The Game of Luck

by Catherine Cerveny

  Here’s hoping the luck gene was in a patient mood.

  * * *

  “It’s going to be a boy. I want it in blue. Does it come in blue?” Lotus wanted to know, tapping her lips with a finger and rubbing her stomach—her favorite new preoccupation. She claimed her baby bump had grown since I’d seen her two sols ago at the memorial services, but I wasn’t convinced.

  “Every piece is customizable and available in whatever color you’d like,” the store clerk said, all the perkiness having seeped from her voice ages ago.

  “Then let’s get it in blue,” came the prompt answer.

  “Blue it is,” the shop clerk said with forced enthusiasm. Or maybe it was real. Maybe she was happy this grueling shopping session had an end in sight.

  We were rapidly closing in on hour three at the specialty baby store where Lotus claimed to have found the baby furniture of her dreams. I’d left Feodor at home in his crate. He wouldn’t have lasted three hours in a store filled with so many things that looked like chew toys he wasn’t allowed to attack.

  Lotus and I were the only customers in the store—a store that had been empty all afternoon. Well, not if you included us and our army of chain-breakers, who stood around and looked menacing. Nothing quite like watching grown men glower at baby blankets and check under cribs for threats to neutralize. Chain-breakers also lurked outside, guarding the door and gods knew how much of the city block. Given the events of the past week, the security detail assigned to watch both Lotus and me was laid on so thick, it was smothering. It was no wonder there weren’t any other patrons in the store. What shopper would be brave enough to enter while their every move was watched? No light-up teddy bear lamp was worth that amount of intimidation. Not that the store’s bottom line was suffering: Lotus threw around enough gold notes for five expectant mothers.

  I’d long since passed the point where I couldn’t take anymore; it was time to stage an intervention. It had nothing to do with being envious Lotus was pregnant, which I wasn’t—not if my Tarot reading the previous sol was right. No, this was just good old-fashioned exhaustion. Lotus was some sort of baby shopping machine. She claimed that if she’d learned anything from the disaster rocking our family, it was to live in the now. It was more important than ever to embrace the everyday joys because they could so easily be taken away from us. For Lotus, that meant getting ready for the baby’s arrival. If shopping for the baby made her happy, who was I to begrudge her that?

  With Stanis helping to cover the Consortium’s leadership duties while Alexei was in Olympia, he’d given Lotus an astronomical sum of gold notes and told her to pick whatever she wanted. So she had. However, gold notes didn’t buy taste and as exhausted as I might be by Lotus’s extreme shopping, I couldn’t in good conscience let her shop unchecked. I made a mental note to let Stanis know he owed me for taking this hit for him.

  “It’s going to look tacky if you get it in blue. I’m telling you: Go with natural wood colors,” I said, not for the first time.

  “But I want blue. The brighter, the better.”

  “Then I guess you want tacky and cheap-looking too.” Again, not for the first time. “It’s baby furniture. You want it to be soothing and restful. You don’t want to turn the nursery into a night club.”

  “The baby isn’t even able to make out shapes for the first five months, never mind color. It won’t make a difference. And if you start lecturing me about decorating for gender neutrality, I will lose my mind.”

  “If you’re set on blue, try blue accessories instead. Get lots of fun, colorful objects the baby can look at as he grows. Get a mobile, or some prints for the walls. Just not the blue furniture. And definitely not the color-changing strobe option.”

  “It’s fun.”

  “You’ll make the baby sick.”

  “One Gov prenatal studies show—”

  I cut Lotus off before she could parrot whatever statistics she’d read. “I’m not interested in any studies.” No, I was interested in leaving, but I kept that to myself. “No blue, Lotus. Trust me on this.”

  “Ugh, fine. Natural, boring wood colors then.” Lotus turned to the store clerk, who’d been waiting on us with the patience of a saint. “I wanted my boyfriend to look at this, but he won’t be interested in standardized crib sizes. He’ll say whatever I want is fine. Just order and ship all the stuff we agreed on earlier—the bassinet, the dresser, and whatever else I picked out. And I guess make it look boring.”

