Two female figures stood before the desk of official Sanders the next afternoon. Fake Shirley was dressed in the typical blue dress of low-ranked Wife School girls on their early dates. Iris had even given her some extra make-up too while she herself had done no effort at all to be pretty, in line with the wisdom of not being too attractive for predatory men. She knew she’d probably be dumped as a chaperone before the couple were outside for 10 minutes, but it was better to be safe. And she’d have a free afternoon in the city for once, and she looked forward to spending it at the famous unsegregated table in the Square bar. Usually dumped chaperones were quite lost in a dangerous outside world, but for her today it’d probably be one of the best days of her whole school career. Her fingers felt the map that Eliza had given her in her pocket, and even some money.

The moment Dave came in and went straight to the official she intuitively wanted to run away, there was something really unpleasant about him. She nudged the robot to join him.

‘So, Dave Johnson, here for Miss Shirley, and eh, Iris here is the chaperone today.’

Official Sanders didn’t look at the girls at all, and made only eye contact with Dave, who nodded and grabbed the hand of fake Shirley without asking or saying anything. Iris flinched for a second, but he didn’t even seem to notice that he wasn’t touching a real human.

‘You have received the rules for your second meeting, young man Johnson?’

Dave nodded and everyone in the room knew he wouldn’t follow them at all.

‘Then don’t forget to fill in the papers afterwards and let us know whether your wife-to-be was pleasing to you. And thank you for choosing Seventh City Wife Factory.’

Sanders finally turned to Iris for the rest of the formalities, but he still didn’t really look at her.

‘The chaperone will have to fill in a report too, so we can see whether you are truthful in reporting what you did,’ he said to Dave.

Iris nodded. She didn’t really know how boys always got away with breaking all the rules, but it was clear that whatever she wrote down on that paper wouldn’t matter, and no-one would ever read it unless something would go completely wrong. But wasn’t that what was going to happen today?

‘Okay, good luck with your date, Mr. Johnson.’

Sanders was still only looking at Dave. Iris felt a strange shiver go through her spine. Technically this was one of the worst scenarios possible for a Wife School girl, being the chaperone for a date with a dangerous toxic boy, but she didn’t feel any fear now. He only had eyes for the robot, which would protect her better than anyone human when needed, but she didn’t think that would be necessary. An inexperienced predator like Dave wouldn’t be able to focus on more than one girl at the same time, especially one that wasn’t what he thought she was. It was almost a dream for Iris to leave the building, and she almost couldn’t believe that she saw the whole world where she had to spend her teenage years behind her now, but she could see the words Seventh City Wife Factory in big letters, together with the stupid sexy cartoon girl logo. She was almost free but now she had to follow and observe the robot and the boy without getting in trouble.

The SCWF was hardly out of sight and it was over already: turning into 47th street Dave looked at her with contempt and said.

‘Hah, even that old fool can’t be so stupid to believe any of that nonsense, don’t you think. You, get out of my sight, ugly thing! I don’t like you and I don’t need you. Just write down whatever you want and make sure that you’re here again before five.’

Iris curtsied and said nothing.

‘And meanwhile I’ll show my future wife my bedroom.’ He said with a grin.

‘Yes, master husband,’ said the robot.

Iris just looked at them disappearing from sight and sighed. She hadn’t believed beforehand it would indeed end in this sad predictable cliché, but here it did, which proved that at least some men were indeed as horrible as she’s always heard.

And now to get on with her day off… She took the map and started walking.

*

She arrived at the Square bar without any trouble fifteen minutes later, where she was greeted at the door by Megan’s ex-fiancée, whom she remembered was still working there.

‘Ah, Iris. Eliza is on the small table at the back. Everything okay with you?’ Michael said.

‘With me, yes I think. I hope with Dave not. Thanks…’

She looked shyly at him and moved fast to the table. All of this was completely new to her, and speaking to boys felt indecent and wrong after the encounter she just had had. She knew that he wasn’t like that, and she had even been writing multiple boys who were quite decent through the Pen pal system, but still…

When she saw the two girls in the corner she forgot all boys in the world.

‘Megan, you’re here too!’

