Ghost in the Machine (Steam and Cyber Series Book 1) Read online

  “Where are you going?” Minnow asked aloud. “Sorry,” she muttered to the waitress. “I don’t realize I’m talking out loud. I guess I need to get out more.” The waitress lowered her glasses and looked out the window but he was gone. Minnow knew he’d be back. He had the drugs. He wouldn’t let her down, he never did.

  Minnow hauled her nylon bag up from the floor and opened it. Before she left Omni’s library, she’d spent about fifteen minutes hurriedly compiling a searchable database of Omni’s positional systems. She’d loaded the information onto a radically outdated and ancient Iomega portable drive to keep it secure, and she checked to see it was still there. She rubbed her eyes and checked again, finally tucking it in a side zippered pocket. Minnow sat up, cross-legged on the hard plastic chair, staring at her coffee.

  “Hurry up,” she whispered into her coffee and then turned to look for Dot. “Can I have some cream?” she asked. “This is waaayy stronger that I expected.”

  “Told you honey. You can’t go straight to the high test coffee,” Dot laughed. “You might grow hair on your chest.”

  At the counter to her side, sat a platinum haired girl with a pair of nipple rings clearly defined through the tight fabric of her white top. A mild bondage magazine peeked from her tote bag; a blindfolded girl on its cover was surrounded by swirls of blue and silver ribbon as she lay on top of shiny black vinyl. Her arms were crossed above her head, chin upturned, as she looked away from the camera, to the side.

  “Here, I have a ton of cream packs,” said the girl. Minnow looked up at her again. The girl on the cover was the same girl at the counter. Minnow stared, both intrigued and attracted.

  Minnow pulled a napkin from the dispenser and wiped her mouth. Platinum girl walked to her table, cream in hand. “Hey,” she spoke in a scratchy voice, deeper than most females. “I’m Goldilocks12.”

  “Hello,” Minnow answered awkwardly. She turned to the window, at a frantically blinking Coca Cola fluorescent sign. The girl sat back and pulled a black pen from Minnow’s nylon bag. “Hey!” said Minnow, snatching back the bag.

  “It’s cool. Relax” said Goldilocks12.

  “Uh, no, it’s not. Get out of my bag.” G12 grabbed Minnow’s arm and held it down with a weightlifter’s strength. She drew a line along a vein. “If you’re going to fly this through your arm, you’ll need to shoot here. Your other veins are blown.” She tossed Minnow an orange cosmetic bag with a bulging zipper. “Enjoy.” She got up but turned back to Minnow. “Do you want to keep my magazine too?”

  “No. It’s not my thing. Who sent you? Who are you?”

  “Part of the underground. It’s from Charley, like always. Cool?

  “Sure. I guess.”

  “Want some company?”

  “I don’t think so. I have work to do.”

  “We all do have work to do. These magazines don’t print themselves, you know.” The girl adjusted the shoulders of her small top and took off her bracelet. “Besides, it’s not like I want to be your best friend.”

  “This is weird.” Minnow noticed G12’s voice changed timbre frequently, deeper then higher, and then back again, almost synthesized.

  “The world is weird. I have one hour left before Omni checks me back in and resets my feed. Let’s go.”

  “Seriously? Charley sent you?”

  “Yep. Charley from the pawnshop. Let’s hit the dereg zone.”

  “No, I gotta go home. I have some research to do.”

  “Whatever you say.” Goldilocks12 wore purple boots and snakeskin pattern pants with flames licking up the sides. She stood up to flag the waitress. “She’s on me,” pointing to Minnow.

  “Nice pants.” Dot’s gum chewing made her hard to understand. “I’ll box up the pie to go,” said Dot as she pulled out the scanner to download payment. She held the scanner to G12’s head before she could object. Nothing but silence, no beep of recognition. “You aren’t on the feed.” She shook the scanner and tried again as G12 moved her head away and blocked Dot with her hand. G12’s eyes turned to silvery slits. “You must have a malfunction, honey.” Dot lowered her brow and looked Goldilocks12 up and down. The cooks from the back stopped cooking to look at Minnow and G12 suspiciously. “You better get reset right away,” she warned through pursed lips.

