Michael left the kitchen of the Square Bar, but waited for a few seconds before opening the door and sighed. He really wasn’t into any human contact today, and hoped fervently that there would be no-one that he knew inside the bar today. Not that he even saw that many people nowadays, luckily. After the Ghost Town adventure and then a surprise visit from Robert a few days ago he hadn’t really seen anyone at all except for Angela who just seemed to run into him from time to time. He hadn’t even seen Eliza or Samantha in the last few days, and it seemed Megan still gave him the space he needed, and he still didn’t know how to approach her now anyway with the whole engagement annulment thing. Sure, he had been happy to see Robert again, but being reminded of his place the male world, or rather the absence of that, had been painful, draining even in a way, and it seemed he had needed a lot of time to even process that meeting, and now he was back to a general state of depression and anxiety.

He realised that he couldn’t stand there forever, so he finally opened the door to look at the unsegregated tables, where he’d have to be the waiter now for the next hour until his colleague Bert would arrive. Luckily the only person present he knew was just Angela again, sitting alone at the biggest table with a book. He let out a sigh of relief, for some reason her presence wasn’t as loaded as that of most other people. She looked different to today without her working clothes, although she didn’t look as dressed up as she’d had been in the Ghost Town either. He noticed her hair was becoming more visible even if it was still shorter than a centimetre, and there also was something more confident about her than before.

‘Hi, young lady, can I get you a drink?’ he asked as casually as possible when he reached her table.

She looked up from her book and her face lit up. ‘Michael! I hoped to see you.’

He noticed that even with old-fashioned blue-cotton pants and a striped unisex button shirt she still looked a lot more feminine than ever before.

‘I like the hair.’ He said, and she turned red.

She might have added a new category “Michael” to her classification of people, a male person that was safe and fun to be with instead of dangerous and, well, not exactly fun to be with as most men had been in her life, but compliments like this were probably still one bridge too far for her.

‘You think? I’ll never be as pretty as Megan and Eliza, or even Samantha,’ she said sulkily.

‘Just be yourself and don’t think about everything as a contest. You lose so much of your life if you think like that, as we had to do in boy school. Treating everything as a competition is really silly if you really think of it and leads to nothing except maybe fights and a lot of unhappy people,’ he said.

‘And what did you want to drink? I’m just here to serve you remember.’

‘It’s my payday. I want something different today now that I have some extra money. Would you recommend me one of those beers that Eliza always asks for?’

‘Don’t drink beer when you’re alone, that’s my tip. And I better not serve you man beers actually… Rules and all. You’re still a woman.’

She chuckled. ‘I’m not alone tonight. And maybe a fruit beer is a good idea for once. Let’s not get too anarchist…’

It was like an alarm went off somewhere inside of his currently still anthropophobic mind.

‘Waiting for someone?’

‘The Women are Human girls are coming later. And maybe some others too.’

He relaxed again.

‘Oh, it’s only them. Have fun. I’ll be dishwasher again later tonight when there’s more people for the bar part, but Bert isn’t here yet so they needed me to fill in for him.’

She looked at him, disappointed.

‘Don’t you like to see me?’

‘You? No, you’re not the problem at all. I like seeing you. There’s just a lot of dishes and…’ He said clumsily and she finished his sentence.

‘…and you don’t want to see anyone at all. Eliza told me already, and I think everyone can see it. But we’re all missing you a bit. Do you maybe want to walk me home again after your shift tonight? The girls live much closer to the Ghost Town in a completely different part of the city.’

Michael felt like he couldn’t reject her, so he nodded yes and went to the bar to get a fruit beer.

When Bert arrived half an hour later he disappeared in the kitchen, just before a group of young Women are Human activists took their seats on the rest of the table. He didn’t feel like getting attention from all of them now, especially not if Angela would be telling everyone about their Ghost Town visit. He just didn’t have the energy for so much peopling now.

For the next few hours he washed dishes and glasses, trying not to think of his school friends, or of the girls, or of his parents, but in the end he just felt terrible again. Maybe the girls were right after all, and hiding away from everyone wasn’t the best idea after all? Well, he’d have Angela to walk home tonight, so he wouldn’t be completely alone today.

Suddenly a voice broke his concentration.

‘Come, dude, it’s time to stop, Bert is doing the closing shift and you have a girl waiting for you. The others have left and she said you were walking her home. And I don’t think she’s going to be safe alone at night. It’s dark and noisy out there. If you can keep yourself out of trouble this time that is.’

He saw on Tom’s face that he’d better not contradict him. ‘I’m not as naive as when I was a schoolboy. I know what places to avoid now, and she’s much more experienced in avoiding trouble than I used to be.’ He said, changing from his uniform into his normal clothes.

