Lotti left the engine room, ran through the Commerce Deck, restaurant, Ivan’s home, and all places restricted to Tier-1, but Ivan was nowhere to be found. She could only proceed to the Tier-2 decks, and those were not pleasant places.
Tier-2 Entertainment Deck
Confined space, scarce resources, weary souls. Rushing for work and running to rest, for even more work tomorrow. Every day they got another day older and deeper in debt, Tier-2’s everyday life was a sorry sight to the well-off Tier-1.
Lotti first arrived at the Entertainment Deck, where Ivan was most likely to be found. Dim light, purple red holographic advertisement, rough and shallow music, cheap alcohol and junk food, and suspicious medication – people arguing in the light, people embracing in the dark, or perhaps some were Genome Automaton – welcome to the Tier-2 Entertainment Deck. For the vast majority of the manual labourer in the Ark, this is what they lived for. Cheap bread and a vulgar circus keeping the fools down, it had always been a convenient way to manage the population.
Lotti braved the adventure with her tiny body, carrying her trusty food box along. She went to the Genome Agent section but didn’t find Yui’s name on rotation list nor any sight of Ivan. She searched through the bar, disco, casino and found nothing. Suddenly, she had an idea and rushed to the Genome Automata section where she found Ivan wandering around aimlessly.
“Ivan!” Lotti shouted, but they were too far away.
It was at this moment, a Genome Automaton closed into Ivan.
“Hey handsome, wanna play?” The Automaton began touching his shoulder.
But Ivan just stood there and stared blankly. The Automaton smiled and started hugging him.
“You won’t be able to stop,” The Automaton held him tight and kissed his neck. “Offer your genes, in the name of the New World!”
Ivan eyes were suddenly wide open, as the time with Yui flashed into memory.
He thought of the smile on Yui when she woke him up.
He remembered feeling shy when Yui watched him eat.
He remembered being hugged by Yui when they were walking in the Commerce Deck.
“Y-yui…” Ivan started crying out of nowhere, and the Automaton didn’t know how to react in time.
“Gotcha!” Lotti grasped the opportunity and ran forward.
She shoved the Automaton aside with her tiny body and pulled Ivan away.
“L-Lotti!?” Ivan was surprised.
ns 15.158.61.20da2
