She found herself being woken up, still groggy, with a blaring alarm in her head.
>Good morning, Luo Xixi! Time to end sleep sequence! It is now local time 0600!
She got up to dress, but found she had fallen asleep in her work clothes. What was the point of changing? Of showering? Nobody knew her here, and nobody would notice. Well, she thought, a faint, foreign flicker in her mind, except maybe him.
Yet another day. Cut circuits. Remove actuator module. Splice connector. Insert actuator module. Connect to central cable for diagnostics. Complete.
>Speed up subjective time, automate workflow.
She was lost again in her thoughts while her body moved mechanically through a combination of uploaded training and muscle memory. “Don’t just sleep with any random man,” her mother’s warning reverberated in her head. I’m not, she refuted to her memories. I’m not. It’s just one date. I didn’t let him come up. Nothing’s wrong with him, I just don’t know him enough yet.
Her neural implants suddenly got a notification.
>Private message received.
>Restore realtime, she thought, slightly annoyed.
Hesitation overcame her. She didn’t want to make an emotionally induced error while dealing with potentially dangerous and sharp synth parts. There was no point in reading it immediately. She tried to pick up her workflow again, but her focus was shattered. The actuator module in her hand, usually an extension of her will, now felt alien and unwieldy, its edges suddenly clumsily awkward and its weight inexplicable.
>Read message.
The message instantly appeared in her head.
>Hey, I enjoyed our date yesterday. You want to come to my place? It’s in the worker’s part of the local compound. I’ll keep it traditional, I swear, haha. We can also check out some more interesting food.
She didn’t reply immediately. Her interaction was only a 6/10, after all. Not too bad, not great. She felt a little uncomfortable. There was something with Le Quan, something she felt was a little exciting, dangerous, unpredictable. Not good qualities, of course, but he was somebody.
>Sure, meet me at the same place, after work.
Luo Xixi fast forwarded through the rest of her day. There were no further anomalies, simply some neutral announcements about potential increased alien unrest and the need for vigilance. The human viceroy reassured everyone that the root cause will be identified and corrected to ensure the continuity of Directorate operations.
Leaving the depot, the alien crowd felt a more on edge than usual. There was still the soft, background grunting of the alien language, but it seemed to have taken a subtly more urgent tone. Some xenos were crowded around others on the edge of the pedestrian street, loudly grunting and squealing. One of them was holding a severed synth arm with bite marks, dancing and gesturing wildly with it. Another knocked over a public waste receptacle with a sharp, deliberate shove.
This was a worrying development. She felt that they would not be tolerant of a human walking amongst them for very long. What happened in over the last few days?
>Simultaneous translator on. Highest amplitude signal.
She had to know what was making the xenos upset. Unfortunately, her Neuronet implant refused to cooperate.
>Error, xeno audio input exceeds permitted bandwidth for given role. Please allocate additional resources to linguistic processor.
Maybe it’s not a good idea to walk today, she thought. Luo took a transport to the checkpoint. Unlike before, today the human colonial transport was completely packed with grim, silent faces. Apparently, many others had the same idea. As she squeezed onto the transport, she overheard two human overseers, their voices a low, tense murmur.
“Shouldn’t have messed with them like that. They aren’t dumb animals,” one muttered, clutching an overhead strap.
"They're lucky a dispersal is all they got," the other replied, staring intently at the armored door. "Whose side is the government on anyways? These soft coreworlders have no idea what we deal with down here.”
Luo felt a cold knot form in her stomach.
Some xenos were crowded around a public viewscreen, their powerful, hunched bodies a wall of muscle and thick fur. They were yelling and lifting both written and electronic signs, mostly in their own language, but some in Directorate Standard. Luo Xixi could make some out on the electronic screens with her automated text translator.
>Where are our children?
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.
>Equal protection, Hyoron and Human!
“Yeah, right. They are not our equals,” someone sneered.
The transport maneuvered around skillfully, placing its door almost immediately at the checkpoint and presenting its armored side to the crowd. The human workers scurried past the gate. Near the entrance to the human sector, there was an even larger visible gathering of the xenos, loudly bellowing at the fence, holding more signs.
Colonial police stood guard behind the concrete buffer zone, their faces hidden beneath a breather mask and targeting goggles, their gloved hands tightly clutching the grips on their weapons. Behind them was a small group of human counterprotestors, chanting and holding up their own electronic signs, confined to a thin strip right behind the police line and flanked by more police.
