Uriko awoke with a start. She had been up late and hadn't planned on someone paging her early in the morning. Throwing off her blankets, she combed her hands through the piles of laundry on the floor beside her futon. Only about fifty square feet made up her living space and it was hardly adequate. Her futon was never rolled up and clothes and trash covered the rest of the space. When she had time to do laundry it was just stuffed into the built-in drawers in the walls. Among the clothes were wrappers and other discarded food containers.
The trash was collected once a week, but Uriko was not always home to put a trash bag outside her door. Management had a strict policy on what time the trashbag could be left outside the door so she couldn't just put a bag out before she left and they restricted the amount to one trashbag per tenant so it just kept on piling up. Even when she was home on trash days, Uriko would sleep in and miss the trash collectors anyway.
Finally Uriko found her commpad underneath a shirt and an old can. She tapped on the screen and accepted the call, which appeared to be from her latest employer, Ocean Electric. "Kunisaki here," she said, sitting up on her bed.
"Good Morning Ms. Kunisaki," replied the gruff voice on the other end. "We wanted to thank you again for your completion of the Zabka job. You'll be happy to note that your account has been increased to the tune of thirty thousand credits."
"Great," Uriko sighed, brushing her bangs back out of her face. "That should about cover the new radiator I had to buy. Too bad my generator is still only operating at about eighty percent, my FCS is still shaking all over the place and I need a complete flush of the entire cooling system. Not to mention ammo. Oh, and my rent is due in about ten days."
"Sorry Kunisaki," the voice replied, not sounding very sympathetic. "We paid you for your work. If that's not enough to support yourself then perhaps you should budget your expenses better."
Uriko just about threw the commpad at the wall. "Thanks, I'll do that," she seethed. "Now, I've got to go, so unless you have another job for me, good bye."
"No. Sorry, there are no current employment opportunities available. Rest assured that Ocean Electric will contact you..." Uriko tapped the commpad, severing the connection and tossed it onto the futon as she got up to look for something to eat. As soon as the commpad hit the bed, it started buzzing again. She scooped it back up and tapped the screen before she even realized who was calling.
"Kunisaki here," she said, tossing the commpad back onto the bed.
"Uriko!" a voice replied. "Hat here. Got some info on a job you might want in on."
"Hat," she repeated sourly, "what do you think you are doing?"
"Offering you a lucrative job opportunity," he replied. "I just got this sweet escort job and thought that you might be interested in a cut."
"A cut? What kind of cut?" She sat down next to the commpad.
"Seventy thou for you. For simple escort duty. How can you turn this down?"
"Simple, Hat. Because I know you. Don't forget that last time I saw you was when you sabotaged my rig so that you could get a head start on..."
"Forget about that," he interrupted. "Listen, Uriko. Seventy thousand is your cut alone. Seventy thou! You could completely rehaul the inside of your entire core. Get everything up to specs. Or, just get a fresh paint job and upgrade your digs. You're still slumming it at that integrated complex, right?"
"I'm fine with my place thank you. Now, if you're finished insulting me, I'm hanging up." She reached over to close the connection, but paused for a second.
"Wait, wait. If you're not interested in the money, then how about this. I'll even share with you this program I got that I can guarantee will have your electronics operating at ten percent faster speed. And that's everything from trigger reaction to lock on time. Guaranteed."
"Why are you so big on having me help you?"
"'Cause I know you need the scrill. I saw some shots of your latest upgrade. You went from pretty much all energy to all solid ammo. That's got to be hell on your bank account. It looked like you were using a five hundred with extended ammo cases. Not to mention that pistol that I'm pretty sure you're still using. That's like twenty thou in ammo alone. And even you can't dodge everything, so there's going to be armor repair costs to pay too. I don't even see how you can take a job for less than forty K, and that's just to break even. I was talking to a friend of mine and he says that you've taken a couple of jobs with OE and they horribly underpay their pilots. Plus, you miss out on getting first bite on new techs since you're not working for one of the biggies."
She had already been pretty annoyed, but hearing that made Uriko quite mad. "I'm sorry I'm not selling my soul so that I can be constantly manipulated. I'm tired of defending a bridge one day and destroying it the next. At least with OE they're not begging at The Controller for whatever scraps they can get, despite the billions they have already. And OE's a power company, so they're not under constant war with competing companies over research or territory. I'm really tired of that, Hat. I'm really tired."
"Hey, I know what you mean," Hat replied, starting to realize he was coming on a bit too strongly, "but come on. Seventy thousand. It's not even going to be that difficult, we're just protecting a truck from what will probably be a couple of MTs. And nothing dangerous either. A new prototype part or something. They said it doesn't even work yet."
"They who?"
"Mirage," he replied quietly.
Uriko swore, "God dammit, Hat. I can't believe... you know, I'll tell you what. I'll go with you, just this once, but in addition to the seventy you have to pay for my armor repair as well. But, and I swear to God, if you pull any funny business or I see even a trace of corporate bullshit and I'm leaving your ass out to dry. Full of holes if I have to."
