Mumans

A Tale From the Belt

By
Ross G. Homer

Mumans
By
Ross G. Homer

We asteroid miners can get pretty lonely out there in the Belt. Even with todays
mandated low warp speeds, it can take upwards to a year, Earth time, to cross the solar system.
Thats a long time for no companion for certain urges, if you get my meanin. Flyin solo tends to
get old. Once were on site, were usually too busy or too tired for much else.
Littleton Corporation, You Get A Lot From a Littleton, developed the living, or rather,
dish-created, memory for quantum computers about eighty or ninety years ago. It was a short
leap from there to, well, for want of a better term, cyborgs. Cybernetic organisms. Except that
isnt a truly good definition.
Mumans. Manufactured Humans. This is a much better description.
These creations are, for all intents and purposes, as human looking as you or I. Except
they arent. They are grown. In an incubator. Depending on your disposable income you can
order up any kind of model you want: male, female, neither, both, other; white, black, purple
with green dots or any combination to suit your whims; as many legs and arms that are needed
for your particular application; height, weight and intelligence, or lack thereof. There are an
almost limitless number of combinations available. Except for the expense, they are as
expendable as toilet paper and are used mostly for the very dangerous jobs. The Belt is littered
with in-op, ruined or wasted mumans. I usually have several in different configurations.

Mumans

Most of us also have at least one Companion Model. Some prefer male, others female.
And some, well we wont talk about them. Suffice it to say that those sorts have been out there a
long, long time and tended to be a bit goofy. I dont drink withem on Io. Hell, I avoid them on
Earth. Scary, scarred and most with very nasty temperaments.
My name is Davis. Just Davis. My great-great grand-something was a well-known writer
back in the 21st century and I got hung with his whole name. I dropped most of it and became
just Davis. It works for me. You dont like it? Well, if you dont, thats your problem, not mine.
I had already done three, solo, two-year trips out to the asteroid belt at Jupiter and
decided enoughs enough. The four Littleton muman worker drones I have are not designed to be
companions and theyre dumbed down enough to follow only very simple orders. Ive seen
smarter flies. Theyre not much better than bots, just more nimble.
But I digress. I decided it was time and I had to have a Companion. Like I said, six total
years is a long time and the short periods on Earth netted me a couple of nasty STDs.
On the third trip out, I scored an almost pure titanium rock, three hundred yards long by
two hundred wide. Trust me; it was an excellent find and provided me with much needed income
to improve my ship, updates to my apartment in London and finally, order me a Companion.
Now normally a guy can go totally crazy when it comes to creating the perfect
Companion and some have. Theres couple of guys I know who were terribly sorry after one trip
with their creations.
Not me. Nope. I was gonna do it right. First, my muman had to be female with all the
correct female parts, nothing weird or off-the-wall. Just a standard female with a female
anatomy.

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I sat there on the one hundred and ninth floor in the New Seattle office of Littleton Corp
and stared down at the holoimage in my hands. The choices were almost overwhelming. I
touched the image and floated through page after page of already prepared models. Again, the
choices were almost overwhelming.
Well Davis, I thought. Ygotta start somewhere. Lets see nowfive-foot eight, dont
likeem too short, check; nicely tanned, check; curvy, well-shaped, check; auburn hair, check;
dark green eyes, check; sort of oval face, yeah, I like that one. Check. Five fingers and toes,
check.
The receptionist took my order. It was female and was obviously muman as it had four
arms, all doing something different at the same time. I am the Perfect Receptionist Model, the
small placard on its desk read. Perfect for multi-tasking or navigation.
It said, Mr. Davis, luckily for you, we have this basic female model almost ready. All we
need to do is make your requested mods. That will shorten your wait time considerably. In fact,
sir, she will have the nextgen intelligence unit were beta testing. If you accept, well knock off
twenty-five percent if youre willing to apprise us monthly on how she does in the field.
I said, Absolutely! Anything to save a few creds.
Thank you sir. Well debit your account two hundred and thirty-six thousand creds. Sign
here. One of its arms passed another pad to me and I scribbled my name on it with my finger. I
heard that people once used actual writing instruments. Must have been strange back them to
carry extra things like that around.
Thank you again, Mr. Davis. Your Female Companion Beta v1 will be ready in about ten
days. Well text you to come pick her up. Is there anything else I can do for you?

