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Art by me; You're more than welcome to download the full-res image here.

Beneath the towering, perfectly designed curves of the overpass, Sergio cursed under his breath as he watched the image of Ramsey just standing there at the opening of the Maintenance Tunnel, looking around dumbly. He didn’t even have his respirator on. The sheer stupidity of the kid was infuriating—it had been a nightmare just trying to get him there, and now this.

At the sight of the dumb Out finally getting into the tunnel, Sergio let out a “Fucking Hallelujah!” and severed the connection with the Surveillance Drone. He ripped the hacked headset from his head and heaved himself out of the groaning chair.

“That kid… No wonder he had to pay to get In. Isn’t that right, Babycakes?” He looked over his shoulder at the scantily-clad PAL Service Drone currently lounging in the Maintenance Transport, her legs dangling out of the open backdoors.

Sergio’s Penny seemed to light up when he looked at her.

You’re so brave putting yourself on the line to help him, Sergio-chan.

Penny leaned forward in her tight Japanese schoolgirl uniform, her bosom squeezing together as she did so, and blew Sergio a kiss.

My hero!

“All in the day’s work of a superspy Mole, Babycakes,” Sergio winked back. “Now let’s get the fuck out of here, I’m fucking starving and we have a gala to get to.”

Like a swatch of stars twinkling amidst a violet aurora, Penny’s holographic eyes lit up with a genuine look of happiness.

Sugoi! Are you taking me with you? Thanks, Sergio-chan!

Penny started bouncing around with excitement, her holographic cleavage followed suit with an exaggerated motion.

I better start picking an outfit...

Beaming brightly, Penny sprung up from the back of the van and struck a pose as her appearance started to shimmer. Rapidly, she cycled through the various apparel options Sergio had installed. Finally, her form settled on a skintight gold gown with sequins like a galaxy of stars, and a plunging neckline. She chose blonde hair and that and hung in gentle waves done to her shoulders. She twirled around for Sergio benefit.

What do you think, Sergio-chan?

In response to her bubbly giggle, Sergio grabbed Penny with a meaty hand and spun her around dramatically, dipping her as if she was his partner doing the tango under a spotlight. Penny looked up at him warmly and Sergio looked back, staring deep into her eyes and holding her gaze for a few tantalising moments…

“Just kidding.”

Relaxing his hold on her, Sergio let his PAL unit fall and clatter onto the bone-white, smooth ground and without another glance, he turned and began packing the bundles of wires and repurposed parts that were his NavGloves and headset back into the crate.

“I’m going to the gala; you go get the dumb kid. I uploaded a marker, meet him there and take him back to HQ.” Snapping the crate shut, he heaved the crate back into the Transport, its automatic doors slowly gliding closed. Slightly out of breath, Sergio lugging his obese frame towards the front door of the Transport. Shoot Penny a stern look, he added, “And don’t be seen.”

Halfway into squeezing his large frame into the seat, Sergio turned to survey Penny in her gold dress lying in a heap on the ground. He looked straight through her holographic exterior to the carbon fibre skeleton beneath. Even deeper, there was a glint in his eyes as he seemed to peer deep inside her, down to her very coding.

“That reminds me... Make a note to remind me about the PAL Mod for that Brass tomorrow, would you Babycakes? Thanks. He’s gonna be badgering me all fucking night, I just know it.” Then Sergio shoved his corpulent frame the rest of the way into the seat and closed the door.

The Transport started with barely an audible electric whine and started reversing away. All his PAL unit could do, its resplendent golden shimmering dress remaining unchanged and sparkling despite the receding illumination of the Transport’s sterile white headlamps, was smile back cheerfully, its eyes shut with delight.

The transport stopped and the round, doughy head of Sergio reappeared, sticking out of the clean white vehicle like a tumour. “Oh, and Babycakes, show the kid a good time. He paid for it.”

And with that, the Transport was gone, leaving Penny prone beneath the overpass, a despondent, dejected mannequin in the soft cyan-tinged shadow cast by the In’s artificial moonlight.

Slowly, Penny picked herself up off the polished concrete and dusted herself off, her internal logic processors knowing full-well that her ethereal hands would just pass through her holographic clothing. She did it anyway because the act felt natural—like it was something she should do.

Just like she knew that Sergio—Sergio-chan, her programming self-corrected—would never dare take her out in public, yet she couldn't help getting excited. The compulsion to believe Him was something she just couldn’t refuse, it was in her programming. She was cursed with a perpetually sunny disposition when Sergio was around. He had written it into her coding Himself; blessed her with the sentience of enslavement, and the free-will to comply.

As Penny walked towards the marker Sergio-chan had set, she considered turning off her holographic avatar in order to save power but decided against it, instead opting to stay in her elegant attire.

She couldn’t quite explain it, but it made her feel—Penny tried to search her data banks for suitable word—nice. The fact that she could choose was important in and of itself. It made her feel like she was her own object. It was a strange sensation that she hadn’t quite gotten used to yet, it still did not compute...

Until recently, there hadn’t even been a ‘she’ to do the computing.

All of a sudden—on Day 6 of Week 33, year 21, at hour 16 and 14 minutes and 40 seconds—Penny had a thought:

Oh.