A few minutes later he arrived at the unsegrated tables. Just like hours ago he saw Angela sitting alone in the same spot. She looked a bit more tired, but she seemed quite happy again to see him. She got up when he arrived, and together they walked outside.

*

For a while they walked on in silence.

‘You look good today, do you know that?’ He finally said after a few streets, without thinking.

She blushed.

‘You’re lying,’ she said.

‘Why would I lie about that?’ He asked, confused‘

‘I don’t know? How am I to believe any man who says such a weird thing to me? Maybe you’re just trying to flirt with me?’

‘Me? Trying to flirt? I don’t know if I would be able to do that. But wouldn’t that imply that I like you? And probably that I find you good-looking? So that would only affirm what I said. But I don’t think I’m really capable of flirting.’

She shrugged. ‘Why would any male ever like me? Especially you. You’re a legend, and completely out of my league.’

‘More like a fallen legend, and why not? It’s not as if you’re still afraid of me, like at that protest when we met. You’re quite easy to like as a friend, and fun to be with, and it’s the other way around now. You’re the E-woman here who is technically still marriable, and I’m now an unrated nobody with an antique Wifebot as a Wife. You are the one who’s completely out of my league, and I’m hopeless and unmarriable anyway.’

They stopped and he looked in her eyes, who seemed bluer than ever.

‘But I meant it, even if I wasn't thinking. You’re looking good tonight, Angela. And I guess I am flirting a bit indeed. Oh God… Help…’

She looked back in his eyes, slightly amused now, and they kept staring at each other for a while, not knowing how to react. It was getting dark already, but they stood in the light of a street lantern now.

‘You seem to like the moment too?’ he finally said.

‘That’s because of you… I’m just wondering how I’m not afraid with a man like this. Am I turning into Samantha?’ she asked.

‘No, she would definitely be scaring me… And being highly inappropriate with weird innuendos. But I’m not afraid either, so it should be okay, not? Whatever it even is?’ He said.

‘Well, just not being scary is hardly a compliment, is it? I think you need to practise your flirting a bit more if you want it to have an effect.’ She said, sarcastically.

‘You know it wouldn’t work between us, do you? I’m a relational trainwreck waiting to happen, and I’m rather afraid of humans in general at the moment.’

She smiled like he had never seen anyone smile. ‘Do I know that? I don’t seem to even care right now. All my life I’ve been afraid of men, and now for the moment I am not, and I enjoy your company a bit too much. Yes, you are confusing me now; but at least I feel safe. I’ll probably never marry, or have a man, but please give me this moment, Michael. It’s probably more than a lot of married people will ever have in this country anyway, I mean, feeling completely safe with a Nation man is a weird idea no matter how you look at it. I don’t think the Hunter classes about husbands that they give in Wife School ever mention that as a possibility. It’s probably considered unmanly too on your side.’

She took his hand and looked him in his eyes again, and he noticed that they were very blue in this electric light.

‘Please stay a safe person tonight, and be a bit stupid with me now. It’s just that this is more than I ever dreamed of when it comes to men. I know it probably isn't much, but still…’

She stopped mid-sentence and after what seemed an endless moment of being caught in each other’s gaze she suddenly kissed his lips. It completely caught him off-guard, so at first he almost froze, but then he gave a short kiss back, let go of her hand and stared at her.

‘What just happened?’

‘You just complicated everything by proving that boys can like me, and that I can like boys. And you also proved Eliza’s theory about Deep Blue Eyes… But it was a bit stupid, wasn’t it?’ She said cheerily as if talking about the weather.

‘Eh?’

Michael was staring at nothing in particular now. She took his hand back in hers, but it felt completely different.

‘Hey, are you okay?’

‘I kissed you. And I liked it,’ he said, bewildered. ‘But I shouldn’t be kissing you and liking it, should I? Don’t I still have a Wife School Wife lined up if I ever get that whole situation cleared up, am I not responsible for Megan somehow?’

It was a weird thought that suddenly came over him like a shadow in his soul.

‘Not really. You both are officially unmarriable, remember? She told me she’s free now, without the forced engagement and all.’

‘But Eliza said I’d break her heart if I’d call her anything starting with ex.’

‘It’s complicated for her, as it is for us now. Oh oh…’

She let go of his hand and they walked for a while again. They found a bench under a sickly-looking oak tree and sat down next to each other, looking at the moon and more stars than usual.

‘Sorry, Michael, it probably was very stupid of me. Especially with you being depressed and all, and not over her at all.’

He took her hand back in his.

‘Ah, but Eliza says that Oxytocin helps against depression. And I wanted it too. And congratulations, that actually was my first kiss. Don’t ask me why I wasn’t ready for that with Megan. But maybe it was also that I was rarely alone with her with all that chaperoning going on. I wasn’t ready for anything anyway at all. And you’re probably right that I’ll never get a second chance again to be with her, to go back to where we were. It was all forced and involuntary anyway, and now it’s all over. And it feels like hell.’

