“You're so fuckin' suspicious, Adi,” Rat says with a huff, his halitosis nearly causing Adi to grab the credit stick and bag and leap from the booth. Pulling out a cheap flick stick, Rat lights it with the scrape of a thick, discolored, foul-smelling thumbnail. Adi’s neural net identifies the burning, bio-soiled plastic chemical smell of the mild hallucinogen gliaxoqride, street name Twister, mixed with a particularly pungent blend of marijuana and tobacco strains. Her nose identifies most of the aerial pollutants and filters them out; her nanites consume the filtered pollutants and use them for fuel for her nanite system.
The awful smell quickly fills the small space, but Adi actually prefers it to the rank stench of Rat’s body odor. Adi’s Marine augmented nose, combined with her 'net, is not sensitive enough for the precise identification of the marijuana or tobacco strains. Cheap flick sticks popular with lowly working-poor laborers often contain some combination of synthetic caffeine, marijuana, tobacco, amphetamines, and often other low-grade psychoactive drugs.
Adi hates the smell of cheap flick sticks, and Rat smokes the cheapest he can get. Adi realizes she will have difficulty removing the burning-soiled plastic nappie smell from her clothes. When Adi gets home, she must quickly wash her clothes and take a long, hot shower before Nyomi returns from work. If the super still hasn't fixed the water heater, Adi will suffer through another cold shower. Adi hopes that most of her hair—some of the thicker parts still damp from this morning's cold shower—lies down her back, braided and tucked underneath her shirt, and might be safe from the foul odors filling the small booth.
Adi’s increased metabolism and nanite upkeep amplify her lizard brain’s hunger signals. The primal urge to fuel her body can become overwhelming if her caloric needs are unmet, leading her to hyper-focus on acquiring food to sustain her augments. Her military conditioning and a strong sense of ownership over her possessions, such as her food, bike, and armor, heighten her lizard brain's instinct to protect resources and territory. Any perceived threat to these resources can trigger a heightened defensive response. Adi’s enhancements have transformed her into an almost perfect survival machine by boosting her lizard brain's strengths while mitigating its weaknesses.
Ignoring Rat for the moment, Adi retrieves four 1,950 ml cans of strawberry banana-flavored high-protein shakes from the bag. Adi recognizes the Meri-Mari brand of protein shakes as a locally produced, high-quality, minimally alcoholic drink with about 2-5% ABV per can. Inside the drink cans, there is an adjustable cryo pack, which the drinker may adjust to their preference from 16°C to 5°C after opening. Each Meri-Mari contains 1,511 calories, 47 grams of protein, eight mcg of iron, and 978 g of potassium, and it also has a full day's recommended serving of other vitamins and minerals.
Delving back into the bag, Adi removes eight 650-gram Katariina brand high-protein dark chocolate fig bars coated in dried flaked coconut, roasted chia seeds, and hemp seeds topped with toasted almond slivers. Katariina labels do not list any nutritional value. The Katariina bars are an expensive, imported, high-quality luxury treat from the Proxima Centauri B colony. Katariina bars are way outside Adi's food budget. At least Rat isn't trying to poison her with the universally despised Sean Cawley ration bars.
At the bottom of the bag rests a 450-gram sealed plastic box of Matxalen pomegranate and pistachio Turkish delight. This luxurious, expensive treat comes from the Halo Lumina Base, which encircles Old Earth's moon, and they import it. It is typically so far beyond Adi's budget that it's ridiculous. She knows Nyomi is particularly fond of good Turkish delight. Quickly, Adi moved the valuable food into the large lower pockets of her desert-tan, long-sleeved, light canvas work shirt.
After she safely stowed the food, Adi put away the playing cards from her solitaire game, the worn protective titanium alloy case clinking softly as she did. Leaning slightly towards Rat, she stifled a grimace, her enhanced sense of smell capturing every nuance of his body odor despite the flick stick’s stench. Rat’s hellacious body odor is enough for Adi to consider smoking again briefly.
“Well, I hope this job is better than the last job, which turned into a real shit sandwich,” Adi retorted, her voice tinged with wry humor and a touch of anger. She wonders how terrible this new job is that Rat is trying to bribe her with expensive, most likely stolen food.
