Copyright ©2024 Stephanie Burke & Areana Senoj
“Fuck, Vers. Where are you?” Asher Syphamus muttered softly, knowing the cochlear implant installed just above his jaw bone and below his ear would pick up his words.
The wind whipped back the few tendrils of hair that escaped the tight bun containing his long hair. The bun hid locks tipped a rich blue almost matching the color of his cybernetic left eye.
As he walked away from the Virt Dive, the virtual reality diving bar where his mark had been lost earlier in the Blue, he wondered why people even bothered to hide from real life. The fucking Blue was where everyone logged in, turned on, and turned up in cyberspace. The Blue was a whole world inside the actual world, one that many used to escape life, spread joy, disappear into a sea of information, of education… to be your avatar hile you fled your body and got lost in a way that only total computer immersion could bring. And above the Blue was the White.
The White was a shady, dangerous place where only the most experienced divers dared to venture -- the environment was just too dangerous for a diver used to only dealing with the Blue. The White was physically a small blank plane existing between the connection of the Blue and the person putting out information. Here, the world’s best hackers snatched dangerous information from accidental info dumps from those who purposefully stole and sold the data to the highest bidder. No matter how many protocols were put in place to protect the vulnerable space, the White divers always found a way in. And his latest ping had come from the mark he’d finally tracked down to this dive.
He felt the signal he was tracking start to move again and watched as his target slipped out, looking over her shoulder as if she knew he was there and following her. As he walked past the large, mirrored wall to the shop, he caught a quick glimpse of himself as he passed. His face was pale, creamy tan, the same as his mother’s. He had her eyes too, large but with an epicanthic fold that proclaimed his Asian ancestry. His eyebrows had some thickness but with a natural arch that made his eyes rather pretty. He had his African father’s full lips, though not the same concentration of melanin, more’s the pity. He could use more sun protection in this bright-assed desert. His nose was broad though, its bridge straight as a knife, and his cheekbones were high and sharp, like his dad’s. His thick, wavy hair was kept long and confined now so it wouldn’t get in his way.
Though he only caught a glimpse of himself as he followed after his mark, he could barely stand to look at his reflection. He was a damn near perfect combination of both his parents from what he could recall, though he didn’t dwell on that much. The pain of it all was still too crushing.
The air circulating through his lungs was quiet as he pulled in his emotions. Barely a sound emerged from his body as his booted feet slammed down on the concrete when his body lurched forward. His little trip into nostalgia had given his mark time to run and now he had to give chase.
His heart would be racing if it actually had the capacity to pump hot blood through his veins. His target was pulling a jackrabbit, dodging in between early morning foot traffic on the busy city street as she looked around her, prey knowing she was being stalked by an apex predator. Only the bright and very visible green of her plaits kept him from moving any faster. No matter how much he wanted to knock people aside to reach his target, he knew that drawing more attention to himself would be detrimental to their mission.
“I’ve been at this since the ass crack of dawn and I would really like to get some accurate intel from you, you one-being orgy.”
Don’t get cheeky, Vers responded. You’re just upset you don’t get laid.
Vers’ answer through Asher’s implanted microphone sounded more amused than insulted. That wasn’t what Asher had hoped for. When Vers was annoyed, his work efficiency increased by almost three percent and he could use some of that efficiency now, at least until he caught up with the woman who pinged on his internal sensors.
“Hmph,” Asher huffed. “Can you keep your mind out of your pants and on the job? I need to know if she’s the one.”
The green-haired woman in question cast one more furtive look over her shoulder before trying to hide herself in a gaggle of schoolchildren, all racing and gleefully dodging through the streets teeming with people traveling to get to their jobs and appointments in the watery light of a new sun. With their connection pads in hand, the tourist masses were an explosion of color, a flock of bright, chattering birds that raced through the smiling crowds. Their laughter was contagious, and it made Asher grit his teeth. In a firefight, mundanes always seemed to run right in the path of danger. He wished they would all just disappear.
