Friends or Foes

Treasure

Treasure

Void
Welcome to Moon City where the future is today! Moon City is at the peak of innovation and working every day to make life easier on our residents. We work to not only live in our homes, but to live in harmony with our homes! We hope you will find the home you have been looking for here in our beautiful Moon City.

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Tinker folded her brochure and stuffed it back in her jean jacket pocket. With a sales pitch like that, she was expecting something more like the Emerald City from the Wizard of Oz, and less like the city from Total Recall. The buildings rose high into the air, all of them uninspiring greys and smokey brown colors. The railway tracks winding through the city at several heights looked like snakes weaving their way through trees.

The cars slid to a smooth stop, and after a moment the doors hissed open. A polite automated voice announced the stop, and Tinker checked her ticket once more before standing. This was her stop! Her assigned apartment was only a few minutes walk from here, and in the apartment her first ever roommate! As Tinker joined the trickle of bodies walking away from the station, she couldn't help wondering what her new roommate would be like.

The apartment was a ten minute walk from the railway station and up on the fifteenth floor. The key worked perfectly in the lock, and the door opened to reveal a lot of bright white. Tinker looked around in surprise. In sharp contrast to the city outside, the two-room apartment inside was bright white, sleek, and stainless steal. Modern and sterile. It could use a bit of color, but other than the basic pieces of furniture, there wasn't anything in here, meaning there was plenty of space to personalize. Grinning, she dragged her cases inside and went to check out the bedrooms and wait for her roommate to show.
 
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Jack loved the idea of a high-tech city with the peak of innovation and advanced technology. It seemed like a dream, almost like living in a sci-fi movie. Jack had grown up in a rather small town, so this was a huge constract when compared to his home town. Moon City, a high-tech city where the future is today.

Just as expected, the city was full of tall skyscrapers, but it didn't seem exactly like what he was expecting. It seemed darker and more like what you would see in one of those dystopian first person shooter games. The smokey brown and inspiring grew colors, and the dark atmosphere constrasted greatly from the bright, sophisticated and elegant city he was imagining. Oh well, that wasn't what mattered the most. At least he was already here.

Jack advanced until he arrived at the building where his apartment was. It was on the 15th floor, so he went up there to see his new apartment, excited about his new life here in Moon City. Once he had arrived the the apartment door, he opened up, and entered the apartment, not knowing his new roommate was in one of the bedrooms already.

As soon as Jack saw the apartment he let out a wide grin. It was wonderful. The apartment was bright white, sleek and stainless steel. It was perfect, it felt like he was living in the future. He wondered what kind of interesting things would be in this apartment. Did it have any automated functions? The excitement of living in an apartment that looked taken straight out of a sci-fi movie caused him to continue smiling as he explored the kitchen, the living room and the bathroom. Soon, he only had the bedrooms to inspect. However, at this point he saw some cases. His new roommate was already here? Interesting. Jack wondered what he would be like.
 
Tinker looked up from unpacking when she heard the door open. Awesome! Her new roommate and future best-friend/sister-she-never-had was here! She finished tossing her unmentionables into an opaque drawer that then closed itself. She paused then carefully opened the drawer. Cool! All of her underwear was now folded neatly! And possibly starched. How did they do that? She got distracted trying to peer into the chest of drawers and find the mechanisms that made it work, but whoever had designed this thing had done well. She glanced at the small closet, wondering if it had any secrets, but unfortunately, she didn't have anything to hang up right now, so she'd have to test that later.

Right. Where were her other bags? Oh, yeah, she'd left them in the living room like a doofus. Oh well. She could hear her new roommate walking around and coming closer, so maybe they could meet in the hall! Grinning, Tinker padded barefoot out into the hall.

"Hey, girl! Nice to meet you! What do you think of... moon... city..." Tinker trailed off as she stared up at what was most definitely not a female human. "Uh, who are you?" she demanded, instantly on the defensive. At under five feet tall and meeting someone who was at least a foot taller than you, it didn't pay to give them a chance to hit first.
 
Jack smiled, it was time to meet his new roommate! He wondered if his new roommate would be a guy who enjoyed videogames like him. The two could spent nights playing different games and having a great time together. They would be like brothers! He heard footsteps coming towards him. Here he comes!

But to Jack's surprise, instead of another man like him, the person that had come out of the bedroom was a girl, one that was roughly a foot shorter than him. The surprise at this unexpected encounter was followed by the girl getting in a defensive stance and interrogating him about who he was. By now he was more than confused, and wondered what was going on here.

