Life is a Beautiful Thing (4-Book Box Set)

by Harmon Cooper

  “Nelly.”

  She didn’t reply. She didn’t care any longer – this was what her life had become and there was no turning back now, her chances for freedom were finished, nixed, kaput and this was where she’d forever remain – trapped inside a system that perpetually spiralled downward.

  The wall coffin.

  The illegality of her imprisonment only made it that much worse. There would be no parole, there would be no chance for early release, there would be no escape. She was here on a handshake between Sauria (who she suspected was the most powerful of Antimeria’s friends) and whoever ran the prison. There weren’t enough letters in the word ‘fucked’ to describe just how dire the situation had become for Nelly.

  Again someone called her name from the light above. She felt as if she were trapped in a well looking up at some forgotten beacon. The light stung her eyes, singed her eyelashes. It beckoned her forward in a strange way.

  “Nelly, we’re here to move you.” A woman’s hiss.

  This must be a cruel joke from a cruel God who could only offer punishment in dreams via hope-tinged hallucinations.

  “Nelly, we’re going to lift you out of here now. Can you hear me? Nod if you can hear me.”

  Nelly didn’t nod. She knew whatever it was that lurked above her was evil, wicked, and it was seconds away from coming into her body, searing through her veins and poisoning her bloodstream. She screamed out. “GO AWAY!”

  “Let’s get you out of here. Can you unfasten the rectal feeding tube or does the nurse need to do it?”

  Nelly screamed again.

  “Quiet, please.” the woman said. “We’re going to lift you now.”

  The words weaved in and out of her head.

  C C C C A A A R R R R E E E E E F F F F U U U L L L L

  Something churned inside her stomach. Twisting right, she gnashed at the arm coming towards her.

  “Stop!”

  S T T T T T T O O O O O O P P P P B I I I I T T T I I N G G G

  The words moved in one ear and out the other as if they were tethered together by a rope glazed in olive oil. A gloved hand clamped on the back of her neck. Another gloved hand fell near her legs. From her legs, the hand swivelled around her thigh until it latched onto something. She felt an incredible pain as an object was wrenched out of her body.

  I I I I I I “ V V V V V V E E E E G O O O O T T H E E E E R R R R R R R R R

  Slow motion brutal sounds came out of the creatures lifting her. Nelly’s right eye was pried open, and brilliant light blazed against her pupil, blinding the living shit out of her. The same thing was done to her left eye. The blackness that followed was accompanied by indecipherable sounds. She was placed on a hard, flat object and her hands were latched down.

  R E E E E L L L L L A A A A A A X X X X X X X X X X

  “Where are we going!?” she screamed, her eyes closed, her fists clenched together and beating, beating against whatever it was she was lying on.

  T R A A A A N N N S S S F F F E E E R R R

  Nelly moaned again, this one hoarse and painful. Her throat was impossibly dry; each breath felt like it had to float over a field of jagged razor blades before it could exit her lips. She realized she was on a gurney, a gurney heading away from the coffin-sized cell. Yes, away! This thought filled her with both hope and dread.

  The gurney turned and Nelly again tried to get her bearings. Her eyes were still blinded by the light the woman had shone into them. Her hands were still shackled, her throat still parched, her brain still blanched. She took a deep, concentrated breath. Anything to steady her nerves, anything to calm her throbbing heart.

  The gurney stopped. A door opened and she was wheeled inside. She was uncuffed and placed on a concrete bed. The woman’s voice wavered in and out of her mind as she said, “You’ve been reassigned. Food will be served in thirty minutes, once you have time to acclimate to the new cell.”

  Nelly raised her fists to rub her eyes.

  “Just relax,” the woman said. “When your eyes finally adjust to the light, you might want to take a look at this.” She said, nodding to a slip of paper on the bed.

  TWENTY-EIGHT∞

  The thirty minutes of freedom that followed was worth more than anything Nelly had ever possessed. She soaked it in, breathing deeper than she ever had in her kundalini yoga classes. She was aware of the fact that she was still in a cell, but it was a large cell, thirty times the size of the wall coffin she’d been stuck in for Satan knows how many days.

