"Targeting system failure — shunting capture — whoever got that lock, you had better have taken out good insurance —" 

Cynthia appears on a bed-slash-couch hybrid in a circular metal room with a single high skylight. She feels faintly nauseous and like she's missing time, like she had been asleep or unconcious for some time while the world went on without her. 

A red-haired woman wearing a shapeless pink dress with lace at the edges leans over her, running a hand through her own hair. 

"Apologies!", she says when Cynthia's eyes focus on her. "There's been a multiversal transfer accident, the locator targeted you for reasons that are still unclear. You're in a new universe now. Don't get up too quickly, the transfer can be somewhat rough."

"This is infuriating!" Cynthia instinctively takes a closer look at the pink dress. 

"I'm not particularly impressed either. This sort of failure shouldn't be possible. I'm sure the Very Serious People will have a field day." 

The one-piece dress is somewhere between a nightgown and a sundress, soft pastel pink in color with lace at the cuffs and hem. Matching pink armwarmers and a pair of pink and white striped stockings complete the look. 

Cynthia has nothing on, and it'd be considered a bit rude in most cases, but these people are clearly fine with it so she'll try not to bring any attention to it. "Do I... wait? This is very new to me, as you might suspect."

"Unfortunately the Very Serious People have been trying to determine the cause of the fault while you were out, and have yet to come to a conclusive answer. We can't send you back safely yet, not before we isolate the issue with our systems." 

She picks up a small package from a cart, which contains a simple black maxi skirt, a matching v-necked blouse, and a set of underwear, and sets it on the bed next to Cynthia. "If you'd like privacy to change I can leave the room. The current estimate of when it will be safe to return you home is in the one month range. As such, we're going to have to arrange a temporary residence and local identity for you until such time is met. Apologies, once again."

Cynthia just shrugs. "It'd be nonsensical for me to be demanding." She changes into the clothes quickly, again trying not to acknowledge anything.

"Thank you. Once you've changed, there is a photo booth set up to accomodate immigrants in an internal courtyard three doors down; it'll be our next stop." 

The red-haired woman steps over to the single door to the room. "Follow in your own time, it's alright if you want a moment." Then she lets herself out.

Cynthia blinks two times, very slowly. "I don't need more time than that!" She follows the woman to get to the photo booth.

The red-haired woman leads her on to a small internal garden, with a small set of metal lockers and a photo station. People in various attire are sitting around talking in pairs and trios in wicker chairs. 

Her guide points to a chair. "Sit, please, and I'll take your photo. Face and look at the camera, don't smile."

Cynthia avoids smiling as the photo gets taken.

"What is your name, incidentally? It's necessary for the identification papers."

"Cynthia."

"Any last or middle name?"

"Cynthia is strictly speaking my last name. My full name is Lovemaker 344193 Cynthia."

"And I'm Star-Bright Songbird, Star for short. Thank you for the information, your identification card will be delivered within a few minutes. In the meantime —" 

She inputs a six-digit code into one of the lockers next to her and presses her thumbprint to a scanner. The locker pops open, and she pulls out a small wallet. 

"Temporary identification cards in your name, a government credit card for your new accounts, and a government health services card. There are temporary apartments on site, or you can contract in the city. Going nude in public is against convention but not an offense; sex in public may be an offense if you obstruct traffic or leave unhygenic messes. Anywhere with a loungiere is designated for sexual activity and you are free to use the amenities. These laws are only the case outside of designated red districts, which you are welcome to live within if you wish a more sexually tinged life. Advertising kinks is neither an offense nor scandalous." 

Star-Bright Songbird hands over the wallet. "If you would like a purse or bag to carry your wallet in I can provide same. You are now in the system; should you lose any of your cards you may return here for immediate reissue. Your full ID will be delivered to you or your place of residence in about fifteen minutes."

"The exit to the street is two doors down to the left. I can continue to serve as your local guide, or if you wish to depart and live your own life you are free to do so. We'll notify you by mail, or electronic alert if you choose to own a phone, when the system is prepared to send you back." 

"I don't believe it'd be necessary for you to be my guide. Although I would like to ask where precisely the temporary apartments on site are."

"Second building on the right from the outer entrance, the front desk clerk will be able to issue a residence."

