Future Love Affair by Nando Gray

Author:Nando Gray [Gray, Nando]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bonfire Publishing
Published: 2024-06-04T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 21

OBILA PART II: BROTHERS

LUPO

Fengári was frantically typing a message on a personal holo-pad when Lupo spotted him. He walked across the plaza toward the bench they’d sat on the previous day. Fengári didn’t look up as Lupo sat beside him.

“Sorry, I’ve got some shit I’m working out,” he muttered angrily.

“Take your time,” Lupo said, setting Auren between them and staring at the nearly empty plaza.

The place was trashed. Cans and confetti were scattered everywhere, upended benches and broken glass reminders of the prior evening’s frivolity. Now, with the ominous attack about to be under way, you could have heard a pin drop in the vast space. Lupo watched as an elderly woman picked up debris from the ground, sorting it and carefully placing it in the appropriate waste receptacles.

“I found a guy. Black market. Apparently, he mostly does body modifications, but my contact says he has the equipment to print a full synthetic body if we have the credits,” Fengári said, closing his terminal.

“And do we?” Lupo asked cautiously.

“Kind of,” Fengári dodged. He groaned. “Look, I’m in deep with some bad guys. Recently, I took out a loan to start my holo-bike career. I purchased my first bike last week. But now they’re hustling me for the money, and I doubled my debt just now fronting the cost of the roboticist. I’m a bit fucked,” he concluded.

“I’m sorry; I wish I could help,” Lupo said, genuinely feeling for his friend’s brother. He had no credits of his own; Bartie had emptied his accounts long ago.

“No, no, it’s not your fault. Ren and I never had anyone to rely on, only each other. He’d do the same for me. I’ll figure it out. And besides, my first big race is tomorrow. It turns out the odds are stacked sixty-four to one against me winning, so I bet the rest of what I had left on myself. If I can win, I can pay it all off and be free once and for all, and none of this will matter,” he said, as though it were as good as done. Lupo admired his self-confidence.

“And if you lose?” Lupo asked.

An image of Bartie flashed through his mind, the man flying through space with his cadre of enslaved minions, and it made him momentarily dizzy with anger.

“They’ll kill me,” Fengári said ominously. “So that’s not an option. Now, come on. Let’s get Ren to the roboticist so he can stop being a creepy prop.”

He grabbed his brother’s skull and set off down a side street, Lupo at his heels.

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