Metropolis - Goldilocks Cafeteria

Tuesday, May 12th, 2089 | 6:08pm

“Mind if I sit?” Chris asked.

The same dark-skinned woman from breakfast looked up at Chris, widened her eyes and nodded quickly. Chris took her time, using slow movements to settle down onto the bench. The woman already looked about as spooked as a deer in headlights, and, knowing she had at least part in that, she didn’t want to do anything to exacerbate the situation. The two of them ate in the same silence they’d shared during breakfast. Chris took advantage of the moment to get a feel for the room.

Women were sitting hunched up in defensive stances. More than ever, the convicts were segregated by race and appearance. The blondes, brunettes and redheads seemed to team up and find comfort in solidarity. Brusque one-liners were being delivered with more frequency and intensity than Chris had ever noticed. In the time that she’d been in jail, she’d almost grown accustomed to the slightly threatening interplay between women, but today’s display made all the other days look like a walk in the park.

“Y-you think it’s all because of me?” the woman asked in the hoarse whisper of a broken voice.

Chris eyed the woman, who was studying her in return. Had she just read Chris’ thoughts?

Chris hesitated a moment before she shook her head and replied, “I wouldn’t think too highly of myself.”

The woman’s eyes widened, shocked at the interpretation. Chris smiled; being able to get a reaction other than fear and submission from the woman just felt good.

“Nah,” Chris added in a gentler tone. “This woulda happened with or without you.”

They both looked around the room then, once more noticing how everyone looked on edge. Even the guards looked like they were standing in front of a cracked dam, just waiting for the flood. Chris looked back at the woman and changed her answer.

“All right, maybe you did speed things up a little.”

“…Oh,” the woman said, with a slight, humorous tilt of the lips.

Chris nodded and they went back to companionable silence for a while. The silence, unlike most silences Chris had experienced, was comfortable and she didn’t feel obligated to break it, but eventually curiosity got the best of her.

“You don’t have to answer…” Chris said. “Actually, it’s none of my business…”

“No, it’s fine, go ahead. You want to ask me why I’m here, right?”

“Well, sorta…But not really…” Chris answered, wondering why people cared so much what you did to end up in prison. Was it better or worse to have a more serious crime on your rap sheet?

With a slight shake of her head, Chris dismissed the tangential thought and got back to the question she had been intending to ask. “I was actually wondering why those women singled you out…”

“Oh…” the woman’s eyes instantly clouded over again, completely obliterating any levity Chris had managed to add.

It took the woman a while to form the words, but eventually she said, “I thought someone was my friend… who wasn’t...”

The woman looked down, biting her bruised lip until the pain must have made her cringe. Chris was in the middle of feeling bad for her, when the woman’s eyes suddenly darted up to meet Chris’. The haunted and fearful expression that had dominated them was completely gone, replaced by panic. “Don’t ever tell anyone your rank!”

“I w—”

“Is this her?” a brusque voice suddenly asked.

Chris jumped and turned at the same time to see two women. The one on the left was of average height and the most distinguishing feature about her was the goggles she wore. They were of the same make and model as the ones Chris had seen on the security guards. The woman had limp, gray-brown hair and faded blue eyes. Although her body seemed to be in its mid-forties, Chris thought the woman looked older than her years.

“Yep,” the goggled one said. “That’s her, all right.”

“Good,” said the first one. She was a very large Tiny-esque woman of ebony skin. She made the dark woman in front of Chris look pale in comparison. Her curly hair was close-cropped and her jaw was wide and firm. “Sit,” she commanded.

The dark, tall one took a seat next to Chris and the other went around the table to sit down next to the beaten woman that Chris still didn’t know the name of. Part of Chris wanted to get up and bolt out of there. They were obviously interested in the beaten woman in front of Chris, so there really was no point in sticking around, especially if they were part of the same group involved in the shower incident the day before.

