Codename: Angelus

Chapter 4 - The Lost

The dream scenario was called Neo Metro City. It wasn’t modelled after a real-life mid-XXI century city. Rather, it had been designed following theories and projects from famous architets from the XX century — names like Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier, Kenzo Tange, Renzo Piano. It was an exquisite mix of futuristic and vintage, of glass and concrete buildings and lush greenery. Transportation was provided by a city-wide maglev sky rail system and smart cars — electric vehicles for personal use. Power was provided by wind farms and solar power from the orbital station. The city was layed out as a series of concentric circles, with the Central Business District located inside the inner ring, followed by the Administrative District, the Industrial District, a Green Area and the Residential District. The main roads had been designed to split the numerous annuli into circle sectors and to reunite with the two orthogonal axes at the center of the city, creating a radial pattern.

On the outskirts were located the productive infrastructures: the wind farms, the antennae stations to collect solar power from orbit, the water reservoirs and the farmhouses which provided the city with abundance of clean water and food.

As idyllic as it sounded, the designers were smart enough not to make everything perfect — the human mind would have noticed it was fake.

Yet it had been designed so that the problems were elsewhere; other cities, other countries. Everyone was happy and healthy in Neo Metro.

Maybe they made it a little *too* perfect, thought Camilla to herself.

*That’s why people are looking for fun in illegal VGames Parlors.*

“This is the last one, miss” said the house mover, setting down the last of her cardboard boxes onto the floor of her brand-new apartment.

Milla snapped out of her own thoughts and paid the fee.

“Thank you.”

“Are you gonna live alone, miss? I know it’s none of my business, yet —”

“My parents will come as a later time.”

“Farewell, miss.”

The house was furnished in a tasteful yet practical manner.

It was kind of cold, actually — not that her quarters in the shelter were different. Her house was located in the Mapletree precinct of the D-1 Sector. An upper-middle class residential suburbs, a peaceful, dozy borough on the hills.

Unpacking was a first for Milla. The one time she moved from the nursery shelter to the Angelus shelter, she found her apartment fully equipped — and clothing and everything else had been provided for her.

It actually felt good. Unpacking. She listened to music while she sorted her things. Then she made herself a cup of coffee and nibbled at a snack.

It was mid-afternoon when she finished unpacking and she decide to take a stroll down the lane to get acquainted with the neighborhood.

Milla stopped at the convenience store before heading home. She was thirsty and she wanted to buy a fruit juice and maybe a cake or some snack. She lazily listened to two women gossiping while she browsed the shelves.

“Have you heard?”

“You mean, the Lost? Yes, I heard. In this neighborhood, too.”

“They found her in one of those filthy VGame Parlors. She’s in a coma.”

“How old is she, again?”

“Thirteen.”

“Oh, my! She’s my daughter’s age! She didn’t go to Saint Michael, did she?”