Chapter 13

Cake pulled up to Lizzis' bar, today, we arrived after hours, as we had come to work, not to rest. Once again the sheep, or rather Doody, had sent Regina a request for maintenance on the servers in the basement.

"Hey, Rita."

I said hello to the main bouncer guard that stood at the entrance to the bar, as always.

"Hey, David, did Judy pull you again?"

"Why did you yank it?"

I shrugged and hugged the girl like a good friend.

"Hey! Keep your hands to yourself! He's not free anymore!"

Panam didn't hold back when Rita's hands crawled up my back and grabbed my ass. However, I was not offended by it, rather it was a bit of a boost to my self-esteem, as she was certainly a beautiful girl and her attention flattered me.

"Tz..."

Rita let go of me and shook her head.

"She got you, didn't she, Tihonja?"

"It's more like I'm her."

I shook my head and grinned.

"...I've been feeding her almost since the beginning of our acquaintance, not with burritos, but with natural food!"

Rita whistled, then still took a step to the side letting me and Panam inside.

"Where to go you know, Judy can't wait for you since early morning..."

"Is something wrong?"

"Well..."

Rita looked away.

"Just say it."

"We're in trouble. a representative of the Arasaki Corporation was fired from the bar..."

"And? Does that rarely happen?"

"Often... but this time the thugs decided to take the tapes with them, so the girl was unusual. And of course, they didn't mess with our equipment. So you've got a lot of work to do."

"I hope they at least put the girl in debt."

"Yeah. she's gonna be a food bouncer for a couple months until she works off your services and the parts she has to use. She starts today, so I think you'll be leaving, I'll introduce you."

"Why isn't she here now?"

"So they fired her. all the implants."

Rita swung the bat she'd never parted with across her throat.

"Wait, they knocked out her implants?!"

"Yeah, why?"

"Did they take her to the ripper?"

"Yeah, she was meeting a friend, and he took her to Vic's. What happened?"

"Just because she was an unusual girl for fun or an accountant, she's a motherfucker! Only they need a ripper when they get fired, and they need it now, or they'll just die. Okay, I'll get to the bottom of this."

Entering the bar I dialed Victor.

"Hey, kid, what's up?"

"Hey Vic, heard you had an interesting patient today?"

"Why was I? I still have her. I don't know what to do with this stupid girl."

"Is it that bad?"

"Yeah. you know me, if there is a recommendation or just a regular client I can install something against a receipt, but here... there's too much to replace. She's literally blacked out! Corporate bitches."

I sighed.

"Is she conscious?"

"Well, uh. I can bring her to her senses. but she won't last long."

"And her boyfriend?"

"Jackie? What's in it for that douche bag?"

"Wait, did you say Jackie? Isn't that Misty's boyfriend?"

"That's the one. and also the son of Mama Welsh, from the El Coyote Cojo bar in the glen."

"Hmm. I talked to him, give him my number, if he's really willing to sign for a friend, have him call me right away."

Saying this I entered the bar and walked quietly down the small hallway past the guard post, entering the main hall.

"Got it, he's gonna call you right back."

I walked down the hall and I immediately received a call from an unknown person, which I hurriedly answered.

"Chumba, Vic said, you wanted to hear from me?"

"Uh-huh. you know your friend's not doing well, right?

"Well..."

A guy's voice, though more like a man's since the image of him looked quite brutal.

"...Anyway, there is an option, I will pay for her treatment and chrome replacement. Of course you can't count on Arasaki chrome, but at least it will be a complete set..."

"Hmm? What do you want from me?"

"I'll throw you a loan agreement...don't worry, the interest is not robbery like in microloans, only ten percent per annum. Of course, if it wasn't for Misty, I'd probably break you the interest on the full, forty percent, but I know your girlfriend, and she'll make me look like a beaten puppy on my next visit to Vic if I do that. So ten percent interest, with the stipulation that the payments will only start if your girlfriend refuses to sign it after Vic's done with it."

"I agree."

"Eh, lucky for this gal to have such a chumba..."

I quickly drew up a contract and handed it to Jackie.

"It doesn't spell out the amount."

"Vic will write the amount, you can talk to him, I'm not looking for suckers, I work solo and do not deal with scams."

"Just a second..."

A couple seconds of silence, after which the guy spoke again.

"Yep, signed and sent to Vic to determine the amount it would take to get Vee back on her feet..."

"Vee?"

David's memory moved, pushing to the surface memories of a girl who occasionally taught counterintelligence courses at the academy. But I pushed those thoughts away from me. She was quite high up in Arasaki's counterintelligence department.

"Yeah, that's my friend's name..."

I nodded and blinked, because I hadn't expected Vic to be so quick. He had already written down the amount of money needed to get the girl back on her feet. It wasn't much, but at least I had the money, and paying it to Victor wouldn't cost me much. So I immediately sent Vic the necessary amount.

"Okay, I sent the money to Vic, so adios."

I was done talking to Jacky. It wasn't just that I wasn't interested in talking to him, it was that Panam and I had gone down to Judy's basement, where she was in some kind of prostration.

