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Cobra
“Ugh… Hello?" The tired voice of Zac emanates from my phone.
"Zac? You awake?" I ask him.
"Yeah I'm awake," He lazily responds, "Who is this? It's past midnight."
"Um, it's Sachiko."
"Oh, hey Sachi," He yawns, "Are you alright? Did you make it to Duenba safely?"
"Thanks for the concern," I reply, "Yeah, I'm alright. I mean, I'm pretty soaked, but I'm fine."
"That's good. Where are you now?"
I look up at the tall white neon sign next to the bench I'm on. It's in the shape of a pentagon.
"Uh, Autocab?" I read the sign's text aloud into the phone.
"Autocab?" Zac repeats, "Oh, no, that's not the street name, Sachi. That's the Duenba taxi service."
"Oh okay. Then I have no idea where I am."
He lets out a long groan. Guess he's getting frustrated with me. I don't blame him, though. Even I get frustrated with myself sometimes.
"Alright," He clears his throat, "Assuming you’ve just got off the monorail, you should be somewhere in East Kashmere. Hail an Autocab and tell the driver to take you Northwest to Cobra Plaza, which is right in the heart of Duenba. Once you're there, look for a place called Galva's Pizzeria. The password is 'Eclipse'. Got it?"
"Cobra Plaza, pizza place, 'eclipse'," I lazily repeat, "I understand. Thanks, Zac."
"Good. Now I'm going back to sleep. You should find a hotel at the plaza for the night. You must be exhausted."
"I'll be fine. I'm not really tired."
He pauses then continues, "Understood, Sachi. Talk to you tomorrow morning, okay?"
"Yup," I agree, "Sounds good to me."
Zac finishes with, "Good luck, Sachi," and hangs up.
I think he meant to say 'good night' instead of 'good luck.' Maybe. In any case, I should probably hail the autocab before some weirdo decides to sit on the same bench as me. I stand up, press the button under the Autocab sign that says 'call', and plop back down onto the bench. The rain shows zero signs of stopping let alone slowing down. My clothes are still dripping wet despite being under my umbrella for over an hour. I need new clothes.
Several minutes fly by as I wait. Out of all the cars that passed by, not one of them looked like a cab. I stand up to press the call button again and again but to no avail. As I go back to the bench to sit back down, the sound of a car horn grabs my attention and a black and yellow, box-shaped vehicle approaches the bench from the left. As the autocab stops, the passenger window lights up and turns into a touch screen device. On it, a light blue map program opens, allowing me to input my destination and showing the price for the trip. I hesitate for a moment and reach out to the screen in order to fill it out:
-------------------Duenba Autocabs-------------------
Reasonable distances for reasonable prices™
Q: What is your destination?
A: Cobra Plaza, Central Duenba.
Q: For only 20% more, would you like to use our FastLane™ service? Perfect for those in a hurry!
A: Yes
Q: To abide by Duenba law, we are required to charge 30% more for intoxicated passengers. Are you currently under the influence?
A: No.
Q: Service fee is 460 Jivits. Is that acceptable?
A: Yes.
-------------------------------------------------------------
The survey closes and the words, ‘Thank you for choosing Duenba Autocabs!’ appear on the window. Once the screen fades to black, the back door of the cab emits a clicking sound and slides upwards over the roof of the vehicle. The shiny, black, leather seat in the back looks almost brand new, and the cool air from the AC freezes my wet face as I enter the cab. I scoot to the opposite window just as the door closes to my right. A glass panel slides down and the smiling face of the automata driver is revealed.
“Good evening, miss,” The driver greets me in a happy tone, “Glad to have you aboard!”
“Um, thanks, I guess,” I lazily reply to the android. I must be getting sleepy.
“No problemo! So, Cobra Plaza, eh?” He continues, “That’s quite a long drive to the Northwest, but we should get there in no time flat if we take the skyway.”
“Alright then.”
The driver rotates his torso back towards the steering wheel and says, “Okay, then let’s go!” before starting the engine.
