The Dreaming Void (26 page)

“Tempting. Ozzie knows it wasn't actually that cheap relative to my budget, but no, I'll fight my own battles from now on.”

“That's my family. Stupidly stubborn to the last.”

“Thanks.”

“I'm here for two reasons. One, to look around. Okay, done that. Came a month too early, obviously. Two, I want all the frightful details of Thursday night. You and that rather attractive boy Keetch left very early together. And darling, I do mean
all
the details.”

“Keetch is hardly a boy.”

“Pha! Younger than me by almost a century. So tell your best cousin. What happened?”

Araminta smiled bashfully. “You know very well. We went back to his place.” She proffered a limp gesture at the dilapidated hallway. “I could hardly bring him here.”

“Excellent. And?”

“And what?”

“What does he do? Is he single? What's he like in bed? How many times has he called? Is he yearning and desperate yet? Has he sent flowers or jewelry, or is he all pathetic and gone the chocolates route? Which resort bedroom are you spending the weekend in?”

“Whoa, just stop there.” Araminta's smile turned sour. In truth Keetch had been more than adequate in bed, and he had even tried to call several times since Thursday, calls she had no intention of returning. The thrill of liberation, of playing the field, of experimenting, of answering to no one, of making and taking her own choices, of just plain having fun—that was all she wanted right now. A simple life without commitments or attachments.
Right now
was what she should have been doing instead of being married. “Keetch was very nice, but I'm not seeing him again. I'm too busy here.”

“Now I am impressed. Hump 'em and dump 'em. There's quite a core of raw steel hidden inside that ingenue facade, isn't there?”

Araminta shrugged. “Whatever.”

“If you ever want a career in law, I'll be happy to sponsor you. You'll probably make partner in under seventy years.”

“Gosh, there's an enticement.”

Cressida dropped her hand long enough to laugh. “Ah, well, I tried. So are we on for Wednesday?”

“Yes, of course.” Araminta enjoyed their girls' nights out. Cressida seemed to know every exclusive club in Colwyn City, and she was on all their guest lists. “So what happened to you after I left? Did you catch anyone?”

“At my age? I was safely tucked up in bed by midnight.”

“Who with?”

“I forget their names. You know, you really must go up a level and join an orgy. They can be fantastic, especially if you have partners who know
exactly
what they're doing.”

Araminta giggled. “No thanks. Don't think I'm quite ready for that yet. What I'm doing is pretty adventurous for me.”

“Well when you're ready …”

“I'll let you know.”

Cressida inhaled a breath of dust and started coughing. “Ozzie, this place is bringing back too many memories of my early years. Look, I'll call later. Sorry I'm not much practical help, but truthfully, I'm crap with design programs.”

“I want to do this by myself. I'm
going
to do this by myself.”

“Hell, make that partner in fifty years. You've got what it takes.”

“Remind you of you?” Araminta asked sweetly.

“No. I think you're sharper, unfortunately. Bye, darling.”

Lunch was a sandwich in her carry capsule as she flew across the city to the first of three suppliers on her list. The carry capsule, like her bots, had seen better days; according to the log, she was the fifth owner in thirty years. Perfectly serviceable, the sales manager had assured her. It did not have the speed of a new model, and if the big rear cargo compartment was filled to the rated load, it would not quite reach its maximum flight ceiling. But she had a lot more confidence in the capsule than in the 8038 bot; because of its age, it had to pass a strict Viotia Transport Agency flightworthiness test every year, and the last one had been two months before she bought it.

The capsule settled on the lot of Bovey's Bathing and Culinary-ware, one of eight macrostores that made up a small touchdown mall in the Groby district. She walked into the store, looking into the open display rooms that lined a broad aisle with many branches. Bathrooms and kitchens alternated, promoting a big range of sizes, styles, and prices, though the ones by the door tended to be elaborate. She looked enviously at the larger luxury units, thinking about the kind of apartment she would develop one day in which such extravagance was a necessity.

