It was a beautiful day outside. The sun was shining and I was enjoying the last few weeks of my break. I didn't really enjoy school here; it was boring with everyone speaking the same language and everyone's parents doing the same thing. I was the weird one because my father had married outside the corp. I sat on my step-mothers lab table feet swinging back and forth as I watched her examine something under a microscope then make a few quick notes on her tablet. She looked up at me and frowned.
"Lisbeth please, you could flip the table and hurt yourself." She put the tablet down on a nearby desk and walked over to me. She had long blonde hair that she always had tied back in a pony tail to keep it out of her face which was long and narrow. She was really tall too, German I think my father had said just like him.
"Sorry mum, just feeling cooped up." I started swinging my legs again and she frowned at me but her eyes smiled. She pulled off her glasses and rubbed the bridge of her nose.
"I have kept you here all day haven't I?" She looked up at the clock and her eyes widened in surprise. "Oh you poor thing. You've been sitting there patiently for the last five hours, you must be hungry."
I nodded in agreement regretting the fact I hadn't brought my tablet so I'd have something to read or at least a snack.
"You're so patient for your age." She walked over and brushed the bangs back from my forehead and gave me a quick kiss. "Tell you what, five more minutes and then we can go grab lunch, anything you want."
"Can we go to Magician's Feast?" I like looking at the elves and if I'm good Sawat shows me a magic trick."
She smiles. "Absolutely just let me finish..." she trails off as there is a soft rumbling. An alarm starts to blare as the building starts to shake. I fall off the desk into my step-mother's arms crying and grasping for her as I feel a building heat that starts to sear my lungs. "Lisbeth, get behind" is the last thing I hear before a giant explosion and the world goes dark and silent.
I awake gasping for air and reaching out for my step-mother. Gretchen. I feel bad saying it but I will always remember her as my mother. My biological one died when I was three. The only real memory I have of her is her voice. She used to sing to me every day until the virus hit. My father said she was holding me when all of a sudden she was gasping for air, her entire respiratory system swelling. It wasn't the first outbreak of VITAS but my dad knew as soon as her saw her that it was too late.
I sit up and throw my legs over the side of the bed. I can still smell the smoke in the air and feel the heat, especially on the left side of my body. I sigh stretching out and cracking my back. Twenty two years and that nightmare still doesn't fade. It brings me right back to my innocent ten year old self whose biggest excitement was seeing a mage do a few simple magic tricks. Rolling my shoulders a few more times I reach for my comlink. Angry red numbers glare back at me 02:37. Good still early enough to go get a drink.
I pull on the closest pair of jeans to the bed and check the pockets to make sure I have a credstick in one. I plan on blowing through it tonight. Not bothering to change the shirt I'm wearing I grab my jacket and slip into my boots and head out the door.
It's raining. Not that it's a big surprise. The rain is almost constant, probably the earth's way of trying to cleanse itself. Too bad we're not that easy to wash away. The glow from all the corp buildings and the nearby arcology lighting up the sky so bright I have to check if it's actually almost 3am or of it's afternoon. I start walking throwing a quick glance to my bike which is still covered. I debate taking to get out of town for the night but the kind of wasted I want to get... well this wouldn't be the first bike I had trashed.
I opt for the seedy place on the far end of the street heading towards the water. I live in one of those neighbourhoods that goes from respectable to trash in an instant. Luckily I'm comfortable in both worlds. I lived the life of a wage slave for about nine years before I freaked and ran. Before that I was a proud member of Seattle's underbelly sticking my fingers in all the different pots. I did a little hacking, did a few runs, flipped 'burgers' and even was a piercer for a while. I was close with two of the local street gangs and had friends in the Yakuza and both my fixer and fence were Vory. I'm pretty sure the elf I run with was in the Ancients for a while but we don't exactly do hearts to hearts about out past so it's only a suspicion.
The bar I'm in actually belongs to the Vory, one of the few places you can still get real Vodka if you have the money. I keep my hood up as I walk over to the corner of the bar. It's pretty late and the crowds a little sparse. There are a few people over in the corner playing a game of poker, most too drunk to see their cards. I debate jumping in and making a little extra Nuyen but I feel like I may end up with a few bullet holes if I start winning so I stay to myself. Alex the bartender sees me and walks over carrying a bottle of synthahol but I quickly shake my head and nod to the back. He smiles and after running out back returns with a real bottle of Vodka and two shot glasses.
