We made our way out of the bar. The rain outside had intensified, the only thing visible through the downpour was the silhouettes of the corpo arcologies up ahead, disappearing into the clouds. We stayed under the cover of the side of the building.

“How long till your car gets here?” I asked.

“Autopilot says 5 minutes.”

A companionable silence washed over us as we waited. Occasionally lightning would strike and illuminate the city, giving us a clear view of the plaza and the skyscrapers in front of us. The sounds of the rain and thunder were like music to my ears. It would be the perfect night to read a crappy novel and relax to the sounds. Alas, it seems there will be no time for that tonight.

A black sedan stopped in front of us, and we hurried inside. Even so, we were drenched by the time got in the car.

“Fucking rain.” Alex cursed as she changed gears and began driving.

I used to think she drove a manual car because it was old school and that was her style. But turns out it’s because no one’s going to steal a manual car. Since almost no one knows how to drive one nowadays. At least that’s what she claims, I still think the main reason is that she thinks it’s cool.

I turned on the radio, the news was broadcasting the usual. “Estimates indicate that the completion of the first discovery class spaceship is to be 3 years from now. –“

“I wonder why they don’t just retrofit the ships we have now.” I thought out loud.

Alex perked up. “It would take longer than building one from scratch. They’d have to dismantle the top side, the roof more specifically, of the ship and rebuild it while integrating the magnetic shield generators. Which is a weird name by the way, since it generates a magnetic field and not a shield, but I guess it makes more sense for normies. Also, the design of the new ships is much less bulky than the chunks of metal we currently have, because we don’t have to spend as much mass in reducing cosmic radiation anymore. In fact, the new ships will be able to fly at a constant acceleration of 1/3 g and – “

She froze as she noticed that I was staring with a barely suppressed smile.

She coughed awkwardly. “Yeah well, that’s why they are building new ones.”

“I see.” Then after some mulling, I added “How long would it take to get to Mars with one of the new ships?”

“Depends, during the Earth-Mars launch window it should take roughly one month. You planning to visit your parents?”

“Maybe I’ll visit one day, can’t say I’m too interested in Mars, but I guess I should check on my parents. Make sure that they aren’t being overly zealous in their research and that they are staying healthy.”

Yes, my parents, the two science nutcases that they are, live on Mars. To be specific they live in an underground city with the unoriginal name of Mars City. For some reason, that is beyond anyone’s comprehension, a lot of rich investors funded an outrageous amount of money on the Mars Project back in the mid 2000’s. This resulted in Mars City and the Mars Starport. At present, both are housing approximately one million people. The starport is the single most expensive thing ever built by humankind, 32 kilometers long and 6 kilometers in diameter it uses two massive cylinders that rotate in opposite directions to replicate a 1g gravity, and all of it is mostly radiation-proof. How do I know all of this? I have the other science nutcase sitting next to me to thank for that.

A few minutes later she pulled over in front of my building, a small skyscraper close to downtown.

“Thanks for the lift,” I said as I raised my fist.

She fist-bumped me. “See ya tomorrow, Jack.”

I exited the car and raced under the rain to the entrance of the building. Once inside I slowed down to a walk, water dripping on the hallway as I made my way to the elevator. I pressed the button for the 27th floor.

Marching through the corridor I approached the door of my apartment. I stopped when I noticed a sound coming from the door, I adjusted the settings on my ears and listened. The holo TV was turned on. I unholstered the handgun that I always carried at my side. Considering the TV was on it was most likely my uncle, but he would be disappointed if I didn’t take an unannounced intruder seriously.

I raised my gun in front of me and opened the door with my neural interface, I quickly checked both corners before –

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

“It’s me, boy.” The raspy voice of my uncle resounded from the open-concept living room further down the hallway.

I holstered my gun, hung my soaking trench coat, took off my squelching shoes, and covered the remaining distance to the living room.

My uncle was sitting on the sofa in front of the holo TV, on the low table in front of him my Cyclone sniper rifle lay disassembled. He was meticulously cleaning one of the parts. I noticed that he was wearing his military uniform. That coupled with his short gray hair and square face gave him a serious look.

“Hey Uncle Mike, can I get you something to drink?”

“I’m fine, come, sit.”

I sat next to my uncle, I spotted an open bag on the floor with a scope poking out. I took out the rifle noticing the suppressor installed at the end of the barrel. “What’s this?”

