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CHAPTER TWO
The neighborhood where Jack’s bar was located was abuzz at this hour. Many people came here to have fun and forget their troubles or real lives for one night. Most of these people were coming from the Core, and Eden could recognize them in one glance. Perfect haircuts, bright smiles, clean and brand new clothes. They had no need to hide their shiny, white teeth behind masks as long as they could endure the smell, pollution, and dust for a few hours. They would be back to their polished and worryless lives before dawn. For people like Eden, however, there was nowhere else to go back to. She walked to the bus station, before remembering she needed more money this month... Eden hesitated. She glanced up at one of the giant screens on the buildings. The air quality that night wasn’t good… and her face mask probably only had enough oxygen for the trip back. If she made a stop by the shop to recharge her oxygen, that would be more money, but she needed that refill anyway.
Moreover, taking the bus saved time, but it was still costly. The blonde shook her head and changed her trajectory without remorse. Like every day on her way home, she was doing the math over and over in her head. Adding up the cost of what she needed to buy, subtracting what she had to pay. Eden had always been good with numbers, but no matter how many times she did the calculations, it never fell on the positive side.
Walking added an extra half hour to her trip back. Most of the streets were empty. No one wanted to waste oxygen with a trip outside. The few people she crossed paths with were on their way to work, probably not able to afford the bus, like her. Although all but their eyes were covered by their face masks, no one lifted their eyes off the ground to look at her. Everyone was busy going their own way. Sometimes though, she’d recognize a familiar face and nod, but no matter what, Eden kept walking. No one had time to stop for a chat.
Finally, she spotted the little corner store. She walked in, deactivating her mask right away.
“Namaste, Miss Eden!”
Eden walked up to the counter, handing her mask to the middle-aged man behind the glass.
“How are you, Said?” she asked with a tired voice.
To her surprise, the man answered in Hindi with lots of gestures. Eden frowned.
“Did you deactivate your translating software again? I thought you had taken a full one this time?” she asked.
“No, no! No money!”
Eden grimaced. Every time his shop was in a pinch, the poor man had to deactivate his software to save himself some money. It was always bad news for him though, as most people wouldn’t bother to try and understand him. Although Eden had no idea what he was saying, he kept talking in Hindi, so she nodded, aware that he only needed to vent. He knew enough English to understand his customers, but he most likely didn’t realize he was using his native tongue instead.
“Pay?” he asked.
Eden nodded.
“Yeah, making the transfer right away.”
She felt the little device in her neck vibrate and mentally accounted for the money that must have been taken out of her account. Said nodded and thanked her, or something along those lines, and she left the little shop, taking a deep breath before putting her mask back on.
She was already halfway home when she left the little shop. Eden had to live in a different neighborhood from the one she worked in. Not many places hired Parts for many reasons. Not only did people like her have a bad reputation in many communities, but they had more costs than others to maintain their cybernetic parts, and no one wanted a worker who could physically break down at any moment... She put all those dark thoughts aside and instead began to sing the lyrics of the song that was playing when she left the bar. It was one of her favorites, one of those old songs she could listen to and forget everything else.
“Homesick, tired, all alone in a big city, why should everybody pity me... Nighttime’s falling, folks are a-singin’... they dance till break of day...”
She had heard it so many times, she could hum and whistle every instrument’s part. She would swing her head and go on like this, forgetting how tired she was. It was slow, dreamy jazz that matched that time of the night. She liked the raspy, deep voice of the singer as if she could see him in an old black-and-white movie.
Just like that, with those legs that wouldn’t get sore or tired, she arrived home in no time to the familiar, quieter streets of the Lower West Side. This part of the Suburbs wasn’t really under any of the Zodiacs’ watch. It was stuck somewhere between the territories of the Italian Tiger, the Chinese Dragon, and the Mexican Eagle. While the first two didn’t really care for that territory, the last one was using it as an excuse to cause trouble. Sometimes, men wearing luchador masks and driving big vehicles would suddenly come down the streets and cause a ruckus for no reason just to see if they could annoy the bigger monsters. It never really happened though. Old Man Long was too busy to care, and the Italian Tiger didn’t seem interested at all. In the end, only the people from Eden’s neighborhood would suffer in silence.
“Evening, Miss Eden,” said a man when she finally arrived in front of the building.
That man was middle-aged, wearing a bandana over his face to protect himself from the dust, and a rifle. Eden frowned.
“Evening, Manuel. What’s going on?” she asked, pointing toward the gun.
“Ah, you know, the usual,” he replied with a strong Hispanic accent. “My wife is grumpy, so I came down to stand guard. A kid was shot last week, and we heard gunshots two hours ago... but I’m happy you’re okay.”
“Thanks,” said Eden, glancing toward the upper floors. “You be careful. ...How is the baby?”
“She’s really cute, but she cries a lot. My wife and I had a fight again; she wants another one!”
Eden felt a bit sorry for him; the poor man looked exhausted. He would probably have been better and safer upstairs than standing here on the sidewalk.
“But you have that job at the factory now...” she said.
“I know! But you know how my wife is. She thinks we will all be condemned by God for using those. I try to tell her I can bring good money home now, but she doesn’t like it.”
He pointed toward his neck, where he had recently been implanted with a SIN. Eden sighed. Manuel was a good man, but he had struggled so much until he could finally get one, and it included some sacrifices as well. His wife was very religious, and she hated anything that modified their bodies. She wouldn’t even talk to Eden and cursed or started praying in Spanish every time they saw each other.
