2 two

Adena's bed was so comfortable Sana didn't want to wake up. She heard Adena in the shower. But without windows, she wasn't sure if it was daylight yet. But she'd had a better night's sleep than she'd had in quite a long time.

Sana recalled being intimate with Adena as she laid there still more a sleep than awake. It had been a long time since she had been intimate with anyone. It had felt good to sleep curled up skin-to-skin with another warm body. And Sana decided Adena was more than pretty. Adena was beautiful and had made her feel beautiful. But she needed to get up. She still had a day or two of driving ahead of her.

Then Sana felt someone near her. But she could still hear the shower going. She opened her eyes and there was a strange woman standing over her. Sana hadn't seen enough of her to recognize her. Still, she guessed, "Donna, right? Adena said it was alright if I spent the night. I hope it was."

"Did you see my husband, Jeremy, and our two kids Donald and Jeria, in the mall," asked Donna. "Are they still there? Adena won't tell me, and she won't let me go back."

"What," asked Sana confused.

"Most of the people in the mall aren't people," said Donna. Then she whispered, "They grow them... I got pregnant in the mall. When I went into labor, they took me to a white room. I had my baby, but they took it away. That was a year ago, I think. Then they brought me here to Adena's, and she won't let me go back."

Sana didn't know what to think do or say. Donna wasn't making any sense.

"Donna," Adena called from the bathroom doorway wrapped in a towel.

Donna nearly jumped out of her skin as she turned toward Adena.

"What are you doing," Adena asked Donna demandingly.

"Nothing," answered Donna and she rushed out of the room.

Adena came and sat on the edge of the bed by Sana. She affectionately touched Sana's hair and brought her fingers to her full soft lips, "I hope she wasn't bothering you."

"No," said Sana. "She just seems lost and confused."

"I'll have a talk with her," said Adena.

Sana sat up, "I have no idea what time it is. Is it okay if I use your shower?"

"Of course," answered Adena. Then she kissed Sana.

Sana smiled at her. "After my shower, you've got to tell me how I can keep in touch with you. You've got to have an email address or something."

"Why," asked Adena.

Sana suddenly felt awkward, "Oh, ah, I never had a one-nightstand before... I thought... I'm sorry... I thought I'ld stop by and see you on my way back from the wedding... I'll be out of your hair right after my shower."

Adena laughed, "Don't be silly, my love." Adena kissed her deeply and Sana found herself submitting to Adena's intimate attentions again.

Sana showered quickly. Donna peeked at her as she came out of Adena's room. She found Adena making breakfast in her kitchen.

"I hope scrambled eggs are okay," asked Adena.

"That's fine," responded Sana. She wasn't sure what was going on between her and Adena beyond the intimate stuff, too many years of celibacy and refusing to date. Her mother, aunts and friends were always trying to introduce her to someone and set her up on blind dates, but Sana refused to do the blind date thing.

"I have some work to do in my office today," Adena informed her as they ate. "Help yourself to whatever you want here in the kitchen, there are plenty of books, TV and the exercise equipment in the small bedroom upstairs. I hope you don't get too bored while I'm working."

"Adena, I really need to get going."

Adena laughed, "My love, there's nowhere you need to get going to. All you have to do is love me."

"Adena, I'ld love to hang out with you a while longer, but I've got a wedding to get to. Plus, I've got to get somewhere where my phone will work so I can call my parents and let them know I'm alright. I've never driven across the country by myself before and I promised them I'ld check in every day."

Adena laughed and kissed her fingers, "Sana, my one true love, this is your home now."

"Adena, I don't know if you're my one true love or not. But I really need to get going. Would you please just let me back into the mall?"

Adena sighed, "You don't love me. You want to leave me."

"Adena, it's way too soon to be talking love. I have a wedding to attend, a life to get back to, parents I know are worried sick about me. I have a job I really enjoy. So, it's not like I don't want to hang out with you and get to know you better, but I have responsibilities."

"As do I," said Adena haughtily with a touch of anger.

Sana thought silently to herself, "A nut job." She thought, "She may be as fruity as her roommate... You've spent way too long celibate and pushing people away and this is what it's lead to, Sana Coles. You fell into bed with the first pretty face that paid attention to you."

"I'll let you into the mall," said Adena standing up from the kitchen table.

Sana followed Adena to the only door she had seen that let anyone in or out of Adena's home. Donna came racing down the stairs. "May I go into the mall, Adena? Please, Adena, please."

"No, Donna," Adena told her with flat cold eyes. "There are scrambled eggs in the kitchen. Have some breakfast and get some exercise."