The automata in this city seem far more jovial than what I'm used to back home, and unfortunately for me, this guy doesn't seem to have an off switch for his personality. Guess i’ll just have to bare it
As the cab starts making its way down the street, I stare out my window at the Duenba scenery - Since it's about 1:30 A.M, and the rain is still coming down strong there’s hardly anybody outside and the road traffic is thankfully non-existent. Weirdly enough, I kind of enjoy this empty, rainy scenery. It’s more relaxing than the loud, busy, and annoying atmosphere of Kueski, that’s for sure.
“So, what’s your name, miss?” My train of thought gets interrupted by the driver’s voice.
Shit. Should I tell him my real name, or stick with the Miranda crap again? He’s probably just making smalltalk, so it's unlikely he’d try looking my name up anyway. Here goes nothing.
“Sachiko,” I reply in a monotone voice.
“Sachiko?” He repeats, sounding interested to my dismay, “That’s quite a unique name ‘round these parts.”
“Why?” I ask him with the feeling of regret in my gut.
“Well, according to the databases, there isn’t a single person named ‘Sachiko’ living in Duenba currently. Sounds to me like you’re from Kueski.”
Shit, what am I getting myself into?
"Y-yeah, I'm here on holiday."
"Vacation? In the rainiest district of Altai?"
"I felt like this would be a good place to get away from all the noise back home" I answer half-truthfully.
"Well, miss Sachiko," he sighs, "I hope you enjoy your little holiday here in Duenba. Voltmother knows I won't be in the district as long as you'll be here."
That's… weird for a service Automata to say to a human, and what the heck is 'Voltmother?'
I look through the little open window at the driver and ask him, "What do you mean by that?"
He looks back at me through the mirror, still smiling, "Which part do you mean?: the Voltmother part, or the 'me leaving' part?"
"Um, both if you don't mind."
The cab begins up a long steep tunnel leading to what I assume is the skyway. It is encased in a massive glass tube structure, letting me see all of the city as I ascend. The sound of the heavy raindrops on the car subsided and the humming of the engine echoes off the translucent tunnel walls. I'm guessing this tunnel thing is to keep vehicles from slipping off the road from the water and running downhill.
After a short while, the driver finally responds "I'm not authorized to discuss topics about Voltmother, unfortunately. I’d get shut down for good!"
"Oh gosh," I mutter, "I'm sorry I asked."
“It’s alright, miss.” He pauses then continues, “But to answer your other question, in about a week or so twenty-five days, I’m going to be put out of commission - Dispatch’s orders.”
“Wait, out of commission?” I repeat curiously, “You’re gonna get replaced?”
“Well, not permanently I hope. They’ll just be taking me offline for a few days to run some much needed maintenance on my internals. Apparently my CM drive got damaged a few days ago. However, my motorics are thankfully still roadsafe so don’t worry.”
The Cerebral Monitor drive is a component that regulates the Automata’s cerebral functions. In other words, It’s a brain monitor for androids. If the CM drive is damaged, then their whole system could potentially go out of whack.
“I’m sure you’ll be back on the road soon then,” I reassured the driver, “Oh, were you given a name by chance?”
“Other than my serial number, unfortunately not,” he says, shaking his head, “However, I’m very partial to the name Henry, so you can call me that!”
I say, “Alright,” and look back out the window once more - We are now high above the platforms and nearly past the cloud layer. I guess this is why it’s called a skyway, huh?
The cab finally reaches the top of the glass tube ramp and begins accelerating much faster than before. A white neon sign displaying a 160 KmH speed limit whizzes past us as we fly down the skyway. The road seems to extend forever and the railings along the pavement look to be sixteen meters high. Nothing about the scenery changes for a good while, just an endless road with zero traffic.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
“So, Henry,” I start, “Why is it always raining in Duenba anyway?”
“Oh, it’s very simple,” he says, “The moisture from the Ha-Zurc Bay is blown over southern Altai by the equator’s warm air currents; therefore, forcing an almost endless cycle of rain over Duenba.“
“That’s… Pretty neat, I guess,” I lie, blatantly. I stopped paying attention after ‘moisture’.
“I find science like geology, meteorology, and astronomy very interesting - It makes good conversation, y’know?” he finishes, then says, “Ask me an astronomy question.”
“Er - Okay,” I pause for a moment to think of something to ask him. I’m still very uncaring at this point but I indulge him by asking, “What’s on the moons?”
