At dinner that night, Cleve and I take the opportunity to talk with anyone who has a story to share about the main Morgan dome. Cor, of course, is the most recent arrival, but getting straight answers from her is difficult on any topic with the word Morgan in it, so we make sure to get insight from Chloe, Tenoch, and others, including listening to what Takuto has learned.
There is not a lot of security going into and out of the domes because there doesn’t have to be. Generally speaking, people aren’t often wandering in from outside. But people do travel between domes. It’s not really common, but it does happen. While there’s no ID check, there is a toll plaza if you want to walk through the nice part of the dome, which is the easiest way to get anywhere. There are beautiful boulevards lined with Earth trees and luxury shops. It’s absolutely gorgeous, people tell us, though not alluring enough to have kept them in thrall to Morgan Industries. A day pass for the honor of strolling these fine streets is fifty credits. “A racket,” Cor calls it. There’s a discounted annual pass, but we won’t be needing that.
If one doesn’t want to fork over cash, one can take backways to reach the same businesses, but those are dirty, dark, and narrow. Pedestrians share space with small delivery vehicles. There are ads everywhere, and every corner has slot machines. Honestly, it doesn’t sound all that different from the metro stations back in LA. The hospital complex is accessible from both routes, but the cheaper option will definitely be unpleasant. And likely slower.
Most crimes are punished by fine. They have a cost, not a prison sentence. “The dome is the prison!” Cor interrupts the person telling us this. “The prison is the perpetual debt cycle! That’s the prison!” Everything in the dome has a cost. Everything. And things tend to run smoothly… they just hurt people along the way. Maybe not on purpose, but the value of human enjoyment and of avoiding human suffering are not factored into the profit equations.
Cleve is concerned that two grown men and a kid showing up will draw attention. “We just need to figure out what dome we’re from and why,” he says.
“Well, you could go with almost the truth,” Roze suggests. “That your cryopods opened up late and then you were directed there. It’s not crazy; it happened.”
“Does it happen?” Cleve asks.
Roze exhales sharply in mirth. They’re used to Cleve’s echo-type questions. “Especially early on, yes, it took time for everyone to congregate. You just took a little bit longer. It makes sense,” they insist.
“They’re not going to have a manifest?” Cleve asks. Although it’s possible, I’m not worried about that; Roze only had one because of what module Data Haven is set up in. Roze suggests an alternative approach: somehow coming in from the sea as though we’re from the University.
“The rover is not rated to go into the water,” Tenoch objects. Roze spins ideas about rafts and shipwrecks, but really, that all sounds far more complicated than necessary.
“Y’all are smart, you can figure this out,” Roze assures Cleve.
“You worry too much, Cleve,” I tell him. We’ll just talk our way through whatever we need too. I’m sure it will not be as bad as Cleve seems to think.
His next objection is that Takuto might be wanted from the first network node job, when he implanted the tap. But as far as Roze could tell from the robots, only Arx ever showed up in video. Takuto was in miasma too thick to be seen clearly, even though he got whacked up quite a bit by robot arms. He laments that if he’d only gotten closer, he could have helped Arx more.
I’m surprised when Cleve actually tries to reassure Takuto. “My dad always said you don’t want to lead the sheep into the wolf’s den, so it’s better if they didn’t see you.” Maybe he’s finally coming around to Takuto as a partner in this next venture.
Fin