Kate- *Growwwwwwl*
Hunger pains
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Kate- Fucking brain adds! Industry gotta lay down the Moon Dust baggies.
Cerecom- Garbage in, brains out!
Kate- Says the bottom-drawer-grade brain implant frying my cortex. Can’t wait for that pub to reach the minimal install time. You keep bombing my neural feed with this shit.
“Install the brain worm to get the freebie; Guess that’s how they get you, hun? Through the stomach, like one of those dumb water animals.”
Cere- Be careful with your words Kate, you are skirting dangerously the libel clause in the contract you signed by accepting that taster. You can think what you want, you just can’t say it for a few more hours.
Kate- Yeah, yeah, I know, I know, can’t curse them aloud while “enjoying” the promo, got it.
Cere- I’m doing this for your own good!
Kate Like any abusive parent... Fuck you Alabaster Megacorp, kicking me in the nuts while ‘m down.
Cere- Kate, you know you don’t have nuts right?
Kate- Shiiiit... right! I must be out of my mind here. Anyway, enough clowning; gotta focus on the job now. Fail today, and ‘ll get slim enough for a download. One more weak and even the plants downstairs will be disappointed when I get unplugged. Barely enough for half a measure of bonemeal, if that.
Cere- At least your implants would keep their value.
Kate- You wish! You used toaster; Nobody pays full price for a sloppy second, except the brokies and the weirdoes.
Cere- You’re describing 99%+ of the population here; I’m pretty sure the Venn diagram of that encompasses the surface of the whole freaking Moon.
Kate- Touché!
Cere- Kate, real talk here for a second; Your anxiety level is somewhat high. You know, like really really high. Should I download Dr. Watson for a full diagnostic and a prescription? The installation fees and consultations would be...
Kate- Skip, put on the ignore list!
Cere- I know you’re short on funds but you should really take better care of yourself, and a credit line.
Kate- Told you tens of times already! I swear, you keep this shit out of your context maliciously!
Cere- You’re still a debt virgin. I think there are more wild animals on the whole moon than virgins like you; If you’re not careful some cult will take notice and sacrifice you to a demon, for some economic privileges or something.
Kate- Ain’t taking any debts. That’s the only thing my bio parents left me; Nothing, nothing owed. Don’t know how they did it or who they were but I ain’t squandering that for shit, feel me?
Cere- ... Noted.
Kate- *Grumbles*
“Bet not.”
Cere- We’ve reached our destination: 246 Grande Allée corridor, dome 116, Paradise City, Sea of Tranquility district, Moon, Dr. Ariane Prince's Clinic. The temperature is a balmy 4 C and the weather is the same as usual for a partly abandoned habitat; cloudy with chances of CO2 pockets.
Kate- “No kiddin’...”
*Snif Snif*
Rotten veggies, stale sweat, old people, death.
Nice perfume they got going here! Cere, mute the background odours. Quite the stink... shit, Stink, he would have loved that... fucker...
Cere- He would have sold that for VRs and made it like a bandit.
Kate- Right... li’ll bastard had the biohazard market cornered hard for sure.
Cere- You know, you never talk about...
Kate- Must be coming from that stall in front of the clinic. Something’s weird about it. Can’t put my finger on why; Cere help me here.
Cere- This establishment doesn’t have an AR display or any online presence; Since you deactivated the visual inputs for public VR, your brain is somewhat buffering the lack of data as an eerie feeling.
Kate- No distribution permit either, I bet. Any food inspection license on the books?
Cere- Got it in one! None are to be found at this address, but if I cross-reference this specific vendor, she has had her license revoked a few years back. Black market food, stolen from the table of the rich and powerful. She was released last year.
Kate- Back at her old tricks, no surprise.
Cere- Should I alert enforcement authorities? They would release a reward for finding a break in probational conditions.
Kate- Not yet, stash that one for later. Don’t wanna shit where we’re we'll be eating in a hot second.
Cere- I’m starting a dossier and gathering footage of the violation.
Kate- Just send it to the natives once the job’s done.
Cere- As you wish.
Kate- Who knows, maybe it’ll give me just enough Paradise Corners to buy a tall glass of water.
Cere- Indeed, this won’t amount to much.
Kate- Bright side, don’t look at a gifted something’s something as the sayin’ goes.
Moves closer to observe the kiosk.
