/ Chapter 7 – Tomorrowland /
Athena led Frank along the avenue toward the Tomorrowland Hotel, her mental state currently excited by the very successful recruiting of Frank that day. It was true that technically he wasn't a recruit yet, but she knew that look on her mother's face. Caroline found Frank as interesting as she did.
"Thanks for finding a way to get me here," Frank said. "Who knows? If Dr. Nix had allowed me to come, I might not have met you and I wouldn't have a friend here."
"Yes, I was unhappy with the way Dr. Nix treated you," she agreed. "He should have been more open-minded."
As Athena said this, she was intrigued by Frank's use of the word "friend," which had never been used in this context before. She realized that part of her recruitment protocol was bypassed – the revealing of herself as a machine. Of course, other humans had believed her to be human during her recruitment trips. But normally, those would be adults, and they would believe she was a little human girl. But she'd never had a human treat her not only as a peer – Frank's age was approximately the same as her body's appearance – but also as a friend.
The novelty of a human friendship with Frank was extremely appealing to her and was a unique opportunity to gain insight into human relationships. She decided to allow his belief to continue a short while longer, at least until the decision of whether he was to stay or go was decided. There was no great reason to explain her nature right away.
"What an amazing place," he said, as they passed a spherical building made completely out of glass. They could see people inside going out about their business, on different floors. Some of the windows were blacked out for privacy or shade. As Frank watched, he saw a window lighten to only half-darkened. "Have you lived here all your life?"
"Yes," she said. "I have never lived anywhere else. Have you always lived on the farm with your father?"
"Yeah," he said, making a face like he sucked on a lemon. "But I really hate farming. Some parts are okay, like being able to drive a truck on the farm. But I really wanted to make things. It was hard with only the farm tools out in the barn and what parts I could scavenge."
"It's remarkable that you did as well as you did," she said. "I wouldn't have thought it possible to make things that clever with so few resources."
He smiled shyly. "Thanks. It's nice to be around people who appreciate it. Even the kids around Pittsfield didn't care that much, not that I really had friends who came over to see my projects. Everyone thought I was the weird kid. I didn't really relate to anyone there, especially at school. And my dad – well, sometime I'll tell you about him."
Athena understood his feelings, having much experience with people similar to Frank on her recruiting trips. "It's frustrating to have ideas and goals, but not be around people with similar ideals," she said. "Some feel as though they're the only ones who care about making the world better."
Frank looked over at Athena like she was a revelation. "Exactly! That's exactly what I think!" He stopped and faced her. "I want to make the world better. I know I can. Things can get better through science and technology. Look at all the things science has done like antibiotics and vaccines and travel and communication. Some things haven't been so great, like nuclear bombs, but that's why we can't give up. If we keep moving forward, we can make things better for everyone. Even farming – we produce so much more food than we used to. If we keep on going, we'll feed the world and eliminate hunger. There's so much we can do!"
Athena could not be more impressed by Frank's speech. He fit her recruitment profile perfectly.
He suddenly grinned. "Sorry, I get worked up sometimes."
She smiled back. "Don't apologize for being passionate about making the world better."
"Okay," he said, laughing. "I'm just not used to being around someone who cares about this."
They continued walking, Frank asking about various buildings and particularly the skyway tube system that ran through the city. Athena gave him the gist of how it worked.
"Can we ride it?" he asked.
"It's not required to get to the hotel," she replied.
"I mean, just for fun?" he said.
"For fun?" Athena asked, looking puzzled.
"Well, err, yeah," Frank said, a little confused and looking at Athena oddly. "I mean, it would be fun to ride, but I don't want you to get in trouble if it's a problem…"
Athena considered this. She was finding Frank's enthusiasm very interesting; she normally didn't go anywhere other than specific places where she had some sort of business. The idea of going somewhere 'for fun' without any sort of purpose was very novel. Visiting places without a purpose required original ideas – one of her limitations. She was told to escort Frank to the hotel – but then, she didn't have any specific direction not to go anywhere else. This would only be a minor bending of her mother's instructions.
But her empathy interface indicated that Frank found her response odd, which meant he might start becoming suspicious of her nature. The novelty of his ideas were very appealing and she didn't want to give away yet that she wasn't human. Athena decided to redirect him from his confusion, and monitor his reactions more closely going forward.
She smiled very warmly in a way that normally distracted humans, and his confusion vanished, replaced by a smile in return.
