After viewing the footage of the convention and discussing the experience with Jenira for two hours afterward, Cat felt restless. She'd observed things Jenira couldn't and needed time to think about them. Rennert and Jenira made a striking couple and had captivated the room's attention. Her sister belonged in beautiful, elegant clothes, although she’d complained endlessly about the discomfort, and she deserved a powerful position. The horrendous event with Marcus, the man who scarred Jenira, had destroyed her sister’s chances of ever accepting a seat on the Mage Council, but she wielded too much power to live as a mercenary. Cat was almost grateful to Rennert for shaking things up.
The store usually delivered their groceries and daily necessities, but Cat needed an excuse to escape their tiny bungalow. It had taken years for Jenira to relent to Cat's solitary trips. Only after Cat had learned to use the taser Jenira pushed on her did her sister agree. She preferred the electronic crackle of the weapon to Jenira's messy daggers, and she’d modified the weapon for a more extended range. She could zap someone twenty feet away instead of waiting for them to be on top of her. It hid in her pocket, the one that didn’t hold the digipad which always accompanied her.
The bus lumbered around the corner and stopped with a screech of brakes, and Cat scrunched her nose as exhaust filled the air. It wasn't fair that the poorer people were relegated to the unreliable, smelly, gas-powered vehicles, and she allowed herself a moment of longing for one of Rennert’s sleek machines. Rennert’s company advocated for change, but less privileged citizens never saw the shift.
The bus's occupants consisted primarily of mundanes. Their shoulders were hunched from factory labor, and their eyes seemed vacant. Jenira sensed magic, and Cat sensed brilliant tech minds. The eyes of a person who could compute the velocity of a meteor or draw a schematic for a nuclear fusion power-plant burned with an immutable passion. She sympathized with the mundanes though. Born without magic or tech, they worked dead-end jobs until their deaths. The only opportunity they had for social ascension was if they attracted a techie or mage.
The bus passed by a towering tenement filled with a mundane population, reminding Cat that preliminary Integration efforts wouldn't improve the mundanes' lot in life. She hoped, though, that a more cohesive cultural model would pave the way for mundanes to reach a level equivalent to a lower techie. Levels determined one's place in the East. High to mid-level techs worked in engineering, medicine, research, or other skilled professions in their aptitudes. Their level afforded them the most plentiful job choices, wealth, and freedom. Lower level techs accepted jobs in law, teaching, service, or retail.
Cat believed most mundanes were capable of being taught the skills to compete in these lower level markets, but they weren't given a chance. A child's parent's determined their lot in life before they even drew breath. Techies or mages were rarely born to mundane parents, but hopeful mundanes still subjected their offspring to complicated testing once they could walk and talk. If they possessed magical or technical ability, the parents received a stipend, and the child would be schooled beyond the basics a pure mundane received.
The bus jerked to a stop with a belch of gas and jolted her from her reverie. The closest shopping center sat on the border between the Washington and Elysian Quarters. The wealthier Elysian Quarter catered to lower level techies, the majority of which worked at the tech companies in the financial district where Rennert lived. The Quarter also housed a small mage community. The mages were sponsored by the techs that employed them, which allowed them some freedom in tech society, but they rarely ventured from their housing quarter except to be transported to their jobs in the Financial District.
Cat preferred this shopping center because it boasted a modest tech store. She loved browsing through the shelves on the rare occasions she ventured from her computers. Like Jenira, most of her shopping happened online so it couldn't be traced back to them, but she appreciated looking at components in real life instead of on a screen.
She headed towards the tech store, humming in excitement. She hadn't visited the store for so long; she hoped the shelves had acquired newer products. Other shoppers milled about the square, a mix of mundanes and low-level techies. She ignored their curious or dismissive stares, lowering her head and making an effort to blend in. Since she wasn’t beautiful or confident like her sister, every searching stare wanted the answer to only one question. Was she a techie or a mundane? Most of them would peg her as a mundane, and she was okay with that, although her pride suffered.
