Chapters
-
“Dakota, you need to get out of there!” Cinnabar called, his voice seeming distant and stretched. “Something’s happening, I think it’s the—” For a single instant, there was nothing at all around her. Dakota was cast screaming into the void, her arms and legs scratching and clawing at nothing. But then the moment passed, and she realized she was inside the pod. Signal FailureEmergency Egress“Cinnabar, where are you?” She shoved at the shell, pushing it off above her. The room outside was…-
107.6 K •
-
-
“So why do you think a group that hates Equestria has their hideout in a VR arcade?” Cinnabar asked, as the autocar left them on a busy Sydney street corner. Even late at night this particular street seemed to be packed with activity, mostly younger people. Few were wearing goggles or glasses—but as she passed them, she could see the distinctive shimmer over their eyes of connected contacts.“Criminals are always the same,” Dakota whispered back. “The mob says they’re good Catholics who hate…
-
107.6 K •
-
-
Meeting the Cave didn’t take long at all—by the time Dakota woke up the next morning, to the calls of tropical birds she was pretty sure came from the resort speakers, there was a note slipped under the door. At least she assumed it was a note. There was nothing actually on it.“Oh.” Cinnabar stared down at the folded-open sheet. It looked like it had been scrawled on the hotel’s own free paper. “Right. Buck me.”“Not really into horses,” Dakota answered, over a mouthful of eggs. She was…
-
107.6 K •
-
-
Dakota had to admit that Cinnabar had been right about her preferences: she did enjoy traveling. Of course, it was stranger than she remembered. Security had once involved a physical nightmare of waiting in line and often an embarrassing pat-down if she so much as looked at the TSA the wrong way. All that was gone, replaced with a privacy nightmare instead. A single line, a single scanner with ponies working it and inspecting literally everything that passed through with perfect precision. Well, some of…
-
107.6 K •
-
-
Dakota still couldn’t quite believe just how different the space in her own apartment could look—but there was no denying what she was seeing. A maze of shelves that rose into the ceiling. My past self was way more creative than I feel. It was hard to imagine taking the time to put up paper-thin rice walls on the sides of the room, with the outlines of even more books standing there.But Cinnabar had already gathered the materials they would need for a first reading, piled around a desk she was fairly…
-
107.6 K •
-
-
The longer Dakota remained in Equestria, the harder it was to remind herself that she was still standing in her apartment, wearing weird shoes and probably looking like an idiot. At least in the time before her implant, she could’ve just removed the glasses. Maybe I should start using them again. Just because I don’t need them doesn’t mean they might not be better. That would give her more control than trusting the system.But confusion and indecision would not make this problem go away. She owed…
-
107.6 K •
-
-
Dakota could not even remember the last time she hadn’t had her Synth. During the darkest moments in the hospital, he had been there. Cinnabar had been there when she was in surgery, been there when she was going through physical therapy. When she woke each morning he was there, generally with breakfast he’d requested from the hospital based on her preferences and a few interesting videos he’d collected while she slept.But now Dakota was alone—alone in what no longer felt like a warm, welcoming…
-
107.6 K •
-
-
Dakota’s own apartment was just another identical door amid hundreds, at least with the civic overlay switched on instead of any of the more colorful variants.“But that’s no way to experience home for the first time,” Cinnabar declared, as they neared her door from a length of unadorned hallway. Still, the slightly reflective paint on the walls was totally clean, and there was no stench of piss or anything in the hallways. So she didn’t live in a dump, that was something. “Everyone has a…
-
107.6 K •
-
-
Every day was the same—an undignified washing by hospital staff, followed by a ride in the back of a one-seat autocar down to physical therapy. Despite everything they told her about the value of her implants—despite the plastic access port that proved the surgery had taken place, Dakota didn’t feel much like she was getting her money’s worth. Every day was six hours of agony, moving from partial-submersion in thin tubs to friction beds and straps. Eventually she was walking again on a slow…
-
107.6 K •
-
-
The first voice Dakota heard was her Synth.This was no terrible surprise to her—she’d been hearing his digital voice since she was a kid, back in the days when Synths had spoken only through the last generation of smart devices. But she couldn’t even move yet—couldn’t even see, couldn’t even feel her body, and already he was there.“Dakota, are you awake? This thing is huge. I could fit your whole library in here. All the music you own, plus most of the movies.”She tried to move, tried to…
-
107.6 K •
-
- Previous 1 … 45 46 47 … 136 Next