Wherewithat 4

Heti Flaardvoorst walked briskly to the apartment door knowing that things were about to change in a way she could not control.

Marthi had been missing over a week now. He had failed to return a number of times before, but this was the first time the Administration Centre had become formally involved. Bala, Mani and Jack - Heti and Marthi's inheritors - had remained home today as requested by the Visitors in their memo.

Bala and the two boys sat around the Entertainer, watching a performance that played regularly at this time of day. They were usually in work, so the jokes were new and funny to them. They took the interval messages about hygiene and healthy living seriously like everyone else. The comedy was merely a way of gaining their attention.

Heti opened the door and the Visitors walked into the room. There were three of them, carrying an assortment of communication devices, side-arms and voice recorders attached to their uniforms. They looked around and made a quick head-count. The senior of the three was scrolling through a file.

"Heti Flaardvoorst?"

"Yes."

"And these are your inheritors?"

"Yes."

Bala, Mani and Jack stopped watching the show and looked across at Heti. Jack turned the Entertainer off.

"Where is Marthi Flaardvoorst, Heti?" asked the senior Visitor.

"I don't know." replied Heti. "I was hoping you would be able to tell us. Can't you track him?"

"He ceased transmitting three days ago." one of the other Visitors spoke up. He had a technical air about him. Matter-of-fact, dry and quite charmless. Heti decided she didn't like him. Not that it mattered. Emotion wouldn't play a large part in the proceedings to follow.

"Is he dead?" asked Bala. The Visitors ignored her.

"Well, is he?" asked Heti.

"The telemetry didn't register any physical failure." said the technical Visitor. "The signal simply stopped."

The senior Visitor turned around to face them as if suddenly bored scanning the room. "Come with us, please. You are required at the Administration Centre."

Heti and her three inheritors quietly picked up a few personal items and walked out of the door behind two of the Visitors - the chief following behind to secure the apartment.

Out in the corridor, they stepped onto the transport. All areas of the 5th Hospitality Commune were connected by an on-demand transport system. Scheduled transports connected the communes in the local and wide areas.

Safety screens silently formed and the corridor blurred into the familiar patterns of high-speed mobility. In no time they were standing inside the reception area of the Administration Centre. The senior Visitor beamed the consignment details to a host.

"Goodbye Mrs. Flaardvoorst. The host will take care of you now." With that, the Visitors stepped back onto the transport and were gone.

Heti, Bala, Mani and Jack briefly looked around them in a state of mild disorientation. The room was large and airy with a busy and efficient feel to it. The hosts were robots, who managed their hotel-like environment in a friendly and competent manner.

Their host moved quickly over to them. "Hello. We have a reservation for you in the rest area. Let's get you settled first and then we can take things from there. Follow me."

Bala picked up the small portable Entertainer that she had brought with her.

"You can leave that here." said the host, more as an instruction. "You won't need it in the rest area and, anyway, they don't work in there. Come along, please."

They followed the host through the doors into a quiet space, where they were each shown to a small cubicle containing a bed.

"Please lie down and rest. You can place your things in the locker." The host's manner was friendly but persuasive.

The four were naturally compliant. They placed their clothes and anything else they had brought along in the small locker beside each bed, then lay down. Conversation between them ceased - each retreating to his or her own thoughts. Heti wondered where Marthi might be and tried to remember how and where they first met.

The host quickly loaded reconfiguration data onto each guest's chip, bringing sleep immediately to them. Screens were brought down around the four stilled humans and the host returned to reception to upload their status to the Administration Centre.

© Copyright Kevin Buckle 2012