The Long Descent Part 1

I see the lights. They glow like muted fireflies in the murky darkness below me. The smog lays thick over the city, a green light reflected upward. Yet here, perched a top a fifty story building like a brooding gargoyle...some apparition out of a long dead 20th century noir film.

The building is the color of obsidian. It’s a sleek building, shimmering day and night like an unearthed jewel. Windows all the way down, always spotless. Eyes searching for life.

I've turned my implant on, joined the real world. But not for long. My body feels electrified, like I've been under water and a lightening bolt struck nearby. I hate this feeling. It reminds me that I'm not human. I don't share the same DNA as the people underneath all this filth.

I like to stay in the shadows. Not the shadows of buildings or alleys. Not the shadows you know although if I must be in your world-and indeed I must-i do prefer the dimly lit corridoors of the neglected.

I reside, mostly, inside the shadows of ones and zeros. That's where I make my living, find my sleep, take my solitude. It’s wear I took my first breathe and where I’ll take my final one.

Tonight, under the haze, I've come out to collect a debt. Poe Terino comes out of this dark tower in 79.3 seconds and he's going to turn left into the sweltering heat of the city and then he'll vanish forever. But he owes the guy that made me.

Poe thinks he's gotten away, that he's in control. But he's mistaken. He didn't consider things. Like me. He’s heard of me, I’m sure of that. They all have. But I”m a ghos to themt. A boogie man. I’m not real. A children’s bed time story. Poe doesn’t believe in me. Nobody does. We're a new breed. An evolution.

A revolution.

Fifty seconds to go.

I grab my gear. Just the sword. I use that only because I like the sound it makes in the air as I dive downward. A thin, piercing scream...imperceptable to those below until it’s too late. There’s always that upward glance, that confusion, followed by the tiniest of flinches before I drive myself through them.

Forty seconds.

My eyes hurt from your world. It’s this upgrade. It’s glitchy. I see better but the sensation is too harsh. I’ll have to get that fixed. Bugs are weird: some of them are obvious while others creep up on my, slowly slithering through my system until they cause a crash. The gliches are like warnings. Small earthquakes before the big one comes. Normally they stay small. On occasion, though, a big one hits. And that shakes me. I don’t like the big ones. Yes, I need to fix this shit.

As soon as I’m done with Poe.

No matter. I don't need them for this. I can feel Joe's energy signal. It's like a fingerprint, but with heat and color and once I’ve locked into this signal, nothing prevents me from hitting my target. I think it’s the closest I’ll ever get to the feeling of love. Or obsession. Whatever it is, I am drawn to it with deadling accuracy. Joe's is white hot with strange shades of blue and green. I've seen others like him, but my imprint tells me it's an exact match.

Thirty seconds.

I check my clothes. They fit tight to my body, around my curves. My hair is cropped, black. I have two rings in my left ear, three in my right, a ring in my nose. When my creator designed me, I guess he had a thing for girls with rings. And small breasts.

Fifteen.

I adjust the sword in my hand, raising my arms above me and I take a deep breath.

Ten.

I close my eyes and allow my breathing to flow. I can still see the lights of the city through my eyelids.

Five.

I open my eyes and look below. Joe's energy flows toward the exit and I wait.

Zero.

He's out of the building and walking toward his left, and I flow downward.

The wind is sticky and cool and I see color with the sword pointed downward and then I'm straightening out of a dive and landing the sword sings and cuts through the fog and I land next to Joe's head as his body topples onto the dirty sidewalk.

As the screams descend I plug into the building behind me and dissolve into the black.