“Can I help you?”

Araminta turned around to see a man dressed in the store's blue and maroon uniform. He was quite tall, with his biological age locked in around the late twenties, dark skin offset by sandy-blond hair. Nice regular features, she thought, without being too handsome. His eyes were light gray, revealing a lot of humor. If they were meeting in a club, she definitely would let him buy her a drink; she might even offer to buy him one first.

“I'm looking for a kitchen and a bathroom. Both have to look and feel high-grade yet cost practically nothing.”

“Ah, now that I can understand and provide for. I'm Mr. Bovey, by the way.”

She was quite flattered the owner himself would come down on the floor and single her out to help. “Pleased to meet you. I'm Araminta.”

He shook her hand politely. She thought he was debating with himself about whether he should try for a platonic greeting kiss. It was one of those times when she wished she had a connection to the gaiafield, which would enable her to gauge his emotions, assuming he would broadcast them, which, as the owner of the store and therefore a professional, he would not.
Damn. Come on, girl. Focus.

“What sort of dimensions can you give me to play with?” he asked.

Araminta gave him a slightly cheeky grin, then stopped. Perhaps it wasn't a double entendre; certainly sounded like one, though. “Here you go,” she told him as her u-shadow produced the blueprint file. “I would appreciate some help on price. This is my first renovation project. I don't want it to be my last.”

“Ah.” His eyes strayed to her hands, which still had lines of grime etched on the skin. “Boss and workforce. I can relate to that.”

“Depleted workforce today, I'm afraid. One of my bots blew up. I can't afford any more expensive mistakes.”

“I understand.” He hesitated. “You didn't get it from Burt Renik, did you?”

“Yes,” she said cautiously. “Why?”

“Okay, well, for future reference—and I didn't tell you this—he's not the most reliable of suppliers.”

“I know he's not the gold standard, but I checked on the evaluation library for that model. It was okay.”

This time he did wince. “Next time you buy something in the trade, including anything from me, I'd recommend some research on Dave's Coding.” His u-shadow handed over the address. “The evaluation library, all those ‘independent' reports on how the product worked—well, the library is financed and managed by corporations; that's why there's never really a bad review. Dave's Coding is truly autonomous.”

“Thank you,” she said meekly as she filed the address in one of her storage lacunae. “I'll take an access sometime.”

“Glad to help. In the meantime, try aisle seven for a kitchen. I think we can supply your order from there.”

“Thanks.” She walked off to aisle seven, more than a little disappointed that he did not accompany her. Perhaps he had a policy of not flirting with customers.
Shame.

The man waiting in aisle seven had an identical blue and maroon uniform. He was perhaps five years older than Mr. Bovey but even taller, with a slender marathon runner's frame. His skin was Nordic pale with ginger hair cut short except for a slender ridge right at the crest of his skull. Strangely, his green eyes registered the same kind of general amusement at the world as Mr. Bovey's.

“I'd recommend these two kitchen styles,” he said in greeting, and gestured at a small display area. “They're a good fit to your dimensions, and this one is an end-of-the-line model. I've got two left in the warehouse, so I can give you a sweet deal.”

Araminta was slightly nonplussed. Mr. Bovey obviously had passed on her file to this employee, but that was no reason for him to start off as if they already were on familiar terms. “Let's take a look,” she said, lowering the temperature of her voice.

It turned out the end-of-the-line model was quite satisfactory, and it was a good deal. As well as a midrange culinary unit with a range of multichem storage tanks, she got a breakfast bar and stools and ancillaries such as a fridge, a food prepper, a maidbot, shelving, and cupboards. The style was chaste white with black and gold trim. “If you throw in delivery, I'll take it,” she told him.

“Anytime you want it, I'll get it to you.”

She ignored the flirty overture and told her u-shadow to pay the deposit.

“Bathrooms: aisle eleven,” he told her with unabashed enthusiasm.

