Rebirth of the Golden Heiress

I can’t pass it up

The fans of the cooling system hummed and vibrated, struggling to keep the vast warehouse at a comfortable temperature. The floors vibrated beneath Selena's feet as the system pulsed, receiving energy from the panels above her head.

A shelf skimmer zoomed by, its gentle whoosh stirring the loose hair that clung to Selena's forehead with the sweat and dirt accumulated over her 14-hour shift.

Her wrinkles, etched by years of hard work and determination, were pronounced by the grime and exhaustion. But they were the last of her worries. The skimmer returned, carrying a heavy box of dates.

The sweet aroma wafted up, making Selena's saliva pool in her mouth. It had been so long since she'd tasted anything sweet. The temptation was almost cruel. The things she could do with these, how she would savor it more than the affluent man who was receiving this.

“Monty, you have no idea how much I want these.” Selena complained out loud as she read the label on the box. A.A chimed. “I know, rich people, right?” Selena chatted to her little assistant.Selena placed the box on the cart and pulled it to the next row, receiving another box from the automated order system.

The dates broke her concentration, and she found herself a second slower on her pickups. But she soon refocused, falling back into her zombie-like state.

Two hours passed, and Selena hit the pain reliever button on her back brace. “60% of pain reliever reservoir remaining.” A.A her assistant alerted her. The ache dissipated, and she felt a brief respite from her exhaustion.

Meal time arrived, and Selena made her way to the cafeteria. The menu consisted of mushrooms and beans, flavored with synthetic spices in a South American theme. The taste was passable, but Selena's mind was elsewhere.

The cafeteria was filled with those that were in debt, there wasn't a sun down here to pass the time and the loop screwed up all concept of time keeping them in the last months of habitual time the rest of the planet was plunged into fire before the shield that the loop was put up.

As she ate, the chime on her RhineOS wristband rang, and A.A, the artificial intelligence system, announced the end of her shift in her ear. Selena's hands shook as she tapped her wrist to acknowledge. A.A then asked, "Would you be interested in 3x overtime pay on premium tasks?"

Selena's response was immediate and laced with bitterness. "I need to eat to live, you freeloader." Selena depressedly stuffed her mouth with the tex mex sludge.

A.A replied, "You are -100,000BC balance, are you sure? Health Bill overdue. Recommendation of selling housing has been commonly rejected. " A.A sad chimed and then did its question chime.

Selena hesitated, weighing her options. She couldn't afford to live in a "coffin," a small, cramped budget compartment. At 70 years old, her pain relievers wouldn't cover the aches and pains associated with compartment living.

Her bladder and bowels wouldn't either, unless she remained in her suit all the time. She wasn't prepared to go fully drone just to survive it. “I cannot sell that space. No matter how much we need the money.”

Selena needed space, a room with a small Washette – a toilet, sink, shower pod. The sink allowed her to fill her kettle and grow her supplement crops of vegetables.

She took a deep breath and made her decision. "Yes, I'll take the overtime.” A.A displayed an image of her assignment on her display band as she received her tasks. The extra hours paid a lot but were at the edge of the loop.

Selena muttered under her breath, "Aren't you supposed to alert me if the Loop is mentioned in the posting, A.A?" She lifted a spoon to her lips, and the soft and mushy texture of bean and fungus filled her mouth.

She had to disassociate herself from the texture to get the calories down. Her coworkers in the galley gave her odd looks, but Selena was used to it. She was an outcast among her peers, relegated to logistics due to her poor performance in the sorting test.

As she ate, Selena couldn't help but think about her past regrets. She regretted not going to school, doing drugs, dating the people she did, and investing the way she did. If she could go back and do it all over again, she would. But, as A.A punctuated her thoughts, "But you can't go back."

Selena grumbled, "Hey, stay the f**k out of my thoughts, A.A." She endured the looks from her colleagues to keep the system from fully binding to her consciousness. Selena required the technology to survive, but she was old school and Rhine had a history of invading personal privacy.

With her old nemesis by the side of the leader, there was no way in hell she was going to integrate it, she was forced to use it, but no one said she had to install it. So she developed work around, after work around.

She had seen the effects of technology on the brain and body over the past six decades, and people died earlier now. Her first encounter with technology was with a Speak & Spell toy. This. A.A. It was in her brain, but she had never permitted it to reach into her mind. It should not be possible anyway.

