Half December it was clear that it would be a ‘real’ winter again this year, with snow and ice. The Square Bar had added hot wine and several special coffee drinks to the menu, and there were lots of people inside most of the time that otherwise were outside somewhere in the city. Michael was quite busy at work, but in his free time he met more people again, and he was completely used to his new life.

That afternoon he had come home early from the bar, and just when he was relaxing he heard the doorbell again. Running downstairs he almost bumped into a scruffy-looking man, whom he recognised as one of his neighbours.

‘Hey, watch it you good-for-nothing!’ he shouted.

Michael apologised uneasily to the man and then ran back downstairs to the door.

Outside he just saw Eliza with some books.

‘Oh hey,’ he said.

‘I needed to return some books, and I wanted that other robotics book, plus I wanted to say hi to your wife.’ she said.

Michael looked around nervously, he had a bad feeling about his neighbour, but he just said ‘Eh, okay.’

They went upstairs. On the second floor he saw his neighbour again, who looked at Eliza with a dirty grin.

‘Are you bringing in girlies again?’ He said.

‘She’s my friend. Why shouldn’t she have the right to be here?’

‘That’s bad manners, sonny. You need to share good stuff like that. It’s better than what we have in here with our robots.’

His heart almost stopped while he instinctively placed himself in between Eliza and the man, who now blocked the stairs going down.

‘She’s not a toy. She’s a person. And she’s not mine either, she belongs to herself.’ He said, seeing her grabbing something in her pocket, which made him nervous.

Stunning neighbours would be bad, wouldn’t it?

‘You’ve been playing those games for too long here, youngster. It’s time to share your good stuff with the rest of us.’ The man began, but Michael didn’t give him the time to finish.

‘To the apartment’ he whispered, and they suddenly ran. The man wasn’t fit enough to run very fast on the stairs, so they reached the apartment where he could close the door before anyone entered, but they heard him knocking on doors and yelling. He seemed to be mobilising a whole mob.

‘Shit, shit, shit,’ he said. ‘I told you before that a girl wouldn’t be safe in a place like. I saw it in his eyes that time when Megan was here. But I still didn’t expect anything like this. This is even worse than the Alpha incident. What are we going to do now?’

‘Despicable creatures, those Nation men,’ Eliza said, playing with her stunner now, ‘and I just have 10 shots in this thing…’

‘That would bring us into more trouble if we fight them and you run out of shots? Plus having a lot of stunned men here would be a practical problem too.’

‘But this door isn’t going to hold, and we need to get out of here somehow. He seems to be gathering more friends.’ Eliza said, and peeked out of the window.

They could hear several people outside now yelling things like ‘give us the girly’ and ‘you can’t get out, stupid lad’, and some more obscene things that made Michael cringe, but Eliza kept her head cool.

‘That fire escape,’ she said, pointing at a ladder that went all the way down to the ground from a nearby roof of a lower building.

He nodded.

‘It’s our only option I suppose. Take the books you can take in your backpack, you won’t be back here for a while.’

‘We’ll need to take the fire escape before they actually get through the door. But be careful, everything is frozen outside. The robot will need to deal with them. Don’t focus on books, take whatever you need to stay elsewhere, plus maybe a beer for tonight,’ Eliza said matter-of-factly, turning Dorothy on.

She frantically started typing data on the little keyboard on her back, and then whispering commands to her while more people started banging on the door.

Michael put some of his personal stuff in a bag and sighed. So this was it? The end of his time here? It seemed that he had overstayed his welcome with his neighbours, but what was he to do now? He couldn’t stay with Eliza and Megan in their apartment as a man, and he couldn’t live in the bar either. But even that was a question for later, for now he had to focus on getting stuff together, and getting out with Eliza unassaulted.

It seemed an eternity but it could be only a few minutes later when both were ready. Everything about the situation was unreal, and it seemed a crowd was assembling by the door. Eliza looked in his eyes.

‘The robot is in combat mode now. She’s ready to defend herself and the house from whoever gets in, full electric power. And if they’re done attacking she’ll go back to domestic mode and first repair the door and then clean up the house. Plus I have a remote somewhere in the Ghost Town, thanks to the whole escape story, so I can give her instructions and even look at this place through her eyes if you want later on.’

Outside the door another voice had appeared. He recognised the old man that he had met in his first week, who tried to talk some sense into the mad crowd, but they just yelled at him. ‘He was a good one after all, I hope they don’t harm him.’ Michael said, looking at the now motionless robot for the last time before they went for the window.

‘Bye Dorothy. And thank you for everything!’ He said and turned to Eliza. ‘I’m really starting to like that thing, but I still can’t see it as a woman,’ he said as he gave her a hand to help her get from his balcony to the lower roof.

‘So there are people that you do see as women?’ She asked.

‘Hey what’s that supposed to mean?’

‘Nothing, Michael nothing.’ She said, climbing down the rickety fire escape.

Above them they heard the door being smashed, and the voice of the robot against several yelling men, and they more yells that indicated pain and anger.

‘They’ll forget us for now thanks to your dedicated wife, but we really have to get away,’ he said, climbing downwards faster.

