Riley jolted up like a rabbit, her hand flying to her through, when Ferrin tapped at the windowpane. After a second of calming her nerves, she slid a finger down the side of the panel, unlocking the glass seal, and the four panes slid out into the side of the apartment building. Riley didn’t live in a house like Ferrin, instead her family – comprised of her mother and mother’s boyfriend - owned a humble space-save apartment in Ang Kio. Her father hadn’t wanted a kid and moved cross-city to start over once Riley was born. She didn’t seem to care much though; she liked her nontraditional and lackadaisical family structure. So did Ferrin. It was a breath of fresh air, and how he would want to raise his kid, in comparison to the tight grip his father had on him and his mother.

            “Snuck out?” She grinned, moving aside to let Ferrin step through the window and into her room. Riley basically had an entire apartment to herself; the apartment was a split-level with all amenities needed on both. She was an adult by any standards - city or otherwise -  as was Ferrin, so it seemed fitting that she had her own space. He was envious.

Ferrin almost didn’t notice Chen sleeping face first on her bed in the back corner, buck-ass naked, but the boy’s gusty snore drew his attention. He cocked an eyebrow.

“Not interrupting anything am I?”

Riley blushed. “No no I just needed some, uh, stress relief after last night.”

“Understandable.”

Riley’s expression sagged for a moment. “I just can’t stop replaying it all in my head. We really could have lost her.”

“I know.”

Chen’s snored hitched for a second, and then resumed cycle.

“So,” Riley sat back down on the window seat, long legs curled up in front of her, “what happened with papa hardass?”

Ferrin sat down across from her.

“Well, he wasn’t too happy but I don’t think we’re going to be in too much shit. He’s got some strings from his job and my mom convinced him to pull them.”

“You’re mother is a saint. Tell her I love her.”

“Sure, for a price.” Ferrin winked.

Riley snorted delicately. “Yeah like what? You wanna go at him? I’ll share.”

“Ha! I don’t think we share the same taste Riles. No, I need to borrow that laser knife sleeping beauty gave you.”

“Why?”

“Secret.”

“Secrets, friends do not make.”

Ferrin skimmed over some possible excuses. He didn’t want Riley to attempt to stop him and she wouldn’t want to go. She hadn’t heard the voice; she didn’t have the pressure to find the truth or the questions plaguing her dreams.

“Well, I have a project I’m working on, and the knives we have at home don’t cut clean enough.” Ferrin said.

“So, you snuck out and risked your dad’s good humor to come here and ask me to borrow a knife? And you have the trick backpack on...for your project? Bullshit buddy.” Riley crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back as she spoke, and then tapped him with a bare foot for emphasis.

“Can I just borrow it? I’ll give it back tomorrow okay?”

“Only if you let me come with.”

“Come where?” He asked innocently.

“With you, tonight, wherever you're going that needs a laser knife. Ah-ah don’t bother, I can read you like a book Fer. I’ve known you for like ten years, plus, I’m a woman.” She shrugged.

Ferrin stared at her a moment longer, molding her into his plan; calculating where the new dangers would lie and subsequent adjustments needed to be made. Everything came out about the same. He pretended to weigh it thoroughly, drawing figures in the air, biting down on his lip, and scrunching his brows.

“Fine, I guess you can tag along.”

She snorted and smacked him across the arm. “Tag along? Dude I don’t tag along. I’m not Weasel.” She winced. “Did you hear anything more about her by the way? From your mom or something?”

 “No I left through my window, but I’m sure she’s fine. We would have heard by now if she wasn’t.”

“Yeah you’re right. Okay so should I come with you now or what?”

“And leave your slumbering prince? No I’ve got to go pick some stuff up so I’ll just swing back around say, an hour before curfew and we’ll go from there.”

“Fine, but you better not ditch me.”

Ferrin grinned; fully aware that to do such a thing would incur the wrath of Riley, a powerful force unleashed numerous times upon the feeble members of his sex.

“I wouldn’t dare.”

Ferrin left the way he’d came, less anxious and more confident in his decision to venture out to the condemned district for a second time, than when he’s entered. Having Riley with him would assuage some of the neurotic loneliness and prove to validate whatever he happened across. Reality or a drug-induced sensory ghost, he’d know tonight. Ferrin considered stopping by the hospital to check up on Weasel and Garth but decided against it. Instead Ferrin thought back to his list and where he could procure steel rope and a crank wedge. It didn’t take him long to think it through: the Re-Con Yard.

