“Ring around the helix, pocket full of sol bits, asteroids, asteroids, we all fall down.”
Children’s song commemorating the destruction of the floating city Newhome.
----------------------
My ability to communicate with Sakura is limited. Mama Isabell let me act as translator but controlled the conversation. From signs and simple pictures I gathered the following. Sakura woke up in an alley with no one around her. She wandered for ‘a long time’ until she found people, but they didn’t speak Japanese. Her AR was off, getting her to turn it on was challenging, so she didn’t have a map or the ability to buy anything. There are public water fountains that she was able to use but with nothing to eat she started trash diving. At this point the rent-a-cops found and detained her, marched her up some stairs, down some streets until she eventually arrived here.
Sakura is not happy about recent events but she doesn’t seem as confused or lost as I would expect. Odd.
Mama Isabella claps her hands. “Owls, follow me. We need to inform Lady Kara of this new development, unless one of you would like to explain to me what you have been up to first?” Her eyes focus on Fen, flick to me, then back to Fen.
Fen: What do you think? Should we come clean? Things have clearly gone sideways.
David: Come clean about what?
Fen: About the wetwear. About where we got the wetware.
David: I thought I got my wetware from some job offer? Did you have new wetware installed too? From the same job offer?
Fen: I can’t read you like this. Can you really not remember or are you just playing dumb? We didn’t get the wetware for signing up for a job, we got it for doing a job.
David: Something… shady?
Fen: Something like that.
David: Is Mama Isabella trustworthy? Is Lady Kara?
Fen: A little and no. Anything shared with a Mama could be reported to Lady Kara. Maybe everything shared with a Mama is reported.
This doesn’t match my feelings about Mama Isabella or Lady Kara, but my judgment is… suspect. What is at stake here? If they are trustworthy we could lose their help by holding back. Not even out of spite, if we don’t trust them with the real problem, whatever it is, then they won’t be able to help us. If they aren’t trustworthy we’ll be punished for whatever shady thing we did. I have no idea what we did so this is hard to judge. I don’t think Flash was capable of murder, but theft? Yes. Fraud? Yes. Blackmail? Maybe. Protection Racket? Probably not intimidating enough, I don’t find him intimidating in my memories and none of the people that knew him are afraid of me.
Mama Isabella clearly knows something. Papa Doc said that my memory loss was possible but one in a million. Apparently all the Owls installed shady wetware. From the same source? What are the odds that Sakura also has mental problems if the wetware was good? Low, very low. In the end this isn’t about my judgment since I don’t have the full picture.
David: The wetware was bad. Maybe not all of it if you aren’t having problems but mine and Sakura’s were defective. Who ever sold or gave it to us was fucking us over. Put the blame on them if you can but be honest with the adults about who we got the wetware from.
Our back and forth was quicker than talking but not so quick that Mama Isabella missed it. Sakura hasn’t been following any of this of course. She is staring off into the distance playing with her AR. I try to give Mama Isabella a look conveying that I’m on her side. From her reaction it’s a mixed success.
“Well, David, Fen? Which of you is going to explain?” Mama Isabella asks again, hands on her hips.
“We thought it would be ok.” Fen’s opening gambit is met with skepticism.
“Look, we didn’t have enough sols to buy the wetware we needed to get good jobs after integration but David’s big brother Jenkins had connections with the Cleaners and David said that he could get us a deal if we bought in bulk and didn’t ask questions about where the wetware came from. My installation went fine, just a headache and blurred vision for a few hours after the install. I didn’t even know David or Sakura had bad installs until a few minutes ago. Lilly might be fine too.”
Mama Isabella’s reaction isn’t as bad as it could be. Deep disappointment but only a little anger. “You foolish, reckless children. Never install wetware from unsanctioned sources. You could have had an aneurysm and died. You could have been corrupted. The Eloi have captured wetware before only to spike it so that it destroyed whoever was unfortunate enough to install it. Thank the Dark that you at least had the installs performed by registered doctors.”
Mama Isabella pauses to assess Sakura’s condition. From the way she wrinkles her nose I can tell a bath at least is in Sakura’s immediate future. “As long we can get Lily back I should be able to cover for you with Lady Kara. Sakura is clearly in no shape to go wandering the lower hive. I need to stay here and take care of her. We have some time, but I don’t know how much. Definitely no more than three cycles. Can the two of you bring Lily back in?”
Fen and I exchange looks.
Fen: We should do this.
David: What about your broken arm?
Fen: What about it? She’s asking us to talk to local docs and find out which one handled Lily’s install. Maybe we’ll have to follow the trail of a confused girl as she wanders the lower hive but if Lily goes somewhere too dangerous we can report back to Isabella.