Mumans

I shook my head, smiled, and almost danced as I walked out the door. I saved a bundle
on this thing! Great!
The next ten days was spent overseeing the much needed upgrades to my ship, Truth
Seeker. New drives thatll cut my travel time by almost two months plus major light speed
improvements should I want to go over to, say Andromeda, for the weekend. More powerful
cutting lasers; deeper hold for ore, stronger tractor beams for the big stuff the hold cant handle.
I had my apartments remodeled and I even splurged and bought a hot, screaming red
Mercedes Floater. London to New York in just under an hour. Cant beat it.
Received 1306: Mr. Davis, your Companion is ready. Anytime this afternoon.
Hot damn!
I jumped into my Floater and shot over to Seattle from London in just over an hour and a
half. Landed on the rooftop platform at Littleton and took the gravlift down to 109.
The same receptionist was there. Good afternoon, Mr. Davis. If youll just have a seat,
Ill have your companion brought up. Smiling like a school kid, I sat on one of the leather
couches and picked up a holopad and swiped through the different offered news feeds. Mars
Gazette? Nah. Singapore Timesnope. Luna City Star? Not interested and besides, I was there
for that bit of bother.
I was too excited to simply sit. I stood and walked over to the floor to ceiling window and
looked out over toward the Old Seattle crater. It was in the process of being excavated to create a
new canal to Lake Washington or what the locals are calling the New Lake. I may have to get
me a condo here as well. I like Seattle, always have. That new lake will be great for sailing.
What is it? Six, eight miles across?

Mumans

I heard another door open and turned and there it was; my personal Companion and what
a beauty it was. She was nude and perfect, even to the perfectly designed hair at the juncture of
her perfect thighs. I done well, I thought, mentally patting myself on the back. It was even better
than what I designed; the sum far greater than the parts.
It walked over to me and stopped two feet away. In a sexy, husky voice, it said, Good
afternoon, Mr. Davis. How may I please you?
Well, the expression struck dumb hit home because all I could do was gape, mouth
hanging open and all. My drones didnt speak at all and this one was something outside my
realm of expertise.
It continued. I can learn whatever you wish to teach me. At the moment I have a
rudimentary command of intra-solar system navigation, cooking, homemaking and sexual
activities. I speak eighteen basic languages. I can list them if you wish. I shook my head no.
English, German, and Tagalog were all I needed. A little Swahili once in awhile, depending on
what bar I was in on Ganymede or Io.
I told it I didnt need it to speak any more than those four at any one time. If I needed
more, Id give it learning cubes. I walked around it, checking out its shape and color. Its ass was,
in a word, dynamite. She was, according to the card she handed me, 38-26-37, 58, 160 pounds.
Returning to the front of it, I asked, Uhh, listen. Have you been named?
It replied, No, Mr. Davis. That is your privilege.
I thought about it a moment. Today was Sunday. Why not? So...your name is Sunday. Is
that okay with you?

Mumans

I have not yet been taught negative replies sir. Sunday is my name. Thank you. It had
been given enormous dark green eyes under perfect brows. Its nose, mouth, and chin were in
perfect thirds. Its hair was deep auburn hair was cut very short, close to its scalp.
They had given it a slim neck, perfectly shaped large breasts, narrow hips and a perfect
ass. Its legs were long, and well-shaped and it had beautiful hands with long fingers.
I had to swallow hard. The receptionist interrupted my gaping. Mr. Davis, I need to
mention we had a small breakthrough two days after your order. Sunday has a newer intelligence
module that is considerably faster and able to learn more. Weve even included our new emotions
mod as well. We try to make each of our models as human as possible. All this is, of course, beta.
The same discount applies as well.
I turned to Sunday. So you can feel emotion?
It nodded. Yes, I can. I can feel elation, pain, happiness, sadness. Other, more shaded
emotions will come with practice and learning.
Okay then. We need to get you a wardrobe. I turned to the receptionist. Does it have
something here it can wear? Id hate to parade it out on the street. Muman or not, people will
stare.
Yessir. We provide a basic tunic, shoes and sunshades all at no extra cost. May I
recommend the NordRei store just down on the next block? Many of our clients take their
Companions there for outfitting.
Great. Ill take it there. A moment later a human, or so it appeared, brought out said
items. Sunday carefully pulled on the tunic, buttoned it and then slid into low clogs. It then put
on sunshades.
Mr. Davis, I am ready. It stood waiting, arms hanging inexpressively down its sides.