Singapore did not waste: “those who waste do more than harm the city, they ultimately harm themselves.” And accompanying the crushing guilt of tossing aside so many reusable wonders, the government also placed a whopping 200 credit fine per household discovered to be junking parts, toys, or anything that didn’t have a black arrow cycle on the packing. So, everything that Singapore deemed reusable, or at least repurposable, was deposited - by a monthly bot pick-up - into the Re-Con Yard at the south end of the city. There wasn’t a huge influx of useful parts most of the time, but Ferrin had found some real gems, including the holo orb he’s programmed to store the Crew’s plans. The flash bulbs came from the yard too and his trick backpack. It didn’t hurt that the only human who worked at the yard, and had full authorization to look through every bot drop-off, happened to be one of Ferrin’s oldest, and strangest, friends.

Ro was a man who didn’t need much. He could’ve risen to just about any position he’d wanted post high-level graduation, but none of the common careers called to him. And when the old Re-Con curator passed, he jumped at the job. Ro liked to build, it was more than a hobby it was his art, so working with an endless supply of parts and constituents was a dream come true. He also liked solitude from the anti-intellects, as he called the majority of the city, and living on a secluded island with a nice view of the city on one side and the protective seclusion of the dome on the other fit the bill.

Ferrin had first met Ro while he was fishing through a specifically large pile of recycled car parts and a shifting in the metal and plastic trapped his arm. If Ro hadn’t rushed to help him Ferrin most likely would’ve lost the arm, and so began their unorthodox, mutually beneficial, friendship. Ro set aside the bits and pieces he thought Ferrin might like to use, and Ferrin brought Ro home cooked food, when he could, and good company that didn’t feel forced.

“Ferrin!” Ro exclaimed as Ferrin stepped into the Re-Con control box.

“What’s happin’ Ro.”

They clasped hands briefly and Ro fell back into his chair, sending up a small plume of dust. He twirled the ends of his whitening mustache with excitement.

“How was the trip last night? Find anything good?”

Ferrin pushed himself up on the table against the wall, the spot he normally occupied when he came to the Yard, and stretched out his legs.

“Riley’s got most of it on cam, but it didn’t go so hot. Weasel took a spill and ripped open her oxygen mask.”

“Nuts and bolts.”

“Yeah, she’s fine though.”

“Well that's a relief.” He paused, eyeing Ferrin. “Is there something else you’d like to say?”

“For being a hermit you read people too well. It’s weird.”

“That’s why I left it. People are too keen on deceiving, and too transparent to do it well.”

“Hmm.”

“So what is it?”

Ro was a good man, and a good friend, with a strong head on his shoulders. Ferrin considered himself smarter than most - regardless of age - but not Ro. At thirty years his senior, Ro had earned his age. He was not an idle man, mentally or otherwise. If Ferrin was going to trust someone to speak about what he’d seen it was going to be Ro.

“It’s just something I saw last night. Do you know anything about the Woodlands district?”

“Ahhh so that’s where you and the gang went off to. It’s a dangerous place to get caught, I know that much. What sort of anything you talking about?”

“The sort of anything that would explain why it’s condemned.”

“Hmm, lemme think a moment.” He tugged at his moustache absently. “All I know is what I heard in school back when I was young and handsome like you. He, he. Something happened there in the first generation under the dome and they closed it off.”

“You don’t know why?”

“Nope, and I don’t think anyone at the time did either. At least that’s what they told us. Don’t they teach all this in school anymore?”

Ferrin shrugged and Ro resumed pulling at his mustache. His hair was still a deep blue-black that swishing to and fro when he spoke, but his moustache was stark white against his pale face.  

“So,” Ro prompted, “what has you all riled up?”

“Do you know if there were maybe more than just this dome at the beginning?”

Ro hesitated a moment. “That’s a strange questions Ferrin, but understandable. One can’t help but wonder for sure but, well, I don’t want to fill your head with an old man’s musings.”

“You’re going to anyways.”

“That’s true I suppose. Well, call it boyhood fantasy or senile delinquency but I’ve never been able to kick thinking that there are more than just us. Beacon of humanity always came off a little too propaganda-like for me to swallow. Anyways it seems hard to believe we were the only dome to be completed in time for the Environmental Holocaust. Though, that’s what we’re told and have been for the last, Lord, three hundred years is it? It’s hard to rationalize that type of time frame with anything but the truth.