The salesman waiting for her in aisle eleven had allowed himself to age into his biological fifties, which was unusual even for Viotia. His ebony skin was just starting to crinkle, with his hair graying and thinning. “I've got four that I think will suit your aesthetics,” was his opening gambit.

“Hello,” she snapped at him.

“Ah … yes?”

“I'm Araminta; pleased to meet you. And I'm looking for a bathroom for my flat. Can you help me?”

“What …?”

“This whole relay thing you've got going here really isn't polite. You could at least say ‘hi' to me first before you access the file you're all shooting around here. I am a person, you know.”

“I think … ah.” His surprised expression softened. Araminta found it a lot more disconcerting than his initial smug chumminess.

“You do know what I am, don't you?” he asked.

“What do you mean?”

“I am Mr. Bovey. We are all Mr. Bovey in this store. I am a multiple human.”

Araminta was certain she was turning bright red with embarrassment. She knew what a multiple was, of course: one personality shared among several bodies through an adaptation of the gaiafield technology. This, its practitioners claimed, was the true evolutionary leap for humanity that everyone else was pursuing down futile dead ends. A multiple human could never die unless every body was killed, which was unlikely in the extreme. In a quiet nonevangelical way they believed that everyone would become multiple one day. Perhaps after that the personalities would start fusing, leaving one consciousness with a trillion bodies, a much better outcome than downloading into the artificial sanctity of ANA.

It was a human heresy, their detractors claimed, a long-term conspiracy to imitate the Prime aliens of Dyson Alpha. More vocal opponents accused the multiple lifestyle of being started by leftover Starflyer agents trying to continue their dead master's corrupting ideology.

“I'm sorry,” she said, shamefaced. “I didn't know.”

“That's okay. Partly my fault in assuming you did. Most people in the trade know.”

Araminta gave a wry grin. “I guess continuity of service is a big plus.”

“I've got to be better than Burt Renik.”

“Definitely!”

“All right, then. So are you and I good to go and look at bathrooms?”

“Of course we are.”

Araminta wound up buying the third suite the older Mr. Bovey showed her. It wasn't out of guilt. He was genuinely offering a good deal, and the plain gold-and-green style was perfect for the flat. And once she'd let her awkwardness subside, he was fun to talk to. She could not quite throw off the weird feeling of disconnection talking to his older body and knowing he was exactly the same person who had greeted her, and that body probably was smiling privately at her while dealing with another customer.

“Just let us know when you want it delivered,” he said when her u-shadow handed over the deposit.

“Do you … that is, some of you, handle delivery as well?”

“Don't worry. Tense hasn't caught up with us multiples yet. And yes, I'll be the one in the carry capsule and helping the bots when they get stuck on the stairs. Not necessarily this body, given its age, but me.”

“I'll look forward to seeing the rest of you.”

“There's a couple of mes who are young and handsome. Call it vanity if you like; I'm not immune to all the usual human flaws. I'll try and schedule thems for the delivery.”

“As handsome as you?”

“Hey, there's no more discount. You've squeezed me dry already.”

She laughed. “I'd better get back to work, then.”

Araminta smiled during the whole flight back to the flat. Mr. Bovey really had been charming. All his versions. She suspected it was more than good client relations. And was he joking about the young and handsome bodies? Actually, even the last one she had seen, the older one, had been quite distinguished. And what if he did ask her out for a date? Would it be just her and twenty of him sitting at a table?

If he asks.

And if he does, what am I going to answer?

The whole idea was unusual, which made it very interesting.

And what if the evening goes well? Do I ask twenty of him back to my place?

Oh, stop it!

She was still smiling when she walked back up the stairs and opened the front door. Then her mood came down at the sight of the flat. The bots had made some progress cleaning up, but the one with a vacuum attachment was all clogged up. None of the bots had self-maintenance capacity, so she would have to clear that out manually. And she still had not put the balcony door actuator back together. It could be quite a while before Mr. Bovey delivered her new kitchen and bathroom and she got around to finding out how well she had read their encounter.