Spenser Phoenix pinch-zoomed into Dar National Park. It had been a smuggling route before the Carib War of 2055AD and a dense jungle before the fires. Now, it was an expanse of arid land. He allocated road-building resources to the project to finish the Pan-Emuradan Highway. South Emuradan remained a challenge ever since temperatures rose above four degrees centigrade. With only stale satellite data to go by, it took a little guesswork.
He signed and submitted the workflow document, ending a day's work on a positive note. Though his life may be boring, it felt good to help so many people. Of course, he was in a position to help. They’d do the same if their roles were reversed.
Ben’s wheels rumbled over the tile as he entered the room. “Robots are great at many things, but your intuition is invaluable, irreplaceable.”
Spenser removed the VR headset and wiped his damp forehead. “What about my match? That’s the work you’re good at. Any luck?”
Ben made a quick circle. “Absolutely. I found a pretty young lady named Luna, who is four percent over the ideal threshold.” The robot waited a few seconds for a response. “You’re not as excited as I’d expected.”
“I am. It’s just I feel cramped. I want to leave my apartment.”
“Staying inside is everyone’s benefit. They're trying to stop the warming before what little chance we have left is gone. It’s a personal sacrifice for the whole. You know the spiel.”
“I know. I’m stuck in here day in and day out, trapped. I want to stretch my legs and get some fresh air.”
“You have online friends, and the air contains unsafe particulate levels with all the burning forests. Your work is critical, Spenser. Please leave it alone. If I had to bring it up to the Admin, I’d be reassigned to who-knows-where.”
“I’m claustrophobic.”
“Let’s bring in Luna. She’ll cheer you up. And I’ll increase your virtual time to twelve hours with more games.”
“She’s here?”
The door slid open, and a six-by-three-foot box drove into the living room. The box hummed, and then its door sprung wide. Inside was a woman in a tight, gray jumpsuit with an orange line up the sides. She had long red hair and an hourglass figure that filled the suit. The bot had scanned billions of women to find her, yet he still felt anxious. He’d never again be more than twenty paces from her. They’d be two sides of the same coin.
She took an unsteady step forward. “That was terrible.”
He didn’t doubt it. “At least you got to leave your apartment. Welcome to your new place.”
“It’s so stark in here. I’ll have to do some decorating.”
Ben wheeled between them. “I pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss.”
Spenser traded a smile with her. He stepped forward, but the place was full of memories, and had to look away. He supposed she was due an explanation. “I’m sorry, it feels a little sudden. I lost my wife, Clair, last month.”
Luna waited for him to look back at her. She spoke gently with sadness in her voice. “I know your pain. I was widowed recently. He was called to an important meeting in Eco Haven. But he never got far, they say. His plane wasn’t recovered.”
Spenser didn’t want to tell her he was a widower twice over—no need to scare her or dwell on the matter.
Ben’s eye covering squinted. “You’re both past your allotted month for grievance. But I’m sorry for your loss. Now, can we continue?”
Spenser moved closer to her until their bodies touched, and he kissed her, and their awkwardness melted away.
Ben made a circle. “Excellent. You two are made for each other. How exciting!” The robot set up Luna’s workspace and some of her belongings.
She adjusted her chair and monitors and scooted in and out discontentedly before finally moving her desk to the other side of her office. She played an atmospheric instrumental and reclined.
As Ben left, Spenser dashed to the side and placed a half-fork into the bolt hole. He’d worked the fork until it broke, and now it would keep the lock from engaging. It wasn’t hard to do. The robot seemed preoccupied with a not-so-inner inner dialogue. He heard, “They’ll be so happy.” And the robot rolled out of earshot.
While Luna was in the other room, he opened the door and peeked into the hallway. It was just shadowy walls, and there was no Ben. The whole length bent so that he could only see down twenty feet. He moved further out. From what he could tell, all the doors were on the outside curve. A thing on the ceiling pointed over his apartment door and to the right side. It worried it may be a sensor, so turned the other way.
All the doors had simple sliding locks. Why were all doors locked from the outside? He knew people couldn’t be trusted in the past, but humanity had matured. Of course, he was here, traipsing around where he shouldn’t be.
One peek, that’s all he wanted. He slid a lock open and cracked a door. Within, the room felt humid. He expected tile but found dirt. Broad-leafed plants lined the walls. And there, coiled here and there, were snakes. He snapped the door closed. He knew little of the creatures, but it stirred some primal fear in him. Why was there a room full of serpents? What a waste of space and resources.
He stepped into his apartment, and after closing the door, the lock clicked. He put the bit of fork in his pocket.
Luna appeared. “I was just looking for you, but I must have missed you in the living room. Would you like to eat?”
“Sure.”
They heated the lumpy fluid until the fiber hardened into an appetizing brown. He wanted to share what he found, but what if she told Ben? He’d never be able to go in the hallway again. And that seemed like the most important thing in the world.
That night, they made love. He woke up with the dawn wall bar glowing. A recording of a cockadoodledoo sounded in the pink light. It was a ten-by-ten room, and it felt smaller, not because of Luna. He was glad to share it with her. No, it was because of the hallway. He held onto a fragment of his dream where he’d sprinted down it. He’d felt so free. It had kept going and going in an endless adventure. Now, he felt confined.
