Everyone In Silico | Page 6

lace-curtained window beside the front door.
"Sorry I'm late," JK said as he stepped in. He looked around her place in his characteristic way, stooping and peering intently through his small spectacles.
"No biggles, I've been chipping away in my lab."
"Man, you've got a hall. I wish I had a hall," JK said, looking for a place to hang his bike.
Nicky took it from him and arched her eyebrow as she hung it on a coat rack, saying "Were you in a big hurry or something?"
JK grinned. "Naw. I just felt like riding."
Nicky shook her head on their way upstairs. "You're a reckless fool, JK."
He shrugged. "It's not dangerous anymore. Who's going to hit me now - man, you've got a living room. I want a living room," JK said as they passed through it.
Nicky couldn't resist showing off the spaciousness by spinning, her arms extended. "Gotta move to Strathcona, son."
"Your hair looks great when you spin like that," JK said, laughing.
They climbed up into the attic and, as JK squeezed his shoulders through the hole, Nicky cleared out some dishes from the EasyBake. She got an empty one and handed it over to him.
He set it down on the silver counter and pried it open. He took a small metal box from an inner pocket and removed some seeds from it, and while he was painstakingly placing them in the container's compartments Nicky wondered why he didn't just get rid of the muscles when he was constantly dealing with tiny things. And if he was going to spend money on body mods, why didn't he correct his vision first? But watching him focus on the task, Nicky decided she didn't want to ask. It was more interesting, in a way, not knowing.
He clicked the box closed and passed it to her. She put it in the EasyBake and set it to organics only. "You don't need the box copied too, do you?"
JK shook his head. "Nope. I put 'em in there so they're separated enough. Last time I did them loose, there were a bunch that fused together."
"A hundred of each enough?"
JK licked his lips, looked pained. "That'd be great, but I don't know how much extra you have..."
Nicky cut him off with a raised hand. "S'okay, I got the machine pretty much fully loaded. And my projects are one-of-a-kind rather than mass produced, so I don't need that much." She set the machine to working.
"The job will take about eight minutes," the EasyBake said. "And it will use under 1% of remaining toner."
"See?" Nicky said. "I'm going to get a cup of tea. Want one?"
JK's face lost its anxious look. "Ah!" he said, nodding and rummaging around in his bag. A few seconds later, he produced a jar full of dark leaves. "I brought tea!"
Nicky, halfway down the ladder, looked at the jar and raised a quizzical eyebrow. JK just smiled and put the jar under his arm, followed her to the living room and through to the kitchen. Nicky was already reaching up for a tetrabox of Starbucks Earl Grey.
"Oh, come on," JK said, unscrewing the jar and taking out a leaf. "I just need a pot of boiling water, and then we'll have tea."
"Sorry, no pot," Nicky said with a smile, whacking the box against the counter and peeling it open. She set two mugs beside it and when a spiral of steam slid out of the opening, she poured one for herself. She looked to him to see if he wanted one, and he nodded with defeat, twisting the lid back on the jar. "Oh come on." She handed him the balloon-festooned mug ("Lordy lordy look who's forty!") and slapped him on his shoulder. "You remember what happened that last time I had one of your herbal potions."
JK's face cracked in a mischievous smile. "You said you wanted to get wasted," he said. "If it hadn't been after a keg of beer and a genderbender, it would've been fine."
Nicky let her silence be the response, although really 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,