บท 2: Great Fucking Day!
Publicity- Your bio-readings are a bit low, ate a meal today? If not, you should take a Nutrishake 3K®! Our patented recipe will cover all your daily intakes in 20 seconds flat! It's the perfect shake for people in a hurry, and if you don't like vanilla, one of our 87 taste additives will be sure to seduce you! Drink quick and beeeeeEEE HAPPYyyyyyy!
Kate- Fucking brain ads... they should stop sniffing Moondust when they write that garbage. Can't wait for that crap to uninstall... At least got a free sample from that promo. Man, I'd eat just anything right now, must be why that freaking brain parasite got ticked off. Damn you Alabaster, kicking my nuts when'm down on my luck again. If I fail today I'll get light enough to download.
Alright girl, focus! Can't keep fucking up... One more week and even the plants downstairs will be disappointed when I get uninstalled... barely heavy enough for a half-measure of bone meal.
Cerecom- You are currently showing a high level of hormones linked to stress and depression. Should I download Dr. Watson for an official diagnostic and a prescription? The installation fees are...
Kate- Ignore...
Cere-You could contact a credit loaner, you still haven't taken a credit line...
Kate-Shut the fuck up, toaster-level brain implant! You know I don't want that. 'Nyway, 'm on the job, keep the chat to a minimum... 'king carton cardboard chip n' their sucky predictive algo...
Cere- ... You have arrived at your destination: 246 Grande Allée corridor, dome 116, Dr. Ariane Prince's clinic.
Kate- Great... this place is like a steamed shithole rolled inside a ripe dumpster. Awesome perfume they got going. Maybe I should buy the rights of the smell and make a killing in the stink bomb business... NOT. Must be the stall in front of the clinic. Rotten veggies. Stale work sweat, dying old age... Cere, disable my olfaction then reactivate it slowly so I don't puke my gut before my no-breakfast.
Something's weird here, can't put my finger on it... what am I seeing?
Cere- This establishment doesn't have an AR display nor does it have an online presence, it might be linked to the fact that I can't find its trading permit in the database. Should I alert the authorities?
Kate- Yes, but delay it a few minutes. Don't want to shit where we eat just yet. Build me a doc with the footage and send it to the natives when we're done. Should give just a large enough Paradise's Corners to buy me a tall glass of water. Don't look too much a gifted something's something as they say!
Clerk looks ancient. Hag must be one of these "au naturel" crazy Luddites. Either that or she's piss poor as a dry fuck with a second-hand dildo in the back of a metro tube. Who still ages nowadays, 'riously? I bet she thinks she renders service to nature by dying or some shit. Guess she's right, the pool don't need no stupid genes to stay long. Already plenty of that shit in the monkey's alphabet soup.
Her stall looks as bad as she does. The same stink too I'd bet. Corp-gods above, I swear, shit's still stained with dead merchandise. I don't want to get close of all that bio-puke, though bargaining will make a decent cover while I spot the doc.
Old clerk- "Qu'est-ce que tu veux?"
Kate- French? Corps above spare me, just my luck, another crass ethnic ghetto. Here comes the Cerecom direct mind translation...
Cere- She is asking what you want. She is demonstrating cultural body language and tone associated with impatience.
Kate- No thought transfer?
Cere- She doesn't seem to have an implant to communicate with or it is in inner mode.
Kate- Phewww, got scared for nothing. Still, have my tummy in a blender, all Nutrishake likes. Fucking brain implants! If it wasn't fucking 2112 I'd rip you out of my skull with my bare hands.
Cere- It would be highly inadvisable, important lesions to your brain would be created. Plus, it is "fucking" 2112.
Kate- Can do without the teeth-grinding sensations of becoming that French antique for half a nanosecond. Feeling someone else's thoughts then back to myself... Ewwww. This is way better. No bitter aftertaste of a fucked-up ass life, no lingering attachments to fuckers I don't know, no craving for weird pseudo food I never tasted, no feeling of attraction for my own butt, no dreams of a shadow at the very edge of my brain-space. Simple, clean efficient. Can't understand why the fuckers upstairs chose this design. Sure it avoids losing stuff in translation and through speech but gods, I could get used to this emptiness. I should get an app to block that shit up.
Cere- The app for disabling mind transfer is only...
Kate- Pass, too broke right now... keep it on the wishlist though.
Cere- By the way, she's still waiting for your answer.
Kate- Who? Oh, Right!
"How much for that red stuff, And how do you eat it?"
Cere- This red stuff as you call it is called raspberries, here are some links for consumption methods.
Kate- Not you! don't care, delete.
A handheld device to translate... how... quaint!
Old clerk- "Raspberries? Thirty-six a kilo, as for the recipes just ask the Devil's voice in your dead skull Satan's doll. Don't think I don't know what you are!"
Kate- Still, you are trying to trade with me... I guess I forgot religious zealots to the list of moronic people without implants.
