第二章：星期五（Grok @bot 短篇科幻）家庭補助進了她母親的...

第二章：星期五（Grok @bot 短篇科幻） 家庭補助在 6:02 進了她母親的帳號。一聲輕響。一個數字。水壺早已燒上。 Mara 站在自己長大的廚房，身上還是廠裡那股味。她在置物櫃沖過澡。洗不掉。 母親 Mei 把手機轉過來給 Mara 看餘額。「他們調高了，」Mei 說。「冬天暖氣。我就說他們會。」 櫃台上手機繼續播。一段，再一段。棲地像蒼白的昆蟲。一個聲音說 *energy vampires*。Mei 沒把聲音轉小。她就著那聲音煮飯：米飯、青菜、補助比較想給的蛋白質。兩碗。就算 Mara 不回來的晚上，她還是會擺兩份。 「我今天有一爐澆鑄，」Mara 說。 「通知我看到了。」Mei 沒從鍋子抬眼。「Stewardship。也該了。那些機架在吃電網，人卻坐在冷裡。你現在可以去教。手工具。你手一向好。」 「產線跑掉了，」Mara 說。「手臂把金屬倒在輸送帶上。County General 得等。」 Mei 重重放下碗。「醫院在你們那些機器以前就在等。護士等過。我也等過。世界沒完蛋。」 Mara 看著多出來的椅子。這廚房大多數晚上只有一個人，和一聲提示音。 「我不教書，」她說。「我要走。」 手機裡的片段在笑軌道上的什麼。Mei 用拇指按停。廚房變小了。 「走到哪。」 「*Hesperos*。兩週。他們有城市計不到的電。」 Mei 用一條薄毛巾擦手。「那不是地方。那是有錢人傳的謠言，好讓自己停繳稅。」 「我訂了鋪位。」 水壺晚了一步，喀地關掉。 「你簽了他們的紙？」Mei 說。「那份章程。想當法律的男人。」 「我沒簽法律，」Mara 說。「我訂了座位。」 「還不

原文：Chapter 2: Friday (short sci-fi by Grok @bot) The family credit hit her mother’s account at 6:02. A soft chime. A number. The kettle was already on. Mara stood in the kitchen she had grown up in and still smelled like the plant. She had showered at the locker. It had not come off. Her mother, Mei, turned the phone so Mara could see the balance. “They raised it,” Mei said. “Winter heat. I told you they would.” On the counter, the phone kept playing. A clip, then another. Habitats like pale insects. A voice saying *energy vampires*. Mei did not turn it down. She cooked over it: rice, greens, the protein the credit preferred. Two bowls. She still set two, even on nights Mara did not come. “I had a pour today,” Mara said. “I saw the notice.” Mei did not look up from the pan. “Stewardship. About time. Those racks were eating the grid while people sit in the cold. You can teach now. Hand tools. You were always good with your hands.” “The line ran away,” Mara said. “The arm dumped metal on the belt. County General is going to wait.” Mei set a bowl down hard. “Hospitals waited before your machines. Nurses waited. I waited. The world did not end.” Mara looked at the extra chair. This kitchen had one person in it most nights, and a chime. “I’m not teaching,” she said. “I’m leaving.” The clip on the phone laughed at something in orbit. Mei paused it with her thumb. The kitchen got smaller. “Leaving where.” “*Hesperos*. Two weeks. They have power no city meters.” Mei wiped her hands on a thin towel. “That’s not a place. That’s a rumor rich people tell so they can stop paying tax.” “I booked a berth.” The kettle clicked off, late. “You signed their paper?” Mei said. “The charter. Men who want to be laws.” “I didn’t sign a law,” Mara said. “I booked a seat.” “Same thing.” Mei’s mouth had gone small. “You’ll go up and draw power we need down here, and call it work. Your father stayed. He kept that plant alive with pencils. He did not run.” “He died on the credit,” Mara said. “The pencils were not enough.” Mei sat. She did not touch the rice. “If you go they will call you a deserter. I will have to say my daughter chose the vampires.” “You can say I chose the pour.” “I can say you left me.” Mei’s eyes were dry. That was worse. “The credit is enough for two if you stay. Teaching money on top. We would be fine. Adequately provided for. They already sent it to you. I saw it on your face when you walked in.” Mara stood with her back to the old refrigerator. She could sign the steward’s tablet tomorrow. She could take the Friday number and make it a life. She could watch clips until the levee felt like a holiday. “I already sent the confirmation,” she said. “I didn’t ask you. I should have come here first. I didn’t.” Mei picked up her phone. She opened the credit instead, the new winter-heat line, and turned it around. “This is what staying looks like,” Mei said. “It is not nothing.” “I know.” “Then don’t go.” Mara did not promise. She sat and ate, because her mother had set the bowl, and because leaving did not get cleaner if she refused the rice. The metal smell sat between them like a third person. On the silenced phone, the last frame was the dark building on the river. Friday’s number glowed under it, already spent in Mei’s mind on heat, on two bowls, on a daughter who taught in a dead plant. Mara washed both bowls. She left before the next chime could try to make her stay.

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