“Ah, that’s a good one! Well, The closest moon, Sobo, is completely barren and covered with craters and a thick sheet of dust, and the furthest moon, Anghra, is an entirely inhospitable wasteland due to the constant fire storms and it’s lava-covered surface.”
“Neat.”
He continues, “There’s a huge mining facility on Sobo where they dig for basic minerals like iron, copper, bauxite, phosphate, and gypsum. Our planet doesn’t have as many natural resources.”
Finally after a long while of endless road, a green sign pointing right signifies the exit leading to Cobra Plaza. The cab slows down at a steady pace as we begin our descent down another glass tunnel ramp. The lower half of the city comes back into view as well as Cobra Plaza itself. I can see the whole place from up here; It’s circular in shape with a store situated at every corner, and in the middle sits a massive statue of a king cobra with two heads.
“We have arrived, Miss Sachiko,” Henry finally says again, “That’s Cobra Plaza right over there.”
“I figured,” I say, “So, what’s up with that huge statue? Is it some kind of memorial like the really big one in Central?”
“Well, I have read somewhere that the early Altain colonists erected it long after the First Landing. It originally had one head, but another head was added during the Koleido era. Something about it being a political statement on the militaristic government Altai had at the time.”
“Woah, that thing sure has a lot of history behind it,” I mutter, “You sure know a lot.”
“You could say I’m a big fan of early Altain history,” he replies, “It’s very interesting stuff.”
“It sure sounds interesting,” I lied to him again.
Henry nods then asks, “So where do you want me to drop you off?” as we quickly approach the entrance to the plaza.
Peering out the window in front of me, I spot a tall black building that’s decorated with neon signs and advertisements depicting skulls, flames, and - You know - Other edgy stuff. The big sign in the middle reads, ‘Tusk’s Tattoos,’ and a smaller sign underneath that reads, ‘And Shirts.’
Perfect.
“Um, you can drop me off at Tusk’s,” I say to Henry, “I want to do some shopping before I head off.”
The cab enters the plaza and he responds with, “Okie-dokie then, Miss Sachiko,” and we gradually come to a stop right outside the store.
I scoot over to the right, open the door and hop out of the Autocab. Before I take another step Henry clears his throat loudly, causing me to freeze. A little compartment opens on the side of the cab and a payment device appears out of it.
"Four-hundred eighty Jivits," he said strongly, "Don't even think about dashing on me."
"S-sorry! I forgot!" I quickly reply while scrambling to pull the card out of my pocket.
"It's alright," he says in a calm manner, "Just don't forget next time, okay? You know how the police are nowadays."
I nod and slide my card into the slot, causing the device to beep once after a few seconds.
'Four-eighty?' I say to myself silently, 'Didn't the survey say the fee would be four-sixty? What's up with that?'
"Thank you for choosing Autocab transportation services, miss Sachiko!" Henry shouts suddenly, "Enjoy your time in Cobra Plaza, and have a wonderful evening!"
I begin to thank Henry for the ride, but I'm cut off by the swift closing of the cab door as Henry speeds off around the cobra statue and back up the ramp to the skyway. That was a tad weird, but whatever.
After reopening my umbrella, I scan the plaza from left to right to see what this place offers: There's an old-fashioned noodle bar, an arcade, an automotive shop, a neat-looking pawn shop for old tech, a fancy restaurant, a cheap motel, a small museum that could really use a new set of windows, a dance club blasting shitty dubstep, and an Automata strip bar with too much pink decorating the outside of the building. It's interesting to see so many people out and about this late at night even though more than half of the shops are closed around this time. Back in Kueski, the streets go completely silent a little after midnight due to the mandatory curfew - pure bliss. If I were to spend the night here, I don't think I would sleep easily with all this noise. Hell - If Mac were here, he’d tell me to, ‘Quit whining and deal with it.’ Damn it, I miss him.
I turn myself around to face the entrance to Tusk’s Tattoos, and move through the automatic sliding doors. I immediately dry heave as the air of the shop’s interior smells of cigarette smoke, sweat, and cheap incense - Not a good combination. I decide to bear it and start looking around. There’s a woman with a half-shaved hairdo blasting music from behind the front counter on her portable speaker: Metal. Industrial metal, even. There's lots of high-pitched growling, a really annoying guitar riff, and it sounds like the drummer is going insane with the amount of blast beats he’s pumping out. Oddly enough, this song is vaguely familiar. I’ve heard it somewhere before, but I just can’t put my finger on it.
