Quoted By:
You see an arrangement of multicolored gears on the display, with several missing in the center. At the bottom of the window is a hotbar with a handful of gears of different sizes and teeth count. You can already put together what this puzzle is supposed to be.
"Our role is to help keep the city's underworks running by fixing these gear setups! What you have to do is-"
You hold your hand out and tap on the first of two equally sized gears. It goes into the right spoke, and then its partner into the left, perfectly filling the space in the mechanism. The machine starts spinning, and a high-pitched chirp of victory sounds from the speakers. Nemu claps her hands together in surprise.
"You're a natural! Have you done this before?"
"... I've seen things like this."
"It's real simple! But if you like higher difficulties, there's plenty more levels. I just broke a thousand the other week, so I'm taking a break and joining recruitment for a while."
<span class="mu-s">"This looks sorta fun. It's not as bad as you made it out to be."</span>
You shake your head, but you can't reply while she's in front of you.
"You're already so good at it! Why not come by for a trial shift? There aren't any obligations, you can clock out and go whenever you want."
"I'm busy today."
"Aww... Well, if you change your mind, we'd love to have you. What's your name, by the way?"
"I'm Mar- Martha."
She holds her hand out to shake, and you accept it gingerly.
"Our building is right down the sidewalk. You'll be making about three thousand credits per day as base pay, but if you REALLY excel at gear fixing, you can earn commissions, up to a cap!"
<span class="mu-s">"No, really. It's not all that bad. Worst case scenario, you just leave. Why are you so against working here?"</span>
You answer his question by questioning Nemu further.
"Hey, Nemu. What exactly does this job accomplish?"
"I'm glad you asked! See, deep under the street, there are plenty of mechanisms that keep the City running! We ARE in the Digital World, after all. But they break all the time, and the bots need to do repairs. That's where we come in. By putting the gears back in place, we're restoring function to the infrastructure we all enjoy using! It's a lot more useful than those pencil-pushing, chart-reading time-wasters from earlier."
You know for a fact that this isn't true. There's no magic system of gears that spin to keep everything going. Lines of code and ancient algorithms are constantly running in the Network, and the 'physical' world is generated by the kernel. She's being fed a lie. This role is nothing more than a sham and a distraction, meant to help cityfolk feel like they're accomplishing something.
"I see... Thanks, Nemu."
"You're welcome! I hope we'll see you again sometime!"
