CD & EA 1.12 - Feelings

Loving all the discussion and feedback around these chapters. Thanks so much for all the help!

Let me know what you think,

-Plum

New Victor chapter and another chapter from this story tomorrow. (If all goes as planned!)

“Ghoul?” Juliet asked from the doorway, nervous about approaching the bed where the woman rested, a white sheet and blanket pulled up to her chin and an IV hanging next to her flesh and blood arm.

“Damn, what happened? Did I hit you? You look like a badger.”

Juliet reached up to touch the sore, puffy skin under her eyes and stepped toward the bed. “No, I had some work done, too.”

“I honestly don’t feel too shitty,” Ghoul said, reaching down with her new arm to push herself up on her pillow. It was covered in synth-skin that matched her own pretty damn closely, only a blue plastic elbow and wrist joint giving away its artificial nature. She saw Juliet staring and lifted her hand, flexing the fingers into a fist and then relaxing them. “Works damn good—so weird being able to feel things through it. I swear I'd forget it wasn't mine if I weren’t looking at it.”

“Uh, that’s cool . . .”

“I suppose you want to know if I’m gonna leap out of this bed and try to crush your neck with it?” Ghoul smiled, her pink lips spreading to reveal her sharp, silvery teeth, and Juliet almost turned around and fled through the door. Instead, she squared her shoulders and walked closer still.

“I hope not. You feeling that good, huh?”

“C’mon, I don’t need to feel great to beat the shit outta a skinny bitch like you.” Again, Ghoul grinned, and Juliet just sighed and stepped up next to the bed.

“I have a recording of what went down.” That shut Ghoul’s mouth; she frowned as Juliet continued, “They were using a jammer, so I thought I didn’t, but I guess it was just a net jammer. Do you want to see it?”

“Wow, way to hit me where it hurts,” Ghoul said, scooting up more. “I mean, I figured I would leave you alone, at least, for dragging my ass to the doc. I kinda wanted to remember those two assholes as, you know, just regular assholes, not backstabbing, murdering, dirt fuckers. All right, let’s see this shit.”

“Juliet, Ghoul’s PAI has requested the file. Shall I comply?”

Juliet wasn’t sure if Angel was being extra prim and proper because of how she’d just scolded her, but she confirmed, subvocally, “Yes, Angel, but please be sure to scrub our conversation.”

Two seconds later, Ghoul said, “Got it.” Then her eyes went vacant as she watched the scene play out. Juliet observed her face and saw how her eyes narrowed and her frown deepened. Ghoul gasped early on, and Juliet wondered if she’d just watched Vikker and Don drug her or if she was listening to them talking about how they needed to get things done before “Ghoul found out.”

“Fuck you, Don,” Ghoul hissed after a minute, and then her eyes grew wide, and she pressed her lips together, the muscles in her jaw throbbing while she bit down. As she watched her, Juliet had an impulse to zoom in on Ghoul’s eye with her new implants; she was amazed that she could fill her entire vision with Ghoul’s pupil and iris. She stared, looking deep into those pale blue bands, wondering if she could see anything being projected onto the other woman’s AUI. Tiny flickers were all she could see, and even then, she wasn’t sure they weren’t some reflections from the lights in the room.

“Well,” Ghoul said, sighing and reaching back to pull a pillow up behind her shoulders. Juliet quickly zoomed out and tried to look nonchalant. “Two things, Juliet: one, fuck those guys. Two, how’d you shake off that tranq?”

“Maybe it was bad? I don’t know, but it almost gave me a heart attack.” Juliet had rehearsed that line in her head, anticipating the question. She didn’t want to explain what had happened, but she’d realized she didn’t have to—that shit was on Vikker and Don.

“Yeah, I heard that creep joking about it. Fuck, girl, I’m sorry I didn’t believe you. I couldn’t fucking picture it! I’ve never seen those two pull something like that. I know they had other people they did jobs with, though, people I’ve never met. Maybe they were into dirtier shit than I realized.” She held out her new hand, palm up, and Juliet saw the little delicate plasteel joints between the sections of synth-flesh on her fingers. She reached out and took the hand, surprised by how warm it felt.

“It’s not your fault, Ghoul. Like they said themselves, if you’d been conscious, you wouldn’t have let that go down.”

