Chapter Eight - Hover

Chapter Eight - Hover

Chapter Eight - Hover

The great selling point of hovercraft was the lowered traffic.

That was, until someone realized that a complete lack of oversight was an absolute disaster. So the bureaucrats came in. They set height and speed limits, created avenues and aerial roads. They created new departments specifically to regulate traffic in the air, then commissioned new companies to act as police forces.

New permissions had to be handed out to EMTs and police and paramilitaries so that they could use the roads too.

Soon, the air roads became just as clogged and congested as those on the ground.

New roads were added atop them, ones that required special permits, or that were policed by private corporations that purchased the airspace and sold traffic rights for an exorbitant price.

Now a businessman can get across the city in mere minutes, while the middle class wait in traffic, and the poor have to contend with the ultra-violence of the ground and what few public transit systems that are still in place.

Our stratified society became far more literal.

--Alex Begler, The New Air Race, 2034

***

I stepped out of the penthouse while adjusting my new scarf.

A scarf shouldnt have worked to tie together my rather eclectic outfit, but somehow it did. It probably helped that just about everything was a mix of the same three or so colours. It made matching things easy.

I moved past a cleaning android and towards the elevators while adjusting Whisper over my back. I wasnt expecting to find two guys in the hotels livery standing by the elevator doors.

Whatre you guys doing here? I asked.

They looked at each other, then one cleared his throat. Were with the hotels security, maam. Just making sure there are no more intrusions like this morning.

Huh, I said. Well, thats nice.

People doing nice things for me just because? That was going to take some getting used to.

Ive called the elevator up. Well have to find a way to get to Katallinas last known location. Its not within walking distance, and I suspect that there will be some barriers along the way.

I nodded, not wanting to make a fool of myself before the guards. The elevator rose, clearly audible thanks to my new ears, and I stepped into it before turning around to face the exit.

A moment or two after the doors closed, I heard one of the hotel guys muttering to his friend. Shes scary.

Scary but kinda hot, the other said.

I rolled my eyes as we started to descend. Where was she last seen? I asked Myalis.

I nodded as he pulled up a tablet and pressed a few buttons.

One of the dispensers rumbled up, cars flashing by as they rotated past, then a small yellow hovercar drove off the system and floated its way over to us.

The valet and I both stared at the little yellow clown car. I... can order up something, um, better, he said.

Its self-driving? I asked as I looked inside. It had two pairs of two seats, both facing the middle where a little table sat. No controls that I could see. Itll do, I said. I wasnt looking for anything fancy anyway.

The boy (who was probably older than me, but he had a spine like a wet towel) opened the back door for me. I tossed Whisper in, then contorted myself into the seat.

Thanks, I said before he shut the door. I had to shift to accomodate my tail a bit, but it wasnt so bad. Now... how does this work?

You have no public record of using one of these that I can find. Its meant to connect to your augmentations, then drive safely and securely over to a destination you specify. The cost is extracted from your credit account based on mileage, plus service fees, membership fees, special fees, local taxes, and a few other price gouging techniques.

Uh huh, I said. I spent most of my credits on a sandwich yesterday, I said.

Your purchase was reimbursed, actually. Your current total would... not cover the re-parking fee.

Thats... annoying.

Ive hacked into the vehicles controls. Or rather, I did so before you stepped out of the hotel.

My eyes narrowed. Are you the reason Im in this tiny thing?

Were taking off now.

You didnt answer the question, Myalis! I said. Any further conversation was cut off when the hover car took off with a lurch, cut off some fancy car, then shot out into the sky.

There were roads, with plenty of midday traffic flitting through the smoke let out by smokestacks and the low-hanging smog clouds that were drizzling down a haze of rain that smacked the cars windows, but Myalis didnt seem to care about such trivialities.

We didnt merge into the traffic flows, or slide into one of the far more expensive express routes. Instead Myalis shot out across the city at a diagonal.

This cant be legal, I said.

It isnt.

Uh, I said.

Its not as though traffic laws apply to us. Most traffic enforcement vehicles ping off of any law-breaking hover cars onboard computer to make it come to a stop. I can merely tell them that this vehicle has been commandeered by a Vanguard.

And whats stopping anyone else from doing the same thing? I asked.

Superior coding. That, and on occasion traffic police will nonetheless chase down a Vanguards vehicle. It usually ends in disaster. In this case though, our flight plan is bringing us directly into a semi-active incursion zone. Theres nothing for them to worry about.

I settled into my seat, one foot pressing against the table in the middle to keep my in place. Nothing to worry about, I repeated as I worried.