Everyone In Silico | Page 7

she was pleased it got her out of
trying whatever it was he had. She settled into the big quiltwork armchair and stretched
her legs out. JK put the tea down on the coffee table and put a finger into the fluke cage.
"So you still passing off these ratdogs as canine bonsai?" JK said.
"Yep," Nicky said, taking a sip of tea and resting the mug on her belly. "That's where I
was headed when I saw you on the Drive today, actually. Got enough to get me through
next month."
"Sweet," JK said, finger-wrestling with the little creature. "And they never catch on and
come back?"
Nicky shrugged. "Your average person doesn't know the difference between a simple
ratdog splice and a bonsai. Other than the life span and the jaw strength, there's not much
to tell them apart. Plus, I always sell to tourists, so I know they'll be on a plane pretty
soon, and it'll get confiscated."
"Yeah, the Drive's filthy with tourists these days. Lots of people doing a final tour before
they upgrade. Easy pickings."

Nicky took another sip and looked up at the ornamental ceiling, water stained but still
grand. "Yeah. I feel kind of bad about it, but there's no real harm done. If they have the
money to fly or upgrade then they can afford to support the local culture."
"Desperate times require desperate measures," murmured JK. "Can I feed them a tea
leaf?"
"Don't, you freak, they have a very strict diet." Nicky looked away from the ceiling and
straight at JK. "The thing is, though, I don't feel like these are desperate times. I've been
living off this scam for a half-year now. But..." She lolled her head again. "Just because
I'm clever enough to find ways to live decently in this shitty world doesn't mean the
world isn't shitty."
JK turned away from the cage and ran a hand through his shaggy hair. "Well," he started,
a tea leaf sticking out from a corner of his mouth. He sucked on it thoughtfully. "It's not
that things are getting worse. In some ways... they're getting better. Easier, anyway. Less
hassles. It's just that the world is… losing relevance." He pulled the leaf out from
between his lips and dropped it into the mug.
"I don't want you tripping out on my living room floor," Nicky warned. "This is a
respectable place."
"It's seriously just tea, Nicky," JK said. "From India."
"How did you get a hold of raw organic stuff?" she challenged. "Not from your
mail-order club?"
"It's not through the mail, anymore," he said vaguely.
"Your job is completed," said Nicky's watch. "Would you like to..."
Nicky shut it up with a tap and set her tea down. "I'll grab it, just stay here."
She made her way up to the attic, opened the EasyBake and carefully took out the
sheaves of seeds. With minor spills, she was able to slide most of them into the original
container (hoping that was what JK wanted) and seal the lid. Then she made her way
down, telling the system to save and shut itself down, feeling her body complain as she
climbed down from the lab. She was too tired to do any more work tonight. The tea had
failed her.
JK was back at the cage, looking at the flukes.
"Want one? Only ten grand!" Nicky cracked as she handed him the container.
"Fantastic," he said, looking inside.
"Yeah, the machine doesn't divide by colour," Nicky said. "You'll have to do that by
hand."

"You wouldn't believe how much stress this saves me, Nicky, you're an angel."
"Not an octopus?" Nicky said, tugging on her pigtails.
"Same difference," JK laughed. "Seriously, last time I had to go to Kinko's -"
"They don't have EasyBakes there," she said.
JK nodded. "I know, but they do organic duplication. But I was incredibly nervous the
whole time, assuming they'd make me fill out an intent-of-use form -"
"What are you doing with them, anyhow?" Nicky said, hoping to stop the waves of
gratefulness before they built into a tsunami.
"Another new growth party. Hopefully you'll be able to go to this one."
"Well, hopefully you'll tell me about this one," Nicky said, poking his big chest.
"I know, sorry about that."
"Mmm-hmm."
"But now you're practically a patron. So I'll send you the coordinates."
"Excellent," Nicky said, stifling a yawn.
JK grabbed his backpack from where he had laid it beside the couch and opened it up. He
noticed something there and pulled it out. "Oh yes." He took a little holocoin out and
tossed it on the floor. A unicorn crawled out of it and pranced in a circle, stopped, seemed
to notice Nicky and said in a whinny, "Come to see Mike