You ask "How long have you been working here at the Tower? Is that even the right word? Are you a tour guide?"
"Hmm.. Maybe residing would be a better term. I am a guide only because I'm experienced and helpful, not out of any particular duty. I have little use for money, and time is sort of unusual here. There was a time before I was here, when I met the builder in a garden that never opened. We were.. like-minded, and he invited me to move in here. I prefer to sleep under the stars, so I roost in the trees nearby. That usually means I'm the first to answer to Help! flares, at least here on the outside."
"Do you go inside the tower often?" you ask.
"You might bump into me there, from time to time. There's a cafe in there I really like, they have delicious coffee grounds. Between you and me, the bugs out here are a lot tastier than the unbugs inside."
"What's an unbug?"
"It's food made to wiggle on the ground. Not really alive, but about as nutritious as the real thing. The unbugs aren't too bad on their own, but they're missing a kind of earthiness that the bugs out here have. I think it's a difference in the mud and dirt out here. Wouldn't surprise me to find out that the mud inside is a similar kind of illusion. The wi- uh.. the builder is pretty into harm-reduction."
"Like a pacifist?"
"Something like that. Don't get me wrong. There's danger in the tower if you go looking for it. Kind of like a hiking trail. If you stick to the main path, you'll get a nice, safe tour of the forest, but if you wander deep enough into the wilderness, things get a little wilder."