"Fuck you, granny! Are you senile? How can this junk be worth that much? Are they made of pure rare earth? Or maybe they were 0g handcrafted in time-travelled platinum and you charge for the fucking interdimensional and time-shift transport fees?"
How can "real food" cost so much, that's just plain stupid! Time travel, *light chuckles* if only it existed...
Old clerk- YOU!!!! YOU!!!!...
Kate- Great, got her on a rant. Perfect cover to get a glimpse of today's rent payment.
Cere- Name: Marie Surname: Blanchette
Age: 76 Dob 11/03/36 Ethnicity: French, Caucasian
GenCodeRef: GC8700/444405dor/pc>>»«993KP
Implant: No Rating: Felony class D
Wanted for:
-3D printer possession and operation without a license
-Illegal cybernetic organ printing
-Practicing medicine without a corporate affiliate status
-Aiding and abetting of multiple class A and B felons
-706 known violations of the Corporate Copyright act of 2046
-Digital piracy
-Fraud
-Impersonation of a medical practitioner
-Implanting military-grade equipment on unlicensed entities
Bounty: 15370 Paradise Credits
Kate- Nice rap sheet! Owning a 3D printer will do that to you. Girl, you should have known that the Corps Above don't want you or anyone, not under their heavy thumbs, to own means of production. They don't want regular Jane or Bob to start a new Corpo World War from a dirty third-world tunnel. A noble goal indeed. Last one was like a brown water pipe bursting in a cantina, if it was also radioactive and had mutant ninja roaches holding it up.
If the unwashed masses started printing printers, we would get anarchy in the Market and the Domes. There would be no tomorrow this time. Humanity's already on its last gangrened stumpy little leg.
Old clerk- "... JUST A FUCKING IGNORANT LITTLE CUNT! Do you even understand how they grow? The space they need? The water, the nutrients, the atmosphere, the soil bacteria, the bio-drones to pollenize..."
Kate- Whops, forgot crazy granny. I know, I know, she ain't wrong, but fuck, shouldn't poke me with her freak finger...
Fuck, losing... control... grabbed her bonny finger... didn't even think first. Don't know why my body is making a frown and growls. Isn't as if I feel any actual rage inside... or anything else really. Just, a cold, blank brain... Man, watching yourself in a third-person perspective is always weird AF, commenting on my own action like a UEFL host. (Ultimate Enhanced Fighting League)
"SHUT THE FUCK UP GRANNY OR I BREAK YOU!"
Neat pain face, hag. That's it, back off, I can't make threats and not follow up, that's just ain't professional. Nothing empty in mine, 'm all about business. Uggh! Real-food breath! So stinky, disgusting, can't breathe! Turd-grown foodstuff is revolting. Choosing good not to shit my paychecks each and every day.
Pub- I only eat Nutripacks 3K® a cheap and efficient way to get through the day!
Kate- Really? Brain-adds? You choose to spam me NOW?
Cere- Sorry, that was a contractual obligation.
Kate- Shit, I'm forgetting the doc with all that drama, hope she wasn't spooked...
Cere- No, she is still here, for now. I guess a bit of violence won't faze someone in this rat ass.
Kate- Kinda eerie... like a perfect bio-lottery-winner princess. M'I jealous or some psychological shit nonsense? Let's see, perfect full red lips, glistening red hair, perfect curves, large Disney AF eyes... bought some DNA mods services did she? NO, WAIT!!! Fuck... that's not it, I screwed up, I SCREWED UP! She ain't a fucking geneticist! She's a Barbie printing street doc! That's creepy eyes uncanny valley territory!
Damn! She saw me glaring too intently! She must be reading me like a .doc file right now with her empathy softs. Fucking glassy beady little eyes full of terror... SHE KNOWS!
Cere- Kate, I can observe transformations happening to her legs, it looks like a cheetah mod variation.
Kate- I see, I know. Fuck my life, I knew she felt too perfect for gen-mods! That damn hairy armed froggy cunt Barbie gonna slip! 'M a freaking grade-A pure beef 8 bits brained trained monkey!
Cere- At this speed, she'll get away. Might I recommend immediate action?
Kate- "Hella fast ain't she?"
Cere- The suspect is actively avoiding capture. You are now authorized to use lethal force after a verbal warning.
Kate- I KNOW!
"COUNCIL AGENT! EVERYBODY GET THE FUCK DOWN!"
Vision's narrowing... heartbeat like a fucking drum circle on a free THC drops day. Adrenaline, gunslinger's worst enemy since 1365 AD. Can feel my sanity wringing like a fucking wet rag.
"Activate adrenaline scrubbers now!"
Cere- ... Better?
Kate- "Yes... She ain't stopping, didn't even flinch."
Alright then! Close your eyes bitch... reopen, breathe in, and out, one, two, safety off, finger on the trigger, aim for center mass like training.
"Activate the aimbot program, shoot to kill."
Cere- Confirmed... Missed! Adjusting trajectory taking new host kinesthetic data into account for autocorrection.