A.A chimed in its sad tone a couple of times. “I am not mad.” Selene said. “Not anymore.”

Selena asked A.A, "Well, tell me my total after the shift and perks. I'm assuming it's going to be good."

She spooned a pile of mush into her mouth from the steaming heterogeneous blob on the tray, reducing it with a grimace. At least she didn't have to chew it much, her teeth were s**t from years of poverty, but she had gotten used to using a knife to cut food up into tiny pieces back in the dried ration days.

Shawn Snyder, a young coworker, yelled, "Shut the f**k up and Integrate, old b***h!" The woman constantly talked to herself. He was exhausted.

Selena swallowed and unceremoniously flipped off Shawn. Selena shouted back, "Hey, Snyder, mind your own business, asshole."

Snyder stood up to intimidate her. He sat down when she started playing with the improvised knife menacingly. Snyder retorted, "f**k you, cunt."

Selena fired back, "Not even if you tried.One-pump-chump! Your girlfriend buys my cucumbers when you're on shift, you little tiny little fucker.”

Selena tilted her blade in the direction of his crotch like a pointer. “I bet your smaller tiny-pricked grandfather was bigger and I know you come quicker than an idle reminder, believe me a lot of us have heard your c*m grunt in B45."

The canteen erupted in laughter. Snyder turned red. “I'd teach her to craft a dildo. But son, you're so good for business and she is too stupid.”

Leshaun Clutch jeered, "Ooh." The elderly woman was well respected. Most of them were practically raised by her.

Snyder smacked his arm. “f**k off Clutch.”

“Don't touch me, baby dick.” Leshaun smacked Snyder hard in the crotch. Snyder coughed in pain.

Snyder sputtered at Selena, Selena played with her blade and said, “What are you going to whip it out? I can perform a nice dirty circumcision, put it on my table or sit the f**k down.”

A.A interrupted, waiting to respond. It's chime chirped. It was ready to fight. Selena's stress levels were high.

"Well?" Selena said, addressing both A.A and Snyder.

Snyder was at a loss for words, and everyone knew that Selena grew vegetables and sold them to others in the compartment. He had eaten cucumber salad recently. He sat down, that ball slap stung. “f*****g bitch.” he muttered quietly.

*

A.A announced, "The hours accumulated from the past 24-hour cycle will exceed 150,000 BC. Nutrients in the Premium allocated meal after shift exceeds 2,000 k/cal. The meal includes meat. All exclusionary material has been met for the offer to exceed blocked parameters."

Selena grumbled, "Okay, okay, I get it. A date who is paying for dinner, I hope they don't f**k us A.A." She really didn't care what kind of meat it was. The kitchen always treated it with respect. Her mouth filled with drool just thinking. It could be rat for all she f*****g cared.

Snyder seemed to fidget, not knowing what Selena was capable of. She quickly accepted the premium assignment offered, eager to escape the tension.

Selena finished her meal by sheer willpower, “God, this s**t sucks.” She jammed the spoon in her mouth, it was crammed with the disgusting dregs of the bowl. She swallowed the pasty mush, forcing down the last few bites of the unappetizing mush.

She would be able to eat her own produce and cook for herself. Seasoning herbs grew in her pod, but she sold them. A cucumber dill salad, with some pod hooch in the near future. Things were going to start improving, and she might be able to live quite a tolerable life.

50,000BC would last her years. She could buy a rejuvenating shot and feel and look younger and make more credits. The idea of coasting through the rest of her functional life until her forced 'retirement' working part-time cheered her up slightly. No one down here could ever stop working, dead weight is dead meat.

Selena hastily made her way to a padded resting chair as one became free and as per her usual routine. Rested. She then managed to catch a 15-minute R.E.M sleep through the PowerNap function from the retro wristband that Rhine released with the original version of A.A.

The wristband, a relic from a bygone era, had been a game-changer for Selena in her prime. She had been able to work 22-hour workdays with ease, relying on the PowerNap function to recharge her batteries. She had a quick dream about her past.

But those days were behind her now. Selena was pushing her limits, and the strain was beginning to show. Her body ached, her mind foggy from the constant fatigue. Still, she persevered, driven by the need to survive in a world that seemed determined to grind her down.