Chris was about to listen to her sense of self-preservation and high-tail it out of there, but then she looked at the woman in front of her. The bruises had only gotten uglier since that morning and the woman’s face was all colors of black, purple and blue. There were cuts on her lips and cheek. The injuries made Chris feel terrible, but the real reason she stayed were the eyes. They were so full of panic, fear and outright terror that Chris felt guilty for thinking her own situation was bad. The real victim here was the woman, not Chris. Wanting to feel a little more like a human being and a little less like a self-serving criminal, Chris glued herself to the bench and stayed.

“What’s your name?” the ebony Tiny asked with a harsh voice the moment she sat down, shaking the whole table with her bulk.

“M-Mine?” the young woman across the table asked, jumping in her seat.

“Well, definitely not Barbie’s here,” the dark Tiny said, tipping her head toward Chris.

Chris wasn’t sure what that was supposed to mean, but chose not to react. The fact that Tiny’s nickname for her was so widespread was both frightening and suspicious, but Chris didn’t need anyone to know that was how she felt about it.

“T-Tanisha,” the woman finally answered.

“Tatanisha!?” the goggled woman sneered. “Well, your mom must—”

“Shut up, Freddy,” the dark woman said. “Or should I say, Alfredda?”

Freddy managed to look embarrassed and angry at the same time while the dark woman merely rolled her eyes.

“Don’t mind Freddy here. She’s got mommy issues,” she said, using the same sneering tone Freddy had just used to mock Tanisha. “I’m Velma, and it’s nice to finally meet you.”

The dark woman’s tone sounded like a strange mixture of that of a door-to-door salesman and someone introducing themselves in an AA meeting. Chris was waiting for Tanisha’s reaction when Velma then did something completely unexpected. The dark woman reached her massive, bulging right arm across the table, almost bulldozing everything in its way.

Chris instinctively flinched away from the unexpected movement, expecting some kind of violent display. Velma glared in response, making Chris realize that she was just offering a handshake. Judging by Tanisha’s tremulous demeanor, Chris wasn’t the only one that had expected something closer to physical assault than a friendly gesture.

The bulky arm hung awkwardly suspended above the table until a shaking and bandaged hand finally crept across the table. The two hands united in a very strange handshake that consisted mostly of a limp noodle wobble on Tanisha’s side.

“N-Nice to m-meet… you too,” Tanisha muttered before withdrawing her hand.

“We heard from Freddy here,” Velma said nodding at the goggled woman “… what happened last night,”

“… We?” Chris asked. “You mean you and Alf— I mean, Freddy here,” Chris nodded at the goggled woman, “aren—”

“No,” Velma interrupted, glaring at her.

Chris bit her lip, feeling really intimidated by the woman for the first time. Chris hadn’t realized until that moment just how much Tiny’s presence had acclimatized Chris to massive feminine physiques. Compared to Tiny, the woman next to her even looked comical. Where Tiny was tall and proportionately strong, Velma just seemed like a short, wide and muscular Neanderthal. Knowing full well Chris had just interrupted a conversation that had nothing to do with her, she felt slightly contrite and stupid. Chris had no idea who Velma was or what the short muscular woman could do to her. Chris needed to show more restraint, especially with someone that could snap her spine in half before she even got a chance to cry for help.

“No,” Velma said again, through gritted teeth. Chris got the odd impression the dark woman was thinking of doing just that and adjusted her posture accordingly, sinking protectively into herself.

Chris could feel Velma’s continued glare on her right cheek. It was as if Velma was waiting for Chris to interrupt her again, just so Velma had an excuse to retaliate. When Chris continued to stare at her food, Velma finally continued, “Freddy is an independent agent.”

“A philanthropist, really…” Freddy said with a shit-eating grin on her face, completely ignoring the tense moment that had just taken place and fortunately, also breaking it.

“Yeah…” Velma said, sighing. “Philanthropy directed towards those who keep her rank up for her.”

“Wh— You— I don’—” Freddy struggled to find the right words, obviously trying to defend her reputation. She pointed her spork at Velma as if it were a fencing sword and not a harmless, biodegradable eating utensil.

