Revenge for Lychee

by Aies Jay

  “maybe it wasn’t important enough to remember by said hacker anyway so you may be looking in utter vain do you remember all the shit you’ve nicked and unloaded here?”

  A very, very good point. The answer to that question is a huge no. I curse again, exit Axorpa and unhook. I’m dizzy and as I look at the time it’s no wonder. I’ve been at it for six hours and I never had any breakfast. I hit the streets, buy three mini burgers and a curly fries and a Lull-a-by, one of the few sodas you can get that’s Camomile tea based and sugar free. As I walk into my home again at four in the morning, Nicla’s asleep on the couch. Her left cheekbone has a fresh cut. I sit quietly down next to her, eat the food and down my drink. She never wakes up from me lying down next to her and falling asleep with my breath on her neck.

  two days and two nights

  I wake up again after just a few hours of sleep, alone in the couch. I feel distorted and confused, as if I’ve dreamed something lucid but have instantly forgotten it. I get up and have a shower, not even asking myself where Nicla has gone to. I spend ten hours alone, in restless pace. I go back to Axorpa, looking for the dropper, without success, download a copy of the coded mail I sent myself to an info chit and chuck it on my shelf just to have an extra backup. I check my mail, not finding anything from Teeth, but one from my boss, basically just answering mine and giving a surly thanks for the debugger. The memory of how many chits this has set me back makes me sit down and do the bad thing, too. A fool and his money are soon parted and this is for a good cause so I have even less regrets in stealing today. Armed with my Avatar and picking up my bad, bad Magnetic Moray I hit the GalactiNet and choose three casinos I haven’t visited before. The first casino seems good enough for my purpose so I go no further to spread the damage out, risks are so unimportant now. I register a false identity I have a cred chit number for and in the mail address I hook on my Magnetic Moray. As I get the conformation mail it’s in their Gate System and swimming about, increasing my odds to be picked to win by thousands and mils percent. Restlessly I gamble, staring at the figures rising and the jackpots rolling in. As I hit 500 000, I check the cred chit for the money, then I unregister and close the account. I use my cred transfer that I bought with cash to shift the money over to ten other chits instead, microwaving the original when it’s done, not even smiling at my new, good fortune or that I just lifted a shitload of money and got away with it. I have a hot, short shower, only managing to get more annoyed. I even eat. Killing time is usually what I do best, I do little more these days, but now it feels impossible.

  As Nicla come in through my door I almost lash out at her, wanting to ask where she’s been but it’s none of my business and I know that damn well. The result is that she gets a glare from me, no more. She looks at me in surprise.

  -You okay?

  -No. No, I’m not okay.

  She walks up to me and sighs. She has had the cut on her cheekbone cleaned and there’s a latex patch covering it.

  -Can I do anything?

  I shake my head.

  -I’m trying to find the source of the mail to track the fuckers but no go. It’s driving me nuts.

  -Maybe you can find them yourself. Track the mail.

  -How? I don’t even know where it came from, not origin or anything.

  -Have you tried?

  I almost glare at her.

  -It’s sort of like being handed a paper by a stranger on town. Try tracking that.

  -Oh. That impossible, huh?

  -Kind of. At least for me.

  She just stands there and looks at me for a while.

  -Then, if there’s nothing to do… how long do we have left?

  I check the countdown I started when we left Seizer. Twenty-nine hours and twenty-eight minutes have gone by. It feels like a lot more.

  -A little more than eighteen hours.

  -Nothing from Teeth?

  -No.

  -Hm.

  -Hm, indeed.

  She sits down next to me and kisses my neck. I almost cringe from the softness of the touch.

  -Not now.

  -Okay.

  -Where were you?

  -Out.

  -Doing what?

  -Hooking.

  I curse myself. What the hell did I think? What the hell am I thinking now? I rest my forehead against the balls of my hands and close my eyes.

  -I’m sorry.

  -Me, too.