  Once her vision adjusted, she sat up, stretching her arms over her head. Just the notion that she was able to stretch filled her with an incredible joy. She swung her legs off the bed and the piece of paper almost slipped to the floor.

  Nelly,

  I was saddened to hear that you’d been put in the wall coffin. I can’t imagine surviving in such a confined space. I hope you’ve learned your lesson about misbehaving. Remember, you can always be sent back. Be a good girl, and maybe you’ll be released at some point in the future.

  Yours truly,

  Sauria

  She read the letter again, her hands shaking with rage.

  _∞_

  The MercSecure driver hovered a few blocks away from the Hilton Hotel in downtown LA. Rinchi sat in the backseat in her representative field dress, blue with an optical thin film overlay that reflected and diffused the beams of directed-energy weapons. Next to her was a backpack filled with weapons and a few sex toys. Her tactical knife was secured in the sheath on her boot.

  Night had settled and the myriad lights of downtown LA cast a blistering glow on everything they touched. Shady corners expanded, creating space for drug deals and weapon exchanges to take place. The stink of the city hung heavy in the air – the lives lived, the sweat sweated, the bodily fluids swapped, the aerosSUVs bombastically driven.

  Rinchi: I’m here.

  Lorem Ipsum: As I told you earlier, I’ll be personally overseeing this as it is a matter of national security.

  Rinchi: Got it.

  Ipsum: We don’t want you to kill him. We need you to coerce him into agreeing to our requests. If he does, I’ll see to it that you are one of the reps selected to go after the two that infiltrated our Tokyo headquarters. Keep your ocular feed on at all times.

  Rinchi: Affirmative.

  She stepped out onto the rooftop of a hotel facing South Olive Street. She’d already plotted a route on her way to the Hilton with the help of an ExEx service that kept real time data on all buildings in an area, as well as their architectural layout.

  “Good luck,” the driver called out to her as he flew away.

  From her current position, Rinchi needed to travel to the rooftop deck of the recently remodelled Hilton without drawing attention. From there, she’d need to abseil down the building to the twenty-fifth floor. Sure, she could enter the hotel from the lobby (or the aeros lobby), but this would put her on a number of video feeds, which could cause trouble down the line. Sauria had suggested she use the BlurYou app as a snuff to Bill Bleak, but it was Lorem who suggested she go through an open window (opened of course by an affiliate on the inside), and that they disable all video feed once she was in.

  Rinchi crouched on the rooftop and placed a small device on the ledge overlooking the city. She typed in the coordinates of the next rooftop, which was slightly below her current position. A steel cable shot out of the device and latched onto a darkened parapet of the Hilton. Once the steel cable was in place, she used the wheeled grab handle to zip line to a darkened corner of the rooftop deck.

  From here, she donned a pair of Mero climbing gloves, the palms of which were made from a synthetic setae that were activated by force. They only worked when they were holding a weight, or thrust into an object with a certain amount of pressure.

  Rinchi took two sleeves from her bag and placed them over her boots. These were similar to the gloves, with the sticky setae on the toe cap.

  Ipsum: Are you ready for this?

  Rinchi didn
’t reply. She bent over, attaching her gloves to the side of the building.

  The breeze picked up, normal for this height, as Rinchi slowly peeled one hand off the side of the building. An almost Velcro-stripping sound greeted her auditory feed as she climbed, one hand to the next, crawling upwards to the target window (indicated by a blinking red light in her ocular display).

  She reached the window about ten minutes later, slipped inside and found herself in an empty room, dark and freshly scented. Removing her climbing gear, she swiftly made her way to the front door.

  Rinchi: I’m in. Disable video feed.

  Ipsum: Good. The video feed will be disabled for two minutes. You need to get to the subject’s room, number 2501. Use the master key for access.

  Rinchi: And he hasn’t returned?

  Ipsum: He is enroute now. We have two B-drones following his aeros. Feeds are disabled. Go! Go!

