Platypus

Chapter Ten

"Maybe... Oregon?"

Albert folded his arms. One of his bedroom walls was covered in a world map. There were tacks here and there. He picked up an old farmer's almanac and quickly flipped through it. "... Maybe Oregon," he repeated.

The marked cities were scattered across the world. They were all technically one nation, but they were also like massive embassies. But citizens in the system had no idea how many cities there were, where they laid, and communications were cut between them.

Researching such topics was against the law. Albert didn't care. It was a pastime of his that he had shared with his brothers. They had modified smart phones from the outer world in order to keep in contact with each other.

From what they could guess, the inner city they had been born in was located in Northern California. His older brother had been sent out east, they think to South Dakota, and his younger brother had recently been sent to Europe. They were still trying to figure out where.

Fenton popped his head in the door. "You're study group got canceled?"

Albert didn't turn around. "Christopher Macdonnell died yesterday. His partner reported that her mark had gone black."

Fenton paused by the door. "Sorry. I hadn't gotten the chance to check the newsfeed... Did you know him?"

"Never met him myself, but his partner was sleeping with someone from my study group," replied Albert disdainfully. "She's getting reassigned to a colony. We canceled today's meeting so that Nick has a chance to say goodbye."

The news struck Fenton like a punch to the gut. "... A colony, huh?"

"Nick said that she's hoping she won't be assigned a random husband if she shows up pregnant," said Albert as he sarcastically crossed his fingers.

"That's all they care about? Someone's dead," muttered Fenton.

Albert turned around. "Exactly. They don't care that Chris is dead. She probably deserves whatever happens to her." He frowned when Fenton began to squirm about uncomfortably. "Did something happen today?"

"I decided to change my degree to architecture," replied Fenton.

The news surprised Albert. "That's great. Honestly, you switched to engineering without putting a lot of thought into it. I was worried you'd end up frustrated."

"One of my professors is going to tutor me in math," muttered Fenton. "His class is interesting, but it only lasts for a semester. Today, he showed us a program that replicates our movements around the city, and the city uses that to plan the trolley schedule."

Albert walked across the room so that he could hear Fenton. He adored Fenton, he did, but he had a bad habit of talking in a low voice. "Do they track our phone locations?"

"No. The city has copies of our work and school schedules," said Fenton. That made sense to Albert. It would be simpler to process that information. "Plus, tracking our phones wouldn't work. They lose signal whenever a trolley passes. That would defeat the purpose."

Albert's mouth drew into a thin line. "It would defeat the purpose." He slowly nodded his head with a blank expression on his face. "Do you want to get dinner together?"

"We still have leftovers from all the food Rafi gave us yesterday," replied Fenton. "I was going to eat a small bit of that while sorting out the final details of changing my degree."

"Right," muttered Albert. "There's a lot I have to work on too. I'll put on some music. Jazz okay?"

Fenton nodded and went over to his room. They had speakers set up in both their bedrooms and the main space, making it easy for Albert to set up music for the whole apartment. Albert could hear Fenton dancing to himself in the kitchen.