By week four, she finally stepped outside.
Not because she wanted to—but because she had to.
Her nutrient supply was almost out, and there was no one to get it for her.
It took her a long time to accept that she was now Ann. She often wondered where Ann had gone, now that she had occupied her body.
… Was she dead?
What about herself? Was she also dead? If so, how did her family take it?
Her family, she misses them dearly, so much so her heart aches with every though of them.
Everything around her was so strange.
Only rich people get to eat food, real food. Everyone else relies on nutrient supply, a thick brown jellylike substance that comes in different artificial flavors, but they all taste absolutely vile.
Weather, what's that? Nonexistent! It's like living in a perfectly tampered globe, it's never hot, never cold… or windy or cloudy… or anything for a matter of fact.
As for the oceans and seas, yeah, they exist alright. But Empire State Zhao? Landlocked. Freaking landlocked!
And not only that, but the oceans and seas are ruled by the Star Born Compact, a Hydropolis kingdom governed by sub-aquatic humans and Vlops these facultative anaerobic, unicellular, 'installer' organisms.
This meant taking a swim required crossing a border, which is nearly impossible now. Even after the war ended years ago, tension still lingers amongst all five national forces.
What a mess.
But guess what? Who was she to judge? She wasn't from here anyway. She felt like an alien or what they now call 'installer beings'.
As she walked towards the distribution center to restock on more nutrient supplies, Mari took in the ultra-clean, tech-dependent city named Uvena.
Metal streets lined with hover cars. Skyscrapers wrapped in reflective metallic panels that just hurt to look at.
Robots were everywhere. Every few steps, one could be seen carrying out precise tasks, completely indifferent to her presence. Humans in colorful, metallic suits moved among them, like they'd stepped out of a mecha anime. And towering over them all were the Zhen's also known as AI prophets could be seen with bodies like metal, uncanny and imposing, like faceless, futuristic Skinwalkers.
"Whoever created those were definitely high," she muttered as she stared at the passing Zhen's.
After a couple of minutes of walking Mari spotted her destination.
A building that looked more like a morgue and not a food distribution center, it was cold, quiet, and the smell of disinfectant permeated through.
Just the low hum of hovering service bots zipping across the room and holographic displays blinking out menus she didn't quite understand.
"State your unit ID for nutrient allocation" A service bot zipped across the room to me meet her.
"I nuh…" She caught herself "Ann Ivly. Nine-three-six-five-double-A."
The bot scanned her pupils and paused, for a brief moment she thought there was something wrong, but it simply blinked green before going to retrieve 3 boxes each containing 12 packs of nutrient supplement.
She took them with sweating hands as she got the notification on her holo-watch of points being deducted.
"I'm going to need a job, and a good one." she whispered to herself.
As she turned to leave the distribution center a voice called out.
"Ann"
A girl about Ann's age now stood a few feet away from her, tall, silver haired, milky white pupils and skin fairer than snow.
"You're not acting like so stiff today" she scoffed.
Mari not knowing how to answer just stood there staring at the stranger.
A few seconds ticked by.
The girl unnerved by Mari's stare continued "Never mind, I guess we're all a little tired after the graduation ceremony. See you around 9365AA."
And with that she continued her way into the distribution center leaving Mari rattled.
She knew who it was, Ais, a fellow graduate of Ann's, but they weren't close luckily.
But she still had to be careful.
Even if she's not Ann and probably never will be, she has to act like her for now.
…
Later that night
Mari returned to the apartment and dumped the nutrient packs on the counter like they were lead bricks before storing them into the fridge. She stood for a long moment, staring at her reflection in the dark glass of the balcony door.
Ann's body. Ann's eyes. But not Mari.
There were no brown eyes, no shoulder-length kinky hair no skin that that turned a shade darker in the sun. There was nothing. But now she had to move on, it would have been what her nana wanted.
She activated the holo-screen and typed in Technological Firearm Department.
The interface glitched briefly before loading.
"WEAPON TECHNICIANS WANTED," it read in massive red lettering.
"EYES BEYOND TIME. HANDS BENEATH FATE. WHAT IS FORGED WAS ALWAYS MEANT TO BE."
Below it played a video started to play.
It was Ann, and she was assembling what looked like a gun. With speed and precision, she connected different parts.
Mari stared in awe and horror. Ann, she finally got to see her. Her green eye's glowed with determination as she gave of an air of solemnity. There Ann stood, a woman not a girl like herself, too different that she didn't know if she could pull of acting like her.
Shaking herself out of her amazement and brief awe and fear.
She was also surprised at herself, she knew what was happening with each movement Ann did to assemble the gun, to be more specific an Electra-Gun.
Normally she couldn't even use a kettle without reading the manual but now with the help of Ann's memories she at least knew how to assemble certain weaponry, as for doing it physically well she wasn't sure about that.
Nonetheless, her finger hovered over the Apply button.
"What else am I going to do?" she muttered. Then she pressed it.
The screen blinked, and a cryptic message appeared "BE PREPARED FOR WHAT IS COMING, THE END IS NEAR" before going back to normal.
Application sent.
"What was that?" scratching her head she muffled.