Earth. Rodney's apartment.
"What did you say the name of the new boy was?"
Rodney asked, a serious stare weighing the expression the blonde girl would give. The blonde girl from yesterday. The blonde girl from the rebel group. Tendzel.
"He didn't say what his name was. He left when our leader asked if we could trust him."
Tandzel shook her head. Rodney chuckled,
"Our leader! Tendzel, why do I feel like you already feel patriotic to the group?"
She jumped off the wooden but fancy chair opposite Rodney's swan chair.
"Never! I would never feel loyal to them. I'm just infiltrating to help the elit-- perfect life project."
She corrected, her voice raised. He waved her to seat,
"You don't have to get all worked up, Tandzel. Sit. After all, you don't have anything to lose even if you betray us. You'll only be locked in the game. And your chances of playing the real game would be out of option, let alone helping you skip many levels in order for you to join the elite program."
She went on her knees suddenly, her palms clasped together in plea,
"Please. I would never betray the perfect life project. I would always be neutral and loyal when reporting."
He scoffed,
"Like you have a choice."
He picked up his tablet and flipped his finger through it for a while. Then he turned it to her,
"Is this the new boy?"
She stared at the picture for a while, gaping; a picture of Drake smiling like a maniac.
"How did you know he's the one?"
"Forget about that. Tell me about the details of the encounter."
She took a look at the picture again before explaining,
"I guess he was curious about the whole thing and decided to travel away but then was stopped by the border. To cut the story short, he dropped in our midst and then --"
"Enough. The boy seems to be cunnier and persistent than I thought."
He stood up.
"He might seem dismissive and narrow-minded but I've known too well to be careful of such type of people. Laurel was one of the people who taught me a lesson."
He began to pace for a while but then stopped, facing the robotic book shelf which shuffled books momentarily.
"The deed will be done tomorrow. Given by the fact that he ruined the robot car he wouldn't be able to travel for a while. Plus I bet your club is a joke to him."
He turned to her, smirking,
"I've sent ULTINUM vans to his place to deliver food items and goods and some few other packages which would sweep him off his feet. He might have the willpower, but is quite childish and easily thrilled. You can believe that the dummy was making a lame joke out of body-shaming."
His face went serious suddenly,
"You'll be the one to do the job."
She sprung to her feet, cowering,
"What should I do sir?"
He clicked his tongue,
"It might be later today or tomorrow. The lad could be quite unpredictable. But keep your tab with you always. I'll send you a spam message, you don't have to open it. A notification would follow the message, which would display his address and then disappear."
"Am I going to his apartment?"
Her eyes widened.
"You don't want to?"
She shook her head roughly,
"Of course not. I'm just worried --"
"About what? It can't possibly be about the judgement bot. You have 39 lifelines left."
"Never mind, sir. I'll carry it out. Just tell me what it is."
He walked back to his chair and settled in,
"That's good to the ears. Start going."
"But you haven't told me --"
"I'll record a cloud talk... you can only listen to it once. And do not play it until you get to the front of his gate."
She bowed,
"Yes, sir."
She turned to leave.
"And, Tendzel."
He called and she spun around with urgency and dread.
"Don't you need a boyfriend or a girlfriend?"
He laughed hysterically.
"You're 18 already. You don't wanna have sex? Or do you have a lot of sex in the ULTINUM world? Or wait, do you have DADDY BOT?"
[The Daddy bot is a clone of a super hot male model whose only duty is to satisfy people sexually. It doesn't have to be told what to do, it was designed only for that purpose. But well, only exclusive people possess them."
She feigned a laugh in return,
"You sure know if I do need one I'll tell you. It's just that I've been busy with the game that I can't remember the last time I passed the night here on Earth."
He nodded,
"Sounds good, but learn to have fun too. See yourself out."
She turned and began to walk towards the door.
"Marcus and Aurelius, see her out."
Two clones which looked perfectly like humans and behaved accordingly entered through the door and walked to her. The both of them bowed,
"Miss Tandzel, may we see you out please."
She fidgeted but then comported herself and was led out. As soon as the door closed, Rodney muttered,
"I should get rid of her after the mission is successful."
But then suddenly, a strange voice grew out of the air,
"Must you always remain foolish?"
Another countered,
"Come on, don't be too hard of Rodney. He's putting in his best to prove himself worthy of the trio."
The first voice did a ugh then went silent. The second said,
"Rodney, don't act rashly. You can't kill them all. You should know by now. The more you're sweet and pamper them, the closer they get and the more trust they issue. You can even have a secluded place where people like her can meet, club, and feel free to do whatever Fantasy they've had. Later, all you'll just have to do is sit back and watch them work for you. Like they do for us."
Rodney stood up and bowed towards the direction of the voice,
"Noted."
After that, there was peace and quiet.
Actually, the voice had come from two tiny speakers built in the robotic shelf.
_____________________________|
Drake's apartment.
"Hold on. I'm getting the door."
Drake palmprinted and opened the door. He stepped out and hurried towards the gate. There were three vans outside his gate. They had been honking since forever.
"What are they doing here?"
He decided not to walk towards the gate anymore.
"Who are you and why should I open the gate to you? This is a private property, no one else is allowed to step in."
The door of one of the vans opened and a man stepped out. He was 6"2, tanned, had stiff jaws, and emotionless eyes.
"It's from the government. Deliveries for player 1564243."
"That's my number."
Drake muttered. After much deliberation with himself, he remembered that twas said that governments would give provisions time to time.
"But this isn't the right time for the delivery. There are still ten days' away, in the calendar month or is today not 28?"
He flipped his fingers across his left wrist and the date was displayed. He shrugged,
"Whatever."
He walked closer and the gate opened.
"I'll only have more to eat."
The vans drove into his compound. Two men came out of each van and unloaded it. He watched the manner at which the men walked and acted. It seemed too cliche.
"Whatever."
He shrugged it off again. After they'd unloaded all the stuff, the men returned to the vans.
"Wait, where are y'all going? Aren't you going to help me take them in?"
"That isn't how it works, player 1564243. If you feel lazy, you can get yourself a helpmate."
"A helpmate?"
He quizzed but none of the men answered him. He watched them climb back into the vans and off his premises they drove.
"What kinda weirdos are these!!"
"Why did they have to come at this time? I was going to go to the trash can to see the strip club I bought. I only got to see the new breathing apartment and my sleek maid. But now I have to do this shit!!"
He grunted, looking from one package to the other. The packages were in cartons, but the cartons weren't made of papers but elastic packs.
"What's that?"
His eyes strayed to an exceptionally attractive package. He walked to it and picked it up. But it happened not to be what he was expecting.
"Bullshit!"
He dropped it. But curiosity made him rip the cover of one of packages open. There were tin milk and canned foods.
"How the hell am I supposed to finish all these before they get spoilt."
He shook his head,
"No, that isn't the question. How am I supposed to carry all these things in? Why do I feel especially lazy today!!"
"May I lend you a helping hand?"
The feminine voice came from behind him. He didn't need to be told whose voice it was. He turned,
"You!!! What the fuck are you doing here?"
Chloe kept a serious face and repeated,
"Can I help you?"
"Help me? Go fuck yourself bitch! You think I'll fall for your tricks again?"
He spat on the floor and turned away from her. The rage creeping up his body was enough to make him lift a mountain, how much more taking in two hundred cartons of packages!
He kept on going in and out, mumbling. Chloe didn't leave. She remained there at the front of his gate.