MOAB

Chapter 14: Galene @ 0.9x nhs

Chapter 14: Galene @ 0.9x nhs

He was on time. Dammit! How was she to get the upper hand now? Being cross all night with her date cause he was late was the extent of her bag of tricks.

Oh well. She sent a quick message, ‘Gtng rdy,’ and the emojis: sky, dress, train. She had no clue what they meant, but decoding them would occupy him for some time. She finished getting ready.

She hurried off to the door.

“Hey! Shoes,” Nat cried after her.

“Right.” Gal wobbled on her feet, balancing as her friend slipped the shoes on.

“I’m gonna clean up here and lock behind me, don’t worry. Go. Go!” Nat shooed her out.

“Thanks Nat, bye!”

“Tell me everything!” her friend called after her as she shut the door.

Greg was there. Greg was there waiting, and he was on a bike. He was there waiting, on a bike, holding another helmet. Greg was waiting with another helmet for her. On a bike.

Oh, crap.

“Hiii!” she squeaked like a girly i***t.

“Hello there. You look gorgeous,” he said glancing at her.

“Thank you very much.” Thank you very much? What the hell?

“Hop on.” He pointed at the back seat of his bike. It looked expensive. Red, and expensive. It said Ducati on the side. Powerful and red and extremely tall for something that required you to hop on.

She couldn’t keep it in anymore. “Okay, it’s not my fault if I crap myself on the first date. You never told me you rode a bike,” she blurted out, holding a finger up.

“I’ll drive slowly,” he reassured her. “Come on, place your left foot there, and just hop on over.”

She gulped. This is not the time to fall on your face, Galene. She put her foot carefully, and hopped on over as Greg instructed.

Okay, so far so good. Why was this seat so high?

“Here, put the helmet on. And tuck your dress underneath you, don’t let it go to the exhaust.”

Spontaneous combustion. Skull fractures. Yup, this date was going great. She obeyed, of course. She’s not a vlaka.

“Put your arms around me.”

“I bet you say that to all the girls,” she complained as she did exactly that.

“Only the clever ones,” he said and revved the bike.

Gal forced down a squeal and held on for dear life.

After a while, Galene forgot about the myriad ways she could die and simply enjoyed the ride. The tingling sensation that kept you on edge and perhaps warned you that you were going to pee yourself was still there, but it felt good now.

She played with the helmet. It had intercom, paired for easy riding. Activated by a nudge of the chin. “This helmet is so cool!”

“I know, right? Full veil capabilities, intercom, self-healing plastic, GPS of course. Here, let me share the ride info.”

Two screens showed up in her field of view, the one to the side, a map and route of the vehicle with traffic citation, and a secondary with gauges and stats about the bike, speed, battery, etc.

“I bet you share your bike’s data with all the girls,” she teased.

“Only the ones who can compile them.”

Good answer. Damn, old guys were smooth. Why had she wasted all that time with immature boys?

She held on to his leather jacket. It wasn’t cold, they were driving slowly and the warm day had just gotten cool for the evening.

“We’re going to Romvis street, do you know it?” he asked.

“No. Is it nice?”

“It’s right at the centre of Athens, two streets over Ermou. I like it cause there’s a great selection of restaurants there, Italian, Greek, Mexican, Chinese, whatever pleases you, take your pick.”

“Something non-spicy. I’m okay with trying something new, but not spicy.” She shook her head but he couldn’t see her. The intercom carried his breathing, and it felt so intimate. Galene found herself loving it.

“Non-spicy it is then,” he pointed ahead with his hand.

“Hands on the wheel, please!” she yelped.

“You know it’s self-driving, right? I can surrender control to the Hermes AI and it can take us there by itself.”

“Yes, I get it. Men. Toys. Now: Hands. On the wheel.”

“Sheesh,” he complained without really meaning it.

She could feel the bastard laughing by his body tension.

“Did you just mute me and laughed your a*s off?” she said flatly.

“I did. You caught me.”

“We’ll get back to that as soon as I’m on solid ground.”

They had reached a red light. Greg swerved through the front cars and waited first in line, propping the bike with his feet. Gal heard a massive noise, a bunch of bikes revving behind them. She turned and saw a group of bikes weaving through the cars.

They were women, and they were noisy.

Their bikes were varied, different makes, different horsepower. Garish and colourful, with mods and side-pockets, they looked lived-in, well worn. The women riders were varied as well, some muscular and powerful, others simply slim and athletic. One of them bumped her shoulder on an SUV’s mirror, so she promptly smashed it with an aluminium bat. The driver didn’t roll the window down and complain. He did nothing, he just held both hands on the wheel and waited for the green light, like a good Citizen.

Gal shook her head. She knew the guy, his public profile showed up in her field of view and she saw he was an exec at Hermes tower. She remembered the guy swearing at a fellow IT staff because he didn’t fix his computer quick enough. He’d never sit back idly and put his ego aside. But it seems he did just that.

“Amazons,” Greg whispered. “Don’t stare at them, just stand still and look ahead.”

“Wha-” Gal complained, but she obeyed. She felt more tingling between her legs, alerting her to more danger than the one of a bike running.

The Amazons spread around them. They casually surrounded their bike in a diamond pattern. Galene dared to glance at the one on her right.

Her veil popped up, and she saw her public social media profile. Her name was Clete, and she casually flaunted her night time activities, leading her g**g, racing in Paraliaki Avenue, smashing up cars.

Just like they had done two seconds ago.

Holy crap, thank the gods for public transportation. “I moved back in Athens only a year ago, so I’ve only heard about them.”

“Yeah,” mumbled Greg looking ahead, “it has been interesting, to say the least.”

Clete stared back at Galene and winked at her.

Then she… war cried, Galene guessed?

The glottal continual war-cry was mimicked in an instant by the rest and they drove ahead before the light turned green. An incoming car braked hard, the driver cursed at one of the Amazons, she just swore back at him and kicked his hood.

Then they drove away, disappearing down the street.

“What the hell is their problem?” Galene asked. “Are people just gonna take it like that, damaging their cars?”

The light turned green and Greg drove on. “It’s better not to do anything, trust me,” he sighed. “Plus, there’s a general vehicular damages option you can slap on your car insurance nowadays, it’s dumb not to have it.”

“That’s easy to say if your corp is paying for it!” Gal noted.

“True. But, these days, if you’re not with a corp, you’re not with anything.”