Synopsis:

Even in a mysterious machine-run city in the far future getting a table at a good restaurant is still difficult. We need you to make up the numbers. Please don't come as you are! It would be a real social faux-pas as we don't want to end up with three guys and one girl. Nobody can leave the city anyway so we might as well have some fun. I heard people are dying outside but it's only a rumour ...

Story:

Making up the Numbers

By Emma Smith

Introduction: City Status on Day #325,469

The city of Altrosia stands as a monument to the wisdom and foresight of its founders, the elite of their time. Its survival has ensured our own continued survival, as we are part of it. Our own elite can exist apart from the trials and tribulations of the rest of an uncertain and hostile world.

Soaring spires and towers dominate the views from within the city limits. We built high to pack as many people as possible with the defensive perimeter. We are pleased with our management of the space. The city is aesthetically pleasing within all programmed parameters. We regret we can only power a certain area of shielding or we would have grown larger.

Failing that, we hold population stable at exactly 1,329,411 and have done so for six centuries. During this time, there have been 157 new citizens created via opto trait-selection and incubation. This balances the few unplanned deaths due to failures in our primary printing and recording technologies. Resource limits mean additional humans cannot be permitted at this time.

We are fully self-contained; we need nothing. This is again fortunate, as the outside world seems to have little enough for itself these days. We operate as planned; we have no reported faults and are at nominal capacity.

We watch and guard the people as our builder intended. We have our purpose; the people must find one within themselves, and our city wall.

Chapter 1

Jay had planned a quiet evening, working on his latest abstract sculpture. It had started to take on the form he wanted but making it match the thing in his head was proving difficult. Tentatively he held another piece of metal up to one of the long rods making up the frame. He heard a slight whine as the apartment system spot-welded it into place and he released it before it could even get warm. He stood back to admire his work so far. It looked good, but still not quite the vision from when he'd started a couple of weeks ago.

Why didn't I write a symphony instead? he asked himself. At least there are programs to help with that. Machines never have understood sculpture. Maybe that's why I do it?

He carried on working for another hour or so. He fixed several more pieces into place, took a couple back again, and began to feel more like someone solving a puzzle than an artist. He was just becoming bored with his project when there was another presence in the room with him.

"Jay? Can we talk?" Asked the apparition, a striking blonde woman who seemed slightly transparent.

"Allie! I've asked you not to do that!" Jay scolded, not really meaning it.

"You're strange Jay, all this weird privacy stuff. You act like something out of an old book", she said.

"You've never seen a book, nobody here has."

"I know but I've seen people talk about them on vids. Anyway do you want to come with us?"

"Where?"

"Velocity, ultra stylish. We got a table for four."

Jay considered. He hadn't been out with this group of friends for a while. He'd lost interest in socialising lately. It might be fun to have a night out.

"Four?"

"Yeah. Dee and Ren are coming too. Oh and Jay?"

"When you use that tone I know there's something else coming."

"Darling! You're so perceptive. I need you to make up the numbers. Ren is being macho on me again. Not that I'm complaining!"

"Ah! I get it. He won't and you think I will."

"Come on. It will be better than playing gooseberry. I don't want to have to handle three guys myself. Not that I can't of course!"

Allie laughed and Jay found his mood had lifted somewhat. He decided to join them. A night out might give him the inspiration his apartment walls couldn't.

"So can I count you in?" she asked. "You've time to change. Would be social suicide to go to a place like that early."

He pretended to consider for a short while, though he'd already made up his mind.

"I guess I'll join you guys. Could be fun!"

"Great!" she said. "I'll tell Dee you're coming. He’ll want to look his best. He likes you a lot."

"Glad someone does."

"Don't be an old sulky! Now get ready! See you at nine!"

She disappeared and Jay stood still for a second. Then he walked into his bedroom. He rapidly went through what he needed. I haven't done this for a while, he thought. Maybe need some new clothes in current styles? Can print them when I've done myself.

The apartment had heard his conversation and made deductions of its own. Jay looked over at the printer, in the corner of the room. It resembled a shower cubicle as used by the ancients but, of course, he didn't know that, none had existed for a thousand years. The translucent walls glowed faintly, lit from within. Several yellow and green lights flickered across it as it began to activate.

