‘Mariposa, could you come?’

Andromeda the radiologist looked at the strange signal on the multiscanner radio in the guard house of Senu, a coastal town in Héva.

‘What’s up? Sisters on a boat in need?’

Her colleague came from the other room where she’d been sorting documents.

‘No, I suddenly have a strange frequency that is transmitting here. Not one in use in Héva but also unused by any outsider in the list.’

‘What are you waiting for, sister? Turn it on an’ check what it is.’

Andromeda pushed a button and a crackling voice appeared.

‘…Ghost Town for the sisters in Héva, is there anyone there? Hello?’

They heard with a lot of hiss, and then a silence of white noise and then someone said

‘... frequency isn’t working, I’m trying another frequency’ in a lower volume.’

‘Wait!’ Mariposa said without having her mic on, but the signal disappeared.

‘Ghost Town? What is that?’

‘Never heard of it, sounds like a book for children. And now they’re gone. You should have turned the radio on earlier.’

‘If they change frequencies the scanner must find them again. Maybe we should adjust the antenna. What were the coordinates of the signal?’

Mariposa pressed a few keys and stared at the screen.

‘The signal came from The Nation, far inland. I’ll aim the antenna there.’

‘The Nation, are you sure? She spoke of sisters in Héva.’

‘Did you hear the accent? She spoke English but she wasn’t Hévan. Aiming the antenna for the Nation in 3,2,1 and then the scanner for frequencies. No, that’s just the Afropean intercontinental freighter. Ah yes, here she is again.’

Andromeda turned up the volume.

‘Eliza from Seventh City Ghost Town for the sisters in Héva, does anyone hear me?’ they heard, much more clearly now, and Mariposa turned on the microphone.

‘This is the Senu-Town coast guard. Who am I speaking to? Hello?’

They heard some excited mumbling and the voice returned.

‘This is Eliza from Seventh City Ghost Town in The Nation. We have a Hévan survivor of an aeroplane accident here that wants to contact her sisters.’

Mariposa and Andromeda looked at each other. This was impossible.

‘Hello, sister, can you repeat what you just said?’ ‘This is Seventh City Ghost Town, a woman outlaw colony in The Nation, and we have taken in the sole survivor of a hydrogen plane crash from your country, Sister Jibrilla. She’s almost healed now, but we don’t have the means to get her home. It took us a while to find a way to make contact too.’

Mariposa’s jaw dropped. This wasn’t about children’s stories of haunted houses.

‘We’ll need to call some authorities.’

*

Five minutes later, on the other side of the line in Seventh City Ghost Eliza looked at a sweating Jibrilla.

‘We did it! The coast guard of Senu-Town will contact your base. They will make sure to get you home somehow.’

Jibrilla stared at the primitive radio.

‘Home… That would be something. The best place for any sister is her home, even if it isn’t perfect…’

‘That reminds me that I have to bring our non-human sister back to her husband. And the papers for his visit to his actual blood sister. You probably don’t understand how strange it is, the idea of being visited in Wife School by your brother. I had two or three visits from my mother the whole six years I was in Wife School, and that was actually a lot already. Never from any other family member.’

‘I don’t know how it would be to have men in my family. I have two mothers, and two sisters. I never had a brother. But he seems like a good sister.’

Eliza chuckled. ‘You could say it like that. He’s definitely learning a lot. Really, it’s just a year since we met him or so, and now he’s called in as the male affairs adviser in a Ghost Town already and stuff like that.’

‘And to think I was scared of him that first time when nurse Samantha brought him in not long after the crash.’

‘Ah, Samantha seems reckless, but she’s actually quite careful with men. It’s just that he doesn’t count as a threat. But every woman in The Nation has a history of negative experiences with them’

‘Yes, that’s what we’ve been told about life here. But it’s much more complicated after all. It will be strange to adapt to the ways of the Sisterhood again. This place really is unique.’

‘Will you be okay?’

‘It’ll be strange, but I’ll manage. And I’ll try to find a way to keep in contact with my sisters here in some way, even if it takes years.’

‘Ah, yes, there’s something I need to fix before you go, I almost forgot.’ She said with a mysterious smile before she went back to the robot workshop, leaving Jibrilla alone with her thoughts.