Due to its proximity to the questionable Washington Quarter where Jenira and Cat lived, the technology store employed burly security guards. One recognized her, and she nodded in greeting as she passed between their bulky bodies into the shop. She took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of clean metal, plastic, and the slight tang of energy. Plastic and rubber were necessary evils. The cheap materials provided casing and protection for more fragile components, but the chemical odors spoiled the fresh burst of metal and electricity. Her eyes roamed greedily over shelves and displays. The latest computers, phones, personal tablets, and various communication systems vied for space with individual components, power supplies, and circuitry.
“Can I help you?” A nasal voice startled her from her careful inventory. Cat peeked at the sales associate and restrained a groan. His 'in training' badge screamed he had something to prove. Lower level techies employed by tech stores always brought a power complex to their new jobs. If he suspected she was a mundane, he would watch her like a hawk, expecting her to steal or break something.
This store didn't sell to mundanes; the prices were too high, and few understood the mechanics. Mundanes used standard issue electronics, engineered for ease of use and understanding. Their supplies were sold at supermarkets, not tech stores. Cat offered him a tight smile, forcing her jaw to loosen. She had hoped for an enjoyable romp through the store, not an interrogation.
“No thank you, I'm just looking.” She walked toward the display of brand-new tap kits and wireless systems. The sales associate followed her, but she tried to ignore him.
Absorbed in her examination of the latest-model solar-powered hub and enamored by the specs, she reached for it with greedy hands. “You shouldn't touch anything.” The annoying voice spoke too close to her, and she jumped. Her eyes flashed with annoyance. The girls' father had thought she and Jenira resembled each other when Cat was angry. It didn't happen often enough for Cat to agree.
“Really?” She pulled a page from her sister's book, irritated this boy was interrupting her pleasant experience. She squared her shoulders and pushed her glasses up her nose, glaring at him. He was only a couple inches taller than her. “Tell me,” she began, “what is the processing capacity of a 20 gigahertz amplifier? Do you perhaps have any 1420 Whisperlite motherboards with a combination socket and an MB Configurator? I'll also need a 4 unit rack-mount with a solar pedestal and SAS, a RAID card, and one of those new internal dual bay docking systems with the ability to hold 5 cartridges.” The boy's pale face whitened, his dull eyes widening with each word she spoke. His mouth opened and closed like a gaping fish as she continued to list the components of her home system, getting into the groove.
“Jeffrey, I think the lady knows what she's doing.”
Cat ceased her tirade, glancing at the newcomer. He studied her with an amused expression, his arms crossed over his chest. Jeffrey, his throat bobbing beneath the tight collar of his store uniform, scurried away with his tail between his legs.
Cat dismissed both of them and returned her attention to the solar hub, aware that the interrupting man continued to hover. Her body shook with adrenaline; watching Jenira in action for years sometimes caused her to take unnecessary risks.
When the interloper followed her, she raised her eyes in exasperation. He was tall and lean, his face the pale color of a techie who spent too much time inside, although he didn't appear sickly like Jeffrey. Curly chestnut hair flopped over his forehead, and a trim beard shaded a st
rong jaw. And his eyes…shit. Cat looked away quickly. This was no low-level techie. Examining the wealthy cut of his clothes out of the corner of her eye, she wondered why he was in the Elysian Quarter.
“Sorry about that,” he said smoothly.
“Why are you apologizing? Do you work here? I haven't seen you around here before.”
He shrugged in her peripheral vision. “I've been in and out of here. And no, I don't work here, but customers shouldn't be accosted because they don't look the part.”
She assessed him again. “Like you?”
He grinned, his gray eyes sparkled, and he thrust a hand toward her. “Andrew Wallace.”
"Cat," she mumbled under her breath, ignoring his extended arm. Hoping he would take the blatant hint, she walked away from him, but he followed. His continued presence confused and distracted her. People didn’t notice her, and she liked it that way.