"Hey, hey, calm down." Jack told the other person. "This is my new apartment. How'd you get in here anyway?" Jack asked her, trying to appear calm so that she would hopefully calm down as well, but the whole situation had him completely puzzled.
 
Tinker scowled up at him, getting a familiar kink in her neck. "Your apartment? No, mate, this is my apartment. I got in using a thing called a key. Ever heard of one?" She dug into her pocket and pulled out the key to show him, keeping well out of reach. "I got assigned to this place when I arrived, so if you don't mind, I'm waiting for my roommate, who is definitely not a dude." She glared at him, not backing down.

How had he gotten in? Only those assigned got keys with no extra given out - which was a real pain if you were in the habit of losing your keys - and the locks were as close to pick-proof as you could get. Had he somehow swapped keys? Was he an expert burglar? Although you'd think an expert burglar would know not to burgle an empty apartment. Tech thief then?
 
Jack's confusion soon grew into frustration as he kept listening to this person. He found her annoying more than anything by now. "No, I'm pretty sure this is my apartment." Jack replied, before digging into his own pocket and pulling out his own key to show her, keeping it high enough to be out of her reach. "I have no idea how you got that key, but I was assigned this apartment when I arrived, and was given this key to enter." Jack replied back to her.

"Are you sure you didn't steal my roommate's key or anything? You surely seem aggressive enough to do such a thing. I warn you, if you're looking for trouble I can report you to the manager." Jack added.
 
"Yeah, you're right, I should totally report you for being in my apartment!" Tinker snapped. She stalked forward, using her shoulder to push him out of the way as she fast-walked to the living room. "Seriously, what a moron. Do you really think I'd steal some guy's key? Why on earth would I want to stir up this kind of trouble or stay with a dude?" she fumed.

There was a small, unobtrusive monitor next to the door. It was currently completely white and looked like another part of the wall save it jutted out perhaps an eighth of an inch. Tinker spotted it and poked it curiously. "Right, uh, how do you work this thing... hello?"

The screen lit up, making her jump. "Hello. I am S.H.A.R.I. How may I help you?" greeted a somewhat cliche robotic female voice. It was way too soothing and polite.

"Uh, right, hello, um, Shari," Tinker said, taken a bit off guard. "How do I call the manager?"

"You need only to ask," S.H.A.R.I. replied. "I am programmed to show you who is at the front door, record your shopping list, play your prerecorded playlist, organize the cleaners, and answer any questions you may have about the city or this building."

Tinker paused. "Okay, wow, that's a lot of stuff." Then she rallied. "But right now, I need to get ahold of the manager and report an intruder!"

"I detect no unauthorized presence within the premises."

"What? But he's standing right here! He does not belong here! This is my apartment!" Tinker squawked, pointing at the guy.

"Jack Parker, male, 21 years of age, 155.7 centimeters tall, birthday XX of XXXX month of the year 19XX. Current employment, Moon City Video Games Extraordinaire. Current residence, apartment 15 dash 23, building Tetras, Moon City."

Tinker hesitated. That was a lot of information. "Uh... so... he does live here?" she asked, the first note of uncertainty and dread creeping into her voice. "Then... where the hell am I supposed to be?"

"Tinkerbell Locker, Female, 21 years of age, 124.9 centimeters tall, birthday XX of XXXX month of the year 19XX. Current employment, Moon City Automotive Mechanics. Current residence, apartment 15 dash 23, building Tetras, Moon City."

"You could have just said the last bit," Tinker said, her face red from when the robot said her full name. "Look, this is wrong. I am male, he is female. There must be an error. Males and females are not supposed to be assigned the same residences unless there is a pre-established relationship! Please, just contact the manager, or the high-ups, or whoever is in charge of these assignments and let them know there's been a problem."

"Calculating." There was a pause. "I am sorry, but there is no error detected. Tinkerbell Locker and Jack Parker are assigned to apartment 15 dash 23, building Tetras, Moon City."

Tinker groaned. "Then... can't you... isn't there a live person there somewhere?"

"I am detecting stress and anger in your vocal patterns. Please calm yourself. Would you like some tea?"

"No, I do not want tea, I want to talk to a manager or maintenance or something!"

"There is no need to use such angry tones with me. Please be happy. This is Moon City. Everyone is happy in Moon City."

