He shakes his head to the bar Kaarina’s offering him. “And here I thought the Unchipped eat better than we do. I still dream about bacon and eggs every night.”
Kaarina shoves the bars in her pocket.
Raino stops to think, and then says, “If you need more food… This connection you have. Can you search for other missing persons? In addition to my son?”
This is it. The opportunity. Her new food supply. But is she giving a promise she can’t possibly keep?
“I could look for others. Yes.”
Before he leaves, Raino says, “Give me a day or two. Let me talk to my people. I’ll make sure next time you visit the city, you won’t leave with an empty stomach.”
A virtual dog walker strolls down the blue tiles. When he passes the old man, now crossing the tile road to get back to his pharmacy, he turns his head slightly, pretends not to notice him. Kaarina watches, puzzled. How does the social ranking even work—the thing Markus is so scared to lose—if no one is willing to acknowledge anyone else’s existence?
The old man makes his way back under the crooked pharmacy sign. He opens the door, disappears inside. There he’ll wait by the window for her to return.
Kaarina takes off running. She’s been here for too long. The city and its lights have slowly drilled into her bones, gnawing little holes into her muscles and sending throbbing pain through her skull.
While walking, she digs out a vegan bar and unwraps it. While biting into its tasteless core, she does her best to celebrate her new source of food. But at the same time, something else turns her stomach. Regret. Doubt. She’ll have all the food she can eat while she waits for her big move back into the city. But what do those feeding her get? Is she turning into a scam artist? Taking advantage of an old man and his innocent friends?
Is she just as shameless as the rest of the Unchipped?
***
Dust, horsehair, and wood shavings fly around her head. The curry comb moves in circles over Rocky’s back, leaving its round markings on his thick winter coat. Kaarina bangs the comb against the barn floor, to clear off the mud and dirt stuck between the rubber teeth.
“So yeah, your guy has quite the operation going up there.” Bill’s been going on about the pharmacist’s son for some time now. “And it’s not just the Unchipped he takes care of in his little underground clinic. Turns out his medical services are quite popular among the Chipped as well.”
“So, Toni is a doctor?”
“Not just any doctor. He was one of the best ones in San Diego, before the Happiness Program. But get this, it gets even wilder. One of the Unchipped that let me tap them told me Toni’s not even Unchipped. I mean he doesn’t have a chip, but that’s because he never tried to get one in the first place.”
“He volunteered to live outside the city? Why would anyone do that?”
“Why not? I don’t mind this lifestyle. It’s kinda growing on me.”
“That’s because you live in a palace with all the food you can eat and all the boy toys you can dream of.”
“Jealous much, Kay-Kay?”
Kaarina can’t help but smile. Now that she knows she’ll have food coming in and possibly a new pair of winter boots, it’s easier to be kind to Bill. To take his know-it-all-ness for what it is: friendly teasing.
Rocky turns to groom her back, his muzzle tickling the back of Kaarina’s neck. She stops the currycombing and scratches the inside of his ear instead. Five days of antibiotics and there’s no sign of the infection.
“Who knows what goodies you’ll get out of this. I’m telling you, this escort service of yours could be a real moneymaker.”
“It’s not an escort service. Stop saying that.”
“Get more meds, Kay. That’ll keep Yeti and his witches happy. They may have all the food they need, but medical supply is a whole new ballgame. They’ll surely lay off your animals and leave you be.”
She kneels down and selects a hoof pick from the damaged grooming kit. The Unchipped not paying her another visit is nerve-wracking. Why hasn’t the leader come back for more? Joining their community is not an option, not if she wants to protect the animals at the barn. But maybe bringing them supplies will get them off her back.
Tomorrow’s the day when she’s supposed to meet Markus in the city. She’ll make him laugh and feel better. Then she’ll visit the old man’s pharmacy. If Raino’s found Kaarina more missing persons to track, she can only hope they’ll be within her or Bill’s reach. Not many Unchipped agree to help someone they don’t know. But she has to try. Or before she knows it, she’ll need to beg for food.
Maybe Kaarina can find a local Unchipped to try tapping with? To find an ally somewhere in the suburbs?
“Oh, so this escort business is not enough for you?” Of course Bill’s still there. Listening, snooping. “Well you know what they say: keep your friends close and your Yetis even closer.”
“That’s the plan, Bill.”
“If a Yeti doesn’t come to Muhammad, Muhammad must go to the Yeti.”
“That’s cute.”
“Fear makes the Yeti bigger than he is.”
“Mm-hm.”
“Don’t let the fear of the Yeti keep you from playing the game.”
“Bill?”
“Yah?”
“Go find your own toy to play with.”
***
Heavy rain has turned the dirt road into a muddy stream. Above the wall, a blue glow reflects off of the humidity in the air. The blue suits that walk near the entrance all carry enormous bright-blue umbrellas, staying dry in the downpour.
Doctor Solomon once told her that the augmented reality provides perfect weather, three hundred and sixty-five days a year. Snow melts whenever it falls too close to the buildings, which radiate heat as well as blue light. She wonders what the Chipped see when it rains. Rainbows? Sun showers? The pressing need to know, to see what the others see, makes Kaarina’s
