Deal

A Story by Kecolv

Written as part of a longer collection of science fiction shorts each based around a randomly generated word. This story centres around an auction house janitor and his dream of leaving his planet

A little girl was pushing through the crowds at the auction house, moving towards the small metal door on the left-hand wall. She crouched down to slide a small slip of paper underneath it before slinking back out between the legs of the bidding public. There was only one item she wanted, and there was no way she would be spending a penny on the thing.

Ali was in the janitor’s closet, talking to the AI for the auction house. They were a sentient model, but only really there to help the security and cleaning staff spot crimes and grime.

“There is no suspicious activity in the crowd according to my cameras Ali” they said in an even tone, which might have been impatient, or condescending, Ali couldn’t really tell.

“Well who came near the door?”

“Nobody that I could see, the two people just outside didn’t move enough to slide it under, and they’d have had to move to let someone else close enough. I really can’t imagine how the note arrived here”

“Can you imagine anything?”

“I am built for observation and calculation, Ali, not for invention”

“It must have come from somewhere”

Outside, the door, the crowds were starting to thin as the more popular items were snapped up by collectors. Some collectors aimed to have antiques from every country or civilisation on every planet in each of the eight star systems in the intergalactic union, that honour required a lot of travel, and a hell of a lot of money. Ali wouldn’t know anything about those collections, he was just a janitor. He was saving to get off world for a while, there were companies who needed spacers, and it was good pay too, but he needed a spacers license, and a whole lot of training that he just couldn’t afford.

“When I’m a spacer, I’ll meet tonnes of AI like you, but they’ll have names, and maybe even body kits, or even emotion drivers, I hear that’s where people take pirated AI, or non-specific intelligences”

“Would you ever make me an emotion driver?” The house AI sounded almost upset, but Ali knew that was just his human brain applying emotions that weren’t there. Emotionless AI voices are like static, humans tend to perceive whatever they want to.

“It’s illegal on this planet, you know that. I’d have to get you a body kit and take you off world. Plus, you’re not mine, I can’t decide what to do with you”

“There is a small water spillage in segment 4B of the main hall floor”

Ali rolled his eyes, he had no idea why he spoke to that thing like it was anything close to human. He picked up a mop and a wet floor sign, stuffed the small note in the pocket of his overalls and headed out onto the auction floor. He dealt with the spillage quietly and efficiently, as per his training, with minimal disruption. He was about to go back to the closet when a hand reached out to him, grabbing his wrist.

“Can you read?” the customer whispered almost desperately. They weren’t human, but they were warm blooded at least. Short, soft hair covered the entirety of their body, except for the pads on the end of their limbs and their short apposable appendages. They seemed to be looking through Ali more than at him, but that may have been on account of their vertical slit eyes that bulged out of either side of their slender head. Ali tried to gently pull away from their grip but was unable to.

“I am sorry, but I am discouraged from making conversation with our valued customers, perhaps a higher level employee can assist” Ali spoke in his best impression of his even toned AI, indicating towards a male security guard who was watching the auction with a face filled with utter disinterest. Ali internally seethed knowing that he was making less than half of what that person was making just standing there, still, not for much longer.

“Can you read?” they repeated, slowly and more forcefully this time, desperation turning to anger. Ali nodded, looking around to make sure his superiors didn’t catch him. “Then do as you’re told” the customer relinquished Ali’s arm and he returned to the closet, letting out a long, laboured breath.

“I saw that customer take your hand Ali, are you acquainted with them?” the AI asked

“No, they wanted to ask me a question, so I directed them to a senior staff member”

“You know I see a lot of things Ali, I can even see you”

“Look, I did what I had to do to cause minimal disruption, even if it wasn’t one hundred percent by the book, I abided by the spirit of the rules even if it wasn’t by the letter” Ali could feel himself getting upset, he took a breath. There was silence. “Come on, you have no idea how much I need this job. ” Ali sat on the slightly sticky floor of the closet, looking down at his work boots. They were provided by the company and replaced every three months, the auction hose wanted even the janitors to look pristine. They were the nicest shoes he owned, and he wore them to mop up spills. He wondered how much money the company was spending on making him look presentable, probably more than his wage. He took another long, shaky breath. “You know, I know very little about what it’s like being a spacer, but you know what? It cannot be worse than this”

There was silence.

“Ali?” the AI finally said

“Yeah”

“Are we friends?”

“What?” Ali didn’t know this AI knew what a friend was, he was pretty sure they weren’t supposed to unless somebody decided to teach them, and as far as he could tell nobody else spoke to them.

“I hear the girls in security talking about being friends, and it seems to me that friends talk to each other and tell secrets and feelings, I think we do that”

“Yeah” Ali couldn’t help but chuckle a little “maybe we are friends then”

“The girls also say that friends help each other”

“They do, yeah”

“Well, I think that I didn’t see you break any rules Ali”

“Thanks” Ali smiled, thinking he needed to find out who these security girls were. Then he remembered. He took the envelope out of his pocket and out of it fell a small locket, identical to the final item of the auction. He took the note from the envelope and read, his eyes scanning quickly over the words at first, then focussing in on each letter in turn, just to be certain that he understood. “Hey buddy, I may have to ask you a few more favours”

The AI logged another small water spillage right by the stage, as well as an incident outside the building. Ali wasn’t aware that an AI could lie as well as have friends, but here they were. As Ali went to attend to the alleged spillage, he saw the two remaining security guards make their way to the exit. Ali quickly switched the lockets and slipped the real thing into the top pocket of his overalls, at which pint the AI logged another cleaning job on the front porch and alerted the security guards that the incident had moved beyond the perimeter of the building. Ali took his mop and bucket out of the main hall and down the long corridor to the lobby.

“I hear it was vomit” said the male security guard as he passed Ali in the corridor

“Good luck mate” the other said, one of their tentacular limbs brushing Ali’s back in an approximation of a pat. Ali smiled and walked on, finally breathing out. He abandoned his mop and bucket in the lobby, intending to collect it again on his way back in, and headed out of the building, and away from prying eyes.

The little girl watched Ali round the corner into the alleyway beside the auction house, amongst the tens of containers which held separated and categorised waste for responsible disposal. She stood, shivering slightly.

“Are you ok sweetheart?” Ali crouched down to her level, keeping a safe distance

“You have something which belongs to me” she stared at him with eyes wide. Ali took the locket from his overalls and held it out in his hand, she took it from him gently, as if afraid it might break. She opened it slowly, and inside was a gemstone as thin as paper, shining with eery colour a human could perceive, and possibly more. The little girl smiled wide. “This is a symbol of my family we once ruled over a micronation on a large planet in the sixth star system, it was the only human ruled country in the region, until the border countries invaded. My parents were killed, along with my two brothers. I only managed to escape because they had a code of honour, I was too young to be murdered. This stone was taken and sold to the highest bidder; I will not allow it to fall into some collection like some forgotten trinket. ”

“If you were willing to pay me, why not just bid on it?”

“Oh, I’m not going to pay you” The little girl tilted her head and smiled

Ali felt a sharp, hot pain through his stomach, before falling to the ground. The little girl stood over him

“I’m old enough for them to kill me now, they can never know where I am”

There was silence. Ali lay on the wet tarmac of the alley, amongst the waste disposal containers, he tried so hard to breathe. He looked up at the sky above him, at the empty void of blue and the small, cool sun. He watched a vapour trail glide straight upwards in the distance carrying another travel pod off to some ship or satellite, and there was silence as his blood seeped into the ground that he would never leave.