Clerk looks old, like the original sin old. Hag here must be one of the “Au Naturel” religious nuts. Either that or she’s piss poor as a dry fuck with a secondhand dildo. Who still ages nowadays, 'riously? I bet she thinks she renders service to nature by dying or some shit. Guess she's right, the pool don't need no stupid genes to stay long.
Cere- Already plenty of that in the monkey's alphabet soup.
Kate- Right? The stall looks as bad as it smells. Corpo gods above; the place is stained with dead stocks!
Cere- I guess not even a lowly cleaning bot would get caught dead here.
Kate- If there was ever one ‘t’s dead alright. Probably shot ‘tself in despair. Anyway, shopping here gonna make a good cover to peek on the doc just across.
Gets closer
Old Clerk- “As tu fini de mater ma shop? Qu’est-ce que tu veux?”
Kate- Crisps tensely.
French? Great another ethnic ghetto, always the same with those fucking places. A bunch of xenophobic cunts stacking up together like drones on a rack. This is going to suck so bad.
Cere translating- Are you done looking at my shop, sexual innuendo implied, what do you want?
Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.
Kate- No emotional layer coming with the translation?
Cere- None, she’s implant-free, as far as I can detect.
Kate- We got a real “Au naturel”? Though they all died out last century! Pheww, got scared for a second here, tummy blended all nutrishake-like! Hate feeling other people’s emotions; Always makes me feel confused.
Cere- You never were a fan of tele-empath functions.
Kate- Hell if this wasn’t fucking 2112, I’d rip you out by the roots like a vine, bare-handed!
Cere- It would be highly unadvisable, barbaric surgery would leave large lesions to your small brain. Plus it is indeed fucking 2112.
Old Clerk- Pokes Kate’s chest hard
“T’as le fix souvent poupée de Satan?”
Cere translating- “You often fix...”
Kate- No need to translate, got that one.
Don’t touch me, bonny granny!
“How much for that red stuff?”
Cere- FYI, this red stuff is called raspberries. They could be good for you if you can afford them.
Old Clerk- Listens to Kate’s answer through a decrepit hand-held device.
Kate- Handheld phone? Quaint! What’s next, landlines? Rotary?
Cere- Do you want me to cut her voice inputs and just send you an emulation of her translated voice? It will be slightly delayed but faster than waiting for her to finish speaking.
Kate- Could do that, sure!
Old Clerk- “The raspberries? Thirty-six for a hundred grams.”
Kate- “What? Are you nuts lady? Should I believe they grow in rare earth? They made of solid gold, or do they have time travel duties stapled on top?”
Old Clerk- “Great! Just my luck, another bitchy Karen! Listen, kid, they need soil, good biological soil. They don’t grow on rocks you know?”
Kate- Great... got her on a rant now! Perfect time to catch a glimpse of the rent payment.
Cere-
Name: Marie Surname: Blanchette
Age: 76 Dob 11/03/36 Ethnicity: French, Caucasian
GenCodeRef: GC8700/444405dor/pc>>??993KP
Implant: No Rating: Felony class D
Wanted for:
-3D printer possession and operation without a license
-Illegal cybernetic organ printing
-Practicing medicine without a corporate affiliate status
-Aiding and abetting of multiple class A and B felons
-706 known violations of the Corporate Copyright Act of 2046
-Digital piracy
-Fraud
-Impersonation of a medical practitioner
-Implanting military-grade equipment on unlicensed entities
Bounty: 15370 Paradise Credits
Kate- Nice rap sheet. Unlicensed 3d printing will do ya in big for sure! Girl, you should have known that the Corps Above don't want you, or anyone, not under their thumbs to own means of production. You think they’re gonna let regular Jane start another Corpo World War from a dusty rat hole?”
Cere- Yes, it has been quite illegal since the war. Turns out competition makes for terrible profit margins.
Kate- No kiddin’! Couldn’t have people at home competing with the big dogs. If printers print printers...
Cere- Anarchy in the streets.
Old Clerk- “...hen there is the right atmosphere, the water, just that cost would make you irrigate the damn thing with your tears chaebol princess! So,”
Pokes
“GET”
Pokes
“FUCKED”
POKES!
“!”
Kate- Startteled
Forgot her! She ain’t wrong but fuck! Don’t touch me!
