Kaleidoscope [draft…part three, I think] 5/24/22

In the 23rd C, in Terra, Nila investigates things.

>KCN: you still there?

>UNKNOWN: yes KCN we’ve been searching for you

>KCN: why? what do you want? how did you find me?

>UNKNOWN: the algorithms suggested that there was a 67.6% probability in favor of you returning to this location within two years.

>KCN: so what do you want now that you found me?

>UNKNOWN: we wish to discuss employment…

She walked. Circled around the block. It wasn’t your average 20th century block–the ‘scrapers were all on a big-scale footprint. Klick to a side.

Her penchant for danger gave her a confidence that most wouldn’t have upon having disembodied voices intrude on their evenings.

At her allotted 100 meters the signal broke off.

It took Nila nearly an hour.

As she neared the place where the signal had been coming from, she shifted from the middle of the street to the side close to the imposing wall, imagining the massive structure’s gravity pulling her close. She hoped she’d be out of sight of the cameras that caught her the first time–it didn’t really matter because UNKNOWN would ping her as soon as she got within range again.

Lights had shifted. Day-lights had become subdued or had just been turned off, while the evening ultraviolet sun rose from the depths. A thousand tints of LED light nodes and neon tubes scrawled out words, lit food and junk stalls. Some hung vertically swaying from an unfelt breeze above creating wayang shadow puppets hovering in the smog above engaged in an eerie but otherwise occluded story.

The arisen UV sun (in actuality, a series of UV light-tubes snaking along the cavernous street 8 or so meters above) brought out the not-so-subtle glow of Nila’s forearm tats.

They were new. Twining snakes. Girl shit.

The doorway, hidden behind the stalls, was at least unattended. Standard door. Lock….

ha…lock

Lock. Door. Nila’s hand slipped from her raincoat’s outer pocket to her inside front right pants pocket. She slipped a thick metal ring onto her index finger. The action triggered memories and excitement within her.

Some steps on the outside. Some steps on the inside. Another door. Another lock. Another lol.

#scifi #sci-fi #fantasy

copyright me 2022

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Published by: ionfyr

I am a sci-fi/fantasy author, currently writing in the cyberpunk and steampunk sub-genres. I recently published my first two novels, Cyanide Blue and Etiquette of Empire and the short cyberpunk story Puppetry, available in the apple IBook store and Kindle/Amazon store as ebooks.

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