“Heya Sam!” Molly’s cheerful voice came over the phone as I had been grinding my way through a make-up assignment I had been given for software engineering.
“Morning. What’s up?”
“Are you and Anna free this afternoon?”
“Uhhhh, I don’t have too much left on this and Anna is probably too. Why?”
“Weeeeelll, we are doing another visit to mech tech and I happen to have a couple of spare seats free. I could offer them to some annoying politicians orrrrr… you could take Anna on a date over there. Lot less work for me to do the latter frankly.” She answered shamelessly. “They all have a holier-than-thou thing going on and barely even pretend to follow procedures.”
“Heh. Not content with keeping out of cell service so I can’t bug you about math, and now you want to separate me from my computer. For shame.”
“You know it, but really I have the space for you two to visit. Don’t worry about it if you really don’t want to be there again particularly this soon or would prefer to study but it’s on the table.”
“Eh, honestly I’m probably gonna overheat my brain if I keep this up too long anyway, so when do we go?”
“You have like 3 hours till the first open today, one pm sharp. I’m already on site as I gotta do a training thing for some more suits but you’ll be fine as long as you are like 20 mins early.”
“Ok cool, let me just check in with Anna and wrap up here, then I will head over.”
“Sounds good, see you then! Talk to-“
“Just a quick one, I don’t suppose you are trying to do this to pay her back are you.” While I knew the portals allow a surprising cross-over rate it’s not like they would just randomly leave capacity on the table, so Molly must have been pulling strings for this opportunity.
There was a sigh. “Kinda? I wanted to do something for you two, and it’s still something I thought she might enjoy regardless.”
“It’s not something that will get you in trouble or anything?”
“God no, I ran it by Summers and everything. We genuinely don’t have a full roster for today, it’s mostly a back-and-forth of ongoing stuff between the embassies.”
“Well, I’m down let me see if Anna takes the bait.”
----------------------------------------
I glanced at my phone for the time, then back to a practically bouncing Anna beside me, a smile slipping onto my face. “Last chance to bow out, I take it you are still down for this Anna?”
“Fuck yeah I am!” She answered. “How could I ever refuse an invite on a date to another world!”
“Did you two have specific plans?” Mum asked from a bit away looking up from her prized smartphone. “I won’t have the trike even if it had another seat, so I won’t really be able to drive.”
“Don’t worry about it, I was just going to take her around some of the bits I know on foot,” I responded. “I expect there is more than enough to entertain us even if we don’t go far. I was going to stop by a store to grab some local garb for Anna to start with though.”
Nothing about my get-up would turn heads over there even when it was a synthetic wearing it, as I had been able to dip into the clothing I had brought back with me from my unplanned trip. I had on one of my rather dramatic skirts and an excessively textured tank top, along with a surprisingly practical and large messenger-style bag. I was guessing Anna’s t-shirt and shorts might draw attention though, the colors were wrong and the style too simple if anything. I would have offered some of my clothes, but as amusing as it might be it was pretty unlikely that anything I have would even vaguely fit.
“Portal opens in ten minutes!” A hurried Peter called while rushing by with a wrapped-up object in his arms shaped like a large vase. “Get to your spots, this one is probably only going to be open for about that long.”
As the four of us joined the dignitaries waiting at the bottom of the ramp I got my first real chance to look at the arrangement outside of the portal airlock chamber. When I was here last there was a far greater crowd and frankly, I was too overwhelmed just by being back to take things in.
Where the airlock was an armored monstrosity from outside, the… control area? Escaped mad scientist lab? Whatever the appropriate name for it, what I could see was surprisingly crude. It was one of those small shipping containers you sometimes see for temporary storage or moving, but with a hole cut in the side for bundles of thick wires to emerge before linking onto ports on the side of the airlock. It took me a moment to realize that amongst the racks of computers visible through the open doors was the dais for the portal, it had seen some rather significant modifications it appeared.
Where once it was a simple rectangular metal prism, it had since gained a series of plastic boxes attached along the side visible to us, some unsightly holes, and what appeared to be a second countertop beside it on the far side. Beyond that, it had seemed to have sprouted an endless stream of cables running out to various computers along what appeared to be several generations of label maker stickers or marker on masking tape labels to indicate the purpose of any particular half-visible component or wire.
Peter and another engineer were arranging the vase-like object horizontally upon a set of simple stands over the dais itself, and I recognized the gear box-shaped fuel converter with a far more elegant and purpose-built stand on the other table.
“Hey Molly,” I whispered while standing on tiptoes to get close to her ear. “Isn’t the dais a really long way away from the portal now?”
“Yeah, it’s like how the snipper in it can work through walls. Just needs to be close enough, I guess. Most of those wires are monitoring, control, and power the rest of the process is all wireless it turns out.” She answered not quite as concerned about staying quiet, while Anna was listening in it looked like mum and the politicians were distracted enough by their own conversation to not be bothered.
“Huh, so I’m guessing that vase thing is the fuel?”
“That ‘vase’-“ she air qouted with a grim smile. “is some kinda alien bomb we ripped the detonator out of. But yes.”
“Ah.” I gave it another leery look and started questioning Peter’s reckless pace earlier. “Uh, why is it being used?”
“Helps cut down on the sketchy shit under the base.” She answered grinning. “Really though that’s just a bonus, seems like the best fuel is stuff that’s distinctly of a place. A bucket of dirt might have a bubble like anything else from somewhere, but it sorta lacks something for the dais to grab at or something.”
