“Do you need something?” the nurse mouthed from afar at the strange man leering at her patients through the open door.
…
It was in or out. My mind told me to turn, run, and go back the way I had come. As if that wouldn't have been more suspicious. So, I entered the clinic. There was a distinct chemically sanitized odor in the space that tickled my nose.
"–Uh, hi…" I said, approaching the desk.
"Are you alright?" the nurse asked calmly, looking me over. I hadn't come across a mirror, well...whatever. Her hair was neatly tied in a tight bun. Like nearly everyone else, she wore teal coveralls. I liked that color…
“I’m alright…” I said. “I just–“ just what? I just died and had my consciousness inserted into a video game? Oh, and you’re an NPC...I couldn't say that. I'd sound insane, and this was a clinic...they'd probably commit me. If there were such a thing here. Then, of course, there was T.K.'s threat…I couldn't say anything.
“Oh–” I said, recalling that conversation, and dove both hands into my pockets.
"Can I get help with this here?" I asked, pulling the small silver chip from my right pocket. It hadn't dawned on me that I had tucked the chip in my now dematerialized shorts. The nurse squinted and then deftly plucked the chip from between my fingers and held it in her palm.
"A gene chip…" the woman said to herself, studying the thing.
“Yeah…” I said, only knowing as much as I had been told. “I need to pair it, I think.” The nurse, who wore no name tag, clenched her fist around the chip and looked at me, "Do you have a reader?”
“No? Do I need one?”
She sighed, “Of course you need a gene reader, why wouldn’t you?” I didn’t have an answer to that, so I shrugged.
“Of course...we have samplers here... But you can't complete the paring without a reader. And this is a free clinic, not Herald's. What happened to your reader?"
I shrugged again, “…I lost it?”
Neither of us believed the halfhearted lie."Right, well…" she said, returning the chip, dropping the small weightless hunk of metal into my upturned hand. "Turns out we can’t help you, not entirely. You need to find yourself a new reader.”
Then, the nurse leaned closer to me, and I matched the gesture. "Head down to Herald's, find Sawyer, and tell him Janae sent you.” She said in a whisper. I stared at the woman. Why was she helping? But then I thought back to the nurse from the hospital. She, too, had just been nice to me for the sake of being kind. I had always appreciated that.
"Okay." I said, and Janae flashed me a kind smile. "He'll be the lanky guy behind the counter. Tell him you need a reader, and he'll get you set up, then come back here. We'll get that gene card of yours paired.
I paused. "Uh…I don't have any money…" I said slowly, worrying my incompetence was wearing thin on the woman.
“No credits? Like, zero?”
“That’s right.”
“None?”
“…yes?”
"Wow––" she said, genuinely astonished. "Well, you'll have to take on some debt, I guess."
I already didn’t like how this was going. Who programs debt into the after-life…I thought.
“Oh, don't make that face." Janae chastised. "It won't be much, and you'll probably be able to pay it back in no time. And besides, you don't really have another option, do you?"
...
I did not. But, pay it back? I didn't have a job…and frankly, I didn't feel as though I wanted one.
"How much?" I asked.
“Hmm…” Janae pondered the question.
"I don't know, maybe 2,000 credits? Depending on the interest, I suppose. Definitely no more than 3,000. If Sawyer tries to give you a duster's deal, come right back here."
2,000–3,000 credits? That could've been pocket change or the down payment on a house. But it sounded like a lot. And while I was at it, how was I supposed to know what the hell a 'duster’s deal’ was?
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“Uh–alright, I’ll go find Sawyer then.” I said, returning the gene chip to my pocket.
***
The next lower level of the structure was much the same. In a word, utilitarian. Stepping off the stairs, I was able to find the entrance to Herald's without issue, thanks in no small part to a large illuminated sign that read “HERALD’S SURPLUS." The door opened as I approached, and I stepped inside. “Welcome to Herald’s…” an excited feminine voice said over a static background. The recording greeted me warmly as the door slid closed, and I was met with shelves upon shelves of–what I presumed to be–junk.
The store itself wasn't huge, maybe the size of a side-of-the-highway gas station. A shop counter ran the length of the back wall, while in the open space, shelves were arranged in messy rows. Each pilled high with odds and ends–and I recognized absolutely nothing.
“Whatcha want…”
A contrastingly gruff and disinterested voice floated through the collection of merchandise. I followed the sound and, stepping around the last shelf, where I came face to face with a disheveled and unconcerned shopkeep. His dark, near-pitch-black hair hung messily in angular and gaunt his face. The bland, khaki-colored coverall he wore was wrinkled and threadbare––and seemed to hang off his frame.
“Yes?” he said flatly.
“Hey–“ I said. "Uh, I'm looking for Sawyer?"
"Are yah?" he said. That didn't sound like a question.
“Yeah, I am–Uh, Janae said he could help me with a reader?"
“…”
I looked around nervously. There was no one in the store other than he and I.
"So, Is he around?" I asked.
The man didn't answer. Instead, his eyes narrowed. "Who is she to you…" he asked with a glint in his gaze.
"…No…one…?" I said, haunches rising. "I was trying to get a gene card paired, and she said I needed a reader first and that Sawyer could help. So I'm here."
"Gene card, uh? Lemme see that thing." The shopkeep–who I just presumed, at this point, was Sawyer–said. I handed the thing over, and he looked it over before setting it on the shop counter.He stood from where he sat and––god, was he skinny. It wasn't that the man was unfit or malnourished. As he meandered around the counter, he moved much faster than I would've imagined, covering ground quickly in just a few paces; he began rummaging around the various shelves.
