Another GERA Preview
Actually, a bunch of little tiny previews, mostly of interest to those who have read Blurred Line.
Rodney likes gardening. Takes his mind off things for a while, makes him feel normal. He used to drive around a lot, after a job. He’s out of the city now, though, and when he drives home he’s filled with anxiety. Always looking over his shoulder. Always making sure no one’s followed him. He used to sleep in hotels every night when he was working, in worse places when he wasn’t. Now he’s got a place. Things are different. Can’t have people following him home. Sometimes, when he’s gone about half the distance, he’ll pull off to the side of the road, shut off the car for a while. Just sit. He’ll wait for an hour, maybe two, then get out of his car and walk a mile in the direction he came. Just to be sure.
Kat nodded and pressed forward. When she looked around, Malcolm was already gone. Big Ten soldiers and the androids were swelling to the northeast, just as he said. She ran to catch up, firing whenever she caught sight of the dark blue Natural Life uniform. Bullets whizzed past her and she flung herself to the ground, landing between a pair of Big Ten soldiers. The one on her left was in command of a large energy rifle, one of the few salvaged when the Big Ten were pushed back into the compound years ago. He was doing a rather large amount of damage with it, rocking the Natural Life line with explosions that sent soldiers flying up into the air. The one on her right might have been dead, but she saw the hands twitching slightly, clutching at his gun.
Charlie wakes up. Feels herself being pushed back down. All she sees is black. She can’t breathe. Charlie claws at the thing covering her face, but it won’t come off. She flails her arms in all directions, hoping to hit something. Her left hand slams into something hard. She hears a deep grunt and, momentarily, the pressure of the thing on her face slackens. Gulps in a breath of air, but something smashes down into her face and she gasps. She swings wildly in the direction she made contact before, but only finds air.
Nakato hangs up. Calls Room 212 to make sure the plane tickets are in order. When she’s confident everything is running smoothly, she’s alone in her room again. Staring at Frankenstein. Tapping her fingernails on the desk. She reaches down to the bottom drawer. It’s protected by a fingerprint combination lock. She presses her finger against the pad on the back of the lock, watches the seal retract from the dial. Spins it to the right numbers, watches it click open. Worth its weight in gold these days.
Pulls her flatscreen from the drawer. Worth more than its weight in gold. Nakato powers up. Touches the image of a chrome apple.
But I thought I had enough. Figured three things had sparked Natural Life’s takeover. The android rally, the rise of a sentient net and the assassination of their leader. Figured it was simple, really. Just one group taking power from another.
I never saw all the blank spaces.
Let me show you what I mean.
//EXECUTE FILE(B) TRANSFER
Rodney likes gardening. Takes his mind off things for a while, makes him feel normal. He used to drive around a lot, after a job. He’s out of the city now, though, and when he drives home he’s filled with anxiety. Always looking over his shoulder. Always making sure no one’s followed him. He used to sleep in hotels every night when he was working, in worse places when he wasn’t. Now he’s got a place. Things are different. Can’t have people following him home. Sometimes, when he’s gone about half the distance, he’ll pull off to the side of the road, shut off the car for a while. Just sit. He’ll wait for an hour, maybe two, then get out of his car and walk a mile in the direction he came. Just to be sure.
Kat nodded and pressed forward. When she looked around, Malcolm was already gone. Big Ten soldiers and the androids were swelling to the northeast, just as he said. She ran to catch up, firing whenever she caught sight of the dark blue Natural Life uniform. Bullets whizzed past her and she flung herself to the ground, landing between a pair of Big Ten soldiers. The one on her left was in command of a large energy rifle, one of the few salvaged when the Big Ten were pushed back into the compound years ago. He was doing a rather large amount of damage with it, rocking the Natural Life line with explosions that sent soldiers flying up into the air. The one on her right might have been dead, but she saw the hands twitching slightly, clutching at his gun.
Charlie wakes up. Feels herself being pushed back down. All she sees is black. She can’t breathe. Charlie claws at the thing covering her face, but it won’t come off. She flails her arms in all directions, hoping to hit something. Her left hand slams into something hard. She hears a deep grunt and, momentarily, the pressure of the thing on her face slackens. Gulps in a breath of air, but something smashes down into her face and she gasps. She swings wildly in the direction she made contact before, but only finds air.
Nakato hangs up. Calls Room 212 to make sure the plane tickets are in order. When she’s confident everything is running smoothly, she’s alone in her room again. Staring at Frankenstein. Tapping her fingernails on the desk. She reaches down to the bottom drawer. It’s protected by a fingerprint combination lock. She presses her finger against the pad on the back of the lock, watches the seal retract from the dial. Spins it to the right numbers, watches it click open. Worth its weight in gold these days.
Pulls her flatscreen from the drawer. Worth more than its weight in gold. Nakato powers up. Touches the image of a chrome apple.
But I thought I had enough. Figured three things had sparked Natural Life’s takeover. The android rally, the rise of a sentient net and the assassination of their leader. Figured it was simple, really. Just one group taking power from another.
I never saw all the blank spaces.
Let me show you what I mean.
//EXECUTE FILE(B) TRANSFER
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home