Janine and I were taking a stroll towards the markets Sophia mentioned this morning. It did not take long to figure how how to undo Janine’s invisibility, so it was evident to everyone who walked past how deep in thought she was.

I have convinced her to not wear her helmet for today as she was going to be with me and by the implication of being with a man, would be safe. We were a few miles into our walk when she finally spoke after thinking over what Kathrine suggested to me.

“So let me get this straight, you want be to join your family as a servant so I can get documentation?” She asked calmly, simply collecting information. “Servant in name only, you know I don’t give a shit about all the bells and whistles of nobility, I just want to ensure your extended safety whenever I am away.” I replied

Janine thought a gain for a moment before she asked. “If I was to say yes, would you be expecting anything of me?” I let out a soft chuckle at her hidden meaning. “Only if you want to hot stuff.” I said and winked to her, causing a frown to form on her face.

“On a more serious note, the documentation would be forged and you would technically be a ‘reward’ from my services on Alexandria, you would be gifted to the house name probably to function as a maid if it was real, but since it isn’t you will just be working for Sophia like you will be doing soon.”

Janine became silent once more as we continued our walk, It was a wonderful day with very little cloud so I was more than happy to walk in silence. As I was walking, I took in my surroundings. The southern hemisphere was a stark contrast to the north.

While you were walking you could see impressive, bustling skyscrapers and right next to them another skyscraper that was in disrepair that had become home to small gangs and homeless and could fall down at any minute.

Another stark contrast was the people. In the north, everyone was some manner of somebody. Even simple cleaners and janitors were picked because they were simply the best of the best and were given more than fair wages because of it.

In the south however, I have seen so much contrast. I have seen people dressed like me, casual yet still wearing well made clothes. I have seen very apparent noble wear among some people in the passing vehicles. I have seen people wearing rags walking alongside people wearing just the most standard of standard clothes.

I have seen people very clearly on drugs just sitting in alleys or the pavement and what I have seen the most of is metal augmentations.

Almost one in every five people I have seen have had some form of metal implant. And that is only the ones that are visual, even those four other that I had seen could have an augmentation not visible to me.

I thought back to a conversation I had with Ronnie a while ago as I began speculating why the augmentations were so popular. My thoughts immediately went to strength and deterrence.

As I passed by another alley with a man and a woman huddled next to each other wearing tattered clothing, I noticed even this homeless woman had a metal leg and the lower part of the leg had been turned into a thin sword type shape. Without that leg, she seemed like an easy victim, but the threat the leg now provided proved otherwise.

As we neared closer to the market, as it was just on our horizon, another thought popped into my head. The story of Ares and his Phobos and Deimos warriors. They too started out as augmentation enjoyers, but when Ares had a change of heart and went full robot, Spartari held no love for him and entered into a civil war.

As I looked around at the many cybernetics and implants, I thought that perhaps Spartari has become more lax and the possibility of history repeating itself could indeed happen.

From what I have heard in my day to day and from Ronnie, A lot of Techno mechanics undergo a great deal of augmentations, they even change their insides sometimes so they no longer require food and use other means for sustenance. At this point, most techno mechanics are ‘cyborgs’ so you have to consider where does the line between cyborg and robot start/end.

As we made it to the market, Janine suddenly realised I had been awfully quiet while she was in her thoughts. “Apollo are you ok?” She asked. Leaving my thoughts I turned to her and said. “Yes I am fine, why do you ask?”

“Oh, no reason. I thought you might be mad at me for taking so long to answer.” Janine said and looked ahead. I smiled and took Janine’s hand into my own. “Nah, I am not mad. It is a complex decision for you I understand, look we have two days until I need an answer so take your time ok?”

Janine smiled in relief, she had been thinking the entire walk and she was no closer to an answer. She felt like she was about to start thinking about it all over again, so she decided to ask Apollo something to get her mind focused on something else.

“So Apollo, what are we getting from the market? Also, you should have definitely brought a gun, so many people are staring at us when they think I am not looking.” Janine said as she felt the hidden gun under her clothes.

“No need for a gun worry wart, with Zircon on my back and your newfound invisibility, we can get out of any trouble.” I said to reassure her and it worked as she did forget she had Psionic power now for a moment. “And for what we are getting… Local produce.”

“Huh?” Janine said confused. “Local produce?” I smiled and teased. “Wow did you hear that? There’s an echo in this market.” Janine rolled her eyes, unimpressed by my humour. “Why are you looking for local produce then? That is a bit random to me.” She could not help to ask.

I paused a moment trying to figure out the best way to explain myself without giving away to much information regarding the hive. “My Psionics teacher loves food, I mean really loves food. It can get scary how much she loves food. Anyways, I thought it would be nice to by her all the local food I can find here and bring it back to her the next time I visit in a month or two.”

“Oh, you had a teacher? What is her name? Is she still stronger than you?” Janine asked curiously. I smiled as the images of Jewels two main bodies flooded my mind with love. “Her name is Jewel, I thought I mentioned her to you before? Must have been someone else oh well, and yes, Jewel is an ancient Psionic user who also taught me my genetic bio modification so she still looks young.”

Janine cracked a smile at hearing that. “So she looks young does she? Let me guess you banged her as well at some point?” I gave Janine a knowing look. “Yes, naturally, Jewel was my first and is the most beautiful woman in the universe. You know how often I say you are hot, so you know for a fact when I say Jewel is hotter I mean it.”

Janine was confident enough in her looks to accept such a statement. “Oh really? That is some high praise coming from you.” She then made a smug face and leaned into me a little while walking. “Perhaps I should meet her then and try to convert her over to box eating hmmm?”

‘I mean technically she has eaten trillions of boxes already, though quite literally in her case.’ I could not help but think. “Sure if you get to meet her be my guest, though it will never happen in a million years.” My tone suggesting that was a fact.

As we walked through the markets, there was a lot of cool nick-nacs here there and everywhere. I had once of Sophia’s many credit chips and this one had my payment from Kathrine on it so I could afford to splurge if I wanted to.

Janine spotted a pretty necklace and thought I did not notice her big blue eyes look at it as we walked. So I simply stopped and bought it. It was not ornate and was simply a silver strap with a floral pattern.

As I strapped it around her neck, she turned around while holding it and had the biggest smile on her face. She then hugged me tightly and thanked me before holding my hand again as we started walking again towards the area that sold food goods.

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