“We’ll do it.” I try to fill my voice with confidence, but inside I’m still worried about going back out into the hive. One hundred percent of the times I’ve left the creche I’ve had to fight for my life. At least, that’s what I can remember.
Mama Isabella pulls each of us into a hug, then kisses our foreheads. With that ?ritual? done she turns away from us and starts trying to cajole Sakura to follow her into the creche. Sakura for her part is annoyed by Mama Isabella herding her into the creche. I try to sign to her that she should go with Mama Isabella. I’m not sure how useful I will be in this search but I’m confident that a pretty young woman that doesn’t speak the local language and looks homeless is going to attract the wrong kind of attention.
Fen huffs at my efforts, impatient at the delay.
Fen: Let’s get going. I know a few places where Lilly might have been planning to get her wetware installed but it is a lot of ground to cover.
Fen and I start walking away from the creche. While we’re side by side I have no idea where we are going.
Connection with GSC138 Education Environment has been lost. Goodbye David.
I flick the message away with my eyes.
David: Do you think Sakura will be ok? My memories are coming back but she lost a whole language.
Fen: *eyeroll* Even if she has to relearn Noxlingua from scratch she hasn’t lost as much as she gained. I would have made that trade for the skills I learned. Wouldn’t you?
David: I don’t know what I learned. I do know that they weren’t the skills listed on the packaging.
Fen: Of course the skills weren’t listed on the package. You don’t advertise blackmarket skills. You must have noticed something. My skills still feel… new. Like they are something I learned how to do a long time ago and I need to practice them to get back into top form.
David: Maybe, I can do a lot of things that are both familiar and partially forgotten. Didn’t I tell you what I was buying?
Fen: Not in so many words. You said you planned to get militia skills that would help you get a job bodyguarding for spacers. I can tell you that you used to be a pushover in fights. The only time I ever saw you throw a punch you broke your thumb. Picked up any combat skills?
David: Yes… When that drugged out maintenance worker attacked me I knew how to defend myself. I even disarmed him. I still would have died or at least been badly hurt if Olivia hadn’t been there to help.
Fen nods, as if he was expecting my story.
Fen: You’ll get better with practice. We don’t have integrated cores yet, so even though the skills are in our inner core, they act like they are in our outer core until we polish them the hard way. It’s so strange having to explain this to you. You wouldn’t shut up about all the things we needed to do after our job with the Cleaners.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
David: What did we do to get these skills? Will we be in a lot of trouble if the teachers find out?
Fen: If you don’t remember you don’t need to know. It would be bad if we get caught. Fines at least, maybe community service.
David: Oh, that’s not so bad then.
Fen gives me a disbelieving look.
Fen: We’re broke so fines mean indenture to the injured parties until the debt is paid off. Community service means serving on the front lines with the militia fighting against Eloi raids and corruption outbreaks. You did the math once and claimed if the Owls joined the militia after integration one of us would be dead within a year. That was normal service, not front line service.
David: Oh. That is bad.
I don’t leave the group but the conversation ends there. Fen is navigating so I check my AR, maybe I can get some grinding in as we go? Nope, or at least not really. I do still have access to my Daily Quest list, but not to any of the lessons now that I am outside the GSC138 Learning Environment. After a few minutes I notice something interesting. I’m earning Gym xp, although it’s very slow.
Daily Quests
XP
Gym
23/2000
Reading / Writing
0/1000
Math
0/1000
Art
0/2000
Music
0/1000
History
0/2000
Science!
0/1000
Programming
168/1000
Social Studies
0/1000
Part of the testing system is in my core and it registers the walking Fen and I are doing as a source of xp. Would I gain more by jogging? What about parkouring around the city? There are plenty of things to run, climb and jump off of.
Contact Tanaka Sakura is inviting you to a group chat
Accept
Decline
Merge
Block
I turn to Fen, trying to judge if he received the same chat request. He’s in his own world.
David: I just got a chat request from Sakura. Do you want to talk to her too?
Fen: Text with a girl who I don’t share a language with? That sounds like a really fun time #sarcasm. Unless you think she was faking for some reason?
David: Is that the kind of thing Lightning used to do? Lie about a disability to gain an advantage?
Fen: No. I hate that you are making me defend her to you but no. She could be manipulative and ruthless but she’s never tried telling such a huge lie to a Mama.
David: Then I’m going to add her to our call. We can always try talking with emojis.
I chose to merge my existing chat with Sakura’s incoming chat.
Tanaka Sakura: where did you go This bitch won't leave me alone. Are you from Earth too? Did you meet God and get the ability to cheat? Why couldn't I get cheat abilities in another world? How did I get here? Where is here?
I am momentarily stunned by the barrage and Fen finds his voice before me.
