ‘A Wife? but I thought they’d broken off the engagement when they deleted him from our school?’

The man laughed. ‘I mean the robot, son. You’ll find no real women in a building for unrated men, but most of us have a nice robo-wife as compensation for not being able to get married.’

‘Ah, yes… I forgot about the robot. And I still can’t believe it. Michael? Married to a robot?’

The man shrugged. ‘Oh, it’s the normal procedure here; They brought her in a day after he came here, good service nowadays. I had to wait much longer in my time. Pretty blond vintage thing too, they don’t make ‘em like that anymore. Ol’ Manfred takes good care of the officially unmarriable, and they’re better than actual women in a lot of ways. If you know how to talk to her, she’ll take any message for him. Wives are always submissive, eh?’

‘I’m not talking to a pimped sex-robot. No thanks.’ Robert said, and the man’s eyes widened.

‘Hey, youngling, don’t be unrespectful. A nice Wifebot is still the best companion we can have over here. They even have advantages that an actual wife doesn’t have. And they’re quite good at…’

‘Yeah, whatever. I don’t know what I would have to say to her… Robots are much worse than actual girls to talk to. It’ll have to wait until I see Michael in person. ’

‘Your choice, sonny. But I think you youngsters always make things more complicated. Just accept reality and go with the flow I always say.’

The man disappeared and Robert walked away from the Zeroville neighbourhood as fast as he could. He really hated everything about the place: the ugly buildings, the dirt and garbage, the weeds, and the atmosphere. Everyone he saw here looked hopeless. But then again, the only people who lived here were unrated men, who had no ranking in the male hierarchy, no privilege, and not even the right to marry. Plus whatever job they did, they would be paid way less than any rated man. It was a weird system, but Robert had grown up with it, so he had never questioned it before. Neither had he ever made any contact with people of lower rankings than his, except then for Michael’s girl friends maybe. It just didn’t happen in The Nation, normally. But on the other hand, Michael was his friend, no matter what, and he wouldn’t abandon him now that he was so deep in trouble. That would just be wrong.

His breathing relaxed when he saw the much cleaner and bigger Deltaville blocks of Manfred street. At least here there were no weeds and garbage, and less weirdos. He hadn’t succeeded yet, but he was one step closer to finding his friend again.

*

‘Are you okay?’

Shirley looked up from the bed where she was lying curled up to see a friendly brown face with two very concerned eyes, and looked away again to hide her tears.

‘How could I be okay now, Iris? How can anything ever be okay again? Have you seen that boy? My life is over if I’m going to be his wife.’

The girl addressed as Iris put her hand on Shirley’s shoulder. ‘Come on, there’s alway a way. If you really don’t want him you could try the courtship sabotage stuff.’

‘You can’t reach someone like him. He didn’t even look at me. He just wanted any blond girl as his Wife. He doesn’t even see me as a person. He will never listen, and just become aggressive if I don’t listen to whatever he wants from me. He’s really that kind of man. Oh, it’s so horrible. What am I going to do? I feel so alone with Eliza and Megan gone.’

‘Never give up hope, Shirley. There must be something. What about running away?’ ‘They’ll catch me, and where do I go? I can’t live all alone in the wild. There’s even worse things than him out there.’

‘But you have friends out there. Eliza and Megan are still there, remember. I know you miss them, but maybe you can write them? That Pen Pal system is usually quite fast, and if there’s any person that can be reached by it it’s Eliza. She more or less invented the whole system and used her networking to construct it…’

‘But, that’s for writing boys. Oh, stupid me. I should have written Robert. He wouldn’t have been like that. But I can’t write to him now, can I?’

‘I wouldn’t write boys that you’ve seen only once. It’s no use now, he wasn’t ready to choose a Wife anyway, it would have taken much more time, but Eliza will know something.’

‘But she’s been kicked out of this place. She can’t come back here…’

‘Few things are impossible for her, especially if it’s for her best friend who’s in trouble like this. Just write that letter, girl, and wash your face. You don’t want Miss Hunter to see you like this.’

‘I don’t want to see her at all. I’m skipping her class. She’s just going to tell me to go to even more horrible classes about how to be a good Wife to a monster shaped more or less like a human. I don’t know how she is able to live like that, but I refuse to waste my life like that. But what else can I do?’

‘I still think you should try courtship sabotage, and otherwise I would just run away. You’ve been so unhappy since Megan and Eliza disappeared, I really think it’s time for you to find something else.

