ghost
2010-08-16 03:54:31 UTC
She stood against the back of the bus stop, out of the light drizzle
that fell out of the sky. It wasn't a full cloud cover, beams of light
came through in bright spots that lit of the rain in columns of tiny
drops.
She stood against the bullet proof plexiglass with her hand in the
pockets of faded blue jeans, her head down looking at worn black
boots. Long braids in various colours hung down obscuring her face
from anyone on the sidewalk. The worn messenger back was slung over
her shoulder to keep it between her and the plexi, protectively away
from the street side.
A car finally rolled up, she lifted her head at the noise of the
tires slowing down. It was one of those hybrids that couldn't decide
if it wanted to be a sleek sports car or family hatch back. The window
rolled down on the passenger side, a guy was leaning across the center
console.
"Let's go Ace." He called out. She stepped away from the bus stop and
got into the passenger side, the window already being rolled up as she
did. Inside she popped open the glove box as the car pulled into
traffic.
It split open to reveal a docking station, that she hooked the laptop
from her back into. "You online?" She asked, rhetorically, as she
switched to the cars modem instead of her internal one.
"How close we gotta get?" He asked, the headlights making the tiny
rain drops look like sparks on the road in front of them.
"Close, just wander through downtown so I have a steady connection
through the cloud."
The downtown network cloud, which techincally extended well beyond,
was strongest around the tall buildings that served as the cities
business and network core.
Ace reached down and rummaged in her bag, coming up with a disc,
"Mind if I play some music?" She asked.
"As long as it's not country." He sighed, he hated these jobs. The
hackers always had the most screwed up taste in music.
She slid the disc into the player, "Relax cowboy."
"How long will this take?"
"Dunno, if he's online, and active, shouldn't be hard to hack in and
get what we came for."
"If he's not?"
"It's a short ride with a shitty view." She looked outside at the
downtown traffic, busy and cramped. She pushed the disc all the way
into the player and began to pull up programs on her laptop, after
adjusting ths seat forward some. The car was filled with the sounds of
thrash metal as it navigated through the downtown region, making a
wide circle, cutting through the center, or otherwise orbiting the
towers in the small area.
He swung a little outside the zone once or twice. Pulled over once
and got out to buy a coffee and a digital newspaper from a coffee
shop, he sat parked while it downloaded to his ereader.
Finally, almost a full hour later they were done she closed the
laptop and ejected the disc from the player. He sighed at the quiet.
"What they hell was that?" He asked.
"Tarnished Iron, Jersey thrash band." She said sliding it and her
laptop back into her bag. "Drop me up at Challie's." She said as he
pulled away from the downtown inner zone, along one of the extended
communication lines, heavy with traffic, connecting to another of the
metro zones satellite towns. He saw a road running through a dense
neighborhood choked with businesses, condo towers, and just beyond
them old houses. She saw a communication line bright with hotspots,
just an extension of the cloud - social and digital.
"The Thin Man has the payment." She got out at the curb and crossed
the street as he pulled away. He plugged his digital player into the
deck and put on some classic techno to get the sound of whatever the
hell Ace had played out of his head.
Ace walked into the coffee shop, the drizzle had stopped some time
ago, leaving behind only a slightly muggy feeling in the air. "Large,"
She said so the aging hispter behind the counter. He punched the code
into the register and turned to fix the drink. Ace slid her card
through the reader, telling it to email the receipt to her, and waited
for the coffee to be poured. The upside to a regular hang out was a
regular drink that made ordering easy.
She sat against the wall at one of the many square tables of over-
laquered wood and pulled her laptop out. She fished around in her bag
for the cell phone that constantly managed to get lost in it. She
dialed a number, "Done." She said to the other side.
"Excellent," The Thin Man said, "No problems?"
"Routine."
"Drop off information is being emailed. Payment should arrive within
the hour."
"Excellent."
The email arrived and Ace just stared at the address for a few
minutes while she sipped her coffee. Her phone pinged once, the
ereceipt from her purchase had taken its time to arrive. She dialed a
number.
"hello." The female voice that answered sounded a mix between bored
and tired.
"You can just ask if I'll come over to dinner like a normal mom." Ace
said, not quite able to vocalize the tiny bit of annoyance she felt.
"that would take all the fun out of it." The lack of inflection in
the voice didn't fool Ace at all, she could visualize the smile behind
it. "and, it was technically a real run."
"Blah blah blah." She said, "I'll see you tonight. I'll bring wine."
"make it a white." The line went dead.
"And that is that." Ace checked her social-sphere, replied to several
people and posted some thoughts of her own on the last few hours to
one of the message feeds.
