traffic passed at high velociy. the sound was identical to the suck and draw of waves on pourous sand.
Charlie walked to the bathroom and opened the mirror, and slotted the new drugs onto the glass shelves. She looked and nodded, then took down a bottle from the top shelf. She gripped the lid with her teath twised sharply, the lid came off and she spat it into the basin.
She removed a pill replace the lid and the bottle and closed the cabinet. She looked at the stark face staring back. She turned her head side to side. She bared her teeth then sighed and swallowed the pill.
"if not why not?" she asked
//////
Charlie proded her stump. i and checked the cockpit, she picked the prosthetic boot up and pit it backo
seu the office up she said.
setting the office the room confirned.
she went through to the living room and slid the collaped consatina doo
she closed the door.
"lock the livin. bedroom door. a
lockdown the bedroom until five.
please confirm with signature, said the room
I am charles monroe, she responded.
The bedroom is now in lockdown.
Charlie tidied the room.
woah" she said, that is strong, and she shook her head. wow. she stood and when over to the kitchen area and drank a glass of water. then she got a shrink wrapped sleeve of medical electrode out the cupboard.
she peeled the membrande open exposing the tiny spiral discs. She systematically stuck the shiney discs all ober her. the moment the sticker touched the skin it a little le would blink.
she attached the arm sock and placed an articulated joint on the counter, into which she slotted the arm and powered up the crane. The bionic arm flexed back and forward.
"Right", she said and peeled off an electrode.
"Come here", she said and the arm inched forward, and the fingers curled into the palm except for the finger and thumb, which pinched together.
Charlie put the sticky disc in the fingers and turned to face the contraption, and the arm extended forward and pressed the electode on her bicep. Charlie repeated the prceedure, feeling the electrodes and commanding her arm to attach them to her arm, the tricep, for arm, under arm, and then strategic points on her back. She checked herself in the mirror.
Charlie removed the bionic boot and took it and the arm back to the cockpit.
Charlie went back to the bathroom let down her hair and shook it to hang free, then divided into two and clamped the tails, and filled the hand basin with a little hot water. She then got a razor. At the top of her spine, where it conects to the skull was a perfectly square patch of stubble. The square was exactly the width of a razors blade.
Charlie wet the blade and carefully stroked the blade in the same spot until it was perfectly bald, then she dried it and got another electrode from the mirror cabinate, this one was squre, the tracery was a labirinth of base board circitry, with a microcluster of tiny black chips. She applied the electrode and rubbed it firmly. Then she grabed the basin firmly closed her eyes and hung her head.
Ahhh, fuck" she cried with a single forceful spasm.
The skin chip activated and a pinhead led shone, like the pin prick of a single strand of fiber opicic. Charlie shook her head, and sighed and touched the patch delicately with her finger tips, the she unclipped her hair and let it fall naturally covering the chip from sight.
Charlie took out a medicine brown vial, cracked open the seal and chuged the contents down with a grimmase, she stopped once and half heaved finished the bottle, then put water in, jshook it and drank the water with a grimmace.
Charlie sat on the toilet and waited.
"come on alreay" she said.
She groaned and tensed her abdomen, and a four laboured squirts of urine came out, she rolled her eyes, wiped up and returned to the living room.
(then she locks down)
Hey ... set up the office", she instructed
The walls iluminated into a cool loft apartment, and a fine mess of tiny black pins became visible on the sky pained ceiling. In all the corners, where three planes intersected was a tesselated bevel, with a spherical obsidian projectile camera seated in the center.
The same receeding bevel interupted the flat surfaces too, albiet a very small blemish, almost unnoticable in the total aesthetic of the room. The small living room was mesh cammed.
Charlie went to the kitchen draws pulled the second one out completely and behid the back face took out a tiny square of neatly folded tin foil, then put the draw back together.
She open the foil to reveal a fine olive green powder, she sniffed the powder with no chemical recoil, she pinched her nose closed her eyes.
"Jesus", she aid and shook her head.
She poured a small glass of water, and drank it down calmly.
Her head lolled to one side, and she jerked it back upright.
"God this one is strong" she said.
Her bed was un made so she stepped forward and her one leg dragged limp for a moment, then corrected and stepped obediantly. Charlie took another step and began to sway left and right, and stopped and bend lening on her thight.
She looked up at the bed and her eyes flipped up into her skull, and the lids closed with shudders, and opened again, her pupils where tiny, no bigger than dot, and then peeled open until her pupil was huge with a thin band of the pale blue on its surcumfrence.
Oh god ... she slurred.