"I suppose we could," she said. "Where do you want to go?"
Frank thought for a second. "There's so much it's hard to decide. Wait! I remember seeing a rocket launched into the air… I can't believe I forgot," he said, slapping himself on the head. "Is there, um, a 'space port' or something?"
"Certainly," she answered. "I don't know if there'll be a launch today, but we could visit the port. It's at the northwest part of the city."
He shook his head. "You say that so casually. 'Yeah, it's just a port with rocket launches. No big deal.'" He laughed. "I love this place."
They turned down a walkway between several buildings. "There's a tube station down this way," she said. Shortly they reached the station, which was an interesting building with a wide area at the bottom containing some shops, but the walls on either side sloped up in a gentle curve to the top, almost like a miniature Eiffel Tower. About forty feet up was a platform, where people were waiting for the transport. Between the walls was a circular glass elevator shaft running through the center and two spiral staircases wound around the center, with the steps of each on opposite sides.
He looked up at the building, craning his neck upward. "This station is so cool! That looks like a DNA double helix!"
There was a small food stand among the shops, and Athena saw Frank eyeing it.
"Are you hungry?" she asked. "I could get you something; I have a Tomorrowland payment account."
"Honestly, I'm starving," he said. "I haven't eaten since early this morning when I left."
He ended up getting a hot dog and took a rapturous bite. He grinned. "It's nice that there's something familiar about this place, though this is a great hot dog. Even the hot dogs taste like the future!"
Frank realized he'd been running on excitement, but the smell of food had awakened rumbling in his stomach. Now with that taken care of, he was feeling a lot more energized.
They decided to take the stairs and Frank asked Athena to go up the other side of the helix, which he thought was cool how they wound up together but didn't meet until the top. They emerged onto the tube platform (on the way up, he noticed the steps were engraved with letters and numbers in a sequence he didn't understand: 5', T, A, T, A, A, A, 3'), which was open and surrounded with a safety railing. He walked the perimeter of the platform, asking questions about various buildings off in the distance that he saw. Frank couldn't help looking everywhere, trying to take it all in at once. He was practically bouncing on his heels, excited to ride the transport and see the space port. Space port, he thought, tasting the words in his mind. He was almost tempted to believe that Athena was pulling his leg, but she was so matter-of-fact about it.
"The transport is approaching the station. Arrival in thirty seconds," a mechanical voice said. Sure enough, a large, transparent shuttle car smoothly moved into the station and then doors opened. Frank could see that as the car came in, an automatic washing system cleaned the glass and instantly dried it, explaining why it was so shiny.
They entered the transport and found some seats near the front where Frank could get a good view, and the transport pulled out of the station. As they moved through the city, Frank felt almost overwhelmed with wonders, seeing gleaming towers among large green parks. He was impressed that the city seemed to put a priority on mixing human existence side-by-side with natural environments, so the city didn't seem overly sterile. In fact, he even saw some parks suspended among many tall buildings, providing a multi-level experience, where people could walk around in sunshine, but underneath he could see ground transportation. That seems like an efficient use of space, he thought. Keep the roads on the ground, but have open spaces where people could walk.
Another fascinating thing he noticed was that much of the city was under construction, similar to what he saw when he came with his jetpack, though he wasn't able to appreciate it too much at the time, considering he was trying his best not to die. In fact, something looked very familiar.
"Hey, is that the platform we came in on?" Frank asked.
Athena looked over. "Yes. Where we came in from the fair is near the space port. Normally with recruits, there would be someone to meet you. Of course, in your case, it was somewhat out of protocol."
Frank laughed. "Yeah. I hope you don't get in too much trouble, though I'm glad you did."
Athena smiled. "Don't worry about that."
"That reminds me; I didn't even tell you! When I got here, some kind of construction robot knocked me over and that's what broke the jetpack. Then after it was fixed, I fell off the platform and only managed to get my jetpack on before I splatted the ground. It was really scary."
"That does sound frightening," Athena said sympathetically. "And I'm sorry it happened. But just so you know, there was no actual risk to you. Below construction areas like this, there are safety catchers that automatically track anything falling and intercept it in the air. They would have flown out, caught you, and placed you on the ground."
"What!?" Frank said incredulously. "I wish I'd known that."
