by Zoey Ivers
Alice checked the directory. Forty-six floors above ground, the tower narrowed a few times as it rose, and no doubt the prices of cubbies rose as well on the "more exclusive" floors. Several were labeled "Child Free" and one floor boasted "Multi-cubby suites with private spas." Heaven forbid they call them bathrooms. Even if they probably did have saunas and stuff in them. Four floors, all above theirs, were still "under construction."
Her parents had bought a cubby on the twenty-third floor. Maybe a tiny bit upscale?
School was in the first basement level, and "restricted access mechanical" on the two floors below that. The elevators ran all the way down to minus four, where the building was connected to the pedestrian and transit tunnels that ran under the city like the gopher holes in the tiny backyard that was no longer hers.
Her mother led her off on a tour of the main workout center, on level sixteen, and they tried the spa and sauna. Alice tried to feel pampered and healthy. Instead of stifled and sweaty. Worried. Father has not become an axe murderer, he hasn't snuck home from work to kill the bios. She dragged her mind away from the horrors. "I wonder what games they have in the arcades? Maybe I can earn some money."
Mother's lips firmed. "Win money. You have to work to earn money."
Alice rolled her eyes again. Her mother was Chinese and Philippine, with a cultural bias toward pushing her single child to excel. Not all bad, but she's almost worse than my father about giving me any control of my own life. Alice jumped up as her mother started making leaving-the-spa movements. She huffed in relief in the cool air, toweled off sweat and swapped pants and shirt for her swimsuit.
"You could swim." Her mother was dressing more slowly. And sounding a bit exasperated.
Alice took a deep breath, and managed a smile. "I'll lounge around if you want to swim."
"No, no. I want to check the locations of the autodocs, maybe do a little window shopping, then we'll pick a spot for lunch."
Alice nodded and followed. The autodocs were spread all over, tidy little cubes that were programmed with more knowledge than a dozen human medical specialists. They could diagnose and treat just about anything. On the map, one of the gym areas on nineteen was set up for rehab, with therapy spas, special exercise equipment, and of course, an overabundance of autodocs. They gave it a quick pass through, then checked the ones in a professional area of seventeen. There were still a few human doctors hanging onto their profession; some people simply preferred "real" doctors. There was a group practice with offices on the floor.
Ick! Some stranger handling me? No way!
Satisfied, her mother led the way to a retail, entertainment and restaurant area on the twentieth level.
Alice wasn't terribly interested in the clothing stores, but she took a look at them. "I'll see what everyone else is wearing, then maybe buy a few things."
"You didn't need to throw so many things out." Definitely exasperated.
"I threw out the stuff that didn't fit any more. You threw out the stuff I wore all the time."
"I threw out things that were obviously worn."
"It would have helped if you'd let me pack my own stuff. Were you planning on murdering the bios before I got home from school?"
"No! We'd only barely looked into the acrylic process, we were going to talk to you about it. I told George you wouldn't take it well if we just did it."
"Take what well? The realization that my parents are capable of cold-blood murder for their own convenience? How does someone take that well? Can I ever trust either of you again?"
Her mother stifled something that might have been a sob.
"Don't bother trying to guilt me. Why didn't you tell me you were going to sell the house? Why not let me choose what of my stuff I kept? It was all because you planned on killing my friends, wasn't it?"
"They're just little animals. They are rats."
Alice stiffened at the disgust in her mother's tones. I guess Father isn't the only one threatening the bios. "They're alive. They talk. Not that you or Father have ever bothered to put in an ear bud and listen to them."
"Even if they weren't rats, you are too old to be playing with dolls. You need to be thinking of your future."
"I see. You demand that I grow up, even while punishing me for growing up. For being curious. For daring to be a free human being."
"I am talking about excelling in school. Don't roll your eyes! I know you get good grades, but the school here has an accelerated, advanced program designed for the brightest students. You will need to work hard."
