“—I’ve been gone for over ten hours. I need to rest and drink some water.”
“I’ve been glued in here for ten hours? It only felt like three hours!”
She takes a step closer to me. I’m sitting waist level to her now, gazing up at what is essentially an electronic angel sans wings.
“I did it,” she finally says.
“Did what?” I search through the annals of my mind trying to remember if there is anything she was supposed to do. Nothing. Damn, I am a shitty boyfriend!
“I did it.” She unzips her tight jeans.
“Did … ?”
She shimmies out of her jeans and my eyes lock on the front of her panties. No more bulge.
“You … ?”
“I had my dick replaced with a pussy.”
TWENTY∞
To put it lightly! Fireworks over New York Harbor explode while bottles are popped filling the air with cheap champagne as Kalashnikovs are fired over sullied Middle Eastern turd-burgs.
“You did what?” I say, not quite sure as to how I should process what Yeshi has just told me.
“I did it Meme. I went to a Korean Humandroid surgeon in Akihabara and had it replaced.”
“Does it hurt?”
Of course it doesn’t hurt!
She giggles. “Why would it hurt? It wasn’t a difficult surgery. There are just some small mods involved.”
Why didn’t I think of this before? Further – what the hell does this even make us now? My girlfriend was a ladyboy Humandroid and now she is all woman and I’m as confused as ever. I didn’t care for her dick; I didn’t really touch it aside from that first night (I take no responsibility for that night!), but this changes everything. My excitement turns to guilt – I don’t want her to think that I needed her to change just for me! Now my eyes are fixed on a perfect, well for lack of a better term, a perfect vagina with two braided strands of hair as is popular in LA and perfect lips, not too saggy and Hustler pink. Holy hell I shouldn’t be describing this to you, Reader, my bad.
“Are you all right? Your vitals are all over the place.”
The words spill out of my lips in a strange way. “I didn’t ask for this… you shouldn’t have… this is awesome… what the hell am I saying? When can I take it for a test run? I liked you just the way you were. Sorry, I need to breathe.”
(Breathe, Meme!)
She runs her fingers over it. “Give me a couple hours to, well heal isn’t the right word, but give me some time to adjust.”
“What’s there to adjust to?”
The realization comes to me that I have a penis and it would be pretty traumatizing if it suddenly was lopped off and I had a vajayjay instead. Then I remember that I’ve switched with women before – hell, Nelly’s kid pried its way out of my ladybox a week ago – and it isn’t as strange as it sounds to go from having a pecker to a vag in the late twenty-first century. Still, labels complicate things.
“What’s wrong?” she asks. “This is what you wanted, isn’t it?”
“I didn’t say I wanted it, did I?”
“Well you never let me fuck you, so I figured it would be a good step forward.”
This is the most awkward conversation I’ve had in days!
“Fine, it’s what you did and it’s totally your choice. I just don’t want … I don’t want you to think you have to change for me. I’m not stupid, you know. I realize you are essentially an evolved human.”
“I’m not human … ” she says, but I can tell by the tone of her voice that she has taken this as a compliment. She should – whatever she is, she is much more evolved than a simple carbon-based pollute-puffing onanist like yours truly.
“Humandroids may not be human per say, but they are the next evolutionary step of the human,” I explain, as if she needs an explanation. “I suppose it is strange that the next evolutionary step involves the eventual eradication of a species, but what can we do? We created you in our image and you – all of you – will one day surpass us. I used to think of you as a Humandroid, but I’ve been thinking of you as a Human since you delivered my baby in Mexico. You are… you are practically the only person that cares for me in the entire world. You are the benevolent Eve to my intoxicated Adam, the evolved Juliet to my shwasted Romeo, the Angelina Jolie to my Brad Pitt clone. Okay, that last example doesn’t quite work, but you get the point. Don’t feel you need to change for me.”
“So I should change back then?”
“Hell no!”
