Saint Code by Megan Mackie

Author:Megan Mackie
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science fiction
Publisher: 4 Horsemen Publications, Inc.
Published: 2023-01-06T23:56:09+00:00

Chapter 7

“This will make you lose your faith in humanity,” St. Rachel said, her musical voice restored after taking the mask off once they got to their room.

“These people certainly have lost it.” St. Augustina continued to scroll through the listing. They were sitting at an old-fashioned console computer, staring at a list on the screen. There were very few actual names on the list. Mostly what was given was some descriptor title to make the living merchandise sound somewhat appealing. Like bio-scientist, car mechanic woman, hot blond, etc. Once you clicked through, a page popped up that had more details organized in a fillable form. It began with a list of skills or natural qualities, as well as a list of available body parts, blood types, and overall health. If you wanted a new name, you could scroll down to the bottom where you could buy a new identity. There was even an “identity plus” option, which included a bio-chip implant, new fingertips, and dental records. It all had to come from somewhere, though, and it often came from the people society misplaced.

“Why don’t they have a search function?” St. Rachel complained.

“The better to prosecute you with, my dear?” St. Augustina guessed as she continued to scroll through the names, scanning for keywords that might be St. Benedict. “This is an incredibly illegal and temporary operation. Most of this product won’t even be here tomorrow, so why bother setting up a keyword search?”

“I know that,” St. Rachel replied, surly, “I still want one.”

To be honest, St. Augustina did too.

Truthfully, they were lucky to find this website. Even with it being in the deep web, three other websites St. Augustina had known about had been raided, taken, or simply destroyed to preempt a raid. If St. Augustina hadn’t noticed the floating icon in the back of the main error screen, they wouldn’t have found this new link to the current page.

“Oh, crap. There are children on here,” St. Rachel said, sounding sick.

“Try not to think about it. We can send this new link to the authorities if you like when we’re done. Call it our good deed for the day,” St. Augustina said, firmly burying her own sick feeling. She couldn’t save all of them, and she wasn’t even sure the authorities would either. “It’s not the mission.”

“It could be,” the Orange Lady said from behind them.

St. Rachel shot her a look over their shoulders. “No, it couldn’t be.”

“Okay, how about this one? Obnoxious loud mouth.”

Clicking the link popped up a live video of a balding, sallow-looking older man. “There… there is no justice to be found here,” the scientist gasped out. If his disdain had been a poison, it would have melted those who viewed his suffering dispassionately, or at least melted away the dispassionate camera that was watching him. “Only the darkness remains, there is no light. The world beyond us is waiting, but we can never reach it. The unicorn…”

“Okay, just a crazy guy.” St. Augustina clicked off the viewscreen.

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