It would be a long night in the Shinjuku. For Deki it already was. She had been waiting nearly three hours when the Globe Express van finally pulled up. It was probably just her impatience, but even the unfurling armature from the vehicle was too slow. Finally the payoff after saving her money for what seemed like months. Sleeping on the street and running dirty little errands for the Goth Lolis was not her tengoku that's for sure. Would that she could have a down futon and a roof even for a little while. Her small paradise she might have one day. Signing for the package, she snatched it from the mechanical appendage, and thanked the van as it sped away to deliver yet another treasure to the impatient of Tokyo. Here it was! Her very own personal fabricator. She tore open the package and gazed down at the oval case. The Nikon E70 Extruder was top of the line. Not just any machine like those cheap NEC throwaways that the Ganguro used to make insipid fashion accessories, but what most geeks called a "god box". Dream it and you shall receive.
Deki made her way along the tracks of the Chuo Line, backpack and new toy in tow. Tonight, like so many others, she would sneak into the National Gardens and find a place to sleep. If she were lucky there would be no patrols out tonight. Shinjuku Gyoen Nationals, as they were called, didn't like the street kids sleeping there. Almost every day a body or two was found outside the Gardens. It was no secret the goons who worked there did it, but no one cares about street trash. One less FRUiT on the street was a good thing to many. Passing the entrance to the Garden she slipped down an embankment and found the drainage pipe. Her rail thin frame slipped through the iron bars and into the dark dank tunnel.
As she emerged from the tube she looked cautiously around for the guards. Scanning left and right all she could see were the cherry blossoms illuminating the night with explosions of white and pink. This night she was in luck. No guards between her and the greenhouse. Someone had even been thoughtful enough to leave the service entrance ajar. Deki quietly opened and shut the door behind her. It was humid here; the combination of smells filling her head. Earth and plants and fertilizer. It was in itself a small paradise and one that tonight she didn't have to share with tourists or guards, nor any other FRUiTs she could see. She found a dense bush and crawled in. Carefully taking her new machine out she set it aside and unrolled her sleeping mat. Tomorrow would be a new day she thought. Deki also hoped her friend Shoichi would be home. Craving a hot bath wasn't the only thing on her mind. A place to rest and start using her new machine sat heavy in her thoughts. Sho Sho would have materials for her too. Plastics, electronics, nanite clay all roiled around in her brain as she drifted to sleep.
Her dreams came then. Familiar ones that were a vivid mix of her own street life in still frames flashing like a silver Rolodex. The prying hands of the otaku sex junky. Her friends running from the cops. The muggings and theft. Each scene became an icon spread out over all of Tokyo. Other images inserted themselves into each dream vision. They were the kamigami. The old icons. Gods of Tokyo past, which in their own way were still around, coursing through the populace without being seen. Those ancient and revered now meshed with her dreams, calling for new faces and replacing familiar ones. Some were fierce and some were the innocent happy faces glittering like young ravers high on illicit fare. Perhaps it was madness, but when she woke she didn't know and it didn't matter, at least not for now.
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Comments: 23
I printed this out so I can read it later. I'll be back.
So good to read your work again, Trav!
So far, I like the story a lot. I can't offer any critique at this point; I need more.... off to read number 2.
Ten unsolicited points from the world's worst connection. Merry whatever you celebrate!