Mumans

The trip to the NordRei store was moderately expensive although they gave discounts for
clients of Littleton. I kept looking at my chrono as I wanted to sample Sundays assets, one of
which was sex. On this trip in from the Belt Id stayed celibate for this very reason. No use
bringing some damn disease to my new muman. Medicines expensive out there.
Back in London, Sunday fixed us a light dinner that was better than anything I could have
bought at any of the fine restaurants there. Then the sex. As this is not a pornographic account of
the occurrences that followed, Ill leave out the details. Suffice it to say, Sunday was very
passionate albeit, like it said, with only basic knowledge.
We were going to have several months to improve on that. I also discovered theyd given
it the capacity for orgasms as well. Nothing like feedback to help a guys performance.

Mumans

My personal home-asteroid, Thalia, appeared in the port. I had named it after the muse of
Comedy because the bitch had tried to kill me more than once while I was attempting to make it
habitable. Came frighteningly close more than once. I remember becoming hysterical a time or
two because of it. Funny, right?
Sunday, there is our new home. Well land there and resupply the dome. Well be there
another four days then its off for prospecting. We can check out your navigation abilities as well.
I trust you have been studying?
Yes, Davis, as you requested. There was some oddvague somethingpique?...in her
voice. I shrugged it off.
As a learning machine, Sunday was awesome. Its mind was like that of a dry sponge in
water. I couldnt keep up with the knowledge it absorbed.
I discovered something else: Damned if I wasnt falling for it. Get ahold of yourself
Davis! I thought. Its a damn machine thats almost human. No mommy or daddy other than
some strange chemical combinations. Hell, its not much more than an animated sex doll I read
about in ancient history.
But the more hours I spent with it, the more enthralled I became. Could it be her childlike capacity to learn? Its ability to navigate these narrow pathways around billion-ton asteroids
and make faster than split second decisions? Her amazing ability and capacity for sex? And its
cooking. Unbelievable!

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When it was away, performing some duty on the ship or inside the dome, I missed her
although it was never more than a couplea hundred feet from me.
Then came the night at a restaurant on Ganymede. We had spent six months out in the
Belt prospecting for the next big thing. We found a rock of great interest and no doubt huge
credits and were going to celebrate on Ganymede.
Now this restaurant was supposed to be a better place to eat and drink. However, it still
catered to a crowd of men and women who were miners first and civilized second. Or possibly
third, fourth or fifth.
Sunday and I entered and took a table under the skylight presently lit by Jupiter. The view
was stunning, as usual. It was unusually quiet that night and for that I was thankful as something
was bothering me, something I couldnt quite put a finger on.
This was its first time in public since Earth and I didnt know how others would react to
the fact that I, tough-guy Davis, had a muman Companion.
It wasnt long before I found out.
Big Tim OBannon came in with several of his crew. They had already been drinking
heavily and, from the looks of things, into the designers as well. They were loud, boisterous, and
clumsy. Big Tim spied me and staggered over to our table.
He plopped into an empty seat across from Sunday. Say there Davy-boy, I heard tell
ygotta new fuck toy. Nice.
I glared across at him. I didnt need this tonight. Tim, what I have is my business. Why
dont you join your crew? Something in the tone of his voice told me he was taking no prisoners
this night. In the past Id had to mop the floor with him and it looked like tonight may well be
another.