Adi’s gaze held Rat’s, her thoughts churning as she weighed the possibilities. Pocketing the cred stick, she couldn’t deny the allure of the offered job. A thousand creds might not seem like much, but in her current circumstances, it was an opportunity to make ends meet. With this job, Adi thinks she might make her half of the rent this month. If this job paid well enough, Adi thought, perhaps she could start chipping away at the debts she owed Nyomi and secure her financial stability.
The dangerous dance between loyalty and necessity was one she had grown familiar with. At this moment, as the shadows deepened around them, she found herself stepping closer to the abyss once again. Adi’s gaze remained unwavering; her bionic-augmented senses attuned to every nuance of Rat’s body language.
Ignoring the whores at the bar, Rat quickly scanned the room, his nervous energy accentuating the air of conspiracy around him. His grin was almost feral, a reflection of the battles he had faced, both internally and externally. Rat showed clear signs of being a Zombie addict, a shadow of his past that lingered despite his current role as a fence and information broker. His gaunt frame, coupled with his extensive use of Zombie, had permanently stained the whites of his eyes a deep red, which earned him his street name, Shou Rata. If Rat has any other name, he has not revealed it.
With the whores' chattering fading into the background, Rat leaned in, his voice dropping to a hushed whisper. “I can assure you, Adi, this one has the potential for a sweeter ending,” Rat replied cryptically, the glint in his red eyes hinting at the intricacies of the job he was about to propose.
“Yeah, fucker, that's what you said about the last three jobs. Only one of those jobs actually paid anything decent.”
After finishing her second drink, Adi drops the empty container in the recycling chute and winces as it malfunctions.
"Fucking piece of shit!"
With her fist, Adi bangs on the chute.
"Hit it harder, Adi. I don't think you've dented that side of the chute enough."
"Fuck you." She hits the chute several times until it accepts the container with a chirpy beep and flashing green LED.
Adi’s mind raced while taking advantage of the distraction caused by the recycling chute malfunction, considering the pros and cons of Rat's job offer. The allure of 1,000 creds was strong, yet she knew that Rat’s deals often held hidden pitfalls. Adi couldn't help but fleetingly think about Nyomi and the debts she guiltily owed her lover.
Rat persisted in his words with a mixture of nervousness and urgency. “Adi, this is just another transport job, something you excel at.” Rat drums his fingers on the table.
Adi’s lips curled into a cynical smile as she studied Rat. The man’s reputation preceded him—he was a fence of the shadiest kind, known for dealing in information and contraband. Rat is also known for not asking too many questions about where and how something was acquired or precisely the known pitfalls of a particular job. She had taken several jobs from him before, each one a stepping stone away from her Marine past and deeper into the murky underworld.
“What’s the deal this time, Rat?” Adi’s voice was steady, betraying none of the intrigue she felt.
“Like I said, it’s a simple pick-up and transport job, Adi,” Rat said while shrugging his shoulders.
“Rat, I am not breaking into another fucking research lab. I am sure as fuck not breaking into any secured facility again. And I am sure as fuck not getting into a firefight with secbots again. It was pure fucking luck that I found the building’s server farm on site and could luckily wipe the security recordings using my last EMP grenade. If I had any, I would have tossed either a plasma or a thermobaric grenade after the EMP. I used my last grav-flux grenade to escape the Blues and secbots; the small gravity anomaly wrecked almost half of the building. It was pure luck that I had any grenades on my tac vest.”
Adi narrowed her eyes, glaring at Rat. Her straightforwardness pierced through the layers of intrigue that often surrounded Rat’s proposals. She remembered the chaos caused by the grav-flux grenade. Chendiuria was a geostable planet, but a sudden localized earthquake caught everyone—except her—off guard. Adi took advantage of the ensuing confusion to make her escape.
Adi was fortunate to have a few leftover grenades from a few previous jobs for Rat. Using a somewhat illicit application also provided by Rat—a bootleg version of military-grade software—Adi's neural net could interface with the grenades. She had lost the grenade interface when she left the Corps, but she was lucky to still possess the arming codes, which are illegal for civilians to have, also supplied by Rat.
“I forgot about the grenades. Do you have any grens left,” Rat asks.