  As her head leans into mine I don’t refuse the contact this time. I inhale, exhale, and try to focus but there’s nothing to focus on.

  -The wait is killing me.

  -I can tell. How did you use to fend off boredom and long waits?

  I snort.

  -Hacking.

  -Nothing else?

  -You never hacked?

  She holds her breath a moment and then shakes her head a little.

  -I grew up here. It’s kind of hard not to. But I don’t anymore and I was never that good. My implants are shit these days.

  -Mine, too.

  -What did you and your wife do?

  -Me and Yun?

  -Yeah. Or don’t you want to talk about it?

  I sit back in the couch. Do I?

  -We’d… hack. Do Tournaments, a lot of gaming. When we still were below twenty-one we talked about going to Rimmie. A whole planet that’s a fun fair, I mean, what kid doesn’t dream of that? Sometimes we’d go to the movies, a couple of times we went to the Water Palace… but hacking was our thing. She killed herself, did I say that? Ghosting, my ass. She killed herself because I wasn’t enough for her when Lychee died and now I find I’m looking forward to death as soon as I’ve had my revenge, if there’s any to be had. I’m no better than her. But man, she pissed me off when she did that.

  As I’ve said it out loud, it becomes real. Nicla takes my hand and just holds it.

  -Is that her? And Lychee?

  I look up and see she’s looking at the picture on the kitchen shelf.

  -Yeah. That’s us.

  -Pretty.

  -You should have seen her when I met her. Like a punked out China doll.

  -I can imagine.

  I shut up and look at Nicla, the dressed wound on her cheek and into her grey eyes.

  -You’re a good listener.

  -Comes with the job. Both of them.

  I heave a dry laugh as she starts hers. She looks really cute when she laughs, her dimples comes out again like in the picture and I get a brief view of who she was before the clinic kicked her out with a ripped licence for showing mercy to the dying kids in the harbour.

  -What about you? Was there ever a guy? I mean A guy. You know.

  -Yeah, I got it. Of course there was.

  -What happened?

  -His parents didn’t approve.

  -Shit.

  She sighs.

  -You want to know the worst part? I really tried. I tried to become who they wished for as a daughter in law. It wasn’t who he wanted but I thought that if I could be good enough for them… anyway. He broke up with me, telling me it wasn’t him, it was me. Brutal honesty. Nicest thing anyone did for me in a long while.

  -I can’t even imagine.

  -Don’t think so.

  We let silence fill the room again for a while. I open my mouth and stick my foot in it.

  -You could do better than this.

  She doesn’t even get angry.

  -So could you.

  She got me. Her fingers braid their way in between mine. I clear my throat.

  -So… what do you want to do? I mean, we can’t just sit here. We’ll kill each other, or something.

  She leans over and kisses me again. This time I sit still, close my eyes and let her.

  -How about… a shower and a shave. Some nice clothes, then we change the bedsheets. Go out and get a ton of Chinese food and binge watch the weirdest series we can find until we get hungry again. Then we eat raw cookie dough and have sex at the same time. Then we sleep until your timer hits “wake up”.

>   -Sounds good. Knowing me, though, we’ll only do the middle.

  When I open my eyes, hers are closed.

  -Knowing me, we’ll only do the last two.

  she says. As she stops and opens her eyes again I nod at her.

  -That sounds good, too.

  We kiss and clothes start coming off.

  -I’m sorry I’m such an asshole.

  I mumble into the kiss. The answer I get is

  -You’re still the nicest asshole I know.

  I keep kissing her, unable not to say it.

  -You don’t have to.

  She stops for just a second to look me right in the eyes.

  -I know. That’s why I want to.