“Well, Cat, is the Whisperlite Motherboard really the best choice or should a 2100 Davis Processor be substituted?”
Cat grit her teeth. She shouldn't answer, but the question tempted her far too much. She could talk to her sister, but her sister’s eyes would have glazed over already. “The Davis processor is a little faster, but it's also bulkier and can't be modified as easily as the Whisperlite. The Whisperlite also accepts several upgrades while the Davis processor is a one-stop shop, meaning it will out-date itself quickly. The processor requires more power than the Whisperlite - more than it should, considering the exponential output is not as great as the power suck suggests.” She continued to move along the shelves, occasionally caressing the components. She liked Rennert Industries' new glass and copper chipboards. Her tech senses judged them cleaner than the standard design.
“Very true,” Andrew Wallace agreed, his voice contemplative. He studied her in the same fashion as she examined the chipboard on the shelf before her. She received the vague impression he was dissecting and separating her components into categories, and a lump of fear settled heavily in her chest. Jenira warned her repeatedly about drawing attention to herself or her intelligence. She doubted Andrew Wallace would retain the ability to spread rumors about her if her sister knew.
“Cat.” Her name sounded strange on his lips, like he tasted the word before it left his mouth. “What do you do?”
“Do?” She squeaked. The fragile chipboard she had been admiring slipped from her fingers. For a techie, Andrew possessed amazing reflexes. He caught the board before it hit the floor, and she pressed a hand to her chest to restrain her frantic heart. The piece would have cost her hundreds if it broke, not to mention several days of repair because she'd use it if she paid for it.
“Thanks,” she whispered, her face heating. He grinned again.
“Where do you work?” he persisted. Cat whirled away from him, heading toward the door as fast as she could walk. Their conversation had gathered an audience she'd been unaware of. Jenira would be furious; she had just displayed her knowledge to a room full of techies. Andrew might be the only one who fathomed the implications of her intelligence, but he was also the most dangerous. This was the East. Techies at her level were paid well and offered high powered positions; they didn’t visit tech stores in the Elysian Quarter wearing ripped clothing. She slipped between the security guards, fleeing down the street. A firm hand caught her elbow, efficiently stopping her. She whirled but reached for the taser in her pocket.
“Cat, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been so forward, but you surprised me. I just thought we have a lot in common.” Cat considered his flustered words. Techie Wars, the back and forth technical conversations between higher level techies, was a popular past-time in techie culture. The debates kept both parties on their toes, and the situation wouldn't have unnerved her so thoroughly if she had been raised around other techies. Andrew had only done what he'd been taught to do upon meeting another intelligent techie. She forced a shrug, and the hand on her arm softened but didn't release her. The security guard she recognized observed them with interest but didn't intervene.
“It's ok.” She scrambled for an excuse. “I'm between jobs. I was let go recently and it still bothers me.” Cat lied terribly, and she barely suppressed an accompanying flinch.
The urge to meet his stare again and reassess the measure of his intelligence was undeniable. She'd forgotten how exhilarating speaking with techies in person could be; her only interaction was relegated to online conversations. Not every techie could gauge the level of another techie's intelligence by their eyes, but she contributed the gift to her mage father. Its presence in her blood was one of the leading reasons why she didn't believe tech and magic worked in natural opposition.
“We need more brilliant minds at my workplace,” Andrew continued. “I work for Rennert Industries, and I’m certain I could schedule an interview for you with my boss.” Cat's blood froze. This was terrible. She might have just captured the attention of the one person her sister didn't want her to meet. Despite the fright, her mind flashed to the files on Rennert's system. She’d thought of little else for the past few days and was convinced more information existed on the company's in-house servers. Keeping the precious file on the cloud where a potential hacker could find it was a trap, and she'd walked right into it. The deliberate blanks in the data taunted her, and she was certain portions had been removed on purpose. If she could access the other servers…
“Who's your boss?” She acted as if she was considering his offer. It would be suspect if she didn't; every techie wanted to work for Rennert Industries. Cat attempted to convince herself she wasn't seriously considering the opportunity, but she kept thinking about the wealth of information to be found on the primary system. Andrew grinned again, and Cat imagined his life had been comfortable if he'd developed such an optimistic, open personality. She envied him for a brief second.