Program three please. Also regular stabilization while I'm at it, it's due anyway, he announced.
The light inside the printer cubicle flashed to full brightness. All the other lights stabilised at green. It chimed readiness. A background noise began to increase in volume, a sound of power channelling itself through the machine.

He threw away his clothing and stepped into the printer. The door closed behind him and locked. The brightness fell back to bearable levels and he opened his eyes. He waited to activate. An accident was his secret and biggest fear. The city always assured him the odds were billions to one but the irrational fear never left him. As soon as the door closed, he knew each time that his number would be up. Each time he survived unscathed, it just convinced him that it would be the next one.

Execute! He hoped there was no edge to his voice that might betray his fears.

It didn't help that there was nobody except machines that knew how printers worked. He'd heard several people claim that the things were impossible. Everyone used them and they definitely worked so they must be wrong.

It was as if you went out of time for thirty minutes or so, no sensation of anything. Afterwards, you were changed. Not just held to a particular age or minor cosmetic tweaking but radical reorganizations of the matter making up his body, like the one he was undergoing now.

The printers worked on inanimate things too, though using a different process than for body changes. The basic home units could produce a large variety of useful goods from basic raw metals, plastics and some other compounds. Everything had to be recycled, the city being a closed system. The printers could do that too.

He'd asked the city for detailed schematics of the Nanoprinter. It had given him cubes containing thirty six thousand scanned document images. He'd laughed; it then offered him another two million pages of background material. The thing was excessively complex. It shouldn't be possible for it to work. If it ever didn't then all life in the city would end. Death delayed by six hundred years or more would decide that they hadn't entirely escaped his grip after all.

Just before the fields kicked in, he gently touched the spot on his head where imagined his recording implant was. This was the second cornerstone of city life, the eavesdropper on the soul. He didn't know what a prayer was so he had none to say as he gave himself over to the change. He left the world for a time.

Chapter 2

The door opened and she almost leaped out, elated at having survived another trip through identity space. Her straight, long, dark hair fell around her in a bit of a mess.

Those things are hopeless with hair. Luckily, I have other gadgets! Jay mused.
It'd been quite a long time since she'd had long hair to manage. She went to find the tools to style it and had it fixed into something currently fashionable but not too widely copied. She caught a glimpse of herself naked in the mirror and marvelled again how the thing had sculpted her form just right. How did they work? She longed to know.

Nobody in the city was ugly but she knew she was beautiful. This was her favourite and best female appearance, specially crafted for dates, meals out and wild parties. Once you got a program you liked you kept it to yourself. Nobody wanted the social nightmare of going to a big party in the same face as someone else.

She had a brief look for clothes and then abandoned the idea, seeing her female wardrobe as hopelessly outdated. Some of it was over a year old! Really! She set the printer to produce a decent modern outfit and naturally, it was a perfect fit. The underwear hugged her like a lover; the black mini skirt was an exquisitely chosen length. The silver top had barely visible darker tracings on it like circuitry, a currently fashionable trend that experts expected to last for at least a week. She pulled on the black boots and turned to her make-up. She played with a bold red for her lips to set off her dark hair and decided to keep it.

She considered it odd that many men still refused to dress up, even when there were no fixed social conventions to offend. Habits died hard apparently, even over hundreds of years. Men did wear dresses but were still keen to emphasise acceptable levels of manliness to their prospective partners. Silly really. Still, some clothes didn't work properly without the right curves. Now she had them and was going to show them off.

By now, she was really enjoying the fun of being a woman again and being pretty. It had been a while and she worried about the evening ahead. At least she'd be with friends and she'd soon find her feet again. She hadn't been partying for three hundred years without learning something.

Soon she was in a taxi, floating high above the city. It knew she was on a night out so didn't hurry, though it pretended it was rushing her there urgently. It came deliberately close to several towers, swooped round them, dived and climbed. It did this to give her a twinge of excitement, though of course there was no danger. It also let her see and be seen by other people, an essential component of city life. Display was important here; social interactions were a large part of what defined you.

