The Shining Wall by Melissa Ferguson

Author:Melissa Ferguson
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781925760187
Publisher: Transit Lounge

CHAPTER 25

‘What’s all this we’ve been hearing about the implants turning us into spy robots then?’ asked an old bird, her arm looped through another old bird’s arm.

Alida blinked slowly; it wouldn’t look professional if she scoffed. ‘I’m guessing you’ve heard this from Odeene?’

‘Well, her and some of those Rewilders who’ve been moving in on the edges of the tent city.’

Alida didn’t have to refer to her information pamphlet to tell the old birds exactly what she thought of Odeene and the Rewilders and their loopy ideas. And it wasn’t the first time that day she’d been asked about them. The most bullshit rumours spread the fastest.

Alida gave them her spiel, shook their hands and continued on her way down the implant queue.

A blue rectangle with the words Welcome to IntelliEnhance appeared floating in the air in front of her. She drew back and blinked rapidly.

‘Seen a ghost, girlie?’ someone called out.

Alida tried to smack the panel, but it wasn’t really in the air at all. It was a trick inside her brain. Slick.

The words on the panel changed and an androgynous voice in her mind read them to her. Welcome to IntelliEnhance. For audio instructions please say AUDIO. For text instructions please say TEXT.

It was too creepy having a stranger’s voice inside her head, so she said, ‘Text.’

To launch your IntelliEnhance experience please say BEGIN. To exit IntelliEnhance at any time simply say EXIT. To restart IntelliEnhance say HELLO, INTELLIENHANCE.

Alida traipsed back up to the Medi-procedure gate, squinting through the semi-transparent blue panel.

‘Everything all right?’ Shuqba asked.

‘My implant came online. Can I take a second to set it up?’

‘Sure. You’re entitled to an hour break anyway.’ Shuqba waved a guy and his young son through the gate. ‘Go into the tearoom and help yourself to some refreshments.’

‘Cheers.’

Alida stepped into the cool of the hub. She pulled off the dusty sunhood of her uniform and scanned her wrist at the tearoom door. It unlocked with a satisfying beep.

The tearoom was as cold and clinical as the rest of the hub. An aluminium bowl filled with shiny red apples sat on top of a glass table. Vending machines lined the walls. On a bench was something called a CyberGourmet. A cute little cleaning bot waited eagerly in a corner for a mess to clean up.

She’d play with the bot another day. Right then she had to play with her IntelliEnhance.

‘Welcome to LeaderCorp Hub tearoom. How can I help you?’ the Building Intelligence System said.

‘Um … can you tell me when an hour is up?’

‘As you wish. I will alert you in exactly one hour from now. Would you like anything to eat or drink?’

Alida’s stomach grumbled and her throat was dry from chatting to Demis. This was her only break all day and grub was on the house while she was an employee. As eager as she was to get stuck in to setting up her implant, she couldn’t pass up a chance to munch.

‘What can I have?’

‘I can offer you a variety of hot and cold drinks, vitamin bars, snack foods and CyberGourmet prepared meals.

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