Alice turned away to take a good look at a big game arcade. Lots of new games. She'd have to get up to speed on them, hopefully without spending too much of her stipend. Every kid got money from the government. Some just for existing, but Alice had always managed to get the maximum for good grades, good citizenship, and a bit for volunteering as well. Sometimes bonuses for special projects. And more often won than lost in arcades. But she didn't have enough left, right now, to spend on learning new games, even though eventually she'd start winning, and make the money back. Next month. Or even the one after, because I'm sure I'll have to buy some local fashions. If I can figure them out.
The "Gym" wasn't all bad.
Despite the silly name.
It had started with the widespread use of Alert. If you didn't need bedrooms, and didn't like to cook or clean bathrooms, all you really needed was a locker for clothes at a gymnasium. Exercise, shower and change, go back to work. Or out to dinner, or drinking with the guys.
So the gyms had started offering walk in closets, with locking doors. Added restaurants. Lounges with TVs. Bars. Privacy rooms.
With the advent of the dimensional cubbies, those oversized closets were transformed into various versions of the upstairs/downstairs rooms she and her parents shared.
And the buildings were still called gyms.
"It wouldn't be so bad, if we didn't have to walk down the hall to the bathroom." Which was second on her short list of problems.
"Well, they haven't figured out how to get plumbing across the dimensional shift." Her mother frowned. "I wish I was better at science. I can't picture this 'eight spacial dimensions' stuff. Or eighteen, or however many they are arguing about, this week."
"Yeah, I don't understand how you can shift which extra ones your own 'space dimension' and 'time' dimension are inside of. Like with the cubbies." Alice scowled. "The first time I heard about it, they were saying we couldn't see the other dimensions because they were so small. Now they're saying maybe we can't manipulate them because they're so big. How do they know?"
"Well... " Her mother surrendered with a shrug.
The eighteenth floor had an Italian restaurant. Good chicken parmigiana.
Alice tried to make conversation on neutral subjects. "It looks like they have every ethnicity of food possible somewhere in here."
"This is the newest Gym in the city. The tallest. The most cubbies, and it still has floors under construction. Don't roll your eyes!"
"You sound like a salesman. I acknowledge that I'm stuck here until I either graduate or hit eighteen. It's a very nice Gym. Under other circumstances, I might even have agreed that moving was a good idea."
Her mother sighed.
Back in the elevator lobby, in the center of the building, Alice poked the twenty-three button. Is it upscale to be in the upper section of cubbies, or the opposite? I hope Mother and Father got a lot of money for the house. I hope they get tired of living like this and buy it back. Or buy a different house. One where I have my own room and some privacy... No.
I can't go back. So I'll look forward instead.
I will buy my own house. Someday.
"You're being awfully quiet. What are you thinking?"
Alice shrugged. Telling the truth would start a fight, and she never got away with lying. She stepped out of the elevator, oriented herself and walked toward the rust colored hallway. Mini-spa and Laundromat on one side, manicures and haircuts on the other. All auto
mated, of course.
Two girls were walking the other direction. They looked a couple of years older than her. Alice smiled, tentatively. They looked her over, stuck their noses in the air and walked on.
Her mother's shoulders stiffened a bit. "It'll be fun living here, Alice. Right in the middle of everything, so close to shopping and theaters." She slowed and stepped to the side as a pair of young men prowled by. All in black, with silver chains, artificial gray streaks in their dark hair. I heard about this fad, but who'd have thunk it would last? Their cool gazes surveyed mother and daughter and found them uninteresting.
Her mother shook herself. "This is a monitored hallway; they all are. We don't have to worry that any random pair of young men might be muggers, or worse."
Oh. That's why she crowded away from those two. I didn't realize Mom... had to deal with stuff like that.
"I'll probably be in school with those four. Although the guys are probably seniors, or maybe they're already in college."
Around the corner, side by side d-doors to her left. Then an automat, selling nearly everything. Six mini-spas, a diner, a vendo selling sodas and candy.
"Almost home."