  “Tasteful and classic, not boring,” I said, managing to say the words without grinding my teeth. “And you should consider the built-in AI mapping sensors too, especially if you want the increased neural development.”

  “Hold it.” Lotus put up a hand, stopping both me and the clerk, whose gaze was ping-ponging between us. “I want the baby to develop naturally. I don’t want rapid brain enhancement messing everything up. The kid’s already going to have issues thanks to whatever MH Factor boosts Stanis has.”

  “And what about what Stanis wants? It’s his baby too. Does he want the baby to be a spook?” I argued. “Come on, Lotus. You can’t tell me not having implants doesn’t bug you. I know how much you hate relying on that worn-out c-tex. If you decide you don’t want t-mods for the baby, that’s fine. Just don’t rule out the option right away. Don’t limit your baby’s future.”

  “Stanis says he’ll support whatever I decide, and I’ve decided no AI sensors.” Lotus’s eyes narrowed and she peered at me deeply, as if she could see the implants buried under my skin. “I didn’t realize you were so bitter about lack of connectivity. Celeste told me about your implants. I’ll admit I’m surprised you went for them. Can’t imagine what the rest of the family would say. I bet Azure would lose her shit.”

  I squirmed, feeling like a guilty child being scolded by an adult. Gods, was Lotus practicing her parenting tricks and tips on me? And why did it seem like everyone was against me being part of the CN-net world? I’d originally been so excited by my implants, thrilled to fit in with everyone else. Now, I wasn’t so sure.

  The shop clerk watched us with interest, so I kept my mouth shut. I’d discovered random people recognized me when I was out in public, so the last thing I wanted was this conversation becoming part of some gossip circuit.

  “Fine, no AI mapping sensors,” I said, moving the conversation along. “Let’s finish up here and take a break. We passed a dessert place we should check out. The cakes in the window looked drool-worthy.”

  Lotus perked up at the mention of cake. “Cake, you say? I could eat a cake.” Now that she was pregnant, her calorie consumption index had been adjusted to accommodate her new dietary needs. As far as Lotus was concerned, that meant eating more of whatever she felt like, regardless of whether it was good for the baby.

  “Not a cake. You can have a tiny slice. Maybe you shouldn’t have any at all. What else have you eaten today? Are you monitoring your diet and following One Gov’s pregnancy nutrition guidelines?”

  “But baby wants cake!”

  “I don’t think baby’s the one wanting cake,” I said, watching Lotus pout. “Hurry up and pay so we can get out of here. I’m not sure how much longer I can debate crib safety protocols with you.”

  As we organized ourselves to leave, chain-breakers moved into position around us. The dessert store wasn’t far, and since the weather was nice and all the damn chain-breakers made getting in and out of flight-limos such a pain-in-the-ass production, we opted to walk.

  We hadn’t gone far when Lotus said, “I watched Mannette’s series the other sol. I like how you shut her down when she started up with the baby pressure and trying to dig into family business. It wasn’t mean and I think she got the message. Good for you. By the way, that was one hell of a lip-lock she planted on you. Bet that made Alexei crazy.”

  I felt myself flush. “I think it’s time I distance myself from her.”

  “Might be a good idea. I love her and we had some fun times together, but sometimes the situation g
ets toxic when she’s around. I’m glad you set her straight. She was right though. Don’t focus on the outside stuff so much that it takes over your life. I just want you to know that.”

  I nodded, not sure I could trust myself to comment. Advice was coming from the most unexpected places lately. “I pulled the Empress.”

  “Motherhood. Promising,” she said in a noncommittal voice.

  “I pulled all the pregnancy cards. Just yesterday.”

  “Ah. Then you should be jumping Alexei right now, not shopping with me.” Then her face fell. “But he’s not here.”

  “It isn’t that simple,” I said. For a moment, it felt like the perfect time to tell her about Alexei’s post-humanism and the luck gene quandary. I hadn’t wanted to open up with Celeste, but with Lotus, the situation felt perfect. Unburdening myself would be a relief. I just needed to find the words.

