In Delay There Lies No Plenty
In the dusk chill, Lusa pulled the furs up around her chin. The sun may have started rising earlier, but the ground was still frozen and the air, dry and crackling with static.
That had been a long day. Her excitement to see Tyton again had been tainted by that strange meeting and Pinga babbling about Chalice after she’d spent the entire time ogling her instead of doing work.
Then, their transport had blown an engine and they had to return at a slower pace.
Pinga happily filled the extra time with her nattering.
Chalice was pretty, but Pinga’s swooning was excessive.
The other one, Kerr, was striking in her own way too.
Lusa had never seen skin so white that it practically glowed.
If she weren’t covered in more freckles than her sister, it would have been blinding.
She was tiny, too. Lusa was bigger than most girls, but standing next to her made her feel like a giant.
Lusa rolled over. Kerr clearly hated her. She and her had caused most of the damage the last time they’d met. Though no-one but them seemed bothered by it anymore.
Still. Kerr’s mouth stuck in her brain. Small, like someone had pinched the corners of her lips together.
It made her blue eyes look bigger than they already were.
The thought unbidden, she wondered how they might taste.
It wouldn’t be the first time unsummoned images of someone off-limits broke through the defences of her tired mind.
Unlike her sister, she had the decorum to keep it to herself.
A soft knock at the door prevented her from drifting off. Not the sound of an emergency. More of a sorry to disturb you.
After learning how often Pinga had seen her naked, Lusa held the fur tight across her skin before opening the door. It was Danica, her auburn curls a floppy mess.
“Hey,” Danica said, arms hugging her middle. “Can I come in?”
“Aren’t you not allowed to see me?” Lusa tried not to sound bitter about it. They all knew why.
Danica quickly rolled her eyes. “I’m twenty-six.”
That was true. It was hard to forget that they were no longer kids when everyone and their parents all lived in the same place.
“And it was mom who forbade it. Dad thought she was being overprotective.” Danica shuffled her knees in the cold. “So, can I come in now?”
“Uh, yeah. Sure.” Lusa stepped aside.
Danica found a stuffed chair and sat, back straight. The loose-fitting shirt fell off her shoulder, revealing the unevenly healed mark Lusa had left. A reminder of where feelings got her.
Lusa tried not to look at it. “What do you need?”
“It’s about Pinga.”
“You’re the one that shared Emma with her. I’m not getting involved in that.” Lusa raised her hands. The fur fell open flashing a nipple. She raced to cover herself.
“Pft.” Danica blew her off. “Your sister is fun, no offence, but no-one in their right mind would want to raise a kid with Pinga. She’d leave you to cook and clean up their messes while she played fun mom.”
Lusa didn’t know why she should take offence. Pinga was fun. But she’d be a terrible partner.
“Not like you,” Danica added.
“That can’t happen,” Lusa snapped. She looked directly at the mark this time.
Danica followed her eyes and pulled her collar down farther. “That was how long ago. Nobody cares about that anymore.”
Lusa bit her cheek to keep herself from commenting.
Chelsea and Tara were the first to get pregnant and that had started a cascade of young women who had given up hope that a nanite-free man would be found.
Long-term partnerships were starting to coalesce.
But those deeper connections weren’t for her. She hurt people.
“You came here about Pinga, not me,” Lusa deflected.
Danica looked disappointed. “Right. Pinga left.”
“What?” Lusa almost let the fur slip again. “When?”
Danica held out a scrap of paper. The same one Lusa had seen Chalice pass to her. “She told me to wait an hour and then give you this.”
“And you did?” Lusa took the scrap. It was an address in Tyton, but not the place where they’d made the exchange.
“No!” Danica scoffed. “Pinga’s an idiot. She stole a transport and left ten minutes ago.”
“Goddammit, Pinga.” Lusa dropped the fur and started throwing on clothes.
Danica bit her lip.
“For fuck’s sake, stop gawking and help me pack.” Lusa threw a rucksack at her.
Danica caught it. “Why? If you leave now, you’ll catch her before she makes the last few kilometres on foot.”