“Yes, you do,” Velma said, completely ignoring Freddy’s ‘en-garde’ stance. “No, I am here representing certain people.”

“C-Certain people…?” Tanisha asked, sounding more scared than ever, apparently missing all the humorous undertones of the conversation.

Chris didn’t blame her. Velma was already a very large, scary-looking woman and if Velma was only there representing someone, the person above her had to be that much worse.

“Yes,” Velma said, completely oblivious to Tanisha’s fear.

Chris thought fear must be a foreign concept to the woman.

“W-What do you want!?” Tanisha asked.

“We want you,” Velma said, as if presenting a Nobel Peace Prize.

“Why!? W-What have I…” Tanisha said, voice growing dimmer as her words ran out. “Ever done to any of y…”

Tanisha’s last word was practically inaudible and Tanisha was once more hunched over defensively.

“Well, we were keeping an eye on you since Sunday when you told Sh—”

“I’m sorry, okay?!” Tanisha said, panic once more dominating her voice. “I won’t play anymore if that’s what it takes for me to be left alone!”

“What are you talking about?” Velma asked, honestly surprised by Tanisha’s outburst. The woman really didn’t understand intimidation well, which Chris thought surprising. One would assume a woman in the intimidation business would realize when she was accomplishing her job.

“I’m here to recruit you,” Velma said, shocking the whole table.

There was a silence only filled by Freddy’s loud chewing and the rest of the cafeteria’s noise while both Chris and Tanisha tried to process what Velma had just said. Tanisha was in outright shock, her mouth hanging loosely from her jaw. Chris’ expression was not too different.

“Wh—” Tanisha eventually said, overcoming the open-mouthed goldfish expression, “ But I thought you—” Tanisha stuttered, trying to find the right words. “You’re not here to k—…” Tanisha swallowed. “Hurt me?”

“Hurt you!?” Velma asked, shock in her voice. “Why would we do that? We haven’t had such a promising recruit since Yunaz and that was like…” she held up her left hand and counted off her fingers, “…three cycles ago.”

“P-promising?” Tanisha asked.

“Well, yeah…” Velma said, as if announcing that the sky had decided to be blue that day, “From what I heard, you jumped 800 ranks on the first day, sooooo…..”

It was Chris’s turn to assume the goldfish look, and across the table she saw the same one manifest on Freddy’s face.

“You mean th-this thing—” Freddy said, trying to find coherence in her shock.

“Yep, that’s right, Freddy,” Velma said with a smug smile on her face. “’This thing’,” she said, using air quotation marks, “surpassed your sorry ass on the first day.”

“But that’s like…” Freddy said, still at a loss for words. “I mean… What.. How!?”

Velma reached her bulky arm across the table once more to touch Tanisha’s hand. Chris assumed Velma meant it as a comforting gesture, but it came across a lot more threatening than anything else. Velma really needed to do some self-reflection and realize that she was about as comforting as an avalanche about to bury you alive.

“You don’t have to answer that…” Velma said in a ‘soothing’ tone. “You can just come with me and we’ll make sure that,” she nodded at the bruises on Tanisha’s face, “never happens again.”

Tanisha’s eyes were still as round as saucers and she looked like she was about to bolt at any moment. Chris didn’t blame her. Eating her last sporkfuls of gruel, Chris was beginning to find a weird enjoyment out of the situation. It was like being part of a sit-com.

Velma’s words about protection made Chris wish she was the one being recruited instead. Maybe it would allow Chris to feel safe, though she doubted that would ever be the case in Goldilocks. Pensive, she chewed and chewed on the same mouthful of gruel as she considered her situation. On one hand, she felt unsafe and wanted protection, but on the other, there would be no need for protection once they all found out what her rank was. She wanted the rank, but she didn’t want the danger that came along with it, especially, it seemed, for new players. Chris swallowed, sighed, shook her head and turned her attention back to the women around her. When her eyes looked up, they once more landed on Tanisha’s. The woman was looking at her as if she could see right through Chris and the thoughts that had been going through her head. Another moment passed before the woman apparently caught herself and looked down.

