Daughter of Mars #91 | (Neurona Prime Part 3)
Risa stared into the child’s too-blue eyes. A shade of bright cerulean similar to the color of water by a white-sand beach on Earth. The girl’s unimpressed expression and matter-of-fact demeanor spoke volumes of a life spent as her father’s dealmaker―a tool. For a moment, her grief over Pavo’s death stepped aside to let pity in the door. She wrapped her arms around Chaia, squeezing her with a worried hug.
Chaia weathered it, arms stiff at her sides. “I’m okay.”
“Sorry.” Risa let go.
“I understand. You’re sad because you lost someone and your emotions are all over the place.” Chaia tilted her head and offered a tiny smile. “My father loved me. He didn’t force me to do anything.”
“There I go assuming the worst of people again.” Risa tried to rub clarity into her eyes. “So you touch the car and know she went in there?”
“Yes.” Chaia spun her head towards the building fast enough to cause her blonde bob to flare. “I’m a clairvoyant. I sometimes see psychometric imprints in objects. When I touched the car, I saw her park, get out, and storm across the courtyard. She was mad at the man inside.”
“Okay…” Risa took the girl’s hand. “Let’s see what the Defense Force missed.”
She waited for three armored MDF officers to walk past before leaving the relative safety of the shadowy wall. Chaia struggled to keep up with Risa’s hurried gait; pink light flashed on the ground wherever her sneakers landed hard. Automatic doors parted without a sound, allowing them entry to a room filled with the scent of new electronics and plastic.
Display cases dominated the far wall, packed with an uncountable number of cyberspace decks. The smallest looked no larger than a brick, while the largest was as large as a professional musician’s electronic piano. Cherry red, military green, black, and white seemed to be the favorite case colors. Prices ranged from Ͼ10,000 all the way up to two million, though anything over sixty grand existed as a hologram only.
Three exuberant kids in the far right zoomed around the gaming section, checking out senshelmets with cosmetic modifications to look like armor from their favorite titles. A man hovered close to them, as wide eyed as his sons at all the tech. Risa wandered through the closer shelves, disregarding shirts with logos of various ‘net celebrities’ or companies. In the back corner by the ‘tech support counter,’ stood a clear cylinder with mechanical pads at either end that resembled a smaller version of a medical tank. A white plastic egg at the top of a silver post projected a holo-panel demonstrating the ‘hack tube.’ For a mere four hundred thousand credits, a person could stay in the ‘net indefinitely―or at least until the six month reservoir of nutrient liquid ran out.
A shady man paused at the edge of a display of ‘gaming chairs,’ lurking a few paces behind them and sucking on a red-tipped Nicohaler. After Risa took two random turns to different aisle, it became evident he followed them. His attention seemed locked on the child. Risa put a hand on the girl’s shoulder and guided her in front, standing between them. Chaia looked up and smiled with a subtle shake of the head.
The man thinks I’m going to steal because I’m a little dirty. He’s not a threat. He works here.
Risa glared at him before continuing to ‘browse.’ The security man shadowed them as they wandered around the entire store for twenty minutes. Her cybereyes cycled back and forth from magnification to thermal vision modes, but revealed nothing useful. Might as well try the old-fashioned approach. She wandered up to the sales counter, on the far left side of the rectangular store, opposite the support desk. Her snug, gloss black bodysuit seized the attention of the clerk as soon as she emerged from the aisle into an open area where thin plastic ribbons suspended between posts defined a queue, in case enough people wanted to pay at once to force a wait. He looked in his later twenties, and flashed the kind of smirking grin that said his mind was peeling Risa’s clothes away.
Short, black hair wavered as he checked her out, swept up and to his left side like an ebon fireball frozen in flight. Blue circuit lines spread down the side of a clingy, indigo shirt with a high neck. The name ‘Nevin’ shimmered on the breast of his shirt below the store’s name, lit by embedded fiperoptics.
“Now that is a sight.” He leaned on the counter. “Mind if I stare at you for a few minutes?”