I’ve lived a good life here. Only one I wanted and only one I could imagine having. I don’t feel oppressed or lied to or any of the things you're supposed to when living in a dystopian society. I think, if there is anyone else out, than we just don’t know about them.”

Ferrin was silent, mulling over Ro’s words.

“Look, if you don’t want to tell me what it was that put your thoughts in such a chokehold, that's fine. In fact, that’s better. Just take some advice from me in conversation’s stead: before you go looking for the brick that’ll bring the whole house down, remember the house might not be made of bricks.” Ro said.

“I will.” Ferrin replied seriously. Ro was one for metaphors, usually leaning heavily on the imagination, but Ferrin knew that he wouldn’t give advice he didn’t believe. He wouldn’t waste the effort.

Ro grinned and jumped up from the chair, dissipating the somber mood that had settled over them, and clapped his hands together.

“So! What is it your looking for today? Or did you just come by to let to me talk your ear off?”

“Actually I do need a couple things. Some steel cable, a crank wedge, and a latch-pull.” Ferrin hopped off the table.

“The cable’s easy, I’ve got a ton, or something close to it at least. A crank wedge…hmm I’ve got one of my own you can borrow. But latch pulls? Could you give me a hint what you’ll be using it for?”

“To pull a possibly heavy object forward maybe, I don’t know, two meters? Like the one you used for the glitching transport a couple weeks back.”

Ro twirled his moustache around a finger and paced the room, squatting down occasionally to shift through scattered piles of parts. He paused at one.

“Hmm I ended up repurposing that one. Will you need to push this thing back into its place afterwards?”

“I didn’t really think about it.”

“No bother, the more functions the better right?”

He stood from the pile with silver rectangle that had two handgrips, one coming out of each side. He passed it over to Ferrin.

“This is the latch-pull of latch-pulls. Real old and sturdy; they don’t make them anymore. Used to be for pulling and pushing crate and boxes around the shipyard before the bots took over the basic manual labor around the city. I’ve had it lying about for ages, just collecting dust. You just attach these-” Ro turned it over in Ferrin’s hand to point at the multiple cables that were dangling from the box “-to the sides of whatever needs pulling. They’ll mold to shape and you just step back to a good distance and hold onto that trigger. The cable will reel in, and boy, I promise it won’t snap.”

Ferrin pulled the cable out and then used the trigger to retract it. The cable itself didn’t feel too strong but he trusted Ro well enough.

“And to push it back?”

“Same thing, but you hit the other trigger and follow the cables to the target. The cable’ll harden up real quick. They’re made up of millions of metal fibers that, without an constant electric impulse, remain lax, but the second trigger sends a pulse down the length of em’ which triggers the fibers to expand, locking the cable into an impossibly strong bar. Cool as a cucmber my friend, but hot to the touch so watch your fingers when your pulling and maybe pushing this possibly heavy object.”

“Yeah. Thanks Ro, I will. I’ll try to bring it back in one piece.” Ferrin pulled his backpack to one side and dropped it in.

“Eh don’t worry about it. It’s not like I can use it for much, it’s just a toy. The crank wedge though…” He walked away briefly and came back holding the simple machine. “I’ll need it back. No one recycles these anymore and it’s pretty useful. Saved your life way back when if you remember.”

“Yeah yeah I do. Never gonna let that one go are you?”

“Nope. A perpetual IOU from the almighty captain of the 02 Crew, not letting that slip away. Wait here I’ll go get the steel cable.”

Ro jogged off into an annex of the control room. He moved fast for an ‘old man,’ as he sarcastically referred to himself. He lived an active enough life in the Re-Con Yard, lifting and mending and fixing in all his free time. He was probably in as good shape as Ferrin and his mind was just as quick. Ferrin counted himself fortunate to have Ro as a close friend, idol, and constant source of entertainment. Though he did give him a lot of grief over various aspects of his life, of which not sleeping with Riley - ‘the tallest drink at the bar’ - the most frequent.

Ro returned shortly, back through the same door, with a length of wire grasped in his hand. Both ends were hanging down and weighted. Ro’s one step ahead, like always, Ferrin thought. Ferrin hadn’t even considered weighing down the wire tails which, in hindsight, was necessity.

