"JACKPOT! Congratulations, you are the winner!"
Piero stared at his soda in confusion. It was a Fizzo can the colour of toxic waste, but instead of the hiss of escaping carbon dioxide, it had started speaking in a brash, car-salesman's tone.
"You, stranger, have won our mystery grand prize! Enter the code at the base of this lucky can at Fizzo dot net to claim your prize!"
Piero upended the can. Too late -- he tried to correct it but... that's strange. Not a drop of soda poured out. He righted the can. Peering in, all he could make out was a small speaker at the bottom.
"JACKPOT! Congratulations, you are the winner!"
The can continued to smugly repeat itself. Piero sighed, crumpled it and stuffed it into his bag, where it was at least muffled. Anyway, he was almost home.
Piero's apartment was on the twenty-sixth floor of Gemini Towers, which was located in the South Bridge district, Kagayaku City, Greater Kagayaku prefecture. In truth it was more closet than apartment, just a combination living-bed-kitchen room next to a combination bath-utility room. But he was lucky to live alone. He suspected that the only reason he could afford to make rent at all (he was a delivery boy: long hours, low pay, low dignity) was because the previous tenant had killed themself.
Kagayaku City: the city that never darkens. The city that never shuts up, Piero thought as he buried his head under the pillow later that night. Next door were having a party. Was that the second one this week? He shut his eyes tight against the thumping bass.
It was no use. He couldn't sleep. Moaning from the effort, Piero dragged himself out of bed and to the fridge. Half a carton of milk. The dredges of some Korean barbecue. A single red pepper. Things were dire indeed.
As he munched the pepper he noticed that he could still hear the can. It had lost some of its power but the whiny tone was like fingernails on chalkboard. Maybe that's why he couldn't sleep. His bag was in the bath-utility room. He dug it out.
As he stood in front of the open window, anticipating the satisfaction of hurling the can out, Piero hesitated.
... have won... grand p...
He'd never won a mystery grand prize. It would be a shame if he missed out on something worthwhile.
He picked out the seeds from the pepper as he waited for his computer to boot. It was an old Cooper 3000 model and even at the lowest brightness the monitor made his eyes water. Fizzo dot net. Loading...
Won a prize? Enter your four-digit code now!
Piero looked at the can and typed in the code. 0451.
The image shuddered into view.
Line by line. At first, nothing... then white, white fabric, linen sheets.
It was a large, soft, bed under a blue light, the sort of light that made Piero think of an aquarium.
Line by line, now there was a shape on the bed.
It was a head with milk-white hair that seemed to shimmer on the flickering screen. A pale face with narrow eyes and black pupils looking calmly at the unseen camera. Parted lips, prominent collarbones. Piero watched the rest of the image load. It was a woman, splayed out on a bed. She wore a rubber bodysuit, sleeveless, revealing slender arms thrown casually over her head. Piero exhaled slowly. The light rippling over the latex made her seem magical. She wasn't from Kagayaku City. She was from a beautiful, faraway realm.
One wish. Anything you want is yours. Click here to claim.
The text was small and discreetly tucked into the corner so as to let Piero absorb the whole image before reading it. He raised a brow. So, the woman in the image was Fizzo's grand mystery prize. Typical. Downtown was full of this crap, every other billboard peddling some new size pill or ultra-orgasm toy or custom doll, just send a picture of the one you desire. Piero switched the monitor off and flopped into bed. He was grateful to be back in the dark.
The music was quieter now. Piero rolled over, willing himself to sleep. His feet were cold. He pulled them under the covers. A spring dug into his back. He thought of a hand caressing his cheek. A subtle, secret smile.
Piero opened his eyes and the digital clock blinked back, half past one in the morning. He swore. Even if he got to sleep now he'd still be exhausted in the morning.
He got up and used the toilet. When he was done, he pulled open the blinds and looked out over the city.
The electric currents of Kagayaku unfurled in front of him. The river flashed neon under the Downtown skyscrapers, drones like tiny specks hummed in the distance. The light and smokestacks obscured the stars. It was an impulse that kept Piero awake, one that he couldn't shake. Kagayaku was a city of fifty million people. He drove through it everyday in his battered Montauk car and had never seen the same face twice. People disappeared into the static. He couldn't concieve of other people's lives, other people were like characters in movies. In theory, people had girlfriends, kissed and made love and held hands, but those people were only the sombodys. Movie stars.
One wish
. Didn't he work just as hard as the somebodys? Couldn't he have nice things?
Anything you want is yours.
Click here to claim
. He knew he wanted it.
Back at the computer, he tapped his foot as the image greeted him again.
Missed me? Welcome back
, her look seemed to say. He clicked.
I accept the terms and conditions
. Click. She was at an address forty minutes away.
It was still dark when he pulled up to the glossy corporate building which the map told him belonged to Pygmalion, Fizzo's parent company. Piero couldn't suppress an impressed whistle as his footsteps echoed over the lobby's marble floor. So this was where the somebodys clocked in. He strode to the front desk, where a robot receptionist waited.
"Welcome to Pygmalion. Are you here to claim your grand mystery prize?"
Piero was taken aback. The robot's chrome face followed him, panels shifting to imitate a moving mouth. It was an impressive piece of machinery.
"That's me," he replied cautiosly.
Suddenly a panel opened next to him, and a plastic keycard slid out.
"Welcome, Piero Marwood. Please take your keycard and swipe at the lifts, which will take you to the prize floor!"
Its voice seemed to boom in the silent lobby. Piero picked up the keycard, which showed his name, the date and time, and... a picture of himself. He looked closer. The picture was taken from eye level and showed him entering the building.
"Thanks," he said.
He studied the receptionist for a moment before turning away. It seemed to have no legs, and was mounted on a terminal plugged into the desk. When its constant gaze started to unnerve him, he went to the elevator.
The elevator beeped when he slid the keycard through the reader, and with a ding its doors opened to him; but before he could press anything they clunked shut, and he felt himself start to rise. There weren't any floor buttons to press.
First floor, second floor, third floor
, the display read. The whole prize system was automated, Piero realised. It was impressive. Spooky, but impressive.
He looked at himself in the mirror. Before leaving he'd shaved, changed his shirt and ran some lotion through his hair. He still looked ragged and tired, but in a cool way, he hoped. Like a cool drug addict. He was lankily built, with scruffy brown hair that he cut himself. He sniffed his armpits. Good enough. Would the girl like him? If she didn't, he hoped she was a good actor.
Fourteenth floor
. The doors opened.
In contrast to the stark lobby, the long hallway he stepped into was dark from floor to ceiling. Light strips invited him down its length, where another sliding door waited. Piero gulped and wiped his palms against his jeans. With each step his nerves multiplied.
Silently, the door slid open.
The room looked like the suite of a five-star hotel. It was U-shaped, wide and open, with tall windows and a floor that looked like real wood. A pair of couches and a fully-stocked bar took up the sunken central pit, with steps leading to the upper area where a glass door looked onto a balcony. The whole place was old-school in design, though immaculately tasteful like something out of a brochure.
And there was the bed. It was in an alcove, huge and inviting in the same aquarium light that made the whole room glow.