Athena nodded. "Oh, yes. Tomorrowland takes worker safety extremely seriously. And it's not just for people falling, it also catches things like tools falling, which can injure people on the ground."
Frank grinned. "Ah well, and here I thought I would impress you with my near-death experience."
"Oh, I was very impressed anyway," Athena said, with a serious expression. "Flying in with your jetpack and landing near Dr. Nix was very exciting, though I was concerned at one point that you would fly onto Dr. Nix, rather than land near him."
Frank looked closely at Athena's straight face, wondering if she was teasing him. He waited for a punchline or a snicker, but she just went on.
"Though, in the case of your landing, I was worried you would be injured. Your jetpack's control seemed much better, but it appeared as though you needed more practice. Fortunately, you managed to land without crashing."
Frank laughed. Athena's deadpan serious expression while delivering all this was very funny, particularly with her somewhat formal vocabulary and English accent. He decided that it was just Athena's odd sense of humor.
"Yeah, I have to admit I was a little scared there, too. I managed to stick the landing, though. And the judges award a 10!" He finished in an announcer voice.
Athena looked closely at his face, appearing confused for a split second. "The Olympics don't have a jetpack event."
Frank grinned again at more of Athena's dry delivery. "You're right, but maybe they should. I'd be a shoo-in for a gold medal."
"I suspect you'd be the only participant," Athena said.
"Well, maybe they'd give me all three medals, then."
"I don't believe the Olympic rules allow that."
"Aww, spoilsport," Frank said in mock sadness.
Athena again oddly looked closely at his face, before responding. "I'm sorry, I didn't intend to make you sa– you're being silly."
Frank smiled, but felt puzzled, wondering if she really thought he was sad about it at first, or if that was just her odd sense of humor again. Athena was a little stra–
Athena took a step closer to him, touched his shoulder and gestured toward part of the city, pointing along his line of sight. "There's the space port, we're almost there!" she said in an excited voice.
Frank tried to focus on the space port, but found himself extremely distracted by Athena touching his shoulder and standing close to him. However, the space port won out. It looked like everything he could imagine a space port looking like and more. He could see a large terminal, with an outdoor viewing deck overlooking the launch area. Off to the side, he could see rockets in various holding bays, presumably being prepared for eventual launch.
He felt themselves starting to slow. A mechanical voice announced, "The transport will enter the station in 30 seconds. Exit here for the Goddard Space Port, the Wright Flight Deck, the Tsiolkovsky Research Facility and the Section 36 Construction Zone."
They came to a smooth stop, and the doors to the transport slid open. Frank and Athena exited the car, stepping onto a platform next to a wide boulevard. A number of pedestrians were walking along, generally dressed in strange brightly colored jumpsuit-style clothes. Apparently jumpsuits are in style around here, Frank thought. He raised an eyebrow at some of the colors. It was a far cry from the conservative dress he was used to. He couldn't imagine their location was in the United States. He'd heard of countries where they dressed in brighter colors; maybe they were in some remote country somewhere?
But Frank felt there were bigger fish to fry than clothing styles, as he saw the space port at the end of the road. "Where do the rockets fly to?" he asked.
Athena considered his question. "To be honest, I'm not certain if I'm supposed to talk about that. But I think 'exploration' would safe to say. Research and the pursuit of knowledge is a primary goal here."
"That's okay," he said. "I don't want you to get in trouble."
"Don't worry about that," she said. "I'll tell you what I can. Unfortunately, much of it will have to wait until you're here permanently."
"If I'm here permanently," he said glumly. The more he saw of this place, the more he burned to stay.
They reached the port, which had a number of gardens surrounding the terminal, with a walkway between them. Over the walkway was a sign that said "Welcome to Goddard Space Port. Your Passage to New Frontiers!" Frank felt that he was already standing on more than enough of a new frontier to make his brain explode, the idea of new-new frontiers was sheer overload.
They entered the walkway, slightly inclining as they approached the terminal. Frank noted that the gardens had very unusual plants, ones that he'd never seen before. Either they'd been imported from other places, or he was definitely in some other country. There was one very cool flowered plant that caught his eye, which looked like some sort of Christmas tree, where the flowers hung down like ornaments.
Finally reaching the terminal, some automatic doors slid open and they entered the building. Frank noted that there were not too many people there. He could see a few people on their way to here or there, but it wasn't like a bus terminal with large numbers of people.
