Finally they reached the door to his room. The door swung open soundlessly, and he closed it quickly behind them. Arren immediately slumped against the wall. His room was a small single residence with three rooms: a main room, a bathroom, and a small closet. It was the best you could get outside the cities. It was noticeably bare of possessions except for a mattress and, of course, the mandatory viewing screen embedded in the wall. The girl seemed particularly interested in that.


"Everyone here has them," Elihu said. "It's the rule."


"I know," she replied, slightly indignant and being told something so fundamentally obvious. There was a moment of stiff silence, then she added, "Do you actually watch it?"


"Sometimes… but not all the time," he admitted.


"Really? What do you do instead?"


He offered her his hand, gesturing towards the closet. The space inside was cramped and dimly lit, and it was crammed with canvases. Vibrant hues of blue, red, and gold were splattered accidentally on the floor and the dim gray walls.


Arren stared at the horde, mouth open.


"Woah," she said. "Not authorized by the Network, I take it? I didn't think you were such a renegade."