Magnus Opus With Rodents

almost smiling. His long yellow teeth hanging below his white whiskers made him look like a big buck-toothed cat. 

“I won.” He closed his burning eyes and dropped his controller. 

Lucille was up. “Magnus, you have violated your schedule – two days in a row. A district representative will visit you later today to discuss these infractions and recommend the best way to remediate. As you are aware, we can adjust your arm unit to remind you more forcefully to stay on schedule.”

“Lucille, I won. I won the R.O.U.S. Grand Prize.” Magnus couldn’t help smiling though he was aware Lucille already knew and couldn’t see him in the usual sense of the word.

“I know that is a big accomplishment, but since you went outside of the prescribed schedule, I’m not sure it will count as a win.”

Magnus started to shiver. He pulled his fluffy robe around his body and tied the belt tighter.

“The game says I won, so I won.” He wanted this to be the truth. He needed it to be.

“You’ll have to leave your apartment to claim your trophy – and the other prize.” Lucille sounded a little snarky. He really disliked her.

“I know.”

“When was the last time you were outside your unit?”

Hester had hugged him hard and opened her mouth to say something, but he couldn’t remember what. Her vehicle evaporated in the haze and then he was drifting down the empty hall holding two sets of keys. “Seventeen years ago.”

“Will you be able to do it? Can you even open the door?”

“I seriously don’t know. I’ll get back to you. It’s time for breakfast.”

He collected his breakfast from the bin and watched the holo-ad. Egg McMuffin again. 

He stared at his apartment door while he ate and checked the outside temp: 134° air quality: lethal, inside 70° air quality: good. Chelsea cat rubbed against his shins, looked up at him, her long white whiskers trembling, and meowed a little too loud.

Lucille really got under his skin. 

He opened his closet door and dropped his robe. He pulled on shorts, a tee shirt and wiggled into his ADS suit. On pure instinct, he reached into his nightstand drawer and closed his hands around his house keys. 

“I’ll be back,” he said to Chelsea and Lucille. Neither responded. 

The corridor looked longer than he recalled, or maybe it was just weird walking in a clumsy suit. The elevator came more quickly than he anticipated. Magnus walked in and pressed lobby. The piped in music was atonal without beginning or end. 

The doors opened and Max took a deep breath and proceeded to the front door. It had a motion sensor and opened immediately. He looked through his goggles at the greenish mist. Somewhere, across the river was Queens, Brooklyn, Long Island and the ocean. It made him nauseous to think of all the open space outside and all the tunnels below surging with rodents, Nutria’s, giant rats and others of unusual size. 

Magnus turned back and went to his apartment. He took off his ADS suit and hung it carefully in his closet. He gave Chelsea extra long pets and was nice to Lucille all day.

He was fine really. No need to leave. The trophy was just another thing to collect dust. What would he buy with all that coin? He had everything he needed. 

Sex was overrated anyway. He knew better than anyone else what made him feel good.