*

The next afternoon Samantha walked from the commercial city centre to the woman house with her groceries when she suddenly got a bad premonition. She didn’t even have the time to wonder what it was, because a sudden voice said ‘hey, girlie!’ in a rather aggressive way. Every Nation woman knew what such a thing meant, but instead of panicking she just sighed and mumbled ‘not now’. She’s become a bit too careless lately, and a non-Wife alone was always at risk in The Nation.

Looking behind her she saw two scruffy-looking men in their early twenties, who were trying to get her attention rather aggressively. She saw no badges, so they probably were Zeroes. There were no male outlaws in this part of the city by daytime, so they could only be official zeroes like Michael. Her mind worked very fast. She had to stay as friendly as possible to not provoke them. Technically she wasn’t bound to obeying Zeroes, she still had her worn-out E-badge next to her Free person symbol and Women Are Human pin, but she was still outnumbered and they were stronger, so it probably wouldn’t mean much, and whatever the hierarchy said, no-one cared for the rights of non-Wives either.

‘Hey, pretty non-wifey, wanna come with us? Robots are getting boring and you look like the real stuff. We wanna have some fun!’ The biggest of the two said, with an ominous smile.

She tried not to show any fear. Just half a year ago she would have frozen up, but now everything was different: her whole world had changed, and she was armed and more used to men. After all they were just boys, so just humans like her, no matter how bad this kind of zeroes looked. Getting casual with the harmless sort seemed to have taken away some fear for the dangerous sort too, she noticed.

She smiled and tried to look nonchalant.

‘I’d rather not, if that’s the same for you.’

Appearances were everything sometimes, weren’t they? And she was a ranked person talking to zeroes.

‘Plus I’m not interested in your type. Maybe you can behave and wash yourself if you want me to be interested. You know, I actually like men, but only if we can talk from human being to human being.’

‘Wow, the girly has an attitude. That’s interesting. But you’re just a lowly non-wifey after all and we are men. What could you ever do to us? So why not just be a friendly girly, and come with us for some fun?’ He started laughing.

She dropped her groceries put her hand in her pocket, where she kept her stunner.

‘Wrong. You’re just zeroes and I’m still an E-woman, a ranked adult. And I am a Free Person who will choose my own friends and what I consider fun. Go play with your robot or so… ’

He frowned. ‘Ah, so the girly says we’re not good enough for her? So what friends does someone like you even have that are more interesting than us?’ ‘There’s men more interesting that you, you know? I actually have rated and unrated male friends, and Ghost Town outlaws too.’

The second boy spoke. ‘All nonsense, Walt. Don’t listen to her. Women don’t have male friends, especially not rated men. Stop lying, girl, we are stronger and we are in the majority. You’re just one girl against two men.’

Samantha was starting to lose her patience.

‘Being forced is never fun, I’m not a robot. I’m a Free Person who will defend myself, and I advice you now to leave me alone before anyone gets hurt, you idiots. Don’t you know that we non-Wives of Seventh City have Ghost Town magic now?’

She really wasn’t in the mood for this, and was getting angry.

The men started laughing and came closer to grab her.

‘Just come with us, girly!’

‘I suppose that’s a No? Well, on your head be it, big boy!’ she said, and before they knew what happened took the stunner out of her pocket and shot the nearest of the two, the big guy who was the leader, and prayed it would work and not bring her in trouble.

The man raised an arm, looked at her with a weird look, tried to say something, but his eyes closed and he fell to the ground like a chainsawed tree.

‘Hey, watch out how he falls. Don’t let him get damaged too much, you idiot. He’ll need those little brains for the rest of his life.’ She yelled to his petrified friend, while she leapt to catch him to be sure his head didn’t hit the ground too hard.

‘Eh, what?’

His friend bowed down to her, and took his unconscious friend over from her, holding his sleeping head with his hands and calling his name in panic.

‘Walt, Walt?’

‘He’s asleep, Buddy. He won’t hear you.’

She still held the stunner in her hand.

‘What did you do, witch?’ He said, clearly scared now.

‘Nothing special, my Zero friend. It’s just very simple magic if you want to believe that. Nothing irreversible, he’ll just sleep for the next 12 hours or so. I really didn’t want to use my powers, but you idiots gave me no choice. You’re lucky that I don’t have any outlaw friends here now to put him in a green dress and leave him in the woods. Maybe you both deserved that.’

She winked and he winced.

‘Just be glad that I didn’t shoot you too, big boy! So be a good man and take your friend home, and next time show some respect to a woman. I’m not a flesh-and-blood version of your fricking sex robot!’

