Chapter Two

A Toast to Better People

 

Wind wisps across the crumbling buildings in Touristville. This part of Redmond is in better shape than most. Police and Ambulance services are still rare. Roving gangs of street toughs and decaying buildings are still easy to find, but the people here haven't degenerated into barbaric ways. Not all of them, anyway.

Smog doesn't seem to find its way this far east either. The sky is clear enough to see the stars twinkling in the heavens on most nights. Kino always felt it was one of the few perks of living in Redmond. At night she goes to the roof of her apartment building, settles into an old lawn chair, and watches the stars glittering in the sky. It is a simple pleasure, but those are the easiest to get. Anything she can get out of such a simple, completely inexpensive act is well worth it.

Tia Kino Blythe. It has been a long time since anyone has called her by that name. ‘Kino' isn't unusual to hear from the people at Gravel Transporting Inc. ‘Blythe' is used more often as an adjective than a noun. ‘Tia' isn't used at all. Not by the people in Seattle. The last time she heard that name is when she decided to cut out of a run early, leaving a very upset smuggler in her wake.

Not that she cares what anyone calls her. Those names refer to someone who might as well be dead now. None of them describe her. She picked up a new life when she slipped across the Tir Tairngire and NAN borders to begin a new life in Seattle. The people she now ran with labeled her a ‘Jinx' based solely on the bad luck the seemed to follow her around like a loyal puppy. Kino had laughed at the name. What a sick joke.
The past few years of her life felt like they were jinxed anyway.

Now she sits in her lawn chair with a bottle of Cardi Rum and the smell of lower Seattle blowing across the rooftop. What else could she ask for?

"Oi! K!"

Kino leans her leg slightly to the left. Norse and Rank are making their way across the roof. Both orks sport the red synthleather colors of the Crimson Crush, a local gang. Tonight they were on neighborhood watch which basically meant extorting protection money from the locals. Under different circumstances they wouldn't give Kino the time of day. She isn't an ork, which is bad to begin in their eyes, but human. That is ten times worse.

Fortunately Kino has managed to make friends with her neighbors during the year she has been Seattle. Boxer, an ork who she met shortly after arriving in Seattle, helped her settle into the neighborhood. To get on the gang's good side she often helped them transport BTL chips across Touristville. After a few months there were on semi-friendly terms. Though the gangers still scolded her because of her metatype, or lack thereof.
"It's been a month, time to pay up, breeder." Rank once again demonstrated his exceptional social skills. Breeder, a derogatory term orks and trolls reserved for humans.

"Stow it, Rank. You're spittin' on my new threads." Norse snapped.

For a moment Kino had a mental picture of the two of them as a warped version Abbot and Costello. A compliment she revoked when Rank claimed ownership of her bottle of rum.

"Have our money, Kino?"

"You know, the two of you should get a hobby." Kino pulled a wad of UCAS notes from her vest. Three hundred dollars for neighborhood protection. Most people might consider it a rip off, but it let Kino walk the streets in safety. Day or night. The UCAS dollar didn't have much of an exchange rate anyway. "Besides getting drinking and beating up squatters, I mean."

"Mind yer' own biz, breeder." Rank nudged Norse who had been counting the nuyen notes. "Tell her."

"Wha? Oh, yeah." Norse stuffed the money into his pocket. "There's a run coming up Thursday out of Bargain Basement."

"I have to work Thursday."

"Doesn't matter! Be there or forget about our deal." Rank growled. "In case you've forgot we make sure nothing happens to you or any of your drek. If you start changing your mind maybe you get some windows broken. If you still change your mind then there's other things that can get broken too."
Kino sighed. She ran her hand through her short, red hair, stopping abruptly when her fingers brushed across over the datajack behind her ear. It was lunacy to disagree with these too. Never mind the fact that combined they are four-hundred centimeters, two-hundred kilograms of sprawl ganger. That's a two-hundred thirty-six centimeter, one-hundred forty-five and a half kilogram advantage. An advantage Kino knew better than to tempt.

So she gave in. "I'll be there at noon."

"See that you do cause we might have to pay you a visit if you don't show!"

