I awoke with the sun still up. The heat tore through my blacked out windows and into my office, making it feel like a furnace.
I reached around and unplugged my head from the modem, reluctantly.
The night's dreams had made it possible for me to move forward. Knowing that there was something better than the life that I was living was all I needed to tell Jaymes about the indiscretions of his wife.
I got myself out of bed and dressed myself in the usual; gray button-down shirt, black jeans, black hat with two white stripes that had been worn to the point of donation, and I left out my usual coat.
I pulled myself over to my desk and started a dialogue with Paige.
Pull up the pictures of Monique. I said.
I waited for just a moment, knowing that the night before would cause Paige to lag a bit.
She finally pulled up the photos of the junkie wife and I sorted through them. I picked out the pictures that I knew would drive the point home for Jaymes and got my thoughts together on how I was going to break the (should already be obvious) news to him.
As I made my way down the stairs, I felt the very real urge to go back and get some boost.
The funny thing about boost was that no matter what, it could make things seem easier.
There was this one time that I'd found a little girl that had been seriously injured by a moving car. I didn't see the accident, but it was quite obvious that it had been a moving vehicle that had struck her.
She couldn't have been more than ten years old, and she was lying in the street. Both of her legs had been broken, and there was blood pooling underneath her.
I had no idea what I was supposed to do. The idea seemed obvious enough. I should yell for help, call the authorities, or do anything other than stand over her and do nothing.
But, unfortunately for her, that is exactly what I did.
See, I was high on boost.
It was my first month with the purple, and I didn't know how to handle myself.
I still have flashes of the back of her head, face down in the grit and dirt of the gutter, just before I do a line. I think about her every time I do some boost, but it is too late to do anything about it.
I'd synced up some days later and found out that she'd died in the arms of a non-transhuman.
I didn't cry.
Boost makes everything easier.
After dealing with the urge, I got to the street outside my office without looking back and hailed a taxi.
The taxi was nastier than the very slums that it was from. Someone had vomited in the floor, but I could see purple powder mixed in with the mess.
I looked up at the cabbie, an android, and told him my destination.
"Uptown."
We sped past the junkies, the boosters, the riff raff, and the degenerates. We went up Apple Street, took a left onto Commerce, and a right onto Ashford.
We were there before I knew it.
The boost was still heavy on my back and, sadly, knew that it would help me with my conversation with Mr. Helsiner.
I got out of the cab, gave the machine his fare, and looked up at what was sure to be the tallest skyscraper I'd ever set foot in.
The sun was setting, but it was still too hot for me to stay outside. I could feel my pale skin starting to blister.
I walked quickly to the doors, was greeted by another android that was overly polite, and made my way inside.
Past the revolving, energy saving door was a beautiful lobby, but I had no time to sit and admire. I made my way to an elevator, put my hand out to stop two uppers also going up, and hopped on.
The uppers looked terrified to be on the same elevator as me, and I'm pretty sure that they must have pictured me a lower American terrorist.
I got a good laugh out of their faces and backs pressed against the far mirror.
I finally made it to the fifty-fifth floor, and departed.
I made sure to look back at the uppers and mouth the word "boom" as the door closed.
I worked my way to Jaymes' room, and gave the old fashioned 'shave and a haircut' knock. The knock, although mostly forgotten, was my signature way of letting people know it was me.
Jaymes opened the door, grabbed the shoulder of my shirt, pulled me in (with a little more force that I really cared for), and closed the door.
His face was white and covered in sweat. Even in his top-end, upper, hoi polloi life, he was just a tiny scared man that was terrified to find that his existence might not have gone as planned.
"Hello, Mr. Helsiner", I said. "It's nice to see you too."
"Cut the shit, Kaiser. Did you find anything or not?"
He was pushy, but I let it go. Just knowing that there was a big payout for the information that I could give him made things a lot easier on my end. He wanted to be a tough guy, and that was fine by me. There wasn't a punch I could throw or a word I could say that was going to hit him as hard as the news that I was ready to give him, so I cut him a lot of slack. It was my way of giving to the needy.
"Mr. Helsiner, the funds are in order?"
"Yes! Did you find anything?" His voice got the point of shrill. I truly wanted to feel sad for him, but the boost was doing its job.
I held my hand out and looked him dead in the eye. Of course his eyes bounced from my hand to my stare a few times, but eventually he put the old money in my palm.
I didn't care what anyone said about the new Republic and its money, I liked old cash.
"Very good, Mr. Helsiner. If you have a hard-line, I will gladly sync with you to show you some pictures of Ms. Helsiner."