“The other transport is in pieces.” Lusa found her monocle and pinged Sparx.
Within minutes, Lusa, Sparx and Siku had assembled in the hangar.
“I know you said not to tell anyone yet, but one, Talia will kill me and two, Siku was already here.” Sparx looked like she hadn’t gone to bed yet.
“I heard the transport take off.” Siku didn’t look pleased. “I told them they were worried about the wrong kid.”
Setting aside the small measure of vindication, Lusa focussed on how to prevent Pinga from walking into such an obvious trap. “How do I get to Tyton without a transport?”
“You know you’re not responsible for her, right?” Sparx leaned against the grease covered tool bench, shoving her hands in her pockets.
“She thinks she’s going on a pussy run and she’ll deal with the consequences when she gets back,” Lusa said. “Do you honestly think that’s why Chalice slipped her the address?”
The colour draining, Sparx looked to Siku for reassurance. Siku held it together better, but his neck stiffened at the implication. If the Chargers knew about Pinga’s fertility, they would either traffic her or torture her to reveal the location of the Lake. “They can’t possibly know about that.”
“And if they do?” Lusa rifled through the supply cabinet. She was ready to go after her on foot if she needed to.
“She’s right.” Sparx cleared away some debris in the way of the rovers. “It’ll take you a day, but that’s faster than we can put the transport back together.”
Lusa shook her head and pointed to a dustcloth behind it. “I’m taking that.”
“My bike?” Sparx looked offended.
Siku shook his head. “You’ll make it there, sure. What about getting back?” He tapped the fuel gauge. “Two of you on the bike will take more and there’s nowhere to fill up between here and Tyton.”
Lusa brushed the hair out of her eyes. “We just have to make it to where she stashed the transport. That’ll carry us both back here.”
“Sure.” Siku pointed to the giant fuel tanks. “But she didn’t fill up before she left. That needle hasn’t moved.”
“Fuck, Pinga,” Lusa swore. “Get me your survival gear while I prep the bike.” She ordered Sparx around like it was her job.
“I’ll get Pinga and then we’ll camp while we wait for you outside the city.
” Lusa had already pushed past her and wheeled the motorcycle to a clear spot on the floor.
She grabbed an impact gun and started pulling apart the cowling.
“What are you doing?” Sparx tried to pull her away.
Lusa threw her off. “I’ll get there faster if I make it lighter.” She tossed a side panel on the ground. “If you get me the gear, you don’t have to watch.”
Knowing she wouldn’t win, Sparx gave up and left to get her survival tent. “You’re too much like your mother,” she muttered.
Haphazard chain link surrounded a dimly lit row of flat-top offices, their neon signs flickering occasionally.
Whatever remaining power source they were using had been tapped into by more than one group of addicts.
The boarded-up windows and lack of footprints indicated that the location was seldom used, somehow even more run-down than the rest of Tyton.
Lusa scanned for electronics before pulling open the door. She waited a moment before going in, hearing the static fuzz of the doorstopper that would have no effect on her.
Mannequins, some in lingerie, lay strewn about the floor, along with disconcertingly realistic dildoes. This shop had probably gone out of business long ago. With DocPods making gender transition or mixing and matching parts cheap and easy, the market for adult toys had diminished considerably.
“About time.” Chalice’s voice came from the back room.
As she suspected, the promise of sex had lured Pinga into a trap. Lusa straightened her spine. Her monocle showed only three heat signatures – not enough to identify anyone like a biosig, but she knew who two of them were and she could guess the third.
Yanking Pinga from someone’s bedroom, dragging her back to the transport and letting her moms deal with her would have been too easy. At least she wouldn’t have to catch Pinga in fragrante delicto.
She scanned a second time for signs of an ambush. They were alone – the one saving grace in this mess.
With years of experience keeping up her mask, Lusa walked calmly to the storeroom at the back.
Pinga’s eyes lit up with relief, but Lusa didn’t waver.
Dangling uselessly, Pinga’s right arm had been disabled with an EMP cuff, while her remaining limbs hung on ropes to the bars of a go-go cage.