"I knew you'd say yes." She could just see his smug grin on the other side of the screen. "I'll mail you all the details later. Talk to you later."
"Fine," Uriko said, defeated, turning the commpad off. She stretched her arms out and fell back onto her bed. Sighing, she rolled over to look over her kingdom of dirty laundry. She grabbed the commpad and accessed her bank account. After the deduction of her latest purchases she had barely enough left for groceries for the week. Disgusted, she tossed the commpad aside and closed her eyes.
She sat there for about twenty minutes before deciding that it was going to be impossible to fall asleep again. Sitting up, Uriko reached up to her clothes drawers, opened one and stuck in her hand. After some rooting around, she pulled out a wad of various pieces of clothing. Choosing an old shirt and some shorts, she tossed the remaining clothes back into the drawer and stepped into the closet shower.
Forty minutes later she was finished and stepped out. As she was getting dressed the door buzzer rang. Hurriedly, Uriko pulled down her shirt around her head as she tried to peek through the peephole to see who was at the door. Standing on the other side was her friend Sze, leaning up against the far wall. "Just a minute," Uriko announced as she pressed the button to open the door.
"Just get up?" Sze asked, eyeing her friend.
Uriko sat down on her futon and started putting on her socks. "You're lucky I'm up at all."
Her friend nodded, stepping inside the room, "I am surprised to see you up. What time did you get home last night?" As the door closed behind her Sze looked at the mess around her. "You really need to clean this place up."
"You do my job and then you can complain," Uriko replied, grabbing her shoes.
"It's not like my job is easy," Sze countered.
"Yeah, but you get to stay inside, that and there is little chance of death."
"Section Nine was shot up last month by some psycho who lost it on the job and just last week part of the top floor was destroyed by a carrier that was shot down and managed to somehow stay aloft just long enough to make it that far out of it's estimated crash zone."
Uriko stood up and grabbed her jacket and goggles. "That could happen to me just staying here. We're not that far off of Duelle Labs. They've been attacked at least half a dozen times since I moved in here. The difference between our jobs is that it's my job to get shot at and that your job is to coordinate the people shooting at me. Believe me, I'd switch with you anytime."
"You'd never let yourself be hired as a real employee. You enjoy your freelance status." Sze pushed the door button, "Besides, you'd go crazy having to sit at a terminal all day."
"Yeah," she acquiesced, "I couldn't stand being cooped up like that." Uriko stepped out of her little room into the hallway. "Okay, let's go." Sze followed her out and the door closed behind them.
"We're still an hour early for lunch, you know."
"I need to pick up some groceries anyway."
---
The trash was collected once a week, but Uriko was not always home to put a trash bag outside her door. Management had a strict policy on what time the trashbag could be left outside the door so she couldn't just put a bag out before she left and they restricted the amount to one trashbag per tenant so it just kept on piling up. Even when she was home on trash days, Uriko would sleep in and miss the trash collectors anyway.
Finally Uriko found her commpad underneath a shirt and an old can. She tapped on the screen and accepted the call, which appeared to be from her latest employer, Ocean Electric. "Kunisaki here," she said, sitting up on her bed.
"Good Morning Ms. Kunisaki," replied the gruff voice on the other end. "We wanted to thank you again for your completion of the Zabka job. You'll be happy to note that your account has been increased to the tune of thirty thousand credits."
"Great," Uriko sighed, brushing her bangs back out of her face. "That should about cover the new radiator I had to buy. Too bad my generator is still only operating at about eighty percent, my FCS is still shaking all over the place and I need a complete flush of the entire cooling system. Not to mention ammo. Oh, and my rent is due in about ten days."
"Sorry Kunisaki," the voice replied, not sounding very sympathetic. "We paid you for your work. If that's not enough to support yourself then perhaps you should budget your expenses better."
Uriko just about threw the commpad at the wall. "Thanks, I'll do that," she seethed. "Now, I've got to go, so unless you have another job for me, good bye."
"No. Sorry, there are no current employment opportunities available. Rest assured that Ocean Electric will contact you..." Uriko tapped the commpad, severing the connection and tossed it onto the futon as she got up to look for something to eat. As soon as the commpad hit the bed, it started buzzing again. She scooped it back up and tapped the screen before she even realized who was calling.
"Kunisaki here," she said, tossing the commpad back onto the bed.
"Uriko!" a voice replied. "Hat here. Got some info on a job you might want in on."
"Hat," she repeated sourly, "what do you think you are doing?"
"Offering you a lucrative job opportunity," he replied. "I just got this sweet escort job and thought that you might be interested in a cut."
"A cut? What kind of cut?" She sat down next to the commpad.
"Seventy thou for you. For simple escort duty. How can you turn this down?"
"Simple, Hat. Because I know you. Don't forget that last time I saw you was when you sabotaged my rig so that you could get a head start on..."