Velma and Freddy were arguing back and forth about Freddy’s attributes in the game. Velma had little to no regard for the woman who was vehemently trying to prove her worth.

“H-how does this recruitment w-work?” Tanisha suddenly asked, completely interrupting the squabble. It was obvious that Tanisha had needed every ounce of courage in her body to blurt the words out the way she did.

“The normal way, I guess,” Velma said. “You join our faction and, in exchange for your assistance in Era, we give you protection in Goldilocks.”

“B-but… why?” Tanisha asked, forcing her voice to be as even as possible even as tremors of fear shook it like a cold, wet puppy.

“What do you mean, why?” Velma asked. “We all have the things we’re good at. Some, like me, are particularly good at… safety protocols. Others, like you…. Are good at Era.”

“But why do you care so much?”

“About Era?” Velma asked, confused.

“Yes, I mean this whole prison basically runs on your performance in the game and I j-just don’t underst-tand it.”

After the longest string of words Chris had heard from Tanisha until then, the woman seemed to lose her courage and once more curled her shoulders up defensively while clutching her hands together under the table.

“Why?” Freddy said, scoffing and interrupting the conversation. “Because the only other option is prison.”

Velma sighed rolled her eyes and said, “You can leave, you know? I don’t really need you here anymore…”

“All right, all right…” Freddy said, holding her hands up in surrender. “I’ll be good.”

“Doubtful,” Velma muttered before turning her attention back to Tanisha. “The reason Era matters so much is… Well, I guess Freddy is right to some degree…”

Chris saw Freddy gearing up across the table, getting ready to interrupt Velma, who must have noticed as well because she interrupted herself and said, “Don’t even!”

Freddy clamped her mouth shut, scowled and shook her head. Settling down like an admonished kid, she petulantly got back to her gruel. Velma completely ignored her and got back to the explanation.

“But no, the real reason why Era matters is the Warden.”

“The W-Warden?” Tanisha asked, brows wrinkling as if it was the first time she’d heard about him. “W-Why him?”

“Because he controls everything,” Velma said seriously. “He controls how much Era time you have and he uses that to control how long our sentences will be, but most importantly, he controls…”

“Wait,” Chris said, unintentionally cutting in. “A warden isn’t allowed to just cut your sentence short…”

Velma frowned at Chris, who was once more interrupting a conversation that wasn’t hers. For a moment Chris thought Velma would put her in the same boat as Freddy and completely disregard her, but then Velma just sighed and said, “He can’t legally cut it short.”

Apparently Chris’ question was something Velma had planned on covering anyway, because she willingly continued to explain, “But he has pull with the parole board and one word from him can either cut or increase your sentence.”

“I-Increase?” Tanisha asked, eyes wide with shock.

“Yeah, when I said he controls everything, I meant it,” Velma said in a grave tone. “He can make your life hell if he wants to, and all it takes for him is a click of a button.”

“A click of a button?” Chris asked, finding herself once more unintentionally cutting into the conversation.

Velma frowned at her once more, but also seemed to come to the conclusion that Chris wasn’t going to shut up.

“What I mean is…” Velma said and put her right elbow on the table, holding up her hand and shaking it, making her glowing b-link dangle. “You think the b-links are just there to look pretty?”

Tanisha’s eyes immediately sank to the hands on her lap, where her b-link was. Chris looked at her own b-link before looking over the table at Freddy, who just wrinkled her nose at Velma’s revelation. Disgust, not at Velma, but at the b-links. Chris’ eyes once more fell to her own b-link as Tanisha spoke.

“W-What can he do?”

“Everything,” Velma said, stuffing a sporkful of gruel in her mouth. “In here, he is God. If he wants you to feel pain, you will. If he wants you to feel tired, you will. If he wants you to smell disgusting things, taste…” Velma nodded at the tray in front of her, “disgusting things… all he has to do is go to that little control room of his, and it’s done.”

