Page 78 of The Mentor
“Ehhm, yeah, all right,” I said and avoided looking at Kya.
“You see, some of us like curvier women with boobs,” Finn declared. “And others,” his eyes fell upon me, “have a fetish for darker women.”
“Okay, maybe we can move along,” Kya said pointedly to the guide. “I’m not sure the children need to hear about fetishes and sex-bots.”
The guide apologized and took us back to talking about tedious household chores that his amazing robots could perform. It was truly a state-of-the-art factory, and we all grew increasingly impressed when we moved on to see the production of drones.
“You must be rich,” William announced when we saw the large production line.
“We don’t have a monetary system here in the Motherlands,” Shelly explained to him.
William frowned and pointed to the man. “But didn’t you say you were the owner?”
“I did.” The man squared his shoulders. “This is my life’s work.”
“What he means is that he owns the responsibility of this impressive factory,” Kya explained.
“And I’m compensated for the many hours I put in,” James hurried to say.
“Compensated with what?” William asked.
“I’m what we call a distributor. My talent for running this factory rewards me with more points than I can use myself. Four times a year, I distribute my points to those who have less.”
“What the hell is points?” Hunter asked with his arms crossed.
“You get points when you contribute,” Kya said. “For instance, I’m a teacher, Christina is an archaeologist, and Pearl worked for the Council. The society is based on people contributing with their special gift, and the point system is a way to make sure everyone is valued and rewarded.”
“But what do you use the points for?” William asked.
“We use points for food, rent, transportation, and anything else we require.”
“It’s what we call the fairness system,” Shelly added. “No one is rich and no one is poor. We all have the same opportunities.”
William shook his head. “That has to be the stupidest shit I’ve ever heard. Are you people mentally retarded or something?”
Finn placed a firm hand on William’s shoulder. “Now, you be nice, William; they can’t help it, and I’m sure our nice guide here wouldn’t want to share if he had a choice.”
The man was gaping. “What kind of person would I be if I only thought of myself?”
William leaned his head back to look up at Finn. “I’m telling you, something is seriously wrong with that guy. I feel sorry for him. But you know what?”
“What, William?”
“When I grow up, I’m going to be the richest man in the Northlands.” He grinned and looked at his friends. “And I’m sure as hell not going to share my money with all you fuckers.”
Cindy, Varna, and James, the factory owner, exchanged disturbed glances with each other.
“I apologize,” Kya said quickly and shot a reprimanding glance in William’s direction. “We talked about not cursing while in the Motherlands, remember?”
When we got back to the hotel after our long day at the factory, Kya insisted that we all needed to meditate to digest all the impressions.
For me, that thirty minutes meant napping because even though I had tried getting into that meditation stuff, it still felt silly.
Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who wasn’t excited about it, because three of the boys snuck off to go to the pool.
I wouldn’t have found out if they hadn’t come back bragging that they had seen naked women.
Finn immediately sat up. “What do you mean you saw naked women?”