She hugged both of her former classmates, and knew it was going to be a very good afternoon.

‘We both took a day off to see a school friend.’ Megan said.

‘So how’s the chaperoning going? Need some tips, I’m an experienced expert.’ Eliza winked.

‘Well, I don’t think there’ll be much chaperoning today, the moment the SCWF was out of sight he ditched me. He didn’t seem to notice anything off with his fiancée, and neither did Sanders. It’s really weird. He didn’t even find it weird when fake Shirley called him master Husband. And he said he was going to show her his bedroom, so much for the rules… But what do I do with the paperwork now?’

‘Well, why not be honest? Write down that he got rid of you after just ten minutes and walked in the direction of his house? He’s not entitled to anything from you. We can even have fun with those papers together.’

Eliza’s eyes shone with mischief.

‘And I have a little experimental surprise, now that I’m working on a radio project, but I’ll explain later. Let’s first calm you down after the horrible man experience. Are you sure you’re okay, Iris?’

‘I am. I think… But I’m glad to never see him again to be honest.’

‘Oh you probably won’t. He can’t show up in the SCWF without her, can he? Shirley two was programmed to defend herself with every inappropriate touch or comment, and leave and hide afterwards and then she’ll get to the Ghost Town unseen. He will have to explain what happened to Shirley, which will be hard. So being honest on your chaperone report is the best approach then. Be sure to be very visible from school somewhere before five, looking at your watch, and complain to Sanders or even better Greystone when you get in. That ditch-the-chaperone trick only works if you can hand in the girl again undamaged afterwards. Whatever he says, no-one will believe him when it comes to Shirley’s strange powers. Hardly anyone even knows there’s robots with that kind of function in The Nation and no-one knows she was replaced by one.’

‘So I just go to Sanders and complain that he never came back, and panic a bit about Shirley?’

‘Yup. That’ll do it. You’re only a simple Wife School student. He is the only important factor in the story for them. They couldn’t even blame me for kicking that Alpha-creepnut in his balls. We’re just nobodies, and even if we change the world, they still don’t see us… They’re programmed not to.’

‘Do the ladies want to drink something?’

Iris froze when she heard the male voice, but Eliza said. ‘Don’t worry. It’s just Michael. He’s part of the whole conspiracy too, remember, and completely harmless. Plus he works here. So what did you want?’

‘Eh, what do you have? Iced three herbs? Do me the same.’

She turned to Michael. ‘Sorry, it’s nothing personal against you.’

He nodded. ‘I know, I know. Nation of distances… Plus you just escaped a horrible man. So three herbs?’

*

When Michael was gone the girls started asking each other questions.

‘And how’s the real Shirley?’

‘I checked on her this morning. She’s okay. She’s got a big apartment with a roommate our age who finds Wife Schools as exotic as Shir finds Ghost Towns. She’ll be okay. She’s also thinking of changing her name, and her hair, so you probably won’t recognise her when you meet her the next time,’ Eliza said

‘Ah… Well that happens with Wife School escapes, doesn’t it? Do you think I’ll ever be able to see her again at all? Normally that doesn’t happen when you leave Wife School, especially if you escape.’

‘The age of losing your friends when you leave Wife School is over, Iris. I’ve made a pact with her and Megan to keep in contact even if we’d leave Wife School, and we did that.’ ‘But you got kicked out, that’s different.’ Iris said.

‘But I think it’s important for other girls too, and it’s possible. Our Pen Pal network is useful for girls too, married or not. If Shirley can write Robert from a Ghost Town she can write you too. Always keep in contact with your girl friends, taken or not. Whoever picks you must live with that or get lost. Set your boundaries from that first date behind glass on. And if he doesn’t listen, go on to more extreme courtship sabotage.’

‘The plan is that one of my Pen Pal friend-boys will choose me, with my consent.’ Iris says decisively, and Eliza knew that something had changed already in The Nation. It might have been too late for her, Megan and Shirley, and it might not work for everyone, but what Iris casually said here definitely was revolutionary. Which reminded her of her other project today.

‘And now I’ll have a look at the robot situation.’

