The next afternoon, around the time classes ended in Seventh City Wife School, Robert stood in the little park, under the European oak. He’d told his parents he was going to study with friends, and they hadn’t cared where he was going but he still felt nervous about what he was going to do. It was only a few minutes later that Michael arrived, with something that almost looked like a young woman in a blue dress next to him.

‘Hi Michael, hi, eh…’

He stopped mid-sentence, and the robot picked up on the conversation. ‘Hi, I am Shirley. You must be Robert. I am a Wife School student. I am looking forward to going on a date with my fiancé tomorrow. Pleased to meet you.’

‘Eh, yeah, that too.’ Robert said, ignoring the robot.

It looked superficially like Shirley, but even he, who had just seen her once, wouldn’t confuse this thing for her, and if you looked good enough you saw she wasn’t human, and it also seemed a few centimetres longer than the actual girl. But overall it was an almost perfect mimicry of an actual human, he had to admit that.

‘Wow, the make-over is really good, almost her. But still. How do they think this is ever going to work.’

‘You’ll have to ask Eliza. She’s the one who made the plans and everything. She said it will work.’ Michael said.

‘Where is she anyway? Shouldn’t she be with the robot now?’

‘She’s there already for what she calls espionage and administrative preparations. Forging some documents I think to make the date go smoothly tomorrow. She was always able to choose beforehand who the chaperone was on Megan’s dates too, remember? Usually her, except that one day when it was Shirley.’

‘Ah…’

‘So we have to walk, eh, Shirley number two here to the SCWF ourselves and then walk the real one to the Ghost Town.’

‘Yes, we go to a backdoor that’s usually used only by the cleaning team, which should be unguarded at this moment. Eliza and real Shirley will wait there for us.’

‘Ah, eh, ok.’

He still looked uneasily at the robot.

‘And that means you’re Shirley number two’s stand-in date now, bringing her back to the SCWF after an afternoon together, should anyone ask anything before we arrive. And then we exchange her for the real stuff for the rest of your date, and you casually walk the real one to the Ghost Town. I and Eliza will follow with the baggage discreetly.’

‘Oh dear. No-one said that I actually had to date a girl today.’

Robert looked a bit pale.

‘Don’t be needlessly afraid of words. It just means to hang around with her and have some fun. It’s just a walk with Shirley. No-one’s asking you to marry Eliza or so.’

Robert seemed to find that a horrifying idea, but said nothing.

‘That was a joke, Eliza never wants to marry anyone. And Shirley will be unmarriable too after today I think. You’re not in danger of marriage at all.’

‘That’s a waste. She’s actually a good girl.’

The conversation went silent, and the rest of their walk to Seventh City Wife Factory was uneventful, and no-one said much except that Michael once remarked ‘Your impression of a shy boy on a first date is perfect, Robert,’ after a long silence.

‘Go make some fun of yourself, dude. I’m not used to girls and robo-women like you are. This robot is the third woman, not my mother, that I ever talked to.’

‘You forget you talked to Megan and even Samantha too. And you walked up to Eliza all by myself to find me. Which is rather brave. She’s extremely bad at making first impressions.’

‘I’ve noticed that,’ Robert said, and everything went silent again.

Fifteen minutes later they arrived at the small entrance at the back of the creepy SCMF building. Michael did a weird knock, and Eliza promptly appeared together with three other girls, which made Robert nervous. One of them was Shirley, in a similar blue dress as her lookalike, which also was very much like the one Megan had worn on most of the dates she’d had with Michael.

‘Ah, here we have our main actor of project Shirley swap. Hi, this here is Anabelle and this is Iris. So we have the robot now, and the rated Delta-male, Good! Time to execute the actual plan!’

‘He has a name, Eliza,’ Michael said.

Eliza sighed. ‘Hi, Robert. Thank you for coming, and my apologies if I’ve not always been nice to you. I’m still working on being friendly to boys. But if we’re going to do names, Annabelle here is the main black market and Pen pal contact for the school, a fine C-girl.’