"Rank, you're spitting on my threads again." Norse brushed droplets of salvia from his jacket.

"Sorry."

"And, K, you better watch out for the mob." Norse motioned at the nearly empty Cardi bottle. "Can I have a shot?"

Kino handed him the bottle. At least this Abbot asked before taking. "Why the mob?"

"They've been upset with us lately, muscling on their clients and all."

"Yeah, but we'll show them!" Rank smasked his meaty fists together. "Those old geezers won't know what hit'em. They won't frag with us anymore."
A voice from the stairway door called Kino's name. She leaned sharply to the left, threatening to overturn her lawn chair to look around the gangers. It was another ork. He was walking across the roof. Kino immediately recognized the slick Mowhawk and cheesy ‘Slick Nick' sunglasses. The Crimson Crush gangers didn't imediately start posing, seeing as the newcomer was an ork.

"Help you with something, chummer?" Rank asked, being surprisingly polite.

"Not unless you're a Californian named Kino."

Kino grinned. Almost daring to laugh, but stopped short. "Hey, Box. How's it going?"

"Not interrupting something, am I?" Boxer glanced at the two gangers. Though he was hardly big for his metatype, he was still more intimidating than Kino. Boxer is still a pretty tough guy having spent many of his formative years in amateur boxing rings. Cybernetics and vat grown muscle improved his skills where age had taken his edge. The gangers were not anxious to test him. Even though he looked perfectly ridiculous in shorts and a shirt half a size too small. Being an ork help too. The Crimson Crush were soft on orks.

"No, chum." Norse handed the bottle of rum back to Kino. "We were just moving on."

"Yeah," Rank nodded. "Moving on."

"You stay frosty now."

Boxer grumbled as the they turned away. "Don't worry about me."

The two Crimson Crush gangers headed for the fire escape. Boxer titled his head and listened as they climbed down the rickety old structure. It was amazing that the old supports could still hold the two orks. Once they could no longer be head Boxer grabbed an old, plastic crate and plopped it next to Kino. The crate groaned and complained as he settled his weight on it.

"Nice company your keeping."

"I don't invite them." Kino considered ignoring him for that remark. Then her eyes spotted the cloudless sky and she was lost in a reverie as her head settle into the familiar fuzz of alcohol. Any hostility she felt for Boxer was forgotten in a few seconds. "So what brings you to my neck of the woods? Charming personality? Witty conversation?"

"I came to get drekfaced. I figured I should at least do it with someone who gets drekfaced on a daily basis. Drinking alone is no fun."

Now she decided to ignore him.

"What?"

Kino didn't say anything.

"If you're not going to talk then you won't mind if I borrow this." Boxer took the bottle of rum.

Kino huffed. Sure, she wouldn't mind. Everyone else had taken it. What's one more? "First of all I don't get drekfaced on a daily basis. Secondly I don't think its any of you biz what I do on a daily basis."

He nudged her with the bottle. "Does that mean you're not going to drink with me?"

She regarded the Cardi for a moment. Then took it in both hands and let the dry alcohol burn itself down her throat. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, getting a second taste of the coarse liquid. "So," She leaned back on the lawn chair, resting her arm beneath her head as her fingers casually plugged at her rigger ‘jacks. Boxer settled awkwardly on the crate. "Who are we drinking too?"

"Trevor Langley."

"Who is that?"

"My brother."

"Oh." Kino continue to finger the rigger jacks on the base of her neck. "I didn't know you had a brother."

"I've had two brothers and two sisters."

"Oh," She watched a falling star dash across the star-filled sky. "Why are we drinking to Trevor?"

"To celebrate him." Boxer pulled out a cigar and lit it with an oversized lighter.

"Oh," The falling star disappeared behind mountains. "Why are we celebrating him?"

"You know how one sibling always seems to be better at everything? Always the out going one, the smarter one, the toughest one, and so on? That's Trevor. Mom always like him best. She wanted the rest of her other son to grow up just like him." Boxer let her take another sip from the bottle before taking it. "You know what I'm talking about, don't you, Kino?"

"Kinda."