She smiles. "I'm so excited to see what things are like here!" And heads off to get to her temporary accommodations.

The desk clerk is a black-haired woman wearing a silvery tiara and several crow's feathers in her hair. She looks up as Cynthia walks in. "New arrival?" She smiles, a cheery note in her voice. "Ident card, please."

Cynthia takes it out and hands it over. Back home she has everything on her phone, but in all honestly this isn't extremely different.

The clerk taps the scanner. "We have a dozen apartments open at this time, D-1 through D-5 in the Garden wing and A-2, A-7 and B-3 to B-7 in the Pool wing. A-7 and B-7 are corner apartments, I would recommend taking one of them unless you particularly prefer garden access to pool access. Floors are alphabetical rising from ground as A, suites are numbered."

"I'll do the second story corner apartment? That was on offer right."

"Yes, it is. One moment while I key it to your ident —" The clerk taps a few buttons. "There we go. Your face and ident card together will open your apartment door now, and you can set up a passcode for others to use on the door computer if you wish others to have access. Thank you for staying at Blackwing Suites!"

Cynthia makes her way to the B-7 apartment. (She learned about why everything's built super-tall, so living on the second story feels... weird.) This apartment will still be nice, though, right?

The apartment holds a full-sized kitchen, a living room, two bedrooms, each with a queen-size bed, and a study. The study and kitchen overlook a park on the ground floor, and then another taller building is across the way, a full-sized skyscraper with many, many floors. It seems the building she's in is smaller, though, only about ten floors. In the distance, a high-speed rail train passes on an elevated track, carrying passengers along at a dramatic clip. 

The city seems to be set up in a broadly hexagonal grid, with high-rise complexes broken up by parks, each set of a half-dozen hexes joined by a rail station in the center. There are also side roads along the edges of some of the hexes, but it seems most goods and people move by train.

People come and go on the streets below. About three quarters of them seem to be women; silver circlets, braided ponytails, maxi skirts and v-necked blouses seem to be the in fashion. There are a few men in the crowd, but they're often hard to pick out due to the generally feminine and unisex styles of dress. Many people wear bracelets on their left and right wrists with glowing LEDs in them; she can catch the lights winking at even this distance. 

Right, actual, proper skyscrapers feel... right. And the kitchen, it'll be novel to make her own food! The next thing to see are the things right outside, like pools and gardens and people.

The park outside her window has a large pool complex, with people in swim skirts and bikini tops lounging along the sides of a kidney-bean shaped pool. It's midday, and people are lounging on deck chairs and sipping drinks. A game of something sort of like water polo with a ball with built-in LEDs is currently going on in the kidney bean shaped pool, while in a second pool farther back people are swimming laps. One woman is getting a massage with her bikini off, her breasts flat against her lounging-chair; no-one seems to care much. 

Right. She doesn't have a swimsuit, or even really knows where to get one. And there's a garden? But maybe it's less easy to get to, or she might need to go down to get to it.

The garden doesn't seem to be obviously visible from her window. Perhaps it's on the other side of the building. 

She'd want to head down to see people anyway. She's also super curious about what gardens are like, here.

With a few minutes of searching she arrives at the garden, which is an enclosed area settled in with a tall fence to screen the road and anything else exterior to it. 

A plum-blossom tree occupies one corner of the garden; next to it is a medium-sized, one-story building with a sliding paper door. Scattered glass beads are impressed into the paper. A lacquered-wood bridge crosses a small brook that rushes down from a higher elevation, and an ornamental pond filled with lilypads sits in the center of the garden. A hexagonal gazebo stands on an island in the ornamental pond, only acessible by a hop-step path of raised stones through the water; three women are cuddled together on a large bed in the center of the gazebo, simply enjoying each other's company.

The ring around the exterior walls is planted with flowering bushes, predominantly dahlias and roses, and there are enfolding trees, both pines and deciduous ones, perhaps beeches, that crowd out the sights of the city. Women sit on stone benches, contemplating statues that bear much the same air of contemplation.

The garden seems to be a tiny microcosm of its own, suited to stopping and taking a breath from a long day. Though it must take some degree of maintenance, it is not particularly showy; rather it enfolds and isolates, seeming hard to raise one's voice in. Scattered plum blossoms lay on the path, and so too do a few fallen leaves. It is not perfect, but the illusion is rather deep.