"Forget about that," he interrupted. "Listen, Uriko. Seventy thousand is your cut alone. Seventy thou! You could completely rehaul the inside of your entire core. Get everything up to specs. Or, just get a fresh paint job and upgrade your digs. You're still slumming it at that integrated complex, right?"
"I'm fine with my place thank you. Now, if you're finished insulting me, I'm hanging up." She reached over to close the connection, but paused for a second.
"Wait, wait. If you're not interested in the money, then how about this. I'll even share with you this program I got that I can guarantee will have your electronics operating at ten percent faster speed. And that's everything from trigger reaction to lock on time. Guaranteed."
"Why are you so big on having me help you?"
"'Cause I know you need the scrill. I saw some shots of your latest upgrade. You went from pretty much all energy to all solid ammo. That's got to be hell on your bank account. It looked like you were using a five hundred with extended ammo cases. Not to mention that pistol that I'm pretty sure you're still using. That's like twenty thou in ammo alone. And even you can't dodge everything, so there's going to be armor repair costs to pay too. I don't even see how you can take a job for less than forty K, and that's just to break even. I was talking to a friend of mine and he says that you've taken a couple of jobs with OE and they horribly underpay their pilots. Plus, you miss out on getting first bite on new techs since you're not working for one of the biggies."
She had already been pretty annoyed, but hearing that made Uriko quite mad. "I'm sorry I'm not selling my soul so that I can be constantly manipulated. I'm tired of defending a bridge one day and destroying it the next. At least with OE they're not begging at The Controller for whatever scraps they can get, despite the billions they have already. And OE's a power company, so they're not under constant war with competing companies over research or territory. I'm really tired of that, Hat. I'm really tired."
"Hey, I know what you mean," Hat replied, starting to realize he was coming on a bit too strongly, "but come on. Seventy thousand. It's not even going to be that difficult, we're just protecting a truck from what will probably be a couple of MTs. And nothing dangerous either. A new prototype part or something. They said it doesn't even work yet."
"They who?"
"Mirage," he replied quietly.
Uriko swore, "God dammit, Hat. I can't believe... you know, I'll tell you what. I'll go with you, just this once, but in addition to the seventy you have to pay for my armor repair as well. But, and I swear to God, if you pull any funny business or I see even a trace of corporate bullshit and I'm leaving your ass out to dry. Full of holes if I have to."
"I knew you'd say yes." She could just see his smug grin on the other side of the screen. "I'll mail you all the details later. Talk to you later."
"Fine," Uriko said, defeated, turning the commpad off. She stretched her arms out and fell back onto her bed. Sighing, she rolled over to look over her kingdom of dirty laundry. She grabbed the commpad and accessed her bank account. After the deduction of her latest purchases she had barely enough left for groceries for the week. Disgusted, she tossed the commpad aside and closed her eyes.
She sat there for about twenty minutes before deciding that it was going to be impossible to fall asleep again. Sitting up, Uriko reached up to her clothes drawers, opened one and stuck in her hand. After some rooting around, she pulled out a wad of various pieces of clothing. Choosing an old shirt and some shorts, she tossed the remaining clothes back into the drawer and stepped into the closet shower.
Forty minutes later she was finished and stepped out. As she was getting dressed the door buzzer rang. Hurriedly, Uriko pulled down her shirt around her head as she tried to peek through the peephole to see who was at the door. Standing on the other side was her friend Sze, leaning up against the far wall. "Just a minute," Uriko announced as she pressed the button to open the door.
"Just get up?" Sze asked, eyeing her friend.
Uriko sat down on her futon and started putting on her socks. "You're lucky I'm up at all."
Her friend nodded, stepping inside the room, "I am surprised to see you up. What time did you get home last night?" As the door closed behind her Sze looked at the mess around her. "You really need to clean this place up."
"You do my job and then you can complain," Uriko replied, grabbing her shoes.
"It's not like my job is easy," Sze countered.
"Yeah, but you get to stay inside, that and there is little chance of death."
"Section Nine was shot up last month by some psycho who lost it on the job and just last week part of the top floor was destroyed by a carrier that was shot down and managed to somehow stay aloft just long enough to make it that far out of it's estimated crash zone."
Uriko stood up and grabbed her jacket and goggles. "That could happen to me just staying here. We're not that far off of Duelle Labs. They've been attacked at least half a dozen times since I moved in here. The difference between our jobs is that it's my job to get shot at and that your job is to coordinate the people shooting at me. Believe me, I'd switch with you anytime."
"You'd never let yourself be hired as a real employee. You enjoy your freelance status." Sze pushed the door button, "Besides, you'd go crazy having to sit at a terminal all day."
"Yeah," she acquiesced, "I couldn't stand being cooped up like that." Uriko stepped out of her little room into the hallway. "Okay, let's go." Sze followed her out and the door closed behind them.
"We're still an hour early for lunch, you know."
"I need to pick up some groceries anyway."
---