3

Liz’s apartment was cosy and, thankfully, quite warm. The portière beads jiggled as they entered through the doorway, and Luna saw a single black bed, an arcade machine, and a sexy computer set-up on the far left side. The screens were dominated by steady-flowing binary numbers, and the desk was overcrowded with technological gewgaws. Liz even had a Jensen of her own; it lay under a twirl of knotted cables.

This place was dreamy, thought Luna, apart from the smell of one too many cigarettes. “Wow,” she said, thinking of the supercomputers at Vadchia, and how these machines looked just as advanced as they did, if not more so, and about how much money Liz must have been pulling in to afford them. Couple grand a week? Surely. “Neat place you got here.”

“Thanks,” Liz said, pointing to the small gap in the wall where clothes hung. “Set them over there. I’ll show you some things I found.”

Vanderman scratched his beard. “What things?”

“Some of the upgrades available to you,” she said. “Might take a likin’ to ’em, I’d say.”

Luna set both cases under the wardrobe. “Are these useful upgrades?” she said slowly. “As in, things that can help us steal HelpMe?”

Liz sat at the swivel chair in front of her computer set-up, a slanting smile on her face. “Better. Things that can bring your suit from Tier 3 to Tier 2. Possibly even Tier 1.”

“A Tier-1 haptic suit?” said Vanderman, laughing with disbelief. “How’s that work?”

“How everything else in the city works,” she said. “We tweak it, it improves, and depending on the AI properties, it can keep improving until it hits the max manufacturing-limit. Same with this suit.” She began typing at incredible speed. “The more we add to it, the more the AI can learn, and the better it can operate.”

“So what about these disguises?” said Luna. “How do you plan on adding that property in?”

“I already have everything I need,” she said. “Or, actually, your suit does. It’s just, when you bought it, the manufacturer turned it down because, in general, suits like that are used to protect people from electric shocks.”

“So?”

“So the invisibility... that’s just a neat feature,” said Liz. “It creates a protective barrier around the suit that repels electric charges.”

“Interesting,” said Vanderman, thoughtfully rubbing his chin. “And what about hands? Feet? Can it protect those when invisible?”

She shook her head. “Here.” She turned the screen. Luna and Vanderman stepped up, peeking.

A list of the suit’s capabilities appeared in a box window, each labelled with either a , , or .

Luna pointed. “What do these numbers mean?”

“They're tiers,” she said.

Luna’s eyes trailed from the to the opposite side, where a smaller box read . “Is that it? The disguise setting?” She pointed again.

“’Course it is,” Liz said. “These are just some of the things the suit can do, and that’s without any additional instalments.”

“How do we get ’em?” asked Vanderman.

“Leave it to me,” she said. “Crackin’ into cyberware’s my specialty, ya know.”

Vanderman chuckled. “Let’s hope you don’t end up with a virus too.”

Luna had been thinking about that herself, about the possibility of the suits containing something equally as threatening. After all, she had been wearing it when she tapped into the cybersafe. There was no saying what Glitch was capable of when it came to spiking tech.

“’Lax Vanderman,” she said, spinning round to face him. She crossed her arms under her breasts. “If there’s a virus on it, I’ll know long before I even attempt to tweak it.”

Luna leaned against the wardrobe and stuffed a hand in her pocket. “And what if there is? Think you could” – she clicked her tongue – “take it out?”

She smiled. “If it earns me that margarita you promised, then sure.”

“It’ll have to wait,” Luna said, more roughly than she had intended. “Just getting here causes us enough money problems.”

“You don’t work?” Liz said calmly.

She shook her head. “’Less you’re accepting newcomers?”

“Not really,” Liz said, crestfallen. “Wish I could, Luna, but…. God, that sucks, doesn’t it? Have you tried applying to jobs in – ”

“I’ve tried everywhere.” Luna saw the way her eyes widened and added, “If I had a job, I wouldn’t be in this mess in the first place. Couldn’t find a job then ’cause of the shortage, can’t find a job now ’cause who in their right mind wants to hire a criminal?” She strolled over to the bed and sat with her legs spread apart, pulling her hood down and revealing her rain-slickened blue hair. “So yeah, it sucks with a capital ‘S’.”

“With all caps,” added Vanderman. “Ain’t nothin’ for us out there.”

A moment of preternatural silence passed through the apartment, quiet enough to where Luna could hear thunder rumble in the distance. It was travelling farther away from the city. Either that or it was making a quick pitstop at a gas station before deciding to head on back.

