-1-

My body felt completely purged as I lay against the wall—I was using every bit of energy in my body to support myself. I was weak and hadn’t eaten in what felt like days-- I had no idea where I was, I was afraid.

After we had crossed the border the drugs the redhead had given me became too powerful for me to stay conscious and I was knocked out. When I came to I was in this place, completely alone.  Somewhere along the line someone changed me into the spare clothes I kept in the back of my car for when I played basketball. The room I was in had 4 concrete  walls and a cold steel bed without even a mattress on top.  I had yet to summon the energy to get up and lie on it. I was still constantly seeing  fragmented lines, images and matriculated data floating by me but, the images never made any sense. I imagined it was some part of my Syndicate that was still plugged in and malfunctioning with the chrome in my body.  I was feeling hopeless but thankful to be alive, my head was throbbing with pain even though I had no memory of hitting it. Everything was muted and I just felt depressed like a piece of me was missing. Occasionally,  I heard footsteps from outside the door and I always begged for answers , for help , for mercy, for anything.

I had come up with a few  news ideas of what was happening to me. Maybe instead of money what  they wanted was some secret from Kytoxcin labs, after all if a BioFarm wanted to open they had to go through Tempus Corporation.  Maybe they thought I knew something about the company ---which  was a common misconception. Everyone thought because I was so much dad’s son I knew all about science and was a prodigy like him but, truthfully I knew very little about the company. Science held no interest to me, I liked visual technology.

Maybe I could find a way out make a run for it. Although, that seemed pretty useless—I  had no idea where I was.  All I knew was that I was literally in a whole new territory.

-2-

A long time ago before my dad’s time, before my grandfather’s , before modern time really,  there had been a world war that was then called World War III but, was later known as the Serial World Wars. It was the first non-guerilla warfare the western hemisphere had seen in years.  It was complex and vicious spawning decades and changing the globe as people knew it. In the late 2000's The battlegrounds had reached United States soil in the worst way possible-- it ripped the country in half practically leaving one the few remaining world powers in absolute ruin.

When the war finally ended, instead of building up the whole country  they made the desecrated west coast into strictly manufacturing land  owned by the new  government.  The geodesic dome went up on the east coast and created the Metropolis Axis stretching from Boston to Atlanta and New York to Chicago. The entire area became the wonderful urban sprawl it was today and was home to millions of people.  There were still a few people who resisted moving to the new Metropolis Axis and threatened more warefare.

Once the domes were put up—to avoid a civil war-- the country was split in two. The industrialized area became the  Eastern United States and the land of the insurgents became Former Republic of the Western America—an area that no longer resembled it’s eastern counterpart. For the last decades it was considered a completely separate entity.

Because the Former Republic  expanded from Former LOs Angeles to Former LAs Vegas the area was referred to as  The LOLA. It was run by some form of Eastern government militia keeping some laws in place. The Eastern militia was the only thing keeping it possible for some military bases of Easterners to live there and keep peace. However most knew truthfully the Western Republic was run by organized crimes, gangs and the chrome cartel. I was still wondering which one I was involved with.

I heard footsteps walking closer to where I was confined and I began the same begging but the hallucinations started again and only got brighter burning my eyes. Everything splashed out  of focus and I was moving not of my own volition, I felt large hands moving me, they were rough and strong. 

When I stopped and everything became clear  I was sitting in another area. It was still gray and dark but, bigger--- it looked like a huge parking garage. The walls were all lined with doors, like a hotel or something.  I was leaning against a wall sitting on the floor, my arms and legs still tied in front of me. I could make out a staircase in the side of the room, I was either in a basement or bottom floor of some windowless building. The only item of color I saw was a red tomato a few feet away from me. I tried pathetically to reach the tomato with my hands but, it was to far away.

I heard the sound of the door at the tops of the steps open and the clicks of heels, I saw the red headed girl come down the steps with a paperbag in her hands. She was wearing dark jeans that fitted to her legs and black boots with a tight low cut tank top,  I could make out the top of thick black print going across her clevage and I saw even more black print sprawled across her exposed midriff but I could not read what  it said. I had heard of girlfriends of gang members getting tattoos as a form of protection so, this had to be some kind of gang thing. I also noticed a variety of bruises on her arms.  Who was pulling her strings ?

She looked surprised to see me and paused  like she was trying to tell if I was real. After a second she walked full speed to a door opposite me and opening it stuck her head in. I heard some hushed words.

“Please, I want to go home, my dad will pay . . . what do you want,--,” I begged

She slammed the door shut and  ignoring my pleas she  walked over  and picked up the tomato. She reached into paper bag  and pulled a jar of  constituted food out of a bag and opened it--  throwing it in front of me. It was green and looked like some kind of vegetable but, it smelled vile. Despite what my mind and nose were telling me,  I ate it-- I was so hungry. I stole occasional glances at her, she had no sympathy in her eyes, they were just full of cruelty.