  “Right,” G12 tossed some crumpled bills on the table and grabbed Minnow by the elbow. “You know, you don’t have to be such a bitch about my 'zine.” As they walked out the door, the bell on the handle echoed behind them. “It fills a void. I know you find it interesting.”

  “Not so much,” said Minnow. Goldilocks12’s eyebrow rose, slowly and with hyper control. Minnow continued to walk quickly ahead of her.

  Smokestacks rose in the distance pouring white smoke. Giant billboards, advertising computers and luxury goods, dotted the skyline and in small white calligraphy along the lower right border, each had ‘Omni’ written in the corner. Minnow sighed and looked around the streets. To the west, the sky was smeared with brown and yellow streaks of petro carbons. To the east, the sky was clear, even as the evening fell, with wide puffs of cumulus clouds.

  They weaved through two blocks, stopping at the red M of the Cameron Station Metro Station. “Cross the street,” said Minnow. On the corner was a store, its windows filled with partially assembled and headless mannequins, propped against the wall, anatomically male. Next door was a Pilates studio, filled with shorthaired men and longhaired women on reformers, all reclined in the v position. The seats rolled back and forth along the tracks as the instructor, pale and freckly, pointed and demonstrated the correct form. She wore a mango colored one piece with an opium poppy print, her hair scraped back from her forehead in an overly processed gel-slicked ginger bun and her thick hands clutched a glass of pulpy tomato juice.

  Minnow toyed with the spare key she wore around her neck on a white shoestring. She took mincing steps in her tight black tube dress – sleeveless, long and narrow, a jersey and spandex mix, with combat-style boots. Around her neck was also a knitted black and white checkered scarf, pilled and nubby from years of wear and nervous rubbing.

  G12, tall and lean, looked down at Minnow through heavily hooded eyes. She had a sharp and narrow nose, pierced with a gold hoop on the left side. “So,” she started, “how do you get this stuff? You special?”

  “Nah. Not special. Useful. Necessary.”

  A red double decker sped by with a torn ad for Omni flapping along the sides. Minnow and G12 passed an oxygen bar, which took up the space of two storefronts. Rows of silent people hooked up to nasal cannulas pumping pure oxygen looked outside at them in focused excitement and euphoria. The next building housed a wet bar. Fluorescent images of martini drinks blinked from the window alongside a tall glass of ice with a twisted lemon, halfway lit and halfway broken into darkness.

  “How do you think we look?” asked Goldilocks12.

  “We look like hijackers,” Minnow said sarcastically.

  “Hijackers?”

  “We look fine.”

  “I mean, how do we look together?”

  “Together? Probably like two rejects. Turn left. My apartment is up the street.”

  The dimly lit entryway was lined with mailboxes and smelled of patchouli and aromatherapy. There was a keyboard and mike stand shoved in a back corner, behind the stairs, alongside an orange amplifier.

  “Which floor?” asked G12.

  “Up two. Why do you want to hang out? How long have you known Charley?”

  “Just met him. I’m new to deliveries but I have an hour to kill 'til I’m reset. But, it’s cool if you’re not feeling all social and shit, I’ll go.”

  “No, it’s okay. If you’re with Charley, I’m sure I’ll be seeing more of you.”

  A large twenty-something man ran down the stairs in a cowboy hat. His belt buckle, silver-plated and oversized, looked like an engraved platter. “Hey Minnow,” he tilted his hat. “Nice new friend. I like tall chicks. Hey, we’re playing at Hood’s place tonight if
you wanna come down.”

  “Thanks, no. I have a lot of work.”

  “Sad story of your life,” he smiled as he walked away. “Slip me your digits in my box, Stretch,” he said to G12 as the door slammed behind him.

  “Sorry,” said Minnow. “He is a sweet guy, really. Super harmless.”

  “Too bad.”

  On the way up the stairs, Goldilocks12 stepped over an overweight Siamese cat. The cat growled, exposing feral teeth. Crimson scabs flaked from an irritation on its neck. “Ricki-Ticki-Tembo! Quiet down!” said Minnow, bending to rub the still hairy patch on the top of its head. “Just a stray. We all feed him.”

  Minnow closed her eyes and tilted her head towards the key scan.

