WELCOME TO CYPRESS CREEK: A NEW COMMUNITY FOR A NEW PEOPLE
Vicky rolled her eyes at the animated AR sign as she drove into the apartment complex. The Evo-owned “transhuman” community always irked her. Mostly because she found the AR displays of satyrs, changelings, and whatever the hell else dancing around almost as annoying as ditzy personality software.
She parked her bike and accessed the node of the main entrance door. Medium security that would keep out amateurs and moderately talented hackers. Vicky couldn’t help but smirk as the door slid open a minute later with a cheerful voice bidding her welcome. She was going to rub this in.
Luckily for her, Vicky didn’t run into any other residents by the time she got to the door. She dialed a number on her commlink.
Joey “Carwash” Buckley answered. His tusks didn’t do much to hide his sleepy features. Not to mention he didn’t have a shirt on and his hair was messed up. Well, what else could you expect at eight in the morning. “Yeah...? Oh hey Vic.”
“Hey Joey. Open up.”
“Shit…give me a minute.”
After two minutes the maglock of the apartment door clicked open. Vicky strode in. “You know, you really should get better door security. I…” Vicky stopped when she spotted a very leggy ork woman hastily putting on a jacket around her arms. This was going to be awkward.
Joey emerged behind the woman dressed in a plain white t-shirt. “Er…Vicky this is Jackie. Jackie, this is my boss.” Vicky smiled and nodded at the woman who smiled back. She mumbled some sort of greeting then kissed Joey and quickly hurried out of the room.
“You know,” Vicky said as she watched the woman leave. “I’m not a tusk-chaser but that one’s got some legs on her.”
Joey grinned and brought up an AR menu for his household drone. “Picked her up last week at the Inferno. We’ve been hitting it off pretty good. You want some coffee?”
Vicky nodded and sat on one of Joey’s couches. “Sure. So a real life goomah, huh? I thought you only went for the Matrix versions.”
“Nothing like finding out your virtual girlfriend is a real sixteen year old troll with a hard on,” Joey said, rolling his eyes.
Vicky had to laugh. “I’m assuming you’re not talking about the one that’s on his head. Still.... if I didn’t know better, I’d say my favorite techno was going native.”
Joey grinned. “Fat chance. I just wanted to expand my horizons, that’s all.” He sat on the opposite couch and eased back into it. The drone came back and gave him a cup of coffee which he sipped at eagerly. “So what’s so important you got to go pissing on my love life?”
The drone handed a cup of coffee to Vicky who took it. As she drank the coffe she regaled Joey with the tale of Nicky Caps and Barry Coins. Joey shook his head after she finished.
“Fuck… You sure about this? I mean who says that Caps went rat?”
“Roseena said so.” Vicky glared at Joey just long enough to end that discussion. “Plus, he’s gone to ground. Nobody can call or email him. His commcode is dead as Dunkelzahn.”
“So why me? Why not…”
“Because,” Vicky said, interrupting him. “Caps lives in the Matrix. He may not be a techno like you but you probably have a better idea how he operates than I do. Plus you two were chummers weren’t you?”
Joey looked uncomfortable as he set his mug down. “To hang out at the VR clubs and cathouses yeah. Couple of VR games. Friendly, not friends really.” He shrugged. “He likes anime girls in his cathouses and he likes support roles in VR shooter games. Don’t know if that helps.”
Joey looked uncomfortable as he set his mug down. “To hang out at the VR clubs and cathouses yeah. Couple of VR games. Friendly, not friends really.” He shrugged. “He likes anime girls in his cathouses and he likes support roles in VR shooter games. Don’t know if that helps.”
Vicky gave him an impatient look. “No idea what hole he might have jumped into?”
“Not really. I…”
The two were interrupted by a household drone that popped out of a container on the side of the couch that Vicky was sitting on. She watched the small bot as it began to travel around the apartment, vacuuming diligently. Vicky stared at the thing as it zipped to and fro.
Joey laughed. “Just my robo sweeper Vic. You probably brought enough dirt with you to get it moving.”
“I figured as much,” Vicky said, still watching the drone.
Joey glanced at the drone then back at Vicky, his smile fading. “Something wrong with it?”
“Actually,” Vicky said. “It just helped me figure out how we’re going to catch our rat.”
