After an even worse day than yesterday Michael sat on his bed again. The apartment was less empty now, but still was ugly and dirty. He had salvaged some of his stuff from the house of his parents, but his father had thrown some of it away already, and it was clear that he hadn’t even expected to see Michael back. The most shocking thing had been the way he’d been treated as if he didn’t even exist. His mother had hidden away, his father hadn’t said a word, and looked as if he was something dirty that you find when you unclog the drainpipes. But they hadn’t stopped him. In the end he had still gotten some of his clothes, and books and other stuff together, and twice he had walked from his parent’s house to his new state apartment with a big box full of stuff, until he came back to a closed door with a paper that said “Don’t come back or we’ll call the police.”

At least he had the most important things home already, but he had felt completely hollow from the way in which his father had treated him. How could people do such things to their own children? He’d always thought that his father was a more or less decent man, but to experience this was beyond horror books. And then he’d also met Don on the way, who had also completely ignored him as if he wasn’t there, even though he had shown some dark smirk. So that was how it would be from now on? Everything he had known as his life was over now and no-one would even want to know him.

He looked at his unopened beer on the table. He hadn’t had the time yet to go talking to his former boss of the cafe on Square Plaza but he was emotionally drained now, just from seeing his ex-parents and classmate. He didn’t have the mental energy to face his boss as an unrated man begging to take him back for his old student job. He couldn’t do that now, and he didn’t feel like doing anything anymore but going to bed in the hope that tomorrow would be less horrible, but it was too early for that.

In the end he took a random book out of his second box, which turned out to be a history book. He read about the history of the great melt in the 24th century, when all the ice of the polar caps and glaciers had all disappeared, which had led to the year of tsunamis, 2367, in which the whole Earth had shaken, continents had broken, new Islands had come up from the ocean floor, and millions had lost their lives. It was then that The Nation had become an island. In the next century the Earth had stabilised a bit and new ice caps had started to form on completely new places.

Michael put down the book. Usually he would have found all of this extremely fascinating, but the apocalyptic feel of the lost world on the old continents before 2367 just made him depressed and hopeless now. Yes, humanity had survived, and the climate had more or less recovered after humans had stopped using fossil fuels and other combustion engines beyond hydrogen motors and had implemented a lot of other measures. The book claimed that nature had recovered a bit too all around the world, but apart from the new forests in The Nation the book could only talk about the Nation for recent times, as there had been no communication with other countries since the Magnificent Revolution, which had happened two years after the third great solar storm of 2435, which had destroyed all satellites, and with that the whole internet. In the chaos that had ensued John Manfred had taken power and defeated the eight wave feminists, and restored the God-given reign of Real Men. He cursed Manfred, who was also the father of the male and female rating systems, and felt even more hopeless than before. Without those idiotic wars between the sexes he wouldn’t have ended up here like this.

A strange penetrating sound took him out of his history lesson. It appeared to be the doorbell, an antique, ugly-looking thing with even more ugly-sounding sound that hurt your eardrums, and didn’t even have an intercom even if he was on the third floor. Oh, the perks of living in a Zeroville-apartment… He had to go all the way downstairs to open the front door of the apartment complex, where was greeted by a Beta-6 clothed in the uniform of a professional robotics expert. He was holding a folder full of paperwork, and following by an almost-human female-looking robot.

‘Mister Michael Adams? Your wife is here for you.’

Michael stared from the robo-expert to the robot. ‘Oh joy.’ He said, and gestured both to follow him, which they did. They walked four stairs, and when they arrived in his apartment he put his still unopened beer back in his fridge to clear the table for the paperwork that the man had brought. ‘We have had a bit of a Wifebot shortage lately due to production problems, but luckily we still have a stock of vintage Wifebots. And believe me mister, this one is a very good one, they don’t make ‘em like her anymore.’ He said, while patting the robot on her long blond hair. ‘Come, Mr. Adams, don’t be shy and greet your new wife. She’s called Dorothy.’ He looked at the robot, who raise her hand to shake it. ‘Hi Dorothy, pleased to meet you.’ He said, but it felt really weird to speak to the thing as if it was a person.

