Phoenix 2125

Posted By Alexander Hollins on August 11, 2009

The day passed slowly, but uneventfully for Tom. While many more people were met, and many more hands were shaken, no more hot or cold or… whatever, feelings hit him. He was beginning to believe he’d just imagined it, when he ran into Deborah in a hallway.

“Hey Tom! Sorry I just left you alone. Things are popping today, and I figured you could manage it.”

“Oh, uh, no worries Deb. I managed. And I can see why you all needed me. Who do I talk to about getting some all users messages put out on security?”

Deborah smiled, and leaned in close. Tom felt himself shrinking back a little, but in the tight hallway, he didn’t have much room to move. She put her hand on his shoulder and the heat returned, starting from the center of his stomach and spreading out, rather than the point of contact.

“Well, aren’t you the go getter? You’re the top computer guy Tom. You get to make all the decisions. If you find you’re missing permissions in the network, talk to Janice, but beyond that, do as you want. “

“Ahh, okay, uh, good.” Tom stammered and tried hard not to blush. “I, I guess I’ll see, you tomorrow Deb?”

A smile spread across her lips. “That you will Tom, that you will.” With that, she turned and headed down the hall, back toward her office.

Wiping the sweat from his brow, Tom headed out the door. He started following signs back towards the cable car station, when a door marked “Maintenance only” popped open next to him.

“Tom, this way!” Tom looked around to make sure no one was watching, and followed Daneel inside. “Didn’t you learn this morning? Follow the flock and you’ll take an hour to go two blocks!”

“Well then, lead the way!” Tom intoned heavily, pointing dramatically down the corridor and holding the pose. Daneel stared at him for a moment, then cracked up.

“Good, you still have a sense of humor after your first day. Naw, I still have work to do tonight, pulling an all nighter as a favor to a friend. Here.” Daneel held out a mini data chip. “Pop this in your phone. Daneel’s map of the caves of steel. I’ve programmed in a few common destinations for you. Remember, main routes change as work gets done, so don’t use it to explore, it won’t always be accurate. And don’t tell Rocky, he gets upset when I give out his secret maps like this. Oh, and, watch out for Katarina. She’s got her claws out for you”

Tom took the chip, pulling out one already in his phone and socketing Daneel’s in its place. “I won’t. I heard you were the top gossip on the island, but seriously, is there anything about my day you DON’T know?”

“Well, I don’t know what Anferny said after you yelled at him for reckless downloading, if you managed to see him this afternoon, that is. “

Tom shook his head. “Okay, I give. You know everything that goes on around here. “

Daneel giggled, and nodded, seeming for the first time like a teenage girl in attitude. “Well, someone has too. But off with you, or you’ll miss your car. “
Daneel started down one path, pointing Tom down another. Following the map, he quickly emerged into a men’s room from the janitor’s door, and from there out onto the cable car square. Lining up for the right numbered car, he hoped to himself that the view heading out would be as spectacular.

The sun, low in the western sky, sparkled off of Arizona Bay’s waters, long shadows dug in the choppy blue green by boats floating along. Illuminated from the other side, the craggy ranges north of the capitol looked more foreboding, more like the monstrosities that had once destroyed his young life. The strange occurrences of the day, emotional ups and downs, finally got to him. Goaded by the black and red twisted spires of rock, he turned away from the windows. Tom closed his eyes, sadness, anger, and confusion warring through him. Returning to the valley of the sun had been like a rite of passage to him, a way of proving to himself that in the battle of man versus nature, man would win. But he realized that it was more than that. He had hoped to be returning home, but this strange place was not that home he had lost, buried under tons of lava and stone.

Lost in thought, burning with rage at himself for lost hopes, he opened his eyes with a start as the car clanged to its final landing. Looking around, he saw the other passengers sweating, neckties loosened, random papers being used as fans. The heat of the air hit him suddenly, as he realized it was unseasonably hot in the car. As the doors opened, people streamed out, a few giving him odd looks. Ignoring this, Tom changed chips in his phone, loading up a map he had put on the night before, leading back from the car to his apartment. Emotionally drained, he walked the half mile from the cable station to his building in a daze.

Block buildings rose up twenty stories tall around him, at the smallest. Looking more like the northeast coast Tom was more familiar with, he could almost hear his father’s voice complaining.

“Not like it used to be Tom. Urban sprawl, we used to have. Track housing, every house alike and on top of each other, yes, but separate buildings. A square mile of houses, and THEN shopping malls and grocery stores and businesses, in their own blocks. None of these damned self contained arcologies.”

The words echoing in his ears, he looked at the buildings of stone and glass with a new eye, trained by his earlier underground escapades. He noticed regular inset stairs every block or so, small metal doors labeled “City Maintenance only”, or simply, “Restricted Access”. As much as the process had started in his childhood, most of these buildings had been put up since the Quake had flattened those already there, government projects to quickly house those displaced both within Arizona, and the millions who had managed to flee California ahead of the rising waters. It appeared that much like the Capitol, the rest of the city was built high upon existing layers.

Reaching his own building, alike as the rest, silvered glass panels set in concrete with a faux limestone front to it, he shelved his thoughts. Making his way up to his apartment, he entered the small flat, furnished in a futon on the floor and unopened cardboard boxes. He looked out over the city at a rather unspectacular sunset, sipping a protein shake out of the fridge. None of the reds and browns shining in the sky that he remembered, the shrinking desert and higher humidity kept the dust that once gave such brilliant views out of the sky. Drained, he slept, and dreamed himself a moth, bouncing against a glass globe that held within it a flame. A bright purple flame, that laughed at him with Deborah’s smile.

Category: Chapter two: Getting Settled
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