‘But…’

‘Yes, you heard what I said. I see you’re a strong man, just carry him home and let him sleep. He’ll be okay. Let this be a lesson for both of you.’

‘But, he has to work in a few hours. The boss will get angry.’

‘Should have thought of that earlier, big boy.’

The power balance had tipped to the other side now. She had found her usual brutal self again, and he looked away from the provocative look in her eyes, uneasy like a lost boy. Being bested by a woman in this way was clearly a completely new concept to him.

The tone in his voice changed.

‘Can’t you help me, miss? He’s too heavy.’

She shook her head. ‘Do you think I’m mad? Bring a heavy man to a Zeroville building? A minute ago both of you wanted to take me there to assault me. I’m not coming close to such a den of human predators, thank you very much!’

‘But he’s so heavy.’

‘Shall I alert a cop to help you, big boy?’

She was bluffing, but the boy looked at her in shock.

‘No, No, No! No police, miss. They never listen to a Zero, and they lock you up for nothing. They just yell at us.’

She shrugged. ‘Yes, and they don’t believe a woman can harm you either. Not that they really care about E-nonwives, but even less about zeroes. But yeah, I know that the system sucks already, and that the police aren't helpful. I’m a Nation woman, remember? We’ve got it worse. But in the end women are human, like you. So maybe you can behave like a human next time, instead of as a baboon!’

He was still kneeling with his friend in his arms, looking up to her, and nodded;

‘So, what’s your name, big boy?’

‘Eh, Matt, Miss’ He said.

‘Good afternoon, Matt. You can call me Sam Samanthas. You need to practise a lot if you want to be able to talk to real women and not make her run away. Maybe you could ask your robot to teach you something or so. But remember, no-one is hopeless, and times are changing! Unsegregation is possible and is happening, and women might get interested in you one day if you can treat them like a human being. Treat others like you’d want to be treated as the old book says. That’s a tip.’

After that little sermon she picked up her groceries and walked off without looking at them again. She loved being on top of the situation, and had enjoyed the feeling of being the stronger one for once, but on the other hand she suddenly felt very lonely. Men could be decent indeed, in theory, but the only one she ever got close to was beyond hopeless, and there even wasn’t such a thing as freewill dates for non-Wives, only sad affairs and worse.

Maybe it was time to take some more initiative and actually try something with the only available men that was interesting enough. Not that he wouldn’t end up the first man in a mixed Love Ceremony with Eliza or so, but if she played it well she could have some fun with him. At least he was as harmless as much as he was hopeless. She just needed to find a way to both convince him and the other girls… If mixed freewill dates were perfectly possible in other worlds, it would be a matter of time before they were a thing in The Nation anyway, and sometimes it was better to not wait too long if you knew what you wanted. She just needed to plan things a bit.

*Michael hated the ugly sound of the doorbell that took him out of his concentration, but he wasn’t really able to focus on his new schoolbook anyway. He had started collecting all the books and other material of the school year that he would never officially follow, but at the moment it didn’t really work. His brain seemed stuck in what Eliza called executive dysfunction mode, which happened more since his depression, especially when he had to turn his brains on for hard work.

He went all the way down the stairs, as discreetly as possible. He already knew who was there: Eliza with Dorothy, and she’d take replacement Dorothy back to the Ghost Town. And this wasn’t a safe place for women, no matter if they were actually robots.

He arrived downstairs, and indeed he found Eliza and Dorothy standing by the front door.

‘Shht, be careful. I don’t want the neighbours so see you two.’ He said. ‘And here is our happy husband, Dorothy.’

The robot greeted him with a bow.

‘Good afternoon, husband Michael.’

‘Your wife is as good as new now, Michael. No-one will ever recognise her as the girl who electrocuted Shirley’s taker, and I’ve reseted her memory to the point where she left you. All her memories of being a stand-in for Shirley have been erased’

‘You’re better at robotics than the whole faculty together.’ Michael admitted.

‘Ah, yes, you’re either a genius or you’re not one. Those little boys with their little toys are no match for me.’

‘Hey, it wasn’t a bad education that they gave me, they might have left some details out here and there but I learnt a lot, it was other things that sucked.’ Michael said, but she ignored him and they went upstairs together.

Michael closed the door behind him, and turned the other wifebot on again, which had been recharging in a corner in sleep mode. Eliza patted the robot she had brought on its head.

