Light Rays Coming Out of the Computer Ch. 03

"I had no idea you were rich!"

"I'm not... It's not a big business. It's just me."

"So... wait... you don't have employees?"

I pinch the bridge of my nose and sigh. "No. I don't."

"Hey, put me down," shouts one of the ballerinas, as he picks it up and inspects it.

"Are you hungry?" I ask, still watching the hallway. "I don't have much, but there's some good takeout." I take a deep breath and pull myself away. I know it's not unreasonable to be paranoid right now, but my apartment is a safe place. I know that.

"Takeout is perfect. We're gonna need to lay low for a while."

"Well... You might need to lay low." I tap at my wrist, sifting through menus. "I mean, it's possible Marie will suspect you, right? You knew an awful lot of stuff about her and her place."

"What?" Kerr says, looking up from my couch. God, he's a hunk. "I'm sorry. I sat down, and then... I uuhh." He furrowed his brow for a moment, and then shook his head. "No, Marie was a talkative drunk, but she never remembered it later."

"Is."

Kerr blinks at me. "What?"

"Marie is a talkative drunk. She's not dead."

"Well, yeah, sure," he says, turning around and searching for something, "but I'm never gonna see her bitch ass again!"

"You hope you won't, but... uh... is Chinese ok?"

"That's fine," he says, as he reaches for the remote. "Yeah. Yeah, we could definitely hole up here a while."

"Freya, he is..." the lamp stammers, "like... like..."

"I think what my colleague is trying to say," says the remote, "is that that is a good looking man."

I frown at the lamp. "How long were you planning on staying here?"

"I dunno. I gotta figure out how to sell that thing. Oh!" He flips halfway around, looking back at me over his shoulder. "Obviously, you get half."

"That's very gracious," I say with a smirk, and he preens as he turns back around. Did he not...

"Get extra dumplings," he says, scrolling through the channels. I roll my eyes, tap out the rest of our order, and stroll into my bedroom. I emerge a few minutes later, dressed in a loose t-shirt and baggy sweatpants, and grab a couple beers from my fridge. Kerr nods appreciatively as I hand him one while I'm sitting down next to him, and we clink the bottles together before the first sip. "Quite a day."

"I'll say." I commandeer the remote from him, and hesitate with my finger hovering over the select button. "Are you alright if I put on some porn?"

"Of course," he says, slightly shocked.

"Ok, good." I put on something mild, and set down the remote. "I know some guys get all up in arms about porn, and the... the conditions those men work in, and I didn't wanna be insensitive."

"That doesn't mean I can't or wouldn't enjoy it."

"Well, I know most don't, right?"

"Most what?"

"Men."

"Men like porn."

"Really?"

"Yeah," he says, incredulously. "We invented porn."

"Huh." I lean back and take a long sip. "I would never have guessed."

For a long while we just sit, quietly sipping our beers. Today was a lot to take in. Some of the peanut gallery attempts to engage me, but I brush them off with a glare. My clit has nothing to say, which is rare but not completely unexpected.

"C'mon... That doesn't feel that good," Kerr says, wincing. A male actor on the screen is throwing his head back and screaming as the lead sucks on his balls.

"How- oh! Your vast experience. Had a lot of women go straight for the ball sucking 'cus they thought it was gonna blow you away?"

"I mean, it feels ok. It's not like it's painful or anything, but it's not... not like that."

"I bet you have the best stories," I tuck one leg up beneath me on the couch, and this feeling of... I dunno... Familiarity?... washes over me? Comfortable isn't right. I dunno.

"I think 'easy' is the word you're lookin' for, Frey," says the lamp.

"Thanks," I say, because it is the word I was looking for, and freeze. I have to fight my hand from reaching up to cover my mouth.

"You're welcome?" Kerr is shaking his head and smiling as he drains the last of his beer, and my blood slowly begins to thaw. I turn and glare at the lamp.

"What?" the lamp says defensively. The doorbell chimes. Kerr flinches, and shoots a nervous look at the door.

"Relax, it's the food," I say, getting up calmly, although I almost did the same thing he did. The skinny delivery girl has a wide smile on her face as I pay her. "Not tonight, sweetheart." She pouts ruefully as she goes, and I find myself staring at her ass as she flounces down the hall. Totally forgot I was ordering from that Chinese place.

Kerr has the MacGuffin in his lap as I turn back around. He frowns as he presses the button, and then presses it again after letting it hover over him for a few seconds. He flips it over in his hands, and stares at the bottom of it. "Lookit that. Even says MacGuffin right there." After a brief pause, he adds "I can't believe this little box is worth that much."

"How much is that much," I ask sincerely, as I dole out our food.

"Oh, I dunno. Your guy said it was priceless, right? We could ask for anything then. A few million?"

"Ten million?"

"Who would pay 10 million for a box that goes up and down?"