When they reached the ground they ran and ran, street after street, except where there was too much ice for running, until they hid for a while in an abandoned house in between the Zeroville blocks at the edge of Seventh City.

‘They didn’t follow us, did they?’ he asked.

‘No, no-one followed us.’

‘Well, that’s one place I can’t go back to. What now? They won’t let me into your house either. And maybe they have their reasons, seeing what happened today… And it’s too cold now to camp here.’ He said darkly, looking around and finally letting the big question in.

‘There’s a place, even if it used to be women-only too until recently.’ She said, putting her stunner away again. and he nodded, and she took his hand and together they began to run again, in the direction of Seventh City Ghost Town.

*

He could never remember how they got from his Zeroville apartment to Seventh City Ghost Town in such a short time in the horrible weather, but afterwards it seemed they had crossed the distance of at least five kilometres almost instantly, in spite of the snow and glazed frost. The first thing he was aware of was standing before the gate.

‘Hi Amanda.’ Eliza said at the guardian. ‘We pledge, blah blah blah. Please let us in fast, I don’t think we’re followed in these circumstances but, there’s evil men after me and him. We need some rest and we need to talk to Lady Martha as soon as possible, he’s sort of homeless now thanks to me I think. Could you alert Jenny for me too?’

The woman named Amanda looked from Michaels Free Person badge to Eliza’s face, and let them pass through, and grabbed the phone.

Out of breath they walked to the bar, where they let themselves fall into a couch in a corner.

‘And now I need a beer, after all of this,’ He said.

They sat together for a while, just drinking a light cloudberry beer very slowly and saying nothing, until they were joined by Jenny some time later, and a minute later Lady Martha herself came too.

Both Ghost Town leaders listened to Eliza telling the story. Lady Martha smiled at Eliza afterwards.

‘You have a habit of bringing in lost boys here lately, do you want to turn this place into Never-never-land?’

‘He needs a new place, Lady Martha, his lifestyle of hanging around with the other sex doesn’t agree with his Zeroville neighbours. And I was the one who was reckless again I’m afraid.’

‘If he isn’t afraid of living in a community of only women and one more lost boy plus his chicken he’s welcome. I’m sure little Eric will be happy to have another harmless man to talk to.’

Jenny nodded and Lady Martha turned to him.

‘You’re not a stranger to us, Michael Michaels, so should know how it works here by now. The community rules will apply to you too, as they already did when you were visiting here. But we’ll make some adjustments for you as a man here and there, like you shouldn’t use the common showers with the women and stuff like that because it would make some people uncomfortable. Jenny will go over the more practical things with you later. Let’s see what we can give you for now when you’ve finished your beer. You’ll need to sleep somewhere tonight after all. The guestroom is filled with visitors from another Ghost Town I’m afraid, so we can’t use that one today.’

He just nodded. Today had been too intense.

Jenny took out a paper.

‘You’re lucky, young man. We have a place in our most recently rebuilt housing complex. The building has its own generator, and wide two-storey apartments. We’re also working on the swimming pool and the garden, but that will be a summer project.’

He nodded but didn’t answer.

‘I’m afraid you have an apartment on the top floor, which means eight stairs, but the elevator can be used too. It’s a two-person apartment with a separate shower, which is why we give you this one, but it’s big enough for a couple actually. The rules for women couples will apply to you too by the way if you ever choose to take a partner. We’re not going to change any of that for just one man.’

She seemed to be looking at Eliza for some reason while talking to him, and she was also the one to answer.

‘Ah, you really don’t have to hurry with that, maybe in a hundred years or so things like that might be relevant for him. By then you could have written a library of new rules for the grandchildren of the first mixed couples here. Better tell him about the rent and practical stuff for now.’

‘Ah, yes, right…’ She frowned and looked at Michael again.

‘As you know, Michael, it’s a community here where everyone works together. You’ll be expected to help the community during your stay here, as everyone does. Or you can pay in Nation money if you are able to keep your job, we can always use more of that too. You were still planning on keeping your job, weren’t you?’

He nodded.

‘I think so. But I need a day off now to think things through and maybe get the robot to salvage some of my stuff. Do you have a phone here to call my boss to reschedule my shift?’

‘Sure, in the main building we have one at the desk. If you’re looking for another job we always need more hands on the farm. But we can also use the Nation money, so don’t feel bad about working outside either. And occasional tasks as an adviser on male affairs count as work too, you’re still the closest to an ambassador to the male world that we have I’m afraid.’

‘So I can ask Robert or Rafael to help me with moving some stuff from my old place?’

‘If women are human, men are human too. Or at least they have the capacity to be so. But we still won’t let in a random man, you know we need to think of our safety. You’ll have to ask your friend to wear a Free Person badge and he’ll have to agree to the free person pledge when he enters. Eliza will certainly be able to help you with badges. We will trust you that you won’t bring dangerous people here, but you better warn any man who enters here about the rules. If he misbehaves he’ll be banned forever, or even stunned and left alone in the woods without any weapons as the stories tell. Or worse, people might reconsider allowing you here too, so it’s important for you too to choose wisely who you’d bring here. Don’t forget that this is a highly controversial experiment to even have you here after all.’