She tugged at a sleeve for demonstration while continuing. “I made the mistake of asking Katherine about it once. The summary of a six-hour lecture is that for this whole cheater get up to work, not only does the bubble of an item being used to find the dimension need to be distinct, no minor changee is enough, but the fuel needs to be a big bold and easy to grab bubble.”
“Thus, fancy dangerous stuff.” She gestured at the bomb. “I think I mentioned we are working on setting up fuel exchanges with the friendly dimensions we’ve started to have conversations with right?” I nodded. “Yeah, so using stuff directly from the origin for the whole thing should mean we don’t have to start dipping into things we don’t want wrecked any time soon.”
“Nice, oh yeah what’s up with all that?” I gestured towards the other end of the parking lot the portal and its gear were set up where a concrete pour was underway for some small rectangular structure maybe the size of Anna’s bungalow in the floor plan at least.
“Ah, that?” Molly said with a grin. “That’s where the second portal will be!”
“Woah, we have a second one?”
“Yeah! Turns out most of the important stuff had already been dropped off when they were in the middle of setting up, and the bits that weren’t are all locally replicable.” She pulled out her phone and started flipping through it as she continued explaining. “We pulled in external aid from a mix of local companies and government bodies going on getting it rigged up even as we were testing and hacking away at ours. So this one will be far more purpose-built and we are getting it set up in an actual building if a basic one.”
She proudly showed me a picture of what must be a modified dais, this one a double-wide affair with its components visible through a metal frame. Where the arrangement near us was visibly jury-rigged together with patch panels and crudely assembled if functional attachments, the one in the picture looked to have been done with known dimensions and internal layout. Even the top surface was festooned with safety features, like the fuel area being separated with warnings and a red emergency button prominent on each facing of the dais.
“Neat. Is that portal getting the whole armored airlock thing too?”
“Bit differently, but yeah we still are gonna be treating the things as a checkpoint for a while yet. Just because things have gone well so far doesn’t mean there couldn’t be bad actors.”
“True, true-“
“Speaking of, did you see the trailer for that new live-action remake of FMA?”
“Uh no, I thought that had been around a while.”
“Another one! It’s a western one that looks terrible- actually, Anna have you seen brotherhood? Ok cool, ‘cause I was worried there…”
We managed to whittle away a bit more time on Molly trying to catch me up on weeb news until Peter called at us to get ready. We shuffled forward as the front group of people went up the ramp into the open airlock itself, from our new vantage point I could just about see the portal arch itself. Looks like they had left the armored shutters open, which Molly explained in a whisper was a show of trust that had previously been agreed upon by both parties.
I looked over to where Peter was scratching off marks on a clipboard while intermittently glancing between his laptop and the other engineer. Eventually, he appeared satisfied when he placed it aside to take up his mouse. “All checks passed! Watch your eyes, I’m firing up the sequence!” He called out to us and then turned his full attention to the laptop. “Portal in 5… 4… 3…” As he counted down, I looked back toward the portal curious to see what it looked like as it opened. “2… 1… And it’s opening!” With his words, the arch was filled with black in an instant, where one moment I could see a steel back panel the next was a featureless void. While no one up near it seemed to have been directed towards it, even those facing our way winced and pulled away from the portal.
“So, it’s really bright or something right?” I asked Anna as she shielded her eyes.
“Yeah, it’s like a blue sun or something.” She answered as I watched the portal start to fill in. It looked like raindrops of reality falling toward us, with each odd little splash revealing more of the world beyond. “You can’t see it at all right?”
“Yeah, my eyes don’t seem to get stimulated by whatever that ‘light’ is like an organic eye would,” I noted that at least some of the others in front of the dignitaries started into the now open portal, having been quick to recover from the blinding light.
“Lucky you! I could see the outline of my bones I think.” She grumbled while rubbing the heels of her palms in her eyes.
“Come on you two,” Molly called moving swiftly up the ramp ahead of us. “You’ve got a date to keep!”
We emerged out into a hive of activity the temporary shelters of before looked decidedly less temporary now, it looked like they had been working on building a structure over the tents since I last was here. The dignitaries had already headed off to their work while Anna, mum, and I made our way towards where the gate into the rest of the city was, Molly called a goodbye as she needed to be the CRD presence today.
While I initially had been concerned that we might have trouble slipping out of the compound Without attracting too much attention, the continuous stream of contractors and government officials meant that we were mostly anonymous. We had an envelope full of papers for Anna from Molly saying that she was authorized back into the secure area, and I had already been logged into the system as a permitted synthetic, so I wasn’t too worried about getting back in. We drifted with the crowd till it thinned out a bit, at which point we pulled over to one of the clusters of vending machines that dotted the place.
“I will leave you two to your date.” Mum started with a smile. “ I know your mobiles won’t work here but you have my number so find a payphone if you need a hand.” She patted the lump the large local phone made in her bag in emphasis.
“Sure thing mum,” I answered then gave her a hug. “Good luck with all the meetings!”
“They will be fine,” She chuckled patting my head as I released her. “I have more than enough evidence of the value of a partnership, so I have no worries about those.” Once mum was sure I still had memorized her credit card by grabbing Anna a drink she was curious about from one of the vending machines, she bid us farewell to hail a passing taxi.
“Holy shit, there are so many robots here!” Anna commented between sips of her soda while watching a yards keeper synthetic trundle by in the park that surrounded the city hall behind us. “Was the taxi Dr. Woodward got in driverless? I didn’t see anyone else in it, and I know you mentioned them before.”