“Those are perfect.”

“Thought so. Just don’t miss, that sucker’ll hurt on the way back.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. Thanks for all the tools. I’d love to chill for a while but I need to check up on Weasel.”

“Of course, sure. I better be seeing you soon though, I want that precious wedge back.”

Ferrin grinned. “If I’m not in reformation then sure, I’ll come by again tomorrow.”

They clasped hands again in farewell but Ro held on for a moment longer.

“Ferrin, remember what I said okay?”

He nodded and Ro released his grip.

“I’m gonna grab my bike while I’m here if that’s cool, I’ll just leave it at Riley’s till I come back.”

“Sure thing.”

Ro’s expression was a bit draw but he still flashed him a grin before turned back to his work desk. Ferrin heard him flop back into his chair with a sigh as he crossed the threshold.

The house might not be made of bricks.

Ferrin added the advice to his long list of Ro-isms and detached his mag-bike from its resting place against the control room wall. From a distance it blended into the rest of the Re-Con yard well enough, as littered as it was with discarded machinery, but up close it appeared brand new. Ro pulled it out of the heap years ago and gifted it to him for his 16th birthday. It was and currently is, the best gift Ferrin ever received. He kept it with Ro most of the time, safely aware from the scrutiny of Lu and his father.

Ferrin ran a loving hand along the exterior of the bike and then swung a leg over the side. Not many people in the city had mag-bikes anymore; they’d faded as most fads do, making way for the new best mode of transport. Right now it was mag-boards, at least for the younger generations and most everyone had a family car.

Riley had a board and Weasel skates and when they felt like escaping into the silence and secret of the night, but didn’t want to do anything too epic, Ferrin and the girls would, to Garth’s reproachful gaze, speed down the city streets, dodging patrol bots and racing eachother. Garth was too big for his mag-board and couldn’t afford an upgrade. Ferrin offered to let him ride his bike one night but Garth was too heavy to get far enough off the ground to pick up any notable speed. It was a sore spot.

Ferrin started up the bike, the familiar vibration of the electromagnet soaring to life, lifting his mood. He took off with a quiet hum and raced towards the bridge that linked up the small island with the city. He slowed down to the legal speed once he crossed - a speeding violation was not something he was interested in receiving, especially not today - and glanced down at his watch: it was almost seven o’clock. He had two hours before he needed to be back at Riley’s, which was more than enough time to visit Garth’s apartment in Clementi. He turned a sharp left off the bridge and kicked off towards the inner districts.

It took him a half hour to get to Garth’s building, even edging up past the speed limit at some of the calmer stretches. Ferrin stepped of the bike, locked it, and buzzed Garth on the intercom.

There was no answer. After trying a couple more times to no success he just left his room a message to relay to him when he got back.

“Garth hey man just checking in. You’re probably at your parent’s house or something. I won’t be around tonight so just hit me back tomorrow some time. I’d stop by the family home but I doubt it’s a good time for yours rents to see me. Tell Weasel she’s a champ.”

Ferrin waited for the building to tell him the message had been recorded for the inhabitant of apartment 26B and then returned to his bike. Ferrin really hoped that he’d catch Garth. The sense of unease that had been saturating every thought since their trip to the hospital had yet to dissipated, and he’s was growing irrationally worried about Weasel. He could go to the hospital, but it still wasn’t worth the risk of being recognized and reported to his father, especially if he’d already called around looking for him.

Thinking of the hospital reminded him to shoot a message to his mother, telling her he would be out for the night. Ferrin pulled out his tablet and typed a quick text then tossed it back into the bag. He rifled around the supplies he’d packed for the night quickly, taking a tally for anything he might’ve forgotten. Now that Riley was coming with him he regretted not grabbing all four masks from under his bed. They’d just have to be careful - no fuck-ups. He also wished he’d grabbed some energy bars or something; he hadn’t eaten since yesterday. Riley wouldn’t still be with Chen, Ferrin realized, he could just go early and steal some food from her. He still had to change and Riley was still in the dark about their destination, though Ferrin had a feeling she’d already guessed.

Lacking desire to invent something to bide his time Ferrin pulled the backpack tight to his chest, started up his bike and took the long route to Riley’s. The artificial light that emanated from the roof of the dome was beginning to dim, bathing the city in a pale sunset. Ferrin had never actually seen the sunset, nor the sun in general (obviously), but the saying had stuck around. Old world slang tended to stick around the city, especially the metaphors. High as a kite – no wind. Drunk as a skunk – no skunks. Growing fast as a weed – no weeds. No one really questions vernacular, everything sounds normal enough until analyzed.

