18. Enter the Dynasty #4
“Kell was at the head of a little drama not long ago. You see, as one who has control over most of Nichely’s streaming agreements, he controls the prices for certain services.
Nichley hired him on because of this little scandal though it could have ended his career if they hadn’t saved him.
They liked what he did, despite how unethical it might have been, but we all know ethics are just an excuse for the self-righteous to remain prideful and condemn the rest of us.
You see, Kell worked with rights and pricing for Mental Media prior to Nichely.
Have you ever wondered why Nichley’s streaming service is the most affordable to the lesser districts, despite the other companies continual efforts to price match? ”
“Sure?”
“Nichely will always be the affordable option for those lower district people because Mental Media charges every other service exponentially more for streaming their content, to ensure they are on good terms with Nichley. The Mental Media subsidiaries will always charge a higher price for other services because of this. More than half of the studios producing mindshows are owned by Mental Media, so anyone who wants a service, needs them. They charge more for rights, other distributors need to charge their customers more. They can make any excuse they want to bring you to their services, but Nichely will always be more affordable.”
“That’s…”
“Zegging brilliant, isn’t it?” Lyler laughed. “And no one can do anything to him because of Nichley. If you want your mindshow back in the forefront, he’s the man you want.”
“Do you mind introducing us?”
“Why of course! Come.“ He took her hand and sped ahead on thick-platformed shoes, twisting his head in every direction like a pigeon in the middle of Zingang.
I kept up by forcing my way through clusters of people, surely earning scowls though I had no time to apologize.
The music ate up the scoffs, gasps, and complaints–if there were any.
I was still trying to understand the proper form of behavior for an event such as this.
The eccentric talk-show host wasn’t the best example to base my reading on, though it was hard to find the best behavior between the fornication to my left and the civil vows to my right.
I stopped before bumping into Naoma, looking up in time to see her before bumping her into a Finian butler. The Sea-mech offered a black substance that pulsed like a heart in an open clam shell. I politely declined and turned to look at the savory alternative.
Zeg, Lyler had nice teeth. Perfect pearls with a violet sparkle under the light of the room.
Despite the two jeweled incisors, I wanted to pluck each of them and savor their unblemished enamel like a reclined hedonist enjoying grapes.
I licked my molars and almost shuddered at the thought of someone else’s in my mouth.
The powdered remains on my tongue like cocaine in the nose of an addict suffering from withdrawals.
The idea of that innervated pulp against my tongue caused me to shiver.
Naoma took my hand. “Yes, this is my boyfriend, Petya.”
She moved it forward to another man whose teeth looked just as delightful.
His face tensed as I held my hand out, limp, but I couldn’t care about anything more than those teeth.
He didn’t have any ornamentation like so many other people I had seen here.
A fresh set. Unblemished by the foul diet of poverty.
Naoma squeezed my hand. I turned to her. Despite the glimmer of her teeth, I did not reach for them. The promise I had made to her to never harm her overrode my hunger. I had enough will to do that but knew such strength would soon expire.
She moved my hand out to shake his. The vice of his fingers against mine woke me. The hunger remained, but I held onto clarity, knowing that it would soon expire with the next surge of desire.
“Sorry,” I said. “The music was turned up too loud on my neurospace again. I love the Finian beats, you plug?”
The man chuckled. “Yeah, I get that. So you’re the du from Medislavia, huh?”
I took him in, now that I could focus on something other than his incisors.
He wore thick-framed glasses and had a silver scalp with a variety of violet illustrations, some of which were classic Nichley characters with a grim twist. He didn’t even attempt realism with his yellow eyes, which had star pupils to match the yellow star-pointed light-fund makeup around his eyes.
Stars adorned his tight black tracksuit with another grim rendition on his right pectoral, this one a skeletal Elmer the Eel with a smile despite his decomposing flesh.
I flashed my eyes in my neurospace for show. “Sorry, I turned the Fin+ mod all the way off. Can you say that again?”
“You’re a Medislacian influencer?”
“Yes.” It wasn’t hard to force a smile with the excitement of feeding creeping up on me. “Just as they say.”
“How interesting. I don’t even notice an accent.“ He snagged a drink from a Finian and offered it to me. When I refused, he passed it to another person who glared, then shrugged. I was glad the other person wasn’t standing with us. As far as I could tell, Kell was alone.