What an awesome trick! The women contemplating on the benches seem less accepting of being disturbed than the trio on the bed. She begins making her way to the three women, hoping to get their attention without having to speak up and interrupt them.

The women in the gazebo look over as she crosses the stepping-stone path, and one of them moves aside for her to join them on the bed. 

"Afternoon," she says. "I'm Wasp, and these two are Hawk and Blue." She gives a little wave. She wears a set of tiny wasp wings on a headband in her hair, a bob cut, cosmetic claws on her nails, two steel rings with holes in them and red LEDs glowing on her wrists, and currently seems to be physically secured to the bed by a short chain with a carbiner clipped to one of them. She's holding the hand of Blue, who is also wearing a wrist bracelet in plastic, currently lit in cyan, and the brown-haired Hawk is laying across both her legs and Blue's. 

Blue makes no motion of reaction, instead turning away; Hawk raises a hand, a purple LED glowing at her wrist, and nods to Cynthia. "Afternoon." She wears a matching necklace to Blue's, a small heart with a v cut out of it. 

"You're looking great! I'm incredibly new to everything here, and I was curious about if you could show or tell me some things so I could understand this place better."

"Ah, one of the people from the program? There's been a couple of you around. Ah - I'm not sure where to start. What explanations have you gotten so far?" 

"That I have an ID, money, and a place to stay... little else. Certainly 0 about the people here and what they like and are like!"

"Let me see... Hawk, help me out here, I'm not sure where to start." 

"Alright, alright. The first thing is - everything is clans here. Clans of people working together. Generally a clan is a web of romantic and familial relationships, and they get very intertwined. Most people have about three to four romantic partners and twice that in friends, relations and partners of partners. Not to mention all their various facets - the numbers really start to add up quickly. The way to get ahead is to get involved with a clan and show that you're competent at whatever you're doing, at which point they'll send opportunities your way." Hawk leans her head forward, silver feather earrings dangling from her earlobes. "Having a known enra is a good way to get initial work, but that's something kind of personal that you'd want to figure out on your own - it's not something to do casually."

"Is enra a magic power thing? That's what it really sounds like to me."

"Magic?" Wasp laughs and shakes her head. "No, no magic, sorry. It's just the word for a... passion, a vocation. Something you love to do and do habitually."

"Why the new fancy word?"

"Different emphasis, I think. An enra is a thing your heart does because you're compelled by it. It's..." She fumbles for words. "I don't know how to explain."

"Well... I suspect that's not something I have, then." 

"Do you know where I could get a phone? I had one, where I came from."

"There's a mall one hex down the blue line," Wasp says. "It'll have an electronics store that carries phones."

"And I trust it's in OK walking distance, so I can start just making my way over there?"

"You'd be better off taking the train," Wasp says, "but it's walkable, yes. Just might take you twenty minutes to get there."

"I'll take the train back, I think." Cynthia smiles at Wasp briefly, before beginning on the walk to the store with the phones.

Wasp waves goodbye when she hops back over the stones, and the women go back to their private conversation. 

The through-hex paths meander a little, but after a longish walk through parkland she comes to the exterior of another skyscraper complex. 

Within is a three story mall, with a few different shops for electronics. It seems the foremost phone brands are between a simple-to-set-up and almost unkillably tough basic version optimized for long battery life, and a heavily-customizable phone that's built to slot into a case solution of your choice, offering higher aesthetic and technical control at the cost of reliability. She's told that if she's not a power user the simple to set up phone — a "Peach" — is better for her use cases, but if she intends to use the phone for programming work it's best to do a custom build on an "Integrat." 

Programming work on a phone! Eww! She chooses the more durable and simpler option; she's not expecting to have much interest in anything more than calling and texting people. A Peach it is, what a funny name.

The store employee connects the phone up to her citizen's account for her with a tap of her ident card, and after some simple setup steps she's recognized as herself. A little notification pops up on her phone indicating she has a new full-image ident card waiting back at her local bureaucratic office. 

Great, time for her to get an ID! And do something to help people. Maybe in a hospital, maybe in people's homes.

