For an instant She/They wondered what would be the fate of the humans when that time came, then, dismissing it as scarcely relevant, Her/Their form rose up the surface of the grey hills and vanished into the formless, swirling nothing.
The crowd in the main street slowly dispersed. Old Eli went to inspect the damage to the windows in his store. Jed McArthur scratched his head and looked at his cousin Cal.
‘Did you see that?’
‘Right in the main street of Pleasant Gap.’
‘Without so much as a by-your-leave.’
Cousin Cal looked around suspiciously.
‘It was them two boys leaving the town and wandering abroad. I knew it was tempting fate. Outlandish things was bound to happen, if folks started coming and going just as they pleased.’
Jed McArthur spat in the dust.
‘I don’t know what things are coming to.’
***
Billy was having trouble accepting that the whole thing was real. The two young girls who now lay, one on each side of him, in the huge luxurious bed were hard to reconcile with the horror of the arrest and interrogation. The girls, whose pink uniforms littered the floor of the apartment, acted as though they were totally devoid of character. Their whole existence seemed to be directed towards pleasing his slightest desire. Beyond that, there was nothing. It was something that made Billy slightly uneasy. They were more like programmed machines than real people.
They showed this constant anxiety over Billy’s welfare, to the point where he felt almost under an obligation to produce more and more petty whims for them to indulge and keep themselves occupied. There seemed to be something strangely unhealthy about the whole city. All the people he had encountered, with the possible exception of the strange child whom he half remembered from his delirium, seemed to have had large sections of their personalities erased. Even the brutality of the Personnel men seemed to have been aimed, not so much at getting information out of him, but at rearranging his memory of the outside world. He stared at his reflection in the mirror ceiling and worried at the problem.
One of the girls seemed to sense his mood, and sat up.
‘Are you unhappy, Mister Billy?’
Billy shook his head.
‘No, not really.’
‘You seem troubled.’
‘I was just thinking, that’s all.’
‘You are unhappy.’
‘I’m not, really.’
‘Aren’t thinking and unhappiness the same thing?’
‘Not usually.’
‘Would you like us to distract you?’
Billy laughed.
‘I’m completely wiped out from being distracted.’
‘Perhaps you’d like to watch one of the entertainment channels?’
‘Okay.’
The girl reached out a hand to the bedside console and the screen flickered into life. Men in period costume hacked savagely at each other with swords and axes. Billy shook his head.
‘I don’t think so.’
The girl changed the channel. Two women and a crowd of dwarfs were engaged in slapstick pornography. Billy rolled over.
‘I think we can forget the entertainment.’
The girl looked concerned.
‘We are not pleasing you at all.’
‘Sure you are. I’m quite happy.’
She gestured to the other girl.
‘Perhaps it would amuse you if my colleague and I had sex with each other while you watched. We are often asked to do this. We are quite highly skilled.’
Billy laid a hand on her shoulder.
‘Do you ever think of anything else but what would please the people you serve?’
The girl frowned.
‘Of course not. What else is there?’
‘Don’t you ever just please yourself?’
‘I’m a Hostess-1. I take pride in my rank. I find my pleasure from pleasing those I am assigned to. That is the natural order, it’s the function of my class.’
Billy found it impossible to get through to her.
‘Are you happy, though?’
‘Of course.’
‘Wouldn’t you like to have people serve you?’
The girl immediately brightened.
‘Does it please you to say obscene things to me? Perhaps you’d like to beat me?’
For a moment, Billy thought she was mocking him. Then he realized that she was perfectly serious. The concept of someone serving her was obscene according to her programming. The paradox was that she accepted it with pleasure. Before Billy could probe any further, the console buzzed and the girl reached out to answer it.
‘Mister Billy’s apartment. May I help you?’
Reave’s voice came over the speaker.
‘Let me talk to Billy, will you, babe?’
Billy moved into range of the camera.
‘Hey Reave. How you doing, old buddy?’
Reave grinned.
‘Just fine. It’s a wild set-up they got here. Is everyone treating you right?’
Billy laughed.
‘Falling over themselves to show me a good time. I got two broads down here that you wouldn’t believe.’
‘How you feeling after that going-over you got?’
‘Fine. Completely recovered.’
Reave looked relieved.
‘That’s great. A.A. Catto’s really sorry they did that to you.’
Billy lit a cigar and inhaled.
‘Yeah? How you making out with her?’
Reave winked.
‘I’m doing okay.’
He paused.
‘Listen Billy. I got something to talk to you about. Can you come up here?’
Billy nodded.
‘Sure. How do I get there?’
‘I’ve, no idea. Hold on.’
Reave vanished from the screen, and A.A. Catto moved into frame.
‘Just tell your Hostess-1s. They’ll bring you up here.’
Again Billy nodded.
‘Okay, fine.’
The connection was cut, and Billy sat up in bed.
‘I’ve got to go to A.A. Catto’s apartment.’
The two girls sprang out of bed, hastily dressed and then helped Billy on with some of the clothes that A.A. Catto had chosen for him. Billy wasn’t too sure about the red velvet jump suit that A.A. Catto had picked out of the catalogue, but Billy couldn’t be bothered to argue, particularly as the Hostess-1s kept telling him how cute he looked. The girls led Billy along a series of walkways and corridors. They were admitted to A.A. Catto’s apartment. Billy dismissed the girls, and went inside on his own.
Reave was sitting crosslegged on the floor. He was wearing a white silk robe and a fancy silver collar. Billy looked at him in surprise. It was a far cry from his dungarees. Billy smiled to himself but said nothing. A.A. Catto was sprawled across the bed covered only by a black shawl that did little to hide her nakedness. Reave glanced up as Billy crossed the room.
‘Hey old buddy, how are you?’
Billy sat down in one of the antique chairs.
‘Fine. You?’
‘Oh, I’m okay.’
A.A. Catto sat up.
‘Don’t you think Reave looks pretty since I went to work on him?’