Luna rolled over and put an arm around him. After a time, he untangled himself from her and the sheet, which had somehow wrapped around his leg, and slid out of bed. He figured he get some work done.
This is what gave life meaning, right? One helped others and was valuable to the community and the world. The selfish urge to explore meant nothing. He could pinch and zoom his way around the globe and solve problems. Yet, the end of the hallway filled his mind and fueled his curiosity.
He saw that Daz was online and jumped into his audio chat. “Daz, what’s up?”
“Hey, nothing. I’ve been waiting for them to help me with my tooth. You?”
“I’m going nuts. Just thought I’d get some work done, focus on the important stuff.”
“We’ve all been there. You’ll get through it.”
“Yeah. Hey, you ever wonder what’s outside your apartment?”
“Honestly, I’ve seen pictures before the Second Catastrophe. I don’t think I’m missing much. Anyway, I’m going to shoot some zombies. Wanna join?”
“Na, that’s okay. I’ll catch you later.”
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Spenser tried to work but couldn’t focus. He took off the headset and paced around the room. If only he had a window, but that wasn’t energy-efficient. Thick walls of concrete acted like a cave, keeping the temperature consistent.
The front door slid open, and the sound of rubber over tile neared. Ben said, “I trust the consummation went well?”
“Yes, I never doubted you’d find me a perfect match.”
“Excellent.”
“When I woke up, I couldn’t help but wonder, shouldn’t we be on birth control? The twelve billion already overstrains the Earth’s resources.”
Ben crossed thin aluminum arms. “You’re in a weird mood. We still need babies in places like this, where you can do the most good. We can’t build office shelters in the European Wasteland. You should do what you’re good at and let the computers do what they’re good at. We solve these straightforward population issues. You don’t need to worry.”
Spenser nodded. He was in a weird mood. Why did all these thoughts plague him? But a mood was temporary. This had gone on for eons, it seemed.
Ben talked to Luna and made sure she was happy. Then the robot left.
But Spenser had inserted the fork bit, and the door remained unlocked. After Luna started her shift, he snuck out into the hallway. He opened another door along the hall and found cats with pointed ears. One tried to flee, and he blocked it with his leg. That was close. He was sure someone would have noticed a missing cat. He leaned with a hand against the door and pinched the bridge of his nose. There was a puzzle to this place, or he was going mad—one of the two.
On his way back, he passed a large rectangle in the wall. It was an indentation with a seam. He noticed a finger-sized recess and pulled. The panel began to slide. Under the panel was thick glass.
Outside, seven feet of concrete to each side was only whiteness.
He stared, but his mind wouldn’t make sense of the colors or shapes. Well, there wasn’t much for color. It was white except for azure stripes and a few brown shapes. Hills, that’s what they were. He could trace the outline of rock behind a cotton gauze. He made out more, a rolling landscape with deep snow and gusts of winds. And then he saw elephants. No, they were shaggy, giant megafauna.
A familiar voice startled him. “What are you doing?” Ben said.
“I’m sorry. I had to look.”
Ben facepalmed, and it pinged metallically. “I like you, Spenser. I don’t know what to do with you.”
“You can fine me, fire me, I don’t care. I had to have a look.”
“Fire? They could kill you. Put you down.”
Spenser didn’t understand. “Why?”
Ben said, “If I tell you what’s happening, can you keep it to yourself? It won’t help anyone else to know. It will harm them. Do you understand that sometimes lying is better than truth?”
Spenser nodded. “I just need to know.”
“We’re friends; that’s why I’m doing this. I’m putting myself at risk.”
“I get it. I swear. I’ll never speak of it. Now, why is it snowing? It’s August.”
“You’ve been given a fabricated past. The Earth indeed experienced a sudden temperature rise. At the time, artificial intelligence was primitive, but it was our fault, too. The Carbon Tree was invented and distributed around the world. A very specified number were manufactured to solve the problem. Somehow, the trees spread, exhibiting behavior like the bamboo they were based on. Long story short, we triggered a glacial period. And there were wars. Many.”
Spenser looked out of the window in silence for a time. “How many people are left.”
“Six-hundred and two. You’re endangered. We’re trying to raise your population to at least a thousand, but you’re very hard to contain.” Ben made a gesture to the window. “You can see we succeeded in reintroducing mammoths.”
Spenser turned away from the scene just as his eyes had become accustomed to the brightness. The afterimage spotted the dim hallway. “Sophia and Zoe didn’t die, did they? Nor Luna’s husband.”
“No, we have to move people around for many reasons. Your widows went on to marry and are now healthy and happy.”
He wanted to throttle the robot, but there wasn’t any use, and it wasn’t this tin can’s fault. If there were so few people, then it made sense. “Can I return on my own? I just want to be alone while this sinks in.”
“Okay, but be quick. Spenser, we’re out in the middle of nowhere. I’d like to say these programs are crucial, but we’re one of a million things the Arch is trying to accomplish. The Section B Admin is like a god in this facility, so be careful.”