I’m working on it. Give me a mo. Paradaise has a complicated network of --
“You just don’t know what the fuck you’re doing.” Asher managed to dodge several children, keeping one eye on the green of his mark’s hair as she ducked around a corner. He was closing in.
He moved faster, desperate not to lose her or give his position away. She couldn’t know if he was actually chasing her and he wanted to stay in that pocket of the unknown. She might sense someone or something was hot on her tail, but she had no idea from which direction the attack would come. And it wasn’t like there were a lot of places to hide in Paradaise, Nevada.
And then he wanted to smack himself stupid for thinking that a woman who could possibly be the government hacker he was sent out to find wouldn’t be wily enough to actually give him the slip. Underestimation was going to cost him dearly because the moment he turned the corner, he lost sight of her in a sea of green, low-flying kites.
Hey buddy, guess what? Did you know there’s a butterfly kite flying festival today? There’s gonna be a lot of kids and old people so maybe you wanna keep an eye out for that.
“Gee, thanks, Vers. You couldn’t fucking tell me that five minutes earlier?” As he spoke, he heard a cheer, and a wall of sound rushed past him as the hum of several hundred robotic and some basic silk cloth kites took to the sky. People looked up in awe as dancing holograms of colorful transparent butterflies took to the sky, spinning and dancing as safe holographic fireworks exploded over them.
Well, it’s a point of historical interest, as they’ve been having the butterfly festival for over a hundred years. Get some culture, you asshole. You need it more than you need to get laid.
“What I need is a way around this mess.” Asher looked around at the mass of people, made up mostly of children and old people gathered in groups, each holding massive butterfly kites of their own. Some held remotes that controlled the flight of the butterfly kites, both real and illusory. Most of them, unfortunately, glittered and glowed the same primarily green color that matched his mark’s hair.
Pinging your location, Vers purred in his ear after a moment of quiet while more and more people filed onto the special moving sidewalk heading toward the restored MGM Grand, singing and chanting as they moved. Oh! You aren’t far from the New Bellagio. One of these days I’m going to get you there for a real upgrade instead of the crap the powers that be keep sending you to.
“Vers --”
I mean it. You’re in a town right outside of Vegas, baby! Almost to the cybernetic playground of the whole entire continent ever since the redesign of the area. To get anything better you’d have to hop a streaker across the Pacific to Japan. It’s amazing what they can do with both artistry and circuitry.
“Whatever the fuck,” Asher grumbled, casting his gaze around. He ignored the small vibration in his brain as the ocular implant adjusted and repositioned, sending his mind a feed of information calculating the height of the buildings and the large vehicles passing by.
Turning to a small three-story building to his right, Asher took three fast, bounding steps then flexed his leg muscles. With a mechanical whisper, he launched himself skywards, a blurred silver flash through the backdrop of colorful fluttering kites, before he landed on the flat solar tiles of the roof.
Bent over, he raced along the edges of the closely placed buildings, jumping the odd ones that bordered on alleys, leaping up to the higher ones, his eyes constantly searching, feeding him data so he could adjust his flight.
He was contemplating going back to the ground and following her along the crowded streets when he saw a blur of green headed away from the celebration and toward a small, dark street that led away from the sound of laughter and merriment.
There, in between a closed toy shop on one side and ironically, an adult toy shop, was where his prey was fleeing.
To the left, Casanova, Vers confirmed softly with the just the right amount of sarcasm for the nickname. And you better move swiftly. She’s about to head to a parking lot and if she has her vehicle shielded, well, we are shit out of luck, Ash. If she gets away, you’d be better off hitting a pleasure palace and getting your freak on ‘cause that signal is going to be scattered and lost. And I urge you to take advantage of the many wonderful and erotic amenities that this run-down trash heap of a city provides. Besides, your cherry needs plucking ‘cause that bitch is overripe.
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