Chapter Forty-Eight - Recreational Respiratory Deterioration


    <strong>Chapter Forty-Eight - Recreational Respiratory Deterioration</strong>


    <em>"Do you suffer from Agoraphobia?</em>


    <em>Fear of open spaces is entirely natural. Most mammalian creatures live in tight, secure dens, and exploring the wider world is a dangerous thing! There''s no shame in being afraid of stepping outside of thefort of your megabuilding, but it can be a little awkward.</em>


    <em>PsyOPs is here to help! Our three-month all-VR training course will slowly push past your agoraphobia. In no time at all, you''ll be walking under the sun and stars with a bright smile on your face!</em>


    <em>Contact us today for pricing ns!"</em>


    --Anti-Agoraphobia advertisement, 2047


    ***


    The next day was a vacation day.


    I wasn''t heading out to snoop around the sewers. I wasn''t saving the city. I <em>was</em> going to work on my hobbies until sometime in the afternoon when See-Three and her pals were going to show up.


    That was ater problem, and... yeah, it wasn''t much of a problem at all. I''d change into something nicer and less stained for the asion, then say hello and walk them around. I wasn''t worried about it.


    What I was worried about was getting some sensation back into my hands. "Fuck, it''s <em>cold</em>," I said.


    <em>The current temperature is four degrees celsius, which is approaching cold, yes. The humidity is making it far worse, I suspect.</em>


    I cupped my hands before my mouth and blew some hot air between them. I was seriously considering a change of venue for my mechanical work. Mostly, doing it just outside was fun. If I needed a snack, I was only a hop away from the kitchen. Needed to shit? The bathroom was right there.


    It was nice and convenient. But not when I was freezing so hard that I was having a hard time picking up the pieces on my workbench. Besides, I''d been dealing with wind and rain a lot too. There was a reason people did things indoors.


    "Probably not good for my lungs, either," I muttered.


    <em>Are you speaking about being outdoors?</em>


    "Yeah," I said.


    <em>The level of VOCs in this region is quite high. I suspect that the time you spend out here every day is leading to increased deterioration of your lungs.</em>


    I coughed, but it was mostly because we were talking about it. Imagining cancer-causing stuff going down my throat made it feel scratchy. "That''s... not ideal," I said.


    <em>It''s a slow deterioration. You''d need to spend a dozen hours exposed to outside air every week in order for the damage to start being noticeable in a shorter time frame.</em>


    "And you didn''t feel like telling me?" I asked.


    <em>I''d be very impressed if you still have your organic lungs three months from now. The current damage is, therefore, meaningless. You also frequently use medicine that heals the damage to your lungs as an incidental side-effect.</em>


    Ah, right, the nano-repair stuff. I did use a lot of that whenever I got smacked around. It was probably topping up my lung''s health. "Maybe I should get super lungs," I said.


    <em>Are you going to mention how they''ll improve your sexual prowess?</em>


    I pouted. I was going to, but not anymore. "I''m not that predictable," I said.


    <em>If that''s what you choose to believe.</em>


    Sighing, I shook my head, then gestured to the workbench. "Hey, repair boy, can you store all of this for me?" I asked the repair drone. It wasn''t an organisation drone, but it could handle this much. "I think I''m going to head downstairs early. Maybe Gomorrah wouldn''t mind letting me have a corner of the parking garage."


    A few walls, some outlets, better lighting, and I''d have a much warmer, less toxic ce to do my hobby stuff in.


    With the bot packing my stuff away, I gave myself a minute to stretch, then walked back in. It was so much warmer in our house. I hadn''t actually looked at what kind of temperature control shit we had. If I ignored it for long enough, then I wouldn''t have to be anxious about changing filters or whatever.


    I slipped into the elevator and made my way down. I stepped out in the parking garage and tested the air with a sniff. It was warmer than outside, though not by all that much. It was also still pretty humid. Probably all the exposed concrete walls and the big openings to let cars in. Unsurprisingly, the space was cleared out of most cars, except for a couple parked in one corner.


    The rest of the room was being taken up by several containers and a couple ofrge construction drones slowly moving supplies around.


    That''s where I found Franny. She was frowning at a tablet when I came up behind her. "Hey!" I said.


    She started, spinning around to face me. "Oh," she said. "Hi Cat. What''s up?"


    "Nothing much," I said. "How''s the buildinging along?"


    "Slower than I''d expected," she said. "Which is still much faster than normal. These machines aren''t quick, but they''re efficient, and they don''t need to stop. Did you need help with something?"


    "Ah, maybe? I''m tired of working outside. It''s getting cold as tits out there. I was thinking I could get a corner of the garage to park my mech in and work on it."


    Franny blinked, then shrugged. "Can''t see why not. You''re not going to rip into the ceiling or anything?"


    "No? I was thinking of getting some walls built around my corner. Maybe I''ll take a spot with a door leading out?" It would give me a space to park my mech into, and one for my bike. It was a bit further of a walk than having it outside, but not by that much.


    "Yeah, I think that would be fine," Franny said. "Might want to wait a bit. We''ll be finishing up here in a day or two, I think. Then it''s all furnishing and finishing stuff, but that''s not as big a deal."


    "Right," I said. "Do you still only have one bedroom?"


    Franny flushed, then levelled a re at me. "If, if you must know, we do," she said.


    "Oh-hoh!" I said. Gomorrah was my best samurai friend at this point, so poking at her private life was definitely not something I should be doing... but it was definitely something I''d be doing anyway, because I was a bitch like that.


    "Nothing like that''s happened," Franny said.


    "Really?" I asked. "You''re sleeping in the same room, but not... you know."


    Franny sniffed. "We''re saving that kind of thing for after marriage."


    I... didn''t know what to say about that. Maybe ''poor Gomorrah'' or maybe it was more ''poor Franny,'' but that was on them. "Okay," I said. "I won''t dig if you don''t want. Can''t say the same for Lucy though, but if youy down thew, she''ll probably leave you alone."


    Franny let out a long breath. "Thanks," she said. "This whole thing is... new for Delh and I. We''re both kind of feeling our way through this."


    I nodded along. I had no idea what that was like, but I could imagine it. "So, things going well enough, otherwise?"


    "Yes. Slower than I''d like, but I think faster than we''d have any right to expect. I think by this time next week we''ll be settled in," she said. "It''ll be nice to have a ce to crash that isn''t the convent. What about you?"


    "Eh, still on vacation," I said with a shrug. "Probably not for very long."


    I wasn''t paying too much attention to the news, because I never liked that kind of reality entertainment stuff, but I was still vaguely aware that things weren''t all rainbows and puppies past the new walls of New Montreal. There were plenty of cities in a rough shape, and hives growing all over the damned ce.


    I''d have to move out sooner rather thanter, do my part and all that. But that could wait another day or two. I... had maybe been pushing myself before. Non-stop action with no breaks and mounting stress and responsibility. It was getting to me. The pace of thest couple of days was much more rxed.


    It felt... off, to only have time off like this. I was almost looking forward to being back on the front lines.


    Weird how that worked out.


    "Hey, you lemme know what Gom has to say about me using the corner of the garage. And if you need anything, just... I don''t know,e knock at our door."


    "Like to ask for milk?" Franny asked.


    "I don''t know if we have any, but hey, if you need cookies or something, I think we have, like, six brands," I said with a grin. I gestured to the floor above. "I need to head back up. I''ll get my mech down...ter today, somehow, then we''ll see about walling off a corner."


    I had that meeting with See-Three, then it was a full day of rest for me. Perfect!


    ***