Family Is Forever

There’s something not quite human in me. When I should be grieving a loss, I find myself oddly serene. In the moments when others panic, I’m met with a calm that makes it easy to weigh my options and choose a course of action.

I was warned, of course. The more implants I collected, the greater the impact on my humanity. After the corporate wars divvied up the planet between the victors it seemed I had little reason to care any longer. I knew my family was gone. By the time my little sister found me, and I found out she was still alive, it was too late. Still, for her sake, I had to try.

At least, that’s what I told myself. The truth of the matter is that I felt empty. There had to be some bit of my old self left, somewhere. And I had no one I could trust, save her.

“Nika,” I told her, “you should come stay with me in Seattle.”

“Why,” she asked, “don’t you come stay with me in Columbus?”

We argued whether the A-Zed Corp rule was better or worse than OxanCorp. I tried to play the big brother/little sister card; unsuccessfully of course. Finally, it was the proximity to the ocean, and the fact that I lived in an apartment rather than a shack, that won her over; either that or I’m just more stubborn than she is.

#

“Grey,” she asked over our first breakfast together since I left home at eighteen, “what were you doing in the war? Drafted by A-Zed?”

“Private data courier service,” I answered. “A-Zed felt it was safe enough to let me continue, as I was useful for moving messages and data to other Corps, both allied and not. I know you were too young to be involved.”

“Not even. When Oxan took Columbus, they recruited soldiers starting at age sixteen, and scouts starting at age twelve.” She pushed her eggs around the plate. “When QualCorp glassed the city and Mom and Dad—” She fell silent.

“If it’s too hard to talk about, you don’t have to,” I said. “I just want you to know I’m here for you, any time.”

“Are you, really?” she asked. “You don’t seem here at all. All that shit in your brain has you messed up. I just hope you’re still in there somewhere.”

“I am.”

Nika set her fork down and looked at me with a question in her eyes. “Friends may come and go; acquaintances show up never; work may ebb and flow…”

“...but family is forever,” I added. “So, this is the way things are, the only way things must…”

“…if family ever fails, there’s no one left to trust,” she finished. “Do you trust me?” She reached across the small table to take my hand in hers. If the jack ports on my wrist bothered her, she didn’t show it.

“I do,” I answered. “You’re the only person in the world I trust. You didn’t have to break out dad’s poem for that.”

“Thank you.” Her eyes grew misty. She rose and began picking up the plates. “I have to go find a job. Mooching off your ill-gotten gains is fun, but hardly sustainable.”

“Why would you assume that?” I asked.

“No one has those kinds of enhancements unless they’re a hacker.” She waved a dismissive hand. “I don’t want to know who you’re working for or anything, as long as you stay safe.”

“Always.”

“I’m off to find an honest job,” she said. “Wish me luck.”

“Good luck.” I felt I should say more, something positive and uplifting, but nothing came to me.

While she was out, it was time for me to earn some more of those “ill-gotten gains.” I made my money selling information; information that I stole from others. A-Zed looked the other way, as long as I and others like me weren’t stealing the info from them, and as long as they got a chance to bid on it, and a cut of whatever sold elsewhere.

Since I didn’t have a definitive target, I thought I’d do some snooping to see who might be able to offer a job to Nika. Perhaps I could find her something she’d excel at. I sent half a dozen listings to her, already resigned to the complaints she’d have when she got back to the apartment.

I happened across a nice little bit of information about one of A-Zed’s allied corporations: their capital position was severely compromised. After shopping it around for the highest bidder, I offered it to A-Zed. As usual, they offered a reasonable, but not quite as high bid. I was free to sell it to someone else and cut them in, but A-Zed was just as free to decide I couldn’t live in their territory any longer.

Fresh credits in my account, I took a walk through the city. My cybernetic eyes watched the city around me in colors I never saw when I was still totally human. The data that poured in via my enhancements floated in front of me in a virtual heads-up display. The skyscrapers stood proud above the damp, grey squalor beneath them. Shacks of wood and tin, interspersed with tents showing their inhabitants in infrared formed the majority of the housing in the city. There used to be more land here, but as the sea rose, a quarter of the city fell into the sound.

I stopped at the corner mart on the way home to pick up some dinner. Most days I lived on sludge packs; all the nutrients I need without thinking about flavor or texture. It meant no cooking or washing dishes, too. I figured, however, Nika might like some actual food.

#

“Rice wine or beer?” I asked when she came in.

“Have anything stronger?”

“With dinner?”

“I thought I’d drink my dinner,” Nika said.

I served up instant dinners with beer. “How about we save that for after you get some food in you?”

She didn’t respond, but she did wolf down the microwave beef and broccoli after draining the beer.

“Didn’t go well today?”

“No.” She threw the container in the trash and began rummaging through the cupboards.

“Glasses are in the left top cupboard, whiskey’s in there too.”

She grabbed two large glasses and the whiskey and crossed the room to the seating area. “You joining me?”

I took the bottle from her and poured us both two fingers. As I sat in the broken-down chair in front of the tele-screen, she doubled her pour.

“I have the sense that I should be concerned,” I said, “but I’ll leave it to you to decide whether to tell me.”

