Page 17 (1/2)

Part I

WATCH THIS

You all say you need us

Well, maybe you do, but not to help you

You have enough help,

with the millions of bubbly new minds about to be unleashed,

with all the cities co awake at last

Together, you're e the world without us

So from now on, David and I are here to stand in your way

You see, freedos

- Tally Youngblood

DOWN AND OUT

"Moggie," Aya whispered "You awake?"

So moved in the darkness A pile of dorm uniforms rustled, as if a small ani the folds of spider silk and cotton It rose into the air and floated toward Aya's bed Tiny lenses gazed at her face, curious and alert, reflecting starlight from the open

Aya grinned "Ready to go to work?"

In answer, Moggie flashed its night-lights

"Ouch!" Aya squeezed her eyes shut "Don't do that! It's vision-wrecking!"

She lay in bed another ainst her shoulder apologetically

"It's okay, Moggle-chan," she whispered "I just wish I had infrared too"

Lots of people her age had infrared vision, but Aya's parents had this thing about surge They liked to pretend the world was still stuck in the Prettytime, when everyone had to wait until they turned sixteen to change the

So Aya was stuck with her big nose - definitely ugly -and her normal vision When she'd iven her peret an eyescreen and skintenna, but that was only so they could ping whenever they wanted Still, it was better than nothing

She flexed her finger and the city interface flickered to life, layering across her vision

"Uh-oh," she said to Moggie "Alht"

She didn't re off, but the tech-head bash must have already started It was probably crowded by now, packed enough with surge-ly extra snooping around

Besides, Aya Fuse was an expert at being invisible Her face rank was proof of that It sat un in the corner of her vision: 451,396

She let out a slow sigh In a city of a million, that was total extra-land She'd had her own feed for alo, and was still anonymous

Well, tonight was finally going to change that

"Let's go, Moggie," she whispered, and slipped out of bed

A gray robe lay in a shapeless puddle at her feet Aya pulled it over her dorm uniform and tied it at the waist, then perched on the sill She turned to face the night sky slowly, easing one leg, then the other, out into the cool air

She slipped on her crash bracelets, glancing at the ground fifty meters below

"Okay, that's dizzy-"

At least noaround down there That was the kick thing about a thirteenth-story room - no one expected you to sneak out your

Thick clouds hung low in the sky, reflecting worklights from the construction site across town

The cold tasted of pine needles and rain, and Aya wondered if she was going to freeze in her disguise

But she couldn't exactly throw a dorm jacket over the robe and expect people not to notice

"Hope you're all charged up, Moggie It's drop-time"

The hoverca close against her chest It was the size of half a soccer ball, sheathed in hard plastic and warie, she felt her bracelets trenetic currents of the hovercam's lifters

She squeezed her eyes shut "Ready?"

Moggie shivered in her arms

Clinging to the hovercath, Aya pushed herself into the void

Getting out was much simpler these days

For Aya's fifteenth birthday, Ren Machino - her big brother's best friend - had ie

She'd only asked hih to keep up with her hoverboard But like ie aterproof, shockproof, and powerful enough to carry an Aya-size passenger through the air

Close enough, anyway With her arms wrapped around the hoverca toward the ground It was ee jacket And except for the nervous-, it was kind of fun