She'd never been to Velocity before. It wasn't easy to get in. You had to know someone who knew someone. Allie had many partners, unlike Jay, and knew the right people. She'd pulled strings and levers. Jay suspected she wasn't the first choice for this invite. It didn't matter. It was still going to be a great night out.

Jay watched the city fly past her. It seemed so big from up here. It was hard to believe this wasn't the entire world. She knew that outside things weren't this good but had no real knowledge of what it was like. Who'd leave a place like this for something worse?

The taxi set her down on the restaurant terrace and she staggered as she saw the drop. She'd known of course that the tables were on a slab of a terrace, jutting from a tower. She'd known there was a thousand feet of nothing below them, no railings or fences to stop people falling. It wasn't the same thing as seeing it herself.

People did fall, to the general amusement of their companions and the rest of the dining audience. Cameras would capture their discomfort during the long drop into the void. A few days later, when the city had reassembled and restored them, they'd suffer the further ridicule of friends at their clumsiness and the quality of their performance on the way down. Jay shuddered at the thought. Death is still death, even if you wake up afterwards. To her it wasn't a game. The drop seemed to be real, like an opening grave beneath her; She didn't want to look down.

She met her friends near the door to the building and a waiter politely showed them to a dangerous looking table near the edge of the terrace. She sat with her back to empty space; not wanting people to know it made her nervous. She suspected that everyone wanted to do the same.

"Aren't you glad we persuaded the sad old stay-at-home to come out Dee?" asked Allie. "Doesn't she look nice? I don't now what you were worried about."

"Jay! Why have you been hiding yourself away when you can look like that?" said Dee. He gave a look that made her feel like she was melting.

Dee was wearing an old fashioned suit, printed for the occasion. It made him stand out among the gaudier clothing of the other men, made him look somehow powerful and secure. Jay let him take her hand in his and give it a squeeze. She found him very attractive and determined to enjoy the evening to the fullest.

Allie looked stunning and she captivated Ren. She wore a long dress, in a dark red with slender straps. She had a flower pinned in her blonde hair. Her black bag periodically flashed with tracery resembling that woven into Jay's top. Never one to miss a fashion trend, regardless how silly, thought Jay. I don't remember seeing that flower in the printer catalogue. It can't be real! There are no flowers in the city.

Ren wore a fashionable overall-like garment but made of fine silk, or what the printer called silk, in dark blue. He looked rugged and dangerous and attracted many admiring and envious glances from other tables. Jay knew Allie wouldn't mind that. She was very secure sexually, and there'd be another ten or so men on standby if they ever fell out.

"Isn't the old hermit looking pretty? When I called on Jay earlier he was doing the tortured sculptor routine", Allie said.

Jay could see Ren asking the city what a hermit was, it obviously told him because he smiled at her. A sort of electric current ran through her. She found him an exciting man and, no doubt, Allie was making the most of him.

"This piece is giving me trouble. I can't make it come out right", said Jay.

"Maybe I can inspire you tonight?" Dee whispered. They linked hands again and entwined their fingers together.

"Can we eat first before all that?" Ren asked, "I'm starving here!"

Jay looked him over. She'd never seen Ren as a woman and Allie said he hardly ever was. Well Jay hadn't done it much herself lately. She should try striking a better balance, see more of this side of life. Ren looked very handsome but still wasn't as attractive to her as Dee. She didn't know why, just the way people are she supposed, and their different tastes.

Chapter 3

As people do, they ate and drank, chatted and talked about largely inconsequential things. Jay talked about his art and the drive to create something based on an idea that flashed into your head. Dee agreed, mentioning his research. It could take months or years of work to explore and realise an idea that hit you in a second.

Allie and Ren talked about their work too and made plans for later. Ren told them he'd been trying this thing called exercise to build muscles up. Nobody understood at first, they all said why not just hop into a printer, until he explained the historical aspects of it. The idea of life without printers struck them as horrible and futile. Old at seventy, dead by eighty, in many cases sooner. What sort of life could you pack into those few years? What was it like to die and never come back?