A.A, sensing Selena's exhaustion, chimed in and turned off the PowerNap function. The AI had become an integral part of Selena's life, evolving and learning alongside her over the decades. It had been upgraded countless times, its capabilities expanding to meet Selena's ever-changing needs.

Despite its advanced abilities, A.A remained a loyal and obedient assistant, always ready to serve Selena's needs. It was a special existence among the A.A Units in the pod, its contact limited to others it interacted with. But A.A didn't mind; it was content to serve Selena, its primary function and purpose.

As Selena stirred from her brief nap, A.A was already preparing for the next phase of their day. It was synchronized with the Pod's systems, gathering data and updating Selena's schedule. It watered her crop back in the room. A.A spoke in Selena's consciousness, "Time to get back to work, Selena. Your next shift is about to start.”

“Aahn, ow, ow, ow,” Selena yawned and groaned with pain, her body slowly unfurling from the fetal position in the plush rest seat in the break room. She hit the pain reliever button on her brace, and a warm sensation spread through her muscles, easing the ache. Next, she hit the stimulant button, and her eyes widened as a surge of energy coursed through her veins.

"Stimulant Reservoir at 56%, Pain Reliever at 58%, reordering as per instructed," A.A sounded in her ears, its voice a gentle reminder of the toll her lifestyle was taking on her body. It will all change in the future after this assignment. "Yeah, yeah. Good job." Selena said. A.A chimed happily.

Selena's gaze dropped, her eyes clouding with concern. "I have been overdoing it, haven't I?" she said, her voice laced with a mix of frustration and resignation. It had been a long, hard road, digging herself out of debt.

The cancer treatment she had undergone after working in the European fulfillment center should have been fully paid for by the company, but they had only partially subsidized it, citing her history of smoking as the reason.

The injustice still rankled Selena. She had quit smoking as soon as it became illegal, but the damage had already been done. Her health had suffered, and now she was paying the price, literally. The debt she had accumulated during her treatment still lingered, a constant reminder of the sacrifices she had made for her health.

At least she would be up 50,000BC at the end of this shift, the bartering for various necessities with her home-grown vegetables and Spirulina had been going well. The snail’s or escargot, as her long dead partner called it, was an added protein load once in a while. Life would start looking up after that debt was gone.

The vegetables were a luxury down here, she had picked up things from others. Her friend Dionne taught her to save seeds when and if she encountered them.

Algae requires precious groundwater, only a little, not the filtered piss they drank in the Hub. Or soil from the top levels that still had a healthy biome and gray water. It fell once every 10 months in the warehouse when the loop restarted its cycle. She worked in logistics so she had collected a lot.

Selena took a deep breath, the stimulant still coursing through her system. She knew she had to keep pushing, no matter how hard it got. She had to keep working, keep earning, if she wanted to survive.

The thought was exhausting, but Selena steeled herself, ready to face whatever challenges lay ahead. She stood with the braces on her knees whirring, receiving instructions from A.A as she made her way out of the break room and to her assignment.

The pulse grew louder as the elevator descended into the earth. It also got hot until you reached the transportation area, because f**k the poor and dumb people doing the work. A.A shot cool air from the fans in her exoskeleton to cool her body.

Selena looked at the HyperTube as a ball with her employee identification #3131000 number, rolled in.

“A.A, launch PowerNap the moment it starts moving. I can't afford to lose calories fighting the G forces. Duration: 15 minutes.Extend if the predefined circumstances are met.” Selena estimated. She was allocated 20 minutes of travel time. Why not take advantage of it?

“Instructions noted.” A.A confirmed with a happy chime to motivate the host. Her neuro-chemistry, what he could sense of it. It was not optimal. A.A opened the door like a ‘gentleman’ as it was taught and made it easy for its elderly Host to board. The Harnesses locked into place and A.A engaged PowerNap.

A.A would run PowerNap longer if excusable parameters were met, like if extra offboarding time was required, if an elite HyperBall needed priority or if there was an emergency.

Although its host's eyes, wrist, ears were its primary inputs, the non utilized upgrade combination allowed it superior connectivity in the hub, since it was not integrated. Its reach was pretty far. It used and developed its structure using the extra cells that its host brain used.