The  door the farthest to the right suddenly swung open and I was assaulted by the brightest fluorescents I had seen in my life. I heard more clacking and uncontrollable high pitched laughter. Two figures entered the room a girl and guy-- both of them looked relatively young, they were laughing loudly and holding on to each other.

-3-

The girl had dark brown hair that fell to her back and the pieces crowning her face were colored a deep purple. She was wearing a tight purple skirt that covered 2 inches of her thighs, a white tank top and a black jacket. She was covered in sparkling jewelry and  gemstones adorned the sides of her purple lined eyes

The guy had bright white hair with black tips that dusted his neck, his eyes too were heavily lined-- he was wearing an open buttoned white shirt and heeled boots underneath dark  blue jeans . As he got closer to me I noticed one of his eyes was blue and  the other purple.  It wasn’t much but, those two were the most color I had seen in a while.

The girl was  holding on tight to the boy--he was supporting as she leaned against his body. They shared a kiss not even acknowledging the redheaded girl who was looking to them with disdain her hand tapping her holstered weapon. The purple haired girl turned her head to me and walked over to me and ,the boy holding her hand followed behind.

It didn’t take much to deduce he was a joyboy and she was a joygirl.

“Holy shit, this is the collarboy, huh ?” the girl slurred, crouching down to my level but keeping her distance.

The boy  came even closer and straddling my lap he started touching my face.

“I’ve never seen one up close before . . .  you’re fucking beautiful,” he commented running a hand through my hair and looking close into my eyes, “Fucking Nikons, brother ? ,”

“Stop,” the redheaded girl said to them, loading a magazine into her gun and walking back up the stairs.

“Please you have to help me she--,” I began

“His teeth are so perfect they could be a god damn credit reference,” the purplehaired girl added.

“Please, she kid--,”

“Oh, honey,” the girl said, putting her arms around the boys neck.”We can’t help you.”

“Do you see the size of her guns ?” the boy added taking a seat next to me.

We’re they being held captive as well ?

“I’m Minnie Dory, by the way” the girl said

“And I’m Jean Dory,” he added taking my hand and shaking it.

This was to surreal.

“Well, um,look--my name is Alan Gray. Listen um, my dad he has--,”

“Your—your-d—d  Dad,” Minnie laughed. She convulsed into more shrieks of laughter and fell sideways hitting her head against the concrete floor. Jean stood up and picked her up off the ground so she was sitting up.

“There she goes. She’s burning . . . Alan,” he said and lifting her up into his arms, “Come, let’s go to bed, Minnow”

They disappeared off into one of the halls and I was once again left alone. 

Where the hell was I ?

I was surprised by his lack of personal space but, I wasn’t surprised by Jean’s reaction to me. Especially if he was from the Republic ---but judging by his own looks he may not be. And Minnie may not be either.  With the elimination of physical surgery in the late 2000’s and the age of laser medical care and super microscopes the mysteries behind human life were quickly disappearing.   Within the last fifty years they learned how to  locate every gene  on every human chromosome. Some we didn’t even know had existed. The world was finally rid of  thousands genetic disease that people once fell helpless to.

And in the past few decades—like everything else gene mapping had become a necessity and affordable, when it came to family planning.   Some couples started planning everything about their children including who they would be and what they would look like. In my parents case I had been planned from the beginning, they had first went to a specialist where they separated all the sperm so only the ones that made a boy where implanted into Mom.  It wasn’t very common for people to choose the gender because some people liked to do things the natural way and gender selection was still unpredictable but, Dad was convinced raising a boy in this world would be easier. When the doctor told my mom she had a single fertilized egg she had it placed in an in vitro tank where overtime my parents picked and chose each gene that went into me.

The physical ones were the most popular ones to pick out, the genes that made my face shape, eye color, my height, metabolism and so on.  The second most popular where the ones that  were  able to filter out genetic diseases and finally some people took out genes that were linked to bad tempers,  and other negative characteristics. My parents had chosen each feature that went into me--  blonde hair, blue eyes, facial features that were absolutely symmetrical and anything that did not come out right could have easily been fixed on theory.

In school we learned people were opposed to the idea at first because it was unnatural but, when it became readily available in the 30’s everyone had access to it. And it was great for the economy because it created more jobs. Generally speaking most people did not discuss the gene therapy of their children outside of families but, in places where I lived everyone knew everyone did it. It was probably why  despite the prevalence of different races and ethnicities- we all looked the same. It was nothing to be ashamed of just nothing to talk about, my dad used to compare it to sex.

