Chapter 24

“Gabriela?” A voice called out in the distance. “Gabriela, you need to get up.”

She slowly opened her eyes and the world came rushing back to her. She choked and coughed, sharp pains shot through her body. Gabriela heard Soma’s faint voice.

“Are you okay?” Soma asked her. His voice sounded fuzzy and distorted.

“I don’t know.” She said as she struggled to sit up. She was in a dumpster that was nearly full. Her side hurt. “I think my ribs are broken.” She admitted.

“I cannot believe that worked.”

“It’s a good thing it’s not Wednesday.” Gabriela sucked in a breath and lowered herself to the ground. She stumbled and cursed when she let go and fell the last few feet.

“What happens on Wednesday?”

Gabriela had to put a hand on the dumpster to steady herself, and carefully felt her side, assessing the damage.

“They empty the dumpster.”

A light laugh crackled from her earpiece.

“I think my earpiece is damaged.” Gabriela fiddled around with hardwear.

“As long as you can still hear me then we can deal with that later.”

“Okay.” Gabriela took a few unsteady steps away from the dumpster. “What do I do now?”

“We need to get you off the streets. I can block any cameras or scanners around you, but that will only work for so long. Once they figure out a mancer is helping you then they will look for outages.”

“Right, a black out means they know where I am.”

“Exactly. Right now, that’s all I can do. I can’t do anything if someone recognizes you, so you need to find some way to keep your face concealed or obscured. There is a head shop not too far from here. Head towards it, and stay away from people.”

Gabriela slowly limped out of the small trash dock of her apartment building. She peaked around the corner and saw Cy-Tech officers swarming into her building.

“Try not to look suspicious,” Soma warned. “They still think you are in the building.”

“Okay.” Gabriela slipped around the corner and kept walking.

She held her breath when a group of officers trotted past her. One slowed and shouted at her.

“Get behind the security ribbon!”

She nodded and did as she was told, and walked as fast as she could without limping. There was a crowd that had gathered around to witness the spectacle. A security raid in the Lower City was commonplace, but here, in the Upper City, it was a fascinating sight that people couldn’t pass up.

Gabriela slipped into the crowd and became just another gawker among the throng of people. She slowed down once she made it through the mass. She needed a way to mask herself.

Glancing around she noticed a woman standing at the mouth of an ally. Gabriela pegged her as a street walker the moment she saw her. The woman looked almost like a body doll from a high-end sex shop.

“Jesus sweety, what happened to you?” The woman asked when Gabriela limped up to her.

“Just a tumble, that’s all.” Gabriela smiled.

“Hell of a tumble. Are you looking for a tumble of another kind?”

“I um-” Gabriela glanced over her shoulder as the gunship passed overhead.

“Don’t worry about that nonsense.” The woman waved her hand at the scene unfolding behind her. “They got better things to do than waste time on two consenting adults, and sex isn’t illegal.”

“I actually want your jacket.” Gabriela cut her off.

“My jacket?” The woman raised an eyebrow. “This thing is a piece of shit you can get from any street vendor. What do you need it for when you got clothes like that? What brand is your jacket, Castaol?”

“It is actually. Would you want to trade, no questions asked?”

The woman smiled and shrugged and took her jacket off and handed it over to Gabriela.

“Thank you.” Gabriela said as she handed over her own jacket.

“This looks a little used, honey.” The woman narrowed her eyes at the stains the jacket had picked up from the trash.

“It will wash out, and it’s worth twenty of these.” Gabriela slipped the purple jacket on. It was long sleeved with a short waste, which was meant to leave the midriff exposed. It had little actual function as a jacket, but it had a hood, which she slipped over her head as she made her way down the street as Soma directed.

“Why go to this store, and not one of the ones I am walking past?” She asked as walked past yet another shop.

“This one doesn’t have a vid screen in it, so they won’t recognise you, if we are in luck.”

The shop was a small, skivvy joint tucked away in the retail space of a nearby building. A bell rang when she pushed the door open. There were no vid screens, just as Soma had said.

“Go to the counter and ask for a nanite tattoo.” Soma’s voice crackled.

“I need a tattoo.” Gabriela mumbled as she walked up to the counter. She kept her eyes down, as if she was perusing the shop's wares.

“What kind do you want?” The bold, heavyset clerk asked. His meaty hands pressed against the top of the glass case as he leaned forward. “We got the basic pre designs, and then there are the more pricey ones that you can design yourself with an app. App cost extra though.”

“Pre design.”

“Alright, do you want to look at the catalog?”

“No.” Gabrelia shook her head. “I’ll take a Japanese dragon.”

“A classic.” The man snorted before he turned away to get the tattoo.

Gabriela slowly walked along the glass cases studying the items within it. It had what you would expect. Glass pipes, water pipes, vape rigs, and the assortment of trinkets like knives and shurikens. She paused when something out of the ordinary caught her eye.

“Is this a meta deck?” She asked and pointed at what looked like oversized sunglasses.

“Yeah.” The man said. He sat the tattoo kit down in front of her.

“Does it have audio?”

“It does. You looking to take a dive in the Ether?”

“Something like that.” Gabriela slid the crypto chip across the glass.

“What kind of coin?” The man asked as he eyed the chip causosly.

“Cronos and Ethereum.”

The shopkeeper took the chip and ran it, before he bagged up her purchase and handed it over to her.

“Have fun with it,” He grunted. Before he turned away and headed back to do whatever it was he was doing before she had walked into his shop.

Gabriela took the bag, but said nothing. She left the shop and headed to the nearest alley, before she sat down and unpackaged the tattoo.

“You are going to apply it to your face.” Soma warned.

Gabriela sighed as she took the metal injector from its packaging. “I was afraid you were going to say that.”

“It’s only temporary. Don’t inject it close to your eye.”

Gabriela took a deep breath before she pushed the end of the injector against her face and pressed the button. There was a sharp pain followed by an agonizing burning feeling that caused her to gasp and wither against the wall of the building.

“The pain will fade, just take deep and steady breaths.”

“Fuck.” Gabriela wheezed at last. The pain finally had begun to ebb. Her face felt warm.

“The nanites under your skin are going to project a small amount of light, which is going to change the pigment of your skin. It looks like this one has animation as well.”

“Neat.” Gabrelia said dryly before she powered on the meta deck and slipped it over her eyes. Within seconds the Ether was displayed around her. A false reality transposed over reality.

“Where are you?”

After a moment Soma’s avatar materialized. It was custom made, far too intricate to be purchased on a marketplace. The avatar had a masculine build, and looked like it was made out of golden light, his face was a bizarre amalgamation of human and machine, and his hair was flowing locks of cables and plugs.

“Soma, in the flesh.” Gabriela whispered.

“As close to it as anyone has seen.” Soma looked over his shoulder. “We need to get you off the street.”

“This pistol has a tracker in it.” Gabriela pulled the weapon from her waistband and examined it. The clip was full, and it seem to be well maintained. “Can you disable it?”

“I already did.”

“Okay, where do I go from here?” Gabriela struggled to get to her feat. The day's events had taken their toll on her body, and she was starting to feel it as her adrenaline faded.

“I have a safe house set up for you. Follow me.”

Gabrelia nodded and limped out of the aley, following a golden ghost.