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Cmon, Davy-boy, we aint chatted in what? A year? Here. Let me buy you an th toy a
drink. He eyed Sunday while waiting at the waiter. Yeah, ygot a niceun. You interested in
sharing? My last toy got radiation burnt and I had to dump it. Been almost a year.
Dump a Companion? Was he insane? Looking at Big Tims badly scarred face and hands,
Id say he probably was. I hated to ask, but I did anyway.
Was she dead first?
What? Fuck no Davy-boy. Din want to waste an energy beam on something like that.
Nahhh, I shoved it into the lock and cycled it out. Interesting, he looked at his black and grimy
nails, it exploded just like a human.
Sweet Buddha! I wouldnt do that to a rabid dog.
So, Davy-boy, sharing? I could sure use me a piecea that. He nodded at Sunday who
was now decidedly uneasy. I had never mentioned sharing with her. It was something miners
occasionally did, male and female. She was exclusively mine. I mean, I bought and paid for it,
didnt I?
Sunday turned to me and whispered, I dont like that man. Can we leave?
Nobody in the known Universe could have been as surprised as I at that moment. Sunday
actually made a negative statement and as far as I could remember, Id not changed that
programming. If I said, screw him, her job was to do precisely that, no questions asked.
Feeling oddly other worldly, I nodded at her. Sorry Tim, but were dining alone tonight.
Like I said, why dont you go join your crew?
Oh, cmon buddy. Ida let you fuck my companion, if I had one. Offered it once, in case
you forgot. Yeah, I remembered alright. She looked completely cowed and would have done
absolutely anything he wanted. And did, from some of the disgusting rumors I heard. Her bruises

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when I had seen her proved that. She was probably better off dead, no matter how horrible her
death had been. At least it had been as close to instant as possible.
No Tim. I bit it off.
Well now look. Aint no need to get all shitty and stuff. Lemme just take it upstairs and
have a quickie. I promise it wont get hurt much.
And that was the exact moment I realized, with thundering realization, I was in love with
Sunday! My head whipped around and stared at her. She was already staring at me.
Beat it Tim. There was no doubt in my voice that I meant it.
Hey, Davy-boy, you aint getting rida me that easy. He staggered to his feet and
started around the table.
Sir? Sunday asked quietly, Davis asked you to leave. I would suggest you do his
bidding.
Tim stared at her. Did I just hear you tell me to leave? A muman Companion? He
doubled up his huge, work-scarred fist. As he started to take a swing at her, Sunday rose
gracefully, spun on her left leg and nailed Big Tim under the jaw with her right foot. It was so
quick I would have missed it had I blinked.
Tims head whipped back followed by the rest of his massive body. He crashed into the
table behind us, upsetting two female miners to no end.
I raised my hands. Sorry Wanda, Tina. Hell pay for your meals. Just help yourself to his
wallet. I stared at Sunday who quietly returned to her seat. Wanda, the larger of the two rolled
the unconscious Big Tim over and fingered out his wallet. Fortunately for Wanda and her partner,
unfortunately for Tim, they found a nice fat wad of credits and his bank card. Idiot hadnt gone to
the bank with his receipts yet.

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Tina smiled, kissed Wanda and then me. They entered the bar hand in hand. Before all
hell broke loose, I heard Wanda call out, Boys, drinks all around and keepem coming. Big
Tims payin tonight! And like I said, all hell broke loose.
Mostly I just sat and stared at Sunday, appetite gone. Now I knew exactly what had been
floating around in the back of my mind.
I was in love with a machine.
It was if she could read my mind. Davis, lets return to the dome. I think we need to
talk.
As if in a dream, we left the restaurant hand in hand and took my shuttle back to Thalia.
In fact, I was so distracted she flew. Flawlessly as ever. Neither of us spoke as the quiet Mozart
concertos floated around us during our four hour trip back. Originally I had planned to spend the
night in one of the lowgrav rooms at the Ganymede Marriott.
Inside the dome. My home away from home. I had done it up in four sections; living area,
cooking area, bathing and sleeping. All spaces were quite large but as oxygen was no problem,
they could be.
Sunday spoke first.
Davis, you know that I feel. As I said in Seattle, I feel pain, elation, happiness, sadness. I
get lonely when youre gone as, I know, you do when Im away from you. I was given that
module, the emotions one. I am so much like you. You have taught me many, many things some
good, some, well, naughty. You let me drive your ship which, Im told, is very rare indeed for
Companions. She paused, went into the kitchen and fetched a couple of beers.
Handing me one, she continued. Except for the possibility of off-spring, Im as human
as you. I started to protest.