"I have two grenades on my other tac vest: a Mars TA military surplus cryo grenade and a 70-year-old, likely unreliable, Mars TA milsurp irritant red smoke grenade. Why do you ask, Rat?"
Adi decides not to tell Rat that she also has a zero-wire grenade, an explosive grenade filled with zero-molecular-edged wire—commonly called razor-floss. Exceedingly dangerous and exceptionally deadly in close quarters, the zero-molecule-wide wire slices through nearly everything, causing the Revered Ancients to call razor-floss weapons flying Cuisinarts—whatever that was.
Razor-floss grenades have a lethality radius of approximately 10 meters and a casualty-inducing radius of roughly 30 meters. Although technically not illegal to own, possessing its arming codes and using a razor-floss grenade is highly unlawful and can result in a lengthy prison term at hard labor. Rat didn’t get her the razor-floss grenade; it was a fortunate find on another job for him. The previous owner was kind enough to leave the arming codes taped to the grenade's body.
Her old Mars TA milsurp tac vest can hold eight grenades, but Adi hopes she will never need grenades again. In her heavy Colonial Marine Myrmidon power armor, she was practically immune to most non-nuclear hand grenades, including razor floss grenades. Grenades are too risky without her heavy armor and its thick ablative plates. Once armed and tossed, a live grenade is dangerous to friend and foe alike.
Rat’s earnestness appeared genuine as he hurriedly reassured her. “Oh, just wonderin.' You shouldn’t need grens for this job. No B&E this time either, I promise."
Adi snorts at Rat's promise, knowing from experience just how worthless his promises are.
"I know ya' barely got away from the Blues, but I had no idea the cops had been bribed to keep an eye on the building. Ya' still got away with the item.”
Adi’s grimace was a testament to the memory of her narrow escape, a feat she was still amazed she had pulled off. “After leaping out of a fucking fourth-story window. I’m not fucking doing that again, Rat.” Although she was hurt slightly on landing, her augments made the jump possible but painful.
Rat’s expression shifted as he continued his pitch, a sense of cautious optimism mixed with the shadows of his past. “This item is already out and in a sealed shipping container. It would be best to get it delivered to the correct interested party. This job is also paying three times the usual going fee."
Adi snorts at Rat's disclosure of the payment rate. She wonders how much Rat is skimming off for his pockets.
"Here’s the key to the secure storage locker in the Telesphoros maglev train station. Don’t say the number out loud; you never know who may be listening.”
"Maybe you shouldn't have mentioned what station the locker is in then."
Rat slides a typical anonymous transit station secure locker key across the table towards Adi. Adi’s gaze sharpened as the lure of the payment tugged at her practical side. Money was a constant concern in her world, and Rat knew how to dangle just the right amount to pique her interest.
With a resigned sigh, Adi glanced at the key Rat had placed on the table. Secure storage locker at the Telesphoros maglev train station—sounded simple enough. Yet, her instincts were on high alert. Rat's deals were never simple, and she knew hidden complexities always existed beneath his seemingly straightforward offers.
“You didn’t creatively requisition transport for me this time, did you,” she quipped, her voice laced with a hint of skepticism.
A ghost of a smile played on Rat’s lips as he leaned back, his confidence seemingly unshakable. “Adi, you didn’t appreciate the Esfir Dream Walker Express? I'm hurt.”
Adi’s retort was dry as she recalled the transport fiasco Rat had arranged for her on a previous job. “Rat, that ginormous, eight-wheeled drive armored politician’s touring sedan was hotter than fuck. As soon as I hit the freeway, I had every fucking Blue in the lower and outer city on my ass. You should have at least told me I was the distraction.”
Rat’s chuckle was a mixture of amusement and camaraderie. “No, Adi, you can carry the package on your motorcycle this time. It’s not very big or very heavy.”
“So, the upcoming job won’t resemble the fiasco where you had me pilfering that massive marble statue of Galatea. Frankly, I couldn’t care less about the historical or artistic significance of the stolen artwork–whoever the fuck she was. I want to clarify that I’m not up for repeating the complications and challenges that came with that second-thief art theft mission.”
“Sorry, Adi. I genuinely had no clue about the size and weight of that statue. I never expected it would be too big for your motorcycle. Your decision to pick it up and run with it astounded me. Luckily, the client was thrilled, and your efforts even earned you a bonus.”