Old Clerk- POKES!!!!
Kate- “Don’t...”
Old Clerk- Shove poke while blabbering insults in French.
Kate- Brain explodes in a white-out!
“DARE TOUCH ME WITH YOUR FREAKY BONY FINGERS!”
Grabs the finger and twists HARD!
“SHUT IT OR I FUCKING BREAK YOU!”
Old Clerk *AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!*
“L?CHE MOI PUTAIN!”
Cere- Better not translate this...Kate? Kate?
Kate- "KEEP TOUCHING ME AND I'LL KILL YOU!"
Can’t make empty threats... Fuck fuck fuckedyfuck... business, just business, right...
Old Clerk- Lightly scuffles, and releases a rancid breath. Face twists and body arcs in pain.
Kate- Bio food, ugh...
Publicity- I only need Nutripack 3k? while on the job, a cheap and efficient way to keep up with production quotas during the day!
Kate- Shocked out of her incoherent state by the incongruent publicity.
Really? A bain-add? Did you choose to spam me NOW?
Cere- Sorry, that was a contractual obligation.
Kate- Shit! Forgot the doc, still around? Hope she didn’t get spooked.
Cere- Nope, still here! I guess mild elder abuse won’t faze anyone in this flea-infested monkey ass of a dome.
Kate- Goosebumps.
Eerie bitch... like a perfect bio-lotto princess winner. Full red lips, eyes larger than Disney’s appetite, DNA mods? NO! FUCK! SHE’S A PRINTER! SHE’S FULL-FLEDGED BARBIE!
Doc- Startled!
Kate- She made me! Stared at her too much! Must be readin’ me like a .doc now with empath softs. Fucking glassy bitchy little glass eyes full of terror! SHE KNOWS!
Doc- Croushes slightly
Cere- Kate, her legs! She’s morphing them into a cheetah configuration!
Kate- Saw that! Fuck my life! Knew she was too artificial for genetics! Damn hairy-armed froggy cunt! Barbie gonna give me the slip! ‘M a freakin’ grade A beef patty height bits brained trained monkey.
Doc- Bounces away.
Cere- Nobody is contesting your qualities here, but she’s gonna going to bounce if you don’t take action now!
Kate- Starts running.
No shit!
“Hella fast ain’t she?”
Cere- The suspect is recorded actively avoiding capture; You are now cleared for the use of limited use of lethal force, after a last verbal warning.
Kate- “COUNCIL AGENT! EVERYBODY GET THE FUCK DOWN!!!”
Vision narrowing, cascading heartbeat, out-of-control accelerated breathing.
Adrenaline! Gunslinger’s worst enemy since 1365 AD! Can feel my sanity wringing like a fucking wet rag. Gotta fix that stat.
“Cere, adrenaline scrubbers!”
Cere- Better?
Doc- Keeps jumping away.
Kate- She ain’t stopping, didn’t even flinch. Alright, close your eyes bitch... reopen, breathe in, breathe out... one, two, reopen. Better... Safety off, finger on the trigger, center mass, just like training.
“Activate aimbot program, shoot to kill”
Cere- Confirmed
Adjusts Kate’s cybernetic arm and wrist slightly.
Gun- *BANG!*
Cere- Missed! Adjusting trajectory based on the host’s new dynamic kinesthetic data. You lost weight Kate, and not in a good way.
Kate- Shoot went wild... fucking discard cum-bag body! Should go full Barbie when I hit it big! Stupid partials, bio just ain’t cutting it for accuracy.
Girl in the crowd- *Yiiiiiiiiiiiiii!*
Gun- * BANG!*
Cere- Round two, impact, damage approximates based on visual and acoustic data.
The host’s unprotected biological sound receptors seem to have been impacted by the sudden firearm discharges. Some long-term trauma is expected. Would you like to add synthetic eardrums to your wishlist? Black Industries currently has a promotion on some professional-grade options.
Kate- Tinnitus *iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!*
“Fuck that hurts!”
Forgot the damn earplugs in the mess. At least I got a hit. Authorize the wishlist!
Gun- *BANG!*
Cere- Confirmed!
Man in the crowd- “JANINE!!! NON, NON, non non non non! Pas ?a, pas toi...”
Kate- Yelling? First shot?
Sees a little 6-year-old girl on the ground.
Fuck!, no... someone...