  I shut the hell up, leaving her the last word.

  all my fears

  It was sex, raw cookie dough and five episodes of “The hidden Trod”, a series about a kid who gets lost in the woods and then when he returns to his uncle’s cabin, it’s twenty years later and it’s all an abandoned heap of rubble, he’s grown up and can’t remember a thing. I actually liked it a lot. To quiet our bellies we got Chinese food by delivery and lots of it, eating it all in the bed while keeping our eyes on my bedroom screen. The bedsheets got even dirtier than before but they were never changed, even if we spilled half a tub of hot sauce on them.

  -Some wet spot.

  Nicla said, and then we lay a blanket over it and had the rest of the food without hot sauce and then we fell asleep to the sixth episode. My sleep pattern is way off but I must admit I slept like a rock. As I wake up I’m only aware of one thing and that’s the beeping timer. It’s morning and it’s time to get up. My eyes snap open. Morning! Reality rolls back in and my heart races.

  -Shit!

  I sit up straight in the bed and click on the quick access before I remember Seizer wasn’t going to call in or mail me. We need to go there in person, like in the freaking Stone Age or something. I curse again and shake Nicla who wakes up brusquely, almost swinging after me.

  -The fuck?

  -It’s time, wake up! We got to go!

  She blinks twice and then comes to.

  -Oh, right.

  She gets dressed quicker than me, grabs us a Jackhammer each from the fridge while I find my pants and pull them on and almost hits me in the head as she throws me one. Fortunately I have a quick hand to eye reaction and somehow catch the damn thing, swearing. We’re out the door before I spill half of it down my sweater, swearing again under my breath.

  On our way there I barely remember picking up Teeth’s pod with Honour’s remains. Doctor Sleep was as creepy as it sounds, by the way, like the weirdest mix between a funeral home and a spa you can imagine. The man behind the counter was way old, and I do mean old, he was like way over 60, and he looked like a necro, full on Stygian. Pitch black clothes, long, white hair, no beard. Stygians rarely have beards. The way he spoke was odd, too, his soft voice was almost muted and he kept smiling like he was high but was fully coherent. I was more than happy to leave that place behind to say the least, even if the man who actually introduced himself as Doctor Sleep was nothing but polite. I swiftly accepted Honour’s cryo pod and the medical file, the last one remembered solely for the mess almost not getting Lychee’s meant. Once we have I’m actually almost running. Three stories up later and we’ve arrived at Seizer’s clinic and my heart is beating like mad. I yank the door open, pulling Nicla holding my hand with me.

  From the looks of the doc it’s serious. He’s already in the waiting/crap room as we enter, smoking and drinking coffee. The H model isn’t in here for now, might be just as well. That thing creeps me out, as I mentioned, and that old dude creeped me out enough for one day. Nicla’s holding the cryo pod now but her other hand is holding mine firmly and her touch holds me back from running up to the man with the answers I’ve been dreading and pining for. I’m grateful she is. I’m an emotional mess and I would have grabbed at him otherwise. He looks pretty much like last time but there’s a sharpness to his eyes, looking like worry or even fear.

  -Mister Star, Miss Teresian.

  -Give it to me straight, doc.

  He nods, looking me dead in the eye.

  -I’ve gone over this more thoroughly than usual. Your son died from suffocation, according to the med file, which is true, but they couldn’t find the cause of the swelling of his throat. I did.

  I come to a full stop, trying to catch my breath. He takes a deep puff on his cigarette. The smell is different from the synthetic ones. Maybe it’s real tobacco but I doubt it. The smoke from it stings my eyes though, it could be.

  -The disease is called diphtheria, caused by the bacteria Corynebacterium diphtheria. It makes the throat swell up and if untreated it closes up the throat of the victims and suffocates them. The sticky brownish stuff on the e-swabs is called a pseudo membrane, caused by a toxin the bacteria excrete. I’m sure of it. All the tests have proven it. I do mean beyond any doubt. I even broke it down to genetics on it, just to be one hundred percent sure.

  I nod, waiting for the bad news he seems to be holding back. Seizer takes a deep breath.

  -But there’s one problem here. It’s extinct. Has been for over two hundred years. Last outbreak was on a colony and since that- nothing. So how the hell did your son get infected?