Mr. Helsiner responded the way that most uppers respond to news of cheating lovers, thieving partners, or boosting housewives.He started with denial. There were accusations that gutter scum like me were just a spiteful little men that attempted to ruin successful mens' lives. There was a moment where he raised his fist with the promise of a physical attack, but then he thought better of it.After a few minutes of shaking his head no, screaming at me, and pacing his luxurious living room, he broke down in tears. His uncontrollable sobbing was my cue to leave, but he begged me to stay."Please, Kaiser. What do I do? How can I get her off the drugs?""Not my field, Mr. Helsiner. I just provide the information that you pay me for, nothing more and nothing less." I had to have this conversation more times that I could coun
The elevator door opened and revealed that the entire top floor was set aside for Mr. Hernandez.It appeared that we had at least one thing in common: we both worked and lived in the same place.I was certain that this wasn't the senator's only place of business, nor residence, but there was no way for me to know that for sure. I truthfully knew very little about the new politics of the reformed Republic of North America, and didn't care to learn.I wasn't sure if the senators still met in Washington D.C. like they did before the reform, or if they just met via the government domain through sync. Again, these things didn't concern me.The main chamber of the room, what I had to guess was the office, was exceptionally empty. It was a large room, just as white as the lobby, with a single desk in the middle, al
I filled Mr. Hernandez in on how little I knew about computer hacking.The extent of my knowledge was that it had been extremely popular when the net was in its primitive stages, there was an extreme hacking war about five years before I was born, and that it was virtually nonexistent in the present due to modern firewalls being impossible to penetrate."Fair enough, Mr. Vrix. Allow me to brief you on the case that I will be hiring you for."I wasn't sure if the senator was aware of it or not, but the sun would be rising in about two hours, and I had no intention on being caught outside during the daytime. I would give him one hour, and then I didn't care if he was a senator, I was leaving. He could finish up with me via videomail."A little over two years ago, the Republic employed a young man by the name of Ed Shulister. He was exceptionally talented at engineering, and his skills were required for a series of tas
The shuttle pulled up just as the sun started to break the horizon. The top sliver of the orange orb brought a promise of unbearable heat and skin blistering light. My heart sped up a few beats when my eyes took in the reds and yellows coming over to our side of the world.I was thankful that traffic had kept a steady pace, and the high-end droid driver had taken back roads that I hadn't even known existed.I made my way into my building, already feeling the heat of the day beating down on the nape of my neck.But the sun was only one part of the reason that I was moving with the speed of a panic.My hands were slick with sweat, my shirt soaked through, my head was pounding, and my eyes were having trouble focusing.I needed a hit of purple.I took the
After thirty minutes of waiting, Hernan finally showed up. I'd tried to save a seat for him at the bar, but, fifteen minutes into the wait, the small Asian owner began yelling at me."You're bad for business!" He screamed. "You can't save seat! You go away!"With a little work and a little cash, I convinced him to let me stay, but had to give up the chair.When Hernan walked in, his presence was immediately known throughout the small diner. The sheer size of the man was enough to intimidate even the hardest of gutter rats.He had some of the broadest shoulders that a man could possess and stood at an impressive six foot ten. He was a thick man, but I wouldn't go so far as to say he was fat. There was a beer gut that had started to develop, but he was still shy of being overweight. The best way to describe him was 'solid'.
I woke up from the beautiful world, the gorgeous companion, and the marvelous peace of my Dream Sync Room to find a filthy apartment that baked my skin like an oven.My eyes focused in on the rather large crack on the yellow stained ceiling as I tried to get my head to stop swimming.Memories of the day before were a little hazy, to say the least. I'd remembered leaving Hernan at the bar and walking home, but then it got fuzzy.I could have asked Paige to give me a replay of what had happened, but her day was just as long as mine, so I let her sleep.My feet hit the floor and I walked over to my desk. There, sitting on top, was an empty baggie with little purple particulates that wouldn't do anything but arouse my appetite.I'd done the whole damned bag.
My feet carried me five miles from my apartment to a street market that was packed to the rim. If I'd been there for shopping, I'd have likely turned around and gone home. I usually didn't wait to stand in line for a roll of toilet paper, no matter how cheap it was at the market compared to the conventional grocery. I'd push the limits until the sun was going to rise within the hour, speed shop, and then jog home.Looking at the huge mass of men and women that went about their business, buying the little knick knacks of life, I felt overwhelmed and had no idea where to begin.I proceeded in trying to find my way through the shoulder-to-shoulder crowd, hoping that something would catch my eye. After a few ugly looks from the people that I was pushing passed and likely couple of bruises, I came across a street peddler that was pushing some AI devices. I had to assume that they were hot from the extremely low
Stephen Nguyen was my height, but he must have been at least twenty pounds lighter. He looked frail, to the point that if you touched him he might fall apart into a dust and blow away in the wind.When he spoke, his English had no hints of his Vietnamese background. His name, I assumed, was the only thing that he possessed from the Asian country."Have you been here before?" He queried."No actually. This place was referred to me, and I was just a little curious about what it was that you have going on here." I responded.His eyes searched me up and down, almost to point that I felt over scrutinized. He was sizing me up the way that the Authority would. The smile that he wore while doing his inspection of me was as fake as they come. It was a forced show of emotion to make the inspected feel at ease."And your name is?""Calvin. Calvin Spencer." I said. Calvin had long been my go-to