“Yep!” I confirmed then glanced back into the stream of pedestrian traffic to note that Anna was definitely getting some looks. The combo of dyed hair and the saturated colors of the clothes from home were starting to draw attention, hair dye seemed fairly rare here and while the clothes weren’t unheard-of, they definitely weren’t the current style. “Ready to get under cover?” I said with a grin.
“For sure!” She agreed before tossing the can off into a recycling bin. “Bleh, I don’t think pineapple and watermelon works.” I chuckled as we rejoined the foot traffic.
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The store I had planned on taking her to wasn’t much more than ten or fifteen minutes away from where we had been, while the park around city hall somewhat broke up the city it wasn’t like we were that far from the main street. I got a bit of a surprise when we got in there though.
“Oh, it’s you again.” The woman behind the counter said as I entered, and I realized she was the employee who had been on when mum and I came in to pay for the clothes I had stolen some weeks ago. “Coming in the front door today?”
“Uh, yeah,” I said with an awkward jittery head bob of acknowledgment, then felt the need to add to my response. “Er, I can pay today.”
“Sure you can, need any help?” She had a dry tone as if this was a regular or even boring occurrence to her. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Anna looking between us, a silent question on her face along with at least a measure of nervousness.
“Maybe in a few minutes, I think we were going to look around a bit first if that’s ok.”
“Just let me know.” She was already returning to a comic book behind the counter, not exactly trying to be the most attentive employee. I had no idea if this was just her normal attitude to people, or if she had placed me into a ‘not her problem’ bracket.
“What was that about?” Anna whispered the moment she thought we were far enough away, having been itching to speak.
“I’ve stolen quite a few things from here, she was on when we came back to pay for them.” I admitted as I hurriedly dragged her into the racks.
She stared at me for a moment with a raised eyebrow. “And you brought me here?”
“They have good stuff!” I countered, before half grumbling to myself as I broke eye contact guiltily. “I mean how else am I going to know what places are worthwhile here, it’s not like I was able to just casually drop in.”
There were a couple of awkward moments before she chuckled. “Well master thief, any suggestions to start with?”
We kinda bounced between stuff trying to find something suitable. Anna and I agreed that the local style was maybe a bit too angular looking on her and there weren’t any colors she really liked. We ended up going with essentially just the closest local equivalent to what she arrived in, A pair of brown grey over wrought shorts and a pastel blue tee that looked like it was made out of two distinct shirts merged with a ragged strip of grey hexagons running from one shoulder to her other hip.
Honestly, it was a fun little bit of exploration what with a lack of rush for me and how new everything was for Anna. Even if she hadn’t liked how the stuff looked on herself that didn’t deaden the experience. it’s not like many other people could claim to have gone shopping in another dimension after all.
“Are you sure we don’t want to get something for you too?” Anna asked while tugging the shirt back on in the changing room after I’d paid for them. “It seems like a waste…”
“Hmm, well we could but you do want to see more of the place than just one store right?” She grumbled some affirmative response, sensing an opportunity I leaned into whisper in her ear. “I have a suitcase of stuff I brought back from here I’ve barely touched, you can play dress up with me anytime you want.” She jerked her head back up with a smile, but I wasn’t quite done yet. “Better yet we could get physical without any risk of interruptions, well unless Master would like that of course. But I’m sure we could arrange something though.”
I will admit to having had quite the cheeky grin as she turned beet red, I had to resist giggling too much as I gave her a peck on the cheek before beginning to fold and pack away the clothes she had been wearing into my bag.
“All right well, we should stand out a little less now,” I said as we left the store, the employee having barely given more than the barest acknowledgment that we had been. “Ready for a tour? We aren’t that far from some neat as hell architecture…”
Honestly, the specifics of where we went didn’t seem too important, pretty much anywhere had something Anna would excitedly ask about. Be it an automated restaurant that I warned her wasn’t supposed to be any good according to a review in the paper I read once, or even just the courier bots that occasionally passed.
“Er, are those construction robots all… naked?” She commented as we drifted past a site.
“Yeah, clothing is mostly only a thing on public-facing roughly human ones,” I answered with a quick glance to note that they were much closer to done than when I had first passed here. “Clothing wears out pretty fast if it’s subjected to that kind of wear.”
“I guess that makes sense, but how do you feel about it?”
I got a slightly awkward smile and looked up at her. “It’s very weird, like strictly speaking neither them nor I have anything buuuut… I can’t really say I would want to be working all day naked at a construction site.” She flushed a bit and nodded; I suspect she had been disappearing into her imagination from the way her grip on my hand tightened as I had spoken.
“But what about looking at them, are any of them I dunno attractive or anything?” She asked the flush receding a bit.
I blinked a bit at her question. “No? It’s not like I can hold a conversation with them or something.”
“What do you mean by that?” She asked while I turned us off the main road into the small green space that was a bit too small to qualify as a park that was just a couple of buildings past the construction site.
“Oh, I guess we’ve never really talked about how weird the way attraction works for me or how I think it does anyway,” I said rubbing my neck while thinking what to say. “You check people out, right? You know to see if they are hot or something. ”
“Sorry?” She asked while looking guilty.
“I’m not judging you, just trying to explain,” I responded softly. “That’s something humans tend to do although some people are better at not doing it than others. Anyway, it’d not really a thing I do even unconsciously when I look at someone it’s not ‘are they hot’ it’s instead how do they relate to me in the most basic scale or appearance ways, sometimes if they are a threat or not too.”
Anna was entirely focused on me to the point she didn’t even turn her head to look at an assistant bot going by accompanying someone in a similar manner to myself, well besides not talking.
“Do you not find people visually attractive?” Anna asked confused. “You’ve commented on me a lot is that like an affection you do?”