"Ey Aleks, chto luchshe byt' real'nym." (Hey Alex, that better be real.)
"Tol'ko luscshe dlya vas Amber." (Only the best for you, Amber.)
"What makes you think you're drinking on my dime Alex?"
"I saved your ass with those blueprints of Evo, you ungrateful mudak (asshole)." He pours two glasses and raises his. "Na zdorovje"
I reply with "Budem." He glares at me.
"Come on you know that no one really said na zdorovie until the end of the fifth age, even then it wasn't Russians saying it."
"Well we sure as hell never said anything in Ukranian, chertov koguts." He almost spits the last word. I roll my eyes and hold back a chuckle. Old stereotypes and hatreds die hard despite the fact that in the last fifty years almost every country, or former country has reshaped its borders at least three times.
"I didn't come for the hate speech Alex." I toss back my glass then put it back on the counter and tap the side. "I'm sick of the synthol shit and I haven't had a real shot in months!" He pours three more in rapid succession and then reaches under the bar. He pulls out a jar with a greenish liquid in it.
"If you want the true, Russian vodka experience you need to chase with a pickle."
"Hate to break it to you Alex but there sure is hell ain't any in that jar. I haven't seen one since I was a kid."
"Well, we learned a long time ago that the pickles run out long before the vodka so we turned to the next best thing." He pours a little in each shot glass and pushed one over towards me. I've drank with gangsters and mobsters before and the first rule is don't refuse anything you're given. Not breathing through my nose I take the shot quick. Damn the bastard was right. The salt and vinegar from the brine instantly kills the burn from the lo-grade shit that I can afford. When I turn to Alex he's smiling.
"Shut up." He lets out a deep booming laugh, it matches his body. Sometime I have a hard time believing this guy used to belong to the top tier of Evo's security team. He has to be at least 6'5" but that may be an underestimate. He's been as bald since I've known him but he has a thick black beard that comes halfway down his chest with flecks of grey just starting to show. He has a beer gut that falls out from underneath the tight t-shirts he wears but the rest of him is pure muscle, his arms and neck covered in tattoos. The story goes that when he was in the army he had an affair with an awakened elf who fell in love with him and gave him those tattoos as protection spells that would keep him safe. I don't put much into it but the guys never been hit by anything and his life was one long string of action.
The alcohol is making me hot so I push back the hood. I didn't realise the rain had soaked through so my hair falls wet and stringy into my eyes. God I should have just shaved my whole head. Right now just the left is, not that much grows there anyway thanks to the scars. Apparently I coloured it too because a few of the strands in my face are deep blue. I throw it all over the right side and gasp as my fingers graze across the new hole on my temple.
"Hey when'd you get jacked? Thought you were done with the whole hacking thing. You find the job, make the plan and reap the benefits no risk. You ain't actually running again are you girl?" A look of concern crosses his face.
Alex found me when I was in the pits, literally. I had been running with a small group mostly made up of deckers and one street samurai. I made the perfect plan for a big run, we were talking almost 50 thou nuyen each, not huge but big for a small group like us. Right before going in I found out one of our deckers was actually a technomancer. I was excited and got stupid. Opened my mouth started asking questions... next thing I knew I was in a pit, just south of the radiation zone with three bullets in my stomach. I still have the scars. Alex was up there dumping something else, I've never really wanted to ask what when he found me. Brought me back to a Vory club where they had a few doctors and a few shamans who got me back on my feet. In return I told them exactly where to hit my former group after they had done all the hard work. Those assholes stuck to my plan and got nailed by Vory who managed to sell it for more than our Johnson was willing to pay.; even insisted on giving me my original cut. After that Alex hooked me up with a fake SIN, got one of his buddies to teach me how to make fake degrees and certifications and another to hook me up with a low grade pencil pushing job at Ares.
"Everyone's getting them Alex." My stomach went in knots from lying to him. "I've really got into this new game by Horizon. It's just easier to jack in from anywhere with this, don't need a terminal."