‘But, why do you still stay here?’

‘Oh, I’m not chosen yet, and I hope to be able to connect to one of my Pen Pal boys and marry someone I like. I have two guys that are friends with me already. I never believed that such a thing could happen. They’re really interested in me, and in what’s happening here, and in meeting me in secret. They don’t even mind if I have other guy friends.’

‘I’m happy for you, but it wouldn’t work for me, I’ve been too shy to write anyone. And I’m chosen anyway now.’

‘Think like Eliza. She stayed here because she found it the best place for her to study and network, but she knew that she’d have to get out one day. But she did what she wanted, as I bet she’s doing in her Zeroville Women house now. And she’ll probably move to the Ghost Town when she doesn’t feel at home there. And wherever she lives, she’ll always make the best of it, and learn what she can. I’ve always tried to be her disciple, and if I ever get chosen by a creep, you can be sure that I’m gone here…’

‘But I’m not like her. Or like you. I don’t have that confidence… I’m just frozen and in panic. I can’t just make the best of being in hell… It’s not me.’

‘Start with the beginning, and write that letter to Eliza. And then we’ll see. I’ll help you get out if needed.

‘Thank you Iris. You’re really a good friend!’

*

‘I might have a big problem.’ Michael sat in the Square bar himself for the first time since his deletion, drinking a heavy Manfred plus beer with Angela, who was waiting on Samantha to take her home.

‘A new problem you mean? Or just the same problem with your family and being kicked from school, and the annulment of your engagement and so on?’ she asked.

‘No, no, not that. Something much weirder.’ She looked up from her iced three herbs tea.

‘And you think that I can help?’

‘Well, you were mentioned, so maybe… The real problem with it is that I’m a man, actually.’

‘If you find that a problem, then I’m afraid that I’m not the one to solve it for you… But you say that I was mentioned, by whom?’ Angela was clearly getting curious now.

‘Lady Martha, in a Pen Pal message. She invited me to talk to her, in Seventh City Ghost Town. But that’s impossible, isn’t it?’

Angela stared at him in astonishment now. ‘Ah… The Ghost Town is a nice place to be, I’ve always liked it there. Although I’ve never heard about a man going there, ever… But you’re a man of first times aren’t you?’

‘Me? A man of first times? You’re speaking to the one who’s been engaged for months and didn't even have a first kiss yet. I’m more of a man of unique problems…’

‘That might have been a first time too, such a fine romance with no kisses… Still a better love story than any I’ve heard of in The Nation. But I’d say you’re mostly a good man with too much complexes, who still doesn’t seem able to see the great things that he has done already. You’re telling me that a Ghost Town leader sent you a message through the Pen Pal network. And who is behind that whole thing, and behind the unification of the two black markets? And behind this whole unsegregated table thing? And who managed to become actual friends with working non-Wives, while still in boy school? Me and Sam are probably the most unlikely persons to ever have a male friend like you, you know?’

He sighed. ‘Probably. But is that enough to get me alive in and out of a Ghost Town?’

She started laughing. ‘What do you think they are, cannibals? Lady Martha is a good person and a just leader for her community. She’s not going to do anything evil to you. But what did she write about me? I’m curious now.’

Michael took the letter out of his pocket and gave it to her. Angela read it and looked at him. ‘Wow. That’s her handwriting indeed. Me and Eliza? I hadn’t heard anything yet.’

‘I think she’s waiting for my answer before she takes a next step. But what should I do?’

‘Is that even a question? Just say yes.’

‘But how? Should I write a letter like that? My handwriting is horrible. And I can’t just write an outlaw leader through the Pen Pal system, can I?’

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‘Oh, surely you can, if she sends letters through it herself, she can receive letters too. Or else you can give it to me, or better to Sam. She is volunteering in the Ghost Town hospital now every week, and she can deliver for you if you really don’t trust your own network.’

‘I trust the Pen Pal network, that’s not the problem. But the whole thing is just weird.’

‘Now that’s a strange thing for you to say, Michael, everything with you has always been weird, in a good way, starting from you talking to me at that protest and then calling me a friend and then starting a revolutionary movement on a whim, just to be able to talk to me. So if I were you, I wouldn’t protest anything just for being weird…’

‘Okay, okay, point taken… So you say I should do it and you don’t think it’s dangerous?’