“All the Republic media makes it easy to learn Amerikese while you’re young, you plug?”
“Right.” He nodded and sipped his drink. “I’m kinda glad we don’t have to waste our time here with guk like that.”
“Like what? Learning a language?”
“Uh, yeah?”
“Don’t you want to travel?”
“Most people know Amerikese. Just look at you! Why waste time?”
“Don’t you ever want to appreciate their culture? That’s why I travel, at least.”
“Yeah, then you settle here in the best country conglomerate known to man. Why waste my time with other cultures when I found what I like? No offense, of course.”
Like that helped ease my frustration. I forgot about my hunger for a moment.
I had met too many Republic citizens who thrived on convenience and denied anything new because they thought they had already won the birth lottery.
I appreciated the Republic, but people like this made me want to follow that Arabasian dream.
I relaxed, knowing that any frustration I bore would just make it easier to feed. ”
“Of course not, du!” I clapped him on the shoulder and looked around. “So, who’d you come with?”
“Why tie myself to anyone when people like you come to me!“ He laughed and I joined.
“Zeg ’em!” I said.
He agreed, though I didn’t even know what I had meant in the first place.
Lyler was speaking with Naoma. I patted his shoulder. “See you around!”
His initial response was an awkward glance, but he took the hint and left with two blown kisses.
“So how do you party here?“ I asked Kell.
“Really a first timer?”
“The girl brought me along.”
“Now that you’re here, you can leave with a different one!” He laughed, smacking my shoulder.
Zeg, this guy was a total shac. With her exaggerated breaths and clenching fists, I could tell Naoma was just as done with him. I didn’t plan on enjoying the event but knew that we couldn’t accomplish anything until I satiated my need.
A Finian with a tray full of devices neared us.
“You a fix user?” I asked.
“Do I look like a stuck-up shac?” He reached for one of the devices.
I took one as well. It was a small disk about the width of a finger with the diameter of my thumb.
I swiped the touchscreen display to see an array of fix options, all highlighted with a different color and font to characterize them.
The first option had been a modified socitab–not a surprise for a party where boastful people like Kell might end up alone, despite their best options to force interactions.
Worrytabs, amptabs, and all of the other usuals were in the array, but I noticed a near endless among of lesser known fixes, including the illegal options Tevon had told me about from his dealing days.
“What’s your pick?” he asked.
I looked up at him.
“Still here, du? Maybe get you something to calm yourself the zeg down.”
“Then you’ll show us around, right?”
“Of course! Here, let me choose a favorite for you from the vast selection they have so kindly offered.”
I smirked. “Only if I can choose yours.”
“I dunno–”
“Weak shac.”
He laughed loud enough for me to hear his smokers wheeze as he smacked my back. “Fine, but let’s find a place to chill, you plug?”
He nodded. “You hittin’ a fix, Neon Idol?”
She shook her head.
He leaned in and I could smell the alcohol in his breath.
“That means we can go all out if you’ve got a guide home.
Don’t worry, Idol, I can take any fix this guy throws at me and still hold a conversation on business.
Setting up a Republic stream for The Red Geisha isn’t that possible, but if you treat me right, I’m sure we’ll find a solution that makes the both of us happy.
“ He pointed down one of the many halls. “Follow me, dus. We’ll settle in for a nice ride. I’ll give you a tab no Medislav has ever even imagined. ”
I laughed with him and turned to Naoma as he left the way. I whispered, “I need you to guide me for a sec.”
“Why?”
“I need to ask Ral something in my neurospace.”
“Be quick, I don’t want to waste a breath on this shac.”
“We’ll get rid of him soon enough.”
“Are you sure?”
Kell waved back. “Come on, du! You’re dragging major!”
I pressed ahead and switched sides with her to put her between him and me as we caught up. “Sorry, do your best to keep his attention away.”
She linked her arm to mine and I entered my neurospace. She started speaking with him, but I couldn’t focus on the words as I opened my messages. What he said didn’t matter, the tone was enough to tell me that she was keeping him occupied by stoking his ego.
Petya: I’m at a party and I need to feed. I’ve got access to any kind of fix. Target is a cocky du who deserves it. We decided to give each other fixes.
Ralia: So you’re in the Dynasty guk?
Petya: We’ll chat later. Naoma’s distracting the shac and I’d rather not have that continue for too long.