“Come on in here, Allie. I need to see if this will fit you,” called out Dylan from inside what I assumed was his parent’s room.
Stepping away from examining the holoimages, I entered the room, which was a lot darker than I had expected. A solitary lamp lit the corner next to the sliding closet doors where Dylan held up a blue and white matching top and bottoms. Both appeared to be a little large, but I figured I could fit them easily.
“I think these could work.” I took the outfit from Dylan and held it against my chest.
“Good. The bathroom is the door to the left. Change into them and I’ll take you around to see more of the city.” Dylan left the room and closed the door behind him.
I went into his parent’s large master bathroom to change, at the same time admiring the different kinds of décor inside. Like the rest of the house, it followed a nautical theme, making it appear as if belonged in a beach house somewhere.
I felt awkward wearing the clothes of someone’s mother, but they fit comfortably and were soft against my skin. Looking at my reflection, the solid white shirt with only trace lines of blue near the shoulders and sleeves contrasted to my dark hair. Seeing a hair tie on the counter, I borrowed it and pulled my mid-back length hair into a tidy ponytail.
Satisfied I could now blend in seamlessly, I left the bathroom and bedroom behind to enter the white hallway again. Taking the right at the end of the hall and stepping down into the sunken living room, I noticed Dylan standing in the kitchen.
“Are you hungry?” he asked.
“Somewhat.” I meandered towards the kitchen, still trying to observe everything. Beyond the couch at the edge of the living room, I saw two more doors on the other side of the apartment next to what resembled a robot charging station.
“What do you like to eat?” Dylan prompted, watching me impatiently.
“What do you have?” I wondered.
Tapping the screen on his refrigerator, a window listing a variety of choices came up. “Everything really…although I don’t know what you are accustomed to on land.”
“Do you have pizza?” I leaned up on my tiptoes to see over Dylan’s shoulder, part of the screen still obscured by his wild hair.
He twisted around with a smile on his face, the corner of his mouth twitching as he curtailed a laugh. “Of course, I have pizza.” Once again tapping the touchscreen through a variety of selections, he asked, “What kind of pizza do you like?”
“Cheese-only is fine.” I watched as he ordered it from the fridge. “How do you get the food?”
Without pausing to respond, he explained, “Part of the fridge contains a box where food is delivered via an attached chute. Robots make the food in the City Nourishment House. It is packed into a box and cushioned to ensure it arrives in perfect form, hot and ready to eat.”
I gawked at him. “Is all the food here done like that? Doesn’t anyone cook?”
“Yes, people still cook, but only if they have the time or if they want to.” Dylan shrugged. “Why cook when you can have your food delivered straight to you hot, tasty, and perfectly prepared every time?”
“I don’t know, I guess.”
“How is it on land?”
“We cook, order in, or simply go out to eat.”
“Hmm…interesting.” Dylan pulled a small device out of his pocket and typed something into it.
“What are you doing?”
“Taking notes,” he answered matter-of-factly, taking the newly arrived food out of the front fridge compartment. “I want to know everything about your world at the same time that I’m I introducing you to mine.”
I accepted my slice of pizza, nearly as big as the plate. “Well, touché…I want to know the same.” I bit into the pizza, which tasted awesome.
Dylan sat at one of the island barstools and I joined him. For a bit, we ate in silence until he piped up and suddenly said, “Oh, I need to go to the Oceanographic Lab to update my report. The online information systems have been offline for maintenance the last couple of days. My latest observations report will be late if I don’t go now.”
My pizza still half-eaten and cheese hanging down from my lip, I watched as Dylan scarfed down the rest of his pepperoni pizza slice, filling his cheeks like a hamster as he chewed it. Grabbing his c-com off the counter, he ran to the door, gesturing for me to get up and follow him.
Chapter 6
Bustling streets crowded in on us as Dylan hurriedly led me to the train station about a block away from where he lived. I kept close to Dylan in the thicket of people so I didn’t lose him. Pressed so close in a throng of people, once again, life in Oceania mesmerized me. Parents or robots pushed boxy strollers with a mixture of rowdy and docile children through the streets. The robots were a lot easier to place than the ones I was used to on land. These had humanoid shapes but lacked the outer skin designs so similar to humans like those of the androids in my world.
“Hurry, Allie, we don’t want to miss this train.” Dylan grabbed onto my wrist again and weaved through the crowd across the main street to the train station.
Visually inspecting the train station, I noticed it only consisted of an overhanging area in which to sit. To me, it resembled a stop more than a station. The recently arrived train differed from the one I’d seen earlier. A white exterior would have made it seamlessly