The words escape from my lips before I can stop them. True motives usually ride on quick breaths. Luckily, she doesn’t recoil. “Let’s just … um … see how this goes. You are a woman, all woman, and that’s fine. I mean, that’s awesome. Dammit, I can’t process this right now!”
She laughs.
“Don’t mock me! What’s more important right now is getting out of Japan and … Nelly! Yes, Nelly. Rescuing Nelly is what is most important right now. We can deal with sexual orientations later.”
“Come lay down with me,” she says, relaxing onto an orange futon. “I need to sleep for eight hours. Think you can handle that?”
“Anything for you, Yeshi, anything.”
TWENTY-ONE∞
Rinchi curved back through the alley towards the Comsuit.
Rinchi: I’m going to get in behind the Comsuit if I can.
Keva: Same here, and then I’m going to kill you.
Rinchi: (Sigh) Are we still on this? Comsuit first.
Keva: Good luck :-*
Rinchi rounded a corner, nearly crashing into a pair of junior jihadis who were industriously stripping electronics out of a parked vehicle. “Move, Move, MOVE!” she shouted in English and the two scattered.
She slammed on the brakes and took cover; the Comsuit was around the next corner scanning for targets.
Rinchi: I’m there. About fifty meters out on the machine’s seven o’clock. Where are you?
The Comsuit opened up with its machine gun, firing a series of short, controlled bursts.
Keva: See where it’s shooting? That’s me. You distract it – I need to get closer.
Rinchi: Or – I could just let it stomp a mudhole in your ass, which would solve one of my problems.
Keva: True, but then it’d … SHIT! That was close … then it’d bring the sky down on you, too. I’ve got something that’ll ruin its day, BUT I NEED TO GET CLOSER! DISTRACT IT!
Rinchi: FRACK!
She broke cover, popped up, gave it a good solid zap with the Lightsaber, and rolled to a new firing position. Sparks and spangly fireflies erupted all around the Comsuit, but the zap had no other effect. The machine turned, took notice of Rinchi, and returned fire with its own Lightsaber. A solid beam of coherent death blasted through the spot she’d just vacated, followed by fifty or sixty rounds of reconnaissance-by-fire that chipped away at her increasingly inadequate cover.
Keva: Moving now!
Keva popped up out of nowhere, and zigzagged for the Comsuit like a jet-propelled roadrunner with a rocket up its ass. However much she’d paid for her Humandroid upgrades, she’d gotten the bargain of a lifetime in the leg department, and she used every penny’s worth in the run up to the Comsuit. It tried to track her, but she was just too fast. It put everything it had out at her and never came close.
She jumped, slapped her hand against it, and bounded away. There was a short, sharp explosive report and a tremendous Tesla Discharge. The machine stopped firing and collapsed, shaking the earth. Even shielded as she was by her MercSecure field dress, the discharge prickled uncomfortably around the edges of Rinchi’s senses.
“What was that?”
“Tesla generator with a shaped charge to blow through the armor and let the zappy goodness inside. Let’s crack open our little Easter egg and see what’s what,” Keva said, slightly out of breath. “Toss me you knife.”
“Seriously? Do I look that gullible?” Rinchi asked.
Keva brushed her white hair out of her face with her long-fi
ngered hand. She looked Rinchi over, sizing her up. “I suppose you’re right in not trusting me. Here, I’ll play nice.”
She placed her grenade launcher on the ground and stepped back. The wind picked up, spinning a tiny dust devil between them. Rinchi only tossed her the knife after she’d picked up Keva’s favorite toy and backed away.
“Good,” Keva said, as she picked up the knife. “I like this one – I’ll have to get my own one day.”
She straddled the torso of the Comsuit and traced panel lines with her finger, muttering quietly to herself as she did so. “Not this one, not this one, not this one. This one is about the right size and in about the right place.”
Placing the tip of the knife in the groove around the panel she’d chosen, Keva hammered the butt of the knife with the heel of her hand. The panel popped off, revealing a numeric keypad and a dusty fingerprint sensor.