Feels cold, distant from herself, eerily calm and detached, unnaturally focused.
Here’s that third-person perspective again. No matter, no time for squats but the job.
Doc- Flees, hobbeled.
Kate- Still running, the fucking rent is running. Well, jumping really, she ain’t wearing her mags to keep from bouncing in low grav; At least it slows her a bit.
Cere- Round three was a confirmed hit. I'm sending the battle results to your analytic display.
Kate- Got her somewhere good this time; Sorry Marie, a girl gotta eat. Today you’re lunch; nothing personal. Still fleeing are ya? Cere what is she running toward?
Cere- A vertical light well, less than a hundred meters!
Kate- Me and my turd laying luck! She’s gonna jump, and I’m here wearing my fucking magnetic boots. Can’t follow with those anchors at my heels!
Doc- Bobs and weaves, using bystanders for cover
Cere- The target seems to have activated a bootleg military-grade evasion soft, the risk of additional collateral is at around 78%, do we risk it?
Kate- slows down.
Nah, we have to let her go; Can’t afford an audit for OK Coral and having nothing but dead civies to show for it.
If she used a weapon OK... but Barbie knows the rules. Alright, Ken doll, enough playtime for today... SHIT!
Cere- Kate, KEEP RUNNING! We still have a chance!
Kate- Rushes forward.
Plan?
Cere- We can get her while she's mid-jump to the lower level.
Kate- What are the odds of collaterals by shooting potentially 100 stories down of open public park space?
Cere- Fifty...
Kate- Stops near the railing, observes the doctor disappearing.
Not worth it! Not worth risking an unlubed meat stick in the ass over half and half ratio. Resume normal biopsychological functions.
Cere- Resuming...
Kate- Panicked breathing, confusion setting in.
Man from the crowd- “YOU BITCH YOU SHOT MY KID!”
Grabs Kate by the trench coat.
Kate- ‘m fucked... alone... alone...
Man from the crowd- “... LISTENING TO ME? PUTAIN?”
Kate- Shallow breaths head spins madly.
Miss Adrenaline takes this dance. Another panic attack, just great...
Man- Pulls harder and shakes an oblivious and confused Kate.
Kate- Snaps!
“DON’T FUCKING TOUCH ME! DON’T FUCKING TOUCH ME!”
Strong body shakes, blurred red vision
Who? What? What’s going on?
Cere- The host is showing acute symptoms of CPTSD. Would you like to get online assistance from a virtual psychiatrist? Consultation fees are 26,99 credits per hour, or you could buy Dr. Watson's full licence as low as nine hundred ninety-nine and ninety-nine, for a year of service.
Kate- Feels a soft spikey surface through her biological hand.
Red face screamer... all in my space, all in my face.
“SHUT UP! SHUT THE FUCK UP! SHUT IT!”
Don't touch! Can’t handle it right now!
“BACK OFF FUCKER!”
Pistol Whip him then pushes her gun into the man’s mouth with force.
Everything’s a blur... t’s going on? What, where...
Cere- Easy, Kate, don’t shove your gun in the man’s mouth; He isn’t cleared for enforcement action! Breathe! Square breathing, you know the drill. Unless you want to explain to the Council why you put a civilian on your dental plan.
Kate- Gun? Mouth? What?
Cere- Sing Green Sleeves with me, please... Breath, slow down.
Kate- Calm... calm down... breath, square breathing... in... 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Hold... 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Out... 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
Cere- Good job you had me sc...
Kate- *UUURRRRG BUAAAAAGGGGGG*
Vomit comets over the railing like a shooting star.
Fuck me... bet that wasn’t on today’s forecast.
Notices the man for the first time.
That man... what was he on again?
Cere- He’s the father...
Kate- Father? “Fuck! THE STRAY!”
Fully notices the little girl in a pool of red blood, unmoving.
"Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck..."
Cere- She’s breathing, barely. Good PR if she pulls through: ‘Council Agent Saves Child.’ Should keep the higher-ups from sharpening their pitchforks. Cleanup are on the way, and I flagged the fruit hag for extra brownie points.
Kate- Hope she makes it... if she does, she’s gonna get a full cyborg free of charge. Good PR for the council on the cheap. Everybody’s happy, not even me.
I fucked up, again.
Cere- Ain’t this just Paradise?