“No, no, you are by far the hottest person I have ever encountered in my life,” I said dismissively. Like there was any question. “It’s more that I don’t seem to like proactively notice that about people? I thought you were cute after we first talked, maybe I can only consider someone’s appearance from an aesthetic point of view when I know them to some degree. Honestly can’t say I’ve seen anyone else that way since then though.” I paused realizing how flushed she had gotten.
“I know there are prettier people than me around.” Anna countered. “Even they don’t rate?”
“Nope, you’re the only person I have been attracted to since the change,” I confirmed. “Probably makes me weird but I hope you don’t mind.”
“Fuck Sam, you are really good at feeding my ego.” She said glancing away. “You think way too much of me.”
“Nope, you’re the best and I will say it till you accept.” I declared, then pulled on her hand. “Now come on, there’s a set of bushes we could make out in without people seeing over here.”
She started to laugh but then paused. “You don’t want people seeing? We’ve been walking around like this for a while and no one’s said anything, what are you worried about?”
“Yeah, but people just assume I am an assistant bot relaying a call, if you kiss me or something they will think you are like a robocel.” I explained stopping to look back to her.
“What?” She asked incredulously.
“Oh uh, not actually the local name for it but there’s like a thing where people buy assistant bots and then put uh well sex toys in them or whatever and then have them like a waifu or something.” I continued awkwardly while glancing around and then pulling her into the space between the bushes and the wall of the adjacent building. “I don’t want people to think you’re weird because of me.” Without anyone around I immediately pulled myself into a hug against her, sighing just a little in satisfaction at the comforting feeling it induced.
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.
She returned the hug without hesitation. “I don’t care if I look weird Sam.” She chided me. “They aren’t important to me, you are. So do all the PDA you want, they can think I am one of those people if they want but I know better.”
“Some of them say that too,” I admitted a little muffled. “But ok.”
I leaned my head back to look up at her, then reached up to pull her head down. I didn’t get the opportunity to though since she shoved her head down to meet my lips.
----------------------------------------
“Wait, is that a robot store?” Anna asked a bit later while pointing across the street at a shop with a broad front through which vague humanoid shapes could just about be seen from here.
“Yep, I don’t think I’ve been in that one,” I confirmed. “Bit more upmarket and showroom rather than something I could go to for random extras and raw materials.”
“Do you mind if we go in?” She asked practically bouncing while attempting to keep her focus on me, her failure to keep from snatching glances towards it was quite amusing.
“That’s why we’re here Anna.” I answered with a smile.
The door dinged as we entered, Anna a bit ahead of me in her excitement to go in. The security at this place was a step up from other stores I had been in, with beefier doors and a security bot like I had encountered on my first day here waiting in an alcove in the wall. I even had to exchange the briefest interchange with the security system as it logged our visit, it wasn’t exactly an intensive interaction, just handing off an ID before it went back to waiting for something to happen.
“Hello,” The staffer started after looking up from the terminal he had been typing on. “Are you here for maintenance or trading in your current assistant?” he glanced at me for a moment. “I don’t recognize the model but we can set something up for you I am sure.”
“Uh no,” Anna answered a bit indignant. “We were just going to browse.”
An eyebrow raised and I assumed he had placed her into the weird category already. “Sure, just let me know if you need anything.”
She nodded then pulled me along into the rest of the showroom.
“’Trade you in’, what does he think you are-“ Anna started in a quiet angry tone.
“A robot Anna,” I interjected softly. “Even if someone might feel very attached to one they own, even the most advanced models capable of conversations are just fancy chat bots. “
“Oh. Right.” She deflated a bit as we stopped next to a display of fancy synthetics for yard work. “But then people just see you as a thing, not a person.”
“Legally I am not a person here.” I reminded her still speaking softly, having taken her right hand in both of mine. “So far as anyone here is concerned, I am a prototype that is owned by General Synthetics, without even the most minor of rights. The only reason someone couldn’t do anything they want to me is that there is a large corporation that would object.”
Her expression had turned to horror. “Really?”
“Yes Anna, does a Roomba have rights back home?” I asked trying to give context. “There’s no precedent for a sapient synthetic here, so there’s no reason for there to be laws to protect one.” I gestured at the display beside us.“ They are all just complex machines with well-defined, if sometimes broad, purposes.”
I am not sure I have ever seen her quite so defeated looking, I quickly glanced back at the staffer who was preoccupied with their terminal again, then reached up to give Anna a kiss on the cheek and pull her into a hug.
“It’s not ok, but I’m fine Anna,” I said trying to mollify her. “I am strong enough to take care of myself and I know I have a home I can go back to where I am a person legally as well as practically. Now come on, there’s a whole bunch of synthetics in here, I can probably answer a decent number of questions on them, and we can take all the brochures you could want back too.” I said drawing her back to what she had wanted to come in for, after a moment she nodded.
“OK, Sam.” She paused for a moment. “I love you regardless of what they say you are.”
“I know you do,” I answered with a smile. “I love you too.”
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“There are self-driving cars here, so why would you need a chauffeur robot?” Anna asked confused a bit later as we were leaving the more practical section of the showroom.
“Cause you’re rich,” I answered with a shrug. “So far as I am aware they are just vanity things, there are some applications for driving old cars without modification but even that’s not exactly normal person stuff.”
“Ah.” She answered. “Woah, what are those?”
I glanced in the direction she was looking to see a row of assistant synthetics. I had known that a major store like this had to have had them what with their relative popularity amongst well-to-do individuals but seeing them arrayed in their elegant arrangements was eliciting… awkward feelings being with Anna.
