Page 27 of The Fall

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.”

Serpent Heart Hid with Flowering Face

Explain.” Lusa didn’t wait for an answer. She left in the wrong direction.

Kerr dusted herself off and raced to catch up. Damn her short legs. Lusa walked like she was trying to show off her arse, long slow strides that covered far more ground than Kerr’s knobbly legs. “Explain what?”

“Why am I doing this?” Lusa didn’t turn around.

“Does it matter? We have your sister.” Twilight had collapsed into night, but even in the dark, Kerr could see that Lusa hadn’t corrected course. “Where are you going?”

“I need to know how much guilt I’m going to carry running your errands. And I’m going to that old fuel station over there.” Lusa continued walking. Strands of black hair had worked themselves loose and were now whipping about her face in time with her long jacket kissing her ankles.

An odious display of wealth. Who wore a jacket when Thermabulles existed? Though, she had to admit, it looked nice. Kerr followed the lines it made from her broad shoulders to her waist, tapering out and accentuating her hips with each step, wondering whether a jacket would make her look taller. She doubted anything could, aside from a full body transformation, and the Styx controlled the only DocPods that could do that. Maybe the Adlets did too. No-one knew what they had.

“And you need that for what now?”

Lusa didn’t answer. She entered the doorless kiosk and rummaged around the bottom shelves.

Standing awkwardly, Kerr waited while Lusa threw old tools and expired snacks around the shop. More hair fell from her bun, tracing her neck seductively, like a lover might with the backs of their fingers as she bent over. Standing, Lusa held a small eth canister aloft. Kerr averted her eyes, only to have them fall to her…

“What are you staring at? Let’s get this over with.”

Kerr grit her teeth, willing the embarrassment to dissipate. “You didn’t answer my question.”

Lusa scoffed. “Model 2 is over there.” She pointed off toward a tower gone dark years ago, the blocked starlight being the only indication that it existed. “You want to walk across the city?”

“You have a car?” Given her jacket, Kerr shouldn’t be surprised at that level of wealth.

“No.” Lusa stopped at a wreck covered by rubble that had been there so long, scrub brush had started growing through the windscreen.

Kerr scrambled to catch up. “I don’t think an eth canister that small is going to make it go.”

Lusa made a sort of strangled noise in her throat. Kerr thought it might have been a laugh. “At least you have a sense of humour.” She ripped a canister from a motorcycle hidden behind the wreck and replaced it with the new one.

How depressing was it that she tried to stop herself from glowing at the barest hint of praise? Kerr focused on the bike instead. It didn’t look like a factory job. Someone had clearly chopped it to pieces and reassembled it with several mods for rough terrain – unsurprising, given the state of the roads around here.

“Have you ever ridden one before?” Lusa threw the empty canister in the boot of the wreck.

Kerr shook her head. “I’ve never seen one that works. Where did you get that?”