SF in The City Anthology (18 page)

             
“Well they satisfy me,” Ovid took another puff and handed a cigar to Pazzo. Then he turned to Velns and tossed him two. “Take one of those to Zlo. He’ll appreciate it.”

             
Leon could already notice a change in the killer’s eyes, as if wispy clouds formed behind their pupils. It was then that he knew he had a shot. The men had taken in more solicitin than most of Leon’s past prospects. 

             
“Mr. Naga sir?” the salesman said with confidence, “would you be interested in selling me your services.”

             
“Why sure dude,” Ovid holstered his skinning knife. “You want us to kill someone?”

             
“Skinning is our specialty,” Pazzo said with a dazed look behind the mask.

             
“Well you don’t have to skin him, but I was wondering if you could shoot someone for me?” Leon tried to hide his relief. His plan actually looked like it would work. 

             
“Name him,” Velns said eagerly.

             
“Well, uh, this Mr. Husher you said hired you for this job?”

             
“That’s a fact,” Zlo said as he walked into the room for the first time, his cigar emitting a sizable cloud of smoke. It was obvious he was under Leon’s influence as well.

             
“If the four of you could take Husher out and forget that you ever met us, I’ll pay you handsomely.” Leon pointed at the now confused Derrick. “I do mean both of us.”

             
“We’ll take whatever payment you wish to offer us,” Ovid said sleepily.

             
Leon suddenly couldn’t help but laugh a little, still shocked by how close he had come to death. Pointing at his satchel, he said “take that and all it contains as payment.”

             
“We appreciate your graciousness,” Zlo said dumbly.

As the four men left the trashed apartment, Derrick shook Leon’s hand in excitement, and then he remembered Ovid still had his rifle. “Leave that here,” he sai
d as he pointed at the weapon.

             
“Whatever you say,” the psychopath set down the gun.

             
“Hey you guys, just one more thing,” Leon got up and called to them.

             
“What is it?” Ovid looked back at them and continued to smoke his cigar with a blank expression on his face.

             
“Your breath will smell like smoke. Make sure that you guys chew the gum I have in there after you’re done with the cigars,” Leon pointed at the satchel and smiled.   

Episode 9: “‘
Laugh’ the Android Said”

“Welcome riders to the Polyphemus, The City’s tallest roller coaster!” Lada Lark said enthusiastically, the sound inflator on her neck broadcasting at the highest volume setting. “Please keep all your appendages inside the car at all times.”

             
As fun as the prospect of working in an amusement park sounded to Lada when she finished her junior year in high school, it wasn’t the amazing summer job she anticipated. That day she had to be at the park by 7:00 AM to prepare for the Cacoethes Club’s morning ERT (exclusive ride time). This club had a reputation for their inhuman endurance, and the Polyphemus was the most popular roller coaster at the Pleasure Province amusement park. She would have her hands full all day.

             
When the first train of half-awake coaster enthusiasts sped off into a world of thrills, Lada could already see the waiting line filling up. The weather forecast for the day said that it would be a high of 35°C by 1:00 PM. With a bottle of water and two bottles of “Quenchify” by her side, the operator was ready for the heat. Quenchify was a smart beverage that exited the body as 100% sweat, so the drinker wouldn’t need to hit the restroom too often. For someone with an overactive bladder, Lada saw this as the perfect product, though she also realized that water was still necessary if one wanted to stay hydrated.

             
Another group of passengers swung off into oblivion, since the last train had reached the bowtie “block”, signaling that it was time to send them off on their “perilous odyssey.” Trim Xiè, one of the employees who checked the belts and OSTR restraints on the passengers, gave Lada a wink from his station. The two of them had been dating for the last two months, and he fulfilled the role of emotional support very well. While the morning heat had already caused Lada to start sweating through her park provided polo, she knew that this minor annoyance would not bother her as much as the kind of passengers she would get after the ERT event ended.

             
Roller coaster enthusiasts still had a concept of fun in the external world, unlike some of the “meanderthals” locked in their own heads and surfing through cyberspace. At 10:00 the gates of the park would open to the general public and thousands of thrill seeking parents would drag their glassy eyed children to roller coasters and try to convince them there was more to the world than mental texting and late night chat rooms, even though these same parents rarely believed this themselves.

Lada was used to kids coming back on her ride with blank expressions on their faces, obviously so engrossed in telepathic communication that they failed to enjoy the wonders the Polyphemus had to offer them. For a high school senior, Lada had far more archaic hobbies than her peers, including an obsession with the old sight based movie experience. “Why see it in my brain when my eyes work perfectly well?” she often asked her friends. Of course, adults used to a different age still found ways to pick on her for being a part of “a spoiled generation.” Her parents had lived in an era of telepathy and androids as well, so she really didn’t see why they brought up her “g
eneration’s problems” so much.

The worst feeling in the world, from Lada’s perspective anyway, came from working in an amusement park and watching people fail to enjoy the sights, smells and rides on a daily basis. When 10:00 came around, her dreaded customers arrived in droves. She watched a pair of
girls laugh and shake their heads at each other without speaking, clearly communicating telepathically when they stood right next to each other.

“Thank God for coaster enthusiasts,” she thought to Trim. “Do you even think any of these visitors even realize
they’re in an amusement park?”

“What, I’m sorry I couldn’t hear you, since I was updating my Dernier Critical account,” Trim joked. He was certainly more of a modernist than Lada, but his cynical attitudes towards people in general allowed him to joke about trends. Perhaps that’s
what she admired in him most.

