Unnaturals Read Online Free PDF

first time in years, she wanted, so much wanted to send one to her dad, that she started crying.
    "It's all right." She glanced at Gilbert and the counter man, then at her computer again. "I thought of something, don't mind me."
    They didn't mind her.
    Dad had disappeared earlier than normal. Even Mom had expected him to come back. He hadn't. Sometimes, when Mom absolutely needed pills, she shouted that he must have been a wrong choice. Later, she was sorry of course. It was so unnatural to think that a mating corporation could make the wrong choice for you.
    "Well, sir," the counter man said, "I have found the perfect mate for you. His name is Zoran 0x12A14656, and his chosen interweb address is Zoran35215. I will contact him for you now."
    Zoran35215 wouldn't even need to come to the mall to find a partner. He could if he wanted to, but he didn't need to. He just had to say that he agreed to become Gilbert's mate, and the counter man would register it in the interweb. He'd give each mate the other mate's physical address and set up a new address to which they would move together. Some people, like Gilbert, came to the mall to ask for a mate. Others, like Zoran, were found. Dad had asked, Mom had been found.
    "But, well, I have always thought that my mate would be a woman." Gilbert glanced at the wall again.
    "She is absolutely incompatible with you, sir. You wouldn't be happy together, and happiness is our first goal. You can, of course, choose to ask her. I will, of course, message her for you. She might agree. But..." The man shrugged. "Do what you will, sir."
    "How about you look for a suitable woman for me?" Gilbert swallowed. He was worried about asking this question, Mel realized. He wasn't used to asking questions, but for some reason he'd asked this one. What was so strong about the woman on the wall? Emotion. A momentary thing.
    "I will do that, sir."
    "No, no." Gilbert broke down. "No, contact Zoran for me."
    " Make your own choices, " Dad had told Meliora, long ago. " Make your own choices. "
    "I wish you happiness with your new family, Gilbert," Meliora said, a normal phrase. Then, "I won't need your help in Annabella any more. I will explore by myself. And, no, thank you, I know how to get to the train station by myself, after I am done with this city."
    Make your own choices. If you don't, stay away from me.
    ***
    It was so unnatural, roaming a new city alone. She didn't care. She didn't message her mom or her friends.
    Hours passed. Meliora didn't even remember where she'd been during most of the time. What did it matter, anyway? It was a city, just a city. It had malls and underground trains and people's physical addresses. It had bike lanes and grass, flowers, and trees beyond the protection-fields by the lanes, birds on the trees and in the air, lights on the lamp posts and sky.
    At some point she realized she'd stopped the bike she'd borrowed from a visitor stand. She was in the middle of the lane, just standing there, staring at the sky and birds. People were going out of their way, changing lanes for her, passing her by politely. The birds didn't have to. Birds could fly so high, even higher than a flying bicycle. So much higher than people.
    She pedaled on. It was softlights time already. She liked softlights. It was more gentle than brightlights, when a huge, extremely bright light shone in the sky, so bright that the streetlights became pale, washed out, as if they needed pills.
    The old articles said that you should not look directly at the bright light, that it might damage your eyes. The new feeds didn't say this. So what, if you damaged your eyes today? The medstat would fix them for you, and meanwhile you would have had a wonderful experience without paying the corporation in the mall. What had been so different eighty years ago, that people had been so careful?
    Mel wondered if those people were all gone now, to the City of Death or whatever it was. She wondered if you still should not look at