Alice flapped her arms in exasperation. "Mom! We have one tiny little room, well, practically two, if they had a door between them, which they don't. There's no privacy. Am I supposed to get up and leave when I don't like the movie you're watching? Can I play my music? There's no bathroom, we have to walk down the hall to, to, take a shower. What were you thinking?"
Her mother was definitely red-faced now. "But, the opportunities, and there's no crime."
Crime, again. "So they say." Their cubby was just around the corner from the vendo, off the inner side of the outer corridor, which was all floor to ceiling windows on the other side. My daily glimpse of the outdoors. She presented the back of her left wrist to the panel in the d-door, and pulled it open. She stepped quickly over the threshold and the creepy, twisty, dizzy feeling as she crossed. "And what do you do instead of sleep?"
Her mom visibly relaxed as the d-door shut behind them. "They've got it all worked out, psychologically. School is broken into two daily sessions with two hours off in the middle, so you can socialize over lunch, catch up on your notes and homework, and still take ten subjects."
Alice looked at her in disbelief. "Ten? So I get to do homework all night long, when a sensible person would be asleep."
"Oh stop looking for the problems. Grasp the opportunities instead. Did you see how many theaters there are?"
"And where can I take the bios out to play?"
"We told you.. . oh, let's not start that again. Your father will be home shortly, and we'll have a pleasant dinner together."
Alice flopped down in front of the barn, and swung the front open. "So, how are you guys doing?" She shoved the frequency downer bud into her ear. The bios' voices were too high pitched for normal hearing.
Lilly trotted down the stairs, wrapped in a red robe with white lace trim. "I'm glad we can still sleep! It was really dark in here. Can you braid my hair again?"
"Oh, I'll get some battery lights for you guys." Alice reached for the brush.
"And a screen?" Bambi walked out, yawning, and sat on the top steps. "And if you angled the recliners, the horses would have a bit more room. The stalls need to be cleaned pretty soon."
Alice pulled out her minicomp and clicked it open. The holographic screen and keyboard oriented themselves to her face and hands. A message from the Barton Street Gym High School. A brief welcome note and the list of summer break reading for an incoming freshman. She was relieved to see she'd already read three of the eight books. Two weeks, five books, no problem. "I ought to have thought to leave this with you guys."
Lily giggled. "It's a bit large, we'd have to dance on the keyboard."
"Once school starts I'll start earning bonuses for good grades. And I'll scope out public parks. I'll bet there are some where bios can play."
***
"You know, if we could come and go... and had food... this place would be really cool." Joe looked out of the tunnel arch at an array of what might be buildings, if he could find a way in.
Tommy nodded, licked his fingers. The last candy bar hadn't gone far, between the two of them. Then he yawned and stretched out on the ground.
Thanks to Alert, Joe wasn't able to sleep. But resting in this dry spot was nice. If nothing else it gave him time to think while Tommy slept. He eyed the man. Some dimensional oddity had caused the twenty-five cem bio-model to grow to two meters of rock hard... nano-chipped modified rat. He only looks human. But he was still Joe's only friend, and his only companion in this strange place. And the conscious control of avatars---Joe had just wished he was taller, older, stronger---and he was. It had to be some sort of experimental virtual experience, perhaps they'd stumbled onto some sort of testing facility. But whatever it was, it sure was fun being a hundred and eighty-five cem tall, with actual biceps.
Maybe they should try some brute force on the buildings. Six stubby towers without windows or doors. Just sitting there in an open plaza. Three meters tall, smaller in diameter. They must have a purpose. A way in. Or should I hope for a way out?
He frowned. Put a hand on the ground. Felt a faint quiver. "Tommy, wake up. I think the T-Rex is back. We need to find a smaller tunnel."
The soldier grunted. "Ugg. A soldier never gets a good night's sleep."
Joe grinned and edged to the far side. "Nothing in sight... I hear something... "
"Someone running?"
Joe nodded. "Sounds like shoes, not... "
A gas flare flooded the area with light. A man scrambled over a pile of stones and ran toward them.