“Wasn’t so much running as a fast shuffle. That fucking thing was heavy. I don’t mind stealing from thieves, though. And I appreciated the bonus.” Adi also remembers how fast she spent those credits.
Rat’s eyes gleamed as he leaned back, his fingers tapping rhythmically on the scarred table.
"Rat, I still remember the fiasco after you had me steal those two cryo jars. One with 5-billion fertilized heavily GMO'd saltwater oyster eggs. The other jar held billions of fertilized Europa edible jumbo brine shrimp eggs. I can't believe I risked my life for fucking shrimp!"
"You did get paid for that job."
"Not as much as I should have had you been upfront about what I was stealing from the Gray Ice Spiders cartel."
"Be proud, Adi, that you helped jump-start the Chendiurian oyster and brine shrimp industry. This job pays much better and doesn't have as much risk."
"What about the job where I had to break into a shipping container from an animal cloning installation while in Chendiurian orbit? You had me steal several eggs of some extinct raptor called a Haas eagle."
"Your Marine experiences, Adi, made you specifically well suited for that job. Not many people can handle EVA for that long."
"Until that moment, I'd only done simulated sub-orbital drops, Rat. you know fucking well that I was not a mud Marine."
"But you had done suborbital drops before."
"Simulated and only in training. Fleet Marines don't get dropped in the mud."
Rat shrugs.
"That, so far, has been the only job from you that paid very well."
"The client was quite pleased with the extra eggs you procured for him."
"I just grabbed the fucking crate. The orbital drop bags you provided were a tight fit."
"Kane mentioned that he'd heard from another broker that several of those eagle eggs had gone to a customer in the Eros colony."
Adi’s mind raced as she considered his offer. The prospect of a well-paying job was enticing, and Rat had a knack for finding the work that matched her unique skill set. Still, she had learned to tread carefully in his deals, aware that the waters he navigated ran deep and treacherous.
Adi’s gaze sharpened, her curiosity piqued by the seemingly straightforward nature of the task. “How hot is this cargo? I’m going to need some details.”
Rat’s reply was straightforward, a reassurance uncharacteristic of his usual cryptic nature. “You’re not dealing with stolen goods this time; it’s not hot in that respect. What I can reveal now is that the package holds significant historical value. Once you secure the package, ensure it doesn’t vanish mysteriously. It needs to reach the intended recipients. A memcube accompanies the package in the locker, providing more details.”
“Rat, you know I can handle a bike, but this sounds almost too straightforward for you,” Adi observed, a hint of skepticism coloring her tone.
Rat’s grin was both triumphant and knowing, a mixture of satisfaction and understanding. Adi braced herself for what lay ahead, aware that every step in this path was fraught with uncertainty and the potential for danger.
Adi’s fingers tapped rhythmically on the table as she weighed the information. The urgency and the presence of a memcube for further instructions seemed to counteract her instincts that told her Rat’s proposition couldn’t be as simple as it appeared.
Rat’s grin was enigmatic, a mixture of knowing and anticipation. “Adi, sometimes the shadows hold secrets that even I can’t predict. This time, I think you’ll find that simplicity can be its own kind of deception.”
“Give me the details,” Adi conceded, her caution overshadowed by the allure of the payment and the promise of a potentially smoother job. Her eyes narrowed as she assessed Rat’s motives.
Rat leaned in, his words a conspiratorial whisper amidst the ambient noise of the bar. “Meet me at the usual spot tonight at midnight. I’ll give ya' all ya' need to know.” Rat’s grin widened, revealing the gleam of his naturally sharpened front teeth.
Adi’s gaze remained locked with Rat’s, the dance of shadows and secrets reflected in their shared understanding. The allure of payment was damped by the realization that nothing in their world was ever truly straightforward; the deeper they delved, the more complexity they uncovered.
As the afternoon light waned, Adi pocketed the secure locker key, her thoughts already swirling with speculation about the nature of the package and the motives behind the job. The memory of past successes and failures tempered her resolve, a constant reminder that their path was shrouded in uncertainty and peril.
Adi studied Rat for a moment longer before nodding curtly. The corners of her mouth curled into a faint smirk, a mixture of anticipation and caution playing across her features.