“Well. What now? How’d you pay for all this?” Ghoul gestured to herself and then to Juliet, “And those pretty green eyes?”

“Well, I needed something to drive here, so I took Vikker’s van. I traded the batts.”

Ghoul’s eyes bugged out, and she said, “Oh fucking crackers, girl! You know someone hired us for that job, right? They’re not going to be very pleased. Shit!” Her eyes darted around the room as if looking for answers on the walls.

“Well, I mean, can’t the guy who hired you guys just, like, not pay?”

“Ugh, probably. I’m really not sure, though, Juliet. Vikker did all the client contacts when I worked with him—my contract was with Vikker, and that’s iced now.” She paused, looked into space for a minute, and then said, “Oh fuck! Did you send me a cut?”

“Yeah, I gave you a third and the doc a third, minus his ‘fencing’ fee and his surgery expenses, of course.” Juliet lifted a corner of her mouth, smirking at the doctor’s lack of charity.

“Well, that puts me more than square. Juliet, you gotta ditch that van. Like I said, Vikker worked with other people, and he had a shitload of contacts in the city. Once they hear he checked out, they’re going to swarm his place, and if they see you cruising around in that rig . . .”

“Do you know if he had cameras around that garage? I didn’t see any, but I’d hate for someone to find footage of what went down. . .”

“Nah, Vikker was too paranoid to have cameras pointing at his workspace. He had some on the periphery of the property, though.”

“I should be good—head was covered coming in, and I had my specs on going out.”

“Right, solid.” Ghoul pulled her hand back, and Juliet flinched, having forgotten she’d taken hold of the other woman’s fingers. “Juliet, I’m going to give you a peer rating. Wouldn’t mind if you did the same for me. I’ve got your info now, and if there’s a job we can work together on, you can count on me hitting you up. Okay?”

“Hell yeah. Thank you, Ghoul. Thanks for not being like those other two . . .” Juliet trailed off, and Ghoul reached out again, grabbing her wrist before she could pull away.

“You okay? That was some heavy shit you went through.”

“It's still sinking in. I feel . . . I feel weird—almost ashamed. Like, have you ever been out drinking, and the next day, it's kind of a blur, but you have this sinking feeling in your gut that you did something you shouldn’t have?”

“You shut that down right now, Juliet. You didn’t do shit wrong. I saw the video. Just ditch that van and then put last night behind you. Please tell me you kept that shotgun, though. That was some poetry the way you handled Don before he could engage his hotwired tendons!” She grinned, and Juliet realized she was trying to make her feel better, so she smiled along, though she didn’t feel like it.

“Yeah,” she said sheepishly, “I have it.”

“Good. Definitely work on your self-defense, and from now on, unless I’m with you, don’t let any motherfuckers put a hood on you.”

That got a chuckle out of Juliet, “Already decided on that personal policy!”

“Right, good girl. Come here,” Ghoul said, pulling her in for a hug, and Juliet leaned in, careful not to touch her abdomen. “I know I tried to kill you a little while ago, but I got the worst of it, right?” Ghoul said into her shoulder while she squeezed. “We good?” she asked, loosening her grip so Juliet could pull back.

“Yeah, we’re good.” Juliet started toward the door, and as she turned for a final wave, she said, “If I don’t join you on another job, Ghoul, it’s not personal. I’m thinking about skipping out of Tucson.”

“Oh? Not a terrible idea, Juliet. Where to?”

“Not sure yet. Somewhere I can get lost.”

“Well, hit me up before you go. I’m . . . not that fond of this place myself.” Ghoul held up her flesh and blood hand in a thumbs-up position, and Juliet nodded, then slipped through the door. She didn’t know if she’d really contact the woman, but she imagined it might be nice to have a friend in a new place.

Gary was still standing at the end of the hall, arms folded, his red, glowing eyes staring at her, but he smiled when she looked at him. “Door at the other end of the hall will take you to the garage. Use the side door to get out.”

“Thanks, Gary.” Juliet waved, then started down the hall. Her left arm was still bandaged, but she was curious about what her new data jack looked like, so she pulled back the gauzy white wrap and saw that it wasn’t too showy. It had a shiny, black, plasteel cover with a stylized, etched BNS logo at its center. It was only about an inch square at the side of her wrist, and when she touched a finger to it, the cover *snicked* back to reveal the connector for her new data cable. She tugged on it, and it pulled away, trailing a thin, sturdy, micro-filament line. When she let go, it retracted quickly but in a controlled way, carefully respooling itself.