She pointed at a red-headed girl with a C-badge, and then at a dark-faced girl with long straight black hair and an E-badge.

‘And this is Iris, my former classmate and the main actor for tomorrow. She will take care of our Shirley-bot until the boy takes her on their date, and she’s the chaperone too. Now, for the plan for today.’

She unfolded a paper to show it to Shirley, Robert and Michael.

‘Here’s the map with the safest route to the Ghost Town entrance. We will follow on a safe distance, Michael will be wearing the baggage. I’m armed in case we run into creeps but there shouldn’t be any problem.’

Robert looked at her, alarmed, and took a step back. ‘Armed? What do you mean?’

Eliza winked. ‘Pure unadulterated Ghost Town magic, my boy! The way the witches there make you fall asleep from a distance. But don’t be afraid, you’re on our side now, and it will only be used to defend you when needed. But first, do you pledge your allegiance to all friendly people, regardless of sex, rating or identity status?’

‘Eh, if I must.’

‘Say a clear yes, with all these girls as a witness. That’s important.’ Eliza insisted.

‘Yes then.’

She put a small object in his hands. ‘Now you can wear the free person badge. Which means they’ll let you in into the Ghost Town today. They’ve been notified.’

Robert backed off.

‘You expect me to actually go in there? With their magic and all? In the den of the women who hate men?’

‘Don’t exaggerate. There’s no magic, only science, and if you promise to not tell any other man about it I’ll even show you how the stunning part works when we’re there. Don’t be afraid, big boy. They’re friends to you if you’re friendly.’

She winked again and Robert looked away.

Shirley looked at Robert. ‘Thank you, Robert. I didn’t think you’d actually do this, but I’m very happy you did.’

‘I’m just bad at saying no,’ he muttered.

Shirley ignored him and looked behind her. ‘So, and that was my Wife School life here. And now the robot here has a date with Dave tomorrow instead of me. Better her than me. I hope she won’t do stupid things in the meantime.’

‘Anabelle and Iris will keep an eye on her. And I’ve checked, the desk shift is for Sanders, not Greystone. He won’t see the difference between you and a robot.’

‘Isn’t Greystone that dude with no emotions?’ Michael asked.

‘Actually he’s the more human one of the two. He would definitely see the difference between real Shirley and fake Shirley. Sanders really sees us as numbers and not persons, at least Greystone was interested in me enough to be affronted by me.’ Eliza said.

‘Greystone would notice. He listened when I complained about Dave. He even went to Miss Hunter with my complaints. But the class teacher is the one who decides those things, and Miss hunter will never contradict any taker, because the man is always right,’ added Shirley, and Eliza looked at her wristwatch.

‘It’s time to go, girls.’

She hugged Annabelle and Iris.

‘I’ll be back. You both know what to do. And you, Shirley two, you listen to Iris until your date with Dave. Follow the students until the date. And when you’re on your date he will dump Iris and take you alone. When he does anything inappropriate, anything at all, you just use the defence mechanisms that I reactivated. Don’t hold back. Dave should be able to behave as a gentleman, and if he doesn’t do that, just do what you need to do. Bad men have to be punished to protect all women.’

The robot saluted and did a curtsy. ‘Yes, master Eliza. I will protect the honour of all womanhood if Dave doesn’t behave like a gentleman. Can I use the lethal voltage too?’

Robert turned a bit pale, but said nothing.

‘No, keep him alive please, no casualties, that would probably be a problem,’ Eliza said.

‘Come on, you two first. And try to look a bit like a Wife School couple that has ditched the chaperone and is defying the curfew. We have no girl with a Wife School badge for that role.’Robert looked at Shirley, who also seemed nervous.

‘Yeah, right, as if I’d ever do that.’ He said. ‘Actually being awkward and shy works perfectly. It’s not that unrealistic when you’ve never talked to a girl before.’ Michael said, ‘Even boys like you will have to get a Wife School fiancée too one day.’

‘But they won’t defy the curfew without a chaperone. And we’re out too late now.’