  TWENTY-NINE∞

  Bill Bleak belched and stepped into his room. “Damn Mexican food,” he said, rubbing his belly.

  Bleak was an attractive man, with rosy-red cheeks and a cowlick that almost resembled a faux hawk. He was short but well-built, with piercing eyes. Recently divorced, his current relationship with a Bollywood actress had made the Tech Icon a hot topic. Rinchi, who was watching him from his balcony, had seen his face before on the news.

  Bleak stretched his arms over his head and yawned.

  Rinchi: He’s completely alone.

  Ipsum: Affirmative.

  From the research ExEx had conducted over the course of the day, it was clear that Bleak was fiercely independent –which was about to bite him in the ass big time. He didn’t have anyone with him, no entourage and no personal assistants, nothing.

  The Tech Icon sat down on the corner of his bed with his eyes closed. His room – modest considering his exorbitant wealth passed down by a Great Uncle who’d help found Vine – was modern and minimal. It featured a bed framed in gunmetal and a single desk with a circular cushioned chair. The only other item in the room was a curved television attached to the wall with Proxima VE hook-ups beneath it.

  Bleak checked iNet messages with his eyes closed, evident in the fact his finger was moving up and down against his thigh. It’s possible for humans to use iNet without the finger sensor, but most people liked the control that the finger sensor gave them, akin to using a mouse. The only drawback to this was RSI, repetitive strain injury, which had become somewhat of a global epidemic in the late twenty-first century.

  The CEO of BlurYou opened his eyes and saw a red piece of silk stuck between the balcony door and the frame. Rinchi hoped he’d notice this; the balcony would give her a tactical advantage. He stood, yawning again as he walked over to the sliding glass door.

  Just a little closer …

  He hesitated for a moment, returned to the bed, and was about to sit down when curiosity got the best of him and he walked to the entrance to the balcony.

  When he was in arm’s length of the sliding glass door, Rinchi threw it open and grabbed him by the shirtfront. Before he could react, she spun him around and leaned him backwards over the railing of the balcony.

  “What the … !?”

  Her eyes dilated. An instant vitals scan indicated that he was a lot less frightened than he should be. His heart was racing, but his blood chemistry and pheromone output was almost normal.

  “What do you want?” he asked, swallowing hard.

  Rinchi punched him in the mouth just hard enough to loosen up thousands of dollars’ worth of orthodontistry and split his lips.

  He spit, and made doggie-with-peanut-butter mouth movements.

  She leaned him even further over the edge of the balcony just to see how he would react. Nothing. He was regaining his composure already. She pulled her fist back, preparing to connect it with his nose this time.

  “Fucking idiot! I wouldn’t do that if I were you, MercSecure rep.” Bleak laughed through bloodied teeth.

  “And if I do?”

  “I’ll release everything through all appropriate channels, and you’ll be out of a job. Touch me again and see what happens. All of it … I have all of it! Are your ocs on? I’m sure someone is watching this. Listen you dim-witted fucks, I have all of it! Do you hear me? From Gene-X to your body-switching programs. All of it! Does the word Darknet mean anything to you?” As he screamed, red spittle flew onto Rinchi’s face. “If I’m killed everything will be released!”

  Ipsum: Do not kill. I say again – do not kill.

  “You can’t take MercSecure down,” she said. “The sites would be down before anyone could read the leaks.”

  “There are other ways to leak information, Humandroid.”

  Rinchi pulled him onto the balcony and punched him in the face again.

  Ipsum: Careful!

  She ignored the message as she punched Bleak in the stomach. He gasped for breath and folded up around her fist. He curled into a ball until she put her elbow into his kidney; he’d be peeing blood tomorrow.

  “You stupid … stupid droid …” Blood dripped from his chin onto the balcony, creating blotchy crimson marks on the concrete. “Do you know who you’ve just assaulted?”

  “Come with me.” Rinchi grabbed the back of his shirt and dragged him inside the hotel room. Before he could say anything else, she zip tied his hands behind his back.