‘And now that your Dorothy is back in business, let’s have some fun with it. Let’s turn on the re-education mode for now and see what data it had collected about you already. See for example what verdict she gives about you being ready to have a date with a woman…’

Eliza said, giving a wink that reminded him of Samantha. She started programming the keyboard panel again before he could protest, and then a slot on her back opened and gave her a small printed paper. She looked at it and started laughing.

‘Ah, such a surprise. Answer inconclusive…’ she waved with her paper.

‘The girls are really going to love this.’

‘Hey, that’s mine, can I at least read it before you all make fun of me again?’ He protested, but Eliza ignored him again and read it out loud.

‘Let’s see: a full score for no abusive aggression, 100%, which I suppose means you didn’t do anything wrong to her. Well, since you didn’t even touch her there’s no surprises here.’ ‘Why would I even touch that thing?’

‘She’s your wife, big boy. Officially and legally your marriage partner substitute. In that kind of relationship touching is expected, and that’s why she gave you only 25% for intimacy. Poor lonely Dorothy.’

‘Hmm, that’s more than I expected.’

‘The bar for men is so low in The Nation when it comes to intimacy… I suppose you asking her politely to do the dishes and clean the room like you always do was already enough to get some points. You’re so cute and innocent that you even behave like a gentleman to a robot that you otherwise refuse to treat as a person and even describe with impersonal pronouns all the time…’

‘Hey, it’s a useful machine after all. No need to treat it badly. Politeness is always a good thing.’

‘Sure…,’ Eliza said, while she looked for something in her side bag.

‘Here are the papers by the way, for your Wife School visit. It was way too easy to get it.’

‘Oh, thank you. I love you, Eliza!’

He wanted to give her a hug, but the robot suddenly took his arm.

‘Is he making you uncomfortable, Miss Eliza?’ It asked.

‘No, no, it’s fine. We’re good friends.’

‘My client isn’t approved yet for any relationships with the other sex, Miss Eliza. I would advise against friendship and I have to ask you to keep your distance.’

‘Too late Dorothy. We’re friends already, and we’re on hugging terms. Could you please update that to your program? And add Megan, Angela, Leya and Samantha to the list too would they ever show up. You must have seen all of them.’

The voice of the robot changed. ‘Female friend list created, and updated with Miss Eliza the administrator, as well as Megan, Leya, Angela and Samantha.’

‘Make it a secret list only visible to me, not to the robo-engineers of The Nation.’

‘Yes, Miss Eliza.’

‘Eliza, what have you done? You kept the administrator rights?’

‘Oh, yes, why not? It would be stupid to have to turn her off every time you see me or another girl, not?’

‘It’s not safe for girls here, so I’m avoiding that, but I see your point. It was a bit tiring to have to do that. But won’t it be a problem?’

‘The Nation has incompetent robo-engineers. We both know how sloppy their work is.’

‘You’re probably right. But tell me about the Wife School appointment with my sister.’

‘In three weeks like I said,. Look at the papers. They should just let you in.’

Michael looked at the papers and felt really weird. Seeing his sister again after everything would be very weird.

‘Do you think it’s okay? I mean, visiting my sister?’

He looked at the paper.

‘Don’t be insecure, it will be okay. And your sister deserves to have you in her life too, as the great leader of the rebellion of unsegregation.’ She lightly touched his shoulder.

‘It still feels impossible. Like the ghost of my father saying it is not done, I mean. Girls who move to Wife School are now in training to belong to their husband, something like that.’

‘Hmm, that worked well for me… Do you have any beer by the way.’

Michael stood up. ‘Yes, I…’

‘Let the robot. Could you be so friendly as to bring us a beer, Dorothy?’

‘Yes, Miss Eliza,’ The robot said, and disappeared into the kitchen.

‘Don’t stare at her, Mr. Robohusband. I asked very politely.’

‘Yes, it’s just, I’d never have thought to ask it.’

‘You can use robots for almost everything if you have enough imagination, and Dorothy doesn’t mind doing endless chores at all. Her kind is put to work all the time in the Ghost Town without a problem. And they’re good workers if you know how to word your requests.’

She took the beer given to her by the robot.

‘Thank you, Dorothy. But Michael, you were talking about your sister.’

‘She’s a B. I’m worried about that.’

‘A future elite wife you mean?’