Yo bether let them inn, you better ..." she slurred heavily, "let em in"
and charlie droped to her knees, still looking at the bed she lifted her hand and her head rolled and hung down, and she pushed her knee forward and then flopped forward on to her face, she rolled her head and her eyes rolled back, and total paralysis set in.
Charlie lay there like dirty linen.
Three shapes formed in the longest wall, siloettes slipping accross the wall folding at right angles as they traversed the corners and circled to surround the paralysed Charlie.
Two more entered and then one of the siloettes stepped free of the walls flat plane as a cross hatch of RGB needles, that left the impression of a ghost traversing in the living room. The form walked to the limp body of Charlie and squatted by her side.
Another phantom extruded and stood be side the first.
The first phantom extended its arm and leaned down, the crosshatched hand stroked Charlies face, and then down the arm, as the hand passed over electode disc the center would glow, and as the hand passed it would extinguish.
The ghost stroked the length of the arm and stopped at the wrist, the electrode on the back of charlies hand glowed, and when the ghost fingers gripped in gesture the electrode changed to blue, and the ghost lifted the wrist and it obeyed like a marionette would, the wrist lifted then the forearm bent, then the upper arm bend all in kinetic articulation like a construction crane.
As the limb moved the body weight shifted and caused her head to roll back over the right collar bone and lie paralysed in the against the floor, the extension made Charlies mouth open.
The ghost stood up and the arm was straight, the ghost twisted the wrist to its limit and all the articulated parts cooperated, then hand opened suddenly and the arm collapsed in awkward folds as if the rigging wire of the marionette was cut, it flopped down hard.
The second phantom had moved to charlies feet and after the fall of the arm, it pulled her heels part, then pulled the knees do that they kinked and folded then pushed the heels up, so that the soles of both feet where touching and the legs where in a diamond pose, with the pubic regions crudely exposed. Three more phantoms arrived to kneel or squat at her abdomen and they reached forward to stroke at her pubic area.
Another phantom joined all the others looked up at this one, which pointed at the bed and then pointed at ghosts and body parts, and the ghosts seem to nodded and arrange themselves strategically around Charlie.
Then they all kneeled and gripped at articulation and Charlies body sparkled with light which changed from white to blue and then the arm flung over and twisted the torso, and the knees bend back and Charlie was on her haunches, then the arm came back, and the spine tensed and Charlie sat up. Her head rolled around and fell back and the entire body was lopsided and off balance and keeled back to fall but stopped with a jolt, as another ghost engaged the torso muscles, and yet another ghost activated the neck, and then then arm arm came forward and the legs engaged and up she went.
A zombie with flickering lights and electric stabs into the muscles, Charlie looked dead, and reanimated, and she just stood there, the ghosts where surrounding her and the main one pointed to the bed again and all the accomplices nodded and shuffled around and Charlies left leg tensed and her weight shifted and her head aligned over the left ankle and only then did the right leg drag forward one step.
The effort was good but the group could not negotiate the weight shift and second step, so Charlie went down to the floor again and a crude swimming gestures and arm crawling crudely move her to the bed it was a tedious task but when Charlie finally got on to the plateau of the bed the ghosts stood back and punched the air and fidgeted and shuffled like victorious spectators.
With charlie on the bed the group made her play with itself using the toys Charlie had arranged earlier.
(todo) this scene should include dialog, and ...
oh god man, she's ... I mean like, where's the other arm? alpha said.
Are you serious? bravo said, how did you get in here anyway, I mean ... how could you not know?
Hey man, I fucking have every right, okay?
I inherited from my uncle, he said it was worth a lot on the black market, so i just wanted to see what all the fucking fuss is about. what happened to her?
what happened to her? why dont bootload and have a look for your self, do you neurolink?" said delta.
don't be an arsehole DELTA, said Echo, just tell him, you know how heavy that shit is, he's a kid, that shit is ... dont listen to him kid, stay out of her.
what do you mean? said Alpha.
Fuck you ECHO, if he wants to go in, then ..." said Delta.
What do you mean? said Alpha again.
The room remained silent.
How do I? ... oh right, yeah I see, bootloader ... wow, that is pretty fucking expensive.
Kid you dont want to do this, really, you need to trust me on this one, y'know she is a very fucked up woman, very fucked up, and if you go in there you will come out damaged. Like seriously. Im telling you. I mean if you live her memories they will be fucking your memories, surrogate memories, but fucking memories all the same. Look at her, arm fucking arm is amputated! Is that really something you wanna live? For real? Ask yourself that.
Stop calling me a kid! and you did. right? did you do it?
Okay i'm out, you want that go for it, but ... i am not watching this happen, you lot, you fucking know better, and you just shut the hell up. you're fucking perverted you are all sick psycos. aren't you? bunch-a-cunts. Im out.