“There are a lot of things we’ve never heard of. That’s why we have to keep doing stuff, and asking stuff! I’m gonna read it.”
“I’m listening.”
Job: Wipe down tables and benches. (Party)
Description: Procure sponges from the Cleanomat Mark 22A (CLUX-17) and wipe down 100 tables and 200 benches.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Only wipe tables and benches with red lights.
Job location: CLUX-17.
Deadline: Evening end-of-work alarm.
Compensation: 20 sol.
I finished reading and looked around. There were lots of tables, and none of them had lights of any color. I looked at Yorka. Well,
“Hey, why so happy?”
“We’re really lucky!”
“You think so?”
“Hell yeah, I do! Just a hundred tables and two hundred benches! Easy-peasy, we’ll be done in a couple of hours! Ten sol apiece!”
“How is the reward shared? Automatically?”
“Nope! I know that much — the system will ask you how you want to split it between the party members once the job’s done.”
“Okay. And what about those red lights?”
“You’ll see. Let’s go!”
I stood up reluctantly, feeling every muscle in my body ache, as if my whole body was saying: ‘Slow down, goblin, just slow down! You finished the job? Great, now go sit on the warm, cozy bench and take a nap! Give me some time to recover. Don’t be a jerk, goblin! Come on!’
I ignored my body’s pleas, but mentally promised my protesting muscles that I’d only be putting a gentle, physically beneficial load on them. My body didn’t believe me, and responded with a pang of severe pain…
While I was talking to myself (the first red flag, perhaps?), Yorka led me to a box against the wall with a small tray on the side. ‘Cleanomat Mark 22A’ was written on the wall above it. As we approached, the box clicked twice and dropped two large green sponges onto the tray. Yorka grabbed one, and I grabbed the second. I felt that it was wet, but when I tried to squeeze it a little I was surprised to find that not a single drop came out.
“Hey! I got the job. The same one you got.”
That made sense. The system had to keep it fair. What if I’d lied and said we were being paid ten sol for the job instead of twenty?
“This part is simple!” Yorka chattered happily, dragging me back to the tables. “We go to the lit-up table or bench and wipe it down until the red light turns green. Then we go to the next one, rinse and repeat. Red. Green. Next one. Red. Green. Next one. Watch your sponge — once it turns red, shove it into Clark and get a fresh one.”
“Clark?”
“Yeah, the sponge dispenser. We call it Clark, I don’t know why. Got it?”
“Who turns the lights on?”
“Mother!”
I choked.
“I mean, the system!”
“That’s better. Let’s get to it.”
Without a sound, the nearest table lit up with an alarming red light from the ceiling. We approached and started scrubbing it with our sponges. I tried to follow Yorka’s movements — she was wielding her sponge with admirable dexterity. Ten seconds later the light over the table turned green, but it turned red over the bench. We switched to wiping the bench, and five seconds later it turned green. My sponge turned a darker green.
“So are we disinfecting them?” I asked the obvious question.
“Yeah. Mostly goblins and zombies hang out here, and they’re pretty messy. The brigades keep their spines clean and avoid this place. Oh, look, goblin snot on the table! Snotty goblins… Snoblins!”
“Cleanomat Mark 22A… Clark!” I chuckled. “Got it. Let’s hurry up and wipe down this filth, Yorka. Once we’re done we’ll head for intersection 17.”
She stopped wiping the table clean and looked at me with undisguised anxiety. She glanced around, looked in my eyes, leaned towards me, and whispered:
“Are you sure? We might run into… Those guys.”
“We can’t hide forever.” I replied, heading towards the next bench.
“But…”
“Trust me. Just do as I say, and we won’t have any problems.”
No response.
“You got that, goblin?”
“I’m an orc! I got it. Let’s finish the job and go to intersection 17.”
“Smart kid. Now let’s get those sol.”
We finished the job in two hours. We had to change sponges four times when they turned red. As soon as we wiped the hundredth table, I got a system prompt:
Split the compensation?
Yes / No (Party Leader).
I clicked “Yes”, looked at Yorka, who was blooming like a flower in the dirt, and checked my balance.
STATUS:
Number: Eleven.
Rank: Nullform (volitional).