"Doesn't seem to be too much happening today," Frank commented.
"Yes," Athena said, nodding. "I don't believe there will be a launch the rest of the day. Though, honestly, this terminal is built more for the future than the present. Most of the launches are for research people at this time, but they consider it a crucial step to allow everyday people to visit space. The Tomorrowland Planning Council doesn't want space travel to seem intended only for special people."
He nodded. "Yeah, sometimes it seems like that in the NASA space program. Of course, they're going to pick the best people since they're still figuring things out, but honestly it would be more inspiring to see normal people going than just these amazing people they've sent so far."
"Similar to seeing a boy flying overhead in a jetpack," she said, smiling.
He smiled back. "Exactly! Reading about these engineers testing jetpacks was cool and all, but I wanted my own jetpack."
The kept walking, reaching a door that exited out to the viewing platform. "Can we walk outside?" Frank asked. "I'd love to see if we can get a closer look."
"Of course," Athena said. "Do you like the spaceport?"
He shook his head in disbelief. "It so amazing I don't even know what to think about it, if that makes any sense. I mean, I thought maybe I'd visit a spaceport sometime in the future, but the idea that it was just already here… I'm afraid I'm going to wake up any second from a dream."
"You can be assured that many people here say similar things when they arrive."
"Yeah, and maybe that's the weirdest thing. That maybe there really are more people like me, who think like me," he said. "After living in Pittsfield, well, let's just say it wasn't a hotbed of Futurology."
"What was Pittsfield like? That's your home town?" she asked.
Frank wrinkled his nose, like a bad smell. "It's a farming community," he said, then felt guilty. "Oh, I shouldn't say it like that. It's just that I want to leave so much, but really, there are some great people there. If you need help, your neighbors will do just about anything for you. They have festivals that are a lot of fun. My dad and mom were born there, too. It really is a great place, if you want the small-town, farming life. But I just want other things."
"In many ways, Tomorrowland is a small town," Athena observed. "The population is still relatively small. We also maintain values of helping each other, and we even have festivals. We try and preserve the advantages of cities and towns, maintaining a focus on personal relationships, beauty and culture. Our focus is just a bit different."
He grinned. "If you sell me on this place any more, I'm going to wrap myself around Dr. Nix's leg and not let go until they let me stay."
Athena smiled, though looked puzzled. "That's a very odd image," she said. "Of the people you could pick to attach yourself, I suspect Dr. Nix would be among the most displeased people possible."
Frank laughed. He was starting to enjoy Athena's quirky sense of humor.
Athena felt very excited. Processing units in her mind branched off in myriads of directions, analyzing all the new experiences generated by exploring the spaceport with Frank. Just the idea of undirected movement was novel enough, but Frank's observations of what he saw and his interpretations were very interesting. She'd had to do considerable amounts of thinking and improvisation for her responses to his remarks, which were nearly constantly challenging and engaging. She very rarely got the amount of stimulation she was receiving today from anyone but her mother, who effectively treated her as human, but even she didn't generate the sheer volume of human-style interaction.
It was also interesting walking among the citizens of Tomorrowland, the vast majority of whom had no idea who she was or that she was a machine. She was considered a secret outside of Tomorrowland, and somewhat of an open secret inside it. She and her nature weren't particularly hidden, but since she rarely ventured beyond her normal business, the only people who actually interacted with her were people associated with recruiting. Most citizens in Tomorrowland went about their business and only knew that new people were brought in periodically, but as with most government functions, few were aware of the details. It was quite stimulating on many levels being out and about, just experiencing the day-to-day interactions that humans did, with Frank driving forward the motivation and direction for aimless wandering.
"Are you and Caroline related?" he asked. "I noticed that you and she have the same color eyes and speak with the same accent."
Athena thought about what to say. She wasn't supposed to talk about Caroline in terms of being her "mother" with others in Tomorrowland, but since Frank wasn't technically a Tomorrowland citizen yet and being treated as a human was extremely novel, she decided to bend the rules once again. She also didn't want to lie to Frank, whom she liked very much and her morality interface strongly discouraged lying to people – particularly ones she liked. But it wasn't technically lying. If it was good enough for Caroline to use the term "mother" metaphorically, then it was good enough for her.
"Yes, she's my mother," she said.
"Oh!" he said. "I mean, it's not that surprising, but it's funny that it didn't come up. What does your father do?"
