by Jamie Davis
“What? Dangerous maybe?” Eric laughed. “That’s what a lot of the mainstreamers would have people think about us. They don’t understand why we go to all the trouble to express ourselves this way. Some of the extreme radicals think we’re trying to create some sort of master race of cyber people. That’s not the case at all.”
Cass nodded and looked around at the surrounding booths in this part of the underground marketplace. Across the aisle, a woman lay back, reclined in an old-style dentist’s chair. Cass gasped when she realized the woman had just had a new implant placed in her head. A metal skull cap covering the crown of her shaved head sat in place while another woman bent over her. The second woman stretched the skin up over the metal margins of the cap. She used a dermal regenerator to adhere the skin to the edges of the circular cap, affixing the glowing red beam from the regenerator’s wand all the way around the margins until there was no gap between the skin and the edge of the device.
Shelby came over and stood next to Cass, watching the procedure while reaching down to hold her hand. “Cass is still pretty new to all this. I think it’s a bit of a shock to her.”
“Shelby,” Cass said, resisting the urge to point at what was essentially surgery taking place just a few yards away in this dirty underground parking garage. “Why aren’t they getting that done in a hospital? It can’t be safe to do it here. It isn’t sanitary.”
Eric stepped up beside them and said, “You were the exception and not the norm when you got your implant, Cass. Most people like us can’t afford to get our add-ons in a hospital setting. We have to settle for doing it in places like this. It’s not as bad as it looks. That woman working on her will inject a supply of nano bots into the patient. That’ll not only complete the neural connections, it’ll also fight off most infections that may arise.”
Cass glanced at Shelby. “Did you get your arm attached in a place like this? And your cerebral implant?”
Shelby nodded. “As Eric said, not everyone has the funds to get a real doctor to do this kind of work. Even those who do tend to be discreet. The wealthy cover up their more advanced and compact high-end implants, so no one knows they have them. The rest of us have to settle for older, aftermarket and custom gear.”
“That’s hardly fair,” Cass said.
Shelby nodded. “The world’s not exactly fair. The rest of us have to make do with what we have available to us.” She turned to her brother. “See, Eric, I told you she has a lot of misinformation about us to overcome.”
He shook his head, although he smiled. “I can’t believe you’re a Sapiens member and your dad works for Sterling Noble. That bastard wants to put all of us into cages.”
“No, he doesn’t want that at all,” Cass replied. She answered out of reflex, defending her father and the man she knew as the leader of the Sapiens movement. “It’s about keeping the rest of us safe from those who would exploit the humans without enhancements.”
“The rest of us?” Eric asked. “Have you read any of his most recent speeches?” His mood darkened. Cass could tell because the screen of his visor changed to dark swirling clouds with occasional lightning flashing across it. It was similar to the way Shelby’s v-tats shifted with her emotions.
“I’ve met him and he’s not a horrible person. He just wants people to remain people and not become machines under control of someone or something else.”
“But you’re a…” Eric started to respond.
Shelby put up her hand and interrupted them. “Hey, you two, let’s not have a fight. I want you two to get along. Cass is still adjusting to some things about herself and our community. She doesn’t really understand who we are and what we stand for.”
After a few seconds, the visor across Eric’s eyes shifted once again, returning to the single eye floating in a grey background.
He smiled. “You’re right, sis. I’m sorry, Cass. I get upset about people wanting to lock me up just because I’m different. I thought you would feel the same way now that you have your own implants to contend with. How are your parents reacting to your upgrades?”
Cass didn’t think of them as upgrades, though she knew that’s what people in counter-culture cyber-human circles considered them. She stammered out the beginning of a reply but Shelby stopped her.
“She hasn’t told her parents yet, Eric. She’s afraid of how they’ll react to what was done after the accident.”
Eric nodded. The cyclops eye on the visor had a single tear form in the corner and drop away. He reached out his hand, placing it on Cass’s shoulder. “It sucks when your family doesn’t accept who you are. In this community, it’s different. If you accept us, we accept you, no matter how you look or who you are. We’re all about a live and let live approach to life. We celebrate people’s differences.”
Cass offered a half-smile at Eric’s attempt to reassure her. It all still overwhelmed her. Directly behind Eric, a guy in his twenties scooted by so fast, she thought he was riding a skateboard. As he came around the corner into full view, she realized he’d added wheels to his ankles in place of his feet. She stared as he lost his balance and careened into one of the tables, falling down and knocking a bunch of the items for sale to the floor.
The whole absurd scene hit her and she began to laugh in spite of herself.
Eric and Shelby turned around to see what she was looking at and the two began laughing along with her. The owner of the booth stood over him shouting about the scattered merchandise.
The guy on the ground tried to help and gather the fallen items into his hands and put them back on the table. The problem was he couldn’t get back to his feet. The wheels kept slipping out from under him.
Eric smiled and gestured towards the hapless fellow. “Let’s go give them a hand, Shelby. He’s obviously new to his wheels.”