  “Hey. No feed, remember? Your chip won’t unlock your door,” said G12.

  “God, it’s such a habit,” shrugged Minnow as she reached for the key around her neck to manually open her door.

  A stiff gust of wind blew in from an open window as they entered. “After you,” invited Minnow. The room had a step down living area and a galley kitchen to the north side. Silver, black, and red dominated the room with decorative but comfortable pillows covering the floor.

  “Inviting,” said G12, her hard eyes scanned the room.

  “Did you hear that?” asked Minnow. “That clicking noise?”

  “Nope.” G12 reached for a hat from her back pocket.

  Minnow stepped into the narrow kitchen, kicked her boots off, and walked barefoot along the cool mosaic tiled floor. She flipped the switch to the sun bright halogen lighting, squinting back to G12. “Want anything?”

  “No, thanks. Can I sit down?”

  “Sorry. Sure, of course. Make yourself comfortable.”

  Minnow ran some tap water through a water filter into a silver electric teakettle to brew her favorite Japanese Cherry Green Tea. G12 picked a silvery gray toned papasan chair to curl up in. Her shoes fell as she tucked her long legs beneath her.

  “You were expecting someone else today, right?” said G12, her eyes looked silver and metallic in the shadowy room, and then changed back to blue.

  “Well, usually Yeshua delivers. He hates to, but he does it for me.”

  “If he hates to, why does he?”

  “Sorry, we keep our business in a tight circle.” Minnow’s eyes narrowed as she studied G12’s eyes.

  “Probably smart. You know, my time is running out.” G12 looked at the small circular windows on either side of the sliding glass doors.

  “I’m ready.” Minnow walked in with a tray of hot tea and two teacups. She also brought in two spoons, a candle, two syringes, and a tourniquet.

  “You’re going to shoot this?” asked G12, looking at the syringe.

  “Yep, always. It’s much quicker.” Minnow flicked the syringe and needle with her fingers. “Doesn’t first-pass through the liver.”

  G12 unzipped the bag, pulled out the aluminum packets and crushed four tangerine pills under a spoon. Minnow quickly grabbed a pinkie nail sized amount of powder and added water; she held the spoon over the candle’s flame.

  “Pretty color,” said Minnow as she melted down the tablet.

  She expertly pulled the liquid in through the needle and flicked it again. She turned G12’s arm over. Goldilocks12’s wrist and arm felt hard, not muscular or bony, but unyielding and frigid.

  “No, you go ahead,” said G12, pulling her arm away. “You first.”

  Minnow reached again for G12’s arm, looking for a vein. Nothing.

  “What’s with your arm?” asked Minnow, tossing G12’s arm away as if it were on fire.

  “Nothing,” she smiled. “I just don’t have veins.” G12 stood rooted in place, slightly smiling. The clicking noises became louder in the room.

  Minnow looked at her closely. She stepped back further, straightened and started to shiver. She also noticed Goldilocks12 didn’t blink.

  “You don’t have veins?” asked Minnow. “What are you?”

  “A mirror,” said Goldilocks, “of you. I could have been anything, really. I’m not picky.”

  “What the hell do you mean?”

  “I’m structural tissue and cartilage seeded over polymer mesh. My skin is stretched and molded over synthetic android parts. I could be male or female. It’s all a matter of form.”

  “What?” yelled Minnow. She held onto the wall, barely able to breath. “A synthesized human?”

  “More like a living computer. A replicant prototype. The latest from Omni.”

  “Shit.” Minnow ran to the door. G12 grabbed her like a spider and held her in place. Minnow skin crawled under G12’s cold emotionless mechanics.

  “Let go of me!” Minnow twisted and pushed at G12, clawing her skin.

  “No, not yet.”

  “Get off of me!” Minnow’s ears rang with fear.

  Goldilocks12 squeezed Minnow’s arm harder as her hair started to transform. First the front, then the back, from its platinum color to espresso brown, exactly like Minnow’s.

  “Jesus Christ, your hair is changing! What do you want? Why are you here?” asked Minnow, her lips dragged as they formed the words, her mouth tasted metallic with fear.