Risa put her hands on her hips. “Go ahead and take an image cap to use later.”
He cringed. “Coldness. I get off in two hours.”
She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. “From the looks of things, you already have.”
“Ouch.” He leaned back, hand on his chest. “I’m good for a little longer than that.” He smiled and gestured at the electronics. “Can I help you with something… less fun?”
“You tell me.” Risa used her NetMini to project a holographic image of Aurelia’s face. “I know this woman was here. I need to find her.”
All enthusiasm melted out of his expression. Meters and graphs appeared around his head, traced to his eyes, lips, and cheek by hairline threads. Risa’s somatic response system detected a slight dilation of the pupils, and a three percent increase in facial perspiration.
“Cops asked the same thing,” said Nevin. “Haven’t seen her.”
A yellow dot blinked in her vision by a floating sound graph bearing the word: ‘suspicious.’
“Are you sure?” Risa estimated the position of the three kids, thirty-nine feet behind and to the left. She set a hand on Chaia’s shoulder, ready to shove her out of the way if something went wrong. I can’t let this go tactical.
“Yeah.” Nevin’s visible interest in her assets shriveled. “Never saw her.”
Chaia peered up at Risa, her expression one of innocence. He’s lying. He’s the one who talked to her.
“Aurelia’s shoulder camera had an image of your face on it”―Risa shot a pointed stare at his shirt ―“Nevin. I’m not with the Defense Force. You can tell me what happened.”
Red lines appeared on Nevin’s face, superimposed by her cybernetics to illustrate blood vessels in the face. His heart rate increased. Chaia sucked in a huge breath and clamped her hands over her mouth and nose.
Risa’s eyes widened.
She launched herself over the counter, landing with her knees on Nevin’s shoulders and two fistfuls of shirt. He flailed at small shelves behind him, causing a waterfall of thin plastic cases to fall with them. One popped open, exposing an eight-inch square foam tile protecting a flea-sized skill chip. Perched on his chest, she held her right hand over his face. Nano claws sprouted in half the span of an eye blink. Five droplets of blood patted onto his white Marsborn cheeks, the tips less than a quarter inch from skin.
“Toxic gas, Nevin? Really? You think someone with a Somatic wouldn’t have a filter?”
His eyes crossed at the gleaming points. “You lied about having me on vid.”
“You lied about not seeing her.” Risa summoned her most emotionless face.
“I suppose we’re even.” He grinned, as calm as if they were on a date, and palmed her ass. “Stealth suit. Nice.”
She ignored the contact. “What happened to Aurelia? Three seconds.”
“You won’t kill me because you want what I know.” He rubbed her backside. “Shame this suit is so thick, I can’t feel much.”
“Where?” she asked, a hint of a growl underlining the word as she let the tips of her claws touch him.
Chaia climbed up onto the counter and sat, leaning over enough to peer down at them. “It was sleeping gas. He used it on your friend.” She plucked a small keychain video game out of a bowl and fidgeted with it.
“Where is Aurelia?” Risa squinted.
“You’re in way over your head.” Nevin’s eyes shifted towards the girl.
“He dragged her to the back and gave her to some men. Tier 6, Sector 74, abandoned residence complex with a smiling man painted on the wall.” Chaia shook her head as if chiding a little boy. “Don’t stab Risa with the blade in your arm.”
“Fucking psio!” The man shoved Risa up by the hand already kneading her ass.
She thrust her claws out, but his boosted strength launched her faster than she could rake, sparing him a free facial piercing. Her speedware activated in midair, reducing her flight to a casual glide. Risa swung her arms to torque her body around and extended her legs to catch herself against the wall.
Nevin rolled to his feet. A pair of sixteen-inch vibro claws erupted from between his knuckles. Risa’s momentum compressed her in a squat against the plastisteel. Chaia remained perched on the counter like a cat, swinging her one dangling leg, barely acknowledging Nevin’s presence despite him rearing his arm back to take her head off.
