2b: White and Green

The man entered the restaurant and sat down. I wandered down his arm and perched on the edge of the stained, wonky table. “So who are we meeting?”

“No one, I’m hungry.” He began to stroke his manicured beard with his hand. I wondered if it was real, I hadn’t noticed any change of clothes. He was either not planning to stay long or, worse, wearing a gel suit. I tried not to stare at his face, distracting myself by pruning my fur.

“In here? What ever floats your boat I suppose, though they must be good, judging by the amount of people in here. There must be at least, let me see, three, including you. Business is booming.” In the bright yellow corridors inside the rest of me my crew began to clam down, a consensus had been reached, though Guyil, a old, wiry Alter, was still nursing a broken nose. Jared was laughing, I was constantly amazed at his ability to strike at the weakest point, there wasn’t much flesh left on Guyil but he had managed to find it. But then that’s Liamen for you. “So what do you want me to do, keep watch? Nice trick on the Essential outside by the way, micro-emp wasn’t it? Had to upgrade this Essential to protect against that, nasty little devices, you got any more?”

“No and yes.” He turned to the fat, sweating waiter who sloped over and ordered something incomprehensible.

“Don’t talk much do you? I had a friend like you once, an embedded habitat, Alfred was his name I think, had an essential that looked like a duck, weird fellow, but would only communicate in binary.” I leapt up to hang by my tail from the lampshade, which felt greasy. “Only Alters could handle the incessant beeping. Still, there was a restaurant run by his bio-mother which served the best pancakes I have ever eaten.”

The man glared at me. “You mean Alfred Bester?”

I avoided his eyes, they were so blue, cold and pale. My fur prickled. “Perhaps…”

“Didn’t you steal his neural hub and sell it to the Linkers?”

I decided silence was the best option. “Ok, I see you’re not in a chatty mood, fine, not a problem, I’ll just be hanging here if you need me.”

“Good.”

I scanned the restaurant. The tables were close and clean but scratched. The walls had the off yellow sheen of countless years of smoke, even the wallpaper looked as if it preferred to be somewhere else. The soft violet light peered through the gaps in the blackened window, timid warmth invading the cold blackness.

I watched the man eat his food. He did not need much. He looked like a surgeon, carefully picking his food apart with precision, never using more effort than was required. His long thin fingers rippled across the plate. There was a lull in the conversation, the few patrons melting into the gloom.

It was then I noticed the c-specks. Their blond hair flickered in the darkness, like a lion’s mane in the grass. Slowly they edged forward, outside a large black behemoth stood in front of the doorway. There was no escape. I info packed my situation to the rest of me and my crew.

“Marvin, I thought you told the IS to back off?” There was no reply, I swung down and returned to the man’s shoulder. “Marvin, answer me.”

His voice was faint and blunt. “There has been a change of plan.” Within moments the rest of me confirmed Marvin Hue had left the solar system.

“We’re in trouble.” The man looked at me, a vague impression on his face. He had already begun to slip into the drug induced trance that the Hashashi were so feared for. I checked my own defences as my other self went into full war mode, uploading all of what I had discovered so far I switched off the link.

“Yes, you are.” He smiled, and closed his eyes.

The man pirouetted, sending a small metal disc searing through the air towards the advancing Isabella J-3. It cut deep into the spike on her arm. The other c-speck had volleyed past and was already firing her gun and spike, the projectiles arching through the thick atmosphere.

I speed up my reaction time, clamping my hands to the man’s shoulder. I was just able to get enough of a handle on the malleable surface of the gel suit before the man dropped, rolled and sprung towards the behemoth outside. I ducked as a spike sunk into the wall beside us as we ran, the man using his briefcase as a shield, batting the projectiles out of the air like flies. The c-specks were getting closer, Isabella ignoring her limp arm to launch after her crazed sister.

There was a brief flash as we passed through the barrier shield into the street. The large black Alter stood in the violet sunlight, his gleaming metallic body casting a long green shadow over the scalding pavement. Behind him was a small streamlined red airship, hovering a few metres above the road. In the back seat lay an animal Essential in the shape of a large black cat. Instantly I recognised him.

“Hello Harley.” The purr streamed over the net.

“Hello Franck.” The man reached inside a pocket and brought a slim blowpipe to his mouth. “Sorry.”

The cat smiled. “Whatever for?” The man aimed and blew.

“This.” I invaded his neural net with a virus spike as a small spike penetrated the Alter just under his neck. He staggered and fell, the man leapt, firing the pistol at the window, which shattered over the writhing cat. Behind us a c-speck dived for the man’s leg, wrapping her fingers around his ankle as we sailed through the opening in the car. An electric pulse fizzled across the man’s body and I jumped, launching the car’s ignition control, overriding the safety and propelling it into the air.

I landed on Franck, quickly turning him off before he could recover.

The man brushed off the dust from his suit and took control. “Thanks.”

I flashed my teeth. “No worries.” Suddenly my senses blanked out as the ship filled with gas. “Typical.”