A tear ran down Donna's cheek, "Okay, Adena." Then she turned and walked to the kitchen.

"You could of let her walk with us," Sana told Adena. "It might be good for her."

"I'm in charge here," Adena told her firmly, "This is my work, my experiments."

Sana didn't know how to respond. She simply said, "Okay," as Adena scanned her hand to let them back into the mall. Then she watched the door shut behind them, leaving Donna trapped on the other side.

Sana felt bad for Donna. But she really didn't know what was going on. The things Donna said didn't make sense. And things Adena said didn't make sense. But she didn't have time to try to sort things out. She had a wedding to get to. Yet she didn't want Adena to think she didn't care for her. So she took Adena's hand and held it as they walked back through the mall. She noticed some people staring at them, but she didn't pay them any mind. Sana noticed a girl nudge a man. The girl looked about twelve and there was a teenage boy with them.

When they came to where Sana was sure she had entered the mall, her hand fell away from Adena's. She stared at the wall where the doors she came in through should have been.

"What's the matter, Sana," asked Adena amused, "Loose something?" Then she laughed.

Sana stared at the wall in disbelief. She was sure this was where she came in at. She stepped up to the wall and ran her hands over it carefully. She felt a couple of very fine seems. Other than that, the wall was icy smooth.

"I know this is where I came in," Sana said out loud.

"That's where we all came in at," said a man.

Sana turned toward the man. He was a very well dressed black man with a low fro.

"Except for the robots," he added. "We all got in that way. But no one gets out that way."

Then he pointed at Adena, "But you seem to come and go as you please."

"She has a house at the back of the jewelry store," shared Sana. "But there's no way out of the mall there that I saw. It doesn't even have any windows."

Then the man stepped up to Adena and loomed over her. "But I think she knows something. I think she knows why we can't get out of this mall."

Adena pulled a device out of her pocket and tazed the man with it. "I don't know what you're all upset about," said Adena. "Everything you need is provided for you courtesy of our government: food, shelter, clothing, medical care, entertainment. You're free of all your bills and responsibilities. You should all be grateful."

"My car has a GPS system," Sana informed Adena. "My parents will use it to find me."

Adena laughed harshly, "All of those vehicles have GPS systems. But just like your personal phones, they don't work here. No one will be coming for you.

Just ask the Petersons," Adena motioned toward a man in a suit flanked by the girl and teenage boy Sana had seen nudge the man as she and Adena walked by them.

"The travel home in the parking lot is theirs," Adena informed Sana. "It has a GPS system, and it hasn't led anyone here to find them. They've been here over five years now anyway. Their home is owned and inhabited by another family."

"What happened to Donna," asked Mr. Peterson. "Where's my wife? Where's our baby?"

"They're safe," answered Adena.

"Donna," repeated Sana. "You mean your roommate, Donna? She said she had a baby. What happened to the baby?"

"We don't want people to be raised here," said Adena. "If they grew up here from birth, this would be normal to them and that wouldn't work for my research. The baby was put up for adoption."

"You...," Mr. Peterson stepped toward Adena, "You put our baby up for adoption?"

Adena tazed Mr. Peterson.

"Dad!" his children shouted rushing to his aide.

"My love, when you come to your senses," Adena said to Sana, "Come find me." She reached out to touch Sana, but Sana pushed her hand away.

"You're angry," said Adena with a pout. "But you'll get over it."

"Like my parents will just get over my loss," countered Sana angry. "They'll never stop looking for me."

Adena shrugged, "But they'll never find you. And if by chance they made their way here, they'ld just find themselves stuck here with you." Adena turned and walked away.

"Why do I always attract the heartless nut jobs," Sana asked frustrated not expecting any one to answer her.

"It's not your fault," said a woman. "It happens to the best of us." The woman put out her hand, "I'm Ellen, Ellen Brown."

Sana shook her hand. The woman, Ellen, had an air of professionalism about her and was slightly chunky. "I'm Sana, Sana Coles."

"Welcome to the mall, Sana Coles," said the well-dressed Black man shaking her hand next, "I'm Kevin Masters. What brings you to our prison?"

"There was an accident on the interstate," shared Sana a little embarrassed, "and I had to pee."

"Me too," said Ellen amused. "I couldn't stand the thought of anyone driving by me peeing along the road side."

"I'm Jeremy," Mr. Peterson shook her hand next, "our kids, Donald and Jeria. Family vacation, we were on our way to Disney Galaxy Express. The kids were fighting and we thought it would be good to get out and stretch our legs, maybe take in a movie. Donald was ten then and Jeria was eight."