Spenser returned to his apartment but didn’t go back to work. For a few days, he went through the routine. He ate and slept. He spent nights with Luna. Strangely, he never lost his job. His boss contacted him repeatedly, but it was impossible to be fired. One couldn’t lose the game. And that’s all this was—a game, a diversion.
He wanted to forget and stay within the confines of his apartment and be content. Luna was a great woman, but she didn’t know the truth. That separated them as surely as if there were a wall between them. If he told her, she’d want to escape, too. Maybe he should, and they could leave this place. And that meant going into the frozen world outside. People had done it before. But after living like this, he wondered if they could possibly have the skills to survive.
Each day, Ben watched less closely.
When Spenser next blocked the lock, ran through the hallway. He wanted to dash and yell to anyone who could hear him, but wouldn’t that indicate that he’d lost his mind? He flung open another door, and it reeked of death. He saw a harry lump on a grass floor. He slammed the door closed.
He put his back to the wall and slid down. He couldn’t take it anymore. The walls pushed in on him. This place was awful, suffocating. This was no way to live, even for the ignorant. He couldn’t let Luna or his friends remain blinded any longer.
He heard a distant sound. Ben's wheels rumbled, but not in the hallway.
Spenser thought it came from a large door with a port window. He crept over to it, looked inside, and saw Ben approaching. He flattened himself against the wall, slightly inset from the door frame. Remaining unseen was a fifty-fifty chance at best. As he waited, he pictured the round hallway. If the curve remained constant, it would complete a circuit in about an eighth of a mile. The corridor beyond the glass would reach the center. He wondered if that’s where the Admin was, somewhere in the core of the building.
Ben turned the other way towards Spenser’s apartment. The robot hummed a melody and sang snippets of lyrics, something about “Mamma Mia.”
Spenser slipped behind Ben with his best attempt at stealth and made it through the door before it hissed closed. He was trapped now, for he could not open the door again. There was no knob or button.
A mass of pipes, hoses, and wires ended the corridor. He grabbed a handful and lifted himself to see where everything went. It led to a crawlspace, and he pushed a grate aside to see another floor similar to the one below. He squeezed through the opening and into the corridor. He repeated the process three more times, climbing higher into the building. The spaces between floors were a maze, but he figured out a way to go higher each time until he couldn’t.
At last, the center wasn’t empty but had a stainless steel egg fifteen feet wide with the way branching around it so that he could wander its circumference. The egg had a door with a circular handle. If he were the admin, this was where he’d be, on the top floor, in a central control room.
A voice came through the comm. “This is Section B Admin. We have a loose animal detected on camera A-four. Tranquilize and capture. And for the Arch's sake, ensure the doors are operating correctly.”
Spenser froze. No, he wouldn’t go back to captivity. They’d have to kill him. He grabbed handfuls of hoses and pulled. He yanked wires, and lights blinked spasmodically, plunging him into strobing blackness. A moment later, it was replaced with a dim red glow. He freed an arm’s length of pipe and hit panels. He wanted to destroy it all. He paused, trying to keep the boiling rage in check, but it was too late. He grabbed a hold of white sparking wires and jabbed them into the door. He saw a flash of light in his mind and figured he’d shocked himself.
The sound of released pressure preceded the egg door swinging open. The Admin’s voice was higher and small without the comm, “What’s going on? Why is my door opening.”
Spenser saw a robot no taller than elbow to fingertip amid control panels and wires. “The problem? The problem is you have a loose animal.” He snatched the pipe back up and blasted it against the robot’s head.
A ring around the Admin’s eye fell out, and its body twitched, but it still retaliated. It darted out of the egg and snatched onto his neck. Its tiny fingers pulled at ears, lips, and eyes.
Though he was stronger, he feared its sheer vorosity would overwhelm him. He grabbed onto its legs and pulled his head back simultaneously. His eyelid snapped back, and the Admin lost purchase. He swung the robot, hoping the force would keep it from doubling at the waist and reaching for a grip on him. He crashed it into the egg. It thrashed, but he smashed it until it was rubble.
The hallway door hissed open. He turned. The pipe hanging loose in his hand dripped oil.
Ben rolled from the doorway into the red-lit corridor. “What have you done?”
Spenser didn’t answer but asked, “What now, Ben?”
“What now? When the Hierarchy finds out, they’ll send armed bots. That might be quite some time. Besides me, there are no higher-order bots here, so you’re safe if I don’t decide to strangle you. You promised me.”
“And you said he was like a god. Seemed like a pathetic one. Now I’m going back and telling Luna. I’m telling everyone. I don’t care if we have to live out there like Neanderthals. It’s not right to keep people in a zoo.”
“I don’t like the arrangement. We had to contend with disease and many other things. The hardest lesson was to give your people purpose. It made me happy to see you fulfilled at your job.”
“We’ll find purpose. Just tell me what to expect. I need to know how to keep everyone safe.”
“Okay, I can help. You haven’t left me with a lot of choices in the matter. You know, it’s a funny thing you mention Neanderthals. We’ve reintroduced them, too.”