Nada glanced up at her brother, sitting in the driver's seat and wondered how his part of the meeting had gone. On her end, she'd really wanted to talk to the new girl, Amber, more, but when her guardian burst in like that to grab her, all she could do was give her a card and hope for the best. The guardian wasn't the worst she'd ever seen, she'd met some class Bs with scars or missing fingers due to careless guardians, or even ones who'd stopped coming altogether, and she'd later heard through mutuals on AntMound that they'd died via accident. Amber wasn't in danger of dying, at least she didn't think she was, but the red flag of her guardian wanting to date her, mixed with the sadism... It wouldn't end well.
"So, I'm guessing Marissa busting in there like that scared you guys, huh?" Adil said, glancing down at her
"Well, it wasn't too bad..." Nada replied "She was just upset, she was still careful
"Yeah, that's good." Adil said "I feel bad for her class B, it can't be easy to live with her."
"I gave Amber my contact info, I'm sure she'll contact me if she's ok."
"...Nada, you're not trying to get her on board with your ideas, are you?" Adil said tiredly
"I didn't discuss my ideas one time to her, no."
"Good, that's not the solution to everyone's problems, you know."
"If she seems like she's in danger, it could be an alternative, and her guardian is very well off, she could help bankroll if I get her on board too."
He laughed without humor "You really think a guardian who's in love with her class B will pay you money to found an apartment complex for class Bs? She'd never see Amber again, it's counter intuitive."
"If she really loves her, she'd see that being in a community of like-sized people would be the safest, best thing for her. If it takes off, we might not even need guardians anymore!"
Adil pulled into the driveway and shut the car off "You think anyone with power will agree?"
"I think we still have a voice, powerful people are being compressed, celebrities, it's- we have more power every day."
"May I carry you inside?" Adil asked automatically as he reached for the cupholder she was in. She nodded and he continued "The powerful people are stripped of their powers, the celebrities are either used by the companies they worked for to keep selling albums and movies, or auctioned off to fans for millions. The power you're talking about doesn't exist."
"I still think people will care..." she said "I can get support, I need to, for our sake."
"And what about your daughter, huh?" he snapped, unlocking the door "She can't live in your tiny utopia, you're just going to abandon her?"
"No, I-" she clenched her fists "She can visit, or- if she gets proper training, she could check me out for a couple hours, to do activities."
"Nada, you're describing prison." He said as the door opened "No one is going to want to willingly check themselves into prison."
"Adil, just being like this is a prison! At least this place would be safe."
"Ummi? Why are you talking about prison?" a voice asked from around the corner.
Nada flinched "It's nothing, sweetie, just- I was just discussing something with your uncle."
Adil brought her around the corner and set her on the short table her daughter Layla was sitting at.
"Well... you two should talk about it quieter, if you're not going to tell me what it was about." Layla said
"Sorry, we should have kept it at the support group." Nada said, nodding "What are you working on over there?"
Layla pointed at the small clunky electric car on the table, half apart with wires and broken plastic on the table around it "I'm trying to fix your car... I think I can get it working again, the board is in one piece, it's just the wiring and frame that got messed up..."
"That's- I'm proud of you for trying, sweetie," Nada said "But I'm not sure it's safe for me to be driving around on the floor. If you already stepped on it once while it was parked, what's stopping you from accidentally doing it again when I'm in it?"
Layla's face screwed up slightly and she bit her lip "...I just feel bad for breaking it, I know it wasn't cheap..."
"Honey, we all make mistakes." Adil said, patting her on the back "We know you didn't mean to."
"I would just feel better if I could get it working again." she said. "Maybe we could have times that she's allowed to use it, so we don't accidentally kick it or something?"
'Allowed to use it'. A weight settled on Nada's heart. Her daughter, barely 14, was talking about what she was going to let her do. As much as Nada loved Layla, this wasn't motherhood. This was a bastardization of it. She'd gotten lucky her brother had been able to get custody of her and her daughter, but living here like this, with her daughter treating her like this, it almost made her wish they'd been separated, to preserve herself in her daughter's mind as a tall, protective mother figure, not a tiny non-human who needed to be 'allowed' to do things.
Layla had nothing but respect for her mother, which was a good thing in and of itself. She loved her and was gentle and quiet around her, and always made sure to do what she was told, but there was a layer of pity to it, and a feeling that maybe, if Nada was still her full sized self, Layla would be more willing to talk back, to break the rules, to let her room get messy now and again. Normal kid stuff, things everyone did growing up. In a way, Nada just existing was holding her daughter back from developing as a person, at least as far as Nada was concerned.