Fen: What the fuck Tanaka! I was just defending you. You can speak Noxlingua. Why were you pretending you couldn’t?
Tanaka Sakura: Of course Noxlingua can't speak. This is an automatic translation app available from Apurikēshonsutoa. Thank you for helping me turn on David's system. Does everyone have this or just immigrants like us?
David: Hello Sakura. It’s nice to hear from you. I’m not having a great day. How have you been?
Tanaka Sakura: :-( Small talk is for little people, Mr David.
David: Fine. Responding to your first questions Fen and I are going to look for Lilly. She is a friend of ours that might be in trouble. I do remember Earth, but not well. I think I was from the United States, but I could have been from any English speaking country. I don’t remember meeting God or cheating on anyone.
Fen: Convenient amnesia strikes again. Tanaka, you and David had your brains scrambled by some bad wetware. You aren’t immigrants, you were born here in the Lower Hive just like all the kids in the creche. If you don’t hassle Mama Isabella she’ll mostly leave you alone.
Tanaka Sakura: He's not an immigrant, he's an immigrating person! People from another world.
Fen gives me a baffled look.
David: Sakura, the translator isn’t handling the word you are using well. Can you describe what the word means?
Tanaka Sakura: David and I are humans summoned from Earth. There, he was an ordinary person. Here we face great hardness, but here, thanks to God-given cheat ability, he accomplishes exceptional feats! This is the beginning of our adventure!
That isn’t how I would describe my situation but I think I get where she is coming from. I ask a few follow up questions to make sure I understand.
David: Sakura, how old are you?
Tanaka Sakura: Saint David! Don't ask women their age.
I try to share an eyeroll with Fen but he’s still baffled by our conversation.
David: Sakura, what year were you born?
Tanaka Sakura: Oh, I'm asking when my birthday is. It's a little early, but I'll allow it. Born on November 5, 2045. I like sour sweets, strategy games, and amusement parks.
David: /w Fen She has memories from more then one thousand years ago that are more real to her than her memories as Lightning. To Sakura it feels like she was teleported from old Earth to the lower hive.
David: 2045 is after my time. I was born in 1999. Probably. My memories of Earth aren’t very clear. I’m not sure how far into the future you have traveled. More than one thousand years.
Tanaka Sakura: Ah, don’t force me in the white box you witch! Mean woman is fhfaksdnlajkgbascknkcnajd
Connection to Tanaka Sakura has been lost
I am surprised by the sudden disconnect but Fen explains
Fen: Tanaka is fine, she’s just getting cleaned up.
What? What does washing up have to do with disconnecting chats? I raise an eyebrow, willing Fen to continue explaining. He obliges.
Fen: Some of the boys in the class above ours got caught peeping with spy viruses. Lady Kara made the bathrooms private areas, no connections in or out. Live feeds are much easier to hack into than setting up a recorder.
Really? Sending out a live stream without alerting the target doesn’t seem easier. If the hacker can manipulate apps already on your device there is no difference between sharing a live video vs saving the video to storage then uploading it to the cloud when a connection is formed. I don’t think I was ever an experienced hacker but I can remember a cyber security video that claimed the best way of preventing a hacker from gaining control of my phone’s camera was putting duct tape over the lenses when I wasn’t using them. I guess that would mean closing my eyes while in the bathroom?
Fen: Don’t stand there with that look on your face. We have places to be and things to do.
I had stopped moving while trying to recall what I could about cyber security, but it isn’t like we were moving as fast as we could. In fact…
David: Fen, where are we going? Like, exactly where?
Fen: We’re going to H3ats1nk’s Chrome Emporium. He mostly does hardware sales and installs but he does have the gear to handle wetware installs too. His shop isn’t the most likely place that Lily would use, but it is the closest.
With a name, I search my AR map, find the location and set it as my destination. The illuminated path gives me an idea for later. Multiple routes, with the fastest in shades of red and the slowest in shades of blue. What was the name of that game? I think the protagonist was Faith or maybe another virtue/name. Punctuality? I stop walking again earning a groan from Fen as I start doing some stretching.
Fen: What are you doing now? Did you pull a muscle or something?
David: No, but since you are in such a hurry I decided to help us get to the Chrome Emporium faster.
Fen: You aren’t moving, how is this going to get us there faster?
David: Didn’t you know, slow is smooth and smooth is fast?
Fen: What?
I finish my last stretch, my legs are limber and ready.
David: I’m saying that even though it looks like I was lagging behind, I was really just getting ready to sprint a head. Race you!
I take off like a shot. God I feel so young. Fen’s curses ring in my ears but they just make me smile harder. I don’t think that I’m a transmigrator. I’m not sure if I’m 18 or in my 30s or the sum of my ages but right now I look like a teen so why not embrace that.