Risa’s scream of anger vibrated through her skull, low and distorted due to her perception of time. She leapt sideways at him, reaching to catch his arm in her left hand while her right hand’s claws went for his chest. Nevin’s blades passed three inches from Chaia’s cheek as the force of Risa’s collision pushed him away from her. She plunged her claws into his shoulder, slicing his collarbone in four pieces; he let off a gurgled cry of pain, and supported Risa’s weight for three stumbling steps before falling on his back, again with her on top of him. She leaned more weight on her left arm, pinning his right to the floor.
“P-please… don’t kill me.” Nevin wheezed. “You don’t say ‘no’ to those people.”
Risa clenched her bladed fingers enough to make him scream. “You were going to kill a twelve year old girl. There’s not much you can say to make me not end you right here.”
“She’s a psio! Damn mind-stealing freak. I-I panicked. They’ll kill me for talking to you and I didn’t even say anything.” His face reddened. He moaned. The blades protruding from his right arm scraped at the floor as he writhed.
Risa glanced between her knees. An expanding sheen spread through his dark shirt, the reflected light the only sign of blood upon indigo. It wouldn’t take much to kill him, another inch or two down and to the left. Pavo wouldn’t want me to, would he?
“Who are they?” Risa glanced at Nevin’s vibro blades. “Put those away or I’ll take your arm at the elbow.”
Nevin made a fist and the weapons retracted into his arm. “No idea. They came in here a couple days ago and told me I was going to help them. They knew we had the shoplifter pacification system.”
“He’s not lying,” said Chaia from above and behind.
“So fucking creepy.” Nevin shivered.
Risa shook her head. Her ebon hair slipped off her shoulders, draping in front of her. “You gas an entire store full of people to catch a shoplifter?”
“We only use it for armed robbery.” Nevin cringed, gasping as Risa pulled her claws out of him.
“And abducting Defense Force officers.” Her claws snapped back into her finger and she grabbed a fistful of his collar. “You’re so damn lucky I have an overinflated sense of guilt.”
“She’s not a child, she’s a damn psio.” Nevin reached across his chest to clasp the five small holes in his shoulder. “It was self-defense. She’s in my head.”
“I don’t think the Defense Force would see it that way since she’s a minor. Not to mention how they’d react to your role in an officer’s kidnapping. That’s why you haven’t hit the alarm, am I right?”
“There’s no proof.” Nevin cringed and gasped; blood seeped through his fingers. “They doctored the security recordings, and the DF won’t take your psio-freak’s word for shit. Go ahead, tell them.”
Dammit. They won’t even help me. Probably lock me up as a suspect if I tell them I know where she is. Risa shifted her weight onto her feet and stood.
“He’s going to shoot you in the back when we leave. It won’t traumatize me to watch you kill him.” Chaia dropped the keychain video game back in the bowl. “He would’ve cut my head off if you didn’t jump on him.”
“The freak didn’t even flinch.” Nevin shivered.
Risa gawked at the girl. Her cyberware indicated a probable lie based on heart rate. She’s just trying to scare him. Chaia smiled.
“It seems we’ve got a bit of a clusterfuck, Nevin.” Risa pulled him up by his shirt. “I really think I’d be doing Mars a favor by killing you, but I don’t have time to deal with the aftermath.” Whirring vibrated through her skull as she extended her Fangz. “Nap time.”
A sudden glazed expression took over his face; his body went limp. She twisted around to look up at Chaia who stared with intense concentration into Nevin’s eyes. Whatever she was doing to his mind left him disoriented. I haven’t felt like killing someone this bad since I wanted the bastard who ordered my father’s death. She sighed. Too much heat, no time.
Risa crouched and lifted Nevin’s forearm to her mouth. Cybernetic fangs punctured his skin, pumping him full of tranquilizing drugs. He faded in seconds, snoring. She spat blood after her teeth retracted to normal length.
“Eww,” said Chaia. “You bit him. That’s like… what if he had a disease or something? That’s a stupid way to knock someone out.”
“No room in my finger for a needle. Have to use fangs. They’re uh… for stealth.” Risa climbed over the counter and helped Chaia down. “What did you do to him?”
