Cover art for the anthology “Summer of Speculation, 2023”

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It’s finally happening. The Cloaked Press anthology Summer of Speculation 2023 is available June 26, 2023. This year’s theme is Sidekicks.

My contribution to this work is the short story “The Apprentice.”

I didn’t want to do some superhero sidekick story so I went with a “diamond-in-the-rough” apprentice to a Master, but one with particular skills. It’s set in the same futuristic cyberpunk world as my short story “Dollface” which you can find in the anthology Surge.

Pin is a girl who has grown up in the slums of the Under, the ancient remnants of cities built centuries ago which are now dwarfed in the shadow of the sky-spanning megapolis. Recruited by the mysterious “Mr. Chandler,” Pin must leave behind everyone she has ever loved for an uncertain future training as a Paladin. But is Chandler the Practitioner her savior or the catalyst of a life leading to danger and ultimately death?

Here’s a short sample:

“Hurry, Pin. This way.” She’d fallen asleep reading another novel about a woman who was a machine, this one by Wells or somebody. It was just clock o’ two in the morning when Mr. Chandler shook her awake. She threw on her dirty shirt and pants from yesterday and stumbled after him, not paying attention to their path, which she knew was a mistake. It was a great way to get lost and then preyed upon by their enemies.

Somehow, they arrived and he pulled her into a small room, an independent medbay, except instead of an automated repair unit, there were two people in full hazmat suits.

“Don’t worry, the suits are to hide their identities. There’s no contamination, just…”

“A Bottie, Practitioner? What’s the emergency in repairing a broken…” Realization drew her into a pit of terror. “A Vickie.”

She was lying on a metal table, control and power conduits from the top plugged into her various ports. There were tools on a cloth near her left leg. Other panels and consoles were built into the table top as well, but the main power and processing units were lining the walls of a room barely able to fit two people let alone four.

“You’ve been working with some of the systems incorporated into this woman’s body, Pin.”

“But Prac, I don’t know organics. This is a Vickie, a woman. She’s been…”

“I know what a Vickie is, Pin. These others will see to her organics, but they can’t do that and manage the damage to her cybernetics at the same time. You’ve worked with these systems for over a year.”

“Can’t you…?”

“You can, Pin. She needs you. We’re here to help.”

“Okay. I mean if you think…”

Pin was scared. She was scared to do anything wrong and hurt her even worse. She was scared of the Vickie and scared of how she got hurt.

Vickies were the most danger prone of all the Dollfaces. They were supposed to be paid premium credits because of how hazardous their job was. Vickies were men and women who were heavily augmented with armor, re-enforced skeletons and organs, outfitted with the latest pain dampeners. That’s because the worse of the Bruisers and Sados “got off” on abusing men and women during…

It was disgusting. She’d known about Vickies since she was young, although she hadn’t understood everything about them. This was the first time seeing one. Oh no, she was conscious.

The Vickie turned and looked at her. Lips parted but nothing came out. Pin was surprised to find she’s already opened an access port in the Vick’s left thigh and was examining the readouts.

She moved higher and opened her abdominal panel. There’s where the Bruiser had shoved in a knife. There were a number of processors shorting out, causing the Vick to tremble. Pin wanted to cry. She smelled blood, urine, and vomit and nearly wretched.

The apprentice forced herself to look down at the shredded technology. She could fix it. The air was cold and she envied the med team their full body suits. The air filters protected them from the stench, and the visual systems let them examine their patient on multiple levels, not just the surface of her agony.

Pin looked up again as she worked and saw the Vick was still staring at her. Her eyes were sad and although she still couldn’t speak, she mouthed, “Thank you.”

Pin desperately fought back tears. The Vick needed her. She was a woman. She was human. “I’m not even fourteen years old,” she said to herself. It was a bullshit excuse. Girls her age were already walking the streets as Dollfaces, putting out their all with Johns to pay off their Procurer.

If Mr. Chandler hadn’t showed up that day and taken her as his apprentice, it might have been Pin on the table.

Find my science fiction, cyberpunk short story “The Apprentice” in the anthology Summer of Speculation 2023 available June 26, 2023 at Amazon.