I said dont
I closed my eyes and clawed the gun off the table.
PART 1: ARRIVAL (NEEDLECAST DOWNLOAD)
CHAPTER ONE
In the Envoy Corps they teach you to let go before storage. Stick it in neutral and float. Its the first lesson and the trainers drill it into you from day one. Hard-eyed Virginia Vidaura, dancers body poised inside the shapeless Corps coveralls as she paced in front of us in the induction room. Dont worry about anything , she said, and youll be ready for it . A decade later, I met her again, in a holding pen at the New Kanagawa justice facility. She was going down for eighty to a century; excessively armed robbery and organic damage. The last thing she said to me when they walked her out of the cell was: Dont worry kid, theyll store it . Then she bent her head to light a cigarette, drew the smoke hard into lungs she no longer gave a damn about and set off down the corridor as if to a tedious briefing. From the narrow angle of vision afforded me by the cell gate, I watched the pride in that walk and I whispered the words to myself like a mantra.
Dont worry, theyll store it . It was a superbly double-edged piece of street wisdom. Bleak faith in the efficiency of the penal system, and a clue to the elusive state of mind required to steer you past the rocks of psychosis. Whatever you feel, whatever youre thinking, whatever you are when they store you, thats what youll be when you come out. With states of high anxiety, that can be a problem. So you let go. Stick it in neutral. Disengage and float.
If you have time.
I came thrashing up out of the tank, one hand plastered across my chest searching for the wounds, the other clutching at a non-existent weapon. The weight hit me like a hammer and I collapsed back into the floatation gel. I flailed with my arms, caught one elbow painfully on the side of the tank and gasped. Gobbets of gel poured into my mouth and down my throat. I snapped my mouth shut and got a hold on the hatch coaming, but the stuff
Warden Sullivan, chief executive for Bay City Central, the facility you are now leaving.
You dont sound delighted to be losing me.
Sullivan pinned me with a stare. Youre a recidivist, Kovacs. I never saw the case for wasting good flesh and blood on people like you.
I touched the letter in my breast pocket. Lucky for me Mr. Bancroft disagrees with you. Hes supposed to be sending a limousine for me. Is that outside as well?
I havent looked.
Somewhere on the counter, a protocol chime sounded. The doctor had finished her inputting. She tore the curling edge of the hardcopy free, initialled it in a couple of places and passed it to Sullivan. The warden bent over the paper, scanning it with narrowed eyes before he scribbled his own signature and handed the copy to me.
Takeshi Lev Kovacs, he said, mispronouncing my name with the same skill as his minion in the tank room. By the powers vested in me by the UN Justice Accord, I discharge you on lease to Laurens J. Bancroft, for a period not to exceed six weeks, at the end of which time your parole status will be reconsidered. Please sign here.
I took the pen and wrote my name in someone elses handwriting next to the wardens finger. Sullivan separated the top and bottom copies, and handed me the pink one. The doctor held up a second sheet and Sullivan took it.
This is a doctors statement certifying that Takeshi Kovacs (d.h.) was received intact from the Harlans World Justice Administration, and subsequently sleeved in this body. Witnessed by myself, and closed circuit monitor. A disc copy of the transmission details and tank data are enclosed. Please sign the declaration.
I glanced up and searched in vain for any sign of the cameras. Not worth fighting about. I scribbled my new signature a second time.
This is a copy of the leasing agreement by which you are bound. Please read it carefully. Failure to comply with any of its articles may result in you being returned to storage immediately to complete the full term of your sentence either here, or at another facility of the Administrations choice. Do you understand these terms and agree to be bound by them?
I took the paperwork and scanned rapidly through it. It was standard stuff. A modified version of the parole agreement Id signed half a dozen times before on Harlans World. The language was a bit stiffer, but the content was the same. Bullshit by any other name. I signed it without a blink.
Well then. Sullivan seemed to have lost a bit of his iron. Youre a lucky man, Kovacs. Dont waste the opportunity.
Dont they ever get tired of saying it?
I folded up my bits of paper without speaking and stuffed them into my pocket next to the letter. I was turning to leave when the doctor stood up and held out a small white card to me.
Mr. Kovacs.
I paused.
There shouldnt be any major problems with adjusting, she said. This is a healthy body, and you are used to this. If there is anything major. Call this number.
I put out an arm and lifted the little rectangle of card with a machined precision that I hadnt noticed before. The neurachem was kicking in. My hand delivered the card to the same pocket as the rest of the paperwork and I was gone, crossing the reception and pushing open the door without a word. Ungracious maybe, but I didnt think anyone in that building had earnt my gratitude yet.