Altered States: A Cyberpunk Sci-Fi Anthology by Roy C. Booth & Jorge Salgado-Reyes

Author:Roy C. Booth & Jorge Salgado-Reyes
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Anthologies, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Cyberpunk, Fiction
ISBN: 9780957113046
Publisher: Indie Authors Press
Published: 2014-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

4. Cell Repair

“I know: ‘It’s been a month, so get out of bed,’” Ryan said, his voice listless. He was sitting up in his bed, looking at the tablet in his lap.

The tablet, Murray knew, was looking back.

“I didn’t say anything like that, Ryan.” Murray stretched and yawned. He had slept in, too. He’d managed trousers and a T-shirt, but he was still barefoot.

“I was going to get up,” Ryan murmured. “It doesn’t hurt much to walk now… Just not sleeping that well.” He still hadn’t looked up from the tablet.

“I’ve got a prescription for you from Beth, for that. But you can’t start being dependent on pills.”

“Okay, hey.”

When I was his age, I’d have said whatever, Murray thought. It was saying the same thing.

Murray cleared his throat. “Actually—I came in to ask if you want to have some coffee with me.” He’d never known Ryan to take an interest in coffee, but he thought Ryan might like the man-to-man inclusion of the offer.

Ryan tilted his head—but kept looking into the tablet. “Um…I don’t like coffee. Makes me anxious.” He shrugged. “I like hot chocolate.”

“I want to try hot chocolate,” Meerga said, coming in. “They didn’t give it to us at the training center. No hot drinks. I think they were afraid we’d burn ourselves.” She wore jeans with a hole in one knee, and an oversized sweatshirt, and dirty white tennis shoes. Yet she was impossibly attractive, even dressed like that.

And now Ryan looked up from the tablet—at Meerga.

“That place we went by last week, when we walked in that park,” Ryan said tentatively. “They have hot chocolate. If we can get a driverless to pick us up, and…”

His voice trailed off; his eyes got a little glassy. He was probably thinking about Tarina.

“Did she call?” Meerga asked.

Meerga had an eerie way of seeming to read minds. But Murray thought it was just her precocity—and her gift for observing people.

“No.” He glanced at the tablet. His voice was hard to hear. “She went back under tech soon as her dad let the ambulance guys in...”

“How do you know?” Murray asked. “You were out cold.”

“I talked to Sharma…her cousin.” He nodded at the tablet. “She went to see what was up. They’re all three still under tech. More than a month later…”

“I see. Well. Let’s get a driverless, and go get some hot chocolate. Actually I think I’ll have a mocha.”

“Is that place safe?” Meerga asked, looking at Murray.

He felt the usual inner shock when she looked at him—her frankness, her openness, her almost diabolically sculpted beauty. “There’s some auto security around the coffee shop, but it’s nothing like in the residential areas. We’ll be fine.”

“I’m not going to do anything else stupid,” Ryan said, looking at her a little resentfully.

But he couldn’t keep any sullenness in him, long, when he was looking at her. After a moment, a dreamy smile ghosted the corners of his mouth…

I shouldn’t have brought her here, Murray thought. How could he not become sexually obsessed with her?

She never seemed to flirt with the boy.

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