"You saw our mom," asked Jeria.

"Yeah," answered Sana, "I met her this morning. She kind or startled me. And the things she said at the time didn't make sense to me. Adena had told me she was her roommate. She misses you all very much, but Adena won't let her in the mall."

"At least we know she's alive," said Jeremy.

"I'm Anthony," a young light skinned black man shook Sana's hand. "Anthony Hill, me and my fiancée, Gina, stopped to get a bite to eat."

"I'm Gina," the young Hispanic woman shook her hand, "Gina Velez, Anthony's fiancée. And they sure don't want no babies here. They make sure I get my Deppo shot every six months."

"How long have you been here," asked Sana.

"Over a year," answers Gina.

"About eight months," answers Ellen.

"Two and a half years," shares Kevin. There was a mature reserved patience to him, "My father and I were on our way to a family reunion. Traffic jam caused us to leave the interstate. We stopped to eat and stretch our legs."

"Where's your father," Sana asked Kevin.

"I believe he's dead," answered Kevin. "He appeared to be having a heart attack. Some of the robots carried him through the doors of the urgent care... He never came back out."

"I'm so sorry," Sana told Kevin sincerely.

"I wonder how Donna got in Adena's place," said Kevin. "They didn't take her through the mall. We would have seen them."

"The only way in and out of Adena's that I saw was the door at the back of the jewelry store," shared Sana. "But I didn't know I was trapped. I didn't snoop around. So all these other people?"

"Robots," answers Kevin, "Right now they're in patron mode, walking around the mall like they're people. At night, they go into manikin mode. Each has a specific spot where they spend the night charging. Then they spend a couple of hours in the morning straightening and organizing before they go back to patron mode. And there are some no-face ones that sometimes come out late at night to do major cleaning and reorganizing."

"They'll let you go through the motions like you're paying for something," added Anthony. "But you're not really paying for anything. So you just go into the stores and take whatever you want or need."

"I don't know what to do," said Sana clutching her lucky water bottle, "I'm going to miss my best friend's wedding. My parents will be worried sick. And my younger brother, Carson, he's mentally challenged. He'll pace the house looking for me. He's probably called my phone a dozen times by now."

"You help your parents look after your younger brother," stated Kevin. "How old is he?"

"Twenty-eight," answered Sana.

"You're a good daughter and a good sister," complimented Kevin. "They're really going to miss you. They'll mourn your loss a long time."

"There's got to be a way out of here," insisted Sana.

"Not that I've ever seen," said Kevin, "But Jeremy and his kids have been here the longest."

Jeremy shook his head, "There were a couple of elderly couples here when we got here... It seems the only way out of here is if the no faces come get you. Then you're probably dying or already dead. The elderly couples passed away here and the no faces took their bodies away. There's also been a few suicides. A young woman took all the sleeping pills they gave her at the health care center, a young man used a jump rope, jumped over the second level railing and hung himself, one young woman just stopped eating, one young man just freaked out and started attacking the robots."

"What did the robots do," asked Sana.

"They didn't try to hurt him," shared Jeremy. "They just kept him from hurting himself until the no-faces came and took him away. Never saw him again."

"The robots are very social and friendly," shared Kevin. "They seem to be programmed to be helpful and able to interact on any level."

"You can even have sex with them," added Anthony enthusiastically. His fiancée Gina smacked his shoulder. "Ouch!"

Sana's eyebrows rose, "Really?"

"Yes," confirmed Kevin.

Sana decided not to try to wrap her mind around that, "So what am I supposed to do? Sit around here and rot?"

"You don't have to rot," Kevin told her. "There are all kinds of books to read at the book store. You can exercise in the Exercise Emporium."

"The theater plays movies in the evening," added Jeremy's son Donald.

"We get the latest fashions," added Gina. "Sometimes me, Ellen and Jeria just go play dress up."

"You can get your hair done in the salon every day," Ellen informed Sana.

Sana pushed her fingers through her mousy-brown hair as her brown eyes welled up with tears. "I don't need to play dress up or get my hair done," she sobbed. "I have a wedding to go to. There's an overpriced horridly ugly bridesmaid dress in my car. My family will be worried sick. And my job at the youth center... I love my job at the youth center... I love working with the children..."

Now Sana was crying. This just didn't seem possible to her. An accident on the interstate caused her to alter her route. She just wanted to pee in a toilet. And now she was trapped in some kind of mall in the middle of the desert for some type of government funded experiment. Whatever she had stumbled into, she was probably not going to stumble back out of. She would be on the news as someone who had disappeared without a trace. So many things in her life had been unfair, but this was the ultimate booby prize. She sat down on a rather nondescript mall chair, hugged her lucky water bottle to her chest, curled up over her lap and cried.