“General purpose assistants,” I answered a little awkwardly. “Think me without combat capabilities and probably a bit more office-oriented.”
She walked in their direction while I trailed behind a bit uncertainly. While I’ve been aware of them since that first morning, something about them was disconcerting now.
“They are fancy!” She commented once we reached the display, the central one was the same model as I had seen in the newspaper I had found the same day I had arrived. Tall and willowy it was in the wispy marketing dress from the ad, this one had long chestnut colored hair spilling over its shoulders with a roughly Caucasian skin tone. Flanking it were a few competitors or lower-grade models in a variety of skin tones, hair, and body shapes.
“Ah yeah.” I confirmed, stopping a step behind her while she flipped through a brochure.
“Huh, that one can run for three days without refueling.” She said of the central one as I winced while considering how limited my own range was, I had even packed a thermos of oil in my handbag just in case. “Oh there’s the phone feature you talked about earlier, ‘capable of relaying calls from select Sony and Northern Telecom phones’… “
She spent the next few minutes walking around the display, brochure still open in her hands while commenting on them. “Holy shit that one has big boobs.” She said of one, and I glanced down at my rather lack thereof. Then shook myself and tried not to wonder if that was something I was… lacking for her tastes, she had been pretty aware of the Blaz Blu characters’ endowments but those usually weren’t exactly in normal human proportions anyway.
“’The introduction of an industry-first carbon fiber skeleton and Mitsubishi’s proprietary weight reduction enchantments means that the Anemone assistant is a mere fifty kilos…’” She read out pausing at another. Which sent my mind bouncing off lines of reasoning like If I was that light then I could sit in her lap without worrying about injuring her. While I wasn’t actually out of human possible weights I was pretty tiny so when combined with my unyielding surface I hadn’t wanted to risk anything the times when she had asked in the past.
“Wait, why can this one type out dictation as well as outputting it directly, that doesn’t seem particularly efficient.” She said pausing next to the last one, a lower-end General Synthetics model that wasn’t that high tech but even it was lighter, more energy efficient, and shapelier than me.
“Same idea as the driver bot, makes you look rich,” I responded, my tone a bit off as I turned to look out into the rest of the showroom. There was quiet for a moment then I heard her step closer to me.
“Sam are you ok?” She asked gently. “Your voice sounds upset and I can hear your thoughts are discordant.”
“just… just out of it I guess.” I answered not wanting to voice my feelings.
“Sam, what’s wrong?” She asked a bit more forcefully and I looked back at her concerned expression. I hesitated for a long moment unwilling to actually say anything.
I dropped my head down and then answered in barely more than a whisper. “I guess I feel inadequate.”
“Whatever for?” She asked incredulously.
“They,” I gestured an arm in the direction of the displays. “Are all lighter, more efficient, taller, and better looking than I am. I’m just a dense little fuel-guzzling practical thing that clanks all over the place.” I answered a little bitterly.
She pulled me into a hug and rested her head on mine.
“Sam please, none of them are nearly as attractive to me as you are.” She countered. “I love how you look and sound, and you’re real in a way those just aren’t. I want you Sam, not some ridiculous robot designed to look like a pin-up model.”
“Really?” I snorted.
“Oh come off it Sam, you don’t need to get jealous of them. You are just as beautiful and far more elegantly designed than them, like look at this.” She pulled me towards the Mitsubishi one she had just been at, and I reluctantly let her. “See how they have this shoulder joint with all the splayed-out actuators?”
“Yeah,” I confirmed a little sullen still looking at the overall shape. “What about it?”
She started running her hands through my own shoulders, which distracted me almost past being able to listen to her continue.
“Yours are far nicer in how they are arranged, they result in your shoulders looking far more human in proportions.” She explained through the fog. “Or look at your face, you have your fine beautiful little metal traces that have been placed so as to emphasize your features.” She gestured up and I worked to get my focus up to what she was pointing to, it being a little easier without her massaging my joints. “They just put those bits of rubber to bridge the gaps and it isn’t a exact match to the skin, so she looks a bit mottled.”
“I guess.” I answered uncertainly. “But I am still small and inefficient.”
“I like how tall you are.” She declared. “I can get you in a good hug and I love the gap between our heights, it’s like a couple in a movie or something. As for the efficiency thing, it’s not an issue to me but can you explain why you aren’t?”
“Because I am heavier because of being designed with intent towards being able to fight,” I explained. “More mass, less space devoted to fuel, and actuators intended for power rather than efficiency.”
“And how well would you fight without those, could you have fought your kidnappers if your body was like one of theirs?” She asked. “Or that incident that resulted in you being in this place?”
I paused for a moment. “No, no I wouldn’t have,” I admitted reluctantly. “The shots I’ve taken would probably core one of them out and they wouldn’t be able to move fast enough to disarm them. I’m not even sure they have the strength needed.”
“Well, there you are,” Anna chuckled while patting my head. “I love having a badass girlfriend who helps people and I doubt you would really rather be some impractical display piece.”
“You're right of course.” I agreed with a sigh. “Sorry for being weird about it.
“It’s fine Sam, these things aren’t necessarily rational.” She pointed out then giggled a bit. “Besides it’s kinda cute you’re getting jealous, are you worried you have to vie for my attention from every cute robot I see?”
I steamed up a little and fidgeted while not meeting her eyes then almost whispered a response. “Yeah…” As something she said sunk in, I then reacted more forcefully. “See you even said they are cute!”