He studies me for a moment and I hoped he'd take the stupid look on my face as the alcohol starting to hit me. After a moment he nodded. "Right Amber but you actually run again and I'm gonna stop hooking you up you hear me? Not every dumping ground is full of big softies like me." I gave him a nod and he smiled throwing his head back.
"Got a new one for you, my six." I raised an eyebrow at him.
"First you let me get a buzz then you want me to meet with a Johnson, ukol." I shake my head and try to come to my senses, when meeting Johnsons the first impression is extremely important. "You could have called or sent me a message."
"Your commlink is always dead, how do you stay as connected as you should without that? You get a deck from someone else?" I shook my head quickly. "Well, anyway not a Johnson, something better."
He bent down reaching for something under the bar so I could see over his shoulder. I immediately grabbed the vodka bottle and took a quick swing. He stood up and put a fresh shot glass on the bar.
"You better go for that girl. Every khui in this joint has been after that chick and the only time I've seen her head turn is when you walked in. Shoulda seen the look on her face when I was bringing the vodka over, that girls practically fell over the bar for you."
He leaned against the back and looked over the rest of the bar giving me another full view. She was definitely part elf, her features were too fine to be just human. Bright violet eyes stared back and met mine before quickly fluttering away back to the beer in front of her. She had long fine black hair that fell over her shoulders and down her back and was wearing a low cut red dress revealing the tattoos that came occasionally with magic use. With a deep breath I got up grabbing the vodka and the glasses and made my way over.
"Hey can I sit?" Her eyes darted up and she looked ready to refuse me but then suddenly changed her mind.
"Sure." I slipped into the seat next to her and put the bottle on the table. I poured a glass and set it in front of her.
"It's the real shit, I promise." I poured myself another glass and took the shot. It was really going to my head now. I could feel the flush in my cheeks and suddenly was wishing I was back out in the cold streets. I was about to give up when she reached out and grabbed the bottle. A few big gulps later she set it back down and tossed back her shot.
"Thanks, I haven't had anything but synthetic since the 50s."
"No way you were old enough to drink in the 50s." I loved her voice. It had that sweet and seductive smoothness that came from the British Isles. My father had it and if we hadn't left I would have two. For a second I was jealous.
"I wasn't old enough to, but with all that shit going down there wasn't anyone really concerned about what I was doing." She turned so she was facing me and half leaned on the bar. "So, do I get a name or can I just keep the bottle?"
"Amber." I spun too so that I was facing her. Our knees were grazing one another but neither of us seemed to mind. "Where you from? I was born in Woking but got dragged here at so I don't really remember the old country."
"Wales actually, up north in the hills, small place called Llanwddyn. Name is Alfdis." I smiled. "I picked it, it means..."
"Elf spirit." She looked surprised. "Sorry, I study languages comes in handy in my line of work and I work with an elf whose been teaching me Sperethiel."
"How does your brain hold on to all those words? I have trouble with the two I speak." She laughs softly and places her hand on my knee. I lean in a little closer, I can feel the heat coming off of her body now.
"Well, I grew up bilingual and have always been around a lot of different languages. My dad was pretty high up in the corps when we were little so there was always someone important coming in and out of our house and it was rare that they actually spoke English." I placed my hand on top of hers and began running my thumb over her knuckles. She leaned closer like it was a club and it would be hard to hear, except the room was silent except for the occasionally grunts from the poker game.
"What's your favourite language to speak? Say something to me." She smiles as her hand traces further up my thigh. I'm kicking myself for not bringing the bike, that would have been a hole in one.
"German. Mein Platz ist nicht weit von hier . Willst du wieder für einen weiteren Drink kommen ?"Her eyes had that hazy look that means she had no idea what I said. "What was that?"
"Do you want to..."
"Ja." I smile and take her hand in mine. I grab the credstick from my pocket and toss it towards Alex who saw us getting up to leave.
"No sure what's on there but let me know if I owe you anything!" Alfdis wraps her arms around mine and leans her head on my shoulder. Alex looks us over chuckling.
"I'd say you owe me a lot more than what's on this credstick but we'll settle up next time I see you." I flash him and thumbs up and start to make my way out of the bar when he calls out, "and plug in your chertov commlink. May be looking for you soon." I wave as we head out the door and into the wet streets of Seattle.