This was getting into uncomfortable territory. But many humans didn't have fathers in the picture; she just needed to phrase it just right to avoid lying. "I never knew a father," she said. "It's always been my mother and me."
"I'm sorry," he said. "Your mother seems like a great person."
"She is," Athena agreed. "I'm hopeful that when she considers your status, she will find a way to let you stay. Is that what you want?"
"Yes, more than anything," Frank said fervently.
"I'll do what I can to help," she said. "I very much want you to stay." Athena noticed that Frank flushed slightly at that, which she didn't quite understand.
They continued down the viewing platform, watching various technicians working on rockets in storage bays. A worker walked by wearing a close-fitting machine that ran along his limbs. He was carry a very large tank, which looked extremely heavy.
"Whoa – is that some kind of robotic – suit? Or something?" Frank asked, wide-eyed.
She peered over. "Oh yes, dock workers often use exoskeletal units that augment their strength," Athena answered. "In fact, Tomorrowland commonly uses machine augmentation to help people be more productive, as well as reduce injury. It's also used with people who have physical limitations."
"Wow," he said, grinning. "I want to try one of those sometime."
As they kept walking, Frank fell silent, just looking at the countless actions around the spaceport. He finally wandered over to a railing and leaned against it, looking over the edge. He seemed lost in thought, watching vehicles moving to and fro, going about the business of Tomorrowland. A flying cargo vehicle went by, as he tracked it with his head.
"Who are these people?" he asked idly.
Athena looked over the railing, but she couldn't identify anyone she knew. "I'm sorry, I don't know them."
"I mean, why do these people get to work here? Why are they special?" he asked.
"Not all of them are 'special,' in the way I think you mean. Not special like you," she said. "They don't invent things, or do research, or create art, or other creative pursuits like that. They're here because they're optimists and dreamers. Laborers can contribute to a better world – in fact, they're crucial."
Frank turned to her and smiled. "Are you a dreamer?"
Athena smiled in return. This question was easy. Her entire function was dedicated to fulfilling the dreams of the founders of Plus Ultra, and their goals were her goals. "I do nothing else, except work toward dreams."
After another hour of knocking around the spaceport, Frank left with Athena, entering an avenue that held the station that brought them. He could hardly believe that he'd seen an actual spaceport that could have come right off the cover of Amazing Stories. Except the real spaceport was even more amazing, if only because it actually existed with all the tiny details that went into a real place with real machines.
He felt giddy and not even remotely ready to head back to his hotel, as cool as that would undoubtedly turn out to be. He didn't know how long he would be here, and he wanted to see as much as possible before he was possibly kicked back to the boring "real" world.
"Can we walk a little bit and catch a different station to the hotel? It would be fun to explore what's along here," he said. "It's hard to see everything when we're whizzing by."
"All right," she said, smiling. "That's less efficient, but I've enjoyed exploring with you."
"I'm surprised you haven't walked this entire place, it's so amazing," he said.
Athena paused before answering. "I'm often busy with work," she said.
"I guess you're busy with school, huh?" he asked. "What's school like?"
"School is very interesting here," she answered. "I believe it's much different than how it works in your town. If you stay, you'll find out."
"Would I go to the same school as you?" Frank asked.
Athena paused slightly before answering. "No, my mother educates me," she said. "It's a special curriculum."
"Really? I know there are farming communities way out in the sticks that sometimes teach their kids at home," he said. "It's surprising your mom would do it here. I would imagine she's pretty busy since she runs a lab."
She didn't answer, but gestured toward several buildings. "This is an industrial area with many manufacturing plants. Much of Tomorrowland's maintenance and ongoing construction is organized from here."
Frank looked around. In keeping with apparent Tomorrowland tradition, it was kept much cleaner than the manufacturing towns he'd seen near Pittsfield. "How do they keep this place so clean?"
"One of the beliefs of the founders was that aesthetics and beauty matter for people's optimism and outlook," Athena answered. "A high priority is placed on maintaining that. Much of the cleaning is automated, though human involvement is necessary."
He nodded, intrigued by this idea. "That makes a lot of sense. I know that when I see some of the poor areas around Pittsfield, it just seems so… depressing. Like, how can someone feel good about the future when their present is so dirty and run down? I wonder how much progress could be made by just… keeping things clean and maintained."
"That's the idea," she said approvingly. "You're very perceptive."
