Acid by Emma Pass

Author:Emma Pass
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Science Fiction, Juvenile Fiction, Love & Romance
ISBN: 9781448119912
Publisher: RHCP
Published: 2013-04-24T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 30

WE CAN’T RUN in case anyone sees us and wonders what we’re doing, but we walk as fast as we can. Although the streets are completely empty, I keep getting the feeling we’re being watched, my scalp and the skin on the backs of my hands prickling. If we had more time, I’d check it out, make sure, but we don’t have any time at all. So I tell myself I’m being paranoid. Who’d be following us anyway, except for ACID? And they wouldn’t sneak up on us, they’d point their guns at us and shout at us to stop.

The streets begin to widen, the tower blocks giving way to shops and offices. Everything’s shuttered, with holosigns in the windows saying CLOSED FOR RALLY DAY, and there’s still no one about. It’s kind of unnerving, actually – like everyone’s been beamed up and Max and I are the only people left on earth.

‘Look for a PKP,’ I tell Max as we reach a junction with a network of mag tracks running across it, although I can’t see any mags anywhere. Being out in the open like this is making me nervous. I scan the area, but there don’t seem to be any PKPs either. Perhaps Manchester’s already ripped its PKP network out. After all, who uses it these days when everyone has komms?

With the rain spattering down on my head, I weigh up our options. If we can’t find a PKP, I’ll have to convince someone to let me borrow their komm. Or knock them out and steal it.

If I can find anyone.

‘There!’ Max cries. I look in the direction he’s pointing and see, near a dilapidated foodmart, a single PKP in a scuffed perspex booth, graffiti (nothing from NAR, thank goodness) etched deep into the plastic. Please let it work please let it work please let it work, I pray silently inside my head as we run across to it.

There’s no holodisplay, just an old-fashioned printed sign next to it, barely readable. ALL LINKS EXCEPT THOSE TO ACID ARE CHARGEABLE AT THE USUAL RATES – PLEASE INSERT A VALID CITIZENSHIP-CARD WITH ENOUGH KREDZ TO MAKE YOUR LINK.

‘But you should be able to get through to ACID without one if it’s free to link them, right?’ Max says.

‘I don’t know,’ I say. I’m trying to remember how these things work. There are two buttons on the top, one green and one red, and a keypad underneath them with numbers on it. I hit the green button.

Nothing happens.

I press it again, jamming my thumb down on it. Suddenly, a holoscreen crackles into life at the back of the booth, the words PLEASE INSERT C-CARD jumping about on it. I remember that whoever picks up the link at the other end will be able to see me, so I pull my hood down further over my face and tug the neck of my sweatshirt up to cover my chin and mouth. Then I stab the 9 key on the keypad.

For a

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