“Okay, the Tesla generator fried these,” and she tapped them with the knife. “But, there has to be a mechanical crash extraction release, just in case it lost power or combat damage or something. So … ” MercSecure’s top rep resumed examining the panel lines.
Rinchi tracked movement out of the corner of her eye. A convoy of three up-armored MRAPS and a golden Humvee stretch limo rapidly approached. Clove came up on the net.
Clove: Report.
Rinchi: Keva ambushed me, trashed the hotel’s vehicle and its driver, and was about to do her payback thing when Optimus Prime here showed up and went after the both of us. And thank-you so much for selling me out – we’ll discuss this later.
Clove: Shit happens; just relax. I’m coming out. Monique – overwatch for the Prince.
The rear hatch on the trail MRAP opened and Clove stepped out with a railgun at low ready. A big, heavy, powerful weapon, it was twice the size of a PHASR and normally served by a crew of three. Clove handled it with apparent ease.
Rinchi turned so that she could observe Keva and cover Clove’s approach, her PHASR at low ready as well.
Keva said, “Aha – gotcha!” and popped another panel open with Rinchi’s knife. She pulled at a red-painted handle with Arabic squiggles written on it in black marker. The torso of the Comsuit clamshelled open; Keva reached in and none-too-gently jerked out a dirty, skinny, grease-smudged thirteen-year-old girl.
“Salaam Alaykum,” she said as she tossed the girl to the gravel.
TWENTY-TWO∞
Sauria entered the Rosewood Restaurant to find Connard Branleur sitting with Bill Bleak, the CEO of BlurYou. The best decryptors at ExEx had yet to crack the video feed they’d received from the break in at MercSecure headquarters. Hopefully, Bleak would offer a hand in deciphering the video feed.
“Bill,” Sauria said. “Nice to meet you.”
Bill Bleak didn’t stand. He looked up at Sauria with calm, defiant eyes.
Connard jumped in to smooth over the situation. “Bill, Sauria… um … Sauria, Bill.”
“I’m quite aware of who he is,” Bleak said. “There’s almost no one that MercSecure or ExEx hasn’t personally affected.”
“I’m glad to meet you.” Sauria smiled even though it pained him to do so. He had a lot of enemies; some he knew about and some he didn’t. Bleak had just moved from the didn’t to the did list.
Connard said, “Shall we order? They have an excellent lunch special. The bouillabaisse is simply to die for.”
“I’m not hungry,” came Sauria’s reply. “I’ll just have an iced tea.”
Connard grinned nervously. “Please, Sauria, break bread with us.”
“Order me whatever you’re having then.”
“I’ll have the same,” Bleak said sharply.
A menu rose from the end of the table and Connard selected an order.
“Right,” Sauria said, “let’s get down to business. A day ago, our Japanese headquarters was penetrated by a pair of dangerous individuals calling themselves Anonymous One and Anonymous Two. They threatened the life of one of our employees and stole confidential information. We have the two on video, but they were using your BlurYou app–”
“—Great,” Bleak clapped his hands together, “that’s exactly what BlurYou is for. Why are you coming to me about this again?”
Sauria’s eyes narrowed on the younger man. Bleak was a tech heartthrob, handsome and square-jawed. This only made him more despicable. “I don’t think you understand the forces that are at play here. These two pose a threat to national security. Your company … ”
“A threat to national security? You do realize that MercSecure is a private corporation, don’t you?”
“A private corporation that is partially owned by the FCG,” Connard chimed in.
“What difference does that make? It’s still just a private corporation and not a government entity! Tell me how a firm that basically – let’s be honest here, as you’ve used whatever ill-placed connections you have to drag me here today – tell me how a firm that basically provides mercenary services for an elite clientele isn’t anything but an abomination of the system, especially due to the fact that it is openly funded by the FCG. Tell me why anyone in their right mind would support what you do.”
Sauria dropped his hands under the table so Bleak couldn’t see how tightly he’d clenched his fists.