Tinker propped her fists on her hips and glared. "Don't take that spooky dystopian robots-take-over-the-world tone with me, AI! I am not happy because there has been a mistake. I will be happy when the mistake is rectified."

There was a pause. Tinker wasn't sure if robots could sound miffed, but S.H.A.R.I. had a distinct "miffed" edge when she replied, "Your complaint has been registered. Approximately two days until your complaint will be reviewed. May I help in any other way?"

Tinker scowled. "No, thank you, that is everything. Switch off, please, or whatever you do." The screen went white to match the wall again, and Tinker turned to face Jack. "So. Two days. And I don't think this AI will take too kindly if I tell her to rush it. It might get 'accidentally' deleted."
 
Jack was still greatly annoyed at this girl's attitude, but then watched her interaction with S.H.A.R.I. He couldn't help but chuckle when he saw Tinker blush as the robot said her full name. However, he was extremely confused as S.H.A.R.I. said that the two of them had been assigned to the same room. However, he just remained silent as Tinker argued with S.H.A.R.I, enjoying the little show here. As much as it was annoying to argue with Tinker, he was entertained by seeing her argue with S.H.A.R.I.

Once the screen went white again, Jack just looked at Tinker. "Well, I told ya, I'm no burglar." Jack said with a smirk. "Look, I'm not any happier than you are about this whole situation, but I guess there isn't really much we can do about it at the moment, other than just deal with it until our situation is checked in two days." Jack said to Tinker.
 
"Fine," Tinker huffed. "I'm sorry I yelled at you and called you a burglar, but can you really blame me?" She sighed and started back down the hall. "I picked that room. You can have the other, and the bathroom is there. Speaking of the bathroom, neither of us will walk around in nothing but a towel. We'll do our best to remain clothed at all times. Agreed?" She glanced back and up at him.
 
Jack looked at Tinker as she apologized. "I mean, it was a surprise for both of us." Jack replied. He looked as Tinker mentioned which room she took, and which one he could have. She then mentioned both of them doing their best to remain cltohed at all times. "Yeah, sounds fair." He replied. "Well, I'd better go put my stuff in my room then." Jack said, heading over to his room to start unpacking.
 
Tinker went to her room and shuffled things around but didn't finish unpacking. If they were reassigned, then one of them was going to have to leave. She might as well keep it simple and not get too comfortable. It would make leaving easier. At least she wasn't moving an entire city this time, just appartments.

A thought struck her, and she walked into the hall, sticking her head in the guy's open bedroom door. "Hey, what's your name?"
 
Jack went over to his room and started unpacking a few things, knowing that if this situation was fixed, one of them would have to leave, so better not unpack everything and make it harder to move later. He was still unpacking when he heard the girl's voice again, asking for his name. "Well, just like you heard from S.H.A.R.I., I'm Jack Parker." he replied.
 
Tinker stepped in and offered her hand. "Tinker," she greeted. "It's nice to meet you, Jack. Do you need any help in here?"
 
Jack shaked hands with her. "Well, it's nice to meet you as well." He replied. "I'm good, but thanks though." He replied. Well, I'll go check out the kitchen and see if I can cook us something for dinner." He said as he headed over to the kitchen. Maybe there was some high-tech kitchen appliances as well!
 
"You can cook?" Tinker asked curiously, padding after him. "I can kind of cook, but not really. I can make sure I don't starve and I'm not always eating out, but that's about it." She stopped in the hallway, giving him plenty of space. She didn't want to crowd the guy, especially not after their... interesting introduction to each other. Best to give him space.
 
Jack nodded. "Yeah, I mean, it's kind of a necessity when you're living on your own." Jack replied. "Besides, once you learn how to cook your favorite meals, you can just eat them whenever you want." Jack replied. "I learned the basics with my mom, but I actually learned most of the advanced recipes from youtube. That site really has tutorials for just about anything." Jack explained as he headed to the kitchen to start cooking.
 
Tinker climbed up onto a stool at the counter and sat with her feet dangling like a child's. "That's cool. I just never really got into it. I like food, but, you know, just feed the body and run run run! I'm too busy and too distracted to cook anything much."
 
Jack shrugs. "Well, I really like food, so yeah, I started learning with youtube tutorials. Hm... now what should I cook?" Jack wonders, as he thinks of what recipe to try.
 
"Well... what's in that super sci-fi looking fridge?" Tinker asked. "Maybe you should see what's available before deciding on a food."
 
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