Frank warmed at the compliment. "Thanks. There is so much about this place that just makes sense. I feel like if I'd had the resources of a place like this, I could actually accomplish something. I mean, something important. Sometimes it's frustrating, like with my jetpack. It was so close to working, but I just didn't have the knowledge or the right tools or even anyone I could ask questions."
Athena nodded. "That is one of the advantages here. We all work together and there is always someone with specialized knowledge that loves to share what they know. That's one of the attributes that we look for; it's not just about being knowledgeable, it's about wanting to use and share that knowledge to make things better."
"It sounds like Utopia," he said wistfully.
"I should say, it's not perfect," she said. "This place still has human beings, with all the flaws of human beings. There is still fighting, envy, politics and all other things. My mother often complains to me about it, so I have direct knowledge of this. At their core, people want things to get better and are optimistic that it's possible. But there is often disagreement about precisely how to get there."
Frank laughed. "Yeah, that makes sense. Probably too much to ask that human beings always cooperate and behave rationally."
"Indeed," she answered, nodding vigorously, with a very serious expression.
Frank laughed again. Athena was funny sometimes.
They kept walking, now coming out of the industrial area and reaching some open space. Off in the distance, Frank could see a wall that surrounded the city.
"Why does the city have a wall?" he asked.
"It's mostly to keep out the wildlife that lives around the city," she explained. "But there are gates that allow access to the forest and other natural areas outside."
As they kept walking toward the wall, Frank could see off in the distance a very old-looking brick building built against the wall.
"What's that old building?" he asked. "It seems weird to see bricks."
"I haven't seen that on a map before," she said curiously. "There are some other buildings like that. They mostly date back to the founding of Tomorrowland, when some buildings were constructed out of native clay and fired brick, just because large scale construction was difficult at that time. But I'm not familiar with that one."
"Wow, cool, a 'mystery building,'" Frank said, grinning. "Can we go check it out?"
"To tell you the truth, we should probably go back," Athena said. "It's getting late and my mother will be concerned if we're too much longer."
"Aww," he said with mock disappointment. "Can we go another day?"
She paused and thought about this. "I would very much like to do more exploring with you. I hope you'll be able to stay."
Frank had temporarily forgotten that he may not have other opportunities to explore. "Yeah," he said a little sadly, but perked up. "But even if I end up having to go back, thanks for showing me around."
"You're welcome," she said, smiling. "And thank you for inspiring me to explore with you."
He laughed, a little confused at her odd phrasing. "Sure. I guess I haven't explored every inch of where I live, either. This place is probably normal to you. But I really hope we can do it again."
"I hope so, too," Athena replied.
They started walking back, soon reaching a station near the edge of the industrial area. It was a short trip to the Tomorrowland Hotel. Frank looked around trying to drink in as much as possible, since he didn't know if this would be the last time he'd see anything. The hotel had its own station, which was convenient, though Frank almost wished it was a long way away so that he could possibly see more (and walk more with Athena, he had to admit).
They walked out of the transport into a loading area, with stairs that led down to the main lobby. The hotel was nicely decorated, with a number of portraits along the wall. Frank recognized a few of the pictures that were of scientists, artists, musicians and businessman, which made him wonder if there was a connection.
Heading down the stairs, he saw wall murals of various famous places around the world, such as the Eiffel Tower, the Taj Mahal, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Egyptian Pyramids and other famous landmarks, as well as more cultural murals, such as what looked like aboriginal art.
"I like the murals," he commented to Athena. "They're really well done."
"It's meant to respect the international nature of Tomorrowland," Athena replied. "It represents that optimism and progress can come from people anywhere."
"That's really cool," Frank said, trying to take it in as Athena led him to a kiosk mounted in a wall, with what looked like to Frank like a TV screen and typewriter keyboard. As they approached, the TV screen lit up with a lady standing in what looked like an old western hotel reception desk.
"Good afternoon. Do you have a reservation?" said the receptionist lady, smiling.
Frank looked at Athena questioningly, then he shrugged. "Um, I guess so… I'm Frank Walker?"
"Yes, Mr. Walker," the receptionist on the screen said, her hands moving as if she was writing something. "Your room is ready for you. Please take the slip of paper now printing, which has your room number and directions."
A slip of paper was rolling out of a slot. Frank pulled it out.
"Do I need a key or something?" Frank asked.
