by Zach Winderl
“I needed that,” Atom cleared his throat as Kozue reared back with her hands planted on his chest. “I miss you, Koze. You’ve been gone so long.”
Atom lifted his chin and Kozue nuzzled in, leaving a trail of kisses.
“I’m here now, that’s what matters,” she whispered.
“Um, Atom,” Kozue said with concern.
Atom’s eyes flew open.
Kozue sensed the shift in tension and settled back. Her fluid, sensual movements tugged at a buried part of Atom’s soul as she cocked her head. She bit her lip as her eyes narrowed with concern.
“Is everything all right?” she asked.
“That’s not me,” Kozue whispered in Atom’s ear.
Atom stared up at Kozue.
“Who are you?” Atom asked, his voice low.
“I’m Kozue, silly.” The woman traced a fingertip down Atom’s chest with a grin. “Your wife.”
Atom shook the sleep from his brain. “My wife is dead. I watched her die with my own eyes. And I know for certain that this isn’t a dream.”
“Are you so certain?”
“I wouldn’t dream myself back in the prison cell I’d fallen asleep in.”
With strong, firm hands, Atom gripped the woman at the waist and lifted her from him. Blowing out a deep breath, he sat up and swung his legs off the bunk. The likeness of Kozue stepped back to stand beside the cracked cell door and dropped her head.
“Have I displeased?” Her voice came as a faint plea.
“She is a very close replica,” Kozue, the AI imprint of his wife, puzzled. “But the timbre of her voice is a touch lower than anything in my database.”
“Lilly,” Atom failed to hide the disappointment from his voice even as he took a deep breath to drag his desires back under control. “How did you get in here? And for the love of the Hand, why did you have to go and dredge up a memory like that?”
While the image of Kozue remained, her manner flipped like a page turned in a book. Her smile returned, but instead of Kozue’s demure, controlled attitude a reckless flair leapt into being. Lilly flicked her long dark hair back over her shoulder. Then, with a playful smile, she spun and dropped to the bed beside Atom.
“Figured it would be a fun test.” She leaned back on her elbows and kicked her feet out.
“Skirling my emotions is fun?”
“Maybe fun is the wrong word choice, but you must admit, it was a pretty solid test of my skills. I almost had you,” she said, nudging Atom in the ribs.
Atom refused to look down at Lilly as he fought to control his emotions.
“Plus, you owed me for mucking up our first meeting. You weren’t the one I was crying for.” She sat up and flicked her lower lip with a fingertip.
“I owe you?” Atom growled.
“Well, I let those bokes follow me out of the bar and think they had the upper hand.”
Atom swiveled his head at her in confused disbelief.
“I was planning on Gims coming to look for me. Find me crying. Then he was supposed to carry me back to the bar to play on the feeling of that other crew. My sources indicated that group had some connections to Johansen’s merc crew. They were going to be my in with Johansen, but you got there first.”
“You just let them rape you?” Atom demanded.
Lilly shrugged. “Trade secret. But I’ve done worse to get the information I needed.” She gave a light laugh. “Remember, I got married.”
Atom shook his head, incredulous. “How did you even get in here? I’m in solitary, waiting transport back to Toks.”
Lilly, in Kozue’s visage, shrugged. “Trade secret.”
Atom shook his head in frustration. He thumped his head against the wall and closed his eyes with a sigh. “Could you please not wear that face?” he asked in a pained voice. “I can’t focus when I’m looking into the eyes of my dead wife.”
“I can respect that,” said Lilly. Atom heard her take a deep breath. “It’s ok now.”
“Thanks.” Atom cracked one eye and relaxed when he found Lilly tugging her green-tipped hair back into a ponytail. She looked at him, her face her own, but somehow plainer.
Atom cocked his head in question.
As if reading his mind, she rolled her eyes. “Looks get noticed. It’s good to be invisible, especially in here.”
“I’m sorry I can’t look at Kozue’s face.”