 The room I was in suddenly shook and there was a loud boom outside like a piece of metal colliding. Some of the cement in the walls shook and tiny loose fragments fell on me covering my face in dust.

Minnie walked speedily out of the room Jean had just carried her into and ran up the stairs. She was barefoot, wearing only a black bustier and shorts, her hair pushed back into a ponytail. She came down the steps a few seconds later and she seemed like she was going to walk right past me but then stopped to the side of me. She took a tissue out of the left breast  of her top and handed it to me. I saw Jean come out of the room and immediately stood over Minnie.

“I would shut down on the tears, glitterboy,” Minnie advised

“I’m not crying,” I explained wiping the stray tear.

“It’ doesn’t rain in here, brother,” Jean smiled

“It’s from a surgery,” I explained

“What  do you mean ?,” Minnie asked sitting next to me again, “Tell me—tell us,please”

She asked like I had some fascinating story to tell—like I wasn’t tied up against my will in some strange place.

“When I was born one of my eyes wasn’t even with the others and it was a little cloudier and my mom didn’t like it,” I started,” So, when I was 5 I had a new pair of cornflower Nikon lenses permanently installed into my eyes-- like you saw. It made both of my eyes an identical shade of blue and I had better than 20/20 vision. It was an experimental procedure that Tempus—the company my Dad work for was trying. My Dad volunteered me and I was fine, until one day my  Mom noticed I was crying for no reason and would not stop. It turns out there was some kind of complication with my tear ducts and the surgery. They couldn’t fix it without more of a risk—it’s nothing it’s just now tears sometimes come down for no reason. It’s  the only time tears can come from my eyes.”

“Wait so—what happens when you like really cry ?” Jean asked

“You don’t want to know,” I said. I wasn’t trying to  be mysterious, it was true, it was not pretty.

“I know a fixer for a ripperdoc,” Minnie said,” Might be able to help you at a black clinic, you’d have to spill though,”

My face must have shown my inability to understand her.

“A fixer is a contact, “Jean explained,” Ripperdocs work in black clinics doing illegal bioware and borging mostly . . . but they are legit docs and fix most shit. Of course they charge big,”

I had no idea where to operate from here, I was getting some conversation and the Dorys seemed nice, they wanted to help me and they didn’t seem to be in league with the redhead.

“Look, Jean, um Minnie I have no idea what is going on,” I said, “I just want to go home,”

“If Minnow and I let you leave you walk out the door you'd be streetmeat, brother,” Jean said,” I’ll admit she is techno scum but, the damn bitch has a collection of fletchers--- a weapon you don’t want to come in contact with,”

“Why do you have me ?” I asked

“I don’t know why she does half the fucking things she does,” Minnie said

“What is her name ?”I asked. Maybe I would recognize it.

The Dorys exchanged looks mouthing words to each other until Minnie shook her head

“Sara Grace,” Jean finally said, “I think that’s all we will say about her,”

The earth shook again and the cement crumpled, the Dorys held on to each other until it passed.

“What is that ?” I asked

“Men at work,” Minnie mused.

“Just where, I need to be,” Jean smiled shrugging off his shirt and leaving it in front of me,”Maybe you could use that, brother. She'll think tears are weakness.”

He walked out the door leading to the outside.

“ I thought he was--,”

“We’re trisexuals,” she smiled , “We’ll try anything . . . anyone,”

I took it she was still intoxicated and tried to ignore the comment.

“Of course with tech these days . . .,” she started in an almost philosophical tone but then stopped,” Well, whatever.”

I still could not place what was happening and if Minnie was a friend or enemy. I decided to get to the point

“Are you guys going to kill me ?,” I asked

“Jean and I ?  We  aren’t exactly planning it,” she laughed, “And I think if Sara was going to do it she would have.  . .  she’s a fugitive and usually blows anyone who sees her face to hell. Even killed a cute little dog who looked at her too hard. Of course she could just have some special death planned for you—I’m not sure. . .  usually a bullet to the head, that does it,”

Minnie drew a circle with her finger in the center of her head and then tucked her feet underneath her. Just then the door opened and after being assaulted by the bright light again Jean stepped through his hand around a man in a sloppy looking military uniform.

“Hello, Sergeant,” Minnie said walking over to him and pulling at the man’s jacket,” Wow, you pirates sure have gotten sloppy,”

“Shut up, bitch,” the pirate said to her  but she laughed it off.

“Now, now play nice,” Jean interrupted and then held up what looked like a small microchip,“Look how lucky I’ve gotten, Minnow,”

He tossed the microchip around in his hand and then let it fall to the ground

“This way, sweet brother,” Jean said taking the man’s collar and leading him up the stairs

Minnie stood at the staircase watching them go up. She turned her gaze back to me and then she walked up the staircase. I figured all hopes of negotiating my release were gone.