Lights around him began to flicker on to compensate for the dimming atmosphere. His mind flashed back to his dream, and the sun and clouds and sky that had rose up to meet the crowds, as he exited the broken shell of the dome. He could only imagine what natural sky looked like from the pictures he’d seen in history class and the old world holos – pre-EH – that you could download off the net, but his mind’s recreation seemed so much brighter. He imagined the sunlight kissing his skin as he road through the darkening streets.

He reached Riley’s in what felt like a second, so engulfed in his own dreamscape, and scaled the fire escape ladder still tacked on to the side of her building. The building itself was fully renovated to match the rest of the city, and had a fully functioning automated Fire Detection and Elimination System - the FDES - but the residents had petitioned to keep the escape for aesthetic purposes. The city board hadn’t cared enough to argue.

Ferrin had been using that fire escape to visit Riley for the last ten years. Her mother liked to call Ferrin Romeo whenever he popped through a side window; it always made Riley blush. He knocked quietly on the window and Riley appeared in front of him, suited up in skin-tight black clothes. She was plaiting her hair, as she always did before a trip. The window slid open in quarters and Ferrin climbed through, the same as this morning. The only difference was there was no longer a naked Chen sleeping in her bed.

“I was hoping you’d be early.”

“Why’s that?” Ferrin pulled off his backpack and dropped to sit on the floor, his back against the wall.

“So you can tell me why we’re going back to Woodlands.”

She tied off the ends of her braids and joined him on the ground.

“I heard something last night.”

“What kind of something?”

“Something through the door I found.”

“A door where?”

“The dome.” Ferrin shrugged.

“In the dome?”

“Mmhmm.”

“And,” she prompted, “what did you hear?”

Ferrin stretched up his hands to rest behind his head. “Well to be honest, I don’t really trust myself on this part, which is why I didn’t mention it early. When I pressed my ear to the seam I heard a voice saying ‘Dome 45, do you copy, dome 45, can you read’ over and over again.”

Riley’s face was blank. “What the fuck.”

“Yeah, exactly.”

“And why don’t you trust that?”

“Well we did take Banshee right before.”

Riley rolled her eyes and snorted, leaning back on her hands. “Fer, Banshee doesn’t make you hear shit, it just enhances whatever your hearing. Or seeing or smelling or tasting. It’s an enhancer not hallucinatory.”

“Oh.”

“You didn’t imagine anything, but you know that already.”

“I do.”

They were both silent for a moment, Ferrin replaying the message loop in his head, wrapping his rationality around it. Singapore was a number on a list and someone from the Outside was trying to call. He realized with a sinking hard he’s been harboring a small half-hope that he’d imagined it.

“We need to get to where ever that message is coming from.” Riley said after a few minutes.

“Now you know why I had to go back.”

“Garth’s going to be pissed he’s not invited to come along.”

“He’s always pissed.”

Riley laughed and got up from the floor.

“So you got all the stuff you needed for tonight?”

Ferrin stayed sprawled out below her.

“Yup, Ro hooked me up.”

“That guy’s one weird dude.”

“Yeah but he’s a good dude.” Ferrin replied.

“And he gives you free stuff all the time.”  

Ferrin pulled the backpack into his lap, glanced inside at the gear and then handed it up to Riley.

“You’re just jealous. Take a look.”

She leaned down to grab the backpack and pawed through, making faces at some of the items she didn’t recognize. Ferrin hoped it was enough to get them through the door. Now that he had Riley with him he wasn’t so concerned about the trip there, at least he had a second mind to trouble shoot with if they ran into any issues, but the whole trip would be pointless if they couldn’t get through the dome.

Ferrin had never imagined a day in his life when getting through the dome would be a realistic goal. Maybe when he was a little boy, imagining fantastical worlds and magical beings waiting just outside the plexi-plastic prison. But with time those dreams had stayed behind and maturity had shocked him into reality. Life in Singapore was transparent; there was nothing to hide and no fantastical worlds to discover. But now, in the face of what he was about to go searching for, that young boy’s voice was whispering what if in his ear, but his rational adult mind finished it: I don’t want to know the truth.