She laughed and then all but pulled herself onto me before planting a kiss on my cheek and speaking right into my ear.
“Not as cute as you though!”
I was grateful that with it being the middle of the work day and the comparative privacy of this part of the store we didn’t have anyone drop in on the impromptu make-out session Anna forcefully started and I had trouble resisting.
Eventually, we disentangled ourselves, but not before she asked a question of curiosity. “Say, nothing in this section of the store has a price listed, I take it these are pricy?” she asked while still holding my head tight beneath hers against her neck.
“If you have to ask…” I mumbled out.
“Oh I know, but like what are we talking? An expensive car?”
“Around that, nothing here is the fancy stuff either. But even down this bracket, the models are pretty customizable, so a list price doesn’t make much sense.”
“Ah true…”
Once we had spent a bit rearranging ourselves we decided to head on as we were running out of stuff to look at. Plus, an employee had started lurking and giving me the eyeball in a way that implied we would probably start getting some interesting questions soon.
“Did we have a destination before we went in there?” Anna asked once we had been walking for a bit.
“Not really, I’ve just been winging this trip really,” I answered with a shrug before pinging the time off a passing courier. “It’s after school hours so I might introduce you to a local I know if you are up for a walk and a wait that is.”
“Sure, it’s neat walking around here anyway.”
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“This place is almost identical,” Anna commented as we walked through the woods in the park near her place. “You could forget we aren’t back home.”
“Yeah,” I confirmed sadly. “That’s why I spent so much time here.”
She squeezed my hand and I smiled up at her trying to disarm her worry.
“I don’t have a reliable way of contacting her, but she pretty regularly checked here when she hadn’t seen me yet,” I commented as we arrived at the little bridge over the stream. “May as well see if she turns up.”
We stood for a few minutes then Anna pointed out the park bench nearby, and we snuggled there for a while. I was dragged into cohesive thoughts by a voice in what felt like just moments later.
“You do have a girlfriend.”
“Hello Ali,” I mumbled looking over the back of the bench at her while Anna turned to face the voice too. “Good to see you too, I wasn’t sure you would be by.”
“I asked big sis to tell me if she saw you on the news,” she answered. “They still show the conferences and she saw your hair today.”
“That works,” I answered. “I still need to meet her sometime, she still works till pretty late right?” I got a nod. “Ah, gonna have to be another time then.”
“Anna, this is Ali, she taught me how synthetics normally behave here, a set of skills I basically haven’t used at all today thanks to being with you.”
“Nice to meet you.” Anna said offering a hand, which Ali stared at for a moment before very briefly shaking.
“You don’t need any more lessons?”
“Probably not no,” I confirmed with a chuckle, she looked disappointed prompting me to go searching in my bag for a moment. When I emerged she was giving me a funny look, but I handed off the sheet of paper and the old cell phone with its charger I had pulled out to her anyway.
“What are these?” She asked confused.
“That is the contact info for the sort of embassy that is forming here along with a phone loaded with my contact info and a few others.” She looked at the phone confused.
“Why?”
“Well if you ever need me this gives you a way to get to the people who can get me, it also offers some degree of proof that your claims of knowing me are real.” I looked around and leaned forward to speak quietly. “HRT and other trans support stuff are a bit easier to get over there too.”
She startled back and looked at me wide-eyed.
“This isn’t exactly some setup thing with the government over there, but I have friends in surprisingly high places,” I said with a grin, Anna was looking between us confused, but I addressed Ali for a moment more. “Are you ok with me explaining?
Ali frowned looking at Anna. “Can you keep a secret?”
“Um yeah.” Anna responded.
“Then yes.” Ali said to me.
“Her sister is AMAB,” I said to Anna as way of explanation. “While not that bigoted about it they are still a decade or two behind even where we are back home on the subject.”
“Oh, ok,” Anna said then addressed Ali. “Sorry to hear that.”
Ali shrugged somewhat hopelessly than the paper in her hand crinkled and a brief smile appeared. “I probably need to get going.” She said abruptly.
“Sure, it was great to see you again,” I answered. “Just let me show you enough of how to operate the phone…”
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Anna was still distracted by someone going by with a bodyguard synthetic across the street, so it took a moment for her to realize I had paused as we were wandering downtown. “This place might have some useful stuff actually.” I mentioned while pointing at ‘Walser’s Synthetic Parts Depot’. “It’s a chain store, but this one looked like it was well-run when I visited it before.”
“How many of those times did you come in the front door?” She asked with amusement, then when I didn’t immediately respond having started steaming up and stammering she offered an escape to me. “What are you looking for?”
“Uh… um… they have mana lattices and stuff, I wanted to show you options.” She had a blank look for a moment so I elaborated. “You know, like the magic for weight reduction for those sword drones you were sketching.” She got a twinkle in her eyes and immediately proceeded towards it, making what would have been a futile attempt to pull me with her as she crossed in front of me.
I smiled despite her being unable to see it while letting her take the lead. We got some attention from the guy at the only open cash register as we entered, but the most he did was pay particularly close attention to my hand in Anna’s. He startled a bit when I gave him an attempt at a diffusing smile, I’m not sure if it was surprise at being acknowledged or that my attempt failed.
Looking away from him towards Anna I found her glancing around at the various isles that filled the building. It wasn’t the largest of stores, but it was enough to be slightly daunting at first glance despite the clear labels hanging from the ceiling at the ends of the isles we could see. “Do they spread them out amongst the categories? Like should we go to one of the motive isles?”
“Nah, these aren’t going to be on the shelves, you see that section over there? With the kiosk and the girl at a computer?”
