Chaos Theory (Cosmic Lovely)

Chapter Seven

Blue killed the purring engine on his FloBi. Booted feet hit oily concrete with a solid thump as the hover bike set down. He sighed and swung a leg off the bike. Swiping a thumb over the underside of the handlebar brushed his OmniLock against the scanner to genetically lock the ignition and stop another rider boosting his property.

Blue strode into Pluto’s with a heavy footfall that only those with real distracting shit to worry about understood.

The spicy tang of cooking dumplings sat heavy in the air, a smell that would be delicious had he been in his right frame of mind. Golden baked dough around bubbling cheese and succulent meat fillings wasn’t the sweet fragrance his nostrils flared to. It wasn’t why his tongue swelled and stuck to the roof of his parched mouth.

He should have replenished before he left for work, but he’d forgotten, a stupid and irresponsible thing to do.

Dangerous.

His stomach clenched in panic, and saliva slicked the walls of his cheeks until he had to swallow repeatedly. He breathed heavily in the confines of the helmet. His leathers seemed to shrink on his body until the fabric sucked at his skin in parody of what he imagined doing to the next available throat.

“You’re late,” Dod noted. “Next time I’ll dock your pay.”

His meaty fists pounded the creamy dough used to make his legendary dumplings, rattling the work surface and the pots underneath.

Pluto’s was unique. It was the only restaurant on ContinentOne that made dumplings from scratch with real cheese instead of the substitute. It took longer, cost more, but customers raved about the taste.

Blue walked straight to the order board to pick up the next delivery. He grabbed the boxes and turned on his heel, grabbing a CredMac to read the receipt for the address.

He needed fresh air to clear his head. That helped when he was breathless and sick.

Nodding jerkily to the people he past, Blue sighed in relief when the door slid open, and he stumbled out into the night.

Minors loitered around his FloBi. They edged closer to the vehicle, drumming up the courage to boost it. They scattered when he strode over with an expression he’d been told was ‘freaky’.

He inhaled deeply and regained his calm.

The delivery was easy, the addresses minutes away. Too soon, he was back at Pluto’s not knowing if he was calm enough to go back inside. Blue pushed through another three orders before he was sweating, and gritting his teeth each time he came within three feet of a warm body. When his shift break came up, he dashed outside and rounded the corner, seeking a place to take the stifling helmet off, too shaken to check nobody was within his immediate vicinity.

He was lightheaded, panting hard as his body fought to drag in enough oxygen to breathe.

He was suffocating.

A minor turned into the alleyway. He paused when he saw Blue leaning up against the dirty wall. There was a rustling of clothes and a tinny click before the minor was moving again. His walk canted to one side, and one hand sunk deep in his trouser pocket. Stopping in front of Blue, the minor hovered a laser knife at his damp neck. “Take out your TalkMe and transfer eight hundred credits to username Jak113,” he hissed. His low voice trembled only once. When Blue didn’t react, he hardened. “Do it now.”

Blue shook his head weakly, dragging in another rasping breath. He made a shooing motion with his hand, giving the boy a chance to flee.

The minor hesitated before stepping closer. The knife burned a strip of Blue’s top. “Are you dumb. I’ll cut you.”