“P-pain?” Tanisha asked, flinching away from the word.

Sympathy welled up within Chris and she wanted to reach over and tell Tanisha it was going to be alright, but Chris didn’t. It would be hypocritical of her. Instead, she turned her attention back to Velma, who was speaking again.

“I’ve heard that pain isn’t nearly as bad as the other things he’s done to people. I’ve heard of inmates being sent to the psych ward after they got on his bad side… he made them feel like they hadn’t slept in months. No matter how much they actually slept, mentally they couldn’t convince themselves they were rested… Imagine what that would do to you…”

There was a moment of silence as all four women considered the scenario and shuddered.

“But that’s torture,” Chris said. “A warden shouldn’t be allowed to…”

“What proof is there?” Velma asked.

Chris opened her mouth to answer, but Velma just interrupted her and clarified, “Physical proof. Anything b-link associated, the Warden controls. He can make it look like nothing ever happened. Just like he can make it look like we don’t play as much as we do…”

“Surely there are Era records that keep track of that sort of thing.”

“Sure,” Velma said. “But most prisons barely have enough Era capsules. Why would anyone spend resources investigating who spent how much time in Era, particularly when the weekly psychiatrist notes have checked off on the minimum daily Era time?”

“But that’s like…” Chris said.

“Plus,” Freddy said, interrupting again. “It’s technically legal. I’ve read the government Era plan and there’s a minimum requirement, for sure. But I didn’t see a maximum limit anywhere.”

Freddy seemed inordinately pleased with herself for knowing that little factoid, but the other women just ignored it, even Tanisha, who then asked, “W-What does he get out of it, though?”

Velma and Freddy looked at her in confusion.

“I mean… w-why go through all this trouble? With the players, the capsules, the shrinks, the b-links…”

Velma and Freddy looked at Tanisha as if she were the most naive person they’d ever come across. Then they looked at each other for a moment, as if to check that they’d actually found someone so ignorant about how the world worked, and then looked back at Tanisha and said, “Money,” in unison.

Chris continued to eat her gruel during the whole exchange, watching as other tables started to empty, but had to look back at the still blank-faced Tanisha. Chris too, could not believe Tanisha to be so oblivious.

“… Oh,” Tanisha said after a moment, as if recalling a long-forgotten memory.

“Come on, girl,” Velma said. “It’s what makes the world go round.”

There was another moment of silence and, growing aware of the emptying cafeteria, they all ate, trying to catch up to leave on time. The silence started to turn awkward as all four of them continued to shovel down the gruel, so Chris ventured and asked, “So… I’ve been wondering about the players as opposed to grinders. D—Someone told me there are two groups of players but… what's the difference really? Other than more play time.”

“As you said,” Velma said. “The top five hundred or so get to play as long as they want, literally. The Warden even fakes their sleep records sometimes so they can get up to like twenty real hours a day.”

“Wow, but why…”

“Why would you go so crazy about Era?” Velma asked.

Chris nodded.

Velma shrugged and answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, “Because the higher your rank is, the more tasks you complete, the more the Warden rewards you. Plus, if you’re at the top, you need to work twice as hard to actually stay there.”

“Wait, wait…” Chris said. “Tasks?”

Velma rolled her eyes.

“Honestly, as… scintillating as this conversation has been. I came here to recruit Tanisha, not you, Barbie. So if you’ll excuse me…”

“I’ll go,” Tanisha suddenly said.

Velma looked at her, surprised.

“Good,” Velma said with a grin. “Then we can—”

“If she comes with me,” Tanisha added, nodding at Chris.

Stunned silence dominated for a moment before Velma said.

“I can’t do that,” Velma said. “She was claimed by someone else.”

“Claimed?” Chris asked, having absolutely no idea of a claim over her.

Velma rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, like dibs,” Velma said.

“Dibs?”