“Present.” He gruffly replied. Having finished cleaning the last piece he started reassembling my cyclone.

“You always did do the best presents. I guess you already know that I’ll be busy this week. How does a sergeant major know so much of the goings of the underworld?”

“They are deploying us around downtown for the week. Doesn’t take a genius to figure that something is about to go down between the gangs in the outskirts.”

“So corpo sec and the army will stay out of the outskirts?”

“I doubt that corpo sec will leave their shiny towers to get involved in a gang war, and as far as I know our orders are to standby and observe.” He finished reassembling the cyclone, putting it aside on a chair nearby. He lifted another bag next to him and placed it on the low table. He opened the zip to reveal stacks of loaded magazines.

“I got you the longbow rifle ‘cause I figured you might need something that can shoot more than 10 times without breaking the suppressor. Your monster of a rifle shoots at Mach 6, while the longbow shoots at a standard Mach 3. I got you both regular bullets and rubber-tipped bullets for a less lethal alternative. I also got some tungsten bullets for your cyclone in case you need to shoot at an armored vehicle.”

I smiled at him. “You’re the best uncle in the world.”

He grinned back. “I try.” He hesitated for a moment then added “When I understood that there was no convincing you in doing something else I decided I would make sure you were as prepared as possible for this kind of life.” He looked at my right metallic arm and then straight at me “But remember, you can never be prepared enough. So if things get real bad don’t hesitate to call me, politics be damned.”

I hugged the old bear of a man.

After a moment he gave me a few awkward pats on the back.

I let him go and reassured him. “Thank you Uncle, but this isn’t a gang war, it’s just the big gangs taking over the small fish. Heck, I bet half of the jobs will be of the boring standing around and waiting kind.”

My uncle stood up. “Then I hope you will have a very boring week ahead of you, boy. Regardless, keep in mind what I told you, things can always turn ugly.”

He started making his way out.

“Going already?” I asked.

“Our units are going to deploy soon. We will form a perimeter before dawn.” He paused by the door. “My brother told me he left you a message, you should check it before lights out.”

“Will do.”

After one last look, he opened the door and left.

I went to raid the fridge as I checked the messages on my neural interface. One from Batou, and one from Dad. I selected Batou’s message assuming it’s about what we discussed earlier.

Batou:

We are meeting at the Drunk Samurai Club next weekend. Jun asks that you prioritize focusing on this week’s work. Don’t forget you owe me drinks.

Jack:

I owe you A drink. Otherwise, with your tolerance, you’d bankrupt me in no time. Tell Jun not to worry, and thanks again.

Nothing in the fridge called to me, so I closed the fridge, opened the freezer, and grabbed some ice cream for a late-night snack. I sat on the kitchen table, and as I started eating the strawberry ice cream I opened the message from my dad.

Dad:

Hi son,

I have news about what you asked me last month. The scientist who you told me to investigate Dr. Eva Fallow is, as you suspected, most likely not the person who invented the magnetic shield generator (MSG). We reached out to our old colleagues who work at LA Tech Industries who reached to their colleagues and eventually, we managed to reach someone who worked closely together with Dr. Fallow. According to him she was working on a completely different project at the time, and Dr. Fallow being declared the inventor of the MSG by the highest executives of LA Tech Industries is quite suspicious, and cause for concern. His exact words were “This whole thing is a steaming pile of shit that I want no part of.” I do not know why LA Tech Industries would attribute the invention to someone else, but what I do know is that trying to find out will be dangerous. I know you will not heed my warning, but please do exert caution. Let me know if there is anything I can help you with, despite being lightminutes away I’ll always be there for you son.

I smiled at the last sentence, my dad was such a dork.

I kept eating my ice cream as I thought about what he wrote. It seems that my little theory is coming together.

I went to the bathroom to grab my cyber meds, just one pill. My body had long adapted to my ears and eyes, but my arm was still relatively new. Without taking this pill I would start feeling phantom limb pain and stress my nervous system. I know that compared to the issues Batou and Revy would face mine were nothing.

I shook off those unpleasant thoughts.

I took my pill and then went straight for my bedroom. I took off my socks and jeans and crashed on the bed. I determined to read all the details of tomorrow’s Ops before falling asleep. As I started to read I heard the rumble of thunder, I turned to look at the rain outside the window.

Huh, guess I do get to read some crappy stuff while listening to the rain and thunder after all.