by Dan Knight
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The rush had already started in the cafeteria. She waited for her turn at the lunch counter, and stared at her shoes. She picked up a turkey, lettuce and tomato on whole wheat, a side of coleslaw, and a cookie with a smiley face. To pay, she let the scanner run her chip.
As an Octagon employee, the Ministry of Manna bought her lunch. Lunch was free, but it was humiliating. If you tried hard enough, you could get along pretty well in Nodlon without scanning your chip. But not in the Octagon right in the heart of the Ministry’s research facilities.
She stuffed the lunch in her satchel and left the counter. She dodged the lunch crowd pouring in.
“Angela,” someone called.
Heaving a sigh, she knew who it was without looking. It was Steinem. The middle-aged crone had taken an attachment to her, though Angela had no idea why.
She thought for a second. Leaving was out of the question without an excuse. She could not let the old ditty have any reason to call on her.
“Hi, dear,” she said. “Sorry, I’m really tired.”
“Honey pot, you look like a truck hit you.”
“I’m going to take a nap. The boss thought I looked so bad; he gave me an hour.”
“You do that, sweetie, after you eat. Now sit down and let’s eat together. I’m starved.”
Trapped, she smiled, and sat down. At least Steinem agreed she needed a nap. The crone would have to let her go.
The older woman plowed into a roast beef submarine with obvious relish. Oblivious to the irony, she munched on the submarine with the gusto of a truck driver while holding it with delicately manicured nails each with its own frilly pattern.
“So why are you tired?” Steinem asked with her mouth full. “You look like you haven’t slept a wink in days.” Juice ran out of her mouth, and she quickly dabbed at it, smearing her lipstick.
“Can’t sleep. I wake up in the middle of the night, and I just pull it together.”
“Something troubling you?”
She glanced around. There were humans, dwarves, elves, goblins, and many other kinds of biots gathering in the cafeteria. Lunch was on now, and the rush had become a crush.
“It’s all right, honey pot,” said Steinem. “I’ve heard it all before. It’s a boyfriend, or no boyfriend. You want to sleep with your boss, and he doesn’t, or he made a move on you, and you said no. There’s nothing really new under the sun.” She winked. “It’s not like you can get into trouble. One advantage of not belonging to yourself; you’re not responsible.”
“It’s nothing like that. Not the way you mean. I guess you’ve heard it before. I just want a future. I want to be married. I’m only twenty-one, and I’ve worked here three years if you count my internship. I’m like every other dwarf. I have nothing to complain about, but then again I’ve got nothing to look forward to.”
“Let your fairy godmother give you a piece of advice. Try gene therapy. Once you get enhanced, you can catch any man you want.”
“But it’s expensive. I can’t afford it.”
“No, sugar, it’s not as much as you think. I know this new place where you can get the works. The whole shooting match. They take payments, and there’s no interest.” Steinem leaned forward and whispered, “And they give girls great discounts. Just for the asking. It’s good for the business.”
“I’m not sure. I’ll be paying for years, and if the agency finds out they might not let me go to nursing school.”
“Don’t worry about it, sweetness. If anything goes wrong, and you decide you don’t want a man, you can come see me, and I’ll get you hooked up.”
“But,” she said.
“No, buts honey. Nothing tried, nothing gained.”
“I don’t know. I don’t like taking chances.”
“Look honey, after you get upgraded, no man can resist you! Before you know it, some guy will buy your contract. All you have to do is find the right man, and you’re home free. Six months from now you can be living up on the mountain. Maybe even in New Swan itself. Nothing comes for free, but if you play your cards right, you’ll find a decent guy who just wants babies and a good mother for his kids. Isn’t that what you want? You’ll get your own episode on Nodlon Wives!”
Nodlon Wives was the hottest afternoon show for women in the biot market. She watched their show at night since she was not a domestic. The producers told the story of a young biot maid finding what they called a situation. And it was not bad. Their show was about successful couples.
She started crying. Tears rolled down her cheeks and dropped on her sandwich. Love had happened many times before in Nodlon. But would it happen for her? Surely, if she were good enough, she could find Prince Charming with a log cabin on a lake.
The older woman took her hand gently, and caressed her fingers. “Sorry, I know it hurts. I didn’t mean to be too pushy. What are you thinking of?”
“Nodlon Wives,” she sat down her sandwich. “Did you see the latest show? An elf named Jenny married a businessman named Howell. They’re taking their honeymoon on his yacht. They’re sailing to the El Dorado Resort in Florida.”
“Oh, how romantic,” Steinem grinned like a cat with a mouse. “Just think sweetie that could be you.”
“What if something happens? Remember the dwarf that disappeared? They found her in Blueberry Lake. I saw it on Fuzz.”
“Now, now, honey pot, that girl has nothing to do with you. You know there are monsters crawling around Nodlon, right?”
“Yeah, and I don’t want to meet any of ‘em.”
“What are the odds? Look honey, go through a dating service.”
“How?”
“How? Nodlon Wives screens their men for everything. No deadbeat dads, no wife beaters, no drunks, and no bipolar mind games allowed. They’re real careful. They even brain scan the human guys. Sure, you might meet a guy who’s shy, or a little older, or has too much around the middle, but none of them are going to hurt you. Treat ‘em right, and they’ll take you places. Love ‘em as much as they love you, and they’ll worship you like a queen. Like I said, brain scans, background checks, blood tests.”
“No, I mean how can I get enhanced? Gene therapy is like replacing my whole code. It’s got to be expensive.”
“No it ain’t, sugar plums,” Steinem grinned, and Angela felt a pit in her stomach. “New Gem has made it affordable.” The woman reached into a huge purse with a psychedelic pattern and withdrew a card. “Here, take this card. Show it to them. Tell them I sent you, and you’ll get another half off.”
“But how can it be that cheap?”
“They’re just repairing your code honey. They just put in the bits the designers left out to keep you humble. The designers cheated you to make sure you know your place. And they set your contract so high to make sure you can’t buy your way out. They’d jack it up higher, but they want you to think you can pay it off. Then they add the interest to make sure you can’t.”
“Why then? Why would New Gem do it cheap?”
“Volume, sugar, volume,” she smiled. “They keep the cost down, but sell ten times more treatments. So they actually make more than most chop shops.”
Angela nodded, it made sense, and it rang true, but a doubt gnawed at her.
“What?” Steinem asked. “Is your stability program after you?”
“My what?” She was not sure she had heard right. “What did you say?”
“Your stability program, is it after you? I can tell you’ve got a strong one. It’s eating you alive.”
“Do you believe in stability programs?”
“Honey, don’t you go buying into the propaganda put out by Bio-Soft or Cybernetics. Of course there are stability programs. They’re built into your chip.” Steinem made a long face. She rolled her eyes, and mocked the program. “Telling you right from wrong. Telling you, you’re special just the way you are.” Her eyes bounced back and forth, “Keeping you on the straight and narrow, and keeping you out of troubl
e. All for your own good of course.” Then in her usual tone, she spat, “it’s all rubbish. They just don’t want you wandering off the reservation and living your own life.”
Angela looked at the card and stuck it in her satchel. “Thank you, Stein. I’ll think it over.”
“You do that honey pot. You do that.” With a wave, Steinem bussed her lunch box and left.
Don’t do it, said the voice in her head, please don’t trust her.
I said I’ll think about it, she replied. I’m just thinking. Can’t you people at least let me alone in this little space in my head?