City of Walls:Ch. 14

   I did not realize it's been since the end of September, since Ch. 13 came out. I had a few illnesses, busy times, and just plain feet dragging with this chapter. It's a little boring, so feel free to make recommendations, or criticisms.

         The wind whipped my hair behind me, as we cruised down Henderson. I should get it cut, probably have  split ends. In the air two meters ahead, and two above the pavement, a bright neon red arrow pointed the way. It had been ages since I'd used anything other than a podtran¹ to go anywhere, so using my netlinks² directional guide seemed like a good idea. Sonj followed a bit behind me on her personal bike, a little purple number with plenty of places to latch things on. I pedaled the cherry red one, that had turned out to be the newest addition to the city's inventory, its seat was comfy, and it wasn't too tall. Hopefully Pablo can give me some time to rearrange my financials. Now that I'm working in the neighborhood, it'd be nice to have more options than just my feet.

          A block ahead of us was the hexwall³, just past the Tarrant County College's Downtown Campus, and before the bridge over the Trinity River. The roadway, as well as the MagRail⁴, was wide open and clear. I double tapped my lipmic⁵ with my tongue, initiating the short range communicator. Sonj responded, "Yeah?"

          "The turn is right after the bridge, then it should be about 3 minutes to the place."

          After a pause I heard a beep from my ocular receiver, then a response from Sonj. "Kay, then what are the plans for after that?"

          We came to a stop at the light just before the wall. "Well it's about 3:30 right now, and I figure assembling the bot could take a few hours. Grab a bite then head back to the spot where I ran into with the modrpunks⁶?" If we finish by 5:30 we can beat the rush to La Familia.

          A pause, then a beep, "Sounds good. Do you know what's good in the area?"

          "I've got something in mind." The light turned green and we passed through the opening in the northwest face side of the Downtown Hex⁷.

          We had encountered little traffic of any variety on Henderson; what little movement there was raced by overhead at the height of 38 meters. That all changed once we crossed the bridge and turned on White Settlement Rd. Physical & Digital Storage, our destination, was at the edge of a light industrial region, and was just few blocks from the border with the Cultural District Hex.⁸ Here older model hybrid trucks, electric cars, and bicyclists occupied the traffic lanes. It's a good thing my netlink** monitors distance. I'd probably get in another bikers space and cause a wreck. I think I was 12 the last time I rode a bike. The remainder of our trek was easy and without event.

          We pulled into the parking lot beside the storage facility, which took up easily half the block.

          "Mmm, something smells good." Sonj said as she chained both our bikes to the cyclone fence.

          "Yeah, that's Angelo's. Good BBQ, but a bit on the spicy side."

          "Spicy? Uh, never mind, I tend to prefer my sauce sweet, not spicy."

          "Come on, we got work to do." I led the way into the store.

          We entered a room not more than one meter squared. A counter ran from the left to the right side of the room; behind it on either side of the room were two doors leading to the rest of the building. When the door closed behind us a small bell rang, after that a woman in her forties entered from the right door.

          "Welcome, how can I help you?" She asked, laying her hands on the counter.

          "Hi. I'm Tara Harris. I have some things here." As I spoke her fingers flexed across the surface of the counter, and her eyes unfocused for a moment. "I was wanting to take a few items out."

          "Of course dearie." Her eyes once again focused on us, "Ms. Harris, I'll need to see some ID."

          I detached a pearl from one of the bracelets on my left wrist. Handing it over I said, "There's a certified ID document from the Russian Embassy on that storage pearl." She took the proffered gem and placed in on the counter top between us. With a tap of her fingers, a bright light flashed from the counter. Once the scan was over she handed the pearl back, and resumed massaging information from the computer embedded in the counter top.

          "OK Ms. Harris. According to our records your sector just had its monthly cleaning. I'll grant your visitor a guest pass. Just one moment while that gets processed." She turned around and a portion of the wall behind her turned transparent, revealing what looked like a slot, keyboard, and a scanner. She held up her right wrist, with a bar-coded bracelet, to the scanner. When a small ping sounded from behind the wall she typed on the keyboard. Her actions were rewarded with a small silver card emerging from the slot beside the keyboard. She took the card and turned back around when the returned to its original opacity level.

          "Alright then ladies, if you'll just follow me." She said as she handed over the card. She then opened small door built in the counter at the left side of the room. We followed her through the door and down a long hallway, finally stopping in front of a door marked 258.

          "Here we are, the key-card will let you in. When you are ready to leave, there are arrows on the wall pointing you back to the main office. The ladies room is two doors to the right. There is also an intercom in the room if you need anything." Her duties complete, she started walking back down the hall.

          As I unlocked the door, Sonj spoke.

          "It's not gonna be like some freaky old time lab with sparks flying, and cobwebs everywhere is it?"

          "It's just a storage room. Sides, the lady said they just cleaned, so no cobwebs." I open the door to revel a work bench on the left side of the room, space to maneuver in front of it, and boxes filling the other three walls. A peg board lined with tools hung on the wall above the workbench.

          "I hope you know exactly where your little robot is." Sonj said as I closed the door behind us.

          "Don't worry," I said as I grabbed a clipboard hanging beside the wall, "There's an inventory of everything."

¹Powered Transportation; latest iteration of the "smart car". Runs on bioelec energy supplied by the user, or purchased with credit. Travels overhead on magnified rails.

²Personal Computing Accessory; highly customizable, jewelry like device which uses biological electricity converted from the user to sustain itself. Basic units consist of a synthetic data crystal, conversion chain, ring emitter, and gyroscope ring. Additional components include inner ear and occular ear receivers, conversion arm ring, bracelets, power storage bracelets, and specialized gems.

³The side, or "face" of one hexagonal dome.

⁴Magnified Rail System. Located at 35 m above ground, and following all major roadways.

⁵Lip ring with microphone jewel; a typical component of a netlink set.

⁶A cultural movement pertaining primarily of young peopled aged 16-26, using modified, "hacked", nannites.

⁷Region, or neighborhood of a city covered by a hexagonal dome. Specifically, the Downtown District of Fort Worth.

⁸ Region, or neighborhood of a city covered by a hexagonal dome. Specifically, the Cultural District of Fort Worth.