I wake up to the scattered crystal rays of my spinning mobile and the soft music Maggie plays on the tiny speakers nestled in a corner of the room. I drift into wakefulness slowly under the unbelievable softness of my sheets. They're beautiful. They're perfect. The morning is beautiful, the lights of the compound are programmed to mimic the lighting of a real day. 

I push myself out of bed and I change into my daytime clothes. I put on a light blue, flowing gown that has frills down the front and is shaped like a slender bell. I brush my teeth and my hair and am down to breakfast before Maggie is even awake. 

The chatter down there is lazy and relaxed. And it seems to me like water trickling off of rocks. I go down and join it, taking a place beside Valentina and Brigely, a place I fit into so easily and naturally that it feels as if I am meant to be here all along. 

Maggie comes down and I make space for her beside me. She has dyed her thick dark locks a metallic green-blue colour, and it goes perfectly with the mini-skirt she is wearing over embroidered jeans. Her hair looks so pretty. She looks so pretty. She always looks so pretty. She gives me a peck on the cheek before joining the conversation. 

Breakfast is brought to us by the robots and we savour it as we always do. It's a mix of different sugary cereals in a bowl of heavy cream mixed with cinnamon and other spices. On the side we each have a tall glass of lime-and-orange sherbet. It's all so unhealthy. I'll have to do some serious working out after this. Or take fat-breaking pills. But it's all worth it. The cereal tastes so rich and flavourful. 

After breakfast Lydia makes her usual appearance. She is dressed in a light coral, so light you can barely see it, shift that has long, flowing sleeves that fan out towards the bottom. Her sleeves and collar and hemline are all lined with soft-looking, smooth, snow-white fur and coral glitter makes snowflake patterns all over her dress, snowflakes that all melt into each other at the edges. Her waist is cinched by a large milk-white gem carved into the shape of five snowflakes, getting progressively bigger as they near the middle, tied to a shimmering coral ribbon that loops around her waist. Her plunging square neckline shows off her beautiful dark skin and on her neck is an elegant snowflake-shaped pendant studded all over with diamonds. Similar snowflakes droop from her ears. And her lips shine a bright shimmering coral shade the same as her eyelids. Her hair is done up in an elaborate braided bun and a single small braid falls down the side of her face, decorated with gleaming pink smithsonite beads. She is so beautiful. 

"Good morning my girls."

"Good morning, Lydia," we echo back dutifully. We are all honestly stunned. 

"Today we are going to watch a movie in the night. This is a special treat for you girls, since the movie starts at midnight and we will be able to go home by three. Afterwards, we will go to a late-night restaurant and order food. But before that, you have all day to explore the facilities. 

We all cheer, bright and high. A movie so late at night. It feels rebellious. It feels so subversive. It feels like we are being treated as adults. I smile, and my smile is reflected back in the faces of so many of my friends. The excitement in the room is almost tangible and it is as bright as a springtime day. 

We all set out in different directions, wondering where our steps will take us. Maggie comes with me, and we wander the halls together. 

The hallways are easy to get lost in. They are all large and wide and arching. They are all immaculate and polished and gilded. They are all lined with all sorts of things that you could spend a long while staring at. They are all brightly, softly lit. They have an amazing ambiance. And frankly the whole place feels palatial. 

We go first to the aquarium, a place where we have never been. The walking paths are small and round and twisting, carved into the aquarium, so that all around us and over and under us, there is water and there are fishes. Like we are in a long tube-like bubble of rounded edges and air. The fish are incredible, genetically modified fish with all sorts of shapes and sizes and colours and patterns, all swimming around together, with long, flowing, shapely fins. The coral as well is really beautiful, like a garden of flowers, all bright and blooming and genetically modified to make different geometric shapes and strange structures. We feel as if we are in another world. 

After the aquarium, we go to the statue gallery. In it are statues made of every sort of material imaginable, depicting beautiful, heroic figures and strange, fantastical beasts and humanoids that are ethereal and elegant and plants that are tall and regal. They portray spaceships and planets with strange and intricate surfaces, and stars shining forth their solar flares and magnetic fields. They depict scenes from bustling cities and scenes from fantastical worlds. Different colours and textures weave together to make everything look breathtaking. The statues are huge, making us feel small against them. And we barely have time to take them in, we are so busy going through everything, 

Following the statue gallery we visit the art gallery. Hundreds and hundreds of intricately painted scenes of every imaginable type are plastered in golden, shining, intricately carved frames. They take up every single available inch of the wall, and they even coat the floor from underneath the glass we walk on. It's like I'm looking into portals to new worlds. I tell Maggie this. She smiles. 

The next place we go is the kitchen. It's not very beautiful but it smells amazing. Robots whir lively and busy around us, preparing our lunch so it would seem. They look very busy. They look very cheerful. But still, there's not much to do here. So we leave. 

We wander for a bit until we find an amazing room. The temperature of the room is just a bit cold. Not cold enough that you have to put on any clothes. But cold enough that you can feel it. Inside the vast room there is a faint, soft breeze that is just enough to energize you. It smells of vanilla. The walls are a glittering, sparkling white. But what is the best part is the snow that is all around. 

Now, it's not real snow. It's far too warm to be real snow. But it's soft and fluffy and powdery and it's cold to the touch like real snow. It also comes in a million different colours, each snowflake being an individual colour. It feels like you are in a rainbow. Like you are in a void sprinkled with every colour imaginable. But the shades are all light and not too garish. 

The snow piles into hills and valleys and mounds and ridges. It forms a mini landscape in the big room. There are fake pine trees with each needle made of a different bright colour. There are fake cloudy patterns etched onto the sky. Clouds that look so soft and fluffy in all their different shades of grey. And our feet sink down into it as our skin dances with the faint cold.

Maggie makes a snowball and throws it at me. I laugh, and throw one back at her. We run all around the room, hiding behind trees and throwing powdery snowballs at each other. We roll in the snow, and we pile it on each other. We make snow angels and we make snowmen. Snowmen and women and snow dogs and cats. None of them are very good but they exist. We jump into piles of snow. And we exhaust ourselves.

After this it is time for lunch, and we all gather together in the cafeteria. Lunch is salsa dip and guacamole and chocolate fudge. The flavours burst on my mouth like fireworks. They twist across my tongue like fire. They leave me hungry enough to take seconds and thirds. 

When lunch is over Maggie and I go to the carousel, made of many intricately carved horses placed on spiralling golden poles that shine in the light of the chandeliers. The carousel is large. It has a smooth, polished oak floor with many dark lines flowing through the wood. The horses are decorated with all sorts of flags and symbols hanging from their saddles and above each horse is a carved wooden plaque with a beautiful painting on it. The carousel is huge and the horses rise and fall as well as sway to the sides. 

It's nice. Relaxing. You can really let your mind just lay there and wander at its own pace. And yet it's still stimulating. In a soft-bright, playful sort of way. I look around at all the horses around me, at their individually-carved bodies and their individually-painted plaques. I take it all in, and I let it sit inside me. I lean against my golden pole as my horse moves fluidly on its pole. 

We go on the carousel three times. Three is a good, whole number. And it leaves us feeling satisfied. 

Next we just take a moment to walk through the halls, taking in all the little treasures scattered everywhere. It feels as if we are walking through a palace. I tell Maggie this and she smiles. She agrees with me. She says that she feels like a princess. And I agree with her. We are both princesses, are all princesses, in these palatial halls. 

[scene continued in next part]