Last Savior

Lucas watched Alice with an astonished stare. She folded her arms across her chest as though in deep thought, which only made that generous bust of hers appear even more formidable—enough to dazzle Lucas into starry-eyed awe. 

In a teasing tone, Alice continued, "If you really insist on a date right now… well, that would lower my credibility rating once folks heard I'd gone out with a criminal. But since you're being so sincere, how can I turn you down?"

Lucas nodded like his life depended on it.

"In that case, if we absolutely must date on the spot…" Alice drew out her words, then snapped them shut with a bold finality, "I'll just have to kill you afterward! That way, we both get our little date, and my enforcer record stays squeaky clean—two birds, one stone. So what d'you say?"

Lucas's show of hopeful excitement halved, then vanished altogether. At length, he forced a pitiful look, speaking in a small voice: "Uh… Miss Officer, I'm not sure what you mean… I only, well, took a bit of food. Isn't killing me a teeny bit extreme?"

Captain Alice blinked in mild surprise, then pouted and grumbled, "But you've 'taken a bit of food' seventeen times! I mean, c'mon—are you a simpleton or just a weirdo? Don't you get that repeat offenders face way harsher punishments? Seriously, 0911, figure it out."

Lucas stood there, tongue-tied. There was no way he could just announce, "Oh yeah, I'm from five centuries ago." If, as Gadget claimed, the technology of this era couldn't achieve time travel, admitting his situation would probably land him in a research lab. 

He could practically see the whitecoat eggheads brainstorming witty titles like "A Study of Primate Evolution" or "21st-Century Cavemen: The Missing Link."

In fact, over the past fifty years or so, the Alliance had implemented sweeping welfare programs for the unemployed, disabled, and homeless. 

Basically, if you refused to work, you could stay home and let the Alliance foot your bills. All the basics—food, water, power—were free, courtesy of the government. Only special luxuries demanded credit points. 

Under those conditions, joblessness in the Alliance was almost a standing joke; for most folks, working was purely an optional pursuit of enjoyment.

Every Alliance citizen was entitled to free daily essentials. Sure, you had your odd criminals who might swipe luxury goods or do crazy stuff like stealing panties from a shop for kicks. 

But Alice couldn't fathom someone filching standard freebies seventeen times in a row. That's dumber than lifting a few eggs from your neighbor when both of you keep unlimited egg-laying hens at home.

So, from Alice's perspective, the simplest explanation was that the guy was either mentally challenged or messed up in the head—especially since she didn't know he was from centuries past and lacked any legal citizen status. 

She just chalked him up as a mild-lobes case with a weird streak. Although, hey, he had a genuine gift for flattery—if he'd gone out onto any random street repeating those sweet lines, he'd have made more credit points than some petty thief ever could.

But it's not like hearing compliments from a "simpleton" gave her any special satisfaction.

Alice sighed and tried one last time, "Anyway, 0911—your behavior is violating Alliance law. I have to arrest you. So please show some cooperation and come along quietly."

"Um… can you not keep calling me 'simpleton'? I'm Lucas—I've got a name!"

Alice scrunched her brow. "Fine. I'm Captain Alice, high enforcer. So, Mr. Simpleton Lucas, can we go now?"

Lucas rolled his eyes. "Hey, Alice, I'm warning you—if you call me 'simpleton' or 'weirdo' again, I'm gonna give you a nickname too: 'Human T-Rex'!"

Boom—crumble—rumble!

A deafening crash echoed. Suddenly, an arm flashed next to Lucas's cheek, its fist buried deep in the wall.

Lucas froze like a statue.

Captain Alice casually yanked her fist out of the stone—right by his face—then patted some dust from his shoulder with a playful grin. "I'm truly sorry about my choice of words. I won't call you a 'simpleton' anymore… so, Mr. Weirdo, you coming or not?"

"All right, y'know what, just keep calling me 'simpleton,' okay?" Seeing how easily she'd smashed a hole into the bomb shelter's wall like it was tissue paper, Lucas realized any protest was a lost cause. For now, he'd have to take the humiliating label of "simpleton plus weirdo" if it meant keeping his hide intact.

Alice's smile turned sugary sweet. "See? That wasn't so hard! Now I'll give you five minutes to gather your belongings… If that naked robot is your private property, and that white-furred pet over there too, you can bring them with you. While you're serving your time, you're allowed to keep them for company."

So she'd realized from the start that Aurelia was a robot—explains why she didn't bat an eye at the sight of a naked android. Maybe with clothes on, Aurelia passed more easily for human.

Lucas hesitated. "My robot's busted. If I'm a prisoner, think I can get the parts to fix her?"

Alice shrugged. "Might as well toss it. As a D-level offender, you'll still have your basic rights, so the Alliance would provide you with a new service bot free of charge while you're in custody."

Lucas shook his head, stooping down to slip clothes back onto Aurelia. "No thanks. I like this one better."

"Suit yourself. Just don't waste my time…" She brushed some dust from her glove. 

At least Aurelia was still hot to the touch but no longer scorching. She tried to speak when Lucas dressed her, but he held a finger to his lips, telling her to play dead—a good choice, since there was no reason to reveal her advanced cognition.

Given what Gadget had said, Aurelia's design might be primitive, but in many ways, it was super ingenious. 

Her AI was top-tier for that era's technology, but no matter what, Lucas had zero interest in trading her in for a new, run-of-the-mill robot. 

Besides, Aurelia had arrived in this future with him, carrying who-knew-how-many threads connecting them. She might well be his only clue to getting back to his original time. Now that Alice was letting him bring her along, Lucas had no reason to leave Aurelia behind.

As for that white rat… Eh, forget it. Better to let him stay right here.