“Do you want to hit Eichel’s for some hamburgers after work?” Lada thought back.

“Sounds good. By the way, I don’t know if you heard, but the high ups got a new comedy android that’s debuting tonight in Nisse Nook. It’s an AI instead of a dry preprogrammed bot. Since it can adlib to an even greater degree, who knows what kind of jokes it will make.”

“Sounds like a risky business decision. Hopeful
ly we’ll get a few laughs in.”

“You know I will whether the machine is
funny
or not,” Trim smiled as he ran up to the newly arrived car and helped a young boy pull the belt out of the restraint.

“I know you will,” Lada laughed mentally with her boyfriend. “Let’s just hope you don’t break
the poor guy’s silicon heart.”

***

Once Lada and Trim had finished up their shift, they were happy to visit Eichel’s and hand off responsibility for the coaster to the night crew. The coaster enthusiasts asked to have their nighttime ERT event extended to 3:00 AM in exchange for a missed opportunity to ride the Trebuchet, a fan favorite that had broken down a few days before the event. After voraciously attacking a few hamburgers they decided to walk down the carnival games section of the park before seeing the comedy robot’s performance. As much as Lada appreciated the excitement coaster enthusiasts provided, she enjoyed saving money even more. For “civilians,” the park food was outrageously priced, but employees could eat once a day at one of the area’s restaurants for free.

Lada and Trim didn’t feel bad about spending a few of their hard earned dollars playing the silly games their fellow employees operated day and night. They hoped the park wouldn’t replace these people with automation in the future. Some strong friendships had developed
amongst the park’s employees.

Dropping by the ladder climb to hang out with Paloma Joy, Lada laughed and exchanged gossip with her fellow teenager as an obstinate Trim wasted five ECUs trying to get up the
ladder and failing every time.

“I’ll climb a different one,” he said as he moved to another rope ladder in exasperation. “You told me to take this one, so it must
be rigged.”

“Wow, that hurts,” Paloma chuckled and took a sw
ig from her bottle of Frucade.

“So did you hear how Romane has been acting since she broke up with Nestor?” Lada leaned closer to her friend, hoping to avoid criticism from her anti-hearsay boyfriend.

“Oh my gosh, she was hanging out with Lizzie, Asta and me the other day. She was totally KY
[28]
.”

“
I know she used to be so genial
[29]
. Nestor absolutely ruined her.”

“Can you two please keep it down,” Trim muttered, “I can’t concentrate with all the drive
l coming from your direction.”

“I thought you liked it when girls talked at loud,” Paloma jeered. “Didn’t you say that girls who speak only in their minds are shallo
w?”

“Well I would also like to concentrate on the task at
hand, not your KY girlfriend.”

“You know it’s always the guys who get addicted to the ladder climb,” Paloma crossed her arms. “It’s machismo that gets you in trouble in the end. That’s why the prizes are girly too. Every man wants to look like the heroic prince for his lady friend and look what happens. I get to keep my job and the park makes a few ECUs p
er couple, the perfect set-up.

“Sure rub it in,” Trim said as he fell on the mats again. “I’m not paying you anymore.”

“Now don’t be a sore loser,” Lada helped her boyfriend to his feet.

“What are you two doing the rest
of the evening?” Paloma asked.

“Visiting the new comedy show,” Trim replied. “We’ll see if this new android is all that i
t’s cracked up to be.”

“My parents would laugh me to scorn if I watched a comedy bot on the stage,” Paloma chuckled. “They’re really conservative like that. It’s okay that my younger brother has cyber prosthetics, but heaven forbid I’d give an AI a chance
.”

“You’ve heard about the upcoming legislation regarding android ‘comfort models?’ Trim’s upbeat voice suddenly became darker. “They want to legalize prostitution for AI’s in this prefecture, and all I can wonder is – why? Machines without confirmed AI have been used for decades. Why some sicko would want to screw an android that fully understands the situation, I’ll never understand.” 

“Well, why do people still screw human prostitutes?” Paloma asked, “because they’re too poor. You’ll never understand that it’s not about morality Trim, it’s all about economics.”

“Jee
z,
I’m
not even that cynical.”

“Yeah, I definitely need some laughs after this conversation,” Lada brushed some of her soft
, loose hair out of her eyes. 

“We never should have brought up politics,” Paloma shook her head; “they l
ead to nothing but dejection.”

“I know you don’t get off till late, so we’ll tell you
how the show goes,” Trim said.

“As a matter of fact,” Lada pulled up a clock inside her mind, “if we head over there no
w, we can catch Ting singing.”

“Do you guys want to hang out Saturday evening?” Paloma called after the couple. “Hsieh has this new girlfriend, Pecunia Blau, who is an up and coming
charactor
from Prefecture 59. Their having a party at her apartment that night, and there will be lots of  champagne there. I’ll text you the directions later.”

“Sounds good to me,” Lada and Trim called back simultaneously as they hiked past the colorful attractions and the darkness of night increased its power over the landscape, demanding
that even more lights came alive to compensate. Kyu Sakamoto’s voice rang out as “Ue o Muite Arukō” played on the park’s speakers. It was the perfect night for a date.

***

When the couple had entered The Sappy Saloon, Ting Gallagher had just finished accompanying her group’s hoedown on a stage designed to capture memories of era in a nation that no longer existed. Like Kabuki
[30]
and masquerade, Western saloon dances and musical numbers did not have the same cultural relevance that they used to.

“We missed her,” Trim sighed.