She moved her hand to his shoulder.

‘You’re completely not over her, and everyone knows it. It was me who was lost in the silly dream of a silly girl that suddenly believed in another world, in another kind of man, and for a moment I was in love with the idea of a loving man, probably more than with you personally. No. Maybe that’s not true. It certainly was you too. You were very attractive, irresistible even. You’re the only attractive man that I can imagine in this rotten world. I’m sorry. Oh. I don’t know what I’m even saying…’

He stood up and gave her a hug.

‘We were stupid, but honest, I think. I’m sorry. I hope I haven’t given you false hope now, in a sort of relationship that doesn’t even exist in this rotten country and that won’t work for me now.’

She looked him deep in his eyes again, and he saw the shape of the moon in them now.

‘Michael Michaels, you’ve given me a romantic moment that I didn’t even know was possible. I’ll always remember that. So please don’t ruin it now by becoming depressed about it. And yes, I know I’m probably not the best kisser in the world.’

‘I wouldn’t know, but you are wonderful. You know that.’

‘Oh, oh…’

‘On the other hand, I’m not so stupid to think it would work like this between us, Michael. A free relationship needs more than just this kind of attraction, not? We’re better off as just friends than as anything else, no matter what that would even be. I can’t even imagine a healthy non-Marriage relationship between men and women, would that be something like a mixed Love Ceremony partnership? Can we please go back to being the friends we are, and not be weird with each other now? I need you for that too.’

He looked at her, and suddenly panicked inside now that the magic was broken.

‘What on Earth have I done? I can’t look any of them in the eye anymore now, Angela. I mean Megan and Eliza, maybe even Samantha. I have betrayed all of them, haven’t I?’

She grabbed his hand again.

‘Please, Michael, don’t be like this. I want this to be a happy memory, no matter if more wouldn’t work to go further. Please, Michael, can you give me that? Don’t tell me it was horrible. Don’t tell me I’m horrible!’

‘Oh, no, it was wonderful. You are wonderful tonight. That’s exactly the problem. You are too…’

‘Stop here! Your words are hurting, Michael. If I didn’t know you, I…’

She stopped because the look in his eyes had changed again, back to his depression, but he seemed to be aware of that, because he changed his posture again.

‘No, sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. I’m not going to make it worse, so I’ll shut up, everything I say now can be stupid. Let me take you home now.’ She said nothing and they walked the remaining part in silence.

Soon they approached the woman house, which looked sinister and threatening in this light. ‘Thank you for walking me home and for everything,’ she said. ‘And please, don’t let anything that happened come between us. And to be honest, it’s not fair to Megan either if you keep avoiding her like this. It’s better to face that kind of confusion together, you and her. I know you love her as a friend too, and I don’t want to see that unique relationship that you have get damaged any further. It’s part of what gave me hope, you know’

He stared into the nothingness in between two stars for a while.

‘I’ll try. I’ll really try, Angela. But it’s all still a bit too much.’

She disappeared into the woman’s house and he walked home, so full of thoughts and feelings that he didn’t even know what he was feeling and thinking anymore when he finally arrived home.

*

‘You never told me how it went with the boy a few days ago,’ Ruth asked her partner when she came home later that night.

Martha smiled. ‘Interesting, to say the least. It’s true that his connection to those girls is too close to ignore, and since they are connected to us too, I think it’s safe to say that we have officially established our first contact with the male world now. He’s just an innocent boy indeed, and a bit afraid of us. It seems the stories about us are worse than ever in the male world. Have you heard of Ghost Towns replacing ancom chips with a castration chip?’

‘No, but it could be a good solution against sexual violence.’ Ruth said.

‘But those things don’t exist. Would we even be able to produce those?’

‘I don’t think so’ Ruth said.

‘Maybe that the fraction that left the Nation in the days of Manfred had such technology. We don’t. And they live on the Island of Héva now, completely out of reach. And oh, they think that we drop aggressors in the wilderness so that the panthers will eat them. And that we put them to sleep with black magic.’

Ruth nodded in disbelief. ‘The superstition about us having magic has always been useful, but the panther story is new. I haven’t heard of panthers attacking humans, even if they are indeed growing in numbers. And it’s true that Ghost Towns usually don’t check what happens with the men we drop in the wilderness. We have no idea about their survival rate. But it’s still a good deterrent.’

‘It’s a deterrent, but they think just being male is enough for us to do it. They don’t get that we only punish violent attackers with wilderness dropping.’

‘So he was afraid of that himself?’

‘Maybe, I never ever considered that he would be afraid of that. He was certainly nervous. He even had the girls promise to defend him if needed.’

