Freebird by Kendrai Meeks

Author:Kendrai Meeks [Meeks, Kendrai]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: romantic thriller, tech romance, virtual reality fiction, mythpunk, cyberpunk, vr techno thriller
Publisher: Tulipe Noire Press
Published: 2020-01-18T22:00:00+00:00

NINE

“You got a problem, rat?”

The mouse eyeballed the tiktok with no small amount of suspicion. Luckily, at this time of night, a few hours before dawn, no one was out in the street to hear Bas talking to a mouse.

Or worse, to hear the mouse talk back.

“I detect a trace of alcohol and...” Laporte sampled the air, his little whiskers twitching. “...vomit.”

“Yup, that’s a tiktok at four in the morning for you.” Bas pressed his comque to the outside scanner to initiate the ride. The door on the spherical vehicle spun open on its one hinge, revealing the source of what the mouse had perceived on the floor.

Bas threw an arm over his nose. “Come on, man. You got to wash out your floor when that kind of crap happens.”

The taxi’s AI piped up. “Cost of a pre-ride interior wash is two greens. Do you agree to the additional charge?”

“Agree? I demand it.”

Beep.

“Confirmed. Please wait while interior is cleaned and sanitized for your riding enjoyment.”

The door closed again, and in short order, the windows of the vehicles steamed over.

Laporte used the delay to his advantage. “As I mentioned, sir, I can summon us an on-demand limo in very short order.”

Bas shook his head. “Those things are all tagged and tracked. I know a tiktok ain’t the fanciest, but they’re not owned by the city. No tracking. The last thing I want right now is for some overly zealous cop to track me to the Ferries.”

“Ah, yes, the Ferries.” Laporte sighed. “I’m certain we could find a NNIP in a much more secure location than that den of inequity.”

“Dens of inequity come with advantages.”

“Such as?”

“Everyone there is either blind or deaf. Both if you pay them enough. Listen, you said we need to put Harper somewhere safe until we get an NNIP reconfigured. She’s not going to be safe if we jack in her copy through a registered coffin.”

“But no one would be able to find her unless they were specifically looking for an avatar matching her description. Only Isko, Petra, Carl, and we even know of Harper’s existence.”

“You don’t think my shop just randomly blew up, do you?” Bas asked. “Either someone else knows, or one of the merry trio sprang a leak.”

Which begged the question, who would be there with a cup, ready to catch whatever flowed up? Bas was pretty sure he knew the answer to that question, and it sent a shiver down his spine.

“But Petra, Carl, and Isko have been protecting Harper for years.”

“Yeah, but protecting her for whose benefit?”

Bas peaked inside the cab just as the door swung open, taking a deep whiff. He exhaled with a sigh. “There you go. Fresh as a spring morning in the city.”

Laporte scurried into the cab. “You and I, sir, have completely different experiences of what that means.”

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