"Well," He raised the bottle. "Here's to you, Trevor, for always being the best."

Kino watched as he emptied the last of the rum. "You know, it would be a lost easier to get drekfaced if you didn't have that metal in you." She was referring to the filtration cyberware in the ork's body which would remove the alcohol before he could develop a stupor.

Boxer handed the bottle back to her. "I didn't think you knew about that."

"I remember when that cop shot you with a narcoject dart last month." Kino said matter of factly. Something about the way she said it made her sound like a smartass. "So you didn't really come here to get drekfaced?"

Boxer shook his head. "Guess not."

Kino smiled childishly. "Does this mean I'm good company?"

"Actually I was counting on you being too drekfaced to notice."

She frowned again. "Shaddup, Box."

Boxer grunted slightly. Then stood. "Come on. Want to go to a bar?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"No."

"Why not?"

Instead of answering she crossed her arms and looked away. "I don't want to." Not since you seem to think that getting drekfaced is my profession, she wanted to add.

"You're telling me that you can't think of one reason to come with me?"

Come with him? Why would she want to do that? She has her lawn chair with her bottle of Cardi Rum and a cloudless sky with the smell of lower Seattle blowing across the rooftop. What else could she ask for? Yet, as she shakes the bottle, Kino realizes there is something she could use.
Another bottle.

Twenty minutes later Boxer and Kino are sitting in a bar not far from the apartment building. Ten of those twenty minutes had been spent convincing Kino to take his car. Boxer didn't want her behind the wheel despite her assurance that she could handle it. Even though her car was adapted to be controlled by a rigger. Boxer could still manage with the datajack port in his Jackrabbit.

Now the two of them were sitting happily at a table. There was a bottle of Burn, the latest in chemically enhanced synthahol, sitting in front of him. Kino had a pint of some kind of imported beer.

Boxer didn't know why she drank so much. He had never asked and she didn't seem prime on telling. She wasn't completely irresponsible with it, never indulging the night before she had to work. That was how Boxer knew where to find her. Today was Monday. Kino didn't have to work (legitimately) until Thursday. Yet, when there was nothing to do, she seemed drawn to it. It didn't really matter for Boxer. The cyberware in his body filtered the intoxicant out and shoved it into his urine faster than it could collect in his bloodstream.

Kino was busy lifting the mug of beer on its edge, holding it there for a brief moment, then letting it clump back on the tabletop. The little experiment seemed to keep her happy. Boxer figured that was what made her such good company. Even if he didn't feel like talking, Kino didn't even care. Give her a glass with something shiny in it and she'll keep herself entertained. It also kept Boxer from thinking about more troubling things. That's what he liked the most. Kino was company and a distraction at the same time.

"So your brother is quite a guy, huh?"

"What?" Her words snapped Boxer off his train of thought.
"Your brother. He's quite a guy, isn't he?"

"Uh, yeah. A real shining star. Everybody liked him."

She hummed quietly, though Boxer was unsure if she did out of what she said or if she was just entertaining herself. For a moment her eyes went into an unfocused stare, but a quick shake of her head brought them back.

"That sounds like my sister. She went on to college after she graduated high school. I didn't go to college. I didn't even apply. She always thought I was stupid because of it." She lifted her head, a task which seemed to summon all of her concentration as he brow bobbed unsteadily. "You went to college. How was it? What did I miss?"

"Long class hours, wild parties, games. Plus about thirty grand worth of student loans. By the time I got out I was more debt than the UCAS government. Not including what I had to put down on my first cyberdeck. It would have taken fifteen years and nearly a million nuyen to get out of the red."
A shadow descended over the table as a juggernaut of a ork woman with the physique of a body builder approached. Stained denim jeans and a tight synthleather shirt hid mounds and mounds of taunt muscle. A knife, looking almost like a toothpick against her massive size, hung loosely from her belt. She spoke in a voice that would have made Thor envious. "Look what the devil rats dragged in."

Kino lifted her head just long enough to see who it was before dipping the tip of her finger in her beer and tracing lazy circles on the tabletop. "Hi, Dee."
"Hoi, sis." Boxer motioned at an empty chair. "Have a seat?"

