"I recognize that symbol. It was on the floor of the kitchen and the bathroom too, and I think I saw it on the wall of at least one of the bedrooms. I thought it was just a decorative motif, you think it's functional?"

"Some kind of robotics seems like a possibility here. It'd be exciting if it weren't so strange."

"Yeah, on the one hand I hope that there are robots managing this garden, since I certainly don't know how to take care of all these plants, but it's kinda creepy imagining that robots can emerge into any of the rooms we've been in without much warning."

"I might be able to wrangle some plants. When you're poor and want fresh veggies, you make a garden."

"Put furniture in front of the robot-circles, if that's what they really are."

"That's true, I wonder what the purpose for them is. I mean here it seems like they might be for tending the garden but what would they be doing in the other rooms?"

"Maybe they're cleaning robots? This place is pretty big and we haven't seen any other people yet, we also haven't seen much dust accumulating anywhere. Now maybe this place is just brand new, but the other possibility is that something or someone is keeping it clean."

"Weird building, robots... I wonder if anyone else is going to show up in that lounge area. Probably, given the number of bedrooms."

"That's a good point, if the other codes lead to places like this that'd make, what, 144 bedrooms, it'd be awfully empty if we're the only ones to show up. Still better to stick together unless we find some way of communicating at a distance and maybe even then."

"This mess is making me wish I'd dragged my bugout bag along. Tch. Let's move on."

"Yeah, I wish I had my camping stuff with me too. Having my laptop would also be nice. It'd be fine if I had internet, most of my stuff is backed up to the cloud but without that, I don't have any of my notes, just what I have in my head, and a few things marked for offline access on my phone."

She's amused despite the tough situation. "You guys with your phones and your cloud. I have all my class notes right here." She pats her purse.

"I've trained myself to have a memory palace, so I'm mostly not reliant on having a computer at hand, though it is convenient. Besides, it's skills that are critical to me more than specific knowledge."

"Anyway, let's see what else is on this floor..."

The next door reveals a small library, along the wall they enter through there are six computer workstations. There are stacks along both the left and right walls with work tables and comfy chairs in the middle between them. The back wall is a massive window. "Speaking of computers..."

"I definitely want to come back here later, but if I let myself get sucked in now I won't want to leave any time soon, it can wait for now."

"Check that they work at least." He pokes a keyboard.

The screen comes on revealing an interface more like that of a tablet than a desktop computer to one side are four icons, labelled: Employment, Encyclopedia, Interfaces, and Settings. "Well that's interesting. I wonder what's up with the employment thing."

Walta pauses scanning book titles. "We just said we'd come back later, though. So, let's go."

"Fair enough." The next room bears some resemblance to a compressed hospital ward, there are beds with nothing various life-support looking monitors around them, arranged along most of the walls, the far left corner has what looks to be an infant intensive care unit, and the far right corner has a couple tables with the fittings for telesurgery. In the middle of the room are several other types of tables for things from dentistry to the sort of exam table you'd see in a physician's office. "Well, this would be really reassuring if I thought any of us knew how to use all of this. Maybe that telesurgery setup is run by AI though. I wouldn't put it past this place."

"It's almost as if someone googled what a human needs to be happy and healthy."

"There is a sense in which that's true, food shelter, health, entertainment... if the employment section is offering interesting jobs that's most of Maslov's Hierarchy right there. Any guesses on what other rooms we'll find?"

"Some approximation of a classroom."

"A gym, probably."

"Let's go see." Alice say leading them back out the door and to the next one. The door reveals a room with large tables with cabinets along the side walls. The far wall has a counter with a few sinks set into it. "Well this bears at least some resemblance to a classroom, I wonder what's in these cabinets." She says and walks over to open one. The first cabinet reveals a large collection of board games, subsequent cabinets reveal various types of art supplies, yet more games, various stationary, and a myriad of other supplies for entertaining people of all ages. The only notable absence is that of anything requiring batteries. "Huh, I'm not sure whether to call this a classroom or an art and games room, either way you aren't far off."