Future Shock
Nothing belongs to me, except this story, whose characters I have abducted from Bandai Entertainment. Be forewarned, I'm much more into my other fic, so this bad boy probably won't get updated too much.
Great. Seriously damned great. She had no memories, including those of any skills that might come in handy, credentials for any sort of work, had criminally huge debts, and was stranded in a future world that she knew absolutely ratfuck about, except that apparently the men were the same paragons of moral vacuousness they used to be. Spectacular. But Faye Valentine, which wasn't even her name, for god's sake, wasn't a dumb girl, by any means, and she discovered that when desperate, she got downright clever.
And patient, or at least more patient than could be expected of her at the moment. The second she saw all the bills Witney had left her combined with her hospital bills, the panic level had risen to the top of her capacity. And she exploded. Which was a good thing, since that's what the doctors were expecting. They hadn't expected what happened later in her room, when she was too tired and shocked to do anything but-- think.
Knew nothing of this world. Knew lots of things she used to know that probably didn't convert. Like driving, so she could drive away from this place. That was all right. She could learn. The People at the Cryogenic Institute wouldn't mind teaching her, seeing as how they expected her to work here and pay off her debts.
She was right. They didn't mind teaching her how to drive. Or pilot, so she could deliver packages for them. Or how to fill out the new paperwork and tax documents, so she could do secretarial work for them. And there was plenty she could teach herself. She cribbed a gun from one of the security guards and took it out to the forest behind the Institute. She didn't realize until she took the safety off that she already knew how to use a gun. What she did realize, after setting up impromptu sculpture made of mud and stone on the branches of an oak tree (An oak tree, she knew too. A Martian oak tree, but an oak tree nevertheless), was that she was a good shot. She realized it before she even aimed. Well, that was lucky. Thank you, luck, for finally showing up. Was there traffic? No, no, that's just fine. Just make sure to stick around. I'll make you cookies if it keeps you here.
Her patience lasted for six months. It took her six months to explore the planet and find a way off of it, to set up a deal with a fence so she could sell the Institute's SXR-2000 Krill on-planet transport jet and exchange it for a Redtail off-planet transport jet whose manual she'd memorized by the time she first sat in the cockpit. And when she said goodbye to Mars, she fondly looked forward to cashing in on the bank account she'd been siphoning Institute funds into, which she had done almost as exactingly as she'd set up faulty tax breaks that would probably keep the Institute tied up with the IRS for, well, a good long time. The IRS was still around. Funny, that.
She docked the red tail six hours later in a city on Deimos, called Udamma. There was only one hotel she could book for the night, some hole in the city's Casino district. Faye took a taxi and listlessly took full account of everything she had to be proud of. She was roused when the neon lights of the casino scrolled by the taxi on her way in. She looked up and got out of the car, not even turning to the taxi robot as she handed it her card. Bright lights formed simple, compelling shapes all around her, advertising nothing she was unfamiliar with. This she recognized. This, Faye didn't think she'd have any problem handling. Thank you, luck. Would you like a foot massage, you beautiful thing, you?