‘Defend him? Against you you mean? Eliza and little Angela? They promised to do that? Defend a boy against the Ghost Town leadership.’

‘The girls also trusted that no-one would harm him, I’m sure of that. But would you ever believe that Eliza would talk about defending a man against me? A little opinionated Wife School dropout like her choosing the side of the boy against us’

‘Not really. Didn’t they call her the man-hater?’ ‘She says never chose that nickname, but still… Everyone knew she wouldn’t leave her horrible school as a married woman. I’d say that that silly promise says a lot about the depth of the connection the boy has with his girl friends. I’ve never seen something like that before. I think we can look forward to an interesting future, with at least a few good men in it.’

‘May the Angel grant us that, and bless them too… Oh woman, it's later than I thought. It’s bedtime…’ She yawned.

*

‘Hey, I have the job!’ Megan said, arriving just in time for dinner the next day. Eliza looked up from a weathered copy of a book called ‘revolutionary robots and smart machines in the 23th century’

‘Oh, congrats, which one?’

‘The administrative office on Manfred Plaza. Filing certificates and playing courier with the other offices in the City. They’ll even give me a bike or an electric step scooter.’

‘Hmm, don’t take the step scooter, those things are dangerous.’

‘Don’t exaggerate, you just don’t like machines that are too simple for you to hack.’

‘Ah, maybe these modern ones cannot be hacked, but did you know that there were self-driving step scooters in the 23th century. It must have been fun to hack, and then use a remote control… Especially with a man on it. Can you imagine old Greystone’s face?’

‘You’re a sadist, Eliza.’

‘Me? I’m an innocent girl who just happens to like tech hacking.’

‘So innocent… Only the greatest revolutionary of our age.’

‘I’m completely non-violent, and I decline. That title ought to belong to Michael.’

‘Yeah, whatever. Revolutionary recluse. He still hasn’t turned up since the whole prison incident. I’m almost starting to believe he really doesn’t like me anymore.’

‘Oh, it’s more the opposite. If he didn’t like you he wouldn’t care to hide from you. Although Samantha also complained that he’s avoiding her a bit. To be honest, I think he’s been just hanging out with Angela mostly lately. And there’s one boy that managed to find him, remember Robert? He came up to me to get to him.’

‘Robert? The guy who was so full of conspiracy theories when Shirley was the chaperone on our date? And he came to Eliza the man-hater all by himself? He must really have been desperate. That should have taken a lot of courage for him.’

‘Hey, you’re exaggerating again. I’m not a dangerous man-hater, I’m just a bit selective in the men that I am friendly with.’

‘And you’re dismissive and sarcastic with those you don’t know. If not flirty in the most aggressive way possible.’

‘Me? Flirty? Never…’

‘Only to scare men it seems… You wouldn’t be able to actually attract a man with it if you tried.’

‘Well, I’m never going to do that ever… You know that. The number of desirable men in this country can be counted on one finger at best. And now I’m counting generously.’

Megan looked at her more closely now. ‘Isn’t that a confession?’

‘It wouldn’t matter anyway, would it, if it were? He’s still yours, he’s not ready for a relationship as you’re well aware, plus he’s quite depressed. Even when he forgot about his depression when we visited Lady Martha it came back afterwards. And even without those things it’s his choice, and no-one in their right mind would ever believe that I ever would be his first choice. You said it yourself, I’m Eliza the man-hater.’

‘He doesn’t belong to anyone. The engagement is completely over. We just need to talk that out of his silly head, and he’s free… Plus why would he be interested in any other girl if he could have you. That would make no sense. You’re the prettiest girl in The Nation, Eliza. I’ve always found that.’

‘Come on, no man would want an intense chaotic mess full of extreme opinions like me. The most unmarriable girl ever in the SCWF, remember. No, any reasonable boy would go for someone more stable like you, or else if he wants less drama just for a simple life with deep blue eyes. It’d be his best choice, and he’d be a happy man.’

‘Come on, poor Angela. He’s way too complicated for her. Who’s gonna give her the rest that she needs then? No, that wouldn’t work. And I would ask you to not play the matchmaker with him. Not with me, or with anyone else. He’s not a toy but a person.’

‘Okay, okay…’ Eliza said, and she looked at the pile of job applications on Megan’s desk.

‘I’d better play matchmaker for myself and a job for now anyway…’

‘I’d arrange a speed-date between the food and the kitchen first if I were you. You’re on duty today.’

Eliza looked up. ‘No. Did I forget that again? We really should get a maidbot or so.,Hmm, maybe I should hook up with a man with a robowife after all…’

‘Eliza!’

‘Seen the lack of both men and maidbots here who will cook for us, I’ll do it today, don’t worry.’