Chapter 25

“Uuugh,” I groaned as I woke up miserably. I wasn’t sure if it was the splitting headache, the noonday sun reflected from a thousand windows across the cityscape shining into the apartment, or my bladder about to burst that woke me up. Regardless of what caused it, I was up. And my immediate priority was clear.

I jumped out of bed, finding myself still wearing the ComfortWeave pants I’d swapped into after chucking my dirty tier 1 pair into the washer last night. I all but ran down the stairs from my loft bedroom, past the kitchen and living room, and into the bathroom, where I answered nature’s call. Given the overfullness of my bladder, I had plenty of time to pull an AeroMed out of my inventory and huff it down while I relieved myself.

Feeling about a million times better, I zipped up my fly and started to walk out of the bathroom, only to stop and turn to look at my reflection when I noticed something unexpected. I’m pretty fucking sure I didn’t have a tattoo before. I thought to myself as I examined the chrome skull and crossbones on my right upper arm, indicative of membership in The Pirates nomad clan. How the hell do they make shiny tattoos? A moment later I noticed I had a matching tattoo identical to the first on my opposite arm.

I’d never really considered myself a real member of The Pirates nomad clan, since I didn’t remember any of that life at all, but it did look pretty cool. That said, What the fuck did I get up to last night. I can’t remember a fucking thing.

I wandered out of the bathroom, to the kitchen, while trying to recall just what the hell had happened to me. Finding a box of AeroTech BluBerry cigarettes on the kitchen counter, I helped myself to one, assuming they were probably mine anyway. As the sweet berry taste of nicotine filled smoke flooded my lungs I glanced at the coffee alcove next to the fridge and ordered a cup with a thought.

But for the life of me, as much as I tried to think about it, I had zero memory of what occurred last night. I vaguely recalled getting showered and changed before heading back down to The Drunk Kitten…and then nothing. I sipped my scalding hot, albeit incredibly delicious, coffee and flicked some ash off my cigarette into the kitchen sink as I tried with all my brainpower to unearth my missing memories… Nope, I got nothing.

I pulled what I considered my ‘work clothes’ out of the washer, while I continued to try to remember anything from last night. At least whatever crazy detergent the washer automatically used was some sort of miracle working high tech awesomeness, because my jacket, shirt, and boots were all sparkling clean and smelled vaguely of lilacs. It obviously didn’t do anything for the dual holes punched through my McDonald’s T-shirt and my jacket, but the holes were pretty small, and I didn’t think they’d be overly noticeable. I took a minute to fold my pants and shirt on the kitchen counter and tossed my jacket across the room to land neatly over the side of the couch.

“Ugh, what the fuck?!” I heard a feminine voice from the couch. A moment later Lizzy sat up with obvious confusion on her face. “Where the…” She glanced over at me, standing shirtless in the kitchen.

“Morning!” I greeted her unexpected presence cheerfully with a wave. “Coffee?”

“Justaminute,” she managed to get out as she vaulted over the side of the couch and ran into the bathroom topless save for a black bra. How the hell does even a bra in this city manage to look futuristic? I wondered. Probably the glowing blue highlights.

Great, now I have even more questions about what happened last night. I smoked in the kitchen as I awaited her reemergence. A minute later I heard her voice from the bathroom. “Oh what the fuck?! How the hell did I get a tattoo last night and not even remember it?!”

“You too huh?” I returned. “I got two tattoos I don’t recall, so if you only got one you’re better off than me.”

She exited the bathroom and made her way to the kitchen. I heard the coffee machine start gurgling behind me, so she must have ordered a cup. I guess her apartment’s layout is pretty much identical, so she’s probably pretty accustomed to the whole instantly accessible coffee coming out of the wall thing. As she passed me, she glanced at my newly tattooed shoulder. “Very shiny. I like it. At least you didn’t get a brand name like I did.” I looked over my shoulder at her, trying to spot her tattoo as she grabbed her coffee out of the alcove. It was readily apparent. She had a glowing blue Samsung logo tattooed on the small of her back, surrounded by reddened skin, just above her pants’ waistline. “Brand name tattoos are so tacky,” she sighed as she sipped her coffee before plucking the remaining half of my cigarette out of my lips to take a drag for herself. I reached into my pocket and pulled another AeroMed inhaler out of my inventory and slid it across the counter to her, before pulling another smoke out of the box in front of me to replace the one she’d stolen.

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“Well, Sara says I have no taste when it comes to fashion, but I think it looks pretty hot,” I gave my opinion as I sucked my new cig alight. LIzzy blushed prettily and seemed to suddenly realize that she was standing around without a shirt on. She tried to act casual, though I could tell she was a bit flustered, as she walked over to the couch and grabbed her shirt off the seat, taking the opportunity to stub out her cigarette in the coffee table’s ashtray, before putting the shirt on and heading back for her coffee and inhaler.

She grabbed the inhaler first, sucking in a deep breath and holding it for a handful of seconds, and then exhaling with obvious relief. “Gods, that’s better,” she said as she sipped at her coffee. “So, what the actual fuck did we do last night? I don’t remember a damn thing.”

