The next morning, Rory carried his mum out of the slum flat, unconscious as usual. They met the pristine medical transport with the words Greenfield Rehabilitation and Healing Center projected on the side. He climbed in after and sat quietly as they brought her to her new home. At least for a while.

Rory followed her the entire time until he was eventually stopped by an orderly once they reached a door that projected, “No unauthorized personnel.” He reached down and touched her skin and boney face on the floating bed before stepping back and watching as she vanished behind the sliding doors and force barrier.

Taking a breath, he turned around and walked to the entrance. Renting a transport to take him back to Brompton, he repeated in his mind what the doctor had said about him helping and not abandoning her.

Finally his ride arrived and he decided he needed to distract himself, so during the trip back, he reread the reply he had received from Steph the prior evening. It was in writing rather than a vid.

Hey Rory,

Thanks for your comm. I hope you’re well. I miss you too.

So you know who I am now. I hope you don’t think I’ve been lying to you. I never lied. You have to understand what it’s like though. People who know about my family aren’t people I can trust. Most think they can gain something from me. I think I wish it had lasted longer. You not knowing I mean. I’ve seen it change people. I didn’t want my family to change things between us. I hope it won’t. Either way, I’ll see you on measuring day. We can talk then. Give me a chance to explain? Please?

Steph

That was the fourth time Rory had read the note. He had almost directly commed her the first time he had read it, but he had managed to stop himself. Instead he had waited until after dropping his mum off, knowing he would want to be distracted. But now that was done, and he had no more excuses. So he started a written reply like her, rather than a vid.

Steph,

I was angry at first. Well, I guess I was surprised first. Then angry. You know I have trust issues. After a while, I calmed down and realized that I wasn’t being fair. I haven’t told you about myself, so what right do I have to ask you when I won’t? And you’re right. You never lied. I’m sorry I was unfair. That doesn’t mean everyone is okay, but I still want to see you and talk.

Miss you,

Rory

After rereading it a few times and sending it, Rory stared off into the planet’s skyscape through the transport’s window as they flew around the planet. Eventually it dropped him off at an apartment complex in City Central. This was the most expensive of the options he had chosen at five thousand pounds per month. The potential facility had all of the amenities in the building, which was what his research told him he should look for as a hunter. He agreed with those on GalNet that he couldn’t afford to spend time wandering around for like exercise equipment. It was also in Central Brompton, which meant it had equal access to the various shopping and eating areas, his Eskrima dojo, and the overall rest of the planet through all kinds of transports.

Rory went inside to the automated interface, entered his data, and was told where to go. He went to one of the maglifts and that took him to the one hundred seventy-first floor in a few seconds. A man in a suit was waiting outside room 17191. The man smiled welcomingly. “Mr. Sheehan?” he asked, holding out an uninscribed hand.

Rory nodded and shook it before the man used him commo to open the door causing the barrier to fall and it to slide aside with a nearly silent hiss. He entered and Rory followed, staring in awe. Rory thought he had started to get used to the opulence of the city, but the idea that he could afford to live in a place like this amazed him.

The very first thing that crossed his mind was, It’s so clean. There were no stains or bad smells. Following that was, And quiet. There was no noise from all the nearby apartments like in the thin-walled complexes he was used to. There wasn’t much privacy in the slums, not that it mattered; nobody had anything to keep away from other people since pretty much everyone had nothing. And when they did have something and people found out… well, that was why he had left Whibley.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

Once he got over the strange lack of smells and noises, Rory could process that it had a real kitchen and bathroom with hot water any time he wanted, his own separate bedroom with a huge bed and actual mattress, a large middle room with a dining area, and, amazingly, a large projector in front of a long soft-looking couch to watch vids or the news or whatever posh people watched.

The flat was on the outer layer and on a corner of the building which meant it had two walls made entirely of large translumin sheets showing him the cityscape. The salesman hesitantly admitted there was no balcony but Rory didn’t care. He knew he was going to be spending most of his time out of the apartment hunting for myst.

And why would I want to go outside of this place when I was here? It’s bloody brilliant!

It was quiet and clean and had good food and clear water.