"Don't mind if I do." Dee settled herself in. "Nice to see you again, Kino. Still working with Gravel Inc?"

"Still there." Kino snorted before going back to her beer art. There was a pretty intricate circle taking shape from the brownish liquid.

"Drink, sis?"

"Mom would have you're rear in a sling if she caught you here."

"Your's would be right next to mine if she knew half of what you have been doing."

"At least what I do is legal."

"Not in her eyes."

"True." Dee conceded. "Mom's upset that you weren't at church or dinner yesterday."

Boxer rolled his eyes. He knew that was coming. Every Sunday his mother expected him to two things. The first was dress up in something nice and come to church as a family. Then come to dinner afterwards. His mother would cook up a regular feast. All of Boxer's siblings, aunt, uncle, and uncle's children were expected to come. They would eat and spend time together all afternoon. It was an event that repeated itself every week, month, and year of Boxer's life.

"A job came up at the last minute. I couldn't help it." Dee looked at him doubtfully and he found himself rolling his eyes again. "I didn't want to help it."
"Why couldn't you have shown up? It means too much to her to have everyone together."

He shrugged. "The first thing she'll ask is why I don't have a decent job. Then she'll ask how Trevor's doing. How has he been? Have I heard from him lately? When's he coming home?"

Dee sighed. "It's for the best, Boxer."

"Easy for you to say. You're not the one that has to listen to it every time you walk in the door."

"So you're going to set here and talk to a bottle like some broken down, homeless breeder?" Dee spared a quick glance to Kino who was staring blankly at (through?) her glass. "Sorry, Kino. No offense."

"Huh?" She managed, as if daydreaming.

"So you're making fun of my lifestyle now, huh?" Boxer growled. "The last time I checked you weren't living much cleaner than I am. Unless there's something I missed. Maybe some corporate suit came sprawling down and decided to adopt you, put you up in a nice condo in Bellevue, and live the rest of your days in luxury?"

"Fuck you, Boxer."

"Least I get to keep my clothes on at work. I wonder what Mom would say if she knew about that?"

"Don't even think about it, little bro." Dee's tone was like acid. She pounded her fist mercilessly on the table. Part of Kino's beer sloshed onto the table. Boxer caught the bottle of Burn before it tipped over. An uneasy silence settled between them. Dee took the time to calm herself down. "I don't want to put her through it. It would break her heart."

"We decided not to tell her a lot of things for that reason."

"I know." Dee nodded. "I don't see any sense in telling her now. It's the best we can do. It's the least we can do after all the trouble she went through in raising us. Raising five kids all alone is tough."

Boxer chewed his lip. One of these days the truth would come out. He dreaded to think how his Mother would take it. Would she be surprised or shocked at the things her children had become and they things they were doing? Somewhere in the back of his mind Boxer knew that he would be the one who would have to break the news on all the dirty little secrets her children had. He wished his brother, Trevor, could. Trevor always knew what to do. He and Mom always had a special rapport.

Kino stood abruptly, fumbling in her vest for some money.

"Where are you going?" He asked.

"I'm going home. I think I stumbled onto some private business. I don't want to get in the way."

"No, don't leave on my account." Dee said apologetically, gently grasping her arm. "I'm just riding Box's case tonight. Please, sit. Let's have a few drinks."
Kino glanced at her half-finished beer. She shrugged and returned to her seat. As she did Boxer caught a glimpse of the Browning Kino kept in a shoulder holster. It was barely visible inside her vest.

"Come on now. Let's pretend like we're all a bunch of chummers who lead normal, boring lives." Dee snatched a couple shotglasses from a neighboring table, sitting one in front of herself and Kino. Then took the bottle of Burn and topped off all three of their glasses.

"What were the two of you drinking to before I got here?" Dee tried to sound cheerful, an effect her voice didn't pull off that well.

"We were toasting Trevor." Boxer answered gravely.

"Trevor?" A sad frowned slipped across her lips for a moment, but it soon turned into a smile. "Big Brother, huh? Here's to Trevor everyone!"

They raised their glasses in salute and drank to those more fortunate than they.