Chapter 4

He kept his head down the entire way to Kristie's home, and couldn't help but note all the differences from what he could remember. People passing by seemed at ease, but there wasn't much laughter. No fighting. No artwork up on display. Birds chirped in the nearby tree.

They stopped in front of a high-rise apartment building, and Kristie scanned her watch at the entrance.

"Don't stop for anyone or anything," she whispered to him. "I don't know how much AI scans people as they pass, but it likes to give warnings to people if they do anything wrong, so we know they're always watching and listening."

He shuddered and took a deep breath. "Noted. Guess some of those TV shows were right."

They hopped into the elevator for the quick ride up.

"Ugh... How many floors was that?" He covered his mouth. "It went fast, but... Ugh..."

"Please don't throw up in the hallway." She let him into her apartment and rushed to close her curtains before a patrolling drone could look in. "Oh, right. My name is Kristie. What's your name? I remember there being a number, but no name on the pod."

"Jae," he replied and looked around her apartment. Small with stacks of books sitting in the corner and a bookcase full of random knickknacks.

I should've neatened up a bit. "Have a seat." She motioned to the couch. "I'll get you some ginger tea for your stomach." In the kitchen, she input her request into their dumbwaiter, and waited.

Ring, ring, ring. Her watch went off again. "Elias? I told you I'm not—"

"They're keeping the school closed for the day. It's so unprecedented that people are just standing around like a bunch of robots without instructions."

"Now you're starting to sound like me."

"Damn."

"Hey! That was a compliment."

"It really wasn't. Anyway, where are you?"

"Home, waiting for ginger tea."

"You're drinking ginger tea? You don't like ginger tea?"

Kristie froze. "But it's... supposed to help with my upset stomach."

"Why don't you just ask for pills, then? Since when do you ever torture yourself with something you don't like the taste of?"

"It's not that bad."

"Maybe if you could up the amount of honey they put it, it'd work for you, but how they send it? I'm not buying it. It's fruit tea or bust that way."

"Buy it or not, my ginger tea is here." She held up the mug for him to see. "I'm going to rest for now, so I'll talk to you later."

"Wait! I haven't told you—"

She hung up on him and carried the tea into the living room. "Hopefully, this will help." She set it down on the coffee table in front of him.

"Thank you." He gave her a small bow as he accepted the tea.

"I'm sorry if it's not sweet enough; they restrict how much honey they give out."

He cradled the cup in his hand and closed his eyes as he took a sip. "It's fine as is. Thank you."

"So..." Not sure if she should sit beside him, she stayed standing. "What do we do with you now?"

Jae shook his head. "I don't know. I have nothing left, and I know no one."

"You know me a little." She showed a pea size with her finger and thumb. "Especially since I let you into my home."

A soft smile played on his face, and he finally looked up at her. "I suppose so, but it is ill-advised."

"What is?"

"Letting a man you hardly know into your home. Unless... Do you do this often?"

"What? Me? No way! The only guy who ever comes here is Elias, and he lives across the hall. We also grew up together, and work together."

"A life together?"

She tilted her head to the side. "Oh! No; not in that way. We've never gone down that path. Our romantic compatibility didn't read as high, but that can't stop a friendship."

"So you two dated?"

"No, no, no. Nothing romantic has ever happened between us, but it was checked." Kristie held up her watch. "AI can check for it."

"Humans are heavily reliant on AI." Jae sighed. "That watch; what all does it do?"

"It's... everything for us. It's our ID; it measures our health; it can make calls; you can search using it, and there are all sorts of other checks in here... Don't end up using everything." Kristie shrugged. "Such is life in 2099."

"Question: If you're so close to Elias, why didn't you tell him about me?"

"Because I know what he'd tell me to do with you."

"Oh?"

"Turn you in to the department that... you broke out of? What did happen in there? How did you end up with those clothes? I know you just had some white dress thing on in the pod." She sat beside him and inched closer with every question.

Jae cleared his throat and set the cup on the table. "When I woke up, I was disoriented and had trouble standing. Even my vision was blurry. Once I steadied myself and tried to gather my bearings, I saw all the other pods."

"Are you the only one that woke up?"

"As far as I could tell, yes. I had trouble getting out of the room."

"AI keeps it locked."

"I guess it probably scanned me when I tried to leave, and set off an alert to security. There was one man who came in and..." Jae trailed off and looked away from her.

She gasped. "What'd you do? You didn't kill him, did you? We don't have murders anymore; we only read about it in history and novels. Well, even on TV, but it's all censored."

"No." He shook his head. "I didn't kill anyone, but I did knock him out, steal his clothes, and leave him in the closet."

He makes it sound like it's easy to knock someone out. What kind of life has he lived? Her eyes widened. "You at least gave him your gown, right? Sounds like it'd be cold."

"Of course."

"Wait, but how did you open the door? And I wonder if AI is looking for you right now. I'd say change your perfect hair and amazing jawline, but they scan biometrics."

"So, there's no hiding from it?"

"Maybe with a scrambler. I've heard of people using it, but the anomaly itself flags as suspicious, and they'll send someone after you."

"Does AI not have a body yet? This place seems so advanced now, but as far as I've seen, it's the little devices at the doors, and the cameras around everywhere."

"There was talk about making humanoid robot bodies for them, so they could enforce the law, but as far as I know, they haven't bothered on anything more advanced than a robot pet."

"That's a bit worrisome."

"Not if you ask other people. We already have low crime, low pollution, a stable population, and clean recycled energy and containers. What more could we ask for? Now, the big question is, what do we do with you?"