  I just slowly shake my head. This confirms it all. There’s not even a smidgeon of a doubt left. And with a heavy thud, it all falls into place. I was right the whole time, and it’s nastier than the suspicion. My son really was murdered for profit. My infant son. My voice is as dry as my throat as I manage a

  -On purpose.

  Nicla’s voice feels a mile away.

  -Could you do the same tests on this to confirm if it’s the same stuff?

  -Excuse me?

  -We’re suspecting that a medical company released the bacteria to launch a vaccine or a cure. Maybe both. Both these kids died from suffocation. Can you compare the sample results?

  He slowly accepts the pod and looks at us incredulously.

  -Is this an intact body of an infant?

  -Yes. Post mortem has been performed, too. We have all the papers.

  -Please tell me you’re making this up.

  I wreak havoc on my nerves and lift my head to meet his gaze.

  -We’re not making this up. Please, look at the tissues and the files. Have it confirmed.

  His face looks white with fear and denial and he’s not accepting the papers Nicla’s holding out to him. I clear my throat.

  -We’re not asking you to join our war. We’re asking you to confirm that we have one. Just in case of an odd freak occurrence. We’ll pay.

  -Please, doctor.

  Nicla adds. I dig out the cred chit I remembered to shove in my pocket this morning and hold it out at him. At first he doesn’t move, then he looks at the both of us and then nods.

  -So long as this is as far as my involvement goes. Are we clear?

  -Crystal.

  Nicla answers and I nod. Finally, if reluctantly, he accepts the papers as well as the cred chit.

  -I’ll just need twenty-four hours this time. Confirming it with one simple theory is fairly easy but I want to make a cultivation and the genetics on this one too, just to be one hundred percent. But do you realize what you’re saying here? And how impossible it is to prove anything, even if my results are absolute?

  My heart is pounding like mad in my chest. It feels like it’s going to explode. I work up enough saliva in my mouth to swallow before answering him.

  -The proof is ultimately for ourselves, doc. And I know exactly what I’m doing. I’m aiming at getting back at the fuckers who killed Lychee.

  At the point where I speak his name and say it all out loud again, here, in his dirty clinic, knowing it’s all true, my voice almost breaks. My body starts to shake and I feel Nicla taking my hand, leading me to wherever.

  hurt me

  I wake up a tad dizzy next to her in the bed. I have vague memories from what happened before we got here,
but it involved a lot of crying and a fair amount of booze so the details are shady at best. She took me to a shop, got alcohol, took me home and then got me drunk and let me cry myself out on her shoulder, in her arms. It feels odd. She’s taking care of me, beyond what I hired her for and way beyond the creds I’m paying her. I don’t understand it. It’s absurd in every way, but still comforting. As I wake fully, she’s lying on her side, looking at me. I have no idea for how long. A faint nausea in the pit of my stomach is cursing me for drinking but the headache is yet to come. She’s just lying there, looking at me. The jack under her eye looks terrible. I’ll have to hook her up with Ch1na later but right now I just ask myself how long the illusion will last. The thought of Ch1na, old Hancry, suddenly makes me think about what she told me. He could have been one of the anti-reject pushers that sold her out to her employer, or one of his colleagues. The world is full of sinners and suspects. There’re no innocents left except for on the graveyards, it seems. Her grey metallic eyes rest in mine.

  -I love you.

  she says suddenly. It doesn’t make me uncomfortable, just a little odd. I’m about to reply when she does it for me.

  -I know you don’t love me back, so there’s no need to lie. Nothing will change. I just thought you should know that someone loves you.

  I sigh. She scratches at the jack.

  -Don’t. It’ll get infected.

  -It doesn’t matter. I’m having it exchanged. I’ve saved up, I’m getting bioware. I’ve lived at a coffin hotel and stretched my anti-rejects for over a year to afford it. And sucked a lot of cock.