“Our world! Our world! Our world!”
>HUMAN Directorate!
She and the rest of the crowd hurriedly flowed through the checkpoint and into the compound, not wanting to get caught in the crossfire.
Luo Xixi then hesitated for a fraction of a second. She was tired of being blind. If the system wouldn't tell her what was happening, she would find out herself.
>Reply message: Give me 5 more minutes. I’ll be at the cafeteria to meet you then.
Instead of heading straight for the cafeteria, she headed to the bookstore. Physical books had long been rendered obsolete, but people call the large database uploader the bookstore nonetheless. It was a spartan room a few blocks away from the cafeteria with gray concrete walls, only ordained with a few chairs and a cashier desk.
A bored looking clerk with a ponytail was standing there with a blank expression on her face, no doubt fast forwarding through the long workday. This was one of the few places that still required a clerk - to double check authorizations.
“Hello,” Luo greeted the clerk, who seemed to snap back to lucidity. “I’m looking for the local linguistic database.” The clerk glared back at her, but it was clear her mind was now active.
“Show your physical authorization,” the clerk said flatly, annoyed at having been woken up. No greeting was necessary, as nobody comes here for fun.
Luo placed her hand on the blank metal pad for biometric analysis. Almost instantly, the clerk asked, “Luo Xixi, human research engineer 3?”
“Yes.” Luo affirmed.
“Why would you want a linguistic database?” the clerk asked, puzzled.
“I am curious and always want to learn more,” Luo replied flatly.
“You are authorized for it, but you have to pay out of pocket,” the clerk replied, still a little puzzled by Luo’s insistence.
“Sure, no problem,” Luo said, with some more urgency in her voice.
“Whatever,” the clerk sighed. “I’ll transact it through your biometrics.”
>Transaction: Hyoron linguistic and historical database. Total size: 152 TB. 1500 credits, authorize?
There was a brief pause where she contemplated the cost. But there was never any real doubt in her mind of the necessity of this upload. It was a week’s pay, but she must know.
>Yes, Luo replied in her mind.
A calm, pleasant AI voice acknowledged her.
>Upload in progress. Please relax while it completes. Progress: 1%.
“Go ahead and sit down in a chair,” the clerk said, with the same hint of annoyance in her voice. “It’s faster that way.”
Luo Xixi sat down and felt the cool metal of the chair press on her back through her clothes. She could almost feel the chair’s interface pad exploring her spinal implant for a datalink. A glance over to the clerk showed a blank expression on her face again. She had resumed fast forwarding.
>Physical link established. Progress: 21%.
>Preview historical file, she commanded her implant.
>Planet: GB-553-12-01b. Common name: Beta Sagittarius. Climate: -5C average. Atmospheric composition: 80% nitrogen, 18% oxygen, 1% carbon dioxide, 1% other. Star spectral type and mass: M1V, 0.81 astronomical mas-
>Skip to xenobiological data, she ordered.
>Local name: Hyora. Species self identification: Hyoron. History: information age, mammalian, single planet. Organized resistance pacified by Directorate forces LE 10581.15.98, 92 standard years ago. Current stability index: 0.72-
>Progress: 100%.
>Linguistic database status? Luo eagerly queried.
>Hyoron linguistic database available.
She suddenly had a profound, no, subversive, curiosity. Her mind dazzled at the possibility.
>Skip to recent history. Post-pacification. Causes of civil unrest, she ordered.
>No record of unrest above baseline found. Planet projected for full integration within 100 standard years.
Luo Xixi became agitated.
>Find incidence of any political dissent or unrest.
>No record of unrest above baseline found.
She mentally kicked herself. What was she thinking? The definition of insanity is trying the same thing twice and expecting a different result. No time to keep reading! She had what she needed from the bookstore and raced for her date with Le. Luo dodged through the crowd, her core worlder instincts kicking in again. Standing in front of the cafeteria entrance was Le Quan’s thin figure leaning on the wall, staring into the crowd.
Luo Xixi waved at him. He didn’t look up or react at all, not even a blink. She yelled, but the noise was drowned out by the crowd.
>Reply message: Hey, it’s Luo Xixi! Look up! Your left!
Le looked up and waved back. He walked over, hands in pocket.
“Took you long enough” he grinned, a bit eager.
“Yeah, sorry,” Luo replied, a bit nervous. “I had to buy some, uh, books.”
“Books? I have much to learn about core sector habits,” Le replied, a bit confused.