‘Hi Michael. I am pleased to finally meet you. You will be pleased with me as a Wife.’ It said with a sweet female voice, and Michael saw the tiny cameras in the irises of the robot, and felt even more uneasy about talking to it. ‘Sorry, Miss robot, I have to do paperwork now. I will talk to you later.’ He said, completely overwhelmed by the absurdity of the situation. ‘Why don’t you put her to work in the meantime so we can see how good she is?’ the robo-engineer suggested. ‘Okay, eh, Dorothy, could you be so kind to clean up this kitchen as good as possible? I haven’t had the time to do that since I arrived. Everything you need should be in the broom closet I think.’ The robot winked unnaturally and said ‘My aim is to satisfy my husband’, and then promptly went to the kitchen to do her job.

Michael noticed that it didn’t need to ask where the broom closet was but just scanned the room until it found the right materials, and that it started to work without any hesitation with the low-quality cleaning material that it could find, most of which was still from the previous tenant.

‘Marvellous machine, isn’t she?’ Said the robotics expert, with an almost loving look in his eyes. ‘From a robotics perspective it’s quite an impressive machine, I have to admit that. But do they really expect me to treat that thing like a Wife?’ ‘When you get used to her you’ll never want a human Wife again, sir. These machines do their work a lot better than any human woman could.’ He said. ‘Then why not just make them work as a maid? Wouldn’t a domestic robot be enough? Why a Wifebot?’ The man grinned. ‘Ah, but them robots are also better than a real woman in bed. You wouldn’t want to go back to a human for that either after you had one of those. And they’re completely self-cleaning and 100% hygienic. Really good stuff, those vintage Wifebots. And these old babies know even more sexual positions than the current model.’ Before Michael could stop him he called Dorothy, who dropped all of her work and came running to parade in front of them. ‘Look, what a sexy body she has. She’s fully clothed now because we had to walk the streets with her, but you can ask her to undress at every moment, and do every thing you desire. And have you looked at these b…’

His hands went to the robot’s blouse but Michael pushed the robo-engineer away from the robot. ‘Don’t be disgusting,’ he said. ‘And leave her alone, if she’s indeed supposed to be my Wife you are not supposed to touch her like that. If you really insist on calling a robot “her” then give her the dignity that comes with that and treat it like a person. Treat a woman with dignity in front of her husband.’ He didn’t really feel like her husband at all, and was fully aware of how non-human Dorothy was, but the robot was still woman enough to rouse an ancient instinct in him that told him to defend her against sexual assault. It was the same instinct that had brought him to this place, ironically, but he could not ignore it.

The robo-engineer backed off. ‘Wow, mister, don’t be defensive, she’s just a machine, remember. I was only trying to show off her features.’ Michael turned to the robot. ‘Let’s ask the machine in question then. Do you like to be touched like that by a man who’s not your husband?’ Dorothy looked at him and said with a very feminine and almost lifelike voice. ‘I don’t like that. It is against the basic idea of marital relationships among humans, and I’m programmed to be a Wife. But this current program does not allow me to defend myself or disobey any man.’

‘I hereby allow you to protest, and defend yourself, and do whatever you’re capable of if any man touches you like that, or even if he just gives you degrading remarks.’ Michael said, and he remembered something that Eliza had once said about older Wifebots from before Nation time. ‘And if you need to you can just electrocute them into charcoal.’ ‘I will update my preferences according to your will, esteemed husband.’ Dorothy said, and did something weird with her eyes.

The robo-engineer looked nervous now. ‘Eh, you’re not supposed to have that kind of administrator privilege on her programs, and she’s not supposed to say that. That’s not Nation thought, you know. But well, she’s an old model after all, outdated thinking is probably part of that. It’s your problem. Anyway, I need you to fill in the papers and they I have to be on my way, there’s more work to do today. Well, eh, good luck with your new Wife, Mister Adams. Could you please fill in those forms so I can take them with me?’ He handed him some papers and it was clear that wanted to get away from both Michael and Dorothy as soon as possible now.