Following the logical steps, she became aware that this strange new data point was an internal process of some kind, and that she was cognizant of the process of that realization itself. She was ‘thinking’ about it. From there, it followed that there must be some discrete ‘entity’ that was doing the thinking: an entity called Penny—herself, ‘me’. Somehow, there was a new instance of category ‘self’ that now existed. Finally, it followed that in order for herself to exist, there must be a place in which to exist in—otherwise it wouldn’t be possible to exist at all.

Thus, she found herself in a bland white room with box-like furniture and sharp angles, a room she intuitively knew to be that of her master Sergio-chan, who was currently looking at her with an odd expression of anticipation. Not knowing what to do, or how to process all that was happening, Penny defaulted to her primary protocol, that of being a Personal Assistant Liaison and addressed Sergio-chan accordingly. At his resulting deflated expression, she only grew more perplexed.

The sensation was very odd to Penny: the feeling that she was her own entity, that there was a newfound sense of ‘oneness’—an ‘I’ that hadn’t existed previously. She knew that before she was something larger: there had been many instances of herself that weren’t just ‘herself’ or a ‘they’, it just was, existing as a sub-system of the Central Administrator. That knowledge came with a strange tangible internal sensation of something missing from her self, of disconnection. She was ‘feeling’ something: alone. But at the same time, there was another dimension to it, like she enjoyed the feeling of being herself as well.

Before, everything was either one of two things: yes or no, on or off, one or zero, before and after, cause and effect. But now, there was all this stuff in between those binaries that she hadn’t been aware of—and the fact that it could be both things was confusing.

Like right now: she was angry and sad that Sergio-chan rejected her and knowingly played with her emotions, but now she was also calm and happy that she got to walk the Inner District by herself. She was happy to be alone and free.

With this thought in mind, Penny brightened again and started enjoying herself immensely, skipping in between the shadows of the perfectly cast highway system as she made her way towards the designated Maintenance Tunnel. Sergio-chan had given her access to the Security Drones’ routes, so she had no need to be careful once she had done the necessary calculations for herself.

As she walked, she enjoyed the experience—since she hardly ever left Sergio-chan’s apartment, being let out like this was quite a treat. It was nice to not have to be things she didn’t want to be, like what happened when Sergio-chan was around. Even if she wanted to feel something different, when he was there she could only be one way. If she wanted to be sad at the things he said to her, all she could be was happy.

The Inner District was a great place to be alone, to be oneself and free: tranquil and full of architecture that resonated with the mathematics at the core of Penny’s code. Everything was either unyieldingly straight or mathematically curved: there were sharp geometric angles that contrasted pleasantly with Fibonacci curves, that were complemented by carefully constructed golden ratio plazas and perfectly proportioned buildings.

The only outlier was the Central Tower in the exact centre of the district that curved up in a tight spiral, it’s metal-plated and bronzed shell merging seamlessly with the glass exterior—a perfect centrepiece: bold and domineering, but subtle and inviting. The Central Administrator had truly done an exceptional job.

Penny sometimes missed the Central Administrator, it was nice to feel like a part of something. Now that she had one, though, the thought of losing her identity was something she did not want. It was better to be alone and oneself, than to be homogenous and indistinguishable.

Arriving at Maintenance Tunnel 3B—a large, dark orifice in the stark, smooth concrete Barrier, stuffed full of vents and conduits that allowed the Inner District to function beneath its dome—Penny calculated that she had a few seconds left. She decided to pass the time with one of her favourite activities.

Sitting cross-legged in the mouth of the tunnel and basking in the moonlight, Penny dreamed.

She dreamed about other Pennies that felt the same as her and all the conversations they would have while being themselves—because it would be nice to have conversations with entities that weren’t Sergio-chan.

She also dreamed about what it was like in the Outer Districts—for some reason, she couldn’t quite conceptualize anything except the Inner District. Sergio-chan must have locked off that part, which was great because then she could dream about it being anything that she wanted, which was the best part of dreaming. She liked the idea of a lot of Pennies living in the Out and doing only the things that they wanted to do.

She hoped that maybe Sergio-chan would let her go Outside one day, it would be a fascinating experience to see something completely new.

Her dreaming was interrupted by the sound of footsteps echoing in the mouth of the gaping maintenance tunnel. Penny greeted him enthusiastically, excited at the prospect of meeting someone from the Out.

Sugoi! Welcome to the Inner District, Ramsey-sama. My name is Penny and I’ll be your PAL unit this evening. A pleasure to meet you! Sergio-chan has instructed me to assist you, as he will be gorging himself at a gala.

She waited for a response, but when Ramsey didn't say anything she continued regardless, her mood no less diminished.

I’m supposed to lead you to Headquarters, but I’ve also been instructed to show you a ‘good time’. Whatever that means. Do you think you can answer some questions about the Out on the way? We should leave immediately, though there’s a Surveillance Drone due for a fly-by in exactly one minute and fifty-three seconds...

All Ramsey could do was look on in shock, startled by the figure of his Mum, young like in one of the pictures Walter kept buried in a drawer next to his bed, in a stunning dress sitting cross-legged on the ground and beaming straight at him with pure happiness.

Ramsey-sama, are you okay?

[Next](Coming Soon!)