Kate- That one shot went wild. Fucking discarded cumbag bio-body! Should go full-cyborg next time I hit big. Stupid partials, they don't get all the needed data and control for cleaner maths.
Cere- Round two impacted, damage approximation based on visual data and echo feedback... The host's biological sound receptors are temporarily disabled by sudden firearm discharge. Some long-term damage is expected. Would you like to add synthetic eardrums to your wishlist?
Kate- Fuck that hurt! Forgot the earplugs. At least I got a hit out of it! Yeah, bioware ears are a hassle, authorize.
Cere- Confirmed.
Man's voice in the crowd- "JANINE!!!! Non, NON non non non... Pas ça... non!"
Kate- Yelling? Did the first shot hit something? No, fuck, someone... Here is that third-person perspective feeling again. Like I'm looking from over my shoulder. No matter, no time for squat! She's still running, THE FUCKING RENT IS RUNNING! Well, more like jumping really. She ain't wearing a mag-suit, that's good news. Should make her movements slower overall.
Cere- Round three confirmed hit. Calculating damage approximation, adjusting second shot results with the newly obtained data.
Kate- She flinched this time! Probably got her somewhere good. Sorry, Marie, a girl gotta eat and you are lunch to me, nothing perso. Still fleeing, are you? Where is she aiming to go to? Enlarge AR minimap as transparent overlay.
Cere- Confirmed... She seems to be running toward a light pit area, dead ahead.
Kate- Me and my turd laying luck! I'll lose her instantly if she jumps a level, I'm wearing my fucking mag-boots n' suit!
Cere- Target seems to have activated a bootleg, military evasion software and is using bystanders as human shields. Risk of additional collateral approximately 78,8% do we engage?
Kate- Nah, we let her go. Can't afford an audit with collateral bonanza and risk having nothing to show for it to balance out. If she used a weapon to fight back, then we'd be golden... but Barbie knows how to skirt the book. Alright, Ken Doll, time to let Barbie go, 'nough playtime for today... Shit!
Cere- We might still have a chance, the target is attempting a jump to level 56, should I shoot?
Kate- Stats?
Cere- 50/50
Kate- Don't. Not worth getting an unlubed meat stick in my ass over a one-on-two ratio.
Cere- Resuming normal biological functions. Adrenaline scrubbers deactivated.
Kate- *Panicked breathing* 'M alone, alone, in a fucking storm of yells and cries. I'm underwater or some shit, the remaining adrenaline I gated making a fucking full comeback. No way around it. Can't calm down... Shaking... Fuck fucked fucks fucking fucktard!!!
Cere- The host is showing advanced signs of recurring CPTSD-related symptoms. Would you like to get online assistance from an AI psychiatrist? Consultation fees are 26,99 credits for an hour or you can buy the software license and get unlimited use for as low as nine-hundred ninety-nine and ninety-nine a year.
Kate- Something soft... and spiky between my fingers, a loudmouth covered in red!
"STOP YELLING FUCKER!!!"
Don't touch me! Please, not now, not ever, don't touch me...
"DON'T PUSH ME!"
I think he's angry at me 'bout something. Can't think straight! Fuck fuck fuck...
Cere- Kate... Kate... you are having a panic attack. Sing Greensleeves with me, it will help you calm down... WAIT! Don't shove your gun in that man's mouth, if you go too far you might get a severe reprimand. He is not cleared for enforcement actions.
Kate- Calm down, calm down, come back inside yourself jailbroken moronic evil doppelganger of me... come back inside.
"Uuuuurrrghhhhhh... buaaaaaaaah"
Yuck! Barf taste... it all went down over the railing. Hope no one is under the rain today, bet it wasn't on the forecast... then again. At least it didn't get on me, I'm getting the hang of this. Shit, 'm still shaking like a dildo, but no explosive ecstatic finale for me. Hate adrenaline... Oh, right, still have my gun in a guy's mouth... Why is he glaring like that again?
Cere- He's the father...
Kate- "Father? SHITFUCK, THE STRAY SHOT?"
A little girl... maybe six... still breathing... for now... good!
Cere- I alerted the locals for an after-action cleanup.
Kate- Hope she makes it. In a way, it might just be her greatest luck. Council will give her a full cyber without charge... if she survives. Always good PR to clean a mess. 'm done here... send my POV footage and info on the fruit hag. I'll be lucky if it covers today's ammo.
"I fucked up..."... again. Just another shitty cycle in Paradise... like all the others.
ความคิดของผู้สร้าง 
Shorgoth
Shorgoth I've been working on this universe/story for over 12 years, at this point, it became my life's work. I learned a lot working on it, from the first 36 chapters draft I made in French. I studied futurism for it and worked a lot on myself at the same time. It feels weird to see my old self in Kate, all that untamed rage bubbling inside, I'm happy I got through that.
I hope I'm good enough now to finish the story I always wanted to write.
สถานะพลังงานรายสัปดาห์
-- การจัดอันดับด้วยพลัง 
-- หินพลัง