  Instead, we both froze and looked at each other. My gut had just stabbed me with a jolt so fierce, I nearly jumped a foot in the air. I actually wanted to climb out of my body and be someone else, somewhere else, just to make the feeling end. A panic followed that both paralyzed me into inaction yet made me want to bolt across the city. Whatever I did, I had to get away. From here. Now. Get out, get out, get out!

  Lotus looked to me, eyes so wide all I saw were the whites. That, and her mouth opening in an O of terror. I grabbed her, pulling her with me and dragging us both down until we were on the ground in a low crouch.

  In the same instant, I heard a series of pops before two chain-breakers in front of us went to their knees. One after the other, they collapsed on the sidewalk, falling like dominoes. Drops of wetness hit my cheek and bare arm. I touched a hand to my face. Saw my fingers come away red. Saw the same redness on my arm…and…Shit…Was that blood?

  “Felicia, what’s happening?” Lotus cried. “Gods, are you bleeding?”

  I put an arm around her, keeping her close. “Not mine. Stay with me. We need to move. It isn’t safe here.”

  “What’s going on? Is someone shooting at us?”

  “I don’t know. Just stay low.”

  There wasn’t time to say more. One moment we huddled together, looking at the two chain-breakers on the ground, bleeding out and presumably dead. The next we were hauled to our feet, pulled down the sidewalk with frantic speed. My feet seemed to skip over the ground for all that they touched it, barely skimming the sidewalk. Lotus was ahead of me, a chain-breaker shielding her with his massive body, a hand on her head to keep it tucked into his chest. Then the flight-limo was there and Lotus hustled inside to safety.

  I followed close behind, about to be tossed inside by my own security, except it didn’t happen.

  I heard another quick burst of pops, abrupt, terrifying, too close. Felt his body convulse as if stunned. Then he went down like the other two chain-breakers. We fell together and it was all I could do to scramble away so he didn’t fall on top of me. Even still, he landed on my legs, pinning me to the sidewalk. He was a heavy, crushing deadweight. When I looked back, I saw his skull had exploded, covering me with bits of bone, gore, and blood. I screamed, horrified, scared, my gut telling me to move with everything in me.

  So I did, desperate as I dragged myself out from under him, clawing at the sidewalk. I scraped both legs raw on the concrete slab as I fought my way free. Around us, I heard screaming. Other pedestrians were covering their heads and running, as if a hail of laser fire rained down from the sky.

  With my gut pushing me to move, move, move, I scrambled forward with a burst of adrenaline-fueled energy and speed. I couldn’t see Lotus. Couldn’t see the flight-limo. Didn’t know where either was but prayed to all the gods Lotus was safe. My field of vision had narrowed to a focus so concentrated, I couldn’t see beyond it. Only I existed, with my gut telling me to run. Don’t do anything. Don’t think. Don’t pause to take stock. Just run.

  In blind panic, I tore down the sidewalk, pushing people aside, bouncing against them in my haste. I turned down a side street, running on pure instinct. The human brain with all its reason and logic had gone dormant, suspended as the lizard brain took over and drove me to find safety.

  By the time I’d exhausted myself, I’d made so many twists and turns I was lost. I wasn’t familiar with this part of Elysium City. Only knew I was in an alley littered with garbage and nasty smells, like I’d crawled through a minefield of raw sewage. Too winded to run anymore, I tucked myself into a crevice I found between two buildings and huddled in the dirt as I tried to catch my breath. My body let me know it wasn’t happy with how I’d abused it. I bled from both knees, and it felt like I’d strained something in my shoulder—all from when I’d fought to get out from under the chain-breaker.

  I pushed the pain aside. Couldn’t worry about that now. Had to focus on staying alive. What did I know? Someone had attacked us on a busy street, in broad daylight. Had killed three, maybe more chain-breakers. Whoever it was didn’t care about the crowd and thought they could get away with such a brazen assault. Was it someone after the luck gene? A random One Gov protester? I had no idea, and that terrified me. I cowered in my little crevice, bloody knees drawn up to my chest, drowning in my own fear.

  A ping sounded in my head. Without thinking, I answered.

