Chương 40: [The Easier Way]

The entrance to the town centre opened up ahead of them. A set of glass doors, one propped open with a bin, leading into a covered arcade. Two rows of shops faced each other across a wide walkway, a vaulted glass and steel roof running the length above them. The light inside was softer than outside. Rika's head went back immediately.

"It's all inside," she said.

"It's called a shopping centre," Parmo said.

"Keeps the weather out. Most towns have one." They moved through slowly. The shops on either side were a mix, some dark and closed, some with people moving about inside. Nobody was working, nobody was buying anything, but people were in and out, taking what they needed, leaving names on slips as record.

"That one," Parmo said, nodding at the golden arches of a darkened shopfront.

"That's a fast food place. Quick and tasty food, not exactly good for you, but easier than cooking when you just want something fast."

"Is it open?"

"Not without power to run the fryers. Eventually though." Rika's wings settled and she moved on. The walkway opened at the far end into a wide circular space, natural light coming down through a glass dome above. A food court to one side, empty tables and chairs still arranged as if waiting for customers. Three more corridors of shops branched off in different directions. Escalators and a lift connected to a second floor above them. Shai was looking up at the escalators.

"What are those metal stairs for? There are normal stairs just over there."

"They move by themselves when they have power running through them. You step on the bottom step and then wait, it takes you to the top. When I say it like that it sounds incredibly lazy doesn't it... I suppose that's kind of the point to a lot of our progress, why do something when there's an easier way."

"It does." She laughed.

"And all of this, it's just for shopping?"

"Mostly," Leo said.

"People spend a lot of time in places like this." She looked along the corridors.

"How many shops?"

"Over a hundred I think. It used to be where everyone would come to get what they need. That changed a few years ago with this thing called online shopping but this place is still pretty popular." Shai's ears tilted forward slightly.

"Online shopping?"

"We have this thing called the internet. Imagine everyone had a device they could use to find out any information they want at any time, pretty much instantly. It does a lot more than that but one of the things it changed was shopping. Buying things without leaving your house. They get delivered to your door, sometimes the next day, sometimes the same day if you're lucky." Shai looked at him.

"You don't have to go anywhere?"

"Nope."

"So anyone, anywhere, can get almost anything they want the next day without leaving their home."

"More or less yeah." She looked back along the corridor of shops, some dark, some open.

"Is that why some of these are closed? Before all this I mean."

"Partly. A lot of people just stopped coming. Why travel when it comes to you."

"Your world built something so convenient it made places like this unnecessary."

"Yeah," Leo said.

"Took us a while to notice what we were losing." She looked at him for a moment then looked back at the corridor.

"It's incredible."

"It is. I've never really stopped to think about it." He paused.

"Funny what you notice when someone's seeing it for the first time." This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

"Come on," Leo said.

"Hardware store's this way." The hardware store was three units down, its entrance propped open. Torren slowed as they reached it and looked inside.

"Can we go in?"

"Yeah course," Sam said. The store was dim, natural light filtering through the front windows. Torren moved through it slowly, picking things up, turning them over, setting them back down. The others spread out around him. He stopped at the hand tools first. Picked up a trowel, tested the weight, ran his thumb along the edge.

"These are very light."

"Aluminium alloy mostly," Sam said.

"Made in a factory, thousands of identical copies. Engineered to be as light as possible without snapping." Torren picked up a second one, held both, comparing.

"Ours are heavier. Forged by hand."

"These would outlast them," Sam said.

"More consistent." Torren set them down and moved to the bags of compost stacked along one wall. He crouched, studied the label without understanding the words, looked up.

"It's basically fake soil," Luka said, coming up beside him.

"Processed, packed with nutrients. You use it when your actual soil isn't good enough or you need more of it." Torren pressed the bag gently, feeling the texture through the plastic. Phil had drifted to the shelf beside it and picked up a bag of fertiliser.