Left alone, I perused the offerings in the display beneath the counter. There were several small, smartphone-shaped things, a really fancy-looking watch with a diamond bezel, and a regular old pistol… was that a 1911?
“Here ya' go, try this out," Likely-Sawyer said, returning.
…
In the next moment, Sawyer slapped a device down on the counter before me. There was a darkened screen staring back at me as I peered over the device. The small tablet was embedded into what looked like a metallic forearm brace with small clasps to secure it on the wearer. There were no buttons, dials, or controls of any kind, so it was likely touch-screen operated. I craned my neck around, trying to get a look at the thing from different angles–
“You gon’ pick it up?” Sawyer asked, interrupting my examination.
"You sure?" I asked and was met with a "Sure, what do I care?" sort of shrug.
The device was heavier than I would've expected, given the compact form factor. If this was a gene reader, wearing it would take some getting used to. “That should be compatible with that gene card ya’ have there. Least I think so–“ the man said. “–Only thing I got that might.”
I looked up from the reader inquisitively. The only one? What was different about that particular card? Because T.K. had given me? I decided it wasn't worth the question, not right now.
“How much?”
…
"5,000 cred," Sawyer said without flinching.
…
"Isn't that a lot?" I asked, turning the reader over in my hand. "It looks pretty old, and it was just tossed on a shelf over there, right?"
"Yep. Sure was, alright then––4,000."
….
I set the device down softly on the counter and figured I'd try my luck. "Janae said you might try and give me a duster's deal, Sawyer. Guess I'll go let her know she was right." Sawyer’s eyes widened almost imperceptibly, and a range of emotions, none of which appeared friendly, flashed across his face.
...
“Eh–fine." He said, sounding every bit of not interested.
“2,800 then.”
"Fine..." I said. "But I don't have any credits…is there like a loan or something?"
Sawyer nodded knowingly and plucked the device from the counter. Ignoring my muted protest, he made his way to–what looked like the–point-of-sale machine and typed something quickly into the keyboard that seemed to fold out from the computer. “Here.” He said, tossing the reader back to me.
...
“All done.”
"Thanks…" I said, gripping the device in a hand.
"You'll have four local cycles to pay it back before interest hits," Sawyer said, returning to his seat as I prepared myself to depart.
"How long is a local cycle?" I asked.
“About five standard cycles.”
…
I could only nod. I had no frame of reference, and by the look On Sawyer's face, it would've been odd if I had asked. So I went for the door without another word. “Don’t let that interest hit…trust me.”
***
I quickly made my way back to the clinic, pushing down the small amount of building excitement. Janae was where I'd left her, behind the check-in counter. There had been some turnover in the waiting room. The daughter with a runny nose, and her doting mother, were nowhere to be seen. Neither was the hugging couple.
“So you got one?” Janae asked when she saw me come through the door.
"Yes ma'am." I said, holding out the reader to her. Janae squinted at the bracer.
...
“Looks like junk.” She said finally.
"Wait, really?" I asked, looking at the thing. Yeah, it was a little worn, but it looked fine to me. Maybe a little extra scuffed, but I'd had cracked and chipped phones that worked just fine for years, so perhaps I wasn't the best judge of product conditions. "I was worried about that with that weird card before. But, let's get you paired.”
I nervously looked around the room, "Right here?" I asked, seeing a flicker of movement as a man–trying not to look interested–quickly turned his head in another direction. “Would you prefer I get Doc Hestridge, take you to the back–skipping all these kind folks waiting–maybe find you a bed?" Janae asked, leering at me.
“Maybe put ya’ under? Start an IV. All so I can prick your finger for a drop of blood?”
"Oh–"
"no…" I said, my cheeks burning.
“Here is fine.”
Janae pulled a small device from the drawer beneath her desk. The white, handheld device had the look of a medical tool. Smooth plastic, soft corners, and oversized buttons without labels. On one side of the thing, there was an oval indentation with a tiny pinhole in the center.
"Gene card–" Janae ordered, holding out her hand, and I obliged her request, placing the small chip in her palm. She brought the chip close and eyed it one last time before shrugging and plugging it into an open port along the side of the device. She then held it out to me.
"Finger, please."
I barely noticed the sting.
I pulled my finger away, expecting a droplet of blood, but there was none.
"All done." She said, ejecting the card and handing it back. Janae looked at me, then to the reader, expectedly.
I got the hint, picked up the reader, and looked it over for a port. Finding a rectangular-shaped receptacle along the side, I inserted the chip.
Nothing happened. Nothing at all…
…
“You gonna put it on?” Janae asked with a raised brow.
"Right…" I said, already as nervous as I could be.
There were three latches on the underside of the bracer; I undid them, slid the thing over my left wrist, and secured it. A moment passed, and I felt the device vibrate once, and then it chimed softly. "Is that it?" I said aloud, still staring at a darkened screen. Janae offered no advice.
…
Then, the small screen on my wrist illuminated, displaying the logo of what I presumed to be the maker.
“Kings & Greaves Biotechnologies”
The logo faded, and the screen changed. To show... I don't know…my stats?
Brandon Alder:
Level: 1
Intellect: 10
Wisdom: 5
Endurance: 7
Dexterity: 7
Strength: 7
Luck: 3