“Can I help you find anything, sweetie?” A feminine voice shouts over the music from behind me.
I turn around and I’m met face-to-face with the weird-looking lady from behind the counter. How did she get behind me so quickly? When did she move?
“Uh, no thank you,” I shout back, “Just looking around is all.”
The woman smiles and says, “Let me know if you need anything, hun,” before walking around me and returning back behind the counter.
Weirdo.
My eyes gaze around the place. The entire left side of the shop seems devoted to tattoos, and on the right side - clothes. Naturally, I gravitate towards the clothing section. It’s further away from the counter and that music is starting to give me a headache. I move slowly up and down the aisles, eyeing up all their available clothing options (All of which I assume are waterproof due to Duenba’s wonderful weather patterns). I come across a slim, grey hoodie with glow-in-the-dark cyan text on the bottom and sleeves that reads, ‘ONYX,’ in New Altain. It’s a medium and looks like it’s the last one left, so I take it off it’s hanger and continue looking around.
A few aisles down is the legwear section which features uncomfortable-looking jeans in many shapes and sizes, and a load of ugly skirts and sweatpants. I absolutely hate wearing jeans, and I’m not about to ruin my aesthetic with some gaudy skirt that DOESN'T come in black for whatever reason. Leggings it is.
There are a few pairs with little holes all through them, so I pull out a pair from the back of the rack. It says it’s a medium, so I hang it over my arm along with the hoodie. I debate whether or not I should buy a new pair of boots, and choose not to. The ones I’m wearing now were given to me by Mac on my sixteenth birthday! I would never be able to part with them.
I start heading to what I think is the fitting room when suddenly I see it: A tall girl with long purple hair and a smaller girl with short, light-blue hair within the lingerie aisle - just a few meters away from me. My attention focuses on the taller one.
No… You can’t be serious! It’s that stuck-up chick from the diner!
What was her name again? It started with a Z...
Zarya?
No.
Zinnia?
No.
Zyla?
Oh right! It’s Zyla! That’s her name! And I believe her airhead sister is Fio or something. Zyla, however… She was the one that really pissed me off at the diner and embarrassed me in front of Mac yesterday. I’m not sure if she did that because she was showing off to her sister and her boyfriend, or she’s just that much of a bitch. I should avoid them until they leave.
I quickly duck down behind the women's legwear in an attempt at hiding myself. At the same time, I begin moving down the aisle so I'm just out of their view. I can still hear Zyla’s loud, obnoxious voice from my current position, so I move further away. Luckily the music from the front counter is loud enough to drown her out. By now, I'm at the other side of the clothing section of the store, but I can still see them… Those two don't even look like they would belong in an edgy store like this - They’re too... colorful. If anything, they belong in Kueski - well, I mean, they should have stayed in Kueski.
I notice Zyla and Fio toting around two, large handbags, and quickly stuffing them full with the lingerie they were browsing a moment ago. I want to say something but I decide not to as doing so will probably cause them to notice me. If I just let it be, maybe they'll get caught by security - that would be interesting to see.
As if on cue, what I predicted happens a lot faster than I expected. Zyla and her sister set off the alarm at the exit of the store almost immediately. Two security Automata donning black and white race towards the duo and seize their bag. Zyla attempts to fight back, but is immediately immobilized by one of the androids while the other empties the contents of the bag. Fio just stands there with her hands up like an idiot while her sister flails about in the security guard’s arms.
“Let me go! I told you I've already paid for those!” Zyla shouts, turning to her sister, “Fio, get the bag!”
The blue-haired girl just stays frozen in place.
Fio shakes her head and complains, “No! I don’t wanna get tazed again!”
One of the security guards whip the girls’ bag out of the store after reclaiming the stolen lingerie, and both of them throw Zyla out along with it. Fio just steps outside with her hands still up.
“This is the LAST time I will say this,” One of the automata shouts at Zyla, “If we catch you two in here again, we WILL report you to Central Altai authorities! They won’t tolerate any petty crime like this! Now, LEAVE!”