She took out an old tablet. ‘Let’s see how their date is going…’

‘You didn’t…’

‘Sure, there’s a good transmitter on these vintage things, and those old tablets can receive the signal… I promise I’ll turn it off if it’s too horrible.’

*

Five minutes later Michael arrived with the ice teas, and to his surprise he heard an old tablet talk in a weird male voice saying

‘No! This wasn’t what I asked for!’ and then the other voice, that he recognised as the second voice of his own Wifebot, the old one that appeared when she glitched. ‘You are not ready for contact with an actual woman. Your behaviour is below all minimum standards. I will need to report to the AAC and if you don’t better your behaviour you will get a permanent ban against touching women.’

‘What are you talking about? You crazy girl! I’m going…’

A weird sound stopped the voice.

‘You were warned, mister Johnson.’

‘What did you do, crazy witch?’

‘I gave you the appropriate punishment according to AAC regulations, mister Johnson.’

‘You!’

The weird sound came back, and was followed by exclamations of pain and then ‘I’ll kill you, monster!’

A weird scream ended the conversation.

‘Shit, he’s actually unconscious’ said Iris.

‘That makes it easier’ said Eliza. ‘She’ll go to her hiding place without being bothered, and tonight she’ll get back to the Ghost Town. When he wakes up he won’t know what to do, and no-one will believe his story.’

‘And they won’t go looking for Shirley?’ asked Michael.

‘They might, but what would that help? She’s worthless now. Damaged goods. No-one will want her…’

‘Ah…’ He said. These things were too horrible to comment on, and he felt very uneasy as a man now.

‘So, show’s over, plan fulfilled. Let’s go to the paperwork and then there’s still more than an hour before it’s five o’ clock. Wanna have fun with some dangerous non-Wives?’

‘Yes!’ Iris said, and they started filling in the chaperone papers together. Everything considered it was a good afternoon after all.

*

At that same moment Shirley herself was guided through Seventh City Ghost Town by a very enthusiastic Tracy. Jenny has given her the task of introducing the community life to the newcomer, and she’d been very thorough in showing Shirley everything and explaining all the details of daily life in a Ghost Town. After sightseeing all the important buildings, the farm plus surrounding fields, and some weird ruins that were never rebuilt and where Tracy said actual ghosts lived they had stopped at the little office where Jenny did her paperwork when she had no other jobs to do for some more technical information. It had been a busy day already, and now they were on their way to the bar when they saw Lady Martha coming their way.

‘Greetings, Lady Martha.’ Tracy said shyly.

‘Good afternoon, young Tracy. Everything okay here with your new roommate? Is she a good fit for you?’

‘Yes, Lady Martha. We get along very well, and we’re becoming friends already. It’s going to be fun together!’

‘Do you like this place, Shirley? Or how do you want to be called?’

‘Yes, it’s incredible here! Jenny said I could use my selfname and even change my first name, so is it possible to be known as Leya Shirleys here? If my father agreed with me marrying that creep I’m not going to carry his name anymore, and I want to start life completely from scratch here. Without any leftover from the past, except maybe a few friends.’

‘That’s perfectly possible. Most women here don’t even have that kind of friends when they arrive after an escape and they find their way too. Jenny told me you wanted to change your hair too? The hair salon is easy to find. Just say what you want and Amira will do her best. She’s very good.’

‘Does she do colourings?’

‘She can do anything you want. She has studied hairstyles from all kinds of historical cultures and she’s as good with your straight blond hair as with Tracy’s dark curls.’

‘I don’t want to be blond ever again. Can she do pink or light blue or so?’

Lady Martha looked at her, slightly amused now. ‘It’s highly unusual, but I’m sure she can find a way to do that to your satisfaction.’

‘How do I have to pay her? I couldn’t bring money when I escaped.’

‘Oh, but it’s free for our members. Only outsiders would have to pay. It’s part of your wages, together with the housing and the food. Now that we’re on the subject, did you decide on your job already?’

‘I am going to help Jenny with her paperwork one day in the week, and do some work in the Ghost Town restaurant and bar, and maybe in the farm store. They all needed some help but not fulltime.’