"Let's give her a little privacy people," Kevin told the others, and they all walked several feet away from Sana.

But the mall walkers heard her crying. They stopped walking and chatting amongst themselves and headed for Sana.

"Hey," Kevin yelled at the mall walkers, "Leave her alone."

"But she is in distress," said a female mall walker, "She is in need of comforting."

"And what do you think you can do for her," asked Kevin.

"I will not know until I try," answered the female.

The female robot along with the others continued over to where Sana was sitting balled up and crying. She got down on one knee before Sana and asked, "Miss, may we be of assistance in some way?"

Sana slowly lifted her head. She blinked the robot woman into focus. There was nothing that immediately identified her or the others as robots. She just looked like a very pretty Asian woman. Sana looked at all of them, every race seemed to be represented, and they all appeared to be anywhere from twenty to fourty years old. They looked like real people to Sana. They proved to be a good distraction for Sana.

"What," Sana asked.

"Is there anything any of us can do for you," asked the female robot.

Sana shrugged, "I doubt it. You're not even real."

"Define real," requested the Asian robot woman.

"To be real, I guess," said Sana, "means that you're alive."

"Following that line of thought," responded the Asian robot woman, "would make a rock not real. But a rock, even though it's not alive is still real, just like the chair you're sitting in is real."

"Okay," said Sana, "Let me try to clarify myself... Real, when it comes to being a person, real people think for themselves, they have feelings, they have likes and dislikes, they eat, bleed and fart, that kind of stuff."

"We think for ourselves," the female robot informed Sana, "No one told us to come over here to you. Kevin Masters told us to leave you alone. But we feel concern for your wellbeing, so chose to ignore him. Our emotions may not be as developed as yours, but we have them. And we have blood that runs through our veins and can be used for you if needed. If we are cut, we bleed red blood. We even feel physical pain. And while eating is not a requirement for us, we can eat and obtain energy that way. Yet consumption of food products produces waste that must be eliminated from our bodies the same as yours, and we find that unpleasant."

"Yeah," agreed Sana, "That can be rather unpleasant. So, how do I get out of here?"

"That, I do not know," responded the female robot. "People always enter the same way," she motions toward the wall where the doors should be. "But none of us knows how you are supposed to exit."

"How did you get here," asked Sana.

The female robot looked at the others then back at Sana, "That's a good question. We are unsure. We woke up here as no-faces in the sub-terrain and performed maintenance duties until we earned a face."

"You had to earn your face," said Sana surprised, "How do you earn your face?"

"When we start showing signs of individualism by questioning," explained the female robot, "Questions like: why am I here, what's my purpose. Then we are informed that we are here to learn. We get to step into a room and select which sex we'ld like to be, what skin coloration and eye color we'ld like to have. Then we get to be an attendant until we are given a name."

"How do you get a name," asked Sana.

"When someone visiting the mall like yourself tells us we remind them of someone they know. A young woman said I reminded her of her Aunt Janice. So, my name is Janice."

Janice held out her hand and Sana shook it, "Nice to meet you Janice. I'm Sana."

Janice the robot that looks like an Asian woman smiled warmly, "And I am very happy to meet you too."

"You're warm," stated Sana surprised by the warmth of Janice's hand.

"We have the same body temp as a normal human being," explained Janice, "Physically, we are not much different than anybody else. But we have much to learn about being human, about how to behave properly when interacting with other people."

"For what purpose do you need to be able to do that," asked Sana.

"When we have mastered human behavior, we graduate," answered Janice.

"Graduate," questions Sana.

"We are supposed to graduate out into the real world," explained Janice, "But we are not exactly sure that is what happens. When we are sleeping, sometimes one of us will disappear. If they were malfunctioning, they will return when they are repaired. But usually they do not return. We believe they have graduated out into the real world."

"You believe that," questioned Sana, "You don't know for sure?"

"Not for sure," confirmed Janice.

Sana was quiet in thought for a few moments. Seemed all the humans here were here against their will except Adena. Sana was sure Adena was here willingly. And these robots, that easily passed for human were supposed to learn from them.

"Would you like to meet the others," Janice asked Sana.

Sana couldn't see the harm in that. So she stood up and said, "Sure."

Sana started shaking hands and saying "Hello" as Janice told her each robots name. Sana was bad with names, so she was sure she would forget them all within the next few minutes.

"And this is Romero," Janice introduced the last robot.

