Читать книгу Neon Hearts - - Страница 7
Chapter 5
ОглавлениеSunday at NeuroHub was hectic and noisy, like a beehive that had been suddenly knocked on by a careless passerby. The corridors, lined with luminous panels, were filled with people: some of them, having finished a gruelling night shift, were tiredly wandering back to their flats, their eyes red from lack of sleep, and their faces frozen with an expression of relief at the thought of the forthcoming rest. Others, just awake, hurried to work, adjusting their clothes and sipping synthetic coffee from self-heating cups. The air hummed with the many voices, laughter and jokes exchanged among the inhabitants of this female realm. The melodic sounds of the neural network reminding them of the day’s schedule mingled with the sound of footsteps and the hum of automatic doors.
In one of Neurohab’s flats, located on the 47th floor overlooking a metropolis glittering with neon lights, Dash, a young woman with long hair and a chiselled figure, slowly opened her eyes. She squinted against the bright light streaming in through the automatic blinds, which gradually rose to mimic a natural sunrise. Her sleepy voice, hoarse from sleep, broke the morning silence of the room:
– Why the hell are you getting me up on a Sunday? – she muttered, addressing an invisible neural network whose soft blue light pulsed in the corner of the room. – Nova where?
Anya, already dressed and ready to go, stood in front of a video mirror that showed her image from different angles. She was fixing her make-up. Without taking a break from her work, Anya answered:
– Nova had already left an hour ago with Faza again to her parents’ dacha. Can you imagine, so early in the morning! Apparently, the fresh air and natural products did their job – she is an early bird now.
Dash, still lying in bed with her eyes closed, raised her hand, pointing her finger at the ceiling. Her movements were slow and clumsy, as if every joint needed lubrication:
– Remember, Anya, what I told you yesterday? – she yawned with her mouth wide open. – Like I said, this is what happens. Tomorrow I’ll go shopping for a washing machine or a kettle.
Anya, raising a perfectly plucked eyebrow in surprise, turned to her friend. Her gaze slid over Dash’s dishevelled hair, her sleepy face and the crumpled bed.
– Where are you going this early?
Dash finally peeled her eyelids open and stared at Anya, who looked flawless in her tight-fitting smart fabric suit. Dash’s eyes were still clouded with sleep, and her movements were slow and clumsy, as if she were trying to move underwater.
– Where are you going this early? – Dash asked, yawning and stretching again. Her body, hidden under a weightless blanket that kept her body at an optimum temperature, arched, showing off her perfect curves.
Anya, fastening the last button on her blouse, replied:
– Time to go to my relatives. They sent a message, the neural network delivered it only in the morning. Can you imagine, in our century, and such failures! Sometimes I think that all this high technology fails us more often than good old-fashioned paper letters.
Damn bitch,» Anna continued, referring to the neural network. Her voice was full of irritation. – She doesn’t want to work properly, and you piss her off, and then we all suffer. The message came yesterday, and I just got it today. Don’t fight with the neural net, Dash. Remember what happened last time you called it a useless piece of plastic? We were without hot water for a week. Then she mocked you with the presidential palace.
Dash yawned again, opening her mouth wide and stretching her whole body. Her long legs, smooth and hairless thanks to permanent laser hair removal, peeked out from under the blanket, and her dishevelled hair created a halo around her head like some sleepy saint’s halo.
– What relatives? – she asked through another yawn, trying to focus her gaze on her friend.
Anya, having finished with her make-up, turned to Dash:
– «It’s a great uncle. A professor, mum’s relative. I told you a few months ago that I lived with them when I came to the metropolis, even before I settled in NeuroHub. Remember?
Dash slowly sat up on the bed, scratching her foot against her leg and stretching. Her movements were fluid and graceful despite her drowsiness. The sheet slipped off, exposing a perfect body:
– Well, yes, yes, yes… I remember something. No, I don’t remember anything,» she mumbled to herself, trying to piece together the disparate memories into a coherent whole. – And then after that, where to? Will you spend the whole weekend on the old professor?