Juliet touched the cover again, and it slid closed, covering the jack. “Angel, is the wireless jack online?”

“Yes, Juliet, with a much stronger antenna and signal generator than the specs you borrowed.” Angel paused briefly, then said, “Ghoul has updated your rating. Would you like to see it?” Surprisingly, the PAI didn’t project the table—she was waiting for Juliet to respond, and that made Juliet feel a little sad and guilty.

“Yeah, sure, Angel.” The minimized table appeared in her vision, and as she stepped through the garage door and into the hot Arizona afternoon, she looked at it:

Handle: “Juliet” – SOA-SP License #: JB789-029

Rating: F-24-N

Skillset subgroups:

Peer and Client Rating (Grades are F, D, C, B, A, S, S+):

Combat:

• Close Quarters Heavy Weapon Combat - A (1)

Technical:

• Network Security Bypass/Defend - S (3)
• Data Retrieval - S (2)
• Welding - *
• Electrical - *
• Combustion & Electrical Engine Repair - *

Other:

• High-Performance Driving/Navigation - A (1)

“Hah! She gave me a rating for combat.”

“And increased your overall rating for Data Retrieval.”

“Oh, shit! For driving, too,” Juliet said, glancing at the table again.

“Yes, and you can see you’re twenty-four percent of the way out of the overall F category,” Angel spoke like a school teacher going over exam results, and Juliet had to chuckle as she slid into the driver’s seat of Vikker’s van.

“Angel, plot a course for Thicker than Water and call my cousin. I assume you know this, but be sure to mask the call.”

“Yes, Juliet. Until you tell me otherwise, I’ll continue to do everything I can to keep your location and identity from being observed. Do you mean your cousin, Marco?”

“Yes.” Juliet didn’t have any other cousins with whom she kept in touch, but she supposed Angel didn’t know that. Tig did, though . . . “Holy shit! Angel!”

“Yes, Juliet?”

“I left Tig in the apartment. Won’t they be able to see that his serial number is the same as the one you’ve been identifying yourself with?”

“It’s good that you remembered that, Juliet. I’ll find an unused serial number from another source on the net and change my signature. You needn’t worry, though; the last time I received a ping for identification was in Thicker than Water last night.”

“Like, where we’re going right now?” Juliet said, slapping a palm to her forehead.

“Yes, I suppose there’s some risk that WBD or Helios has security agents watching for you there.”

“They won’t know to look for the van, though, right? I doubt they’ll know about my bike, either . . .”

“I’ve acquired a new signature, so they won't pick you out if they’re scanning the lot. They may have grown suspicious about your motorcycle, though—it’s been there for nearly twenty hours.”

“Dammit.” Juliet pulled into a grocery store parking lot and parked near someone’s old motorhome. She could see from the lawn chairs and the pile of cardboard near the rear door that someone had been squatting there for a while. She was surprised the store allowed it, but she also knew that if Helios security didn’t find it worth investigating, they’d be waiting for a long time before someone came to move the campers away. “I suppose they could take an operator contract out . . .”

“Do you still want me to call your cousin?”

“Yeah. Do that while I figure out what to do about wheels.”

“I have a connection,” Angel said, and then a crystal clear image of Marco appeared in her vision, only taking up a small corner of her view in the upper left quadrant.

“Cuz,” he said, shaking his head with a frown.

“Marco!”

“What did you get into, Jules?” He continued to shake his head.

“I tried to come over yesterday. I tried to call—are you all okay?”

“Yeah, we’re okay, but we had corpo-sec sitting in our living room all day. They’re not happy with you, cousin. I’m supposed to tell you to report to Helios management right away . . .” Suddenly, the line went black, and then a new image resolved, one of a sharply dressed, clean-shaven man with short, precisely combed brown hair. He wore a suit and tie, and his blue eyes narrowed as he realized Juliet’s image was scrambled.

“Ms. Bianchi?”

“Angle, scramble my voice,” Juliet subvocalized, then she said, “Who?”