‘If Lady Martha herself writes you, there’s been a lot of thought and talk already about it among the elders. And it means that she must approve of your ideas of reconnecting the sexes in The Nation. That she’s using the Pen Pal system to write to you means that she approves of it. That’s part of the message I’d say. She’s subtle like that.’

‘But a Ghost Town? They say that every man who comes close to one will be magically put to sleep, and then wakes up in a dress somewhere in the wilderness without any of his stuff. If he ever wakes up at all. Or if they don’t do worse things to him.’

‘They have their way of defending themselves, but I don’t believe they have magic. I can’t tell about their defences, but I’m quite sure they won’t use them on you unless you’d do some very un-Michael things. I would wear that Free Person badge though if I were you. And it seems that they have adopted Eliza’s pledge as some kind of password too.’

‘Ah, I have no problem affirming that I pledge my allegiance to all friendly people, regardless of sex, rating or identity status… But is that enough to let me in?’

‘Being Michael is probably enough already after everything that happened. What are you even afraid of? That they’ll turn you into a toad?’

‘Don’t you know the stories? About those who live in a Ghost Town, and what they do if you anger them?’

Angela looked at him, slightly amused again. ‘No, I’ve never heard anything like that. Must be a boy school thing. Urban legends mostly too. Sure, they have their own ways to defend themselves, they might put intruders to sleep and then leave them in the wilderness afterwards, but never without a very good reason. And I have never heard of anything worse than that. How do you want a community of women to defend themselves against violent men? They don’t even use any violence if that’s possible, they are pacifists.’

‘But they’re outlaws. Outlaws have a short and violent life and kill each other all the time. It’s the only outcome if you lose not only your rating but also your identity.’

‘Michael, Michael, you’re thinking like a man again. That might be the case for the outlaws of the male world, but in the female world outlaws are non-violent, and they take care of each other, and they defend each other, and of other women if they can. Against men that is I’m afraid…’

‘And last time I checked I still was a man…’

Angela started laughing. ‘You checked? Sounds like fun.’

‘You know it’s just a figure of speech. And how do I know that they don’t stun me, and replace my ancom chip with a castration chip, and leave me unarmed in the wilderness, where more and more panthers live?’

‘Wait? Is that another tall story for boys? Replacing the ancom chip with what? Maybe not a bad suggestion though, when it comes to actual violent creeps and rapists, not for you. Think of the guys who wanted to assault Eliza and Mega or so…’

‘So they don’t actually have castration chips?’

‘Michael, grow up. And if they will invite me and Eliza, it means that Lady Martha is doing everything to not make you afraid. She knows we are friends, and she respects friendships.’

‘If you say so… But I could do with a second opinion.’

He pointed at Samantha, who came in, looking rather tired.

‘Okay, I’ll ask her,’ Angela said.

‘Hey Sam, do you think Lady Martha would invite our boy here to magically put him to sleep, replace his ancom with a castration chip, and feed him to the panthers in the wilderness?’ she said to Samantha when she took a chair.

Samantha looked from Angela to Michael.

‘Eh, where does that come from? Nice to see you again, by the way, Loverboy!’

‘Oh, he’s got an invitation to talk to her, but he’s afraid and has all kinds of weird conspiracy theories.’

‘She invited him? Cool! It’s true that she’s trying to open up communication with the male side then. Maybe I will be able to find a man in a Ghost Town one day…’

‘You think of only one thing, Samantha.’

‘It would be cool to have some men there every now and then. Some of the good ones, I mean. There must be more of them than only one, and maybe even less boring ones.’

‘Hey! Be nice for once!’ Angela said.

‘I think it’s a good idea. Eliza must be behind this. Great, that mean they will finally be starting unsegregating the Ghost Towns!’

‘It’s one visit, to talk, not an unsegregation project.’

‘Oh, it’ll only be the beginning, mark my words! One day our boy here will settle down there with Eliza or so in a cute Ghost Town house and have the first Ghost Town babies. They’ll start mixed couple Love ceremonies and cute safe men will be available in the Ghost Town bar to flirt with.’

He didn’t even know what he had to protest first now.

‘You’re hopeless, Sam.’

‘Thanks, but why are you so tense about all of this, Loverboy?’ Samantha said, putting her hand on his shoulder.

‘I’m no-one’s Loverboy and the whole idea makes me anxious, meeting with an outlaw leader and stuff like that…’

She stood up and grabbed his shoulders to massage them.

‘Let go of your fears, Loverboy, we women aren’t dangerous. Not to a cutie like you anyway.’

