This is a chapter from a book I’m developing. I thought it would be interesting to develop out the characters from here to build context and background.
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She leaned out the door and felt the wind whipping back into her face. Shit. The bus cruised at around 150 kph. She hesitated as she fingered her Plank strapped to her back. Suburb walls blurred by with brick patterns like some 8-bit video game. There were 6 cars locked in formation opposite from her, slowly drifting back and forth. Traffic is light today.
“Listen, lady! I ain’t gonna tell you again! Get back inside!”
She glanced back at the pointed taser, and the trembling security uniform holding it. He was short—with a spatter of sweat sparkling on his bald head and rings under his eyes. Too much coffee. He seemed nice, probably on his way home from the night shift. His eyes darted nervously as he fingered the trigger. People in the seats behind him kept their heads down, trying not to look conspicuous.
“Warning! Please stay back from the door, or the bus will be forced to initiate an emergency stop.”
That was a Lucy coming from the console. Marx would be proud.
“Hey!”
She turned and faced him. The poor man was clearly not used to dealing with mods.
“You have 20 seconds before emergency stopping measures.”
At the same instant, the bus bumped over something in the road.
CRITZZZZ!
Sal ducked. She heard the crackle of the Tesla leads sizzling by her head. With a jolt, one of them hit her Plank as she went down. Holy…
“God damnit!” She screamed.
“S-Sorry!” The guard blurted, “it slipped…!”
“Asshole!” Sal yelled as she grabbed and pulled the wire off the Plank.
In a catlike motion, she turned and leapt out the door while grabbing and pulling the Plank around to her feet. The black pavement menacingly swept by below her as she tensed for a microsecond, time slowing to a crawl. Road splatter in T-minus…
BAM, Sal landed on the hood of a blue four-door, sitting on her ass. Immediately, the car decelerated as the bus drifted ahead. Letting her legs dangle in front of the car, Sal gripped the front panels and stomped the Plank on the road. She screamed, “Fuck that taser!” The Plank was dead, and the stupid guard was long gone.
The car slowed and moved toward the shoulder. She watched, helplessly, as the rest of the formation broke away. Before the car stopped, she hopped off to the right side — the Plank still magged to her feet. She abruptly planted her face into some brush as the wheels seized over the loose rock.
A car door opened on the opposite side. A hometown nerd with glasses hopped out of the door and trotted toward her.
“Jesus, Mary, Mother of are you all right?!” His head darted back and forth, looking at her, the hood of the car, her, and the freeway, seemingly wanting do all at the same time, “What in Dante’s Hangover were you trying to do?!”
Sal laid back and panted. She pulled up her feet and hit the release toggle on her boot. The Plank popped off. I’m going to kill Marx…
“Is anything broken?” He was staring at her more closely now, kneeling and hands raised. Up close, he looked like a time warp.
“My goddamn Plank, apparently. Nice spectacles.” Sal sat up and put her hand on her head as she looked at him. He had shaggy brown hair with salt and pepper streaks—too young to have hair like that.
“Uhh…thanks. Here, I’ve got some water in the car,” he scooted to the passenger door, pulled it open, and grabbed a bottle.
“Do you need roadside assistance?” The car beeped at him.
“Y–ah….” He opened his mouth to respond.
“NO!” Sal shouted, wobbling to her feet. He turned and looked at her. “Thanks for the save there, um, what’s your name?”
He tossed her a bottled water, then pulled his glasses off and rubbed them on his shirt, “Dayle Isaac,” He muttered. “You sure you don’t want me to call an ambulance…?”
“Thanks Dayle. I’m fine.” She bent down and examined her bruised leg while looking at him. Another car formation whooshed past.
Dayle was glancing around again. “I’m heading down to a lecture in San Diego, can I drop you off somewhere?”
She unzipped her cargo pocket and pulled out the aluminum courier tube. The readout read Caesar Lopez — Time Sensitive — 00:14:31 remaining. Distance: 6.5 miles. She looked from the tube to her smoking Plank. “Yea. Would you mind?” She attempted to smile, weakly.
“Hop in.” He motioned to the open door as he walked around to the other side.
In the car, Dayle sat back and gave the autopilot commands. Soon they were speeding down the freeway. Sal stared out the window. “Just hit the next exit,” she said.
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“You put the fate of this project in the hands of a skate courier? Did you get package insurance?!” Stevens whined sarcastically. He coughed as he waved a receipt in the air, “this isn’t some high end computer hardware. Do you know how much the shit will roll down if the prototype doesn’t make it to Caesar in one piece?”
Opposite from him in the brightly lit lab was Lily, his office manager. Her brown skin looked a shade green in the light, but she didn’t flinch at his arm waving. She scolded him right back, “Nick, I told you what they were when I signed the papers. This company is owned by a good friend of mine. They’re quick, easy, and grid-neutral. Do you want safety or more feds breathing down your neck?”
Stevens threw the receipt on the desk and bent over a lab sink. Turning on the faucet, he cupped some water in his hands and splashed his face. Bending up and reaching for a towel, he said in a low voice and sighed, “Just…let me know when it gets there.”
Lily walked up to him and grabbed the receipt off the counter as she stink-eyed him, “Stay away from my desk, and don’t spam my phone when I’m at lunch unless it’s a real emergency, ok?!” She turned and stormed out of the lab. Stevens sighed again and loafed over to his projection chair. He dialed in for Caesar.
Caesar’s head popped up on screen almost immediately, “What is it hombreeee?” Caesar was typing and didn’t even look at him.
“Hello, uhhh…” Stevens stuttered. “There should be a courier dropping off my prototype inside the half-hour.”
“Courier? No me jodas cabron!” Caesar stared at him now. “What carrier?”
“Lily did it, ok? I don’t know. Some skate courier,” Stevens shook his head.
“You wan’ me to take care of them?”
“Only if you have to. Lily’s clean, and she says the service is too. Maybe you know them? I didn’t catch the name…or I don’t think they have one.”
Caesar rubbed his forehead, “No worries. You’re lucky I don’t have shit to do today. I’ll take care of it.”
Caesar’s face blacked and the screen widened again. Stevens reached to his ear as a drop of sweat ran down his neck. He wondered if he had just signed some poor kid’s death warrant.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow I have absolutely no idea what’s going on here but I’d love to read more about this. It’s very interesting and I like the hints at this world it’s taking place in. Included in this week’s ThursdayTales Roll Call.
I second the above, I hope there’s more.
And I was hoping for some Back to the Future hoverboard action. A high tech future with even more tasers is terrifying though.
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