“I’m surprised you didn’t talk to him longer,” AL said as it placed the immaculate glass back in the cupboard above its head.
“Huh?” Enidri lifted her head from her drink to look at the robot. “What are you talking about?”
“You’ve spent so much money to have a conversation with me. Yet when someone comes in here wanting to talk to you, you let them walk out.”
The exterminator scowled at the robot. “I didn’t pay for a counseling session.”
“I just offered an observation.”
“Any other time you’d charge me for asking where the bathroom is. All of a sudden you’re interested in my personal life?”
“My main directive is to get you to spend more Tokens. I’ve been programmed to do what it takes to get you to stay in the bar for as long as possible.”
“Figures.” Enidri rolled her eye as she downed the last of her drink. She then slid the glass back over to AL before swinging all the way around on her seat. “Well, it’s been an interesting night. And now that you’ve told me your trick, I know what to look out for.”
“Heading out for more exterminating?” the robot asked as it picked its rag back up and begun the cleaning cycle anew.
“Nah. I’ve got enough Tokens for tonight. I think I’ll head home and get some shuteye.” She hopped off her seat and headed to the door. There was a break in the rain, slowing down to a faint drizzle. “Besides, if I don’t leave now, I might have to stay here all night.”
“We appreciate your business.” AL turned its back and continued to organize the empty glasses in the cupboard. Enidri took one last look over her shoulder and watched the robot go through its assigned tasks.
“Yeah. I’m sure you do,” she said soft enough so the robot would detect her words. She let the door to the bar close behind her and basked in the gentle shower. With a shrug of her shoulders, she made her way down the alley to the left. The alley was dark, with only the distant glow of countless neon signs in the city's heart giving her enough light to see the trash litter the cracked pavement. The exterminator took one more glance over her shoulder, her scanning to see if there was anyone else in the alley with her.
Confirming that she was alone, Enidri brought up her projection screen and tapped away at a few menus. Within seconds, an object flew from the sky before stopping only a few feet in front of her. There was enough light for Enidri to recognize where the seat was on her personal carrier; a single-seated flying craft. She sat on the cushion and leaned her back against the rest before placing both hands on the handlebars that jutted out from the front of the vehicle.
“Set to autopilot,” she said quietly. The engines hummed before the vehicle slowly lifted off the ground. With a sharp upwards angle, the personal carrier shot off like a rocket and carried the driver several hundred feet in the air. Once high enough, the vehicle seamlessly merged with the floating traffic that soared above the vibrant cityscape. “Head home,” Enidri shouted to her vehicle, her words somewhat slurred by the alcohol in her system.
She leaned back in her seat and sighed. Her eye focused on a long transport vehicle in the lane beside her. A pair of children, one boy and one girl no older than ten, tussled with each other in the back seat. The mother turned around from the passenger seat and tried to break up the disagreement.
Enidri sighed as memories came rushing to her mind. She thought of her stepbrother and all the times they would argue over the most mundane of things. The flow of traffic continued, making the carrier to her left advance without her.
With a shake of her head, Enidri focused on the traffic again. Her personal carrier took a sharp dive downwards towards the neon-dotted cityscape below. The wind pusher her hair back as she sped up her vehicle.
The auto-piloting system took her to the roof of a tower skyscraper. The vehicle parked itself among a lot of other parked carriers. She hopped off the small carrier and straightened out her disarrayed hair. The roof was empty, to be expected at this late of an hour.
Rain fell faster and harder, prompting Enidri to hurry and get inside. She placed her lone eye against a glowing screen on the side of the door leading to the building’s interior. A long blue beam scanned down her face, followed by the sound of a door unlocking.
The metal panel separated into two separate halves, leaking out a bright yellow light. Enidri squinted a bit as she stepped inside. She trekked down the narrow halls, taking her jacket off and shaking it so the excess water spilled onto the tile floor. A small, round robot trailed behind her, sucking up the liquid with a loud whir.
The exterminator took a sharp right at the first intersection and stopped at the second door. She looked to both sides, scouting out the vacant hallway. No one else stood inside. Nothing made any noise. There was only the constant pitter-patter of rain beating down on the roof.
She sighed again and activated the glowing screen with her Implant. After pressing a few keys on the floating projection, the door to her apartment slid open. With another glance over both shoulders, she stepped inside.
“Home sweet home,” she said to herself as she tossed her jacket on her weapon rack to her side. The metal hilts of her various Ion Blades rustled with a loud clank as the jacket covered them. She headed straight ahead, stepping over empty food wrappers and other pieces of clothing to head straight to her desk on the other side of the single room.
Enidri pulled back the seat and sat down. She rested her elbows on the plastic surface and placed her cheek on her palm. With her other hand she reached to the back of her head and carefully tugged on the elastic band that kept her eyepatch strapped to her face.
Then came the worst part of her evening ritual.
She closed her only eye as she slowly pried the eyepatch off her face. The front of the patch stuck to her face, making the usual peeling sound that always made her wince no matter how many times she removed it. Once the patch was off, she let it dangle in between her fingers before dropping into the bin with some of her other dirty patches.
“Let’s see if I need to use my drops tonight,” she said with a huff. Enidri flicked her right hand and her Implant created a mirror image of herself. She leaned forward and tilted the side of her face without an eye towards the image.
With one finger she touched the area above her cheek where her scar began. A long and deep crimson scar covered the area where her eye once was. The surrounding flesh was distorted; long and even wrinkles wobbled as her finger prodded the softer sections of skin.
Her finger tapped a protruding chunk of skin, making all the muscles on the right side of her face twitch and convulse. Enidri grunted as she reached into her desk’s top drawer.
“Ah, yeah. It’s definitely time for a dose.”
She unscrewed the cap to the bottle, tilted her head back and let the brown fluid fall where her eye once was. Enidri held in a grunt as the medicine stung her wound. After blinking her remaining eye a few times, she got up from her seat and sat on her bed a few steps away.
After kicking her boots off, she leaned back on the mattress, using her arms as a pillow. She stared up at the white ceiling, listening to the incessant whirring of the various electrical appliances that filled her room. Even though she shut her eye, she couldn’t keep it closed for long.
“Dammit,” she said under breath as her eye opened wide. She rolled over to her side and activated another screen. With some button presses, she went to her image gallery. A flick of her finger across the floating screen brought her to the bottom of the seemingly endless pictures of Labrisson and the assorted monsters she’s slain.
She tapped an icon with her half-brother and herself. She was only a teenager and her brother a few years younger. Both smiled for the camera as she used her hand to put his hair into disarray.
“Call Donva,” Enidri said somberly.
The image disappeared, replaced by a screen that said “Calling: Donva.”
“Let’s see if he picks up this time,” she muttered.