  “Felicia, where are you?” Alexei. His voice was calm, capable, reassuring. I wanted to sob in relief, although it wasn’t the time for that. Not with him on the other side of the planet in Olympia. The only one who could hustle my ass out of this disaster was me.

  “I don’t know. I ran into an alley. It’s all…There’s blood on me. My security is dead. Alexei, what happened? Lotus! Is she okay?”

  “Lotus is fine. Don’t worry about her or the security. For now, let’s focus on getting you out of there.” The tone was solid and patient. I tried to take comfort in its rock-steadiness. “Are you hurt?”

  “Yes. No. I mean, I don’t think it’s serious. Cuts. Scrapes. I ran, but I’m okay.”

  “Do you know where you are? Are you near a street?”

  “I…I’m not sure. I think…I think I’m going into shock. Can you give me a minute? I just need a minute to…Just wait…”

  I lost the thread of the ping, unable to concentrate enough to hold it anymore. I rested my head on my stinging knees, focusing on my breathing as shaking overtook me. I couldn’t let myself crash. I had to keep going. I wasn’t safe, even if I could communicate with Alexei. That awareness pushed through to the surface of my brain until I felt the hard brick wall behind me again. The shock that had hijacked me started to ease. My heartbeat slowed. My breathing returned to normal. Logic returned. Someone had tried to kill me. Kill me, or kidnap me. Me, or Lotus…Oh gods, Lotus! What if something happened to her baby?

  That thought kicked me back into the game, giving me the clarity to reach out to Alexei. I reconnected the dropped ping. Found him already waiting to catch me.

  “Sorry. I lost it for a second. I couldn’t hold on.”

  “I know. It’s perfectly understandable.” Again, the calmness. It sounded like he was trying to gentle a wild animal. Then again, maybe he was. “I need you to get to the street. I have your position based on your c-tex bracelet, and the street’s just a few hundred feet to your left. Once there you’ll find an air-hack waiting for you. Can you do that?”

  “I think so.”

  “Good, but I need you to hurry.”

  “Is it safe?”

  “I promise you, it’s safe. MPLE has already been alerted to the unauthorized weapons’ discharges and are en route. I’ve contacted Felipe, and he’s sending One Gov troops as well. The AI queenmind has declared the area an active crime scene, so the automated air-hack will take you to MPLE headquarters per regulations. I can’t override that without causing a protocol backlash, but you’ll be in MPLE protective custody and you’ll be safe. Luka is going to handle the Consortium issues and work with Felipe to get you home. But right now what I need is for you to get into the air-hack. Please, Felicia, swee
theart, moya lyubov, I need you to move.”

  I was going to jail, but better jail than dead. “Okay.”

  I got up from my hiding place and bolted down the alleyway in a clatter of footsteps. Ahead was the street. As promised, so was my air-hack. I put on a burst of speed and sprinted toward it, moving as best I could through Mars’s tricky gravity. The door of the automated unit was already open and waiting. With relief, I was about to slide inside when I stopped. I couldn’t say why I did it other than I felt like I had to glance back. My gut needed me to take this moment and pay attention.

  At the end of the alley was a lone figure. The figure was too far away to tell if it was male or female; I hadn’t realized I’d run such a distance. We looked at each other, taking each other’s measure. The figure raised its arm as if in greeting, moving with an ease and speed that only came from some extreme MH Factor.

  “Alexei, someone is chasing me. I can see them but I don’t know who they are.”

  “Go, Felicia, you need to leave now,” came the command.

  I dove into the air-hack, the door sliding closed. I watched the running figure, watched it draw closer. The raised arm…It wasn’t waving. It held some sort of weapon—a weapon that had taken out three chain-breakers. I scuttled to the far side of the air-hack, gasping in wordless terror as it rushed closer, the features resolving themselves into something, someone, until the air-hack pulled away and whizzed into high-street orbit, and the figure disappeared from sight.

  17

  Given what I knew of Luka, I wouldn’t have put him in charge of sorting my laundry, never mind placing the whole Consortium in his hands. But Luka was the highest ranking Consortium member available, so the VP of Partying was left to deal with the fallout from the attack.