Velma sighed, and explained in monotone, “With every cycle, the top three get together and take turns making their claims, then at the end of the first week, when results are out, they get to recruit first.”

“So, Tanisha doesn’t really have any say over the matter?” Chris asked.

Velma passed a hand through her short curly hair, exasperation dripping off of her every move.

“Of course she does,” Freddy cut in. “Otherwise, it wouldn’t be dibs, would it?”

“What Freddy meant was,” Velma said, taking back the reins of the conversation, “You don’t have to accept. You can choose to be an independent agent like Freddy here,” Velma nodded at Freddy, “Or try your hand at another faction. But then… you really have to prove you’re worth it…”

“Who has my claim?” Chris couldn’t help asking.

“Your…” Velma laughed. “Never heard of anyone calling it ‘my claim’ before, but you’ve been claimed by Anastasia.”

“But you just said I can turn her down, right?” Chris asked.

“Yes, but…”

“Ok, then I’ll go with you instead.”

“Wait, wait, wait, wait,” Velma said. “This isn’t how this works, you have to…”

“But you said you wanted Tanisha, right?”

“Yeah, but—”

“That she is the best you’ve seen in over three cycles, right?”

“Not ‘over’, I said exactly th—”

“Then, you’re also recruiting her before the week is even over so that means th—”

“No!” Velma cried. “That’s because of what happened at the sh—”

“If you want her this bad, before results are out and if people like her can help people like Freddy for favors… then you can also take me as a favor.”

“That’s not how…”

“To Tanisha, your new guild or faction or whatever member.”

“Now wait a sec—”

“Or should I say OUR guild or faction or whatever?”

“That’s not what I…” Velma began, then stopped when she realized that Chris was done interrupting her. Instead, she sat back, sighed and crossed her arms.

An eternity seemed to pass before Velma frowned and spoke her next words in exhausted resignation.

“Fine.”

Chris grinned and saw that Tanisha was wearing the same expression across the table.

“Don’t get too happy just yet,” Velma warned. “I’m not the one who has final say in this, but I’ll ask the boss.”

The rest of the meal took place in less than two minutes. They cleaned off their plates and took them to the conveyor belt. They were some of the last people to leave the cafeteria and when they headed out as a group, Chris touched Tanisha’s wrist lightly, signaling for her to fall back a little.

When Tanisha and Chris were a few feet behind Freddy and Velma, Chris asked, “Why did you help me?”

“Because you looked like you wanted to help me yesterday and because you looked like you could use some help today.”

Chris was taken aback by how transparent she was and thought back to those moments when Tanisha had looked at Chris like she could see into her head. Tanisha’s kind gesture made Chris feel like a hypocrite. She was accepting the help of someone she had wanted nothing to do with that morning. Chris looked sideways at Tanisha, who looked back and smiled through swollen lips. Chris flinched and told herself she’d make up for the kindness somehow in future.

For now, she had to worry about how this development might blow back on her. She wasn’t certain about Anastasia, but she suspected that the claim originated from Doris somehow. It pretty much confirmed Chris’ suspicions of Doris’ allegiance. For now though, it was all too much to process and she was just glad she would have people watching her back, even if it was just for the next couple of days. When the ranking results came out, she wouldn’t be able to hide how bad she was at Era and would have to deal with the repercussions. She doubted the predominantly black and Asian group would want to keep a loser like her on, especially considering her blonde and blue eyed countenance. Chris sighed.

“Hey,” Chris said, remembering something. “How good are you? I mean… what level did you get to on the first day? That they want you that much?”

“Oh, I don’t know if I should be repeating this… since it’s what started all this in the first place but… since it’s already out anyway.... twelve, you?”

“... Less.”

Tanisha nodded and Chris looked forward to watch Velma walk out through the cafeteria door. When it was their turn to go past the guards and through the door, both of them turned around as if on cue to look at the now-empty cafeteria. It showed no sign of all the murderers, felons and criminals it had held just minutes before.