“Don’t fret it. I really just wanted to see how I stacked against the past.” She left the bed and dropped to a crouch with her back leaning against the far wall of the narrow cell. “Now that I know a little of your pain, I’m on to the important bits. I’m guessing you made some headway on our little venture.”
“Atom,” Kozue interrupted. “I’ve just made a link between your nanos and Daisy’s. He is on the move and headed in this direction.”
“What is it?” Lilly fixed Atom with a puzzled look.
“I’ve a lot in my hold at the moment, the least of which is your half-cocked treasure hunt.” Atom rose to his feet and passed Lilly to peek out through the open door. “The other items are on a tighter schedule than what you’ve brought me.”
“Tighter than Toks trying to kill us?”
No guards patrolled Atom’s level, but he heard voices from the enclosed yard below. “She’s on the back end of a loop that should take her on an opposing vector.”
Lilly rolled her eyes again. “And you believe that?”
Atom snapped his head back to fix Lilly with a questioning glare.
“I’m guessing you don’t know as much about Toks Marshall as you think,” she said, sliding herself up the wall with a strange, serpentine grace and padded over to stand beside Atom in the door. “She’s a loose cannon that hides under the guise of an Imperial.
“Now we need to figure out our next move.” Lilly poked her head out, glanced both ways, and then strolled out with her hands thrust in the waistband of her prison greens. As she walked away her hips and shoulders thickened. “I’ve a couple ideas tumbling around my pan at the moment, but most of them hinge on making contact with Ash.
“You coming or what?” She paused to glance back at Atom.
“I’m supposed to be in solitary.”
Lilly scoffed and shook her head. “I took care of that as soon as I found out they had shackled you too.”
“Took care of it?”
“I just tweaked your files.” With a casual shrug she turned and continued her stroll. “You’re a genny now. Come stretch your legs.”
Atom stepped out onto the walkway and looked over the railing into the yard below. Several dozen men and women sat around one-piece table and bench combinations. Some talked, others played at holo-games, but most sat and stared at a stream of an imported sporty drama.
Both entrances to the yard lay behind pairs of heavily armored guards.
“I thought isolation would have been in a separate part of the prison,” Atom said as he tracked several lightly armed guards who wandered about the yard, maintaining presence without forcing unwarranted confrontations.
“They’re full up. From what I could gather, you’re valuable, but not viewed as a danger to other gennies. You’re here out of obligation, not on criminal charges.”
“I guess that’s reassuring.”
“Atom,” Kozue said in Atom’s ear. “Daisy is approaching from the gate to your right.”
Atom waited for Lilly to get out of earshot.
“Do we have communications? I didn’t expect your extremities to survive the initial arrival at a facility like this.” Atom leaned on the railing, trying to look as casual as possible as he stood talking to himself.
“Atom, you stole me,” Kozue said with a playful laugh. “You know there’s nothing like me short of the highest echelon of military black ops. The nanos in the bodies of each of your crew carry just enough memory for me to function at low-level while evading all but the deepest scans. Even those I can evade if I anticipate the sweep.
“And yes, you c
an talk to Daisy like normal, but I cannot pierce the null-electron bubble surrounding this prison.”
“Meaning?”
“I can tell you where Daisy is when he is in range, but I am unable to give you a current location of the One Way Ticket.” Her voice sounded crestfallen, as if her mood somehow tied to being connected to her entire nano-bot self.
“Who are you yipping at?” Lilly demanded, her light steps had slipped Atom’s notice. “Something you’re not telling me?”
Atom snapped his head to her in surprise as she sidled up with a flirty look.
“Just working through things,” Atom stammered.
“You have a plan yet, Captain?”
“I’m not sure,” Atom stepped back from the railing and Lilly. “I don’t have any way to contact my people, at least not that I’ve figured yet. I know Daisy was booked with me, so he’s got to be here somewhere.
“I’d say, find Daisy and then figure the next step. You have anything?”
Lilly twittered a light laugh. “I always have a play or two.” She smirked and turned back down the walkway. “Come on.”