“I answer to a couple different people, but Rennert himself is the big boss.”
“He's scary,” she breathed, unable to stop the words. Andrew chuckled. The techie paired superior hearing with his fast reflexes.
“He can be, but he has a brilliant mind. I love working for him.” The fervor in Andrew’s voice wasn't feigned. “Rennert pays the best and provides an amazing benefits package. You would be involved in the most innovative products on the market.” A shiver of longing trembled through Cat, but the money was secondary to being part of a techie team. She yearned to solve the riddle of the secret files and share her ideas with others that understood.
“I'm sorry.” She forced her lips to form the words. “I can't. I have other obligations.” A lie sounded more believable when half true. He pursed his lips, and she suspected he wanted to argue with her.
“Can I at least give you my contact info in case you change your mind?”
Cat nodded, hoping he would leave her alone if she agreed. He finally released her elbow, and her arm felt strangely weightless. She shook away the lingering effect and removed her pda from her opposite pocket, finally releasing the death grip on her taser. He rattled off a number, and she keyed the numbers into her pda although she could just memorize them. Only two names formed her contact list, and she kept the screen angled away from him so he couldn't see it.
“Thank you, Cat,” he said after she finished inputting the number and re-pocketed the pda. “I hope to hear from you.” His voice held nothing but sincerity.
“Goodbye.” She walked towards the grocery store. Several times, she glanced behind her to make sure he didn't follow. He wasn’t coming after her, but he also didn't move from the spot where they'd talked until she ducked into the market. She hid around the corner and concentrated on calming her beating heart. When she worked up the nerve to peek again, he was gone, and she slipped onto the arriving bus. They'd order their food; she'd had enough personal interaction for the day.
When she arrived home, Jenira was awake and strapping her short swords into her shoulder holster. Her haunted expression pushed the fiasco with Andrew Wallace from her thoughts.
“Jen, it's too dangerous. There'll be police and cameras.”
Jenira covered her bright hair with the battered black hoodie, her eyes haunted. “I have to go. I might never have a better opportunity to collect evidence from a fresh scene. Rennert said I'll pose as a private detective he hired since the victim was an employee, and he promised to keep the media away until we finish our investigation. It happened not too far from here.”
“Not far from here?” Cat echoed.
“In Elysian Quarter.”
Cat recalled the people in the shopping center. No one had appeared distraught; everyone completed their errands normally. Either the news hadn't aired yet, or techies and mundanes didn't care about the deaths of a mage family. Jenira didn't take the time to cover her scar, revealing to Cat how disturbed she was. Dressed in tight black pants and high black boots, Jenira's arsenal included her daggers around her thigh, the short swords in her shoulder holster, and another modified taser in her hoodie pocket. Clothed all in black with her blue eyes huge and sad in her pale face, she looked like a wraith.
“Are you sure?”
“I have to, sis. I'm wearing the camera on my belt. We can examine the details when I return.” She showed the little camera to Cat. Hidden in her waistband, it would capture a wide angle view, and Cat already dreaded sifting through the images. “How did the market go?” Jenira asked, almost as an afterthought.
Cat swallowed past the lump in her throat. “Fine, but I decided not to buy anything. I'll call for the usual order from the delivery service.” Jenira nodded, but she was obviously distracted because she didn't question why Cat had walked all that way and not bought anything. Cat squeezed her hand. “Be careful, Jen.”
Worlds Collide (Magitech Book 1) Page 10