Business as Usual

A typical day in the Tunez gang.

“Alright people this is DJ Kira on the mike,”  Broadcast the radio, “Lets rock the beat!” A bright pop song began to play.  A woman walked down the street as if it was a fashion runway.  She passed beneath the street light, illuminating her gorgeous figure and honey blonde hair.  The men patrolling the building all had their eyes on her.  She beckoned with her long, polished finger before walking calmly back into the darkness.  Every man abandoned their posts in a rush.  Grunts of pain and dull thuds echoed from the dark. 

“Hang on people we have a request,” the woman on the radio spoke as the music cut.  “What would you like to hear?”   

A sultry voice flowed from the radio, “Something in rock for the one who stole my heart.” 

“This one’s for you Romeo!” said the DJ as a guitar solo burst out of the speakers.  A spindly, dark figure crept into the building.  He passed through the web of lasers as if he was a mere shadow.  He danced across pressure pads as if he was a mere breeze.  A glint caught his eye and he flattened himself against a wall and froze. “Another request?” said the DJ, a little hesitantly.

“Something retro,” said a raspy voice almost like a whisper. “Somebody’s Watching Me.” 

“Now that’s an old one!” said the DJ catching on.  “Stay tuned while I try to find that file.”  She yanked the microphone off and her fingers flew across her keyboard, with not one keystroke pertaining to music.  Drilling through layers of security she quickly accessed the mainframe.  The firewall was extinguished like a burning log in a vat of liquid nitrogen.  She quickly accessed the circuit titled “CAM RING 9”.  “Lights out!” she said as she plugged a feedback loop into the camera matrix.  She put the microphone on.  “Sorry.  We don’t seem to have it.” She said over the radio. 

“Ah well,” the thief said. “Got somewhere to be anyway.”  He dashed down the hall way, invisible.  He slid beneath a motion sensor in a completely cheesy power slide.  Turning the corner, he saw the prize he craved.  An old book.  It was so old, it didn’t even have a battery.  It was printed on some old substance… some kind of compressed wood, and it was bound in like… ancient animal skin.  Crude, but effective.  Not at all like the modern books.  Old fashioned LCD displays, aluminum casing, and a little memory card full of text.  The thief shook himself and reminded himself he had a job to do.  He tiptoed over to the display case.  He carefully lifted his laser knife from the bag at his side.  He quickly checked for heat sensors around the room.  He slowly began to carve a circle into the inch thick plastic.  The acrid scent of burning plastic filled his nostrils.  He caught the circle in his gloved hand as it fell.  He carefully slid the ancient book into a second pouch at his side. He then pulled minidisc from his pocket and placed it on the shelf that once held the book.   He then changed the setting on his laser knife and fused the display plastic back into place.  Grinning like a madman, he crawled beneath the motion sensor once more as he pressed the call button on his radio. 

                “A request?” Asked the DJ.

                “I’m in the mood for some heavy metal.” The thief said.

                “What a coincidence!” said a voice from behind him. “So am I!”  The thief whirled around to find himself staring down the barrel of… something that looked very lethal from his angle.  The guard cocked his weapon with several dull, ringing cracks.  “Any last words?” He growled. 

                “Yes actually,” the thief replied, clearly and sarcastically.  “Your safety’s on.”  The guard turned his gun to check, and was swiftly relieved of his consciousness.  “Goon,”  said the thief as he relieved the guard of his weapon, wallet, communicator, and just for fun, his pants.  He tossed the trousers into a trash incinerator in the hallway, tied the guard’s shoelaces together in a swift but complicated knot, and exited the building through a window, giggling madly.  A graffiti coated Grav Rider was floating outside the window.  He latched onto the lower rack.  “Lets ride!” He said to the driver.

                “What took you so long?” chuckled the driver.  “I’ve been floating here for like, eleven seconds!”

                “Come on Chris,” the thief sighed. “We have to pick up Kate before the goon wakes up.  No time for banter.”

                “Gotcha!” Chris said. “Hang on Neko!”  Chris gunned the engine.  With a whoosh, they shot into the neon night.  “Remind me where the rendezvous point is” He yelled over the hum of the engine.

                “The alley next to the Artificial Smoothie Shack.” Neko hissed through clenched teeth.  He hated flying vehicles.  They dodged a neon sign and dropped into a lower hover zone.   Turning the corner, they came to a dead stop that almost launched Neko’s breakfast from his lower intestines.  A young woman was waiting in the shadows, smoking one of her signature mint leaf cigarettes.

                “What took you so long?” Kate asked as she strutted to the Grav Rider and mounted the rear section sidesaddle.  “I’m halfway through my cig.”  A shrill, alternating wail pierced the night.  “Come on Chris!  Open the throttle!” Kate snapped.

                “Lets see what this baby can do!” Chris said with immense enthusiasm as he gunned the throttle to the maximum.  Neko didn’t even have time to grit his teeth.  The lopsided rider shot into the night like a torpedo as the flashing lights ran the corner.   The HVPF opened fire.  The Slug-light laser turrets mounted on the Hellhound Units buzzed angrily to life.  Orbs of orange lethality whizzed by them in wild bursts.  “S**T!” Chris yelled as one nicked his shoulder, leaving a smoldering hole in the thick synthetic fiber.  “Someone shoot back!”  Kate drew a gun from a holster by her hip, but it was blasted from her hand before the author even had time to describe it. 

                “S**t!” she said, clutching her singed palm to her chest.  “We’re target practice!”  Now at this point, if Neko could speak without vomiting he would have said something heroic like “Not for long!” or “Say hello to my little friend!” but since he was so nauseous, he decided he’d just start shooting and get it over with.  He raised the stolen weapon and took aim.  Bursts of concentrated sound echoed from the barrel.  The laser shots veered off course in the wake of the sonic blast.  Cracks and tears formed in crucial places on the Hellhounds.  The barrel of a turret fragmented.  Orange sparks flew everywhere, igniting leaking fuel lines, burning holes in armor, and melting control computers.  Soon there was only one Hellhound rider left, and he was reconsidering whether he really wanted to push his luck.  Neko flung the emptied weapon into the intake manifold of the Hellhound before he could make up his mind. 

                “I’ll ask you where the hell you got that gun later,” Chris said as the pyrotechnic finale faded from their eardrums.  “For now, we gotta ditch this thing.”  He put a minidisc into the player on the Grav Rider.  The disc program swiftly reprogrammed the navigation computer to travel far into North Town.  They dropped from the Rider and began to weave through the back alleys and hidden pathways of South Town.  Neko reflected on the heist as they made their way through the slums.  He couldn’t believe that he, an expert thief, had let a pathetic rookie of a guard sneak up on him.  He would have to be more careful from now on.  If that goon hadn’t fallen for that old trick, he would probably have been reduced to a reddish blob in the middle of the floor.  Sonic weapons were notorious for powdering bones at close range.  He thought also of the loot.  A book.  Not even a new one.  It was ancient, and probably worthless on the black market.  For some reason though… and not one he could understand, he had known that he must have this book.  Like… like the very universe wanted him to have it.

Reviews

[Anonymous]

WOW THIS IS AMAZING! I not only was enthralled with the imagery that so skillful described, but this story itself was so good that as soon as I read it, it was hard so stop! I loved it!

[Scene, not herd]

"Kate drew a gun from a holster by her hip, but it was blasted from her hand before the author even had time to describe it. "
This made me smile. I like the futuristic sci-fi feel!

[Shugo Wellen]

that is a very interesting story. the safety on trick is a classic