Without waiting, Lilly sauntered ahead and turned down the stairs.
“Koze, let Daisy know I’m in here,” Atom mumbled as he followed after Lilly’s ambling form.
Atom wandered down the steps, still unsure of his newfound freedom within the confinement of prison. He pulled at the ill-fitting, green jumpsuit as it bunched up in the armpits and crotch. Hitting the main floor of the prison block, he stopped to survey the scene. Thirty-odd prisoners drifted about the yard, most worn with the tedium of confinement, but a few seemed mentally restrained by a drug cocktail.
Atom tensed as one of the gate guards shifted to lock a shoulder turret on the center of Atom’s mass.
“I wish Byron were here,” Atom mumbled as he joined Lilly, leaning against the wall.
“Why’s that?”
“I’d wager him a cooking shift that he couldn’t hack one of those shells.”
“Could he?” Lilly crossed her arms and scowled at the guard.
“Absolutely.” Atom turned his back on the guard, even though every fiber of his being raged at him to meet the challenge head-on. “The kit’s a master-mech. If it has an electronic pulse, he can manipulate it.”
“But he’s not here,” Lilly pouted. “If you can wish for By, I can wish for Ash.”
The near door hummed. Atom turned to look back. After several seconds, the actual locking mechanism spun to life, allowing a pair of thigh-thick bars to retract from their wall braces. With a deep grumble, the massive portal opened.
“That your man?” Lilly asked, pushing herself out from the wall to scan the line of inmates walking into the yard. Each prisoner carried a flimsy tote filled with general issue goods.
“Yeah.” Atom gave Daisy a flicker of recognition before turning back to Lilly. “Leave him be for the moment. I want to see how the water flows around here. It’s best that he not be tied to me in any way that could restrict his movements.
“I know you played one of your cards to get me out of that cell, but it’s best if we don’t have to do that too often,” he said as he tucked his hands behind his back and wandered towards an open table in the corner. As he walked, he tried to adjust the crotch of his jumpsuit without using his hands. “How did you manage to get pants and a top?”
Lilly’s playful shrug tugged at Atom’s mind with a strange siren-song he had forgotten. “I have a way with people.” She trailed along, scuffing her flimsy, plastic shoes on the ceramic plates of the floor.
Slipping onto the metal bench, Atom grimaced and tugged his sleeves down enough to free the constricting material from his armpits.
“We have a timetable?” Lilly sat sideways on her bench, propping a knee under her chin.
“I don’t want to think about it.”
“Why not?”
“I have a client meeting I might miss.”
“Seriously,” Lilly demanded, torquing her neck to glare at Atom. “We have the opportunity to find this ship and you’re taking side-jobs?”
Atom studied the woman as he turned over his options. He debated on how much information she needed to know. “This is a continuation of an older job,” he stated with a shrug. “It’s bad business to disappear on clients. As to taking jobs, I’m going to keep my income stream open, otherwise the One Way Ticket is dead in the Black.”
Lilly pondered Atom’s words in silence.
“He’s here.” Daisy dropped into a seat at the table with force enough to startle both Atom and Lilly.
“He?” Lilly swiveled her glare from Daisy to Atom.
Atom kept his eyes on the table. He gave a slight nod.
Daisy leaned in. “Kim. He’s in another block, but we crossed paths.”
“Do we have watchers?” Atom flicked his eyes to the ceiling.
Lilly nodded. Her eyebrows arched in silent question.
“Kim’s an old . . . acquaintance,” Atom scratched his scruffy jaw in absent thought, choosing his words with care. “Or, more an acquaintance of a client. It’s a simple track job. We had a lead that he was in-system, but now we have a visual confirm to take to the client.”
“Hopefully a visual is enough for the payout,” Daisy grumbled, leaning on the table.
“It better be. If he wanted more than a track, we should have charged more.”
“Wait.” Lilly narrowed her eyes at Atom. “All you need is a visual to get paid? I really should sign on with your crew.”
“Not as big a payout.” Atom rapped his knuckles on the metal tabletop.