‘No pressure on me at all I see.’ Michael said.

Lady Martha sighed. ‘I personally trust you, and believe that a bridge can be formed between our world and at least some people within the Male Society. But not everyone on my leadership team is convinced yet. And you’re not a teenage male Ghost Town asexual like the little one. So please prove them wrong. It could mean a lot for the future generations. Maybe it will even bring future generations here.’ She said.

‘Ah…’ he said and Eliza grabbed his hand and looked him in the eyes from too close.

‘No pressure on you at all, Michael-boy. You just have to be the perfect gentleman, and then make a lot of babies too. Because you and you alone will be responsible for all men in The Nation, and for rebooting reproduction here in Female outlaw society. But you’ll still have to be strictly monogamous while having hundreds of children. And maybe you can build some satellites too to reboot the internet. And bring back the mammoth… And the dimetrodon too please, they look cool!’ Eliza wrapped her arms around him but he pushed her away.

‘Please, I just escaped my neighbours who wanted to assault you. And I’m quite nervous about being here already, don’t make up weird scenarios now please. What I need now is rest. And no innuendos please.’

‘I’ll leave you both so you can rest and plan a bit. Eliza will show you the phone desk when you need it. And oh, Eliza, don’t forget you were going to fix that 3D-print-machine again somewhere this week.’

‘I will certainly look at that, but now I have an endangered species to save. Is it okay that I come for the key later on?’

Jenny nodded, and both she and Lady Martha left the room.

Michael looked at his beer for a while, listening to the music, before he said something. ‘Oh, man. Why does all of this have to happen to me again?’

Eliza saw the mood in the room go down and sat next to her. ‘Are you going to be depressed now? Or angry at me?’

He looked her in the eyes, rather surprised. ‘Why do you think so? Why should I be angry with you? You brought me here.’

‘This is the second time you lose your home thanks to me…’

‘Ah, I see what you mean… But no. Well, at least here I won’t have to protect you against men anymore… I can safely bring as many female friends at least here, and no-one will bother.’

‘I wouldn’t go so far, there still might be minor gossip and stuff like that. There will probably be some stares too… And don’t forget Mildred.’

‘But no-one will ever sexually assault you here, or Megan or Angela… At least you will be safe.’

She looked at him again, more thoughtful now.

‘Possibly you’ll be losing even your zero rating too if you don’t live in a state apartment anymore. And it’s my fault again. You got in trouble twice because you had to defend me against other men, and now it might end up a complete deletion if you don’t watch out. Are you sure you even want me in your life? I seem to be an enormous risk factor. More than any other girl even for some reason.’

‘Ah, my chances of getting rated again are lost when I move in here you mean? I didn’t even think of that. But my rating is a Zero, and any rating is useless when I’m living here anyway, not?’

‘Well, you could give the community more Nation currency if you get a badge again and keep working at the bar.’

She came closer.

‘But I was asking something else. Are you sure you’re okay with having me in your life, even after all of this? Am I not the source of all the misery?’ She was quite close now, and he didn’t know how to react to that. He looked at her, unable to answer, and felt his heart beating. Something in his mind was trying to form words, but they didn’t come out.

A sudden voice broke his state.

‘Michael, Eliza. I’ve been worried about you both!’

Megan came running into the bar. ‘Hi Megan, wanna come join in the community life too?’ Eliza said, taking her distance from Michael.

‘What has happened? I heard you were almost assaulted.’

‘His neighbours wanted to get to know me better, or something like that. But you know I can be an introvert around pushy men, so I disappeared though the window with him, and we asked Dorothy to do the talking for us. And now we’ve found a safer house for him.’

‘They attacked you, a whole group of them?’

‘They threatened him too. And asked for him to hand me over. Which triggered some unpleasant memories. I hope our robot friend has talked some sense into them by now. I reactivated some of her old programs…’

Megan grabbed Eliza in a choking hug.

‘I was so afraid when Jenny called me on the phone. I’m so glad you’re safe.’

She looked at him too.

‘But you say that Michael is moving here now?’

‘He chose girls over his pretty state apartment, he couldn’t combine both. You can say what you want about living in a Ghost Town, but there will be no problem with having women over here.’

‘No, but he’s a man himself. And this is supposed to be a women-only place.’

‘Who could resist bringing in our trophy boy here? He’s a bit of a celebrity anyway here. And he’s so cute he’s bound to make all women here like men again, not?’

‘Eliza, please.’ Megan said.

‘Hey, I’m sitting here. Don’t go talking about me as if I’m not present.’

Michael said and Eliza let go of Megan and pinched his cheek. Megan now hugged him.

‘Yes, dear boy, you’re sitting here and you’re probably good at sitting here too. But maybe it’s time to stop sitting here. You were going to phone your boss, and then we’ll go check out your new home.’

‘Come, Michael!’ Megan said too.

He said a silent prayer before he followed the girls to the phone room and then his new home. At least this time there was a sparkle of hope for the future.