Ro (A Cyberpunk Retelling of Romeo and Juliet)

22

JULES CAPULET

The memory of my dream fades, and I can't remember much outside the warmth of Ro Montague's lips. Nutrix hastily helps me through my morning routine, gossiping as I hold my hands above my head, settle on the see-through fishnet blouse and black jeans with platform boots that were engineered to absorb shock impact. A glare, the bands on my wrist glowing as Nutrix turns off the lights.

"See?" Nu winks at me. "Now you can't get lost in the dark."

I laugh at the designer's enthusiasm. "I'm like a firefly, wonderful."

An incoming Eye-Lens call tears me away from the tea and biscuits Nu had set on the counter for me. "One moment." I accept the call with the mere flutter of an eyelash, a whispered thought.

Ro Montague's face expands in my mind's eye, seated next to a stranger with a camera in their head.

I get up too suddenly, tea splashes on my skin. I ignore the searing pain as it ebbs in the background behind my concern.

They'll know. They'll know.

They found me.

"Jules?" Nu screams, fluttering around me and dabbing at the tea. "Are you hurt?"

"No," I stumble back, making for the bathroom with a weak grin. "I just need to wash up. No problem at all."

The bathroom door hisses shut behind me. I place my hands on both sides of the fountain wash basin. Rivulets of water, always refreshing itself through the filtration system, puddle over my hands. Gentle sprigs of lavender perfume the air.

It cuts through the sting of nervous sweat gathering on my palms and forehead. "What are you doing here, and who is that?"

Ro smirks at me, that same, lazy smile. "Lawrence, meet Jules Capulet. Jules, meet Lawrence. The holy hacker."

"What are you, a cult?" I shake my head, pushing my hair back behind my ears. My earrings glow faintly in the bathroom's soft lighting.

"I found out who hacked into your Eye-Lens. It seems Lawrence Fry here has been tampering with our signals, making me crash your dream domain."

I stare at the man with the sober face and camera in his head. Crazies, all of them. "And why have you done that, Mr. Fry? Digital dating, how old-fashioned."

Lawrence grins, a slow smile spreading over his ashy, near-sickly features. "Because you, dear Jules, are about to make a fatal mistake." He lifts his hands, a glitch of code glimmering across the screen with every touch he makes. Like he's one with the code. "You're about to sign a contract for a very bad man."

"Jack Paris?"

Lawrence nods, still solemn. "Mr. Paris stole the Eye-Lens from me, twisting my invention so it would turn us all into data bodies, able to sell your information at the click of a button. Sell your lives, every thought you've ever spoken or written, for the highest bidder."

"You only have to fear if you did something wrong." I mumble the same words we'd been taught in primary school. "Only criminals have to fear the database."

Ro Montague pushes forwards. I flush to see those dark eyes take me in, seeing through my skin it seemed, staring into my soul. She pinches her fingers, and an image expands. My face, close to hers, embracing a high-profile criminal at last night's party. "What if I told you that you're a criminal too now? That looks an awful lot like the actions of a smitten sympathizer if you ask me. Helping out a suspect? Tsk, tsk." A knock at the door startles me out of my thoughts. "Jack Paris knows this, and he's coming for you, Jules."

"Jack Paris is a good man."

Lawrence shakes his head from the corner, the third camera glowing in his skin, casting a bruised haze over his face. "Do you believe that?"

No, I think back to the way Jack Paris would reach for me, touch me. Like he owned me. Like I was little more than a data body turned into something he could mold. Something he could conquer. Just because you're rich, doesn't make you good.

"Fair point." I grip the sink so hard that the water trickles past my wrists, dripping onto the floor, seeping into my clothing. "How do I get rid of it?"

A glowing red dot, a geocode, pops up onto the corner of my Eye-Lens screen. It syncs to a global map, an address that only shows trees and undeveloped areas.

They're off the grid.

"Come get us, Jules." Ro grins, looking at me in a way that I feel she can reach through the tech and hold me again. Like I can't escape...

But I don't want to.

She touches her hand to the digi-screen, and I shudder in response. "We're waiting."

***

Hey, it's Ro Montague here. Don't forget to vote and comment... or else.

Your daily wisdom for the day?

The best way to meet soulmates? Hack the universe itself.