I stared at Velia, and then at Leste, Evelith and Ol-H1-AZ. On the one hand this meeting was giving me hope, on the other hand it made me feel more hopeless than ever. It was still hard to process all the new information, and to make sense of all the things that were being said. I hadn’t even processed the information from this morning and yesterday night, and now with this stuff about the fundless and other completely alien concepts I was completely lost. And the ‘plan’ itself wasn’t even a plan at all, more something that was going to be made up along the way. If I was honest with myself It all sounded vague and rather hopeless, and even with the added factor of the fundless, who represented a completely new part of humanity with different possibilities I didn’t think we were going to find much that would enable us to ‘revive humanity’ whatever that even meant.

Meanwhile the meeting itself was getting more practical: “We’ll start with the closest Acosmic temple, that’s just two streets from here.” Evelith concluded, but Leste was visibly uncomfortable with that idea, and protested loudly. “You two do that, but without me.” He said, making a childish gesture to ward of evil. “I won’t ever set even one foot in there. It’s a place of death and demons, or even worse. Not even over my dead body!” Evelith shrugged. “Okay, just me and Mr. roboman then for the first mission to search for the remnant of humankind then.” He ignored her, turning to me: “if that’s okay for you, Adaman.” I didn’t have the energy to go against her, so I just said “if you insist,” knowing that I agreed on entering a place of doom with just a barmaid as my companion. She didn’t seem to bother with my lack of enthusiasm and went on with her plan as if the temple part was just one small detail. “And then later we have to try the bank, and the supermarket maybe?” Velia interrupted her. “Yes, but those are not the most important places. We need to find the fundless too, and try to get them on our side. Or at least some of them. They might be in one of the squats. And eventually we need to find out if there is or is not a president left, but that would mean going to a completely different part of The City. But we better first take the closest filial of the ministry then if we want that. We could do with a lot more people than we have now for such things though.”

Evelith nodded. “I’ll go to the temple with Adaman first, after his shift tomorrow. I want to see the state the religion is in. I hope it’s rotting in hell by now.” Her eyes stood very dark and flickered with hate. I suddenly feared for the priests that we might meet if they’d say anything triggering to her. I never had seen her aggressive, but I felt like that might change very soon… I hoped that I was wrong though.

“You’re mad!” Leste said. “What do you hope to find there?” Evelith nodded vaguely. “Clues, answers, information about what’s going on. Religion was the downfall of this City, so it’s important to check out what they’re up to. My intuition just tells me it's the first place to check.” “But you hate the Acosmians.” He rebutted. “I do, with all of my being. But sometimes you have to check on your enemy.” “Why not go straight to the Thanatorium?” He said. “That’s not a bad idea, I’ll put it on my list!” Velia remarked. Leste didn’t react, so she changed the subject. “And Leste, do you have any active contacts with the fundless at the moment?” “No, they seem to have retreated. Niaruk has bought that flour from them and some other ingredients, but the contact person had to go on to another squat after that.” She nodded. “Have you ever had real contact with them outside of barter and trade? Did you ever talk with any of them about their way of living?”

“No, they are closed off to fund-users. They just trade stuff they can’t get for stuff we can’t get because they need to. Being closed off to the fund-system means that they don’t have accesss to a lot of goods and sometimes information. So they keep contact with a few persons here in the light district, and Niaruk has been one of them. I’ve never been able to contact them directly, it was always through someone else.” “So they’re willingly keeping off contact when it isn’t for trade?” Velia asked. “You could say that. We fund-users are just brainwashed idiots for them anyway, and certain of their tribes even see us and every AI as enemies. It won’t be easy to get to them with your plans, but you might be right that they are an integral part of humanity, and probably a key to the future of our species too.”

“Do you really think that the humans who shun funds are able to live together with the non-organic sapients in The City? My information tells otherwise.” Ol-H1-AZ asked. “Well, it’s not going to be easy.” Velia admitted. “Difficult is an understatement, from the few things I know about them.” Leste added. “We have to try. We can’t do otherwise.” Evelith concluded. “I hope your hope is not misguided, human one. But know this: the real inorganic sentients of this City are not just game-created characters. They have their own goals and as much self-preservation instinct as you humans do. And we have more weapons, and can form an organisation that is stronger than you realise. So I hope you humans find a way to connect with those of you that shun funds in a way that leaves their hostility towards us behind. Otherwise I fear that you will only find a new enemy in my brethren, and one that might be stronger than you at this point even though we are few. We might not find a unity when it comes to saving your species, but when we are threatened we will stick together. I have all my sympathy and respect for the kindred our creators, and I realise how much I am in debt to the human species. But if you become my enemy, or team up with my enemy, I can not guarantee my friendship any longer.”

At that point the fatigue came in. I didn’t say much from that point, bute the meeting went on about the relations between humans and non-human sentient beings. My mind was more with the visit I’d be paying to the temple of Acosmia, and I still didn’t really look forward to that. I hadn’t been in a religious building for ages, but I knew why Leste protested. But I had already said Evelith that I would do it, and I didn’t want to lose face.

Was I becoming complicated like the other humans too, or had I been like that all along? Or had I failed in sticking up for myself and let the women fool me into doing things I shouldn’t do? Either way the outcome was the same: I would be going to the temple tomorrow with Evelith.

If only this meeting wouldn’t last too long, because I had counted on sleeping here again…