---
Copyright Gordon Feiner
Part 2, Back In Black, coming soon.
that fell out of the sky. It wasn't a full cloud cover, beams of light
came through in bright spots that lit of the rain in columns of tiny
drops.
She stood against the bullet proof plexiglass with her hand in the
pockets of faded blue jeans, her head down looking at worn black
boots. Long braids in various colours hung down obscuring her face
from anyone on the sidewalk. The worn messenger back was slung over
her shoulder to keep it between her and the plexi, protectively away
from the street side.
A car finally rolled up, she lifted her head at the noise of the
tires slowing down. It was one of those hybrids that couldn't decide
if it wanted to be a sleek sports car or family hatch back. The window
rolled down on the passenger side, a guy was leaning across the center
console.
"Let's go Ace." He called out. She stepped away from the bus stop and
got into the passenger side, the window already being rolled up as she
did. Inside she popped open the glove box as the car pulled into
traffic.
It split open to reveal a docking station, that she hooked the laptop
from her back into. "You online?" She asked, rhetorically, as she
switched to the cars modem instead of her internal one.
"How close we gotta get?" He asked, the headlights making the tiny
rain drops look like sparks on the road in front of them.
"Close, just wander through downtown so I have a steady connection
through the cloud."
The downtown network cloud, which techincally extended well beyond,
was strongest around the tall buildings that served as the cities
business and network core.
Ace reached down and rummaged in her bag, coming up with a disc,
"Mind if I play some music?" She asked.
"As long as it's not country." He sighed, he hated these jobs. The
hackers always had the most screwed up taste in music.
She slid the disc into the player, "Relax cowboy."
"How long will this take?"
"Dunno, if he's online, and active, shouldn't be hard to hack in and
get what we came for."
"If he's not?"
"It's a short ride with a shitty view." She looked outside at the
downtown traffic, busy and cramped. She pushed the disc all the way
into the player and began to pull up programs on her laptop, after
adjusting ths seat forward some. The car was filled with the sounds of
thrash metal as it navigated through the downtown region, making a
wide circle, cutting through the center, or otherwise orbiting the
towers in the small area.
He swung a little outside the zone once or twice. Pulled over once
and got out to buy a coffee and a digital newspaper from a coffee
shop, he sat parked while it downloaded to his ereader.
Finally, almost a full hour later they were done she closed the
laptop and ejected the disc from the player. He sighed at the quiet.
"What they hell was that?" He asked.
"Tarnished Iron, Jersey thrash band." She said sliding it and her
laptop back into her bag. "Drop me up at Challie's." She said as he
pulled away from the downtown inner zone, along one of the extended
communication lines, heavy with traffic, connecting to another of the
metro zones satellite towns. He saw a road running through a dense
neighborhood choked with businesses, condo towers, and just beyond
them old houses. She saw a communication line bright with hotspots,
just an extension of the cloud - social and digital.
"The Thin Man has the payment." She got out at the curb and crossed
the street as he pulled away. He plugged his digital player into the
deck and put on some classic techno to get the sound of whatever the
hell Ace had played out of his head.
Ace walked into the coffee shop, the drizzle had stopped some time
ago, leaving behind only a slightly muggy feeling in the air. "Large,"
She said so the aging hispter behind the counter. He punched the code
into the register and turned to fix the drink. Ace slid her card
through the reader, telling it to email the receipt to her, and waited
for the coffee to be poured. The upside to a regular hang out was a
regular drink that made ordering easy.
She sat against the wall at one of the many square tables of over-
laquered wood and pulled her laptop out. She fished around in her bag
for the cell phone that constantly managed to get lost in it. She
dialed a number, "Done." She said to the other side.
"Excellent," The Thin Man said, "No problems?"
"Routine."
"Drop off information is being emailed. Payment should arrive within
the hour."
"Excellent."
The email arrived and Ace just stared at the address for a few
minutes while she sipped her coffee. Her phone pinged once, the
ereceipt from her purchase had taken its time to arrive. She dialed a
number.
"hello." The female voice that answered sounded a mix between bored
and tired.
"You can just ask if I'll come over to dinner like a normal mom." Ace
said, not quite able to vocalize the tiny bit of annoyance she felt.
"that would take all the fun out of it." The lack of inflection in
the voice didn't fool Ace at all, she could visualize the smile behind
it. "and, it was technically a real run."
"Blah blah blah." She said, "I'll see you tonight. I'll bring wine."
"make it a white." The line went dead.
"And that is that." Ace checked her social-sphere, replied to several
people and posted some thoughts of her own on the last few hours to
one of the message feeds.
---
Copyright Gordon Feiner
Part 2, Back In Black, coming soon.