He forced the thought away with a shudder and did the three-click finger snap that made the television switch on. Ko paged through the channels with the sound on mute, passing the multiple ZeeBeeCee feeds, Panda Vision and NBO. Most of the stations were carrying clips from the new Juno Qwan album and Ko chewed his lip. The singer had a weird attract-repel quality to her, with the way she would yo-yo between hi-fashion pop diva one day to gothic lolita the next. Ko would never admit it, but he actually liked some of her stuff. She did this song-it was a b-side, maybe?-called “Doppler Highway” that had just the right kind of lonely in it, conjuring up the same melancholy freedom that Ko got from a night ride through the hills. He hesitated, watching the silent vid. Juno was wrapped in a holodress, the outfit morphing and changing as she walked along a sun-dappled beach, planes of light shifting to reveal just enough flesh that you knew she was naked underneath. She moved over sand raked into geometric shapes and water-smoothed stones. There were trains of letters and numbers on her clothes, moving and warping. Cool, perfect blue waves lapped at her bare feet and overhead was a cloudless cerulean sky. Juno’s smile was relaxed and calm, but her eyes were a little sad, as if she felt sorry that you were not there on that idyllic beach with her.
“I’m the perfect smile. Touch my thoughts and flow, there’s no world we can’t know.” Nikita walked into the room, singing along with the silent starlet. “I love her stuff. She’s so deep. Didn’t think she was your type.”
“She’s not,” Ko changed the channel and found a weather report.
Nikita made a face and gathered her jacket off the threadbare sofa where she had deposited it the night before. She produced a fold of crisp yuan and held it out to him. “Rent money,” she explained. “There’s extra in there, too.”
Ko made no move to take it. “Where’d you get that?”
She blew out a breath. “I don’t want to do this, Ko. Just take the damn cash.”
He wanted to; part of him really wanted to say no more and let it go. But that wasn’t how it was going to play out. Before he was even fully aware of what he was doing, Ko’s mouth was running away and they were sliding straight back into the same patterns they had followed since they were children. “Let me guess, you were exceptionally good at selling drinks in the Dot? Or perhaps you gave that bald loser a blowjob-”
The slap came from nowhere and stung him with its ferocity; but the anger in the swipe wasn’t reflected in his sister’s eyes. All he saw there was fatigue. “You don’t have the right to lecture me on what I do, Ko. You’re a thief, little brother, and you’re not a very good one at that. If you grow the hell up, you might just understand enough to have an opinion, but until then, shut up and pay the rent! ”
He pointed at his chest. “Thief? What does that make you, Niki? You want me to say it?”
“Don’t you dare…”
“You want me to call you what you are?” His voice was rising, and so was the fury, coming on hot and strong. “I’m not the one behaving like a child! Which of us is the one living in a fairy tale, sis? Who is the one looking for a prince charming in a laser-cut suit?” He waved a hand in front of her face. “I live in the real world, not the stupid plastic dreamland those corp bastards do!”
“Wake up!” Nikita snapped. “Look around, Ko, the corps are the real world! They run the real world! You’re not part of that machine, you get hammered down!”
“I’d rather be poor and free than in their pockets!” he replied.
“And it shows! Look at you! You watch those stupid movies and you play like you’re some hustler ronin, but you’re going nowhere! I’m making something of myself, Ko.” She advanced and prodded him in the chest. “I’m ready to do whatever I have to. You? You’ve got nothing but a bunch of half-assed principles and a downward spiral.”
He tried to frame a reply but nothing came.
“I’m not ending up like…” Nikita stumbled over the words. “I’m not going to stay here for the rest of my life. I’ve got goals.” She threw the money at him and he caught it.
“You lie with pigs, you become dirty,” Ko said in a low voice. “Your boyfriends at the Dot, it’s their kind that is screwing us all, not just you and me, the whole damn planet! You want to be part of that?”
She snatched up her bag and drew a silver card from within. “I am part of it, Ko. I’m connected.”
“What the hell is that?”
Nikita waved the smartcard in the air. Ko recognised the design as a single use corporate security pass. When he was younger, he’d often picked them from the pockets of drunk salarymen in the bar district. “I wasn’t going to tell you because I know you’d blow your stack, but what the hell, you’d find out eventually.” She leaned in. “I’m moving up, Ko. I’ve got a patron.”
He swore explosively and grabbed at her, snatching the strap on her bag. Nikita kept hold of the other end and an angry tug-of-war ensued. “I’m not letting you go uptown! I forbid it!”
“You what?” she sneered. “You can’t order me around, Ko. I’m the eldest, I do what I want to!”
“You stupid bitch-” The bag strap tore and the contents scattered on the floor.
Nikita dropped to her knees, gathering up the stuff. Something plastic flashed in her grip, a disc of bubble-packed capsules. Ko’s hand shot out and he grabbed her wrist. He had height and weight over his sister, and she squealed as he turned her arm the wrong way. “Stop it!”
Ko tore the packet from her hand. There were nine bubbles, three of which had been emptied. The other six contained ice-blue pills made of clear gelatine. They glistened in the sunlight, and the letters Z3N were clearly visible on them. The packet bore no manufacturer’s markings.
“Give those back!”
Ko crushed the pack in his fist and turned a furious glare on his sister. “You stupid, stupid bitch! Did he give them to you? That bald bastard, was it him?”
“No-”
“I’ll fucking kill him. I’ll find that wageslave and run the fucker down.”
“Those are mine.” Nikita shouted at him, and the words hit like a shock of cold water.
“What?” Ko’s rage disintegrated.
“They’re mine, you idiot!” His sister pushed away from him; anger and despair, frustration and regret framed her pretty face. “You are so naive, Ko.”
The blue fluid seeped around his fingers from the cracked capsules. Where it touched his skin, it tingled. Ko threw the packet into the burner and ran his hands under the sink in the bathroom.