Chapter One – Bliss

Chapter One – Bliss

“There are seventeen megacities in North America. Cities so grand, so huge, that they’re impossible to map fully, with populations in the hundreds of millions, and with enough drama and waste produced in them every hour to drown anyone that goes looking for it.

Keep your eyes open, or you’ll miss out on all the fun.”

–Three Swipes, 2037

***

“And then what?” Lucy asked.

She was tucked into my side, head heavy against my shoulder.

I had been enjoying that wonderful sensation of bare skin against bare skin, but then my arm fell asleep and all I could feel were tingles when Lucy played with my fingers.

My lips were also tingling, but in an entirely different, far more amusing way.

“Well, then I triggered the bombs. All of them at once. It was kinda cool. The whole tunnel caught on fire.”

She shifted a little, head tilting back to stare at me. “The tunnel you were in?”

“Well, uh, technically?”

“Did you do any research at all about the explosive you were using?” she asked. “Because I’ve just googled it, and that stuff is supposed to be dangerous.”

“It was. But mostly for the aliens.”

Lucy huffed. “Catherine,” she said. She never used my full name like that unless she was on the wrong side of miffed.

“What?”

“You’re… you’re a bit of an idiot.”

“Hey!” I said. I couldn’t help but chuckle. “I’m not an idiot. I’m, uh, inexperienced.”

“You’re going to blow yourself up,” Lucy said as she shifted, turning onto her side and wrapping an arm across my chest so that her face was resting just below mine. “You know, I can’t use you to satisfy my incredible lusts if you’re dead. I’ll have to settle for that nun friend of yours, and she looks all prudish.”

I snorted. “I’d pay to see that. I think Gomorrah would just faint at the first sight of a bare leg.”

“I don’t want you dying, so that means you need to jam some smarts into that thick skull of yours.”

“Like some sort of education program?” I asked. “I think Myalis has something like that.”

“I was thinking more… school,” Lucy said.

“School.”

“Yes! I told you I want to go to some fancy school, get all educated and all that. That way I can get a fancy job and be rich.” She rose up, getting excited by the idea. Her leg dragged up mine and distracted me for a moment.

“Lucy, we’re already rich… rich-ish,” I said.

She flopped back down. “Boo! You’re no fun. You just want me as some sort of trophy wife.”

I laughed. “That would be hilarious. Can you imagine yourself meeting some fancy CEO types and trying to snob it up?”

She giggled. “Bet I could manage better than you. You’d just punch someone.”

“Hey! The rumours about my violent nature are heavily exaggerated.” I leaned down and buried my nose in her hair, then just relaxed there for a moment. “Do you really want to go to some fancy school?”

“Only if you come with me.”

“I have samurai stuff to do,” I said.

She snorted. “Oh yes, because the poor teachers will be so eager to scold you when you leave to save the planet for an afternoon.”

I considered it for a while. “Alright.” If it made Lucy happy. And… yeah, I was a bit of a dumbass sometimes. So more thinking couldn’t hurt any. “But only if it’s one of those schools with a fancy uniform. With, like, skirts.”

“You hate skirts,” she said.

“I’m not going to be the one wearing the uniform.”

Lucy laughed. “But what if we want to do some role– what is it?”

I frowned up at the ceiling as the augs in my eyes went off. I had an incoming call, and somehow it was marked urgent. With Myalis around, I figured this wasn’t some telemarketer calling me about the urgent need to ensure my nonexistent car with their extended warranty.

Gomorrah’s name hovered over the call’s number. “Gomorrah?” I asked aloud as I answered.

Lucy perked up, then glanced to the side where a fancy digital clock was reading the time as… a bit past midnight. If Lucy hadn’t been keeping me up with fun, I would have been long asleep already.