Everyone certainly remembered the incident that got Eliza and Michael kicked out of school.

‘It had to be now. We only have this entrance free like this at this hour between the shifts of the cleaners. Just invent some story if anyone bothers you, you’re only an extra safety measure after all. I’ve heard you’re a brainie, so impress us. And stuttering would be realistic too, so don’t worry.’ Eliza said, and Shirley giggled and grabbed his arm, taking the map.

‘And here we go. Don’t be afraid Robert, you’re the only one I could imagine doing this, and I’m sure you’ll do great.’

‘Me? Why not Michael?’ He said, with a trembling voice.

‘He’s unrated, you silly brainie. He can’t do this right now. Weren’t you supposed to be smart? And he’s okay, but I don’t want to be seen as his fake lover. He’s too much for me, and it feels wrong towards Megan. Or to Eliza even, I don’t know.’ Shirley said.

They started walking, followed on a distance by Michael and Eliza.

‘But why would you want me specifically?’ Robert asked.

‘You’re the only boy I know apart from him. And let’s relax, it’s supposed to look like a date, so let’s enjoy this walk and have fun. It’s not like I’ll see many boys at all when I live in a Ghost Town, except maybe for Loverboy probably…’ she sighed.

‘Who the hell is Loverboy supposed to be?’

‘Ah, sorry, that’s the nickname girls have for Michael.’

Robert grinned. ‘That could have been used to tease him forever if he were still in boy school…’ and then his expression changed. ‘But he won’t be back. And it was because of being out with a girl after the Wife School curfew like we are now…’

‘That was later, and it was dark, and they were in the wrong neighbourhood. Nothing will happen now. It’s day, and the route here is safer. Plus we have Eliza and her stunner behind us. She won’t miss.’

‘Stunner?’

‘Did you really believe in witches and magic then? You as a brainie? They put you to sleep with a tiny gun-like thing with needles. I thought most people knew that. Well, on the female side that is… But I forget how few things boys actually know.’

Robert wanted to protest. ‘Hey, what do you know about the male world?’

‘Eh, if Miss Hunter’s classes are correct I know almost everything. The organisation, what men find important, what men like, what irritates them, the complete structure of that boring Central Computer that rules the world, and old crazy sexist Manfred, everything…’

‘Manfred isn’t… Well, he might be.’ Robert said, and then changed the subject.

‘So, you’re going to be an outlaw?’

‘I don’t have much choice now. Would you want to be raped and used as a trophy slave?’ Robert got the chills from the matter-of-factly way she said it, and shut up for a while.

They walked from the open space between Alphaville villas to a Betaville street with impressive row houses, and then they suddenly saw the Epsilon blocks.

‘So, you’ve always lived in Wife School dorms, and now you’re going to a squat house to live a manless life?’ Robert asked.

‘I have an apartment ready for me with a roommate. A girl my age who lived there since she was a child, who can show me everything. Everything will be completely different, but it doesn’t sound bad. And you live in a Gammaville street with your parents?’

‘Yup, small row houses. My father’s a Gamma-3 like me. He’d hoped I’d be a Beta like my brother, but he’s happy with Gamma-3. It’s not much, I know, but my family have always been mostly Gammas since the days of Manfred.’

‘Oh, I lived in a Gammaville when I was a kid. I could easily have been a C-girl if I had kept my mouth shut, maybe even B. But it didn’t work out and they found me too rebellious. Not as rebellious as Megan and Eliza maybe, but the teachers found me irritating. I asked questions you know…’

‘Ah, so you’re an E because you’re too smart. I already thought it had nothing to do with your looks.’ Robert said, and she grabbed his arm closer.

‘So you do find me pretty?’

‘Eh, who wouldn’t?’ He stuttered.

‘A lot of people probably. I’ve never found myself pretty and there’s a danger in being blond as a woman, it attracts a certain kind of man that you don’t want to notice you. That Dave guy would’ve taken the first blond girl in line if she wouldn’t have been taken already. That’s why he wanted me. From a whole line of girls in bikinis.’

