The return trip was done in silence. Reez essentially went back on his tracks, going south on Corus Boulevard, then east for a short time on University Boulevard, to then go south again into a narrow alley.
He lived in a sixty-story building stuck between three skyscrapers, the open side facing southeast towards the ocean. The alleyway led to a vast underground parking garage, shared between all three skyscrapers plus the residential building. The fun part was that residents had reserved spots, while businessmen were sometimes forced to find a place in another parking lot a few blocks away.
The little android quietly followed him as he went into the elevator. Reez marked a pause, sighing loudly and rubbing his eyes for a moment.
"Which floor do you live on?" she asked.
"Fifty-one. Thanks."
She punched the number on the keypad. The doors closed and the elevator whisked its passenger smoothly upwards.
Reez was staring at the ground, pensive.
"We're here." the girl's voice announced.
Without really thinking, he followed her outside. The building had no real corridors to speak of. Instead, it had open balconies at the middle of each side, and there was a way passing through the center of the building in both directions. The four elevators were at the center, and one entered one of the eight apartments of the floor from the ends of the cross-shaped space between them.
Reez unlocked and opened the door to his apartment.
"Fifty-one B. Remember that..." he muttered to the android.
His home was a strangely designed four-and-a-half with few doors and a compact placement of rooms. At the immediate right of the vestibule was a living room decorated with a white couch, two black sofa-chairs and a glass table, brightly lit up by full-height windows on both of the apartment's outward sides. Straight forward was a kitchen of modest proportions, barely enough to contain a stove-oven, fridge, counter and cupboards, and to the right, past the living room was a wooden dining table with four chairs, and a small, flat-panel TV set in the corner and a sound system next to it, with discrete speakers attached to the ceiling at each corner of the living room. Past the kitchen and to the left was a small bathroom. Finally, seemingly dug into the left wall was a contrastingly messy bedroom, the mattress pushed at the far side to the left, covered by colorful blankets and used as a couch and a bed at the same time. Against the wall between bedroom and dining room was a large flat-panel TV with a video game system plugged into it. The rest of the space was taken up by a dresser and a locker that seemed stolen straight from the army.
Outside, one could see the ocean, coupled with a tiny seaport, and no beach whatsoever. Separating city from water was a wall-like elevation, on top of which was a road simply named Waterside Boulevard, which turned into Snow Coast Road at the north end of the city, and South Ridge at the south.
Reez took his boots off and walked straight towards a small table, placed against the wall between kitchen and dining room and on which was a black phone. He opened the drawer and took out a small remote.
"Right about time," he said as he pressed the single button on it. Slowly, an overlay formed on the windows, making a setting sun appear on the east side. The artificial sun didn't move as the android walked back and forth. It seemed to be really set into the horizon. The illusion was perfect.
"What's this?" she asked.
"The sun?"
"No, the hologram..."
"That's SolSuite. Produces a hologram inside a crystallized glass so I can see the setting sun despite not facing west. Damn thing cost me an arm and a leg..."
The child examined the hologram a bit more, then lost interest. She took a look around the rest of the apartment, before quietly sitting down on the white couch and ceasing all movement.
Reez disappeared into his room for a minute. He emerged with a pair of jeans and a black T-shirt on, but with his pistol still attached to his side.
He reached into the fridge and pulled out some frozen meat, which he set to cooking in a pan. In the meantime, he placed a bowl of mixed vegetables in the microwave.
He watched the news as he ate his dinner. They kept talking about Kod's suicide and the attack on the Governor. There was little time left for the real news: the latest beam weapons from New Smirland were due next week, the States of Laradost had finally started peace talks with Arimast and bring an end to the secession conflict, and the Department of Technology had just announced a sudden increase in the mutant population.
Reez made a face at the last news. Mutants, not surprisingly, had little chance to integrate themselves among New Colombus' population, mainly due to the Iist mentality of keeping the strong and leaving the weak - and the mutants were generally perceived as weak. As such, most ended up in the Apanian and Sius communities, which were respectively welcoming and indifferent. That created a new problem: with the mutants usually short on money, the Apanian and Sius districts were starting to take the appearance of ghettos. And because no two things happened without a third, free androids joined into those newly formed ghettos in order to get themselves some cheap lodging, since they had little care for hygiene. The result was a melting pot of cultures that rubbed off on each other.
Of course, all this would be discussed in detail for the millionth time tomorrow on public radio.
