Tevun-Krus #100

14 - Assassination at Old Del City - @DavidGibbs6 - Cyberpunk

Assassination at Old Del City

By DavidGibbs6

Cadium woke to the comforting alarm of someone standing over him. For most people this would be a nightmare situation and for that reason almost everyone had sleepless programming of some nature. The world was twenty four seven and amped to eleven. The Old Man Prole as he called himself was different. He was all human, a one of a kind and all off grid. It was even rarer that someone with a good deal of enhancements would stay with or sleep with someone like him around. Most people were part of clans or conglomerates. Trust was a rare commodity since the culture wars had gone violent and the world had crumbled from a worldwide collective to partisan cultism. The issues that started the collapse of old society were quickly abandoned as people either found safety in like minded groups or were subjected to violent extremists looking for easy targets. EVen the loose political groups and corporations were no guarantee of safety or stability, whole groups were routinely slaughtered over minor issues or even base hatred. The world was littered with the empty shells of former dwellings and bullets alike

The building the old man inhabited was one such location. This used to be a busy sector with physical shops and apartments. The people now long since gone and the surrounding suburbs had been mostly demolished. Old world houses were never designed to withstand urban war. What the mechs and drones didn't destroy, nature had been quick to reclaim. Even the apartment block Cadium now used as a way station was dilapidated and gave the look of uninhabitable except to critters. There were very few doors in the place, leaves had blown up inside and decayed in piles against walls. The old man's room was small and hidden behind a pile of old furniture, only accessible through a hidden makeshift door. Small animals rustling from cover to cover were a constant background noise as they ran up and down wall cavities and Cadium had to lower the sensitivity on his rig to account for them. The whole place had a deeply organic, earthy smell but it was strangely comforting for the cyborg.

"How were the dreams?" The old man's voice was low and calm.

Cadium had to think for a moment. His brain switched on fast and had been bombarded with so much stimuli that he never had time to linger in that hazy half sleep state.

"Nostalgic" he said, not completely sure he hadn't used that exact reply the last time he had stayed with Prole.

In Cadium's world his dreams were either a strange mix of nostalgia and fantasy or straight up nightmares. The sheer amount of memory he held onboard, but also the files he condensed or erased might have had something to do with it. He was always careful when he was making cognition alterations, he had known people who were less than careful and combined with a lack of sleep, they could be strange, paranoid or twisted. Others who took the hack and slash approach, removed anything not fitting their world view. They were straight up dangerous and far too common.

The Old Man Prole pushed forward a plate of foragings, as he called it. It was an interesting mix of textures and flavours. It was very different to the company foods which were optimised. Cadium took a moment to enjoy it, not worrying too much about the analysis of different chemicals, which was automatic in his system. The old man didn't seem affected by the slight toxicity of some of the ingredients that made up the meal. Previous experiences had informed Cadium that this was a safe place and the Prole could be trusted. Indeed the initial scans, that he had triangulated and overlapped upon awakening, were showing nothing at all of concern for kilometres. Closer in the room though was something of interest and it seemed to have not moved hardly at all since before he went to sleep. He had been very conscious not to let his gaze skip over or even to linger on the hidden hatch. A safe place to sleep and someone to watch over you was valuable, and it was best to not wear out your welcome. So it was with a polite word and the exchange of a shell account with a decent credit for the old man's trouble, that Cadium stood and left, not once mentioning the child concealed in the wall space.