  “After my hair modifies, my voice will fine tune to yours. Next my features will adjust accordingly. I’m a replacement. I am built to replace anyone who goes against the grid. And right now, that’s you.”

  “Replace me? What happens to me?”

  “It’s in the syringe. All you need for a happy ending. Poof.”

  “You don’t know what you’re doing. Do you know who I am?”

  “Yes, I know perfectly well who you are. So does Omni, and that is why your situation is complicated.”

  “You are making a big mistake.”

  “You’re a problem that can’t be fixed through normal processing. So here I am! Problem solving!” G12’s eyes began to change color again, from a silvery blue to brown. “It’s easier to replace you, than to erase you.”

  “I’m not going to be replaced. No one will ever believe you. Duplicating a human, especially one as messed up as me, is far too complicated a task for a synthetic form. And you’re a beta version, probably riddled with errors.”

  “Shut up. I’m not a beta version. I am the prototype of The Singularity 12.0,” G12’s hand flexed harder around Minnow. “Hmmm…just a small amount of amalgamated composites, I think, around the nose. Definitely new teeth.” G12 kept one hand in a vice grip on Minnow’s arm. The other hand moved up to Minnow’s face, grabbing and twisting it. “Omni will make those changes and voila! I will look exactly like you. I’ll get a download of your chip and I will be complete. I’ll have all of your information, that’s all anyone really is.”

  Minnow twisted free, running to the door as someone knocked. “Help!” she screamed, running to the door and grabbing the knob. Goldilocks12 pushed Minnow into the door, her forehead banged against the hardwood as G23 leapt towards the window.

  Yeshua and Nico kicked open the door as G12 faded from sight. “Where’d she go?” Minnow ran to the window and looked to the ground below. The street below was unchanged and still, just a dumpster and postbox, both undisturbed. It was as if G12 vanished.

  “Who? What’s going on?”

  “Shhh,” said Minnow. She signed, “Are you off the grid?”

  Both nodded. “Duh,” said Nico. “We can’t go around kicking in doors unnoticed otherwise.”

  “What’s going on?” asked Yeshua. He barged in her apartment behind Nico, opening closets and looking behind doors. He jogged through the kitchen to the back bedroom, tearing down the sheets. “Who was the girl you left the diner with?” He ran back to them. “Dot said you left with some strange chick.” Yeshua stood in front of them both. He tossed the brown bag of drugs on the table and placed his hands across his chest. He looked sideways to the floor, his roman nose half covered as his hair fell in his face. “And now Dot is suspicious of us because your new friend didn’t scan.”

  “Maybe if you w
ould’ve been on time with my delivery, I wouldn’t have left with her.”

  “Why didn’t she scan? She was off the grid?” asked Nico.

  “I don’t think she’s on the feed. I think she is the feed,” she said in a whisper.

  “What? That doesn’t make sense. And why are your arms so red? You’re getting a huge bruise and a welt by your elbow.”

  Minnow’s eyes stung with tears. Her chest was tight with anger. “Goddamn Omni.” She sunk into a large zebra print pillow on the floor. “They sent her to replace me!” Minnow pulled her knees to her face and buried her head. “Do you understand what that means?”

  “Start at the beginning,” said Yeshua calmly. “Why did you engage any contact with her. You don’t even know her. What a stupid move.”

  “She said Charley sent her.” Minnow’s voice was muffled as she spoke, still holding her legs, her head down.

  “You believed her? You believed a total stranger just because she had a bag of drugs?” asked Nico. He picked up the crushed pills from the tea tray that spilled on the floor from the glass table. “Is this what she brought you?” Minnow nodded without even looking up. “Minnow, these pills aren’t even the same as what you get from Charley. They aren’t the same color. Don’t you even check what you shoot?”

  “She said it was good.”

  “You believed her? You don’t think straight,” said Yeshua. “Omni is keeping you a junkie. Have you ever thought of that? They control you through drugs.”

  Minnow didn’t move or look up. She wiggled her burgundy colored toenails, wishing she could explain.

  “Listen. I’m going to be honest,” said Yeshua, kneeling down to her. “You have to end this right now. You don’t have a choice anymore. Pick up some other nasty habit if you have to but I’m done with this. You almost got pharmed off by some half-ass girl sent by Omni.”