"Kerr, this thing is the reason Green Mountain City is undomed," I say, pointing.

He turns and looks down at the brown box again, and pushes the red button. The unassuming brown box makes a tiny puttering sound, and hovers in the air over his legs. "This stupid little box is keeping the air clean?"

"No th... The technology." Kerr nods like he knew what I meant, but I'm not entirely sure that he did. "And it doesn't clean air."

"Well what does it do?"

"... It floats, Kerr."

"Weird."

A few minutes pass. Kerr uses the MacGuffin as a tray for his food. "Do you think any of your janes have that kind of money?"

"None I can think of. Marie, obviously, but she wasn't a client."

"She wasn't?"

"No, she was my pimp. I worked for her at that club."

I stare up at the ceiling, processing. "So when you don't show up for work tonight or tomorrow, or whenever..."

"She'll figure it out eventually, yeah. Hopefully, I'll be long gone by then."

"I feel like, earlier, you were really worried about her figuring out you were a part of this."

"Most of that went away once we were clear. The rest went away when he said 'priceless'."

"She was your pimp," I say, leaning back and slurping up a dumpling. "That makesh shenshe."

"It does?" He almost seems offended, and I start talking too soon to correct my mistake.

"Nwo, nwo," I say, pausing to swallow. "Just that you knew a lot about her mannerisms and habits. Combined with what you said about the time you spent with her, and this... like... vibe?... I was picking up? That she'd crossed you one too many times?" He nods as he expertly scoops a mouthful of noodles up with chopsticks.

"That's impressive," says one of the ballerinas.

"Yeah, you can't do that, Frey. Look at you, with your fork, like some kinda chump." I glare at them, and they giggle maliciously.

I turn back to Kerr. "So what was the plan before? You were gonna divide up whatever you could find, and then..."

"Go our separate ways. I was gonna go back to Regina in about a week to get her to fence whatever I received."

"That option is dead," I scoff, and Kerr nods solemnly. "Was Regina one of your janes?"

"Nope. I had a really bad day, and... I was... drunk, and... She should respect me more, and... I could make her pay. And I didn't even realize anyone was sitting next to me, let alone listening, but suddenly there she was. She told me she knew some people who could help me. And at first, I was all Yeah, let's do this! Fuck that bitch! When I sobered up, I realized who we'd be stealing from, but... things were already in motion."

"If watching noir movies has taught me anything, it's that you were totally going to be killed." I wash down a mouthful of rice with the last of my beer and add, "It also taught me you would wash up on the shore of a river, and some burned-out detective in a trench coat would grumble something cliche like 'just anotha dead hooka'." Kerr laughs at my terrible detective accent, because I guess all detectives have accents... and there's that easy feeling again. My earpiece pings, and I wave my fork at Kerr for a second. "What's up, Guy?"

"I've been monitoring some communications back and forth between Ms. Maldonado and some people outside of the Emerald City, who are now en route." I file that away in the back of my head. No one from here ever calls it that. "There's talk of a 'Regina Carlisle'. I believe Kerr mentioned someone earlier by that name, yes?"

I turn to Kerr. "Carlisle? Is that her last name?" He nods slowly. "Yeah, that's her."

"It would be safe to assume, then, that these people are being hired to recover the MacGuffin. Furthermore, given Ms. Maldonado's predilection for the hands-on infliction of punishment, it would be prescient to assume they are also being hired to find you and return you to her. Do you have any reason to believe this Ms. Carlisle can give them anything that leads back to you?"

I turn back to Kerr. "Does Regina know who I am?" He shakes his head. "No."

"Wait," Kerr cries. I turn back to him, slowly. "Shit! I told her where I was buying the Synth."

A pit forms instantly in my stomach. "My shop..."

"We have to run," Kerr says, gripping the MacGuffin tightly as he stands.

"Run?! We can't run! I have my business here! My life is here!" My account just topped 600,000...

"This thing is priceless," Kerr says, shaking the MacGuffin at me. "Priceless!! Who needs your business?"

"Funny he should mention that," my guy says.

***

"I can't believe you wouldn't even consider killing her," I fume, as we exit the cab.

"I-I can't do that," he cries. "I mean, kill someone?!"

"Fuck!" I claw my fingers through my hair as I blow through the front door of my shop. "Fuck, Fuck, Fuck!"

"Hello Madam! Welcome to Midgard Custom Synthetics Boutique, a division of the Charot Corporation. How can I assist you?"

"Shut up, Frannie."

"I don't get why you're taking the time now to build him a Synth. Or why leaving is such a big deal."

"Such a... Fuck you, Kerr. Do you even know what it's like to have something to lose?" He recoils. "Fucking men. Yanno, in the real world, where we have real jobs, shit like this matters!" Hurt is written all over his face. "You can't just go around throwing your life away, ok?" I pound the tip of my index finger into the opposing palm as I continue. "Clientele. Reputation. I'm fucking established here," I rant, "and now, I've gotta... Fuck!" I grab the tipped-over Synth head and fling it into the wall.