“Sounds a lot safer than my usual gig,” Lilly pondered.
“Question is, how do we get visual confirm if we don’t have access to our normal gear?” Daisy asked.
Atom glanced to the guards, then pursed his lips. “We’ll cross that void when we come to it. In the meantime, we need to figure out how movement works in this place. Is it possible for us to recon our . . . friend?”
“You’re generally stuck in one place, unless you’re a guard,” Lilly said as she shrugged.
“Any of the guards solid?”
“Don’t look at me,” Lilly replied. “Toks dumped me in here a day ahead of you guys when she figured I was just a low-level deck scrubber from your ship.”
“There are always a few decent bokes.” Daisy laced his fingers behind his head and stretched his back until it popped. “The rest are either indifferent or chin-chins.”
“Chin-chins?” Atom chuckled. “You’ve been spending too much time with Byron.”
Lilly looked between the men with confusion written on her face.
“He discreetly called them genitals,” Atom held back a laugh.
“Avoid them,” Daisy followed up.
“Atom,” Kozue whispered. “I have a thought. If Lilly is able to move about freely using her talents, she may have access to a communication device. If you could transfer a few of your nanos to her, I might be able to send a micro-burst that the One Way Ticket could track. I wouldn’t be able to transfer enough to link her like the rest of the crew, but enough to interface with whatever system she hacks into.”
“And how do you propose we do that?” Atom asked them both.
“They tend to find you,” Daisy said, frowning. “If you notice any guard looking a little too happy or intent, things are usually about to drop out for you.”
“Body fluid would be the easiest,” Kozue said. “Sneeze in her face.”
Before Atom could react to either comment, a small man with a tattoo snaking down his forearm sauntered up to the table and propped a foot on the empty seat. All conversation ceased and for a moment, he leaned on his knee, studying Atom while ignoring the other two.
Daisy growled.
“Easy there, big feller,” the man drawled. “I’m just a noter, sent to touch base with the newts.”
Easing back a touch, Daisy remained on edge.
Atom, however, crossed his arms and
looked up at the man with a calm demeanor. “What’s the note you’re carrying?”
“Nothin’ much at present. Just wanted to say welcome and if you need anything, Roop’s the man to talk with. Just remember, no service comes for free, but we have payment plans and are more than willing to trade more than just goods. We’ll also take info, action, and marks.”
“What exactly does Roop deal in?”
“Anything: chow, alterings, tumbles…. You want it, he can make it so.”
“Books?” Atom leaned forward.
The man hesitated, scrunching his face in thought. “Now there’s a request we don’t get none too often. I’d guess you’d need to talk direct with Roop to work that’un out. He’s a businessman and would be happy to sit a meet with you.”
“Is he free now? I don’t know that I can stand the boredom of this place. I’m afraid it will kill me before anyone else would get a chance.”
The angled agent looked over Atom’s head and made eye contact with someone. Atom glanced over his shoulder and found a thick, intelligent looking man sitting at a table with several rough individuals and a mousy woman.
The man nodded.
“Looks like he has an opening,” the tattooed man said. “Follow me.”
“One touch.” Atom rose to his feet. “I need to talk with Lil and see if she needs anything we can wrap into one trade. I’ll be over momentarily.”
“Suit yerself.” The man strolled away, whistling a merry tune. “I’ll keep a seat for you.”
Atom watched the man walk and nodded for Lilly to follow him. He walked a few paces away from their table to the closest semblance of privacy he could find within the confines of the prison yard.
As soon as Lilly joined him, he wrapped her in his arms and slid into a deep kiss. She tensed at first, but melted into the kiss. Her arms snaked around his waist as he pulled her close. Slipping away from the kiss, he nibbled at her neck in a way that made her clutch at his lower back as he worked his way up to her earlobe.
A surprised moan escaped her lips.
“Use your tricks. Get to a terminal. Find Ash. Lock down an escape route,” he murmured before pulling back and staring deep into her eyes.