[b]November:[/b]

You want to know the worst part? You get more respect being a Headpattr maid on Thrones than you do on Aevum. 

Really. Because it’s not just the ticket price, it’s the meritocracy. If you’re a maid on Thrones, it’s because you’re the [i]best[/i] maid. And that makes you worth talking to. A thirty year old programmer working on his second startup tries to engage you seriously on optimal methodology as you work - what tasks are done in what order, how you prioritize that, how you actually know something’s clean. And he asks with all the sincerity he’d take to a college professor. 

On Aevum, as on Earth, it’s about looking down on the service workers because of the power and class difference. Here, though? 

Of course that’s where android labour comes in, of course, why there’s so much of it. A Headpattr charging pod barely fits you. But what does a maid need with processing power? There is no contradiction between being socially an equal and materially lesser: Any correction would be an unjustifiable misallocation of resources. 

It quickly becomes clear why so much of the service work on Thrones is done by androids, as a proportion. The models here are far down the selection criteria into hyperfunction. Just like a dopamine deficiency is optimal for making a Content Creator, someone hypersensitive to criticism and validation and hyperfocusing on serialized topics rather than specializing. 

Androids aren’t second class citizens here. They are just the ultimate ideal that Thrones represents: Someone whose needs are entirely met by their work. Humans can’t hack the competition. 

Law enforcement here’s a grim prospect. It’s all constructed space, tracked passports, chokes and alleys which can be remotely sealed at the press of a button - and the security that comes from having those systems around bored programmers. Maybe with time, planning, and a little social engineering you’d be able to get access to some of those systems for your own end, but…

You’re inside the panopticon now, Alice. The Eye of Sauron turned inward, with endless streams of trackable metrics. Hook your phone up to the right Thrones app and get feedback from the station about your personalized projected mental health and wellbeing, suggestions on where to go, special offers for the stores you’re known to like, and everything that comes from an algorithm being able to figure out you’re pregnant before you can. There is no opt-out. 

And this is where your father has flourished for decades, now? 

On the plus, all that data exists if you can figure out how to pry it out of the cloud. And a few of those Headpattr clients have given you some idea how you could do exactly that. A prominent electronics store, too, has much of what you’ll need for the original planned prank. Get a vacuum and talk to the agoraphobic android managing the counter, the one who has a panic attack if they leave the bulletproof zone of their work area, charging pod behind the cash register. It’s a popular pattern on Thrones. 

[b]3V:[/b]

There is one lead you can follow, one person stands out. 

Euna Kim owns her own gym, but it definitely wasn’t inherited. She bought the place outright to run it as a non-profit specializing in cybernetics. She’s not the richest person you’ve met by far, at least you don’t think she is, which must mean there’s something else to her that has allowed her to navigate the system enough to allow her to have [i]purchased real-estate[/i]. 

How much do you know about Euna Kim, though? Did you meet her through the store, through the Anthropozine, or somewhere else? Training in how to get the best out of your new hands, maybe? 

How would you go about dropping a line to ask her?

[b]Persephone:[/b]

Bigsby opens his phone and orders a house lemonade from the Log Inn app. “I’m offering a legit gig. I get peace of mind. Sarah’s still in the hospital, don’t know how she’ll go. That’s really all there is to it.” He looks kind of lost. “Somebody’s going to try and do their job if they get yelled at enough. And the closer to the deadline we get without content, the more people are going to get yelled at. It’s a big event, this isn’t the only team working there.”

That is to say, this is an easy one to walk away from. Anyone who’s going to get hurt here is someone who knew the risk they were taking, and chose to take it for corporate work. No strings on you if you leave now. Or, hell, just take the job and only show up to cash the cheque.