She downed the drink and poured another. “It’s just been a rough day.”

“Did you check the listings I sent you?”

She shook her head. “I wanted to do it on my own, but I’ll check those tomorrow.”

I took my time with my drink. Not because I wanted to savor it, but because I didn’t feel like getting drunk.

“I missed you. I still miss you,” she said. “I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“It took me so long to find you again. I thought you might be dead.” She took a slug of whiskey. “By the time I found you, you were already…” she waved her hand at me.

“I thought you were dead,” I said. “After the nuke in Columbus, I mean.”

Nika downed her fourth or fifth and gave me a curious look. “You’re an asshole, did you know that?”

“I wasn’t aware of that, no.” I thought about what she might be referring to. “Is it about the listings?”

“No,” she said, “just in general.” She laughed and stopped short. Her eyes bored into mine. “God, you really are messed up, aren’t you?”

“Messed up how?”

“Forget it.” She poured another round for both of us and turned on the tele-screen. We watched the A-Zed news for a while before she called it a night and tucked herself into the spare cot.

I lay down in my cot and set myself to breathing evenly. Nika’s breathing became erratic, and she began to cry. Not knowing how to respond I pretended to be out and listened until she cried herself to sleep.

I heated up breakfast, ignoring the tear stains on her cheeks when she woke. “Shower’s free, breakfast in five.”

Nika nodded and carried a change of clothes into the small bathroom. The shower ran for the allotted three minutes of hot water, and she emerged shortly after in fresh clothes. The circles under her eyes betrayed her lack of sleep.

I pointed to her plate as I dug into my own breakfast. She sat and began eating. “You have any coffee?” she asked.

“Nope, don’t drink it,” I said. “I can pick some up this afternoon, though.”

“I need some this morning.” She finished her eggs and stood. “You’re coming with me today.”

“Why is that?”

“I need my big brother for moral support,” she said. “Plus, you need to show me where to get a good cup of coffee.”

#

We walked past the corner mart and she stopped me. “They have coffee here, don’t they?”

“I thought you wanted good coffee?”

“Have you had the coffee here?”

“No,” I said, “but it always smells burnt.”

She looked as though she was holding back tears. “Do you trust me?”

“I do.”

“Do you think I would ever do anything to hurt you?”

“Of course not,” I said. “What’s the matter?”

She pulled me into the little store and ordered a large coffee, and kept adding on to her order: cream, sugar, vanilla, a sprinkle of cocoa, whipped cream. When she ran out of things to add on, she talked to the cashier. Even before my enhancements I wasn’t one for small talk, but she seemed to have a gift for it. She glanced at the clock on the wall and looked surprised.

“I’m sorry, I’ve been rattling on,” she said. “I should let you get back to work.”

We walked out of the mart and I found myself being bundled into a van by two large men with weapons. “Run, Nika!” I yelled. There was no panic, just the calm observation that doing anything else contrary to their demands would result in a negative outcome.

The logo on the men’s holsters was that of OxanCorp. If they were caught kidnapping civilians in A-Zed territory it could turn nasty. “What’s this about?” I asked.

The men cuffed me to a rail in the van and shackled my feet together. If they thought I was dangerous, I might be able to work out an escape plan. They hadn’t grabbed Nika as they were focused solely on me. The front door opened, and I couldn’t see who else got in, but then we started moving toward the free zone.

“Huh, I only saw two of you,” I said. “Well played.”

“Grey, I’m sorry,” Nika said from the front seat, “but it’s for your own good.”

“Nika?” The calm broke; the formerly placid surface of my mind rippled as all my constructs of reality crumbled. “Why?”

“We’re taking you to an Oxan clinic in Reno,” she said. “They’ll pull all that shit out of your head and get you healed up again. I want my brother back.”

I felt fear for the first time in years. With it came a pain I couldn’t name or point to. My sister, my last hope for feeling human again, had sold me out. Tears burned as they ran down my cheeks. “I trusted you! You can’t do this to me. It will kill me!” The panic in my voice surprised me. “The nano-structures are well into my brain stem by this point.”

“No!” Nika’s voice was sharp. “They’ve got the best nano-surgeons and tools. I signed a life contract with them to pay for it.”

“And if I refuse?”

“I’m sorry, Grey, that’s not an option.” Nika’s voice broke. “As soon as I saw how far gone you were, I got a power of attorney from an Oxan judge. You’re not of fit mind to maintain your own health. Until you are, I’m making the decisions.”

“That’s what you were doing yesterday. Did you ever love me,” I asked, “or just the idea of a big brother?”

“I did and I do, but you’re too messed up to see it now.” Nika grabbed the rearview mirror and adjusted so she could see me. Her tears flowed without hesitation. “A-Zed’s been using you. You’re not a free agent or consultant or whatever. If you were, you’d be living in the free zone, instead of an apartment owned by them.”

“I thought you didn’t know or care to know who I worked for?”

“I can put two and two together,” she said. “You live in a corporate apartment, you work for the corporation, even if they let you think you don’t.”

I looked away from her, no longer able to see my sister in the reflection. I pulled my legs in under me and curled up into a ball. “There’s no one left to trust.”