“Yeah?”
“It’s to overlook them so there’s someone to prevent theft in theory, it’s the label with a bunch of brand names rather than a category name.” I had already started towards it as I explained, letting her trail behind me while peeking down each row of shelves as we passed.
“That was someone’s leg!” She exclaimed in what could only charitably be called a whisper to me as we passed one.
“Probably for a Mitsubishi assistant, they standardized them so stores will often carry a spare or two-“
“But it’s like-“
“Not something most people worry about, it’s fine I mostly just don’t look at that sort of thing.” She was still looking back. “Really, I’ve gotten used to seeing some pretty gross stuff I can deal with that much.”
“If you say so.” She answered reluctantly.
A few moments more brought us to a relatively small locked and mesh-covered cabinet a couple of meters wide, with rows of small boxes in a wild array of colors on the bottom half then the top being a multitiered set of racks.
Upon each level was a series of small cradles with a single lattice upon each and a placard beside it stating information as to the model and characteristics of each. Unlike the boxes below, they were far more uniform with the majority being about the size of my thumb and typically appearing to be some mix of pink and gray stone, either naturally swirled together or being a sandwich of differing colors. There were a few exceptions like a few had streaks of green or blue mixed in, and there was one that was a wide flat lattice almost the width of my palm, but most were mostly only distinguishable by the placard and maybe a label printed onto the crystal themselves.
“Huh, so these are the magic things then?” Anna was drifting her gaze around the cabinet clearly a bit lost as to what to focus on with the lack of differentiation between the different types. Even I could only recognize a few random ones what with only having had a few opportunities to encounter them. “Jesus, does that one say two thousand dollars? Fuck that’s steep, and it’s tiny.”
I followed her finger to a memory unit that was about the size of a fingernail on the nearest part of the racks to us. “Oh, yeah that’s a basic one,” I commented. “Uhhhh, Yamaha is the OEM for that one I think? It’s pretty common. But those sorts are always going to be more expensive since it’s technically multi-functionality, as memory options are a little tricky to do otherwise.”
“Fuuuck, I don’t think we’re using any of these if that’s what they run.”
I chuckled then point up a few rows to a rough cylinder like a AA battery cut in half of pink stone. “That’s more what we would be looking at, single-purpose weight reduction. Used for small drones and model aircraft, practically cheap at three fifty a pop.”
“God, Sam we would need like eight or ten of those assuming I don’t break one. I don’t have four kay to drop on part of one costume!”
I nodded acknowledging her point. “Yeah, I was kinda thinking of that after I mentioned it to you. Maybe getting one or two for a couple of swords could work though, that would be enough to be cool.”
“That could definitely work! That’s steep but the reaction could be worth it!” She agreed a cocky grin spreading on her face. “I would love to see Zoey’s face if we came with actual magic! She’s always been into that sort of stuff.” Anna noticed my pause while trying to put a face to the name. “She had the ruby costume.”
“Ah yeah.” I bobbed my head, her friend vaguely in my mind. I gave Anna a crooked grin as a thought crossed my mind. “You know she’s already seen far more advanced magic than anything in here right?”
“Huh?” Anna jerked her head back to me from having been looking at the weight reduction nodule.
I tapped my head with a finger. “I have three big lattices in my head alone.” I reminded her. “That little crystal could maybe reduce the mass of a two-kilo thing down to six or seven hundred grams, but after that has no effect. I have like a hundred-kilo reduction going on, then there’s all the stuff around thinking, wear, senses, and everything else.”
Anna blinked at me for a second, then I stretched up to whisper in her ear. “One of them is probably worth like a million on its own.” I pulled back and then chuckled at her stunned expression. “What? You didn’t think I had like basic stuff you could get in any parts store did you?”
Her mouth worked for a second then she swallowed. “Uh, I haven’t really thought about that.” She blanched a little. “What if you need spare parts? I don’t think I could ever afford to get you anything.”
My mouth turned from a smile to a grim line. “I try not to think about it, mum assured me not to worry about anything like that but who knows? I think of all things these are pretty stable, wear isn’t something that’s happened to any lattices that I know of, there’s a massive market around salvaging them for new things or to replace physically broken ones.”
“That’s a relief,” Anna commented with a sigh, then got a worried expression again. “What can break them? Are they delicate?”
I shrugged. “Not really, they are layers of almost plastic flexible rock in resin. But I guess stuff happens anyway right?”
She nodded while moving closer to me, possibly unconsciously from her somewhat distant look.
“Can I help you with anything?” A voice called from nearby, a look revealed it to be the girl who had been behind in the kiosk. She was speaking to Anna, but staring at me with a studying look.
“Uh, were we going to buy one of those Sam?” Anna bounced the question to me, some mix of nervousness about interacting with the employee and leery of spending the money.
“Not right now,” I answered while returning the look the girl was giving me, causing her to blink. “It would be spending mum’s money so I would like to run it by her at least, and I would need to go to a pay phone for that.”
“Um. That’s a very very extremely fancy uh synthetic you have there.” The girl addressed Anna, breaking eye contact with me for just a second. “Or um, are you…” She seemed to be at a loss.
“I’m a person,” I answered flashing peace fingers at her, the fact this only raised her confusion was kinda funny. “And thank you? I think.”
“You’re welcome?” She answered uncertainly brushing a blonde lock away unconsciously while staring at me.
“Let’s go and call mum, see what she says,” I said to Anna to blatantly attempt to escape an increasingly awkward situation.
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“… yep. Love you too. Bye.” I returned the phone to its hook getting a surprisingly satisfying little click as it slotted into place.