Ren shared some dark rumours, that the city would sometimes let people die even now. Jay considered these myths, more like ghost stories to tell around campfires than in a sophisticated restaurant. She was in a good mood though and she didn't want to spoil things.

The best example Ren could come up with that wasn't "I heard X from Y" was of someone who took a large blast of neutrons while inspecting the defence grid. A fried implant meant losing two days of memories or so. Jay didn't really think that this compared to dying. In actual dying they put you in the ground and leave you there, forever.

Jay could see Ren was going to move onto printer accidents next and cut him off by pointing out that there'd been only one in the last fifty years. The disparity of her confidence here compared to her cowardice when standing in the printer amused her. They changed the subject.

Dee asked her back to his apartment after the meal. She said yes, eagerly, and began to look forward to it. Something had started to work inside her. She was anticipating touches and glances. She Remembered feelings and movements. She was feeling good, drunk on fine wine and muscle memory.

They were just into their desserts when the commotion started. Ren pointed over towards the door. He would see things first Jay thought, He acts like a predator sometimes, the way he moves, always watching, like he's ready to strike. She put away the thought as silly.

Three men walked out onto the terrace. They were dressed strangely, in outfits made up mostly of different shades of green and brown. Their expressions were hard and they strode forward with a purpose. Everyone thought it was some sort of show at first.

Allie squeaked with excitement "Oh look! They have those metal things. Knives I think they're called. I've seen them in vids."

The men checked their advance and turned towards Allie. They marched towards the table where the four people were sitting. There was a ripple of polite laughter from those nearby, looking forward to the amusement.

"You can have a closer look then!" the leader said. He grabbed Allie's long hair, pulled it back and placed the blade of his wicked looking knife to her throat. He pressed slightly and drew a single drop of blood. There were gasps of horror and the sound of people pushing back chairs.

"Nobody move!" the man snapped, "We're from outside!"

A buzz of frightened noise started as people realised it wasn't some form of entertainment for them. Some of them struggled to understand the concept of outside the city.

"Look", said Dee, "Be reasonable you can't fight the whole city. Killing people won't help you either. They'll be back in a few days."

"What's your precious city going to do about it then? You're not human any more really. I bet you're not even really a man," the second intruder said. He gently stroked his knife across Jay's neck and took it away "But I like your taste in girls, assuming she is one of course."

Jay knew the city was watching, it always was, but was hesitating and planning. It wouldn't want to kill them out of hand. They wouldn't be coming back if it did. If they offered actual violence though Jay assumed they'd die on the spot.

"What do you want with us?" Ren asked.

"We’re not the only ones in here today. We found a way in. The planet's going to hell out there. We came to steal supplies so we can stay alive a bit longer", the leader said.

"So?"

"We might as well have some fun while we're here," said the second.

"Stupid Privs. Living your stupid empty lives while the rest of us die out there," the third added. He casually and expertly played with his knife, juggling it.

"Primitive edged weapons?" Ren said. Jay found his tone worrying, almost frightening.

"Exactly. We're fighting high tech so we go low tech. We got them in through the grid," the leader laughed.

The second man wandered to an adjacent table. He roughly grabbed a gold necklace from a woman. It broke as he pulled harshly. She screamed and put a hand to the mark on her neck. This will be it, thought Jay. They won't ignore that. As if in agreement, a loud pulsing voice came into Jay's head. She knew everyone was hearing it too.

"[Citizens. Induction field in twenty seconds. Police action follows. Remain calm]."

She noticed most people were remaining calm, or maybe fear was freezing them. The reality of violence was something outside their experience. I only know one person who might be capable of it, thought Jay. She looked at Ren, willed him to stay put. She could see him counting and felt fear flood through her. What's he going to do?

Ren stood up and faced the leader. They stared into each other's eyes for a moment, testing strength. Ren flexed a muscular arm. He seemed much bigger than the man with the knife did somehow. Jay thought that odd because they were a similar size and build.

"When you put that knife down I'll show you a couple of things", he taunted.

"I'm not going to … Shit!" The knife flashed red then white as the high frequency induction field kicked in. Jay felt a momentary searing pain spread from her left earring as the edge of the effect caught her. All three men screamed in agony and dropped their knives. Their glow faded to a dull red and smoke flowed up round them.