“What you’ve essentially created – and we won’t even call it part of the military industrial complex as it is an entirely new bastard of the system – what you’ve essentially created is no different than the non-discriminatory Gestapo, or the FSB, or the Insane Clown Posse, or the modern day Yakuza, or any other type of pseudo-governmental organized crime ring. You get my point.” Bleak waved his hand. “And let me finish. Yes, organized crime because what you are doing by deciding who lives and dies is murder on an industrial scale. Murder for profit. You should be ashamed of what you created.”
“I don’t quite understand your contention with MercSecure,” Sauria finally said through gritted teeth. “We serve our purpose, and we work hard to maintain national security. I especially don’t like the Gestapo reference.”
“You have representatives all over the world providing protection or conducting assassinations for banana republic dictators, Saudi royals, North Korean nutjobs, African drug lords and Chinese oligarchs. The numbers don’t lie. While your internal dealings may be secret, bloggers, watchdog groups and other independent news sources have gotten wind of what you’ve been up to. The people of this country – while maybe distracted at times – aren’t stupid. Some even know what you did to Dustin Grier at the HuffingtonJones offices in New York.”
“Dustin Grier? I’ve never heard the name in my life,” Sauria said with faux innocence. “Look if you want to start making accusations, we can let our attorneys deal with it in court. You could be made liable for the defamatory statements and spurious accusations you’ve made here today.”
Bleak laughed. “I don’t think that’s a road ExEx or MercSecure would like to go down. It isn’t hard to shovel up some dirt on MercSecure’s iniquitous business practices; the information is being stored as we speak.
“Stored as we speak?”
Bleak said, “You may have had a representative kill Dustin Grier at HuffingtonJones – gruesome shit by the way, hanging him upside down and slitting his throat – but, Grier wasn’t just a simple pawn as you may have thought. The information is out there, and that’s partially why I agreed to meet you today. Don’t think for a minute that you’re going to keep getting away with egregious illegal activities like you have been for the last ten years. Other businesses and services are well aware of what you’ve been doing. Gene X? Remotely controlled life chips? The truth is out there.”
“Pardon?” Sauria asked, his face growing redder than he would have liked.
The Humandroid waiter set three ice teas on the table and quickly hurried away after reading Sauria’s jittery vitals. “If anything happens to me,” Bleak said. “All the information we have so far will be released in a way that you can’t stop. So befor
e you decide to send someone to hang me upside down and slit my throat, remember that the fascist castle you’ve built will tumble if you fuck with me. Need I elucidate?”
Sauria reached for his ice tea, slamming half of it in a single gulp. “Well you’ve clearly been listening to the liberal media.”
“What liberal media? Most channels have been silenced by the RepubCorp party and their operatives, like you Connard, Mr. Business Executives for National Security! You do realize that the tighter you squeeze something, the more liable it is to pop, right? Read a fucking book on China’s switch to democracy in the 2050s. The Communist Party squeezed and squeezed and suppressed and supressed. Eventually the people had enough, and what happened at Tiananmen Square in the 1980s paled in comparison when the people rose up. Still, even with the massacres, they eventually overcame. The point I’m trying to make is this – when everyone is a terrorist or some sort of subversive, you yourself become the terrorist. You can only cry wolf so long!”
Connard said, “We didn’t come here to discuss your political views, as bat shit insane as they may be. We came here to ask you to decode the BlurYou video of the two people that infiltrated MercSecure’s headquarters. You are concerned about the loss of innocent lives, aren’t you? The woman disarmed and seriously injured two security guards; then she forcibly installed a DL agent inside an innocent Japanese woman. What if someone had done that at your headquarters in Seattle?”
“I would have let law enforcement handle it.”
Sauria growled, “MercSecure representatives are essentially federal agents.”
“No,” Bleak said, “they aren’t. Federal agents work for the FCG.”
Life is a Beautiful Thing (4-Book Box Set) Page 37