“Ooh, this is so-so exciting!” Sally squealed, her nose pressed to the window of the slowly descending hover car like a little kid.
“Miss Venka, for the final time I urge you to reconsider…”
“And for the final time, shut up Walter! Look, 4m-City is so pretty from here!”
Walter rolled his electronic eyes. Sally Venka, heiress to the Venka Hotels chain, had her own fleet of private jets, a dozen hover limos all in different colors, even a space shuttle for the odd jaunt to the family’s Lunar estates. But the beautiful young woman was more enthralled about their descent in a grubby second-hand hover car than he had ever seen her before.
“Yes, ma’am.” The android chauffeur, dressed down in a ratty t-shirt instead of his immaculate uniform, was able to give their home city a glance in the rear-view mirror while his sub-systems handled the descent. 4m wasn’t the biggest city in the world but it was still impressive, skyscrapers thrusting upwards in an ostentatious competition to be the tallest that was for the moment safely in the Venka family’s’ pocket, the immense purple ‘V’ of the family penthouse looming over all.
“Oh, but it’s also exciting finally seeing this place!” Sally got up on her knees to peer down at the apartment block that grew closer, the ugly gray rooftop covered in piles of plastic trash bags. “What is it called again, Walter?”
“The Tannhäuser Building, 0b-City.”
“Everything is so cute and small! I think our penthouse is bigger than this whole building!”
She was underestimating by quite a lot, actually. 0b-City was a low-income commuter town, almost invisible nestled at the edge of the abandoned suburban wasteland of 4m. The hover car touched down a little faster than Walter was expecting; it was a clunky old sedan-style drifter with a surly AI that had been fighting him for the entire flight. Sally eagerly climbed out onto the roof, gazing wide-eyed at the piles of garbage. She was drop-dead gorgeous even in her comically large thrift store clothes, a t-shirt with a long-forgotten pop band logo billowing over the pink shorts she wore cinched with a belt around her slender waist. Petite and pretty with tumbling red curls and tan from a summer spent on private beaches, she absolutely did not look the part of a lower class citizen.
“Thanks Walter, talk me through this again. What room am I staying in?”
Walter signed. Sally was a dangerous mix of helpless and obstinate. Used to being indulged by servants for her entire spoiled life, when she suddenly decided she wanted to slum it incognito she had relentlessly badgered the chauffeur into becoming her sole accomplice and planner.
“Room 313. Here’s the keycard, it’s paid off for the month like you asked with automatic payments going forward.”
“Walter, you’re a doll. Oof, so that’s how heavy luggage is!” She staggered slightly under a duffel stuffed with other hand-me-down outfits.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to stay-“
“Walter, it’s fine. If I need anything I have your number, silly.” She tapped the smartband on her wrist, the holographic screen momentarily flickering into view.
“I still think this is a bad idea. If Mr. Venka finds out…”
“Oh shut up Walter,” Sally said with a huff. “Daddy’s going to be on the moon for months overseeing the new mega-hotel. He barely even messages me anymore. Ta ta, Walter.”
“Good bye miss,” the chauffeur responded glumly, watching her shrink away below.
“Ugh, finally free. This feels... Oh this is so nice!” Sally’s new apartment was bare of furnishings, so she just flopped down on the dirty carpet with her head on the duffel.
Walter had painstakingly selected a habitation that was merely rundown and dreary, not dilapidated and dangerous. There were sure to be a few stimheads or other junkies in the community but Sally thought she was smart enough to stay out of trouble: her real concern was she was absolutely ravenous! She grimaced, placing her perfectly manicured hand on her flat stomach; she had been on a carefully maintained diet her whole life and was supermodel thin. Thinking of actually getting to indulge for once made her even more giddy. She flicked through the map application on her smartband, pinging the restaurants in the area. There were a few fast-food joints nearby, a small square with food carts, even a bar street around the corner! Reeling with the choices of her newfound freedom, Sally finally made a decision.
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