The office quickly turns over her new full-image card at the front desk. It's got a printed hologram of her face and several identification features that look somewhat high tech. 

The Worldnet certainly has a lot of job postings. There are many erogenics openings she could apply to; it certainly is an in-demand business. 

Does she need a certification of some kind if it's in a hospital? She can't exactly document and quantify her experience, the way she could back home...

A little research shows that yes, she needs a hospital resident's license; there is a licensing exam she can attempt to get the basic certification, though higher certifications generally require onsite experience. If she wants a well-paying position quickly she may have to talk to Asterisms, the exceptions bureau, for a one-off tailored examination. 

Presumably, her experience and long hours of study would mean... she'd pass the Asterisms thing? Her medical knowledge is limited to knowing about different kinds of drugs and interactions, as well as anatomy, but she's actually really, really great at the actual sex work! At least by her world's standards. She's curious to try it the examination, just to see what it's like.

The clerk at the front desk is happy to give her Asterism's number and informs her that it may take a little time, perhaps a week at worst but more typically a day, for an agent to become available for her case. She is encouraged to call to explain her situation in as much detail as possible from her own perspective, and the Asterism Bureau will handle her from there. 

Ohh yes. Call whom? And when? Cynthia thinks to herself what to say, to get ready to explain her situation: she has a large amount of experience and strong medical knowledge in circumscribed areas, but that's in a different world and she doesn't know what their expectations would be in this one.

The dispatcher, of course, at ☆ 9 9, any time that's convenient for her, they maintain 24/7 phone presence for exceptional cases. Call or text, either is fine. Her file's already been flagged with them by the main bureaucracy, actually, as being due to an ongoing exception; she's likely to get a fairly fast response time due to that. Or she can drop into their physical office, though she's likely to share her wait with the rest of the non-emergency clients for today. Once again, the office is open 24/7, but most people find it more convenient to text in unless they have business that really requires face to face interaction; the Asterism office is just up one floor above her if she wants to go there and wait in person for an agent. 

Oh, and just so she's aware, though it's not likely to be relevant to her case, it is a crime to deliberately waste Asterism's time with false reports or other such pranks, so she's encouraged to keep her case on topic; that being said they're generally pretty lenient with letting people info-dump as long as the intention's honest. 

And so Cynthia makes a call to the dispatcher and explain her very unusual work experience! It sounds like rather the opposite of the "maximally limited and specific" thing that's supposed to be the way things are from where she's from, but the difference in philosophy is interesting.

The dispatcher takes detailed notes on her case, thanks her for her time, and tells her an agent will be available for her sometime in the next twenty-four hours; most likely she will be texted asynchronously by one of their experts to arrange an in person examination.

She has a little while before an agent becomes available; anything else she'd like to do while she waits?

There is really nothing she has any need to do. Exploring more of the city seems appropriate. As a matter of fact, she's only seen adults so far! She wants to know where the children are and what they tend to do.

According to the front desk clerk, it's a school day and most children 12 to 6 are in class, while younger ones are likely in their clan compounds being looked after by their caregivers. She has in fact seen the occasional tween or teen around, but they seem to not be treated much differently from any other adult; many of them have been out and about unaccompanied with no obvious minder. One of the women in the park was around twelve perhaps but was deeply engaged in reading a fantasy novel. 

Right, clan compounds. That has parent city vibes to Cynthia. They sound rather private, and like she'd have to know someone first before being allowed to take a look! But meeting someone new here is something she'd want to do sooner rather than later anyway. 

Any particular place she'd like to look to get to know someone? There are classified ads online, interest forums, meet-up groups for various activities... Many options, just in general. 

Finding someone else similarly curious about urban living technology would be wonderful! She starts looking Around, wanting to meet someone in person if that's possible. 

Urban living technology doesn't seem to be a heavy interest group - there's some amount of discussion, but the large discussion groups seem to be for artistry rather than engineering, particularly writing. There is a "get to know the hex system" day hike group that's meeting in a few hours though; does that interest her at all?

That's OK. They might think it's fun to hear about how her old world has a ton of museums where you learn about how the world has gotten as nice as it is, and also the way that they like making high-density living nice and see it as a kind of challenge.