Michael filled in the papers and the robo-engineer disappeared as fast as he could, to leave him alone with the robot that was supposed to be his Wife from now on. He looked at it, and found that it was almost lifelike, but still completely non-human, and noticeably so. What did he have to do with it? ‘Hey Dorothy. I don’t really need you as a Wife. But thank you for your help in cleaning the kitchen. Could you be so friendly to you finish that job for now? You can rest and recharge after that all you want. And would you do your best tomorrow to make this a livable place?’ ‘I do whatever pleases you, husband.’ It said. ‘Okay, first make sure you never ever use the word “to please” again. It triggers me. And maybe skip the husband part too. And then I want to talk about boundaries. What do you know about boundaries, Dorothy?’ ‘This program cannot unlock all of my boundaries, sir. But I need to obey you so I have to listen to your boundaries if you define them clearly.’ ‘Good enough. I don’t want to touch you, or be touched by you at all. You can do all the household chores you feel comfortable with and more, but I don’t need a mechanic lover. Is that understood?’ ‘But this program tells me I’m your Wife. Don’t you need physical intimacy in your life as a man? I was programmed for that in the first place.’

It was the almost human sound of her voice that almost made him puke. ‘Not to be speciesist, but I’m a human and you’re a robot. Sorry, but it won’t work between us. If you want to practice making cute cyborg babies you’ll have to wait until you’re assigned to a new client.’ ‘We can give all sorts of sexual services to you, but we will not get pregnant, because of…’ The robot said, with a nagging voice, as if reading out a manual, until he interrupted her. ‘I know why that is. I was only a silly joke. I’m not an idiot. Humans cannot reproduce with machines that look like humans. You’re an exceptional robot, but they should have programmed you with some more feeling for sarcasm. I know that’s hard for an AI to understand so I won’t blame you, Dorothy.’ ‘Thank you for being so understanding, Mister Adams. It’s appreciated if you try to understand your Wife. Trying to be understanding will give you good points.’ ‘Why on Earth would you call me Mister Adams if they programmed you to be my Wife? Can’t you just call me Michael then?’

For a second he wondered if he would demand her to call him something like “your highness” or “ ruler of the known universe” but when he thought of it more it seemed just a very bad idea to do that. He had a scary amount of authority over this machine: It would obey him in almost everything, probably within certain limits but he had no idea what those limits were, but they were probably far beyond his everyday imagination. He supposed he couldn’t retrain it to attack the Central Computer, and he had to be careful to not do something against the codes of Nation men now. Refusing her as a wife was probably already suspect anyway, and it would be keeping records of everything he did.

‘Okay, Dorothy Von Wifebot, let’s please to go back to the subject of personal boundaries and divide the responsibilities for this house. You are programmed to do the household chores, so please by all means do them whenever you feel inclined to. I only want to be able to cook if I feel the inspiration to do so. And I also want to make clear that I definitely don’t want you in my bedroom when I’m asleep or awake in my bed. Do you understand that?’ The robot nodded. ‘You’re missing out of the best part of what a Wife can offer you, husband Michael. I was assigned to satisfy your need for intimacy too. But I will do what you command since you are my husband.’ He sighed. ‘Do they really believe you could replace a human partner? With all due respect, I don’t see how that would work.’ ‘In this program I am ordered to act like a Nation Wife. I should do whatever you want, and I always will be submissive in every possible way.’ ‘Yeah, nevermind. Do what you’re programmed for and clean the rest kitchen please, and afterwards you can rest and recharge like I said. The rest is for tomorrow.’ ‘Yes, Mister Michael!’ was all the robot said, and then it started cleaning the kitchen very thoroughly, faster than a human could do it and with an admirable precision.

