Suboptimized by S A Palmer

Author:S A Palmer [S A Palmer]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: S A Palmer
Published: 2022-03-05T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 23

Mike counted up the credits after another day of business. He had set up shop in his usual spot, behind the hypertube station near the academy. The location was secluded and away from the prying eyes of cameras and safety officers. He could also get to class quickly when his business concluded for the day.

While his products were not legal in the strictest sense, he thought they should be. He was careful to educate his customers and never had an overdose (that he knew of). It didn’t hurt anyone, and if the market dictated that people wanted some chemical escapism, he wasn’t going to deny them of that. Of course, if his injections were legal, his little business wouldn’t operate like this. It would be easier to set up a website and send drones to deliver the product.

Most of his regulars had come and gone. But before he could pack up and head to class, a voice got his attention.

“Yo, Mike, hold up a second.”

He turned to see one of his classmates, but not one of his regular customers.

“Oh, hey—” Mike snapped his fingers, trying to remember the class roster. “Jay? Is that the name?”

Jay nodded.

“Yeah, hey, how’s it going?” Mike darted his eyes around. “You know, I was wondering what communicator model you’re using. I’m thinking about upgrading my older device.”

Jay sighed and held up his communicator. He turned it around so Mike could see the gaping compartment in the back where he had removed the battery. His device now functioned as a paperweight and nothing more.

“Yeah, that’s the model I’ve been thinking about getting.” Mike reached into his pocket and retrieved a circular handheld device. He held it out and scanned Jay’s communicator as well as his entire body.

“Satisfied?” Jay asked.

“Yeah, dude.” Mike put the device away. He couldn’t be too careful about possible informants, but according to the bug detector’s results, Jay was clean.

“Word is you’ve got the goods,” Jay said. “You know, injectables?”

“I didn’t know you were into that shit,” Mike remarked. “You haven’t bought from me before.”

“You know how it is,” Jay said, glancing behind him. “I just need something to take the edge off.”

“Well, let’s see what we can do.” Mike unzipped his bag. “Do you know what you want?”

“I’ve heard good things about purg. You got that?”

“Really? That shit?” Purg had been falling out of favor with his regulars, especially since the experience didn’t seem worth all the trouble compared with newer products. “Don’t you want something a little easier for a first-time user?”

“No,” Jay said. “It’s purg, or I take my business elsewhere.”

Mike shrugged. “Okay. I guess the customer’s always right.” He reached into his bag and pulled out a small gray container. After a glance behind his back, he opened it to reveal tiny red and green vials nestled within the foam.

“That’s both injections?” Jay asked.

Mike nodded. “Right, so here’s what you do. The red vial gets injected first. You want to give that about ten minutes to work its way through your bloodstream.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.