“So, what did she say?” Anna asked hopefully.
“Well, she said that we shouldn’t pick those ones up-“Annas’ face was already falling so I hastened to the point rather than explain her reasoning. “- but she is going to bring us some better ones from the lab.”
“What? I can’t afford that!”
“Doesn’t sound like she’s expecting compensation.” I pointed out with a wry smile. “You heard I only gave the briefest summary, but she’s interested in the idea and quoting her now, ‘I have a budget for that’.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah, sure seems like being the daughter of the head of R and D at one of the largest manufacturers of robots has its perks.” I joked dryly.
“No kidding, did she say what she’s bringing?”
“Nope.” I shrugged. “I can’t imagine she’s going to do it by half measures though.”
Anna nodded then we fell into a slightly awkward pause as we contemplated what mum’s involvement might mean.
“So, what’s the food like here?” Anna eventually asked switching topic.
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“I mean it’s pretty decent, but where’s the noodle stands to go with the aesthetic.” She groused from beside me on the bench we had stopped at, adjusting the wrapper on the burger and taking another bite.
“It’s not that cyberpunk here.“ I countered while glancing up the path at a city trail maintenance synthetic that was being a bit noisy while trimming the edge of the grass that was intruding onto the pavement. “Besides there are a few supposedly good noodle places near here, it’s just they are sit-down places that you spend a while at.”
While we still had a good margin before we strictly had to be back for the scheduled return time, neither of us was too thrilled by the possibility of being late. So we ended up swinging by one of the fast food chains, while it didn’t look like McDonald’s got to the same size, there was one almost as ubiquitous called Sonny’s at least here in Canada.
“Mmmph,” She responded before swallowing. “We have to come back to them then.”
“Sounds good.” I agreed.
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“Hey Kat ready to go?” I asked peeking my head into her… office wasn’t quite the right word for it but calling it a cubicle didn’t quite fit with how large the enclosed area was.
One of the other things I had missed was amongst the increasing number of support staff the CRD had picked up was a surprisingly extensive number of physicists and mathematicians whom Kat had apparently ended up in some pseudo-leadership position. This included a separated space from the chaotic mess that was starting to form in the rest of the former office space above the bunker complex, while the paper and laptops made sense I couldn’t really understand why there seemed to be piles of plastic sprues and other hobbies collecting in spaces of her coworkers.
“Just give me a second to finish this email,” Kat responded absentmindedly. I glanced over at the clock finding it really was almost seven, I had the excuse of not even having been on site most of the day but she had probably been working since before we had texted in the morning given some of the things she had mentioned and that was at quarter past nine!
“We don’t have to go today-“ I started to offer, while I had been the one to propose going for a run, I hadn’t really realized how late her work was keeping her these days.
“Nope! I’m done.” She denied slamming the lid on her laptop shut and then grabbing her backpack up from where it was leaning against her desk. She turned to me and then paused presumably noticing I was already in my exercise clothes. “Ah, sorry I don’t have my stuff with me so we have to go back home first.”
I shrugged, having already anticipated her comment. “I was just with Molly down in the dungeon, so I was already in this stuff. I couldn’t be bothered to change just to hop on the bus for twenty minutes.” While I was almost entirely focused on preparing for my imminent exams and Molly had vehemently opposed adding any resumption of my CRD work until then, she had been willing to continue her training after I pointed out I needed to excise anyway. I think how excitedly Anna had talked her ear off after we got back from our date and my hanging out was calming any relationship concerns that Molly had, so that was nice.
“Ah OK… oh shit the bus is in three, we might be able to get it still.”
The ride back to Kat’s apartment was mostly uneventful but she did spend half of it ranting about something that basically went in one ear and out the other for me. I surmised it was some aspect of how a tunnel was kept stable once formed between dimensions but even when she gave abstract examples it didn’t really help much.
“… so maybe we don’t actually need to keep the dais once the connection is established.” She was explaining while unlocking her front door. “If we can figure out how to- Oh hey Serena we’re going out want to join us?”
The mountain of a woman looked up from where she was laying on the couch watching some show on her tablet. “Sure, wait ‘we’-“ she glanced past Kat to where I had a hand up in a wave. “Ah.”
Kat was already vanishing into her room, so I got an opportunity to be reminded that there were still a good number of people I hadn’t talked to since vanishing for the better part of two months. “Hey, how’s it going?” I offered, managing to not move my mouth with the sounds for a moment or two as I rushed to fill an awkward silence trying to form.
“At least your sister told me what happened this time after she stopped bouncing off the ceiling.” She answered with a disapproving look and a raised eyebrow. “Are you making a habit of getting kidnapped?”
“No?” I answered with my best attempt at a disarming smile, getting a snort of laughter in return as she launched herself from the couch before stretching a moment.
“Now get over here and give me a hug you little idiot, you had me worried too you know?”
“Uh, sorry,” I mumbled while approaching her, ever so slightly leerily. While training with Molly had improved my confidence in hand-to-hand, the idea of going against the wishes of someone who was probably half again my own height and who lifts weights similar to my total mass without the reduction enchantments is still a terrifying concept.
A fact further reinforced when she pulled me into a bear hug and lifted me off the ground.
Creeeeeeeaak.
“Easy! Easy!” I squeaked out while returning the hug as if my life depended on it. Which it might honestly. “It’s good to see you too!”
“Ha, sorry.” She said genuinely apologetic while settling me back down. “Let me just get ready too, eh?” She tousled my hair before heading off towards her room, leaving me to attempt to restore it to order while I waited.