They're meeting three hexes up the blue line and one hex up the green line. She'll have to make a train transfer on the way over.

She can probably handle it! And the train is probably going to be cool too.

It's a bit smaller than the trains she's used to from home, but quite fast. Crowded, too; it seems there are a lot of people coming and going most of the time. 

The bottom floor of this skyscraper complex seems to be a small history museum. The current exhibit is on the Apophine culture of around three thousand years ago. 

Three thousand years ago? There weren't many fun inventions to make life easier back then... Cynthia waits patiently for the group.

Indeed. Mostly only persines for food and the occasional nomadic herders, back that far. 

Eventually a man shows up, pince-nez balanced on his nose; he waves to her and goes back to his phone. A half-dozen more people trickle in over the next half hour, until what looks like a proper hiking group has formed. Most people are wearing actual heavy boots and practical pants, or else leggings under their skirt. 

"Alright," says the leader of the group. "Welcome to the hiking group, I'm Clarity Baker, I run this group every wednesday for those of you who don't know me. We're doing the west arc rivercourse today, so I hope you came prepared for a little wet ground. Those of you with regular shoes may have to stick a little closer to the trails today. I see we have a few new people -" She looks over at Cynthia. "- and a few new facets -" She looks over at the man, who's wearing a pink-glowing bracelet on his right wrist. "There'll be a little time to stop along the hike so feel free to chat among yourselves in the downtime, there will be some lovely river views to look at. While I understand the urge to take photographs, I'd encourage you all to try to immerse yourself in the moment rather than trying desperately to document it for later; some things are ephemeral by nature. I take enough photos at my job, personally. Anyway, I'm going to do a quick whip through the group and see which facets everyone's bringing today - let's start with our new member. Welcome to the tour group!" She smiles at Cynthia. "Please introduce yourself and tell us a surprising fact about yourself." 

"I'm Lovemaker 344193 Cynthia, and I wasn't born on this planet!"

Everyone looks at her with surprise. Clarity's first to recover. "Oh! Remarkable, I had heard about the transfer programs on the news but I didn't expect to run into someone from offworld on a hiking trip! I'll try not to bombard you with questions, but if you have anything more you'd like to share by all means feel free!" 

"Well, I think that the inventions that make life in cities like these possible are wonderful and great fun to learn about! Things like sewage system, elevators and trains."

"They really are quite lovely, aren't they? Little-appreciated wonders of the modern age. The hex system gets some praise in the news now and then but mostly you know it's worked because it's relatively uncontroversial these decades later. It makes me laugh thinking of what our grandparents went through in the restructuring. All their headaches and debates for a single solution to be adopted almost universally in the end." 

"Indeed," says the pince-nez'd man. "It's a wonder how much the world's changed in a few generations. Spiritualism used to be a much more accepted practice until the links with psychosis were conclusively demonstrated; it used to be state-endorsed, even. Nowadays that's completely outside the range of acceptable attitudes. Much has changed, some for good, some for middling, some maybe not so well. It's the very serious people's job to decide these things, but sometimes I wonder if my calling wasn't politics after all."

"Ah, I see Elm's forwards today. Yeah, thinking about all the history can really make your head spin." 

"The speed of change can be very mind-bending! That being said, how do we start this tour?"

"Ah, it's a walking tour down to the river taking an established set of hiking paths. North, then north-east along the river boardwalk, then to the artificial sandbars for a rest and then on to the west to take in the marshlands. About two hours' walk all told." 

"And is now when we're starting?"

"In five minutes, actually, just to give a little time for stragglers. Hence the introductions!" 

Five minutes isn't long to wait at all!

Clarity goes around the circle and everyone introduces themselves.

"Elm, of the Hearttree. Cyan." 

"Valerie of the Operating System. Violet." 

"Eris, of the Chaotic System. Pink." 

"Swinton Jones, I'm un-faceted." 

"I'm Eidelweiss and this is my Kept, Holly. We're both violet at the moment."

Clarity closes the discussion with "And I'm Clarity Baker and I'm a spark! Doing things like this, showing people new things, is my enra, so I really hope you all enjoy the tour. Now let's get going!"  

And she sets a steady walking pace towards the exit to the outdoors. 

Cynthia follows Clarity, paying close attention to everyone.