As he returned with the unit and breakfast, he remembered the old man in the other trolley, but he was no longer aboard. Pablo wondered if he changed his mind and got off somewhere, or maybe jumped off one of the frequent trestle bridges that spanned the deep canyons. He shied away from thoughts of death and hunkered down to use the appliance as a windbreak and tried to rest.
The trolley continued without stopping for another day and a half. It headed East, and the last half-day traveled through flat grasslands as far as Pablo could see. At first, he did not notice a glint of light in the distance, which resolved into a solid, white obelisk that rose ten times higher than the base's width.
It looked tall from a distance, even though it was no longer than Pablo's index finger from his current perspective. The structure continued to grow to impossible dimensions the closer he approached.
The base was two miles to a side, and the height was ten times that. The pyramidal top disappeared into the crystal-clear blue sky and out of Pablo's sight long before he reached the end of the railroad track that dead-ended into the middle of the Western wall.
Pablo craned his neck outside the trolley's roof to look up but suffered vertigo and a strange sense that the structure might topple towards him. The trolley slowed slightly but continued until it seemed it would crash into the wall, and Pablo prepared to jump off.
At the last moment, a panel appeared and slid open in the same manner as the dispensing panel on an appliance, then closed just as tightly after the trolley crossed the threshold. The railroad tracks did not continue inside. The trolley hovered across the polished white floor and went down a tunnel with ten-foot-high ceilings that continued arrow-straight until the center reached a visual vanishing point.
Pablo felt twitchy but decided it was just the silence after the wind-noise out on the prairie, especially since whatever powered the trolley made no noise whatsoever. The walls, ceiling, and flooring gave off a soft, translucent light with just enough brightness to erase shadows.
The sameness gave the optical illusion that the trolley stood still while the corridor drifted seamlessly by. After a short time, the trolley slowed and performed a left-hand ninety-degree turn at the first break in the wall. A doorway opened to transport Pablo into a smaller, featureless room of about thirty square feet.
Pablo was not sure whether to step off the stopped trolley, but another doorway opened, and a young woman in her early twenties poked her head into the room.
"Welcome to the city! My name is Janice, and I'm your volunteer orientation guide. I'm sure you have a thousand questions, but first, please follow me so we can get started."
Janice seemed perky and genuinely happy to see him and was as far from a threatening figure as Pablo could imagine. He began to step off, then turned around to retrieve his pack. By the time he touched the floor, Janice had reached him, so he had held out a hand in greeting.
She ignored the appendage and stood on tippy-toe to give him a full-body hug. The enthusiasm and intimacy embarrassed him almost as much as the fact she was not wearing a stitch of clothing. He managed to respond enough to press his forearms around her shoulders but could not bring himself to touch her bare back with his hands.
"And what is your name, sweetie?"
Pablo blushed and nearly turned crimson but was able to respond after clearing his throat.
"Pablo, my name is Pablo. It was Janice, right?"
"That's me. Good to see you're not too overwhelmed by all the new experiences. Well, let's get the basics down, then you can tell us all about the outside world these days. There is a lot of interest among certain people, and we just don't get many newcomers anymore. I had to call in a lot of favors to be the one to have the first stab at you."
Janice looked him up and down, and Pablo was not sure if she was making an innuendo or if her state of undress just put him in an unfortunate state of mind. She grabbed his hand and led him through the open door and into another, slightly smaller room. The door automatically closed, but the action was so quick Pablo was not sure if it slid up, down, across, or solidified out of the air.
The new room contained an appliance much like the familiar one back at the apartment, but it was twice as wide and deep, though still only four-feet high. Janice worked the slide controls and retrieved something rectangular, flat, and about the size of four fingers held together.
She orientated it in the palm of her hand, then lightly slapped it onto Pablo's forehead. He felt a slight burning sensation, but both the tingling and any sign of the object were gone by the time he rubbed his hand across his brow.
"That plugs you into the city's comm system. From this point on, you don't really need me, but it would be my pleasure to help you explore your new environment. Or, you could tell me no thanks and go off on your own."
She said the last with a little pout, which Pablo found too cute to mind the manipulative intent, and he still felt too adrift to strike out on his own.
"No, please, I would enjoy your company as well as your expertise."
Janice's entire face lit up, and she started to say something, but Pablo caught movement near his feet and to the right side of his leg, looked down, and jumped up to give out a particularly unmanly squeak.
"What the heck is that!"
"What is what? Oh, I forgot. I assume you mean your PDA or Personal Database Assistant. It's your portable interface to the city's database or at least a visual and audible representation. It's not really there, of course, just in your head, so only you see and hear it.
You can let others access it, but the city customizes them for each citizen based on what it calculates will make you the most comfortable. We usually only share the image with those we develop a close relationship with. Besides, rooms would get crowded and confusing with everyone's PDA running around in the general public."
Pablo examined the PDA and decided he might never develop that close a relationship that he would share this symbol of his inner safe place. The image was that of a chimpanzee covered in thick sheep's wool. The wool had a rainbow stripe of colors that ran from its forehead, down its back, around its bottom, and up its belly and chest.
It closely resembled a half-remembered toy from when he was a very small child. The PDA looked back at him in acknowledgment of the scrutiny, smiled a wide, primate grin, and reached around and scratched its behind. Both the color scheme and the satisfaction on its face while it scratched made Pablo laugh despite himself.
"You can customize it later if you want, either by telling your PDA directly or using any appliance slide interface, but I think you'll find the city is pretty smart about such things. Now, let's get you to your room and let you relax a little before we meet for lunch. Just tell your PDA to take you home."
Pablo felt a little self-conscious about talking to an invisible varicolored monkey, so he decided to keep it simple. He decided it would also be an excellent way to establish a relationship with the city or whoever was running it.
"Home."
The PDA nodded, scampered to Pablo's other side, and walked through a new doorway. Pablo followed it, and Janice followed him.
"Janice, does your PDA know where my place is too?"
"It does, but the city won't show me, or anyone else, without your explicit permission. Like this."
Pablo's PDA tilted its chimpanzee head as if listening to something, then twisted around to look at him while the body continued to scamper forward through turns and doorways without needing to see forward. It lifted a hand and showed him its palm, where an image of Janice appeared. The PDA spoke for the first time, in a voice that was deep but pleasant."
"Janice requests permission to track to your room. You may deny, set a later time, acquiesce once, or allow permission until you countermand."
Pablo wondered if he had to speak aloud or could sub-vocalize for privacy if only to keep a crowded room from sounding like an asylum. He silently whispered, "Allow," and the PDA nodded its head and turned back to look in the direction of travel. Janice moved stood shoulder to shoulder, now following her own PDA rather than Pablo's steps.
"Thank you, Pablo."
"What for?
"We just met, so you didn't have to let me know how to get to your room."
"How did you know? Can you read my mind, too?"
"No, my PDA just updated me on the status change."
"Well, you said you'd show me how everything works, so you'll know the way once we get there anyway, right?"
"Probably not. The city is constantly changing and reconfiguring, so the paths also change. And as you may have noticed, there are not a lot of landmarks."
"Besides, why wouldn't I want a pretty girl to know the way to my place?"
Pablo blushed again as the throw-away flirty comment reminded him of her natural state, which he could not believe he had forgotten so quickly. A pleasant giggle was her only response.
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