“You guys have a car?” said Liz, resting her chin on her thumb and forefinger.

“Did,” said Vanderman.

Before he could continue, Luna cut in: “He crashed it on the freeway.”

Vanderman laughed. “You just won’t let me live that down, will ya?”

“Not while we’re in a situation where we actually need a car,” she said in a slightly galled tone.

“I can help,” Liz said.

“You’re already doing enough,” Luna said. Again: the words came out rougher than she had intended.

“No such thing as doing enough,” she said with a smirk. “’Sides, it’s not like Dyker’s gonna help. Even if he is slightly less pissed at you two. And me.”

“What’s that guy’s deal anyway?” said Luna.

Surprisingly, it was Vanderman who answered: “Protective father, I bet. Why’d you think he adopted a kid in the first place? He's, ya know, inactive in the cannon, if you catch my drift.”

Liz waved her arms in defiance. “’Nough about that. Point is, I can help in more ways than one. You need a ride? I’m your girl. Just say the word.”

Vanderman said, “I ain’t sure you’d want me driving your – ”

“Good thing you’re not driving,” Liz said, once again with that glistening smile. “I am.”

Luna stared at her with perplexed eyes. After a moment, she said, “You can’t be serious?”

“I’m goin’ with you,” she replied. “If you think you can handle breaking into the Legion without at least one set of outside eyes, then you’re highly mistaken.”

Luna was already aware of that being the case; she just couldn’t see Liz offering much in close-up action. She was a cyber-doctor, not a criminal, not someone who knew how to execute heists or plans or whatever it was that got them the big bucks. And she thought back to the mistake she made when trusting Chip to sniff out the location of those gauntlets – and he had experience. One slip-up in the execution could result in all of them getting killed. The Legion weren’t some pushovers like those store clerks or maintenance workers; they were vicious and wouldn't hesitate on shooting. All you had to do was look at them in a weird way. PHUT! Gone.

Luna explained this, zipping her jacket down and revealing the baggy black shirt Vanderman had given her. The one which read セクシー and had a picture of a muscular woman in shades holding a shotgun. She wasn’t real; it was from a popular Japanese anime based on the ZLB Triangle.

“I can handle myself,” said Liz, her voice tinged with incredulity and displeasure. “Legion spells danger, yeah, but so does goin’ in alone. I’ll stay on the outskirts and hack into their security system so you’ll have a rough idea of what to expect.”

Luna suspired deeply, dipping her head. “You’re cray-zee.” Then she bobbed her head up again and, with a creeping smile, said, “But I guess you’re right. You’ve already helped this much, and I’m really thankful for that. Sorry if I come across as rude….”

“Not at all,” said Liz. “I can’t imagine what it must be like…. Well, I can, as you know. I guess that’s why I have a soft spot for you, Luna, what with your sister and all.”

“What about me?” joked Vanderman, spreading his arms. “I’ve had to listen to her!”

“Sure,” Liz said immediately, and then, with a bemused grin, she pointed at him and asked, “You’re the guy who crashed the car, aren’t you?”

Luna laughed and Vanderman scoffed.

“Seriously,” said Liz, “I’m hopin’ we can get Andy out of this. And if we can… well, then that’s a win-win, isn’t it?”

It would be. This Andy Butler kid would be in serious danger if someone had kidnapped him, along with all the other children. But there was no saying if there was a link between him and Sarah and perhaps even Glitch. Luna struggled with that.

By nine o’clock, Luna and Vanderman left Liz’s apartment complex and caught yet another cab back to Vanderman’s joint. The weather only seemed to get worse, and the people on the streets were swiftly retreating into their homes (if they had any), leaving only the traffic, which of course never faltered. By eleven o’clock Luna was back sleeping on Vanderman’s hard-bedded couch and thinking about Sarah. She tried not to. She tried to avoid the thoughts of her suffering at the hands of Glitch. She tried to avoid the thoughts of her dying. But no matter what, her brain would keep returning to those possibilities, and it made her feel so sick that during the night she headed into the kitchen to grab a glass of water. She ended up puking in a polyethylene bin. So much worry. Far too much.

Perhaps it had also been an effect of the soLong virus, which would pop up with its endless cocks and vaginas every time she opened her eyes. It gave her a constant headache, and even began to make her feel a little dizzy.

Regardless, she went back to the sofa after another thirty minutes, thinking of the dream she had earlier that day on the taxi-ride home from Bridge Scarlet, and how dejected it made her feel.