And where did the staircase lead, anyway ?

A few minutes passed and Minnie came back down the staircase quietly, she sat next to me and set a plastic container and aluminum waterbottle in front of me.

“It’s soup,” she said opening it and giving me a spoon, “It’s got vegetables and all. And this is a protein shake, I like to make them—I mean you look like you need it and all ,”

“Thank you,” I said and I had never meant it more in my life. I decided to leave the questions I had for her alone at the moment. If I was going to be held here I could not ruin this possible friendship.

After a  half hour of Minnie watching me eat there was a loud click followed by a few gunshots and I heard a loud ‘shit’ from Jean.

The sound of footsteps  got louder and Sara Grace  stormed down the stairs with  a gun in her hand, she walked right up to Minnie and put the gun to  Minnie’s head. Minnie instantly stood up her hands in the air.

“Why—“

Sara clicked the gun to show her it was loaded.

“Stop,” I said, not even knowing why

“Shut up,” Sara spat at me, her eyes were suddenly diverted to the microchip on the floor.

“What is this ? Black ice ?,” Sara scoffed picking it up,” This may be called a former republic but we still have laws. And I have rules against bringing those damn greedy looters who can’t pay for their own shit in here. And this kind of software that can do God knows what. You bring in one looter, you bring them all,”

Sara pushed Minnie into a wall before taking the gun from her head. She placed the chip on the floor and shot a round of bullets into it before walking back upstairs.

When she was out of sight, Minnie pulled her Syndicate  on  and sat transfixed looking into it. She looked like some kind of robot staring into the space when Jean came downstairs. He quickly kneeled down in front of her and took her in a hug and long kiss. She didn’t even look up from the hologram-- I felt like I was intruding on a moment.

“Did she kill him ?” Minnie asked still looking into the hologram

 

“Of course she did,” mused Jean standing up and picking up the pieces of the shattered microchip “ I bet I could have gotten top cred for this black ice too,”

“How much blood ?” Minnie asked and Jean responded with a laugh.

“Good old cement poisoning,” Jean said finally

“That’s brilliant,” Minnie said,”Suicide is common among thieves and it sets an example,”

“I suppose,” said Jean,"So,what do you think we should have for dinner ?"

***

The next few days—or what felt like days—I took comfort in the company of Minnie and Jean.  It is hard to use the word comfort when I spent all my time in the enclosed space but, Minnie at least made sure I had a little something to eat. I soon learned that they were never going to give me any answers as to why Sara had kidnapped me, where I was or what her plans were.

In my head I had it worked out the they all must live together out of necessity and maybe Sara was their landlady or something and that’s why they put up with her. Of course when you looked like Minnie, I didn’t really understand why she couldn’t live wherever she wanted, she probably made more than enough money. Then again with the high stupors she was often in I imagined she spent all her money on drugs. I felt bad for Minnie—and Jean too, they seemed like to nice of people to be caught in such a vicious cycle, I wished I could help them.

Minnie was sitting next to me putting a thin brightly colored wafer candy on her tongue with Jean close by his arm around her shoulder. While they had shrugged off Sara almost killing Minnie in the moment I think it did scare them. That’s when I noticed something.

“So, Jean . . .  you don’t, um do drugs ?,” I asked

“Do drugs ?,” he chuckled, “No, I guess I don’t , brother—I’m always on a self induced high,”

“When she took me,” I began,” I think she gave me chrome or something. I’m really sensitive to light and I see hallucinations, I can hear colors and--,”

“That’s not chrome,” Minnie explained, “That’s just--,”

She stopped mid-sentence and shifted her eyes to the staircase, there was a rhythmic sound of footsteps followed by Sara coming down the stairs.

“Tomorrow,” she said walking towards us ,”We are going to do it tomorrow,”

At this point I noticed she was ignoring me and talking to Jean and Minnie like I wasn’t there. She pulled something out of  a cloth and unwrapped it to reveal a machete.

“Jean, you are going to cut him in two even pieces down the center and then we will take the body to the embassy,”  she pulled a paintbrush out, “And Minnow at the embassy you will leave a note for our friends.,”

“What kind of note ?,” Minnie asked

“Noli me calcare,” Sara snapped at her. Sara gave me a quick devious smirk and then walked back up the steps.

“Please,” I said as soon as she was out of sight, “ You guys don’t let  her--,”

“Damn, I hate this part,” Minnow scoffed.

“Just let me leave, we can go together I--,”

“Quiet, brother,” Jean said taking my hand, “Just enjoy your last day on this godforsaken earth,”