The class B apartment complex would fix all that. It could be built in a single unit in a strip mall and fit hundreds of class Bs, it could be heated and cooled easily, water would be cheap, all that would need to be done would be to pest-proof the area, fabricate the apartments- Nada was already working on interlocking 3D printable walls for that- and find class Bs to wire and plumb it out. It could be done in under six months, if she could get the right funding. She'd be founder of a new community, everyone would be safe, and her daughter would see her as a successful civil rights leader instead of a doll sized, fragile, former person.
"Well, if you think you can fix it, I say go ahead and try!" Nada said "Even if I only use it sometimes, it'll be a good project for you!"
"I borrowed the soldering iron from my after school club, so I can get most of it done tonight, I think..." Layla said
"Uhh, let's... put down a wet towel, if you're going to be soldering stuff..." Adil said, slightly concerned
"I have a mat I can use, Uncle, it's ok." she said, pulling a rolled rubber tube out of her bag.
She unfurled it, and lay it out on the table, air puffing out from under it and blowing Nada's hair back, threatening to knock her over. Nada's stomach curled, a simple mat, a silicone placemat, and she'd almost been blown away. This wasn't any way to live, to exist. This world wasn't made for her, she needed to have an environment she could thrive in, not just one where she had people taking care of her all the time. She closed her eyes and tried to calm down, this wasn't productive, this wasn't helpful, she needed to stay here for now, build up a network and find support.
"Adil?" She asked "Could you bring me to my desk for a while? I'd like to check my tablet and see if Amber texted me yet or not."
He held out his hand and she stepped into it, and he lifted her up, walking over to the little desk she'd made into a makeshift home.
"I could have brought you, Ummi..." Layla said "I like getting to hold you...."
Nada tried to hide her cringe, and stepped off Adil's hand next to my chair and waved over at her "Next time, love!"
Nada hated her daughter holding her. It wasn't as bad when it was Adil, they'd grown up together, he'd seen her as an equal her whole life, even looked down on her a little as older brothers are wont to do, so him carrying her, holding her, taking care of her, it wasn't painful, it felt almost normal. When Layla did it, it made her feel so, so much more useless than usual. She couldn't care for her daughter outside encouragements and kind words, but here she was lifting her up and bringing her miles worth of distance just to sit with her while she made a sandwich or watched a movie. It was nice to still be included in her life, but it still made Nada feel worthless, disgusting, even. She wasn't a mother, she was a parasite.
She picked up her tablet and powered it on. It was older, she needed a new one, but they were so much money, and even now that she could eat larger amounts of uncompressed food, Adil still insisted on getting her the expensive, high vitamin compressed stuff too. A new tablet just wasn't in the picture right now, so slow loading times and a fuzzy screen would have to be put up with for now.
After what felt like forever, her screen lit up, and she pulled up her messaging app. A couple of messages from her AntMound friends, but none from any accounts she didn't already know. Amber would message when she was ready, she was sure. Really though, she wanted to check her posts and listings on the social media side of things... So far she had around a hundred and fifty class Bs interested in her apartment complex, and at least twenty of them were fairly local. The threads she'd started weren't 'popular' like the ones about compressed celebs or new bills being passed, but she had regular posters who gave ideas and were helping her nail down details.
One person had suggested that they have their own currency, and have shops and spas and things, and while she liked the idea of replicating a real- a class A city, that clashed with her plan of having the residents working as a remote tech company for hire to pay for the costs. She admitted that maybe not everyone had a degree in computer science like she did, but they could learn, she'd taught low level classes at the community college before- in the past, she could help these people too, she was sure. Still, some of the older members might be hard to teach, maybe having some non-tech positions around the complex would be good too. Just to make sure everyone was doing her part.
She started a new message, and uploaded the STL files for the walls she'd been working on this afternoon before group. They weren't perfect, but she'd added channels for the pipes on one side, and wire on the other, and was trying to find a way to make snap-on covers for the channels so people weren't seeing pipes and wires in their home, but it looked like anything with clips small enough for a class B to pop on and off themselves would break too easily. Hopefully someone would have a solution, but she was drawing a blank.