Eric and Shelby went over and helped the guy up, holding him under his arms and standing beside him until he got his wheeled feet back under him. Cass followed them over and bent down to help the booth’s owner pick up the rest of the scattered merchandise. It looked like most of it was some sort of circuit board chipset inside a clear acrylic box.
“Thanks,” the wheelie guy said to Shelby and Eric while they steadied him from either side. “I don’t know what I was thinking when I ordered these. I figured I’d be able to use them to handle my delivery jobs a lot faster than riding my bicycle the way I used to.”
“You probably just need to adjust to it first,” Eric said. “With a little practice, I’ll bet you’ll be super fast and zipping around the city like you were born with wheels.”
“I hope you’re right. I spent a lot of money getting these. Robot delivery services are faster than I am. I hoped this would help me compete.”
“I think it’s super rad,” Shelby added. “I’ll bet it cost you a bunch, though. Didn’t they come with gyro stabilizing systems and upgrades for your cortical implant?”
The guy nodded and tapped a small metal plate behind his ear. “I’m still getting used to the new system. I guess I should’ve taken the guy’s advice and walked with a cane or something for the next few days. I didn’t think it would be necessary, but now I’m beginning to reconsider.”
Eric looked around. “Is he here? Maybe we can help you get back to his booth and he can give you that cane he offered.”
“That would be super nice. He’s over a few rows and towards the far side.”
Cass put the last of the acrylic circuit boxes on the vendor’s table. The man behind the table grumbled a thank you to her. She nodded and turned to follow the others as they helped wheelie guy back down the aisle.
With Shelby and Eric on either side of him and Cass trailing behind, the guy rolled through the Bizarre and down the next row over until he stopped in front of a larger booth with a medical exam chair set behind a series of display tables. The gentleman behind the counter was adding something to the end of a woman’s arm when they rolled up.
The vendor at the table turned around, magni
fier glasses flipping up automatically as he looked up from his work. He smiled. “I knew you’d be back. I also figured you’d need help getting here. Give me a minute to finish this up and I’ll get that cane for you.”
The man with the wheeled feet nodded and reached out to steady himself on the end of the table. Eric and Shelby let go of his arms and stepped back.
“Thank you both,” the man said. “I really appreciate your help.”
“Hey, we’ve got to stick together,” Eric said. “After all, it’s us against them.”
Cass saw the man smile. Eric’s choice of words concerned her. How was his adversarial position any different from what he complained about in Sterling Noble and the Sapiens movement? Eric sounded almost militant with comments like that.
Her father once told her there were underground groups ready to carry out terrorist attacks on unsuspecting pure humans. Could Eric be part of one of those cells?
Cass filed her questions about Eric and his activities away as he and Shelby rejoined her. She decided to push her doubts away and focus on having a good time with Shelby.
The three of them walked down the row, checking out various items and enhancements as they went. Shelby never stopped smiling as she talked with Eric. She was happier than Cass had ever seen before aside from when the two of them were together.
Cass knew Shelby adored her brother and it showed. He was her only family still living close to her here at school. Their parents had sold their home and moved up to Boston to live with her sick grandmother over the summer.
“Cass, I’m so glad you got to come and meet Eric.”
“Yeah, Cass,” Eric said. “It’s good to finally meet the girl who’s stolen my sister’s heart. I hope we can be friends despite the way my political views cloud my judgment sometimes. I have to remember it’s about education and not fighting back. Forgive me?”
“Of course, and, yes, it would be nice to be friends,” Cass replied.
“Awesome. I’m glad.”
“What should we do next, bro?” Shelby asked.
“I can hang with you gals a little bit longer,” Eric said. “I do need to meet with some people later. I just got word of a Sapiens rally coming to the city sometime soon. My contact at City Hall doesn’t know when it is yet, but we want to be ready to stage a counter-protest when it happens. We have to show how we stand up to their kind of hate and bigotry.”
“The Sapiens are coming here?” Shelby asked. She shot a glance at Cass.
Cass shook her head. This was the first she’d heard of it. Her father hadn’t said anything about it when she talked with her parents earlier in the week. It worried her. If there was a rally of some sort planned, her dad would probably want her to be involved with it in some way. She knew she couldn’t do that. Not now, not ever.
“Sorry, Shel. I haven’t heard anything about anything like that,” Cass said.
“All we have is a rumor,” Eric said. “I have friends who have a few contacts within the Sapiens organization, but they’re not very highly placed. Sometimes they give us information that isn’t accurate.”
“You have spies in the Sapiens movement?” Cass asked, surprised.
“We have to do what we have to do,” Eric said. “There’s a civil war on the horizon. If people don’t start learning to accept everyone’s differences, it’s going to happen.”
The words civil war scared Cass. She remembered hearing her father and mother talk in much the same way. If both sides thought the outcome was inevitable, what would stop an open conflict?
She felt like she was getting pulled in multiple directions. She’d grown up believing everything her father said was true. Now, Eric’s words conflicted with things her father said while still having a similar fatalistic vision of the future.
Shelby tried to change the subject. “Hey, let’s go get something to eat. I’m hungry. I’ll bet both of you are, too.”