“I wish I could be of some help, but I got nothin’,” I said with a shrug. “I remember collecting on the gig and coming home to shower and wash my clothes, I changed, headed back down to The Kitten…and then nothing. I don’t even remember getting there.”

LIzzy sighed as she rubbed at her left temple with a couple of fingers. “I remember you paying us in The Kitten. Then Sara bought us all a round of shots…then nothing. I just now tried calling Sara and the twins, no response. Left them a message to get back to me, but…yeah, I got nothing either.” She groaned. “Damnit, I have to get back home. Abby’s left me like a dozen messages.” She took a moment and cracked her neck left and right. “At least I didn’t miss my ripperdoc appointment. I’m getting those new hands and that nano organ installed in a couple hours. What’re you gonna be doing with all your new found creds?” she asked, curious.

“Oh, you know, getting my jacket fixed. Get a new gun. Might get a decent vest like Sara’s that would be less likely to let bullets through it. I’ve only got…”I checked my balance and froze. “Holy fuck, what the hell?! I’ve got over 500 grand in my account right now!” I exclaimed, immediately opening my IA’s accountant app to try to figure out where all that cred came from.

“Damn, that’s pretty good. We did have a pretty good day yesterday cashwise, didn’t we? I made…” she trailed off as she looked off into the distance with golden glowing eyes. “Fucking hell, I made over 300 grand, and that doesn’t even count the Samsung hands and nano that Abby says are on our coffee table at home. What were we doing?”

Checking through my accountant app I found that I’d scored 250 grand from the sale of a pair of cyberarms to a ripperdoc, half of which had immediately been sent to Sara, I’d made 17,500 from the sale of a rifle to some guy named Logan, after giving half to Sara again. I’d also received a payment from Lizzy, that said it was from the guns and chrome sales, for 40 grand…and then I noticed how much I was spending, at how many places. “Holy shit, I spent like 90 grand last night on drinks, food, and randomness. Looks like I paid for all three of our tattoos, at 5 grand each…”I trailed off as I found the big windfall. “Galaxy Casino? Damn, I must have won big or something. I made…shit, a cool quarter mil there, somehow.” I found myself staring at the golden numbers telling me I had 500,299c in my account right now, and that’s after paying for my coffee. Not bad for a guy that was flat broke this time yesterday.

“Uh…I guess I’m doing some serious shopping today then. Maybe I’ll get myself a proper wardrobe…and two guns,” I laughed happily. God damn, I love having money to burn.

“Yeah, me too. Might have to get some more chrome to go with my hands or something. I scored 180 thou at that same casino. Can’t believe we ended up there at all. I hate casinos. The odds are only like 20 percent that you leave with as much money as you entered with, much less getting out with actual profit.” she shook her head. “Well I'm pretty sure that used up all the luck I’ll ever have, so no more casinos for me, ever.”

I laughed and agreed with her. We stood around the counter, drinking our coffee as we went through our expenses for the night, trying to piece together whatever we’d been up to. We ultimately came to the conclusion that we’d basically been bar hopping together, though we had no idea if the twins, Sara, or Gary had been with us. We’d hit three different bars, starting with The Drunk KItten, before we apparently went to the Galaxy Casino where we struck it rich, following that had come the Fresh Ink tattoo parlor. We seemed to have eaten at a very expensive restaurant up on level 190, near where we got the tattoos, and then we’d done some random shopping. I had a note in my IA reminding me that AeroTech was delivering my bulk order of custom AeroMed inhalers to an AeroTech location here on 150 for pickup later today. Lizzy had a similar order she’d need to pick up from a few different clothing stores where she said she’d purchased tailored outfits, according to her receipts.

While we continued chatting and speculating on what all had gone down last night, Sara exited her bedroom, groaning and covering her eyes with one hand as she stumbled across the apartment to the bathroom. “Well, I guess Sara was still with us at the casino, since she was obviously with us at the tattoo parlor,” LIzzy said with a laugh that I couldn’t help joining in on. Sara’s entire right arm seemed to be covered in a tattooed sleeve composed of dragons that I recognized as very similar, if not identical, to the ones she’d had spray painted on her first apartment’s walls. She must have shown the tattoo artist a picture or vid or something. With her sleeveless vest and bulging muscles it looked pretty badass to my eyes.

A few minutes of chuckling together about the tattoos later, Sara came out of the bathroom and immediately went for the coffee making alcove in the wall, still covering her eyes with one hand. As she joined us at the counter, groaning in pain, and continuing to cover her eyes, I pulled my last AeroMed out of my pocket and slid it next to her coffee. She grabbed it like a lifeline thrown to a drowning man and sucked it down hard. She proceeded to hold her breath for the better part of a minute before finally loudly exhaling and carefully uncovering her eyes. “Okay, what the fuck happened last night? I don’t remember shit.” She asked with obvious confusion as she examined her tattooed forearm.