One member had asked if there would be a 'state religion' in the complex, but she brushed it aside, there was no place for that discussion in her utopia, people could do what they wanted, of course, but anyone who tried to push their religion would be politely asked to leave. Or not so politely, if they refused. Maybe one of the jobs people could have in the complex would be security? She'd be a fool to think that there'd be no crime, of course, and with some residents up to six times bigger than each other, it could be useful to have some of the more meaty residents keep the peace...
Fuck, this really was becoming a prison, wasn't it?... Still, as long as everyone was safe, and she wasn't forcing them to do anything, it'd be ok. She could live with security guards.
"Ummi?" Layla asked from in front of her
Nada looked up, she hadn't even heard her come over, she was so careful and quiet these days...
"Yes, love?"
"Uh, I haven't fixed the frame and plastic parts, but... I think I got the motor working again? I put all the wires back, and it's getting power, but my fingers won't fit into the car to push the pedals, can you help me test it?"
Nada looked around for Adil, but he'd gone, up to his room, she'd guessed, or to the shower. She steeled herself, and smiled "Of course! Let's do it on the floor, though, just in case."
She could just imagine the car lurching the wrong way, sending her over the edge of the desk to her death...
"Ok, may I lift you to put you on the ground?" Layla asked
"Yes, sweetie, be gentle."
There was no need to say that, not really. Layla was always careful, but it still gave her a feeling of power. She was telling Layla to do that, and that proved she was still the mother.
That clashed with the idea that Layla only obeyed out of pity, but Nada didn't care, she took her victories where her mind would let her. She touched the floor lightly, and opened her car door, the cracked and bent frame above her making her wince. The top of the car had crushed in right above where her head would have been... She was lucky she'd been out of the car by then, climbing the stairs behind her desk to get some reading done. The crunch and Layla's resulting scream still made her nauseous though, and she couldn't see herself driving much anymore aside from this test run.
She slid into the seat, and flicked the power on, the light hum letting her know the power was working. She lightly tapped the gas, and the car jumped forward, startling her slightly as it always did. She drove forward, going past Layla's legs, under the table, and back around in front of her. She parked, and powered the car off, got out, and walked over to Layla's knee, giving her a big smile and thumbs up.
"It works wonderfully, honey! I'm proud of you!"
Layla's face lit up, and she grinned, showing her teeth. "I guess my after school club is paying off!"
Nada climbed into her hand and let her take her back to her 'home', and climbed off her, turning to look at her. Praising was a motherly thing to do, and she was happy about it, so that was good, that's two small victories. Whether or not those victories outweighed being carried by her though... that was a different matter.
"It really is, you'll be building robots in no time!" Nada said encouragingly.
"Or..." Layla looked nervous "Or- maybe if I'm good enough at it, I can be the one to wire your apartments?..."
Nada stopped on her way to her chair and turned to look at her "...Oh?..."
"Yeah, like- I thought- I know it's important, I thought I could help, and maybe, I don't know, I can't help with money, but I can do the work, maybe?"
"Well..." This was sweet of her, but the point of it was to prove to Layla that she was still just as important and capable as anyone, if Layla was doing parts of it herself... "Honey, I think you have to be licensed for that, but if you do get licensed, I'd love for you to help!"
"I can be a licensed apprentice in less than two years, as long as I have someone I'm working under, I think I can do it for you..."
"That's amazing!" Nada's heart sank... Two years, that was her deadline now, she'd need to push hard to get it done by then. "I look forward to seeing you work toward that!"
Layla smiled again and picked up the car "I'll fix the frame and stuff now, it should just be pliers and glue, I'll be done tonight or tomorrow!"
Nada watched as she walked back to the table to work, and sank back in her chair. She checked her tablet, still no message from Amber, maybe later. She really wanted to try and get some kind of funding, and this really could be the break she needed, if Marissa was generous with her money. Maybe Amber didn't even need to live in the complex, just visit now and then, maybe get a space away from Marissa, like a vacation home? That was good, that's how she'd sell it to them, it'd all work out, and she'd be the strong, independent mother she used to be.
In the meantime, she could still find people on AntMound to support her too, and this past evening had given her just the idea she needed to get more people on her side. She opened the documents tab, and starting typing, she'd have it done by tomorrow, and include a link to her thread. She wrote the name of her new article; "The Dangers of Transit: The Necessity of Walkable Spaces for Class Bs"
This would be perfect, she'd get so many new readers from this, she could already tell. In the background, Layla was hard at work herself, just as focused, just as desperate for support and connection. The two of them worked into the night, neither interacting with the other, but each of their minds full of thoughts of each other all the same.