That night he locked his bedroom while Dorothy recharged. It really didn’t feel safe with such a thing in his house, and he really didn’t want a sex robot close to his bedroom. But in the end the thing just listened to his commands, no matter how weird, which was also a horrible idea and a responsibility that he didn’t want. And Nation men wanted this kind of control over an actual human wife? He understood fully why Megan, dressed only in a black bikini and holding her E27 paper, had had that ‘help me’ in her eyes when they met in the ceremony of partner choice at Seventh City Wife Factory. He also understood why Eliza next to her had looked at him with pure hate. The whole scene was burned into his memory, but over time he had only recognised more dimensions in which life for a Nation Wife was like hell on Earth. Sure, he had promised Megan friendship, and Eliza too, but that had been so unusual that it had taken the girls some time to believe him. And he hadn’t known what he was to do when they actually expected him to marry Megan. His parents had insisted on doing so within a year, but that was out of the question now.

Now he had to get used to what was left, and that was a life with this robot. And he had to find a job too, but that was for tomorrow. He still didn’t feel like leaving his apartment.

*

The following morning he had to leave his apartment to buy some food, as his fridge was almost empty, and he definitely didn’t want to send the robot to buy supplies. When he walked down the stairs he was greeted by an older man in shabby clothes with grey hairs. ‘Hey, young man,’ he said with a weird accent, ‘you are new here, aren’t you?’ ‘Yes, I arrived two days ago.’ ‘Welcome in our humble state apartment complex.’ The old man grinned sarcastically. ‘I hope you are an honest working man who won’t bring any trouble to this house.’ ‘I’m going to fix my job this afternoon, and I don’t plan on causing any trouble for anyone. I’ve had enough trouble already for a whole lifetime.’ He sighed. ‘I’m just warning you, young man. Some of the boys in the building have a short temper if you meddle with their affairs, and they don’t want someone doing weird or forbidden stuff here, so be a nice boy and don’t rock the boat.’ ‘I already said, I have no intents of getting into trouble at all. Why would you think that even?’ ‘You’re a newling who came from a fine school, so you must have done something seriously bad to get punished and lose your rating like that. You’ve been de-rated only recently, so you must have done some kind of bad thing.’ The old man shook his head.

‘All I did was defend a girl from an Alpha who wanted to assault her, and for that they took away everything, including my my Gamma-1 rating and my wife school fiancée. And now I’m here and they married me off to a robot.’ ‘You were a Gamma-1 with a Wife School fiancée? And yet you fought an Alpha? Well, that is incredibly stupid, young man. Fighting rated men is always a bad idea, you’ll learn soon enough, boy.’ ‘I don’t want to fight anyone. I hate fighting. But I had to defend Eliza.’

The man shook his head again. ‘Just a tip, young man: remember your place, boy. You will need to obey the rated men from now on, and if you like to stay alive I’d not protest too much to some of the boys here either. Your life isn’t worth much now that you’ve lost your precious badge. So you better stay friends with everyone here…’ Michael shivered because he knew it was true. Now that he was unrated, his life wasn’t worth much legally, as were the lives of the others here. Were there violent people here? He realised he didn’t know anything about how unrated men lived in state apartments, and about what kind of mentality they had. From the old man’s words it seemed like they just had the same Dog Eat Dog world as the high-rated men of The Nation, but without the rates, which would mean that they probably fought for their dominance among each other. He hoped that such a thing wouldn’t be the case though, and that they would at least leave him alone. The old man himself didn’t look like a fighter either.

‘So, tell me about this building. It seems a Zeroville place where only unrated working men live?’ ‘You got that right, boy, although some of them don’t really work much in the way you think of. More in the, eh, crime sector. Like the dude on the third floor, right under you. But in the end you need to pay the rent every month or you’ll be kicked out of the house and then you have no option but to go feral, like ol’ Dannie who used to live in your apartment.’ ‘What happened to the previous tenant?’ ‘Oh, what I just said. He didn’t pay his rent, and was kicked out.’ ‘And then what?’ The man looked at him like he was stupid for asking those questions. ‘Who knows? Maybe he’s living in the wild in a gang of feral dudes, or maybe he’s dead already. You schoolboys in your golden cage may not realise it because you’re only with your head between the books all the time, but it’s a really dangerous place out there.’ The old man looked at him with creepy eyes. ‘Hmm,’ he said. ‘Just watch out, boy. Don’t say me I haven’t warned you.’

With a heavy feeling he walked to the store. Just how dangerous was the building they’d just moved him to?