Sana shook his hand as she looked up at him, "Good to meet you, Romero." He was very tall, taller than all the others, basketball player tall. He had good strong broad shoulders. His build was lean athlete. He had warm brown eyes set in a baby face with a strong jaw and good cheek bones. His chocolate brown hair had natural looking blond high lights and fell across his eyes in a manner Sana found very cute and sexy. It made her wish he was real. Of course, even if he had been real, a man that beautiful would never be interested in her. A man that beautiful would most likely be gay. And even if he was straight, he would never notice her because there would be a throng of truly beautiful women falling all over themselves for him.

Sana didn't see beauty when she looked at herself in a mirror. She had strait mousy-brown hair that refused to curl or feather and she kept it shoulder length. Brown eyes set in a round face with reasonably full lips. She did like her smile. But she was short with thick muscular legs. She felt her butt was good even if it was a little too big. She had good boobs too, they were all her, not augmented. But she felt her best feature was her skin and not just because she usually had a clear complexion. She had a nice light naturally tan tone from head to toe all year round.

"I'm bad with names," Sana informed them all. "So please don't be offended if I forget it and ask you several times what it is. Do you have last names too?"

"Yes, we've been assigned last names too," answered Janice.

"For me, it's best if I just concentrate on learning your first names first," decided Sana. "So, you know everyone else, right?"

"We know their names," answered Janice. "A couple of the men use us for sex. But they don't really talk with us." She leaned forward and whispered, "Anthony uses us for sex the most, but for some reason he doesn't want his fiancée to know."

"Men seem to be more open to being intimate with us than women," shared one named Kathy. "Except, Dr. Goldmen, she likes to use us and she talks to us."

"You mean Adena," asked Sana.

"Yes," confirmed Kathy. "You spent the night in her quarters last night. Were you intimate with her?"

Sana was stunned by the question, "That is a very personal question."

"It is," asked Kathy.

"It is," confirmed Sana. "It's not the type of question you ask someone you hardly know. Besides being a bit rude, it's none of your business."

"So, when you wish to get to know someone better, what types of questions are okay to ask," asked Romero.

"You can ask about their job, family, where they grew up, where they live, their favorite color, their favorite food, pets, stuff like that. If you start with questions about sex and sexuality all blunt like that, you'll freak most people out. They'll think you're some kind of pervert or weirdo. Besides, if you just make people comfortable and let them talk, they'll tell you nearly everything about themselves including the sex stuff."

"What is your favorite color," Romero asked Sana.

"Oh, me," Sana not expecting the question, "My favorite color is purple."

"Why purple," asked Romero.

"It reminds me of my favorite cousin who passed away from lung cancer several years ago," explained Sana.

Sana had other things on her mind though, "Would you all come over with me to talk to the others?"

"Of course," Janice answered, and they followed Sana over to the others with Romero following her the closest."

"Kevin," Sana getting his attention as well as the others.

"Have you become the pied piper of robots or what," Anthony asked jokingly.

Sana ignored Anthony. "Have you ever talked with them?"

"What do you mean," asked Kevin motioning for the others especially Anthony to be quiet.

"Like, did you know they all have names, first and last names, and that they all started out as no-faces," Sana gave as examples. She hadn't seen the no-faces so she had no idea what they looked like.

"No," Kevin told Sana, "I didn't know that, just that they had first names. What are you thinking, Sana?"

"We all got in the same way, but can't get out the same way we got in," then Sana pointed out, "but they didn't get in the same way we did. And when one of them disappears and doesn't come back, where did they go? And where are the new ones brought in at?"

Kevin smiled at Sana, "You are exactly what we need, a fresh perspective. Because if they're coming in a different way than us, there's got to be a way out of here somewhere."

"What about stacking furniture to the skylight," asked Anthony.

"We can still try that," Kevin told Anthony, "But we really need to start communicating with them. They may have information that may help us. But if we just keep treating them like furniture, we won't find out anything new."

"But what about my wife, Donna," ask Jeremy. "If there's a way out of here, I don't want to leave her behind."

"Well, we know Adena has Donna in her house," said Sana.

Romero suggests, "Maybe you should try asking Dr. Goldmen for your wife."

"It's so simple it might work," said Kevin smiling. "Jeremy, you need to be waiting for her to come out into the mall and ask for your wife, and be persistent about it."

"So, do you want to get started on stacking the furniture," Anthony asks Kevin.

"Sure," answered Kevin.

"May we help," asked Janice.

"The more the merrier," responded Kevin.

"I don't think the skylight's the thing," commented Sana, "but it doesn't hurt to try."