Kerr, whose small mouth had invaded her mind just last night, pursed her lips in determination, holding a very large pistol to her head. Too large for her hands.
Between them and her, sat Chalice, dirty combat boots resting on an old table.
“You have my sister in a sex-dungeon?” Lusa moved to circle the table. “She’s probably into that, you know?”
Chalice stuck out her leg to stop her. “It’s not a sex-dungeon. It’s a holding cell.”
Lusa raised her chin. “She’s wearing a ball-gag.”
“Because she wouldn’t shut the fu… You know what? Fine. It’s a sex-dungeon. Happy?” Chalice threw her hands up. Whatever Pinga had said had been annoying enough to earn her a gag and keep Chalice in a mood.
“You know mom’s going to kill you right?” Lusa looked her idiot sister in the eye. “After she kills these fools. And their gang. Hope the fuck was worth it.”
Attempting to say something, Pinga quickly dropped her head in resignation with the gag in the way.
“You’re not taking her anywhere.” Chalice projected bravado, but Lusa caught Kerr’s grip on her pistol faltering a bit. These two were amateurs.
Lusa shrugged. “I’ll take her wherever I want, after I kill you.”
Kerr pressed the barrel of her pistol against Pinga’s temple. “You’re not that quick, yeah?”
Chalice placed a heavy looking ceramic cylinder on the table. “You’re going to take this to Model 2.”
“Why can’t you do it?”
Chalice ignored the question. “Under the floor of the Ruskov chamber is the core. Get it to expose the core and then download it to this.”
“Again, why do you need me to do this?” Lusa pulled her coat tighter.
“Your biosig suppressing tech.” Chalice exhaled like she was exhausted from having to explain herself. “Siku refused. You refused. We had to do it the hard way.”
“Ah, right.” Lusa ran her tongue across her teeth.
“Let’s say I do this and get you what you want.
They’ll still hunt you down. I don’t think you understand who you kidnapped.
” Sesi killing that trader in front of her like it was nothing had left a lasting impression.
These two would be lucky if they died that quick.
“That’s not your problem.” Chalice’s voice wavered, her own mask starting to slip, but she refastened it quickly. She pushed the cylinder across the table. “Kerr will go with you and fill you in on the details.”
Kerr looked surprised. This was obviously new information to her.
“Return here with the core and we’ll walk away,” Chalice said.
“You know there won’t be any coming back from this, right?” Lusa picked up the cylinder and tucked it under her arm. “There won’t be a third chance. If you survive.”
Chalice stood, the chair grating noisily against the concrete. “We won’t need one after this. We won’t need anyone.”
Pitying them, Lusa shook her head. They had no idea what they were getting themselves into. She motioned for Kerr to follow her. “Let’s go. If I get her back before the day ends, you might have time to flee before the rest of the Adlets get here.”
She turned to Pinga next, who at least had the good sense to look ashamed. “Be a good girl, Ping. And remember your safe word.” It was a bit too far, but after dealing with Pinga’s nonsense, she didn’t have the energy to restrain herself.
Lusa let her stoicism fall away once they were out of Chalice’s sight, kicking a silicone dick on her way out.
It thudded heavily against the wall and landed at an angle that would make anyone who owned a penis wince.
The door closed with a ridiculous chime, as if a service worker would come rushing to attend to your fetish gear requirements.
Gravel crunching under her boots, Lusa realised she only heard her own footsteps. Lusa turned to find Kerr caught in the doorstopper. The poor girl’s slicked back hair had fallen into a dishevelled mop and she twitched helplessly on the ground.
Commenting on their incompetence wouldn’t be productive.
She needed to get this over with and get Pinga before Talia and Sparx repaired the transport and the rest of them got here.
Not that the Chargers didn’t deserve whatever was coming to them.
Lusa disabled the doorstopper. “Sorry.” She held out her hand.
“I had no reason to disable it on the way in.”
Kerr eyed her suspiciously. Lusa couldn’t fault her. This entire situation was absurd. “How do you do that?”
“Do what?”
“Just… not have any other cyberware?”
She might as well have asked a blind man how he could live without the colour red.
Lusa shrugged. “Look what it got you.”