‘Stop it, Samantha. Don’t do such things in public! Do you want Tom to kick us out?’ Angela protested.

‘We’re leaving anyway. And I’m a E-non-Wife in a place for men and women. I can do whatever I want with a cute Zero-boy and no-one can stop me technically. He’s below me since I’m in the hierarchy and he isn’t. He could technically be my male concubine or so.’ She grinned.

‘Technically that’s probably true, except that no policeman will care about the rights of an E-non-wife…’ She stopped massaging. ‘Time to go anyway, see you later, loverboy!’

When the girls were gone Michael kept staring into what was left over of his beer. Rationally he knew that his fear were probably overblown, but he still felt very uneasy.

*

A week later Megan looked at the small cubes of lab-meat that were sizzling in the electric pan and sighed. Her fingers wanted to play with her hair, but it was only shoulder-long now. It was only one of the many changes in her life that slightly annoyed her, and even then it was only halfway to what most non-Wives did. She still wasn’t sure whether she hated this zeroville block for women more or less than she had hated Wife School, but her life as a non-Wife was completely different from everything she had known in school, with completely different advantages and disadvantages. The biggest advantage was the new freedom. The only thing she had known was being locked up with her classmates without ever going outside, except then from the moment you were chosen as a fiancée and you were summoned for a date by your future husband. And now she could go anywhere she wanted, and do what she wanted. Well, if it was approved for women, and for unrated non-Wives at that, and she had to look out for men, because having lost even her E-rating now she didn’t really have a place in the hierarchy and no protection against abuse. But she had been able to avoid problems until now, mostly with Angela’s help and some tips from Samantha, in between the sarcastic remarks about being higher than her now.

She poked her fork in the pot next to the pan with meat, in which vegetables were cooking. It went through the purple carrot without any effort, which means that they were ready. She turned off the electric fire underneath the pan with meat and the pot with vegetables and drained the vegetables, and then she checked the rice which wasn’t ready yet. Her thoughts went back to what had happened, and to him. She felt a pain in her heart. Why didn’t he want to see her? And why hadn’t she tried to reach out herself? She didn’t even know. She knew that, whatever had happened, they still would be good friends if they reconnected, even with all the changes in their lives and their relationship, and even their official capacity to have relationships, but it felt like the reconnection part wouldn’t be that easy.

She was so deep in thought that she didn’t even hear Eliza come home.

‘Look at those perfect little cubes.’ Eliza said from close behind, and she almost jumped up.

‘Did I startle you?’ Eliza asked.

‘I was a bit lost in thought,’ she admitted. ‘And what’s the problem with my cubes?’

‘Nothing, I’m just admiring them, I wouldn’t be able to cut lab-meat in such perfect cubes. Oh, those veggies look good. Ghost Town produce?’

‘Yes, Sam brought purple carrots and little turnips. But why are you so late today?’

‘I’ve been busy. And not just with that job interview. I’ve been to the Ghost Town too, and I probably have to introduce our confused boy to Lady Martha in a few days, but I also have to pay a visit to our former school as soon as possible.’

‘Eh, what?’

‘I got a pen pal from Shirley, she’s taken. By the worst kind of man possible. And we need to do something.’

‘You’re going to the SCWF? You can’t just barge in there.’

‘I’m Eliza. I can do that. Actually it’s quite easy if you know some administration to visit a Wife School girl. Most people just don’t know their rights, but I’m going to use them for her. She needs me.’

‘Okay, greet her from me.’ Megan checked her rice and turned off the electric fire. ‘And are you serious about him meeting Lady Martha?’

‘Yeah, wanna come too? It should be fun, Angela said he’s quite nervous and it seems that schoolboys have the weirdest conspiracy theories about Ghost Towns.’

‘I can’t just come uninvited at such an occasion, and things are still a bit awkward between us. I still haven’t seen him since the incident, remember. We’d have to have a lot of talk first I guess, and I feel like neither of us both is ready for that yet.’

‘You two are really hopeless since the incident. Especially him, if you want him, you’ll have to go look for him. He’s not taking any initiative to contact anyone at the moment.’

‘I’m not good at taking initiative. That’s a boy thing.’

‘Woman, you two are even worse without a relationship… Come, where is that food, I need it.’

They didn’t talk about boys or Wife School for the rest of the evening, and Megan went to bed early while Eliza was still doing all kinds of paperwork.