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Authors: James K. Decker
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them to laugh at me.
“ How ’ d it go? ” Sun asked.
I gave him the finger, but he just laughed and tossed my backpack over to me.
“ Go on, get home before someone sees you out. ”
I shouldered the pack and headed back the way I ’ d come. When I passed the protesters, one of them muttered at me.
“ Haan fucker. ”
“ Excuse me? ”
I couldn ’ t see who said it, but a small group of the men were scowling, their ugly faces lit by the glow of the electric lamp.
“ Race traitor, ” one spat.
“ Race traitor? ” The fatigue had me punchy. “ For real? ”
“ When they take over— ”
“ There ’ s not enough of them to take over even if they wanted to, ” I snapped back, “ so can the ‘ invader ’ bullshit. They gave us gate tech, force field and brain band tech, better rations, clean water, and free energy. The only bad thing they gave us was scaleflies, and even those at least you can eat. ”
“ The Impact, ” the guy said, raising his voice. “ Was that bad enough for you? ” He threw a half-empty can at me and I swatted it away.
“ That was an accident, ” I said, raising my own voice. “ It sucked, but- ”
“ A quarter of a million people died! ”
“ An accident, ass-wipe! It was an accident! They ’ ve been trying to make up for it ever since, but it ’ s never enough, is it? ”
“ They ’ ll take over one day, ” the guy said. “ You ’ ll see. ”
“ What are you afraid they ’ ll do if that happens? Clean the place? The sweep ’ s in less than an hour. I hope you all get arrested! ”
I pointed at the lamp they were huddled around.
“ The batteries in that thing are haan tech, you know, ” I said. The oldest man turned as I passed by him, and stared up at me from the hollows of his eyes.
“ Fuck you, ” he wheezed.
~ * ~
Chapter Four
28:23:51 BC
Rain had begun to fall hard and the security sweep was in full swing by the time I got back to my neighborhood. Vamp ’ s app displayed a cloud of orange markers moving toward Tùzi-wō , the 3i ’ s holomap laid over sheets of drizzle and the throngs of people hustling through street fog to get somewhere dry. If I zoomed in to the map, I could actually see the individual units strobe slowly down the streets as they were seen, lost, then seen again, and twice it warned me to take an alternate route to avoid them. It was the first time, I think, that I realized Vamp ’ s project was probably going to get him into real trouble.
As I slipped through knots of people on my way toward the market, I pulled up my chat contacts. I was about to tap Vamp ’ s heart to tell him what had happened when I saw the stack of messages from him in the 3i tray. He already knew.
I thought about messaging him back but wanted to get off the street first. Security hadn ’ t reached my block in force yet, but groups of local cops were out, rain pelting off their helmets and black ponchos while they watched the vendors all trying to pack up and leave at the same time. As they broke down kiosks they made last-minute sales under clusters of umbrellas, some with the cops themselves. I moved under a shop front awning with a crowd of others, nestling into a gap next to a rattling rain gutter to get the lay of the place. Red and blue lights flashed through the haze of neon from in front of my apartment building a couple of blocks away. A bunch of cops were out front waiting to see if the nut who crashed the airbike would show, and I could see an aircar hovering up near our ruined balcony, its lights flashing off the building ’ s glass face. Going back there wasn ’ t an option.
I skirted across the street and made my way down the block to the Nan Hai Hotel where Vamp and I sometimes got a room with friends if we wanted to cut loose a little and Dragan was home. It was a shit-box, and I really didn ’ t want
“ How ’ d it go? ” Sun asked.
I gave him the finger, but he just laughed and tossed my backpack over to me.
“ Go on, get home before someone sees you out. ”
I shouldered the pack and headed back the way I ’ d come. When I passed the protesters, one of them muttered at me.
“ Haan fucker. ”
“ Excuse me? ”
I couldn ’ t see who said it, but a small group of the men were scowling, their ugly faces lit by the glow of the electric lamp.
“ Race traitor, ” one spat.
“ Race traitor? ” The fatigue had me punchy. “ For real? ”
“ When they take over— ”
“ There ’ s not enough of them to take over even if they wanted to, ” I snapped back, “ so can the ‘ invader ’ bullshit. They gave us gate tech, force field and brain band tech, better rations, clean water, and free energy. The only bad thing they gave us was scaleflies, and even those at least you can eat. ”
“ The Impact, ” the guy said, raising his voice. “ Was that bad enough for you? ” He threw a half-empty can at me and I swatted it away.
“ That was an accident, ” I said, raising my own voice. “ It sucked, but- ”
“ A quarter of a million people died! ”
“ An accident, ass-wipe! It was an accident! They ’ ve been trying to make up for it ever since, but it ’ s never enough, is it? ”
“ They ’ ll take over one day, ” the guy said. “ You ’ ll see. ”
“ What are you afraid they ’ ll do if that happens? Clean the place? The sweep ’ s in less than an hour. I hope you all get arrested! ”
I pointed at the lamp they were huddled around.
“ The batteries in that thing are haan tech, you know, ” I said. The oldest man turned as I passed by him, and stared up at me from the hollows of his eyes.
“ Fuck you, ” he wheezed.
~ * ~
Chapter Four
28:23:51 BC
Rain had begun to fall hard and the security sweep was in full swing by the time I got back to my neighborhood. Vamp ’ s app displayed a cloud of orange markers moving toward Tùzi-wō , the 3i ’ s holomap laid over sheets of drizzle and the throngs of people hustling through street fog to get somewhere dry. If I zoomed in to the map, I could actually see the individual units strobe slowly down the streets as they were seen, lost, then seen again, and twice it warned me to take an alternate route to avoid them. It was the first time, I think, that I realized Vamp ’ s project was probably going to get him into real trouble.
As I slipped through knots of people on my way toward the market, I pulled up my chat contacts. I was about to tap Vamp ’ s heart to tell him what had happened when I saw the stack of messages from him in the 3i tray. He already knew.
I thought about messaging him back but wanted to get off the street first. Security hadn ’ t reached my block in force yet, but groups of local cops were out, rain pelting off their helmets and black ponchos while they watched the vendors all trying to pack up and leave at the same time. As they broke down kiosks they made last-minute sales under clusters of umbrellas, some with the cops themselves. I moved under a shop front awning with a crowd of others, nestling into a gap next to a rattling rain gutter to get the lay of the place. Red and blue lights flashed through the haze of neon from in front of my apartment building a couple of blocks away. A bunch of cops were out front waiting to see if the nut who crashed the airbike would show, and I could see an aircar hovering up near our ruined balcony, its lights flashing off the building ’ s glass face. Going back there wasn ’ t an option.
I skirted across the street and made my way down the block to the Nan Hai Hotel where Vamp and I sometimes got a room with friends if we wanted to cut loose a little and Dragan was home. It was a shit-box, and I really didn ’ t want
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