‘Now that’s a good way to get to know our community better. And Jenny’s paperwork could need some help too indeed, she needs more time to run all kinds of errands lately. And with the new contacts with the black market and stuff like boys coming over she could use some help with the admin. Which reminds me that I have to send our male friend an invitation.’

‘You mean Robert?’

‘No, the other one, Michael. He’s been asked to attend a Love Ceremony.’

‘A what?’

‘A Love Ceremony is held when two Ghost Town members choose to commit to each other as a couple for life. It’s a celebration of love and beauty, and the tradition also says that representatives of other Ghost Towns or friendly non-Ghost Town organisations or so. And Erica and Jessica wanted to ask him as such. Ruth said they think it means good luck.’

‘So, it’s like a Marriage, but then with two women, and they actually love each other?’

‘You could say that.’

Tracy looked at her. ‘You’ve never heard of a Love Ceremony?’

‘I only know Marriages. All I’ve heard is that I was going to be picked by a man and then get married, so he would be happy. Me not so much… I never imagined the idea of two people making each other happy. Well, maybe it works with another woman, if it works with a woman for you, I mean. Some of the girls in school liked girls more than boys I think.’

‘I know it doesn’t work for every woman, only about half of our women enter such partnerships, and the rest remains single because being with a woman doesn’t work for them. We usually call them ghost town asexuals.’

‘So relationships with men are forbidden here?’

Lady Martha sighed.

‘They just used to be unthinkable. But with the Free Person movement we will have to rethink certain things. We can’t stop Free Persons from having relationships with a partner of their own choice, and thanks to the whole Pen Pan system chances are big we will get more members with actual male friends in the future. You know, Eliza’s Pen Pal system is revolutionary and makes certain things a lot simpler, but it also complicates other things, and we can never go back to business as usual… And we need to keep ourselves safe too, so it’s going to be an exercise in balance. But as you see my community members are already starting to invite a male representative to a Love Ceremony. How long before we’ll have an actual mixed Love Ceremony? Yes, Mildred will kill me for even saying that, but who can stop the future?’

‘But they’ll never accept it with a rated man. The male world I mean. A Man needs to be Married, not illegally Love Ceremonied in a female outlaw community. I could only be an affair at best. And I’m not an affair woman, I have my selfrespect.’ Shirley said bitterly.

‘That’s another problem indeed. Until now we had only one unrated man to consider here, who doesn’t seem ready for relationships. But in a further future there will be problems like that too. The male world remains as toxic as ever, and a few good men won’t change the structural problems of Manfred’s horrible system. The boy who helped you escape will be a sort of legend on the female side, but that could get him in trouble on his own side indeed. Sigh. We still have a long way to go.’

She paused for a while, looking at a flock of feral rock doves.

‘But I have my work to do, and you were going for a drink? It’s a good idea to introduce her to the bar personnel so she can talk about her shifts, Tracy.’

‘Yes, Mylady.’ Tracy said.

‘And good luck adapting to the outlaw life, Leya.’

The girl formerly known as Shirley nodded and followed her new friend and roommate into the bar.

*

Later that afternoon Iris walked into the SCWF, and went straight to official Sanders’ desk. He didn’t even look up when she dropped off her documents.

‘Here’s my chaperone paperwork for Shirley’s first date with that Dave dude. He dumped me and took Shirley after less than ten minutes to do whatever he liked with her. Is she even back already?’

Sanders didn’t look up, and only peeked at his watch.

‘No. Haven’t seen her yet. I hope she didn’t disrespect him. That would be bad for our reputation as an institution.’

‘What if she doesn’t come back?’

‘Oh trust me. They always come back, their first meeting just takes longer because he likes her a lot. Don’t worry. I only hope she treats him right.’

Iris disappeared before anyone would notice how angry she was. She’d seen all kinds of terrible things in her life, but Sanders had proved again that it was possible to go even further. Eliza had been right, the whole system was rotten to the core. She could only hope that she’d never be chosen by a man like Dave, and that in the end one of her Pen Pal friends would be both interested and interesting enough to choose her, and then look for a completely different way to be married together. And if that failed, well… She knew where to escape to and she had the right people to help her. But for now she just needed a shower.

*

The next day the girl formerly known as Shirley was practising the beer tap in the bar for the first time when Eliza came in late in the afternoon, wearing a dirty orange overall.