"Your face-print has been recorded and will be recognized by your door," the receptionist explained. "If you're concerned about privacy, an image of your face is not kept, only a small set of facial measurements that can confirm your identity, but not reconstruct your image. This information is purged upon checkout."
Frank wasn't concerned about that, but it was interesting nonetheless. "I'm just curious, but where are you actually located?"
"I'm a video-animatronic, a computer with no physical existence," she said. "But the engineers will appreciate that I was convincing. May I pass that along?"
"Sure," Frank said, blinking in surprise. She was convincing, no doubt about it.
"Thank you, sir," she said, smiling. "You have an account tied to your face-print that may be used in our restaurant, located on the 15th floor of the hotel. You may also order room service or personal items from our shop."
"Okay," Frank said. It all sounded simple so far.
"Can I help you with anything else?"
"No, I guess that's it. Thanks."
"Thank you, sir, and have a very pleasant stay at the Tomorrowland Hotel," she finished.
"That was pretty cool," Frank said to Athena. "Can you stay for a bit? Do you want to check out the room?"
"All right," said Athena, as they walked away from the kiosk.
Frank looked at his slip of paper, which read, 'Room 1236. Take the main elevator to the 12th floor, turn right, down the hall, turn left, fifth door on your right.' Looking around, he saw the elevators down the lobby. Nice that they gave specific directions, he thought.
They walked down the lobby and stood in front of the elevator. Frank was actually a little disappointed that it seemed like a normal elevator, but then he saw three odd little alcoves that were each labeled "Single Express Elevator."
"What's that?" he asked Athena.
"Oh, those are if you're just a single person without any luggage," Athena said. "They're much faster and more efficient. There's rarely any waiting and it goes straight to your floor."
"What?" Frank asked in disbelief. "How can that work? You don't have to wait? And it doesn't pick up anyone else?"
"Shall I show you?" Athena said smiling. "I could explain it, but it's apparent how it works if you watch me do it, and then do it yourself."
"Okay," Frank said, still half-wondering if Athena was pulling his leg, though he supposed he should be more open to crazy things by now.
Athena stepped into the alcove, which lit up brightly. She waved at Frank and said, "12th floor!"
She started smoothly moving to the right and Frank saw that she was in some sort of tubular pod. As she slid out of site, another pod smoothly moved into place, and Frank heard a muffled woosh! sound from behind the wall.
Frank grinned and stepped into the new pod, and also said, "12th floor!" The pod started sliding over. When it had reached a certain point, it started smoothly accelerating upward, then almost immediately started decelerating, coming to a stop after about five seconds of travel. It started sliding over and there was Athena waiting for him.
"Wow!" Frank said. "But what happens if someone's already there or someone is coming up while someone else is going down?"
"I haven't studied the mechanism in detail," Athena said, "but I believe there are multiple tracks for the pods, and it's possible you may have to wait if there's a queue of pods waiting to unload. It may also suggest a different floor if things get backed up, or you can request a location that's not busy. It's quite intelligent. In practice, however, the pods move people around quickly enough that waiting is fairly rare in my experience. Some of our larger buildings have even more sophisticated systems where pods can move horizontally as well. The biggest advantage of the pod system is that a large majority of the time, elevators only move one or two riders. But large elevator shafts are very wasteful of building space and are usually only necessary for moving large objects. The pods are much more efficient of space. I believe some busy buildings have experimented with two-person pods as well."
While Frank was very impressed with the elevator pods, Athena herself impressed him with her knowledge of the Tomorrowland machinery.
"You sure know a lot about how all this works," Frank said. "Does everyone in Tomorrowland just know this stuff?"
"No," Athena said. "I'd say I'm just generally curious about machines."
Frank grinned. He was starting to like Athena a lot. "Well, feel free to fill me in on anything I don't notice right off."
"All right, I shall," Athena said with a smile.
They walked down the hall toward Frank's room, finally finding a door with 1236 on it. There was a button near the side, so Frank pressed it.
"Welcome to your room, Mr. Walker," the door said in what sounded like an English butler voice, then the door slid up into the top frame. "If you wish to change my voice, please see the options on your T-Net terminal."
The room was small, but cozily furnished with a couch, a desk with some sort of very thin TV with typewriter console (Frank vowed to play with that) and small kitchenette with some cabinets. He could see a bathroom with a shower through another door.