“Please don’t play the fool, Ms. Bianchi. It’s rather imperative that you report to the Helios Arcology immediately. My name is Mr. Kline, and I work for WBD. I need to interview you, and the longer you avoid contact, the more guilty you appear.”

“What’s Juliet done? Why do you want to meet with her?” Juliet asked, and she sort of wished she could hear what her voice sounded like.

“Ms. Bianchi, we heard your conversation with Mr. Calvano. We know this is you.”

“Wait, you were illegally listening to his calls?”

“We had permission, naturally. Mr. Calvano waived his data privacy when he signed his employment contract.”

“And me?”

“Only one party need consent to surveillance, Ms. Bianchi. Now, let’s stop wasting time. Please report to the Helios Arcology’s main business office immediately.”

“Well, I’m not sure who you’re looking for, but if I meet her, I’ll tell her the news. Good luck,” Juliet started to flick her fingers to end the call, adrenaline causing her hands to shake.

“Juliet!” Mr. Kline said, his voice suddenly much sharper and less congenial. “You’re playing a dangerous game. WBD will stop at nothing to get the tech you’ve stolen.”

“I don’t have your fucking tech!” Juliet lied, then she finished her gesture, and Angel cut the call. “How’d he hijack the call, Angel?”

“Through your cousin’s end. There was nothing I could do to stop it short of cutting the connection.”

“Shit, shit, shit. Angel, go through everything, make sure there’s nothing about that dirtbike that connects it to me. File a report that it was stolen, and set me a course to Davis and Sons. Call Tyler while you’re at it.” She started the van and pulled out of the parking lot, merging with the heavy traffic heading north.

“I have a connection,” Angel said, and then Tyler’s friendly, salesman-supreme smile greeted her.

“Juliet! It’s only been a day! Did the bike die on ya?” He reached up to tilt his Panama hat higher on his forehead, and Juliet had to smile at his friendly demeanor.

“No, Tyler, but I can’t use it right now. I need to buy another vehicle, but my budget’s a little better this time. I need something with a roof that can get me out of the state. Nothing special.”

“I’ve got lots of options, Juliet. You heading in soon?”

“I’m on my way. I wanted to make sure you weren’t busy.”

“Nah, I’ve gotcha. I’ll line up a couple of good options, all right? Nothing fancy, huh?”

“Right. Nothing fancy. See you in about fifteen minutes, Tyler. Thanks!” Juliet ended the call then said, “Angel, I know you hacked this van to give me permissions with it, but there’s no way you could fudge the, uh, ownership details, could you?”

“Not unless you travel to the DMV and make a physical connection to one of their servers—I’ve done some sleuthing into the topic, and it seems they don’t have those records on any machines with a wireless connection.”

“Gotta love physical firewalls, huh? All right, I’ll ditch this van a block from Davis and Sons. Man, it was nice having more than ten k in the bank while it lasted, huh?”

“If you’re prudent with your spending, I don’t see your wealth ranking falling too much, Juliet.”

Juliet drummed her fingers on the steering wheel, thinking about Angel and her damn rankings, and she smiled. “Angel, I don’t trust Tsakanikas because of a feeling I get from him. I don’t think I can really explain it. He seems more like a used car salesman than Tyler, an actual used car salesman. Shit, do you know what that means?”

“Yes, I’m familiar with the colloquialism.”

“More than the feeling, I also know that he was ready to cut ties with us at the drop of a hat. It wasn’t until money was on the table that he agreed to help Ghoul. If someone offered him more money, or if I hadn’t had that dead man's switch, he might have sold us out to Helios or WBD. Shit, he might be trying to help them find me right now. It’s a feeling, Angel. I can’t teach you that; I’m sorry.”

“I understand, Juliet. Thank you for explaining. Human greed is expounded upon in literature, and I’m making my way through online libraries. I hope I’ll become better at spotting such character flaws as I spend more time with you.”

“That’s . . . good, Angel. I hope you’ll see that there’s also a lot of good in humanity—a lot worthy of admiration.”

“I will endeavor to see all the facets. So far, I’m very pleased that I’m paired with you, Juliet.”

Juliet smiled, perpetually amused and amazed by the conversations she had with Angel. “I’m glad I have you, too, Angel. I really am.”