“First stop will be to show you the change rooms and rest rooms.They have force locks.No one can follow you in once you trigger the lock.”
“Okay.That’s a good tip.”
Keska grinned.“Okay, here we go.Stay close.There are peacekeeper training runs.They get a little excited.”
Jienne stayed close, and as they entered the shop, the roar of the excited crowd swamped her.She kept close to Keska, and they walked toward the clerk, who was watching the range images and keeping the list of the next groups up to date.
“Hey, Minno.This is Jienne, and she is following me today.She had a career shift and needs to reboot.”
Minno nodded.“Welcome.Trust Keska.She’s really good at what she does.”
Jienne smiled.“I do.”
Keska nodded.“Okay, we are starting in my office.”
Keska shepherded her to the door behind the counter and down a hallway lined with images of those who had beaten the range on a regular basis.There were several images of Salat and Khytten, Blackout, Gorith’s angel, and Gorith made up just a few.
Keska opened a door that hadMechanic’s officeon it to a wonderland of bots and structures that gave a weird, fantastical appearance to things.
“What the hell?”
Keska grinned.“The government is allowing a day of celebration for Uraddan citizens.They want to have a parade, so these are part of the dreams of freedom float.An active is coming in ten days to load them onto the float.I can’t lift the fuckers.”
Jienne looked at what she now recognized as dreams of holding hands, having families, and using their activations.“Oh, I think I am gonna cry.”
Keska walked to where there were two office chairs on rollers.Neither had arms nor backs.
“Don’t cry.Come and chat with me while I fix the bots from the last few rounds of clients.”She took the first bot and touched it.The lights began to blink, and the machine whirred up and went to store itself on a shelf.
“So, you just touch them?”
“I have focused telekinesis and can use it for fine repairs.That’s my activation.”She grinned.“Well, one of them.All of the lab-grown ladies have a certain stacking of energies.”
Jienne blinked.“Oh.What number were you?”
“Ah, that.I was Escort Tek.We were before numbers.We made the rules that made the patrons behave.”She sighed.“Usually.There were events even with us when we needed to get away from them in a hurry.”
“What did you do?”
She chuckled.“In those days, we called a team.They came in, and the patron got a talking to.We weren’t allowed to show our stuff.”
“Speaking of show, I can’t describe what you look like.I try, but my mind won’t do it.”
Keska snickered.“Yeah, that happens.I am five eleven with black hair with gold strands in it.Those are handy.We are the blends of both progenitors.”
“You grew up in care?”
“Sort of.We had a guardian but were allowed to direct our own studies.We blew through all the courses in a matter of months and ended up being eleven in university.We continued our education via distance learning while we got emancipated, and Ava started playing with investments.After that, we were ready for contact from Zera.We chatted with her during university projects and agreed that the restriction of actives in the capitol was stupid, so we ran a project, tried it out.Made a more organized stab at it and took copious notes to prove the concept.We formed the Blind Date Corp and found out that there was a market for companionship and flat-out energetic sex.”
Jienne blinked.“Yeah.There is.”
They both laughed, and Keska kept working through the destroyed bots, restoring them and sending them off to the storage shelf.
At one point, ten bots rose and headed down a tunnel high in the wall.
Jienne said, “What’s that?”
“A single player.They fight the bots.”
