Alyss turned to face the woman. "I don't care if I'm authorized or not, obviously I am going to try to get out. What did you come here for, anyways? To harass me on his behalf?"
"You are to receive a tour of the prince`s quarters," she said. She hovered in view impassively. "Please wait for your guide to join you."
The woman stared at her, and blinked once. "Cannot process. Action is denied. Commencing nourishment program," Veronica said. She took out an intricately folded napkin in her hands and slowly unfolded it. Each fold she undid released something new. First a table tumbled out of the tiny linen, then a chair, and table settings, and a crystal goblet. Finally the last few folds released a still-bubbling lobster bisque, followed by a less-identifiable meat entree and bacon wrapped scallops.
"I can't eat that," the girl protested. "I haven't eaten a single living creature in my life, and I'm not about to start now," Alyss added.
Veronica blinked twice at her. "Understood. Nutrition program error found. Recommencing," she said. Quickly the napkin that had contained the offending meal was refolded and all the food disappeared. Alyss fell on the floor with a thump after her seat was returned before she could get off of it. Veronica took out a different napkin, a green one this time, and unfolded it. This one came out with even finer, spindly furniture, and unfolded to reveal pasta and salad dishes paired with a squash pudding. "This is the Fey nutrition program. This meal contains no animals. Is this sufficient?"
Alyss tried a few bites of each dish. Her eyes widened and she started to tuck into the meal with real gusto. "This is great. I don't care if it's for Fey or human, this is exactly perfect for me. Thanks, Veronica," she said.
The woman nodded and stood passively by her. When she'd finished her meal, it was taken away by the strange visitor and once again Alyss was completely alone in the room.
Another day passed in loneliness for Alyss. Veronica visited her again. It was always only for just one meal, though, and that wasn't quite enough. And then she'd leave and Alyss was alone in the room once more. Besides, Veronica was such an odd person and wasn't prone to having much in the way of conversation, so having her around hardly counted as being with someone at all. She didn't do much of anything besides repeat her so-called nutrition sequence, either, so she had very little entertainment value as well.
"I just want something to do," she moaned. No one was around so she didn't expect anything to happen from saying it, but it still felt nice to take the time to complain out loud once in a while.
The little screen in the wall lit up and Veronica popped up on it again. "Message has been processed. Proceed with structure adjustment." She blinked. "Schedule has been restructured. It is now time for the entertainment sequence to commence. Starting entertainment program one-two-oh."
The screen grew dark again. The TV--surely that's what it had to be--grew rapidly to cover the entire domed wall. It started growing deeper and expanded closer to her until the edge of it touched the end of her bed. The top of it tilted forward and expanded to take up yet more space. It now left her in a small dome of free space around the surface of the mattress, and everything else was taken up by the screen. It flickered on and lit up the whole space. Pop! Then the screen slowly disappeared and she was instead surrounded by a starry sky. She could feel a gentle breeze on her face and smell the scent of fresh grass and recent rain. She was floored. Alyss reached up to touch the screen and it changed. Now she was surrounded by golden sands stretching across the horizon. The sun was so scorching she could smell the scent of heat. She reached out and again her fingers met nothingness, but it still acknowledged her touch and changed to yet another scene where she was adrift in the middle of the ocean. A mermaid came up to the surface and waved at her there, then she swam up through the sky to beyond the stars. It was a boring scene to watch once the mermaid was gone, though, so she moved on from that one. She flicked through the various scenes for a while, but eventually that, too, became boring. "I appreciate the entertainment sequence," she called out, "but I'd still like to actually watch a show. Or maybe have something to do? That would be great," she said. She might have sounded a bit petty, but having an interactive screen saver was still not that interesting.
The sound of static again announced the communicator popping out of the wall to show Veronica's visage once more.
"You are to receive a tour of the prince`s quarters," she said. She hovered in view impassively. "Please wait for your guide to join you." There was a beep, and then for the space of a breath there was silence. Complete and utter silence.
There was a dignified whoosh as a heretofore invisible door, also sunk into the nondescript wall, swung open. A man in a starchy uniform and cap walked in, each movement jerky. She jumped into the tour right away. "This is the storage wall." She waved at the flat wall. "There are cupboards with food, water, clothing, bed things, and amusements." She waved each location out. "The food transports directly from the kitchen every three hours. Magic makes it 'keep'."
"How come no one showed this to me before? I've been starving in between meals this whole time," she said. "Wait, what's going on here," Alyss asked. "Who are you?"
The woman continued out the door without notice, but her movements became even rougher. "Here is the master`s parlor," she said, showing her into a richly-furnished room. There were pillows,
