Cyberpunk Blues – Part 3

Lost a post this week, which is not a great way to start it.

I do have a perfectly reasonable explanation though.  It’s not even an excuse!  So it has that going for it, which is nice.

In reality, I lost a day because I’m trying to get my life together.  Ever since the birth of my son in 2015, I’ve been sliding off the rails.  I lost the genetic lottery rather hardcore, and to a certain extent, I’ve been able to manage some of my conditions and symptoms.  Not all, mind you, and not nearly so well as I like to believe, but I limped along well enough.

When my son was born, however, all of my carefully structured defensive mechanisms vanished.  I could no longer take a nap when things were too much, or rely on caffeine when I was losing focus.  Instead, caffeine is all that keeps me on my feet most days that end in y.

Where that has left me is between several rocks and The Hardest Place.  It’s akin to herding kittens to get me to focus on a task to completion.  This includes writing, which I haven’t been nearly as good about the last month as I should be.  Especially given all that’s gone on with my employment scenario.  Further, I haven’t been able to focus on the house as much as I should, nor have I been able to get a lot of the lists and chores I’ve been asked to do done.

I’m not going to lie, it’s been rough.  Plus, the medications they’ve prescribed me aren’t a stimulant,like most individuals are familiar with.  I have been prescribed a depressant to help mitigate some of my symptoms.  I’m not overly enthusiastic about that, but I didn’t go into this for a specific medication.  I went into this to fix my issues.  If this medication does that, and doesn’t have horrendous side effects?  I won’t complain a bit.  I’d rather not be so tired all the time, but again, this is day two and it can take upwards of two weeks to adjust to this sort of major medication.

Fingers crossed, it will start having some tangible effects here soon.  I know that’s rather unrealistic of me, but I’d like to see results sooner than later.  Sue me, I’m impatient to see what I can do operating at 100%.  It’s never been something I’ve been able to do, so the prospect of it dangling in front of me excites me more than a little.

For Cyberpunk Blues, I’m rather okay with what I’m building.  I do think that I went a little off topic last tie, and didn’t do nearly as much as I needed to.  Again, I can only site what has happened above, and my lack of motivation to do much of anything lately.  I’ll fix it.  I know that I have the tools at my disposal to do so.  I just ask for some patience as I try to mold myself back into shape.

Without further explanations…

Cyberpunk Blues – Part 3

“Hello my sweet!  What brings you in my office today?”

“I’m not your anything, you pile of human garbage.”

“You wound me so, my sweet!”

“Being wounded would require you to have feelings in the first place.”

The large man in front of me, hair gone steel gray but immaculately kempt, let out a rich chuckle.  The dark lines of his expensive suit strained against his enormous beefy frame, and I wondered yet again why he had them tailored so tight.  I could only imagine it was to intimidate everyone who came into his enormous office.  Chief of police my ass, I thought for the thousandth time.  It might as well read ‘Chief of Corruption’.

“So how’s the protection racket these days, pops?”  Yet again the rich laughter rolled over me like a stinking mist from some moldy grave.  “About as well as it can be in such crowded quarters.  How goes the rumble business?  Beat up anymore of my associates lately?”  A wicked, cheshire grin leered out at me as he neatly fingered me.  I had always known he knew what I did for a living, but having him so blatantly dig through enormous amounts of government money and security so neatly gave me the creeps.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, as usual.”  I crossed my arms under my chest, and fixed him with a deadbolt stare.  To my credit, the grin vanished, and his brow furrowed as he saw how serious I was. “What’s going on Chase?  You’re never so serious when you’re in here.”

“Someone tried to kill me dad.  They shot a bolt through my power supply right into my netjack.  Betty says that shouldn’t even be possible.”  With each word, an unseen chisel carved a severe line into dad’s face.  By the time I was done filling him in on the particulars, and Betty shared the data to his desktop computer, I knew someone was going to die for this.  A lot of someones.  Given what had happened, and how close I had come to getting slagged, I wasn’t about to stop him.

For all his lack of morals, dad was a stickler for protocol.  It was how he’d run such a smooth enterprise for nearly sixty years.  It was also why the government had never stepped in to stop him.  He might be corrupt, but dad ran a tight ship.  And anyone under him who brought innocents under fire was as good as dead.  I was no innocent, but dad always had a soft spot for me regardless of our banter.

“Chase, I’m sorry for the life you’ve been forced to lead.  I know it hasn’t been easy, and I know that you believe, rightly, that I’m a fantastic crook and a ruthless killer.  Please, sit down.  I must complicate your life even more, I fear.”  I looked at him, stunned.  Never, not even remotely, had my father apologized to anyone for anything.  Not to my mother as she left, not to me all those nights spent tending to his wounds or his drinking or both.  Never.   I floomped into the chair with all the grace of a falling rock.  “What do you mean?  Dad, you never apologize for things.  What the hell is going on?”  My anger, always held in check by the barest of margins, was threatening to loose itself into an enormous tirade.

“Chase.  Magic exists.  It is why I am allowed dominion over this sector of the wheel, and why the government doesn’t step in to stop me, regardless of how peaceful I keep things.  If they struck at you through your power conduit, then that means someone knows you’re my daughter.  Hate me all you want, but if you want to survive the next six months, you have to learn Technomancy too.”

Whatever I had been expecting, it wasn’t that.  My jaw hung loose, hands flapping useless in front of me as I tried to process what he had just said.  Betty summed up my thoughts nicely. “Your dad is crazy.”

To be continued…

Technomancefully,
Justin