The android had remained silent and motionless the whole time. She seemed too shy to even move. Her eyes were actually solid electric blue orbs, preventing Reez from telling exactly what she could be looking at. Despite his occasional glances towards her, her features remained undisturbed.
He figured this was all for the better for now. He didn't really know what to do with that android. Holding on to her 'till Mr. Karl gave him new instructions sounded simple at first, but Reez felt he had to somehow entertain the little girl, or otherwise find a way to keep her busy. He supposed it was because she happened to have a human face. Social androids almost all looked human in appearance and were able to display emotions very well. But if she was a social 'droid, she wasn't much of a socializer.
Slowly, he began to suspect the girl had been involved with Shrike in some way. Why Karl had deemed her not dangerous was beyond his understanding...
"An android found in the desert, too close for comfort and she's not related. Son of a bitch!" he thought aloud.
The droid suddenly came alive. "What?"
Reez froze for a few seconds. "Oh... You. You've got a shitload of explaining to do."
"I do?"
"You do. You bet your ass you do."
He sat on one of the sofa-chairs in front of her. She gave him a quizzical look. "What can I talk about?"
"Well, for starters, how about your designation?"
"Hmm-hmm, sure... My name is Sierra Ilica. I have no legal owner. I'm a social android, manufactured by DT Micro, type I slash N, serial number seven. That's all."
"And you have no life?"
"No."
"No backstory?"
"No."
"No memories at all?"
"No. My latest memory is of the desert. I was lost."
Reez sighed. He couldn't read an android like a human, simply because androids had full control over their body - including facial expressions. Hence, there was a possibility that the little girl was blatantly lying and yet keep a poker face. He realized part of his suspicion stemmed from the shyness of the 'droid. She only spoke when spoken to. Maybe she was telling the truth but not all the truth.
Had she designated herself under the same details as when she had been at the Department? Yes. Okay...
He didn't really want to know more because of the Department. He simply wanted a good reason not to have to carry his gun around all the time. As far as he was concerned, any android, big or small, could be programmed to harm.
He examined her again. She was colored in a curious mix, with black simu-skin covering her face, her arms, back and chest, and electric blue plates pretty much anywhere else, coupled with with some silver gray here and there, such as for the hands, and part of her forearms and legs. Her torso was contained in a one-piece plate, similar to the upper end of a strapless robe. Going around her hips was a series of long, thin strands of black rubber and electric blue metal, reaching three quarters down her legs and creating the appearance of a skirt. Her feet were actually a pair of shoes, without any toes of their own. Her hair was a combo of plates and more of these rubber-metal strands, barely shoulder length. Her eyes, as told before, were featureless blue orbs. Finally, along her back was a pair of curvy lines made out of electric blue dots, which seemed oddly phosphorescent.
Reez leaned back in his chair and sighed again.
"What do you know about where you are?"
"Like..."
"Geography. History. Social, politics, current events..."
Sierra seemed to look upwards for a moment. "Well... We're in New Colombus, capital of the Democratic Union of Arimast. We're on the east coast, and to the west is a desert that turns into a wasteland towards the west coat. The ethnicity is Iist for the most part, with a dash of Sius here and there, and a bit of Apanian along the east coast. The current Governor is Carlest Taylor. The people have been involved in a war against the Reli creatures for a while... That's all I know about our world, in a nutshell."
"What about religion? Got anything on that?"
"...I'm not sure what you mean."
"The three big religions! Orthodox, Pagan and Reli."
"Well... I just know the facts. I don't have any opinions."
Reez figured that was all he could do for today - at least that was all he could think of. He stood up and went to his bedroom, turned on the TV and the video game console.
Sierra followed him and sat beside the bed. She tirelessly watched him play game after game, after which he switched to the news channel and fell asleep while listening to them.
She turned the TV off. She also noticed the holographic sunset was still on. The sunset was long over but there was still a faint glow in the windows, hinting at the system's activity. She retrieved the remote and turned that off to.
There wasn't too much noise coming into Reez' apartment. Most of the busy elevated highways were to the northwest, towards downtown. The district Reez lived in seemed a lot calmer and quiet. Only a few cars rolled along here and there. The lights were faint, as if everyone had turned their dimmers on out of fear of pollution by light.
She glanced upwards. No clouds and no stars. New Colombus was too bright to allow that luxury.
She took one of the couch-sofas, turned it towards the windows and sat down for the remainder of the night, looking outside.