"What did I do," it cries.

"Shut up! Just, just shut up!" Kerr retreats to a corner of the room, clutching the MacGuffin to his chest. 900,000 more credits to go. "Fuck! I was fucking getting there!"

"...Getting where?"

"Yeah," says one of the completed Synths awaiting pickup. "Getting where, Frey?" The peanut gallery hates it when I talk about Quell. I think it's the main reason they convinced me to start up the sexbot jar. "Are you gonna tell him?"

I rub the blades of my palms into my eyes and try to focus. My guy said he sent a friend to try and get to Regina first, but he didn't sound hopeful. Regina would have no reason not to sell out Kerr, or my shop. That gives me... I look up at the clock. Fuck. Not a lot of time.

***

Kerr sits up and scratches at the back of his head, ruffling his glorious bedhead. He yawns as he looks around the room for a few seconds. "Holy shit, I slept for like... twelve hours."

"I hope he doesn't try to help again," says the current job.

"God. Maybe the last job," I say, as I snap in the internal power pack.

"You never know," says my multimeter. "You could technically start over somewhere else."

"624,119 credits isn't enough to live on. I'm gonna have to at some point." I turn around and slide over to my other work bench, where the two legs are being assembled in parallel. "So much to do, so much to do."

"Who are you talking to?"

"To whom," I say without looking up.

"What?"

"Nevermind," I say. I slide back over to the first workbench, reach for the internal power pack that was here a second ago, and pause when I can't find it. "Who took my power pack?"

"What was that thing you just put in there?" Kerr asks.

I duck my head down and stare up into the torso of the current job. "Oh."

"Have you slept?"

I shake my head. "Way, way too much yet. Did I already do the arm diags? Yes. Right."

Kerr slides off the edge of the bed and good lord look at his stubble... Fuck! Focus! "So... wait... If I'd been up almost a whole day when I crashed, then you..."

"Went next door and bought stims! Trying to focus here!"

"Y-you tell 'em, Frey!" Even the peanut gallery sounds tired. Not a good sign.

"Any news?"

"His associate got there a little while ago. Regina was dead, and it didn't take long for her to crack." I close up the servos in the left ankle and take a look at the right. "Not much bruising. Only would've killed her if they got information they could use. She's on her way here now."

"...Wait, who is the 'she' there? Your guy's associate or this out of town person?"

"Assume yes. How long would it take to get from there to here by cab?"

"uh... Uh... Uh... An hour?" I look up at the clock on the wall. "How long ago did he call? ...Freya?"

"Hour and fifteen minutes." Right ankle servos look clean. I move down through the musculature for the foot, checking the connections front to back.

"Fuck! We gotta go! Right the fuck now!"

"We're not going anywhere, Kerr. Not 'til this is done." Both feet look perfect. And they need to be. "I owe him."

Kerr leaps across the room and grabs the MacGuffin. "Do you owe him your life?! Cus, if not, it's-"

"You want to leave so fucking bad? Go!!" I have no time for his hurt expression.

***

The tall blonde woman winced as she stepped away from her magcar, and gave her partner a sympathetic shrug. The voice in their earpieces continued to rant at them, as it had for the last fifteen minutes. "I'll tell you what they're good for. Fucking nothing! Not even good for fucking, just fucking nothing!" Her partner seemed nonplussed. "I can't believe that slimy little shit thought he could get away with this. Steal from me? From me?! I opened up to him, you understand? I gave him a little piece of something, and he went and threw it all away!!" Her partner pursed his lips and ran his index finger in a tight circle next to his ear, which earned him a reproving look from the tall blonde.

"I'm gonna kill him," the voice continued. "I'm gonna fucking kill him, you understand? I'm gonna rip his balls off and let him watch them dissolve in acid. Then I'm gonna take that dick he's so proud of and cut that off too. Have it bronzed, maybe. Keep it as a trophy. He's fucking dead. Fucking dead!!" She paused, fuming and huffing, but when she continued, it was with a much more deliberate tone. "Her though? No. I'm not gonna kill her. Her I'm gonna keep alive. Oh, the things I'm gonna do to her. I'm gonna make her beg for death, you understand me? Beg. BEG, do you understand me?! ...Well?! Do you?!"

"Da," the tall blonde said. "Here now. Have to go."

"Alive, you hear me?!? I want 'em alive!" The tall blonde shook her head as she tapped her wrist and killed the call.

"She's a ray of sunshine," her partner said, as he stepped ahead and grabbed the door.

"Do not insult customer," the tall blonde grumbled as she walked inside. "Is amateur."

A pretty blue-haired Synth smiled brightly at them. "Hello Madam! Hello Sir! Welcome to Midgard Custom Synthetics Boutique, a division of the Charot Corporation. How can I assist today?"