  Ipsum: Do not kill him! That is an order!

  Rinchi: I’m monitoring his vitals. I won’t kill him.

  She strapped a black ball gag in place and tightened it down. “That should keep you quiet.” She set him on his knees in front of the bed.

  “MMMMMMMM MMMMM MMM!”

  “Are you ready to talk?” she asked, sitting down in front of him. He was releasing fear pheromones a-plenty now, and was attempting to calm his breathing.

  He twisted so that she could see his hands and gave her the finger.

  “This is going to be more fun than I thought.”

  Rinchi popped opened her bag of goodies and brought out a bone cutter that she’d picked up the previous day. She took out her motorized Wartenberg wheel, which resembled a pizza slicer only smaller and with individual needle-sharp spikes. Pressing a button on the end of the device, she made sure the spiky wheel spun freely. She turned it off, satisfied that it was working and placed her modded Humgun on the bed.

  Bleak shook his head at her, his eyes wide and bulging.

  “Are you ready to get started? I’m going to ask you a couple of questions. Your answer to these questions will decide whether I get to use these things or not.” She placed her hand on his crotch and gave him a pouty face. “Believe me, baby, you don’t want to see what I can do with these things.”

  Terror finally appeared in Bleak’s eyes.

  THIRTY∞

  The Gucci Maotai Caca pollute is light and crisp, one could even say refreshing. We’re served lunch as soon as the plane is in the air, and we touch down in Tijuana not long after. Modern day air travel is muy bueno, you’ll see (if you make it to 2083).

  It is night in Tijuana and small pockets of actual pollution gather around what I assume are the edges of the cities. Upon stepping off the hyperjet, I hear the smattering of gunfire in the distance, the sound of aeros honking their horns and nightclubs opening their doors. At least that’s what I think I hear. Actually, I mostly hear the roar of the engine as it winds down, but my brain wanders and I let it.

  Yeshi grabs my hand and squeezes. I feel like doing the same to her ass cheek, but I’m trying to be a good boy as all bad boys should. It’s always better to be classy than grab-assy, something many world leaders might disagree with.

  I still have questions on my mind as we’re escorted to a heavily armored aeros transport. The vehicle, half the size of a public transport bus, has turrets on the top, weapons on the sides, pollution masks inside, and can be driven from either the front or the back. With detachable engines, the vehicle is able to get away from most situations. (How do I know? I watched a YouTube vi
deo about these things a couple of months ago.)

  Latin Superman gets in the back with us, his hair slicked back Clark Kent-style and his muscles on the verge of exploding. He sits across from me, directly next to Yeshi, which makes me instantly jealous.

  Me: I wish I could sit next to you.

  Yeshi: Behave. You’ll have me soon enough.

  Me: Do you ever check my vitals just to see if I’m all right?

  Yeshi: All the time.

  Me: How is my heart right now?

  Yeshi: Beating.

  Me: Fast or slow?

  Yeshi: Average.

  “Once we arrive at the hotel,” Latin Supe says, “you’ll meet with Manuel.”

  “Great,” I say. “Is there any chance I can get a change of clothes? I’ve been wearing this shit for … a while.”

  “Of course, you can take anything from Carloza’s wardrobe. After all, you are in his body.”

  “I keep forgetting that.”

  “Si, I know the feeling,” Latin Supe says. “I once was in a model’s body for two weeks. You know, wearing dresses, thongs, high heels. The diet almost killed me, or her, I guess I should say.”

  Yeshi: His vitals indicate he misses being a woman.

  Me: You can’t tell that by checking someone’s vitals.

  Yeshi: That’s right, Doc.

  Latin Supe continues. “After we switched back, I kept thinking I was in her body. Just seeing myself in the mirror was a real shocker. I was like ‘where are my titties?’ and ‘what happened to my flat stomach?’ That’s when I started working out. The least I could do was get in shape, you know what I’m saying?”

  “I know what you’re saying.”

  Yeshi gives me a snarky look and I ignore it. Two men hop into the front and the aeros transport vehicle lifts into the air.