‘Ah…’

‘Yes, he just wanted a decorative blond slave to do all the housework and for you-know-what. He was very clear that he finally wanted to try out a real woman on his first date because dolls were boring, that’s how he said it. And I don’t even like him. He doesn’t listen to a word I say. I was thinking of your accusations of manipulation last time and how I’d manage any of that with him, but it would be impossible, he doesn’t listen at all. Doing what he asks and staying away from him as much as possible apart from that would be the only way to cope with such a marriage. I don’t want to live like that. So, to answer your earlier question, yes a manless life sounds quite good to me.’

‘But you’ll have to work as a Ghost Town member. A Wife doesn’t have to work.’

‘You’re quite stupid for a brainie, do you know that. No-one works harder than a housewife, except when you have a maidbot, but husbands of E-wives can’t afford those. It’s just that no-one ever pays you or even notices that you’re working all the time. And if I get a Ghost Town job they might not pay me Nation money, but I will have wages and a place to live and good fresh food and everything I want. Without that silly Alpha to Epsilon divide even. Just a human living in peace with other humans… Sounds so much better to me.’

‘With other female humans only…’ Robert said.

‘Oh, but with all respect to you, that is part of what makes it a good life. Maybe a visit from you or Michael would be possible, but men in general would definitely ruin it, don’t you see that?’

Robert didn’t answer, but grabbed her arm tighter. ‘Act normal, there’s a police agent,’ he suddenly whispered.

‘You’re the man here, you should look like you know what your plan with me is. Eliza might have called it a date, but technically that’s usually just the girl being bossed around by the boy here in this country, so act your part and look confident. You can do it!’

Nervously they walked past the police officer, who was just standing on a street corner absently. Just for a moment he frowned when he saw Robert with Shirley, but Robert gave him a forced grin and a thumbs up and the policeman winked and looked at something else again.

Their hearts beat like crazy, and when he was out of sight she said ‘so, that’s why we needed the rated male. Everyone sees I’m not a non-Wife and a runaway Wife School student alone can get into lots of trouble. People seem to pick them out easily.’

‘And Michael?’

‘Oh, don’t worry, unrated men and non-Wives are not interesting enough for a copper. They are also picked out easily, don’t ask me how.’

‘So, how long do we have to walk this way?’

‘We have to pass that big shopping street and then there’ll be mostly Zerovilles and abandoned neighbourhoods before we arrive at the Ghost Town itself.

*

Behind them Eliza looked at them and gave Michael a poke.

‘Aren’t they cute together?’

‘It’s strange that he’s able to do this. He’s usually afraid of women. But he had already tried to write to her so he must have overcome his fear of that one already a bit.’

‘No-one can be afraid of Shirley once they get to know her. And after Megan she’s the most attractive woman on the planet.’

‘You’re biassed and not actually attracted to women… But it seems that your plan worked by the way, they haven’t been stopped by any passers-by and they passed the police officer without a problem.’

‘My plans always work. Oops. He shouldn’t be here though.’ She pointed at another boy who came out of the big shopping street.

‘Oops indeed, Rafael. Their rehearsed story won’t work on them. I wonder how they’re going to react.’

*

Rafael stared at the weird couple that stood in front of him, and seemed frozen on the spot. ‘Robert, what on Earth is going on here?’

‘Eh, I can explain, it’s, eh…’

‘Did you get a Wife School fiancée too without telling anyone?’

Shirley looked at him questioningly but it was Robert who answered

‘Eh, no. And don’t tell anyone that you’ve seen us. Eh, Rafael, This here is Shirley, she needed a rated male for something and eh, Michael and Eliza convinced me…’

‘Michael and Eliza? But he was deleted? There’s no way to reach him, I’ve tried. So he’s still in contact with those girls?’

‘As a matter of fact, they’re both following us. So if you want to talk to him just do. We’re just having a walk incognito… I’ll tell you later.’

