Bad Company continud...

Bad Company

continued..

When I come back out I find J.J. playing with someones lost meta-pup. An artificial Pomeranian, probably some corporate wifes toy.

“Leave that thing alone” I bark, snatching her up and putting her back in the side car.

“Get outta here, ya mutt!'', I yell, raising my foot to let it know I mean business.

“They stiffed you again. How much this time?”, she groans. Just then from behind me.

“Is this mean man bothering you Fifi?”, a voice says. Its the sweetest voice I've ever heard. Like what I've always imagined birds to sound like in the morning.

I turned around quickly and came face to face with the most beautiful human I had ever scanned. She bent down and picked up the mutt. It sticks out its metal tongue and licks her cheek. At that moment I envied every “toy-boy” ever built. She was tall (around 5'9”), with long smooth alabaster legs. Her hips curved like an hourglass into her waist. Which rose up and out again to her pale breast that were so supple and healthy, they didn't look real. Her long blonde hair draped over them curling just so at the ends. Parted gently down the center to frame her flawless angular face. Tracing every nuance as it it were a tailor made hologram. Her eyes were like crystal oceans, glimmering like some glazed over alloy-junkie. But, she was no junkie. She was real as they come not a meta-part on her. She wore a chrome LCD dress (vintage) worth 9 mill-easy. Around her neck hung 80 million credits worth of m-crystals that tear dropped into her ample bosom. Her wrist sparkled with diamonds and platinum. Her hands were carefully manicured, never seen a days work. Matching her perfect feet, which arched upward in a pair of expensive techno-pumps. J.J. slapped me out of my coma. I was dazed, lost all speech scanning her frame work. No idea how long i was standing there looking like some dreg.

“Snap-out-of-it!”, she whispered.

I had never seen a woman like this. My digital eyes told me she was real. !00%, at last there were no artificial parts or augments. A whole human woman like this was unheard of. The few left in the city (other than J.J.) where whores. They ended up drug addicted and beat up, down in the seeded end of Soni-Metro what we called home. Down in the ruins where nothing was as beautiful as this vision before me. Some over paid executive probably put up a lot of credits to keep her up here as his pet. I bet I'd seen vids of beautiful women living in Free Country up north, or out in New Zealand, or somewhere far off. Met a few 100%'ers out in the Badlands not many though. None as beautiful as her. One day I hope J.J will make it out of here while she's still beautiful and pure, maybe she can grow up this gorgeous too. Before I could apologize for almost kicking her mecha-pup, she looks me in the eyes and says, “Company man I see.” She walks a circle around me tracing her delicate fingers across my dusty jacket.

“Do you hacve a name Soni-boy?”, she said playfully.

Not thinking anymore, I told her. I was mesmerized by her. I barely remembered to ask her what her name was. In hindsight I would have been better off if I hadn't.

“Aurora.” ,she says coyly, “Aurora Hinto.”, she whispers it n my ear. I swear I felt her breathe. Not just on my sensors, but really felt. Which I know is impossible. I hadn't had real sensation in years. Then the name rang out in my head like a fire alarm.. I remembered a Nakasaki Hinto from way back. A rouge programmer, I eighty-six-ed years ago. He was some super genius wonder kid who'd developed some magic code. Only he ran off with it. The company wanted it back so I found him and I took it. The company was very pleased with that one if I remember correctly it was 5, no, 6 mil for that run.

“Hinto?” I say pretending not to know anymore. Petending not to remember.

“You wouldn't happen to be any relation to, a man named... Nagasaki?” I say, She couldn't be his daughter, he was too young. No sister if I remember the file said. Could be a wife Intel can miss that stuff. Who ever she was she probably wanted revenge, this couldn't be a coincidence. I don't believe in them. I could sense J.J. cocking her Rueger in the side car. I braced myself for a fight. Aurora just calmly stroked her metal pet and said gently.

“N akasaki, An yes! He created me.”, then she looked directly at me again and I realized that somehow she was the code. How could I not scan that? She read to my eyes as strictly human. No synthetic parts, no code can do that. But no code was alive either. She gave of a thermal wave. And she didn't read as a hologram either. How was this possible? She kept circling me stroking the shiny alloy of her fake Pomeranian. I was still speechless.

“What's the matter Soni-boy?”, she was smiling at me and if my mouth could go dry it would have. She and I both knew that I had stolen her from her creator and brought her here. How did she find me. Was this some strange coincidence? Why are they letting her roam the Tower like this? I would think she'd be held up in some lab still. It wasn't like the boys upstairs to be sloppy. I wasn't thinking straight though.

“I-I ran you.”, I said, but I still don't know why. It was as if something had come over me.

“Reeallly.”, she whispered softly. She knows, I know. She knows, I know, she knows, what she going to do. I got two guns I can reach 5 seconds. Two more I can reach in ten. For some reason though I lift my shirt and show her where I stored her. She bent over examining my hardware, I notice her eyes shifting colours in the reflection.

“I was in there?”, she says. Then she touched her glossy red lips to my frame work leaving a emprent on my chasis. Then her puppy starts to bark, and she pulls away quickly. I dropped my shirt back down. I have no idea why I did that. I couldn't look away then I started blurting out my stats like some dumb school-boy jock-o.

“Best hardware in the house!” I keep reapeating,

“800,000 mzh! 5,000,000 giga-bytes of RAM! 75,000 BTU! Pentell 3800 micro processor ! Titanium chassis! Super-alloy joints! Poly dexterous appendages!”, I thought the last one would really impress her.

“Nice! Soni-boy...”, she says, tossing her glowing mane over her shoulder.

“What about you?” I'm grinning like an idiot now.

“I don't have any hardware.”, she says. I didn't quite understand yet, but I thought I was in love. Beauty and no hardware though meant one thing. And that was trouble. I couldn't pick up anything off her no elcro, or bio readings. It was as if she were a ghost or some rouge program locked in my circuits. But then how could J.J. see her too?

“Can we GO now ! I gotta eat soon!” Speaking off J.J. She was getting impatient, and she was always jealous of other females to begin with. It was even worse when she was hungry.

“Shut up J.J.” I said, a little too harshly.

“Cute human. Is she real?”, she asked slyly.

“You better believe it lady! Pure 100%'er!!!”, this was getting ugly.

“My sister.” I laugh to try and eas ehte tension. I though J.J. was gonna leap out of the side car and tear what ever this chick was made out of apart.

“Oh my! I don''t think I've ever come across a 100 percenter. Not up here. You ever think about an upgrade?”, she says to J.J. , over my shoulder. “You're never too young.”

“No I'm staying this way synth-bitch!”

“We're working our way out.” I stammer, “I'm gonna take her North, to be with the others.” I never felt so nervous before and I've been in fire fights with tankbots along the southern border,

“I'm not a synthazoid little girl!”Her voice snapped with authority.

“Well la-te-da! You could have fooled me.”J.J. Wasn't intimidated.

“I think we should be going. Maybe we can run into each other again sometime. I could call you.”

'I don't think my designated other would like that,.”I knew it was to good to be true. Some big shot V.P. Was probably keeping her as a toy. Or some code breaker was using her to jerk off his spare parts.

“I can call you though!”, she said.

I looked around quickly and handed her my private card. “This is how you can reach me.”, I slipped her my undoing and stole a quick kiss on the cheek, a kiss of death. I hoped on my bike trying to look as sauve as possible. Like in all the old Hollywood classics I watched with J.J. growing up.

“I guess I'll be seeing you Soni-boy!” and with that it was over. A brief meeting that would forever change the rest of my miserable little life. I kicked the starter on the bike and took off into the California dusk. Back to the bad side of own, I needed a drink.