Milo pushed aside his anxieties about dealing with Belinda to the back of his mind. There was no use worrying about things until they next talked, and he had to focus hard to erase the sha of dying in a sewer trap. He was mostly successful, beating her five out of seven gas, despite Minerva insisting he needed a "scouting partner." She sat beside him, pointing and yelling, "Lookout! Sewer Monster!" whenever she spotted an open manhole. When Milo glared at her, she only giggled and said innocently, "Helping!".
The big news was the change in schooling for the twenty children living in this quadrant of their floor. Instead of using the old computers and VR helts at the school located two floors up and across the section, they would be learning using brand new MK VII pods that would be part of the new facility Big Butch would oversee. They would have access to the pods for educational purposes, and if they did their assignnts, they would be rewarded with hours of gaming. The inclusion of Genesis brought a round of cheers. That Big Butch got to go to work in Genesis had always generated a sentint of 'Adults get all the cool stuff!'. It didn't help that he told them about his job when he was ho and exaggerated the best parts. He stressed now that getting to do the tutorials and starting areas of the ga was totally dependent on finishing their daily and weekly assignnts.
To his surprise, Milo wasn't excused from this program. Big Butch took him aside later for a discussion. "From what I'm told, you've kept up with your schooling and even done advanced classes. But, knowing how to reprogram a food processor or do fancy math won't get you a technician's license soday without proof that you went to school. We need to show that you did the classes. Mr. Smith is helping with that. He said that since your files are sealed, we can give you the tests, starting with the basics, and you can advance through the tests as far as you can. That way, you get credit just like you had been taking official courses over the years. Then we start you on the classes that will take you higher. Trust , it will co in handy soday when you want to try for a good job, maybe at that company that makes the gloves."
That made sense to Milo. They were creating docuntation. "That shouldn't take long."
Big Butch shook his head and smiled. "Oh yes, it will! You're going to take your ti doing this. Use that big brain of yours. What happens if you finish years of tests in a few days? Now I have to kick you out of the program. You're done."
Going slow wasn't sothing Milo had ever considered. He did so now and saw so of the advantages. Increased socialization with others, and he didn't widen the chasm between himself and them. That would be counter-productive.
"Learn to slow down, son. Take your ti and milk the system a little. Have so fun playing gas on those fancy machines with the other kids. Or tutor so of them when they get stuck. You can learn a lot about yourself when you spend ti teaching others. And you can help with running this fancy program. I'm going to need an assistant." Milo thought for a mont and then agreed. This was all a new experience, but he was moving in the direction he wanted.
After a few hours, he said so quick goodbyes and prepared to leave. He had things to do. One of which was to finish exploring the underground cavern and then start the long climb back up through the tunnels to Shadowport, far above. Ironic that Belinda and he were sitting next to each other, and days of travel away, both at the sa ti. He nodded to Belinda as he left, and she held up two fingers about their eting. After leaving the apartnt, he walked past her guards and into another part of the habitat. Normally he scrambled quickly into the ductwork, but he had beco predictable. He needed to vary his paths, both in the hab and ducts and drops. He noted that one of the unused apartnts that fronted the courtyard had soone moving in. The older man was stooped and using a cane. He looked ancient to Milo with a wispy white beard and bald head. He waved absently as Milo went by, slowly moving several small boxes and plastic trash bags into his small apartnt.
So apartnts in the habitat were oddly shaped and small, where walls and corridors t and produced a space smaller than normal. The residents referred to them as slivers. They were always small, often oddly shaped and triangular. The benefit they ca with was single occupancy. A glance into the room showed Milo a cramped living area with barely any floor space. Without asking, Milo flipped one of his braces around, used it to hook one of the bags, and pulled it into the small room. The old man nodded his thanks. "Appreciate it. They moved up here to get out of the black mold over in G, but they dumped my stuff by the door." He patted Milo on the shoulder after moving the last bags into the space. "You make it look easy, and you've got two canes to my one." He laughed a bit and then coughed. Milo noticed his faded and much-patched coverall had a patch he didn't recognize.
"You worked in maintenance? What patch is that?"
"Yep. For about ten years, a long ti ago. I was working in the 'ponics section. Nice work, lots of plants, and even so fresh food now and then if no one was watching. Made the air better. But they shut it down and moved to plumbing. I haven't worked in a few decades; I just hide inside and play gas. But they don't make clothes like these any more. Comfortable and don't wear out as quickly. And people ask about the patch." He smiled at that. Milo noticed that the plastic trash bags held dozens of video gas. He pointed to them and then to Butch's house.
"We take our gas pretty seriously. I'm Milo. Butch lives over there. Tell him you have stuff to trade if you need new stuff to play.
The old man's eyes lit up, and he nodded. "I might at that. I mostly sold my extras before the move. Less to pack with . But I wouldn't mind sothing new. I'm Jas or Jimmy. Or Old Jim. Most folks call Old Jim now. Take your pick."
"Nice eting you, Jas. I've got to go. Make sure you talk to Butch."
As Milo moved down the hallway, Old Jimmy watched him go. He'd watched the polite boy closely, but he hadn't tried to steal anything. He'd stopped to help an old man. Quite a contrast to what he was used to. This might not be a bad place if the other kids were half as nice and had gas to trade. But he'd be careful; old habits died hard. After a nap and food, he took an ancient Gaboy and hobbled over to sit by the horrible-looking fake tree. He sat and played with the sound turned up louder than normal until he was noticed, and the local children ca to investigate him. The youngest child handed him a paper plate with two pancakes and real syrup. "Mama says welco. We have extra dinner, and she thought you might be hungry." Jimmy took the food and ate a bite. Surprisingly good. This was a well-off family.
They beca very friendly when he asked for Butch and ntioned trading gas. They brought forth their gas, and so trading was done. He declined an offer to eat with the family. One step at a ti. He was cautious but optimistic about his move to Section E and retired to his little room in a better mood than when he'd arrived.
Milo, anwhile, had arrived ho and crawled from the ductwork into the water tank. It seed smaller all the ti. He wanted a larger area but wasn't trading security for a bigger room. His idea to build a hidden area underneath the habitat had failed when his machine had found sothing else buried there. Until he knew what it was, it would be foolish to relocate. And he was so curious about what it was. The large tunneling machine was for excavating, not scouting. He solved that problem by spending money on a new machine that was used to map underground areas before large-scale drilling or excavating was done. The Carson T-3 Underworld Cartographer was made by the sa company that made the large machine.Unlike the huge tunneler, it was designed to shift only enough dirt and stone to let the machine move through areas that need mapping. It trailed a three-inch hose behind it that disposed of the crushed rock. Milo had it delivered to a warehouse below section H and forged the paperwork to hide his purchase. He programd it to find the edges of the hardened area and map its shape, along with any caverns, water and power lines, or transportation tunnels that it found. It would report back its progress, and he'd check in each ti he was out of his pod. He knew he had to be careful. Unlike the ga world, this wouldn't be a ratkin Hollow or a Dwarven Engineering Outpost.
With that job started and nothing else pressing, he got into his pod. It was ti for another half-day of exploration and then a long walk back up through the tunnels. He had plenty of ti to get to Shadowport for his date with Belinda. Date? No! eting. Talk. Why had she used that word?
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