Life for
most of the citizens within the Tower City Covenant was pretty much
monotonous. Each day of the week followed a regular schedule with
little variation. There was time to work, time to rest, time to sleep
and time to relax.
One
possible variation to a regular citizen's routine could be a new menu
at the local diner. Which was rarely of interest since almost all the
time, the new menu item had been some rearrangement of the usual
processed food. Oh, maybe the usual food cube had been cut into a new
shape like a pyramid or, gasp, a cylinder!
A
cylinder would be a scandal! There was the amount of waste material
that would be left when that shape was cut out of a block. What if it
were to be a sphere? Oh, the horror of waste!
That was
unless the food paste was molded into a sphere. Or the waste material
was recycled. Then all the shock and indignation were out the window.
Anyway,
if a citizen of Covenant really wanted food that went beyond the
fulfillment of one's nutritional needs, food that had taste, that
person would go to a specialty store. Like a sweets store that would
have cakes that could actually stimulate the senses on one's tongue.
One
could also visit a dining establishment that had more emphasis on
entertainment, such as a high-class restaurant. Or a bar where one
could socialize.
A bar
known as Sandy's Last Hand had been where that little wannabe
wasteland-adventurer, George Getriebe, had met the Scarlet Vixens. He
had not been there for the past week, though. It was not because of
work - he still had the usual amount of free time, thanks to being a
regular citizen of Covenant with a regular daily schedule. It was
more of uncertainty, of shyness, of the desire to avoid the situation
where he would be recognized.
After
all, the last time he had been there, he had been in the center of a
bar fight. In addition to that, he was not sure how he should act if
people associated him with the Scarlet Vixens.
Thus he
had spent his free time on another readily available entertainment in
Covenant: network television.
His
first adventure out to the wastelands surrounding the city had been a
visit to Madboy Keith's Tower of Trials. Apparently, Madboy Keith
recorded the attempts made by challengers in the tower and edited
them into shows for network television.
George
had been surfing the television portals on Covenant's communications
network for the show. Once he had found a portal that had past
episodes of the show, he had waited for updates. He had wanted to
watch the show where the Scarlet Vixens challenged the Tower of
Trials.
That
show had appeared on the portal two days before. George had
downloaded and watched that show then. He had been horrified right
from the start when the show had identified him as 'Squirt', a new
girl with the Scarlet Vixens. Girl!? How could they have mistaken him
for a girl!?
And why
had they called him 'Squirt' of all things!?
By the
third time he had watched the entirety of the show, he had been
certain how the producers had made the assumption. It had been his
armor. It had been a female armor. It had been that Vixen named
Mabel's fault for slapping that on him just because she had only
female armor available! The fact that he had kept his mask on the
whole time had not helped indicate that he was a man.
On
second thought, maybe keeping his mask on the whole time had been
good.
However,
in his three times of viewing the show, George had failed to notice
the other facts that supported the assumption. First had been his
height - he was only as tall as the shortest Vixen, Iona. The second
had been that high-pitch squeal he had made when excited, like
the time during which he had a nice exchange of tiny rapidly-moving
objects with a few wasteland inhabitants.
Lastly,
though it was not evident in the show, the Scarlet Vixens were
reputedly an all-girl team. However, during his time with them,
George had never heard any Vixen claiming that their team was 'for
girls only'.
It had
been so embarrassing that George had not dared to let Papa know about
the show. In the days following his return, he had somehow managed to
thrill his father about a ride in the wasteland and a fight with a
gang. He had left out the details about Madboy Keith's Tower of
Trials until he had seen the show.
It had
been fortunate that he had.
George
had watched himself in the fight against the waster gang. He had seen
where the bullets had hit his mounted machinegun and his body armor.
He had been very lucky to have avoided injury then. It had been a
dangerous time. Would he still dare return to the wasteland? More
encounters such as that awaited him if he did.
***
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