"А... it's you. I was expecting you later."

"Well, we woke up pretty early today, and the work here could have dragged on, so we decided to get here early and as I see it, not for nothing..."

I looked around at the broken servers, which were just barbarically broken.

"Uh. you do realize what you're fixing here."

I shook my head.

"...only to be taken apart for parts..."

"I understand the details for the new servers will be up in about an hour."

"So, what's wrong with you?"

"They broke, uh. the brainiac equipment. I customized it myself, and there wasn't a single factory screw left, and now..."

"Why are you so upset?"

I walked over to Judy and put my arm around her shoulders, Panam came on the other side and put her arm around her as well.

"Haven't you heard? They--

"I heard that, but you didn't make that equipment yesterday, did you?"

"No..."

"Not the day before yesterday?"

"No... a couple years ago."

"And you haven't stood still these past couple years? Learning new things? You've also made a friend who's a techie, am I right?"

"Yeah..."

"Well, you and I are gonna make it even better than it was! Of course, you'll have to customize the profile equipment for the brans yourself... But everything else. I'm perfectly capable of helping with the improvements."

"But where am I gonna get the money from?"

"I'll lend it to you..."

I shrugged as if it was a matter of course.

"...No interest, no terms, just negotiate a refund with you."

"Are you serious right now?"

"He's completely serious, and I agree with him. You're our friend, and we haven't known each other very long, but we care about you. Even though you're trying to seduce me. Although I've made it clear to you many times that I'm all about the boys. And yes, keep your hand off my ass, my ass is David's as of late."

"Tz..."

"Well, you can always try to seduce me and get into the same bed as Panam at the expense of a relationship with me..."

I grin and drop my hand to Judy's ass.

"Hey!"

Panam resented it, but on the whole, far less than any other girl in my past life would have resented it. Still, mores are much freer in this time and in this city.

"Get your hand off my ass. Get your hand off my ass."

I looked at Judy and raised my right eyebrow questioningly.

"...I'm not kidding, well, or arrange for Panam to let my hand rest on her ass."

"David, is it her ass you want to squeeze so badly?"

"I'm comparing..."

Despite my words I took my hand off Judy's ass, who had clearly come to her senses and was no longer going to mope.

"Whose ass is better?"

"Definitely yours..."

I answered Panam without thinking for a second.

"Hey!"

Judy pulled away indignantly and looked at me, but I put my arm around Panam and put my other hand on her ass, stroking it with pleasure.

"What? That's an ass I can at least touch at any given time... So the choice between two firm, delicious asses that belong to delicious girls is clear. I'll give the highest score to the lower circles that belong to me."

"Hmmm..."

"Let's figure out how much money you need for now, shall we?"

Judy looked around thoughtfully.

"You need a powerful comp, in our realities it's not less than ten grand..."

I nodded my head, realizing that Judy had clearly decided to go for the minimum price tag. Which I didn't really like. I wished I could make her feel more obligated to me. Even with the repayment of the debt. So I had already activated my deck and logged onto the net looking for a comp of sufficient power and performance to handle the brans in extremely high quality.

"What do you think of the OTG of the second model from Militech?"

Judy shuddered.

"That's, uh. it's a little pricey."

Of course it is, forty thousand. It's not a small amount of money, but I work a lot, and even ten times that amount wouldn't make me a pauper. Yes, I'll be without savings, but I'll have something to live on.

"And yet?"

Judy bit her lip and looked away. I'd like it very much. It's one of the best computers currently available to the average person. I wouldn't have to refinish it, and I'd be able to work for a couple more years.

"Okay..."

I placed the order.

"...ordered it, it'll be delivered in an hour."

"What?! Are you out of your mind?! It's worth about thirty-seven grand!

"Forty, but I still hope I'm not throwing money away, but investing it in equipment that will be used to write and edit high quality brans that will generate income for you and me."

"This is..."

Judy gulped and walked over to me and took my hands and placed them on her ass.

"Pfft. you can't buy me off with that. But it feels good."

I nodded my head not at all embarrassed that I was writhing Judy's ass in front of my girlfriend. And Panam stood behind Judy and put her hands on top of mine and began kneading her ass.

"What more do you want?"

"Glasses for viewing the material..."

Judy listed the nomenclature of the equipment required and I bought it all from Militech, as it is always preferable to use equipment from the same company. They are better connected and produce fewer errors when working with each other.

"Well, uh. I ordered everything."

"How much do I owe in total?"

"Eighty-three thousand bucks.

Judy sighed.

"You could be a puppet and work for it. I won't make that much in a couple of years!"

"Well..."

I let go of her ass and took a couple steps back carefully inspecting her from head to toe, which made her flinch slightly.

"David, don't scare Judy!"

Panam looked at me sternly.

I grinned.

"Okay... So, Judy, how are you doing with the rannery?"

"А?"

"Can you act as a squad netrunner? Work from the Tortic and help me with hacking complex systems..."

"Well, in general. I can, uh."

She nodded her head in surprise and I smiled.