‘Oh, hello Eliza, I hadn’t expected you here today. You’re really a regular here now?’ she said, looking at her friend’s weird outfit.

‘I’m working again, there’s still project international radio connection, and we have to change your doppelganger into Michael’s Wife again too. But now I need a beer, my deer Ghost Town outlaw Leya.’

The girl who remembered she was Leya now looked at her glass.

‘We’ll see how I manage with the tap here. I’ll probably screw up with the foam, getting a decent head on a beer is much harder than I thought.’

‘To Manfred with the foam, just give me a pint.’ Eliza said, sitting herself down on a barstool.

‘So the robot is back? Everything went well yesterday?’

‘Yes, fake you came back last night, Rebecca was on night watch and let her in. I’ve been watching the date with Dave live with Megan and Iris yesterday afternoon, another transmitter experiment, and he was indeed all the horrible things you said and more. Getting you out was completely justified. But the show was over soon when he passed out. No more Dave terror for you…’

‘He what? And you followed it live?’

‘I had to try the transmitter tech, and it worked. We could see some of what happened through her eyes, and I think it’s better you weren’t there. But after some nos he attacked the robot, and was stunned with an electric shock. Don’t worry, he was still alive. But the robot could easily escape unseen like that. And I don’t know how he’s ever going to explain that to the SCWF. But that’s not your problem anymore, Shirley doesn’t exist anymore, and she would be damaged goods anyway. Which for an E-girl practically means unmarriagability…’

Leya looked at her pint, which had a rather decent head after all.

‘It’s a pity that it had to end like that, but yes, Wife School is over for me now, and I’m very lucky that I ended up here. I’ll miss Iris and the girls though.’

‘You can write them easily, and I’m quite sure we’ll see her back one day. Plus she’s included in the friendship pact too now. We’ll keep in contact, Wife School or not.’

‘You’re a good friend, Eliza, what would I be without you?’

Eliza took a sip from her beer.

‘Probably still a C-girl in Wife School. I’m a bad girl with bad influence, remember?’

They didn’t say much for a while, also because a few other customers who wanted to drink very different things, but after a fresh hot three herbs tea, a Nation-coffee latte and one more pint of beer she got back to Eliza.

‘So you’re doing the robot now?’

‘I have to give her her original face back. If we just swap that she’ll be back to Dorothy. And then I need to upload and reprogram some things.’

‘You mean turn off the re-education mode?’

Eliza nodded. ‘Not that it’ll make a big difference. He wouldn’t even notice.’

‘If I were that robot I would get quite irritated for being told to do all those chores. I’d just tell him to do it himself.’ Leya remarked.

‘But you’re not a Wifebot. And apart from refusing to use personal pronouns he’s always polite and respectful to her. I’m quite sure he’d help an actual human partner with the dishes. It’s been his job for a while now anyway…’

Leya looked at the glass she was holding and didn’t say anything for a while.

*

‘Sanders, can you tell me what happened to Shirley?’

Greystone stood before the desk of his colleague and seemed nervous.

Sanders shrugged. ‘She didn’t return from her first date outside with her taker yesterday afternoon. I had expected that she’d be back by now, but it seems she hasn’t.’ He said.

‘So she’s been away all night? And you didn’t bother to notify anyone?’ Greystone asked.

‘I just forgot. She’s just an E-girl anyway, and as an engaged woman she’s just with her future husband now. What does it matter if he’s trying her out a bit.’ ‘It goes against all the rules, Sanders. And it seems the girl has disappeared. No-one has heard from her or the boy. And the chaperone filled in the paper truthfully, so if there’s an investigation he might get in big trouble.’

‘Who’s going to investigate? Did the young man complain? No? Then what is the problem?’

‘Sanders, a girl has disappeared. That’s a problem for our institution.’

‘Come on, he’ll marry her anyway, what’s the problem? It’s clear from the story of the chaperone that he didn’t get in trouble with higher-rated men, so there can be no problem. I only count on the class teacher to punish her severely when she returns.’

Greystone nodded his head in disbelief. Even for him the logic of Sanders went too far.