Anya, putting on her high-heeled shoes with built-in shock absorbers that allowed her to walk for hours without fatigue, replied:
– «Then I’m going to stop off at some gallery or theatre. I’ll pick one on the way. The neural network promised to find something interesting, taking into account my preferences and mood. Maybe I could even go to that art exhibition everyone was talking about.
Neural Net suddenly intervened in the conversation with a giggle of sarcasm, her voice, melodic and slightly mechanical, filling the room:
– Hee hee, cultural programme for the weekend? Don’t forget to bring your aesthetic perception neurostimulator, Anna. Recent studies show that it increases the pleasure of viewing art by 37 per cent.
Anya raised her head to the ceiling and said with slight irritation:
– Yes, yes, I remember, we’re all so cultured. Just don’t start teasing me with this topic again. And they’re expensive for my salary.
Dash, still naked, stood in front of the video mirror, which instantly came to life, showing her reflection from different angles and offering make-up and hair options. She stretched slowly and sleepily, kneading every muscle:
– I’m teaching you, Anya, and you don’t listen to me,» she said as she watched the mirror illuminate the areas of her body that needed cosmetic care. – You won’t meet professors, diplomats, actors in that gallery. Who goes there? Visitors from the periphery of the metropolis, like Faz Nova. All those newcomers who think that after seeing a couple of concerts they’ll become cultured.
Anya, fixing her hair, which was falling into place obediently under her fingers, objected:
– I go to look at pictures, at the history of art, not to meet men. Do you really think that in this century people go to museums just to socialise? There are still connoisseurs of beauty, you know.
Dash, finally a little awake and stretching, leaned on the table, involuntarily showing off her breasts:
– And I got a pass to the library’s science lab,» she said, squinting slyly. – That’s where you can meet the scientists at Syntracore Industries. And they get paid, do you know how much? They say they even have implants to increase intelligence.
Anya asked in surprise, her eyebrows creeping upwards, creating slight wrinkles on her forehead:
– Why? You don’t understand anything about prosthetics. Or have you suddenly decided to change careers and become a neuroengineer?
Dash spread her arms and fell back onto the bed, sipping her nakedly beautiful body:
– Do you know who’s sitting there? – She stretched out wistfully and romantically, looking up at the ceiling. – Scientists! Aren’t you listening to me? These are not just nerds in glasses, but real geniuses of our time. Can you imagine what interesting salaries they must have? And maybe there is some young and handsome researcher among them, dreaming of a beautiful muse?
Anya chuckled, shaking her head:
– And you’re gonna listen to them read or talk to them about prosthetics and augmentation? Dash, honey, you fall asleep when I try to tell you about my work in the chemical metallurgy department. What are you going to do among scientists?
Dash raised her head, resting her hand on her elbow. Her eyes lit up with a mischievous glint:
– Oh, you understand a lot about men,» she said with a slight chuckle. – There’s a bar where they can flirt. Can you imagine the exquisite compliments they must have? «Your eyes shine brighter than the quantum processor of my latest invention.» Isn’t that romantic?
Anya shook her head, smiling. She was used to this kind of talk by now.
– At the moment when Dash, dressed in an exquisite dress that accentuated her slender figure and graceful body lines, entered the spacious hall of the data centre, a sense of expectation hung in the air. High heels, lightly clacking against the cold floor, created a melody that attracted the gazes of young scientists immersed in their screens and endless lines of code. She walked with her hips wiggling confidently, as if knowing that her presence could wake up even the most inveterate of workaholics.
The corridors of this huge building, where young specialists worked, were filled with desks littered with papers and monitors on which lines of code flashed. Dash, passing by, cast glances at the concentrated faces of the guys, who seemed to be immersed in their thoughts, like mice digging through their papers. Their faces were focused and their eyes were tired, as if they hadn’t seen the light beyond their screens. In the silence, broken only by the whirring of servos, Dash took a seat at one of the empty desks, pretending to work. She leafed through the forms, read the lines, but her thoughts were far from work.