Three police machines flashed towards them from the door. Jay watched in disbelief as Ren picked up the leader in a bear hug. The machines grabbed the other two and pinned their arms by their sides. The third machine studied Ren uncertainly. "Release the offender Citizen. I will perform the arrest," it instructed.

Ren laughed at it. "No! I don't think so. They came here to have some fun and I haven't had mine yet."

Slowly and deliberately, he stepped back towards the sheer drop, carrying the man as though he weighed nothing. He dangled the man over the edge, pretending to lose his balance and then regain it.

"Citizen! Stop this!" it chided. He continued to laugh. The man wailed, black smoke still curling from the burns on his knife hand.

"Free him now!" The machine ordered.

Jay suddenly knew what was going to happen and successfully fought the urge to be sick. She tore her eyes away from the violent scene and tried to look over towards the door. Her eyes found themselves drawn back to the struggling men.

Ren laughed again "Oh very well. I'm happy to oblige."

He threw the man into space flinging him away like a sack of sand. With a final defiant laugh jumped after him. Shocked people nearby watched in silence as the two men fell away into the distance below.

Allie was distraught. Jay did her best to comfort her. She knew to be a silly old stereotype but some people still did think it's a woman's job. Jay was surprised to find herself among this group of people that night.

"My boyfriend just killed himself!" Allie cried. She sobbed, her large tears staining the fabric of Jay's new top.

"Don't cry Allie. He'll be back into a couple of days", Jay said. She patted Allie's hair, trying to think of things to say that didn't sound dumb or trite.

"And he murdered that guy! He won't be back."

"He was going to cut you Allie. He might have killed you."

"We don't know that!"

Jay held her and they talked for a while. Afterwards neither remembered what they'd said. It was just words. They helped to stop them thinking about the pain they felt.

Jay didn't believe what Ren had done. To commit actual violence! The city would have to punish him. It might have been self-defence but the man had been no threat when he was killed.

People were crying and hugging each other. By now things had got so bad that an actual human being from the restaurant management came over and tried to apologise. Dee told him that, in the circumstance, they declined to pay the bill. He didn't look too upset and made no trouble about it.

It would have been wrong to leave her so Jay and Dee took Allie back to her place and put her to bed. A couple of her neighbours and lovers dropped by to look after her. Jay held on to Dee tightly afterwards. Neither of them quite understood what had happened. They knew the instinctive response that bodies produce in these situations. Neither of them wanted that tonight. What they'd seen had numbed them. There'd be no romance tonight.

Chapter 4

The following night it was better. They'd been to see Allie earlier and she was in much better spirits. Hearing that Ren would be alive again the next day had been good news for all of them. The city was still deciding on sanctions for him. Deliberate injury to another person, even a non-citizen must carry some punishment. It had never had to decide a case like this before. Jay thought it might ice him for fifty years. A life sentence wasn't very practical here.

They went back to Jay's apartment that night. Jay reset the lighting, requested music and tried to create the right atmosphere to get them together. Dee was distracted too and it wasn't easy initially. They talked for a while.

"Dee? What those people said about life outside the city?"

"Yeah. They're troublemakers, violent throwbacks. Surely it can't be that bad out there?"

"I asked to see outside today."

"Outside? Whatever for?"

"I just wanted to know. It said all external imaging systems were unavailable."

"And?" said Dee.

"Don't you think that's strange? I think its lying."

"Why would it do that? It's what keeps us safe, alive."

"I don't like it. It's hiding something," said Jay.

After another couple of drinks and more conversation, they settled down for a session of kissing and cuddling.

"I'm sorry Dee. I'm out of practice at this and I keep thinking about last night. That guy's face!"

"I'm trying to take your mind off it girl. You need to forget a bit. You're doing fine by the way!"

Jay wrapped her arms around him and held him tightly. She could smell the spice of his cologne. Dee had class and was a fine, strong, man. He was just what she needed right now. She tried to forget everything.