"And this is like a boost. Chuck it in with whatever you're growing and things come up faster and healthier. Don't ask me exactly why, something to do with what plants need to grow." Torren took the bag from him and looked at it.

"Your world found what plants need and put it in a bag."

"Basically yeah," Phil said. Torren set it down carefully and moved to the seeds. Rows of small packets, vegetables, herbs, flowers. He picked up packet after packet, studying the pictures, Shai's ears flicking as she watched him without turning fully.

"None of these are familiar to me."

"They're from our world," Luka said.

"No idea if they'd grow here." Torren turned a seed packet over in his hands.

"I'd like to find out." He was still holding three packets when he looked up and went still. Above the top shelf, pushed back and gathering dust, were several flat boxes. He reached up without effort and pulled one down. The dust that came with it said it hadn't been touched in a long time.

"What's this?" Luka looked at the box. Then at the shelf. Then back at the box.

"Pop up greenhouse." He looked at Sam.

"Did anyone know those were up there?" Sam looked at the shelf.

"Torren, can you grab the rest if there's more up there?"

"Sure." He reached up and began pulling down boxes. A row of identical boxes that had been pushed back against the wall, completely invisible from ground level.

"Yeah, no one would have thought to look, that shelf would need a ladder." Torren counted.

"Six of this size. There are a few bigger ones as well."

"Open one," Sam said. Torren set the other packets down and opened the box. The greenhouse half sprang out of its packaging before he'd fully pulled the flap back. He stepped away from it instinctively, hands up, the whole thing unfolding itself on the floor between them with a series of soft clicks. Phil burst out laughing. Torren stared at it. Then at the box. Then back at the half assembled structure on the floor, plastic frame and clear sheeting catching the light from the window.

"It does that on its own?"

"It's folded under tension," Sam said, crouching down beside it.

"Like a spring. Push it flat and it wants to pop back. Locks itself into shape." Torren crouched opposite him, running a hand along the clear sheeting.

"And this lets light through but keeps the warmth in."

"Yeah. Sun comes in, heat gets trapped. No power, no maintenance. Just set it up." Torren looked at the shelf above them, then back at the greenhouse on the floor.

"These would let you start growing inside the barricade straight away. Before the bigger ones go up."

"Yeah exactly," Luka said.

"Terry needs to see these." They packed it carefully back into the box. Torren tucked three seed packets under his arm and looked at the boys.

"I'd like to come back here."

"Whenever you want," Phil said.

"Here, we can store all of this for you." He nodded at the seed packets and the greenhouse boxes.

"Take it back to the meeting, show Terry while everyone's still there. Worth doing before people head off." Torren looked at the box, then at Phil.

"That would be useful, yes." Phil reached out and the boxes disappeared into inventory. Luka took the seed packets. Torren watched them vanish.

"Still remarkable," he said, and meant it. They left the store and headed further into the centre. Two units down a clothes shop opened up on their left and Rika stopped walking entirely.

"In here," she said, already moving. Shai glanced at Leo then followed her friend. Leo looked at the others then grinned.

"Let's hope this isn't going to take hours." They followed. Rails of jackets, shelves of folded tops, a wall of jeans in varying shades. Rika was already touching things before the boys had made it through the door, her wings half spreading as she pulled a hoodie off a rail and held it up.

"These fabrics. They're so soft. What is this?"

"Cotton mostly," Parmo said.

"That one's probably a blend." She pressed it against her face. Torren picked up a folded shirt nearby, held it between two fingers, raised an eyebrow at the weight of it. Shai moved through more carefully, running her hand along a rail of jackets. She stopped at one, checked the size, held it against herself.

"That one would suit you," Leo said. Her ears tilted slightly. She looked at the jacket. Rika had found one she liked and was already trying to get it on before her wings got in the way.

"You guys have a seamstress right? Maybe they could alter one," Sam said.

"We can grab some matching material from somewhere."

"Really?" Her wings lifted slightly.

"Thank you. Yes, we're doing that."

"Yeah no worries." Sam laughed.