Cass got the hint and dropped it.
“I think that would be an awesome idea,” Eric said. “Has Cass ever been to O’Malley’s?”
“No,” Cass said. “What’s O’Malley’s?”
“Only the best diner in the whole city,” Eric replied. “Come on, let’s leave and head down there. It’s only a few blocks away. You’re going to love their burgers. They are literally the best in the world.”
Cass nodded. She was hungry again. She and Shelby followed Eric as the three of them left the underground cyber-market to return to the city above.
As they walked along, Cass tried to sort out the feelings swirling through her brain. She wanted to like Shelby’s brother. He was important to her and that made him important to Cass, too. His views were more radical than she’d expected, though.
She also wanted to believe the things Shelby told her as she learned about the cyber-human world. She was part of that world now whether she wanted it or not.
Chapter 15
Despite the concerns swirling through her mind, Cass enjoyed their lunch at O’Malley’s diner. The three of them sat and chatted about Shelby’s youth and family life for more than an hour.
Eric’s personality was infectious. It was hard not to like him. He was funny and exciting to talk to. He was passionate about ensuring that cyber-humans received the rights he felt they deserved, but didn’t talk about a violent response. She realized he would stand up for himself but do it peacefully. Cass knew what her father would say about Eric, though.
As she thought about it, she remembered she’d promised her father to be available for a face chat later that day. She checked the time. It was nearly two-thirty in the afternoon. Their time together had distracted her. She and Shelby would have to hurry to get back to the dorm.
In her rush to figure out how long it would take her to get back to the university, Cass’s implant automatically connected to the Mantle. She didn’t realize she was accessing it until she’d checked the map and gotten the ETA from it.
Cass disconnected as soon as she realized what had happened. Her implant did that more and more as her brain integrated with it and began to share the processing of information. The connection came without thought now. It made Cass wonder if that was a sign. Was she coming under the influence of the Mantle’s global AI?
“Shelby,” Cass said. “We need to be going. My father is expecting me to chat with him and I’d like to do it in private.”
Eric’s expression changed as she mentioned her father. Cass didn’t miss the frown that briefly passed across his face. Even the visor’s background changed to a deep red for an instant before returning to neutral gray again.
Eric didn’t say anything, though. His expression returned to the easy-going smile he had when she first met him.
For some reason, that made her like him even more. He didn’t seem to hold her family against her. Sure, her father was a Sapiens leader, but that didn’t mean she was lumped in with him automatically. Cass wasn’t sure she’d have been as open if their roles were reversed.
Shelby slid out of the booth and stood to make room for Cass to get up, too. “I’ll call us an auto cab.”
Cass nodded and turned back to Eric. “It was nice to meet you. I hope we get the chance to see each other again sometime soon. I want you to tell me more stories about Shelby when she was little.”
Eric laughed. “I will definitely do that. There are quite a few I’d love to share with you.”
“That’s enough of that,” Shelby said. “I don’t need you embarrassing me anymore in front of my girlfriend. Remember, turnabout is fair play, brother mine.”
Eric held up a hand in surrender. “Fair enough, sis. You two have a great day. I’ll cover lunch. Be careful heading back across town.”
Shelby and Cass headed outside the diner to wait for the auto cab. It didn’t take long to show up and they hopped in the back. Soon, they were heading back towards the university.
Cass got back just in time to race into the dorm room and grab her tablet. She fired up the regular net conne
ction she used with her dad. If the tablet wasn’t so dumb, Cass could have used her own Mantle connection to initiate the link between the tablet’s camera and her parents.
Other devices around the campus were set up such that she could talk directly to them through her implant. She didn’t even have to use her hands to operate some appliances.
Cass checked her implant’s internal clock. It was almost time for her dad to call and he was always punctual.
Cass stood and glanced in the mirror across the room above her dresser to make sure her wig was still in place to cover up the implant. Just to be safe, Cass set the tablet on her desk angled in such a way so that it favored the other side of her face when she sat down.
The connection rang on the table. Cass tapped the accept button and she saw her father’s face smiling back from the other side.
“Hi, sweetie,” James Armstrong said. “I can’t believe it’s been so long since we’ve talked to each other.”
“It’s only been a week, Dad. You act like it’s been forever.”
“When you’re a parent someday, you’ll understand how much you miss your kids when they’re not around.”
Cass smiled. She missed her parents, too. She couldn’t tell them she had her own reasons for avoiding talking to them. Cass jerked her hand back to her lap as she caught herself subconsciously reaching up to touch her implant.
“You said you had some news, Dad. What is it?”
“I thought I’d surprise you, but your mother told me to make sure you knew first.”
“Knew what?”
“That I’m coming to the city. I have an event coming up in a few weeks and I’ll have some time to spend with you.”
“You’re coming here?” Cass said, trying to stifle the panic she felt rising within her.
“Yes, there’s going to be a big movement rally there with folks coming in from all up and down the coast. I’ve been asked by Sterling to come and help get things set up in advance.”