Scanning the place once more, he noticed a few more details. The floors were a pristine wood product of some sort and all the provided furniture was also made of wood. When Rory tried the mattress on his bed, he got a little scared at how he sank in. But then it was so comfortable he almost fell asleep right then. The couch was the same and the rest of the furniture was just as fancy. The kitchen came with all kinds of things like plates and forks and knives, so no more eating with his hands at home. Also, it had cooking equipment, which Rory decided at that moment that he was determined to learn how to use.

He was shocked to find his mind immediately went to cooking a meal for Steph. That freaked him out for a second, considering everything he’d recently learned, but it did tell him something. He still liked her.

“So, what do you think?” the man said, interrupting his thoughts.

“It’s amazing,” Rory said honestly. “Is there a way I can reach out to you? I have four other flats to look at today and I want to let you know what I decide in a few hours.”

“Absolutely, sir!” the man said enthusiastically. “I can reserve it for you for the rest of the day. After that, I’ll have to free it up so it can go to another renter.”

Rory agreed to get back to him today and got his info. Then he went on a bit of a tour of the four other districts of Brompton, West, East, North, and South. The west was the least expensive but still nice. It was also what he was most familiar with. North was the costliest of the four, but still less than central. South and East were essentially the same to him, just closer or farther from particular hunting grounds. He did notice a few projected signs similar to Morton’s serpentine M on some businesses. His plan was to eventually see what he could find about those bosses. But he knew it would have to wait, at least for a while.

In the end, Rory decided on the first flat, despite it being the most expensive. He liked that it was central to everything and allowed him the easiest access to the entire planet. The main reason though, was that it was away from the four bosses. Central did not have one as it was a government center of some sort and quite tightly policed.

Decision made, Rory reached out to the first sales guy, signed the agreement with a security deposit and three months’ rent in advance. That done, he immediately updated his commo with his new address so all his accounts updated.

And that was it. Rory was officially out of the slums and living in the city.

As he neither wanted nor needed anything from his slum flat, he just left everything there. Eventually someone would notice.

Once in his new place, Rory sat down on the incredibly comfortable couch and sent a vid request to his primary contact at Greenfield, his mum’s facility. The man’s name was Doctor Thames and he was a generalist and diagnostician. Rory had been told that he would be the initial assessor who would make the recommendations for treatment and the correct medical team.

Luckily he was available and once Dr. Thames picked up, Rory told him of his address change and asked for an update on his mum. There was no new information to share as they were conducting numerous tests and such. It had not even been a day so Rory wasn’t surprised.

After that, Rory commed Elphina and Penny, making sure they were doing well and checking if they had had any trouble. They had not so he told them to watch for deliveries from the new facility. With that, he passed them George’s contact info and said goodbye for now.

After addressing basically everything he knew, Rory just walked around his new place, checking things out. Every time he saw some new fancy thing, he checked it over and learned what it did, if not how it worked. He was honestly just amazed at his life now.

After a few minutes, Rory had a spontaneous idea and walked around the place again, this time recording a vid with his commo and giving Steph a tour. He showed her all the amazing features of the place. Then he vid himself saying that he just wanted to share the good news. “Yeah, so. That’s my new place, Steph. Umm. I hope I can see you soon and we can talk. Miss you. Bye!”

Blushing at his own embarrassing words, he put most of his clothes in the various cubbies, leaving only a few pairs in his ring. Then he checked the time and decided to have some dinner out before picking up a few things for his new place. The meal was expensive and delicious and the few things he purchased, like specially scented soap and shampoo as well as really nice towels and bed sheets (there were so many types he had to ask for help), were what he would have called an unaffordable luxury just days ago.

When he got… home… he took an hour-long steaming hot water bath. There was an option for something called a vibro-wash, but he could not fathom who in their right mind would not want to use unlimited hot water if they could have it. He used the brand new soap and shampoo he had bought that smelled like some sweet food the bottles said was honey. He didn’t remember ever eating it before but he liked it. Hopefully, Steph would too.

After that, he used the softest towel he had ever touched, went to bed naked, and sunk into the most comfortable thing he could ever remember laying on. After a brief thought about the following day’s activities, he let everything else go and was asleep in seconds.