City of Cinders by Kendrai Meeks

Author:Kendrai Meeks [Meeks, Kendrai]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: stories like the matrix, virtual reality, light cyberpunk, cinderella story, role playing games, urban fantasy fairy tale, cinderella
Publisher: Tulipe Noire Press
Published: 2018-08-29T23:00:00+00:00

15

When she’d woken up to a talking mouse, Cindira considered that she might still be dreaming. Now, as she looked at the pair of transparent shoes in her hands and tried to believe they represented a nearly mythical high-tech device, the dream theory gained considerable traction.

“I don’t understand.” She held the right shoe to the light, seeing a clear, if slightly bent vision of the wall on the other side. “How could these possibly be jumpers? There’s nothing in them.”

“Your mother preferred to call them slippers, miss.” The mouse scurried up Cindira’s sleeve, perching itself on her shoulder. “I think because she could use them to slip inside GAIA from anywhere. And, although you can’t see it, there’s circuitry a plenty in there. She managed to use...”

“Nanites.” Cindira completed the mouse’s sentence as the thought occurred to her in parallel. “But I thought research into them was abandoned years ago.”

“Outlawed, actually.”

She turned her eyes on the mouse, a difficult thing to do with him so close to her face. “These are illegal?”

“Only if anyone finds out about them.”

Guilt gnawed at her, pushing her to admit that, in fact, someone did know about them. But Kaylie had more or less dismissed the shoes, hadn’t she? And if she’d known they contained illegal technology, she certainly would have no hesitation in using it to her advantage.

Or taking them for herself.

“You must make sure to keep that from happening,” Laporte continued. “Even your father was not aware of your mother’s work in this area. It was privately funded outside of Tybor. Their development was carried out in a restricted lab off the grid.”

“You’re telling me my mom had a secret life.”

“A private life, actually, though I know the concept of that seems an anathema in these times. Omala didn’t believe anyone was entitled to anything in her head or her heart. You and I are the only ones she truly opened up with, and in both cases, with restrictions due to our particular shortcomings.”

When Cindira’s face fell, Laporte developed a humanlike ability to correct himself.

“That was a poor choice of words, Madame. What I mean is, you were still a child when she died. In time, I’m certain she would have shared all her secrets with you, but of course you weren’t ready back then. Likewise, while I’ve been programmed with a certain ability to understand and react to human emotions, at the end of the day, I am still a machine. My ability to be a confidante has its limits.”

Like the shoes, this revelation bent the shape of her memories. Even though her mother had died while Cindira was in middle school, she still felt a kinship with the woman — uncommon for one of her age. It was almost as if the two were sisters rather than parent and child — though Omala could and did shift into an authoritarian roll at will. Rarely. No, they had a comradery. Nevertheless, she’d always known there were things her mother kept hidden. Or perhaps better to say, reserved.

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