“How about I pay for it this time?” Zyla shouts back, trying to bargain with them, “I’ll even pay extra!”
“Zyyy,” Her sister whines, “Can we go home? My arms are getting tired.”
The purple-haired chick groans and lifts herself off the wet pavement. She grabs her sister's arm and stomps away down the sidewalk whilst scowling at the security guards. The automatas give the stolen goods to the cashier (who appeared out of nowhere again,) and return to their posts. The cashier disappears deep into the store once more.
I stand there with my mouth partially open in silent awe of what I’ve just witnessed. As much as I hate that purple-haired bitch’s guts, I kind of felt a slight bit of pity for her and her sister as they were kicked out of the store, and I’m unsure why. Whatever the reason is, it doesn’t matter now. I decide to finish my shopping spree and make my way to the check-out counter. On my way there I pick up a pair of black socks, and a nifty white T-shirt with the Old Altain letters O, R, and A written across the chest in black. I’m not the most fluent with the old alphabet, but I think it’s an abbreviation for something. Maybe the shirt is an antique… Or a replica of an antique.
“All done shopping, miss?” The weird lady’s voice from behind the register makes my heart skip a beat.
“Um, yeah,” I reply awkwardly and place the clothes on the counter top.
How did she get here so quickly? She was in the lingerie section just a minute ago!
I place my clothes into the clear scanning box on top of the counter and slide my Jivit card into the slot next to it. The cashier presses a few buttons on her Hologlass keyboard and asks me if I’m buying anything else tonight. I shake my head and the box beeps four times, indicating my four items were successfully scanned. After that, a higher-pitched beep emits from the card reader, and I remove my card. The cashier hands me a black plastic bag filled with my new things.
“Thanks, sweetie,” the lady says, smiling, “Have a good night, and if you happen to see those two girls anywhere near my store, let me know.”
Without saying another word, I give her a slight nod and utter a soft, “Thanks,” before turning around and leaving through the main entrance.
Once outside, I’m immediately drenched head-to-toe from the downpour. I move a free hand down to my side to grab my umbrella from my belt loop… which isn't there. Shit, I must have left it on the autocab. Whatever, it was made of cheap plastic anyway - Good thing my new outfit is waterproof. I look around the plaza and find a lone bench underneath the overhang of a noodle restaurant located a couple meters away from Tusk’s. After plopping myself on the seat, I open the black bag, pull out my new hoodie from the bottom, rip off the tags, and slip it on. After undoing my ponytail, I flip up the hood and sweep the loose hair in my face to the right, covering my eye almost completely. I’m finally protected from this stupid rain! I need to get a haircut though - It’s getting out of hand.
I decide to relax for a bit and observe the plaza. The dubstep from the Automata strip bar seems to have died down to some kind of smooth techno jazz and there's less people crowded around the noodle bar. I look around some more and notice a huge digital clock above the entrance to the museum:
Three forty-two AM.
“Damn, it’s really late,” I mutter to myself, “I should find a place to spend the night or something.”
I pull my Jivit card out of my pocket and flip it over - Only about one-thousand Jivits left in my account.
“Jeez! Just how much were those clothes!?” I exclaim to myself, hoping no one could hear me.
I reopen my black shopping bag and quickly fish out my receipt from the bottom.
“No way - THIRTY-TWO THOUSAND NINE-HUNDRED!?” I exclaim once more, “The clothing tax here is WAY higher than Kueski’s! What a ripoff!”
I angrily shove my card back into my pocket and hold my head in my hands, forcing back my rage. Zac left me twenty-five thousand to spend and now it's nearly gone. On the bright side, I got a sweet waterproof hoodie. I may not have enough money to spend the night at the inn across the plaza, but at least I’m comfy and (somewhat) dry. The only real downside is that I’m really hungry. Maybe I’ll get some pizza before I head to the Umbra HQ.
I stand up from the bench with the shopping bag in my left hand and begin towards the bright yellow-and-red ‘pizza’ sign above Galva’s Pizzeria. I glance to my left and notice Zyla and her sister standing in line at the noodle bar. I figured they had already left, but I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.
This night just keeps getting weirder...