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No, she said, I am. I may be an amalgam of properly combined chemicals butarent
you? Just because your chemical content was mixed in one egg and sperm makes it no different.
Sunday sipped her beer. Cut me and I bleed. I can bruise as I no doubt will after kicking
Bit Tims hard jaw. She smiled at that. I am ticklish on my feet but then, you know that.
I finally had a chance to speak. Where did you learn that move?
Watch time is tedious and boring. While you slept I used the cubes to learn all sorts of
things. I know a number of personal protection art forms and practiced for hours when you slept.
I know four hundred and seventy-three ways to pleasure you and that many to pleasure myself. I
know how to prepare just about any food you can imagine. She drained her bottle.
I can completely tear down and rebuild the drives on your ship as well as the shuttle. In
fact, I know how to improve them far beyond design limits without blowing us up. Ill do that
next time were on Earth.
But with all that, Davis, Im human. The woman at Littleton is human as well in spite of
her four arms.
Now Im not the least bit religious butHow about a soul? You have one of those?
Laughing, Sunday asked, Why not? Its the same with the chemicals that made you and
I. Ive studied all your religions. Talk about lunacy! Its surprising humans made it this far. But
yes, I feel that I have a soul just as you do. Davis, I know theres something greater than us out
there. She made a sweeping motion towards the top of the dome with her hand.
And, Davis, I knew how you felt about me the moment you stopped calling me it and
started referring to me with female pronouns. She sat beside me and took my hands. I have
loved you almost from the start and I knew it was only a matter of time before you saw through
your prejudices and found it in your heart to love me as well. Tears crept down her cheeks.

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I didnt quite know what to say. Prejudices? Yes, I had em. I meanshes a machine and
all. She caught me flat footed.
Wiping her eyes, she said, As for a machine. Please Davis, Then sarcastically, Do I
look like a machine? Really? She stood and stripped. Does any of this look or feel manmade?
My skin is the same as yours. My bones are mostly calcium, just like yours. My brain is exactly
like yours, uhh, well, its considerably better, actually. She pinched her left forearm, hard!
Blood welled up from the cuts her nails made in her skin. See? Red blood, A-negative in fact.
Damn that hurts!
Dont do that Sunday! Here, let me bandage that. I jumped up a grabbed an ever
present first aid kit. Quickly I cleaned and put a small bandage on the cut. Jeeze, Sunday, I
believe you! I closed the box and returned to my beer. It was empty. Before I could turn to get
another, she already took two out of the fridge.
I know my duties, Davis. Here. She handed me one.
I sipped and looked at the incredible woman, yes, woman not machine, standing in front
of me. She quickly redressed and sat back on the couch.
Okay, Sunday, I guess were a couple. I put down my beer and took her hands. Where
do we go from here?
Smiling mischievously, she replied, How about I show you number two hundred a
four?

Days drifted into weeks and into months. Big Tim finally screwed up and slammed his
old ship into an asteroid harder than he was. He and his crew of six perished in a silent flash.

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Sunday and I claimed that rock from earlier and pulled it Earthward. I was already well-off. This
thing was going to put me, us, over the top.
Out here in the Belt, everyone pretty much accepted everyone as equals, human and
muman as well. Were all in this together and if one of us screws up, all pay equally. Usually
with their lives.
Not so on Earth.
Sunday and I had been out over a year when we returned to Earth.
We spent a wonderful week in my flat in London before returning to Seattle for her
annual evaluation. Instead of taking my Mercedes, we opted for the newly reopened TransCon
rail.
This thing was really a site to behold. It ran on maglev propulsion through a transparent
buckyball tube of clear carbon fibers. From London to New York, three hundred feet below the
Atlantic in just a bit over four hours. Rising back to the surface, it ran to the West Coast,
branching at the huge station in St. Louis. It was a most excellent experience.
In Seattle, the rain came down hard. It had been raining for almost a solid month as good
old planet Earth was trying desperately to recover from the atmospheric damage done to her until
late in the 21st century when true cold fusion power was finally discovered. Free or almost free
and completely limitless energy was now available and Earth no longer required fossil fuels for
transportation or commerce. But the price paid for human stupidity was another two centuries of
unpredictable and often severe weather. That and the meteor collisions that pretty much wrecked
things for decades.
There was a different receptionist today at Littleton. This person was male, had six arms
and no smile. Apparently there was a new law to make all mumans blue to distinguish them from