‘And the rest of my family hates me now, remember.’

She took his hand. ‘But they wouldn’t have contacted her, would they. I mean, even your mother hasn’t visited her in years if I understand it well.’

‘He is against that. She won’t disobey. Submit to your husband in everything, you remember. She’s completely brainwashed.’

She hugged him again, gesturing to the robot that it was okay.

‘I don’t know what to say. It’s like the stories of most Wife School girls. But it will mean they have no influence on your sister. Whatever she thinks of you will be her own opinion.’

‘The opinion of the Miss Hunters from St. Manfred’s you mean.’

‘You’re still a boy, a man, visiting his sister, that alone is unusual.’

‘I’m a zero. A B-girl is high above me. Much more than Sam above those zeroes she fought recently’

‘Since when do you think in hierarchies? And that’s another situation altogether.’

‘I don’t, but everyone else does it seems. And I was only interesting because I was a weird Gamma-1.’

‘Oh, Michael, you dummy. I’m sure she will be glad to see you, if you can be the Michael you are with us.’

She held him in silence for a while, and then they drank their beer. The following conversation was about the contact with Héva and international connections that would be formed with the outside world. Half an hour later she left with the other robot. Michael was nervous about the neighbours seeing her, but they only saw the old man, and not much happened.

*

A week later he was sitting in the Square Bar on a Wednesday evening. His shift was over, but because the girls were still hanging around he did too. They were playing with an old set of European chess that he had found in a closet with old stuff, but he had taken a new boy school handbook himself, ordered a three herbs and was trying to study in peace. He might have been deleted from school, but if Eliza had been able to self-educate herself to become one of the greatest experts in robotics in The Nation, there was no reason for him to stop studying either. And he read his book with his full concentration, completely unaware of their conversation.

‘We need to raise the stake of the game, it’s getting boring,’ Samantha said.

‘Ah, do you propose anything?’ Eliza said, looking intently at her chess pieces.

‘The winner gets Loverboy for one night.’

‘Eh, he’s an adult and a Free Person, you can’t just wager him.’ Angela said.

‘Let’s just ask him then.’ Samantha stood up and walked to Michael, who was studying Advanced robotics level 3, the one he’d never had the chance to study in school because he was deleted.

‘Michael, do you mind if we play for a date with you?’

Michael looked up from an introduction to the possibilities 23th century semi-sentient robots had had right before they were banned.

‘Huh, a date with me? Who’s so crazy to ask for that?’

‘It’s me against Eliza.’

‘Oh, I don’t mind a date with Eliza. I doubt she’s really interested in that though…’

He read about the controversies of near-human intelligence, and the great prohibition on real artificial intelligence, and didn’t notice how the table with the girls got more excited. But all he could think about now was how the role of robots had changed and evolved in the last centuries, and about the dangers that arose with giving robots near-human intelligence.

Suddenly Angela stood before him and broke his hyperfocus again.

‘Eh, Michael, Samantha says she wants to plan your date…’

He put down his book.

‘Sam wants what?’

‘She won the euro-chess game, and they played for a date with you. She said you were okay with that.’

He looked at her, and it took him some time to answer.

‘Ah, did they? Oops… I wasn’t paying attention. So Eliza lost? I didn’t expect her to.’

‘Yes, Samantha won. You’re always underestimating her. And, eh, I want to ask you something. But don’t tell anyone.’

‘What is it?’

‘Will you not hurt her too much when you reject her? I know she acts tough and all, but she’s actually quite vulnerable. Please be gentle with my friend.’

‘She’s been trying to seduce me from the second she saw me and she has no concept of personal boundaries. What do you expect me to do?’

‘I expect you to give her a date she won’t ever forget. Just be nice to her, please!’

He looked at Angela in disbelief. It was Samantha they were talking about, not?

‘Okay, but the moment she goes too far I’ll let her know that without hesitation; you can be sure of that!’

‘But you’ll do it?’

‘why not… Just make sure that she reads the Ghost Town guidelines or so.’

Angela looked relieved, and went back to the other girls. His thoughts went crazy.

Oh boy, what am I getting into now? An actual free will date was a new step to take, and Samantha would have been the last girl on Earth he’d have chosen for a first trial. He heard the girls discuss and laugh, but he went back to his robotics handbook. He didn’t feel like entering the conversation now, it would only lead to sarcastic remarks and worse.