"Where's the bed?" Frank asked.
"Oh, generally in Tomorrowland we use fold-out bed units for space efficiency," Athena said. She walked over and pressed a button with a small picture of a bed on it. A section of wall smoothly came down, legs folding out at the end. It looked like a fairly typical bed with blankets and pillow.
"Neat," Frank said.
"Let me show you the TomorrowNet terminal, also called T-Net," Athena said. "From there you can order room service, toiletries, or many other things. Of course you can go up to the restaurant if you wish."
Frank slapped himself in the head. "I just remembered that all of my clothes, toothbrush, and everything is in my dufflebag that got left on that platform somewhere."
"No matter," Athena said. "We can order all that from there. I'll demonstrate."
Athena sat at the desk and pressed a button on the typewriter keyboard. The TV screen powered on and Frank could see what looked like a menu of functions or something. She touched a spot on the screen marked "Shopping," which brought up a picture of a store with various items.
"Wow, I can order any of that stuff?" Frank asked.
"Yes, let's get you what you need."
Athena navigated through the store choosing a toothbrush, toothpaste and Frank helped her select some pajamas. She then clicked on a "check out" button.
"That's all there is to it," she said.
"Do I have to go pick it up or anything?" Frank asked.
Just then, a bell rang on a wall near the kitchenette. A small door in the wall slid up, which looked like a wall picture, but was apparently just been for decoration to hide the door. Athena walked over and pulled out the items they had ordered.
"You mean… it just appears here? Just like that?" Frank asked in awe.
"Yes," Athena said with a smile. "If you order room service, it will also appear in there. You can send things from here down to the main desk or even other rooms as well. These items came from automated inventory; food preparation would take a bit longer."
"I hate to keep saying 'wow,' but… wow."
"In fact, this hotel is hooked into the Tomorrowland-wide delivery network named TomorrowPost, or often called T-Post for short."
"I'm afraid to ask what that is," Frank said.
"Oh, don't be afraid," Athena said. "It's similar to this mechanism, but it covers all of Tomorrowland."
"You mean you can send things house to house? Or from businesses?"
"Yes, it's similar to mail delivery in your experience, but TomorrowPost is automated, fast, and much more general, such as food delivery, businesses or public services. Sometimes when my mother doesn't feel like cooking, she'll get food delivered to our apartment from restaurants. In its way, it's similar to the elevator pod mechanism, except enclosed boxes are moved around."
Athena walked back to the T-Net terminal. "Now let me show you how to make a call on the videophone, in case you need to reach my mum, Caroline."
"You can touch the screen or even use the keyboard," Athena said, "It's fairly simply, but when in doubt, you can do a lot by just speaking. You can't do everything, but it's fairly smart. Watch: 'Call Caroline Chaumers.'"
Frank heard a repeating beep sound, then the face of Caroline popped up on the screen.
"Hello," Athena said.
"Athena! I was wondering where you'd been," Caroline said, a bit disapprovingly.
"Frank and I just explored a little bit, and now I'm showing him how to make calls. I shall return shortly," Athena said.
"All right," Caroline said, her smile returning. "Hi, Frank!" She waving at Frank, who moved closer in fascination.
"Hi," he said, feeling a little shy and overwhelmed at everything. "I'd heard of experiments with videophones, but I had no idea anyone was using them."
Caroline smiled. "I'm sure you've seen a lot of things most people have no idea about – unfortunately," she said, seemingly more amused than actually concerned, for which Frank was grateful.
"Anyroad," Caroline said. "Athena, you should let Frank get settled and have some dinner. I'll see you soon."
"All right," Athena said. They said their good byes and terminated the call.
"Too bad you have to go," Frank said. "I would have asked if you wanted to get some dinner with me."
"Perhaps some other time," Athena said, smiling.
"Well, let's hope that we'll have another time," Frank said glumly.
"I don't want to get your hopes up," Athena said. "But the fact that my mum is not overly worried about you seeing things is a good sign. It may still happen that she'll be forced to send you home, but I know her well, and I believe she's at least sympathetic to you staying."
"Well, thanks again for everything," Frank said sincerely.
"You're very welcome," Athena said. "Call if you need anything. And either my mother or I will call you tomorrow morning."
Author's Note: If you have a second, put up a review! They're very much appreciated. :)
The official story site is at www. frankandathena .com for discussions of the story! - T.K.