Cyber's Change by Jamie Davis

Author:Jamie Davis [Davis, Jamie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-04-04T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

Despite the concerns swirling through her mind, Cass enjoyed their lunch at O’Malley’s diner. The three of them sat and chatted about Shelby’s youth and family life for more than an hour.

Eric’s personality was infectious. It was hard not to like him. He was funny and exciting to talk to. He was passionate about ensuring that cyber-humans received the rights he felt they deserved, but didn’t talk about a violent response. She realized he would stand up for himself but do it peacefully. Cass knew what her father would say about Eric, though.

As she thought about it, she remembered she’d promised her father to be available for a face chat later that day. She checked the time. It was nearly two-thirty in the afternoon. Their time together had distracted her. She and Shelby would have to hurry to get back to the dorm.

In her rush to figure out how long it would take her to get back to the university, Cass’s implant automatically connected to the Mantle. She didn’t realize she was accessing it until she’d checked the map and gotten the ETA from it.

Cass disconnected as soon as she realized what had happened. Her implant did that more and more as her brain integrated with it and began to share the processing of information. The connection came without thought now. It made Cass wonder if that was a sign. Was she coming under the influence of the Mantle’s global AI?

“Shelby,” Cass said. “We need to be going. My father is expecting me to chat with him and I’d like to do it in private.”

Eric’s expression changed as she mentioned her father. Cass didn’t miss the frown that briefly passed across his face. Even the visor’s background changed to a deep red for an instant before returning to neutral gray again.

Eric didn’t say anything, though. His expression returned to the easy-going smile he had when she first met him.

For some reason, that made her like him even more. He didn’t seem to hold her family against her. Sure, her father was a Sapiens leader, but that didn’t mean she was lumped in with him automatically. Cass wasn’t sure she’d have been as open if their roles were reversed.

Shelby slid out of the booth and stood to make room for Cass to get up, too. “I’ll call us an auto cab.”

Cass nodded and turned back to Eric. “It was nice to meet you. I hope we get the chance to see each other again sometime soon. I want you to tell me more stories about Shelby when she was little.”

Eric laughed. “I will definitely do that. There are quite a few I’d love to share with you.”

“That’s enough of that,” Shelby said. “I don’t need you embarrassing me anymore in front of my girlfriend. Remember, turnabout is fair play, brother mine.”

Eric held up a hand in surrender. “Fair enough, sis. You two have a great day. I’ll cover lunch. Be careful heading back across town.”

Shelby and Cass headed outside the diner to wait for the auto cab.

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.