“He was about to reach for a gun. I made him dizzy. Daddy called it ‘mind fog.’”
“I didn’t see a―”
“Behind his back.” Chaia put a hand behind her as if pulling a weapon from her belt.
Risa swished saliva around her mouth and spit again once they were outside. “I hate that taste.”
“Blood?”
“No, the drug.” Risa turned right, walking away from the Defense Force blockade. “Damn.”
Chaia followed close. “What’s wrong?”
“I don’t want to bring you into a dangerous situation. I don’t know if there’s enough time to take you back to the safehouse. I don’t―”
“I should go. I know what the building looks like.” She tilted her head to the right, not a trace of worry in her.
Risa grabbed Chaia’s hand and rushed towards the first left. A quick mental command brought up an overlay screen with a map pointing to the nearest path down to Tier 6, an elevator cluster in front of the Primus Medical Center. “You’re a kid and I’m the one being reckless and irresponsible. I wish I had your courage.”
Flashing pink lights reflected in flashes over the slick plastisteel floor from her sneakers as she ran. “I’m not brave. I’ve already seen the end of the story.”
Chaia crashed against Risa’s back when she stopped short at a corner to scope out a group of miscreants gathered in the orange glow of a bar’s holographic sign. Nine figures in black jackets emblazoned with a large number 97 on the back, styled as if spray-painted on stone, blocked the path to the street she wanted. A woman about Risa’s age spun pistols around her fingers like a gunslinger. Two men ran through the motions of a swordfight in slow motion. All of them had a synthbeer in hand or nearby.
For all the Defense Forces in the city, there’s so many gangs. Another virtual panel spread out next to the map. Using a still image captured by her eyes, she ran a search on the MarsNet, which returned a hit on a gang known as Code 97, a reference to the MDF designation for ‘street violence.’
The girl wrapped her arms around Risa from behind and peeked for a second before looking up. Why are you seeing computer screens?
Risa thought about having cybernetic eyes and electronics in her head.
Chaia shivered. Eww.
According to the article, most considered them an impatient group with a reputation for acts of vigilantism and warfare with other gangs. The girl leaned out again, observing them. Risa skimmed the article; the overall tone suggested someone in the gang edited it recently, as it made them look like street saints.
Maybe they’ll leave us alone.
“They will.” Chaia stepped out of the passage and pulled Risa by the hand to the cross street.
A few catcalled Risa, but none made move to follow.
Chaia stopped on the street, whirled about, and grinned. “See?”
Risa looked away from the young, eager face staring up at her. What am I doing taking a kid with me.
“Your friend doesn’t have much time.” Chaia pulled on her arm, backing into the glow of the Primus City Medical center’s courtyard. “You’ll be fine.”
“It’s not me I’m worrying about.” This is stupid.
“Stop wasting time.” The girl let go of her hand and ran to the elevators.
Risa sprinted across the plaza, up a set of white stairs, and chased her to an elevator capsule. Chaia backed up to the wall. Her face looked serious, but her eyes smiled.
“This isn’t a game.” Risa grabbed her shoulders. “You could be hurt.”
“Trust me. Your friend needs you.” Chaia raised a leg and pushed the holographic button for Tier 6 with her sneaker. “You’re going to argue with yourself until it’s too late.”
The door slid closed and bands of light flashed up the walls from floor to ceiling.
“I’m not going to be responsible for a kid getting hurt.”
Ping. A pneumatic hiss behind her preceded the dirt-metallic flavor of deep tunnel air flooding the elevator. The neutral expression on the child’s face frightened her more than trying to take on an armored cyborg with eight-inch claws.
Chaia planted her hands on Risa’s stomach, giving a light push towards the exit. Still, her expression remained eerie and neutral. “You won’t be.”
Related posts:
Daughter of Mars #89 | (Neurona Prime Part 1)Daughter of Mars #90 | (Neurona Prime Part 2)Daughter of Mars #88 | (Fragments)