Rafael looked suspiciously. ‘Casually having a walk with a Wife School student dressed up for a date, but she’s not your fiancée, and you’re followed by a deleted boy and, well, Eliza herself? What is this?’

‘You know Eliza?’ Shirley asked.

Rafael sighed. ‘If you want to call it that… I think we’re more or less on good terms now. Haven’t seen her since Michael’s disappearance though. So what are you all up to?’

Shirley shrugged. ‘Oh, nothing, just a little stroll of no return to the Ghost Town with a fake fiancée to escape sexual assault from my future husband? Wanna join us? The more strong and rated young men the better if we run into the wrong people… We’ll still have to pass a zeroville street after all.’ Rafael stopped.

‘Robert, you’re doing a Wife School escape? You? I thought you didn’t even like women?’

Shirley giggled. ‘Oh, he likes me, don’t you, big courageous boy?’

She touched his nose playfully with her finger and he let go of her arm.

‘I never said I don’t like girls, just that marriage is bad for men. And in her case, for women too. It’s just that most women scare me.’

‘And then you bring her straight to a Ghost Town? Isn’t that more dangerous even? A den of man-haters?’

‘Ah, well, Eliza made sure they’ll let me in. Not completely looking forward to that to be honest, but I only knew that after I said yes.’

‘Come on, it’s a unique experience for a schoolboy. Something to learn from, are you a brainie or not?’ Shirley said.

‘I’m a coward and I’m shy…’

Shirley grabbed his arm again ‘Come on, we’re having fun on our little date, aren’t we? Can’t we just finish this together?’

‘How can I say no? Come, let’s go. The rest of the way is Zerovilles and abandoned places from here on. Are you joining us, Rafael?’ Rafael looked nervously around.’

‘Eh, I think I’m going to join Michael, I haven’t seen him since the incident, if you don’t mind.’

‘Okay, maybe we’ll see each other later. I have to go on with my fake date.’ He said, and Shirley pulled him by his arm.

They proceeded in the direction of the Zeroville blocks on the edge of Seventh City which looked even worse than the one Michael lived in. Everything here was overgrown with ugly weeds and unhealthy-looking vines, and it was clear that no-one ever put any effort in landscaping here.

Luckily they didn’t meet anyone here, except for a scruffy one-eyed dog that ran away when they came too close.

‘So that’s a Zeroville? And Michael lives in a place like this? Poor boy,’ Shirley said.

Robert looked around. ‘His place is in the middle of the City, it looks much better than this one. No weeds, only garbage and graffiti here and there. But it’s a Zeroville block too indeed.

’ ‘He deserves better.’ She said.

‘Well, it’s better than going feral I’d say. Outlaw women may live in well-organised Ghost Town communities, feral men only unorganised aggressive gangs. He’d never survive those. And they are hunted even these days.’

Shirley stopped. ‘Hunted? What?’

‘Never heard of the hunter movement? It’s mostly Alphas with guns who are frustrated about Manfreds measures to keep nature alive. The biggest thing they can legally hunt are Nile ducks and Canadian geese, but they want to shoot deer and wild goats or even panthers, but Manfred said no to that. And now they hunt outlaw gangs of thieves and robbers. The police even back them in that, for them unrated lives are worth nothing. But don’t bother. Ghost Towns are extremely protected. You’ll be safe as a woman outlaw.’

He could feel Shirley shiver. ‘How can they hunt humans?’

Robert shrugged. ‘When you don’t believe they’re actually human I think. This is a Nation of distances after all. Men don’t see women as human, women don’t see men as human, Alphas don’t speak to Gammas and so on. And those outside the system are even worse off.’

‘Wow, you’ve improved a lot since last time. Are the conspiracy theories out of the door?’

‘Eh, I still think there’s women who will manipulate men in marriage, but you may be right that they don’t have a chance. It doesn’t have to be a fight if we don’t want it to, I guess… I mean, I’m going to walk into a Ghost Town today and I’m supposed to get out unharmed.’

He sighed when he saw the big walls with thorn-hedges that surrounded Seventh City Ghost Town in the distance.