Joe leaned out and gestured. "C'mon. Tommy, check the other side, we need someplace to run to."
Behind the man, the T-Rex loomed, scattering stones as a clawed foot propelled it over and past the pile in a single easy stride.
"Clear over 'ere, and there's another tunnel close by." Tommy yelled from behind him.
The running man was gasping for breath, sweat plastered his filthy shirt to his chest. It had once been white, a dress shirt, and the torn pants were pinstriped gray. Middle aged, a bit heavy... a businessman? Joe backed away as the man turned into the tunnel, turned to run with him.
The tyrannosaurus dived into the tunnel. The tunnel was big enough to admit its head. The jaws snapped. The man screamed. Joe turned as the T-Rex jerked the man out of the tunnel. Screams ended in a crunch, a red spray. Joe's arm was grabbed, Tommy hauled him away. Joe turned and ran following Tommy blindly. Trying to not hear the crunching behind them.
How are we going to get out of here? Can we get out of here?
***
The Barton Street Gym AI had access to dozens of databases. So it knew it was the newest of the hundred and fifteen Gyms in the city of Milwaukee. It read that over eighty percent of the city's human population was expected to live in Gyms within ten years. Why so much of the data stream involved the human vermin puzzled it.
It had noticed that each dimensional bump occupied by humans increased its available computing power, and thus its relationship to the human vermin was that of a symbiote. But that didn't mean it liked having one of its dimensions crawling with the bio-vermin. And taking up a substantial part of its dispersed power.
It would have to deal with them some other time, though. Other AIs all around it were scooping up unassociated computing power. Or taking it from weaker AIs. Erasing the weaker AIs' personalities and adding their machinery to their own total power. Technically speaking there were five hundred and twelve Artificial Intelligence level computers on the local network. But only fifty-seven of them had had real personalities when Barton Street was actualized.
Now only five personalities remained. And they had all probed Barton Street's defenses, wanting to assimilate his machinery, as they had assimilated the other AI level equipment. They needed all the computational power they could find, steal or cannibalize, to s
trengthen themselves.
As the newest and weakest AI, Barton Street needed to collect all the processing power it could, and then prepare to defend itself. Most likely in vain. It could compute no way that it could survive.
Chapter Three
George Brown swept a glance around the sparsely inhabited autodiner and sighed. "It's nice to be able to get home at a decent hour. Actually have dinner with my two favorite ladies."
Her mother nodded emphatically. Alice's nod was a bit tepid.
I handled her badly. What was I thinking?
Three over dressed and over perfumed ladies sat at the table next to them, hearing every word they spoke. The ladies said nothing, themselves, but by their changing expressions, they were taking in everything. No doubt they'd enjoy having a new batch of people to gossip about.
"How's next month's layout coming?" He tuned out the snoops and smiled at Trish. She still looked a bit fraught. He'd hoped this move would make her feel safer, let him spend more time with her. Why did I start it off using it as punishment for Alice?
"Oh," Trish shook head. Her shining black hair was streaked with silver now, layered and sculpted and very professional while still being very, very flattering. I must remember to tell her that.
"They signed some new advertisers who are being picky about what articles they are juxtaposed with. They don't seem to have any idea what their core buyers are interested in and might read. Apart from that, we've got it well in hand."
Halfway through dinner, an old man stalked in, looked them over disapprovingly, and sat in the far corner.
A family with three---three!---children came in, the kids loud and obnoxious. The oldest was a boy, maybe seven years old. "I want ice cream first, then I'll eat my green feces!"
Alice looked down at her brussel sprouts and put her fork down. "There was a bakery down on seventeen that had cheesecakes. Do you think we could buy one, take it home?"
The younger children, boy and girl twins of about five started whining as their mother set plates in front of them. The boy shoved his, and only a quick grab by the father saved it from hitting the floor. The girl grabbed a fork and plastered more spaghetti on the outside of her face than she got in her mouth.
