“I’ve got a room booked for you,” Chaney said, motioning down the train carriage corridor. “When you’re ready.”
Salvi nodded, glancing about curiously, trying hard to look like a kid in a candy store.
And not a cop looking for evidence.
“What’s on the other side of the dance floor?” She couldn’t quite see as it curved around behind the corridor of rooms.
“More rooms. Bigger rooms. The kind that hold a lot more people at one time than the carriages.”
“I see…”
“Lance!” a voice called, and they turned to see a frail, skinny old man, dapper in a silver plastic suit of some kind and wearing circular spectacles with a glowing neon rim. Either side of him were holographic ‘pets’. One was a cat, the other was a young teenage boy on all fours like a dog.
“Hillier,” Chaney said. “It’s good to see you.”
“And you. It’s not often I see you taking time off work,” the spectacled man, shorter than Salvi, looked up at her then gave her the once over, “but I can see why you do so tonight!” He looked back to Chaney. “Enjoy. Come on boys,” he said to his two holographic ‘pets’ and continued on down the corridor. As he did, Salvi saw a near-naked woman exit one of the carriages, and she had to pause a moment to decide if it was a woman or a robot. The skin covering her body appeared to have seams and metallic joints, but as she neared, Salvi saw the markings were merely realistic tattoos.
“Come,” Chaney swept her over toward the bar. They ordered their drinks from a list of cocktails that should’ve been illegal from their names alone, as Salvi kept glancing about. She saw another woman with a shaved head walk past wearing only a tiny G-string, and what appeared to be a dense mesh of neural tech attached to her that stretched all the way down from her scalp to her neck to cover her breasts. When the woman turned away, it appeared the tech ran all the way down her spine as well. It was so realistic Salvi couldn’t tell whether it was actually fused into her spine or not.
Next she saw a male in a similar state to the woman, wearing only a G-string and covered head to toe in seams and joints as though he were an android. Salvi had to stop herself from looking twice at half the people who walked past her. Clearly the android fetish was alive and well down here, both people wanting to be them and those who wanted to be with them. An unsettling feeling stirred in her gut as she couldn’t tell if they were real or whether it was all makeup, costumes or tattoos. Some of it looked so very real.
“You look worried,” Chaney whispered in her ear. “Don’t be.”
“I’m not,” she smiled nervously, softening her face, “I’m just fascinated!”
“By what?”
“By what turns people on.”
“And what turns you on?” he asked.
She smiled again. “Well, now, I can’t just tell you. Where’s the fun in that?”
He laughed softly, watching as her gaze was drawn to a robo-whore wheeling past.
“Have you ever had a robo-whore?” he asked.
Salvi shook her head. “No. I feel so deprived.”
Chaney laughed. “Well, here you can change that. Try anything you like.”
A woman moved beside her at the bar and ordered her drink. She looked relatively normal, albeit in a sexy PVC outfit. The woman glanced at her, and Salvi noticed her face was covered in some kind of plastic skin. Realizing she was staring, Salvi gave her a grin. The woman smiled back, but Salvi suddenly saw a man looking back at her. Then it was a monkey... Salvi laughed in shock as the woman – and it was definitely a woman based on the shape of her body – took her drink and walked away.
“I take it you’ve never seen a digital mask before?” Lance said into her ear. Salvi shook her head. “It’s for those who wish to have the ultimate discretion. No one can tell who they are underneath. They can pre-set the face to male, female or animal, or have it alternate between the three for the ultimate confusion.”
“They look amazing.”
“They should do, they’re very expensive, and hard to come by.”
“Interesting,” she said, thinking how dangerous they would be out on the street in the hands of criminals.
Chaney slid his hand into hers and began to lead her toward the corridor of carriages. They walked slowly, listening to the cacophony that increased and faded as they passed each carriage. She heard music and moaning and laughing and crying and slapping and barking and all manner of things that made her want to rip each door open to check the inhabitants were okay. He led her down to the carriage at the very end, larger than all the others. He waved his hand over a scanner, which unlocked the door.
He saw her eyeing the control panel. “This is my personal carriage.”
She nodded, and as she stepped inside she saw an athletic blonde woman standing beside a console. She wore a short black dress with a high collar but zipped down low in front to show off the cleavage of her well-sized breasts. Her hair was pulled back in a tight bun and she offered a smile to them. Salvi smiled back, noticing her makeup appeared to be tattooed on her 30-something face.
The room was otherwise filled with what looked like a very comfortable circular bed, and a leather chaise longue covered in white faux fur blankets. The lighting was dim and red-tinged, and music played softly in the background. Some kind of mesmerizing, hypnotizing, trance beats.
“Relax,” he said, his breath hitting the back of