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humans. One of the more right-wing parties forced it on the government so owners of mumans
were having to come in and getting the color update.
Sunday blue? I thought. Interesting but only if I, or rather we, have to.
The receptionist said, Im sorry Mr. Davis, but its now the law. Itll be dyed I raised
my hand to stop him.
Im sorry, but Sunday is a she, not an it. Is that clear?
My pardon Mr. Davis. Sunday will have to be dyed which will be accomplished while
our techs are evaluating her programming. I can make you an appointment now, if youd like. I
apologize but weve been slammed with customers. Will tomorrow at 1300 work for you?
I thought about it for a moment. Sure. Sunday hasnt seen the new channel to New Lake.
Tomorrow it is.
He held up a hand to stop us. Mr. Davis, I must warn you that there are humans out there
who wont like the fact that your Sunday is muman. Please be careful. None of the receptionist
models can leave the building now. Forty-two was on her way home when she was killed last
month.
Thanks. Well be careful.
A light commuter maglev runs in front of the Littleton Building into downtown New
Seattle. From there one can board one of the larger, faster levs to other cities or states. The
advent of these maglev trains and the speeds they travel has led to breaking up densely packed
cities as workers can now live entire states away from the job and still get to and from their place
of employment on time. It makes for a roomier, more park-like setting for these cities.

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We boarded the next train bound for the New Lake district which is what Lake
Washington had been renamed after the meteor strike. I hadnt noticed the group of young
people; four young men and two women, who boarded with us. Sunday did.
When we reached the lake, we left the train and made our way to one of the many cozy
and intimate cafs that dotted the north shore.
Sunday said, Theres a nice looking place. Shall we go in?
Sure. Theyve got an awning so lets sit out here. Sunday nodded agreeably and we
found a table next to the street. I pointed to the building where I was planning on buying a condo
in the coming days.
The group of six sat a couple of tables over. It didnt take long before their conversation
got loud enough for me to hear. I didnt know that, along with all Sundays other attributes she
had enhanced hearing. She had been listening to them since before we left the train.
It was the usual shit: Mumans aint human. They steal jobs from us working people.
They eat babies. They oughta be banned! We ought t kill every damn one ofem. Littleton
should be burned to the ground. That sort of crap. And thats what I could hear. God only knows
what she heard.
I wanted to say something but Sunday reached over and lightly touched my hand.
Leaning forward she said quietly, Theres six of them, Davis. You might be able to stop a couple
and me a couple but theyd certainly draw a crowd of like thinkers and wed never stand a
chance. Please. Just sit. We can finish our drinks and leave. Id rather go back to our hotel
anyway.
Ever the smart one, I had to agree with her although hearing them rankled to no end.

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We finished our beers, tossed twenty creds on the table and went quickly back to the
maglev stop. The group followed. Now, however, they werent being the least bit circumspect
with their comments and people were watching.
The maglev was coming but it seemed to be dragging. I didnt like the sound of the six
clowns and now they had managed to draw in a larger group of idiots. For the first time in a very
long time, I was worried about my skin.
One of the boys, a huge lad in his early twenties stepped forward. So. This your muman
bitch? He reached out and shoved her.
Sunday staggered and recovered by made no move. Dont do that, asshole! I said.
Leave her and us alone. We havent done you any harm.
Bullshit, dude. It and mumans like it have stolen jobs from us what needsem.
No, she hasnt. Shes been out in the Belt with me. The kid loomed in a little closer. I
got ready to slug the shit.
Yeah? Thats a job onea us coulda had. Right guys? There were nods and agreements
all around.
If what you says is so, why arent there more humans out there? Because its fuckin
hard goddamn work. Thats why. You kids want the top without the stops along the way. Thats
why they are out there and youre not. Now shove off and let us be. Our trains just about here.
The kid shoved Sunday again and again she staggered.
Except this time, one of his buddies stuck out a foot and tripped her.
Sunday fell in front of the train.
She had no chance.

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The crowd dispersed quickly, leaving me with a bloody tangled body. No cops came
because mumans arent human. I looked at the mess that had been Sunday, the late muman and
shrugged my shoulders.
Oh well. She wasnt human anyway. Like all ofem, it was replaceable.
I boarded the train back to Littleton. Gonna need to put in an order for another one.

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