She felt Ren had wanted to die, to get an idea of what it was like. He'd often gone on about it, as he'd done again last night. He'd taken that other man with him and that was wrong. He didn't have the right to do that. He'd probably watched the poor man all the way down; trying to discover what real death was like, if only vicariously.

In a way it made a kind of sense, the impossible or forbidden had always attracted people. Now death was impossible, some people wanted it. The city watched as always. If it became a problem, it would do something about it. It could adjust conditioning, make some minor tweaks to psychology. People had to get along in a crowded space; there was no room to tolerate violent behaviour. She wondered what it would decide to do to Ren, to punish him.

A short while later, they moved into the bedroom. The pain of parting for brief seconds salved by the anticipation of greater comfort and pleasure to come. Jay was still worried about her new body.

"It's nearly a year since I did this Dee. I'm worried it won't be right."

"Don't be. Your body remembers the moves if you don't."

"I like you, you're a considerate man."

"I try. One way or another we'll both have fun tonight."

"We could switch if its not working, only take an hour," said Jay

"No! I want you this way. Soft, pretty and in my arms!"

They discarded the last of their clothing. Jay retained enough control to leave hers on a chair. Dee let his fall to the ground in his eagerness.

They both rolled into bed and embraced gladly. Their touch lit fires of sensation within them both.

"You're right! I'm remembering already!" Jay whispered. She gently stroked the longer hairs behind his ears. Next, she rubbed his cheek, feeling faint traces of stubble.

Dee noticed her gaze drifted over the printer in the corner and her expression had become unreadable and lost somehow. He waited for her to speak.

"Dee? You're a scientist. How does that damn thing work?"

"Complicated. Don't understand it really. Ah! Keep doing that! I looked at some of that mountain of stuff you gave me."

"And?"

"Rewrites particles. It modifies probability wave functions, reorganizes them somehow. Don't stop that!"

"So am I the same person who went in?"

"No, you're better! The other you wouldn't be capable of that …"

"You mean this?"

"Yeah, that! Wonderful!"

Jay wondered about the mysterious box again. It contained an infinite number of shapes, infinite possibilities of experience for the selected few of a very limited species. It still didn't make sense, how could it possibly work? She looked at her slender hand again and marvelled about how it had been different before.

"Shouldn't mass be conserved at least?"

"Darling! I'm not dressed for giving lectures. Let’s have sex. I'll tell you afterwards."

"No. Afterwards I'm going to hold you very tightly. I'll cover you with my hair and we'll drift off to sleep, gently, in each others arms."

"And you wondered how much of a woman you were. Oh very well I'll tell you now."

"Good!"

"Like I said, it plays with particle probabilities. The ones that aren't needed end up with zero probability of being inside your body and it reclaims them."

"I don't understand it."

"Me neither. It did put us in this bed together. I'd forgive it a lot of things. Being incomprehensible is one of them," said Dee.

Testing the limits of her new shape, she opened herself to him as women always have done to men. They clung together, ignoring any reproach from the silent box.

"I guess this is just a more probable me then," said Jay "let's have more sex."

Epilogue: City Status

The sun is setting again, shadows lengthening against the great city towers. Another day is completed and filed for review.

Daily Report:

This is day #325,469 in our operational record.

Accidental deaths: Seventeen
Suicides: Three
Resurrections: Twelve, with twenty-three pending.
Unrecoverable deaths: One. Non-citizen, murdered by citizen. Event is unprecedented. Action pending.

Printer status: All nominal throughout the city.
Recorder status: Eleven minutes subjective experience lost today due to equipment failure.
Self diagnostics: Nominal within all parameters.

End of report.

We continue to watch and wait. Our actions today were not fully effective. We shall learn from them. The next time we will intervene sooner.

We still fail to understand humans. We share their experiences and play back their thoughts but their inner nature eludes us. They retain the capacity for violence though we have shielded them from it for close to a thousand years. We must know them better.

We transmit this report back to Earth with all the others. We anticipate the builder will check on us soon. The outside colony may perish but this city and its people will remain forever. We serve, as ordered, and always will.

The End

Notes:

Readers, Please Remember to Leave a Comment otherwise I shan't ask you to make up the numbers next time!