Starbourne, page 17
A man in a freshly pressed suit and a name tag approached Hoss and Jaeden with a warm smile and extended hands. “May I assist you, gentlemen?”
“Yes, you can, my dude; we’re looking for some new hances. What do you got?” Hoss said, clapping his hands together. He turned his head from side to side excitedly, looking at the merchandise.
“I beg your pardon, are you looking for clothing?” The store clerk asked, a puzzled look forming on his face.
“Enhancements,” Jaeden said, rolling his eyes and walking further into the store.
“Oh, I am terribly sorry!” The clerk laughed. “I thought you said you were looking for pants.”
“Nah, man; hances. It’s what everyone on the street calls them these days. Get with it.”
With a warm smile, the store clerk guided his hand through the air to showcase the various displays in the shop. “We have a wide selection of products available for your convenience.”
“What do you think, Jae; you want some face-melting shaz or like spy-on-everyone-around-you type stuff?” Hoss said, tilting his head back and looking down his nose at the different displays.
“Sir, I’m afraid we only offer corporate-sanctioned software at this location.” The clerk corrected.
“Yeah-yeah, I know. But it’s top-of-the-line software, right?”
“Of that, there can be no question!” The clerk said gleefully.
“Jae, what do you got in terms of virus protection?” Hoss said while looking at a display of company brands.
“Uh, just the free version of Normand,” Jaeden responded.
“Normand? Are you serious?” Hoss exclaimed.
“Yeah, why? Normand is decent, isn’t it?”
“You gotta’ get Data Protector! Their new version came out last month and it’s supposed to be blastin’. Store-man—” Hoss blurted, quickly turning to the store clerk.
“You may call me Staniel.”
“Stan–” Hoss started. His face quickly twisted with revulsion. “Staniel?”
“Yes, sir?” The store attendant inquired, willfully ignoring Hoss’ insulting facial contortion at the mention of the name.
“Stan, what’s better; Normand’s free version of antivirus or Data Protector premium?”
“Well now, in terms of antivirus programs, there are several considerations one must make,” Staniel started, tilting his head, and thinking about the question. “Intended use, citizen’s occupation, comfortability with large programs, and available credits of course, are the larger components of the decision.”
“Yeah, uh-huh. All good things to talk about, sure. But let’s say you’re a billionaire, philanthropist… crime fighter,” Hoss said, glancing over to his friend.
Jaeden in turn smirked and mouthed the word philanthropist back to his friend, mildly impressed with Hoss’ vocabulary. “Hoss, let the man do his job. It’s not like picking out a new t-shirt,” Jaeden said, looking over at Staniel with an apologetic look in his eye.
“I’m just sayin’, we’re talking bottles to bottles here; direct comparison,” Hoss said, gesturing with his hands.
“If credits are no object, then I would be hard-pressed to argue against the premium version of Data Protector. The performances and services are second to none in the current competitive landscape.”
“See!” Hoss said, slapping his hand down on a nearby counter. “That’s what I’m talking about! We’ll take two copies of that!”
“Certainly, sir,” Staniel said, making his way to the checkout register. “Would you like to discuss payment options? The Origin offers a wide selection of credit payment plans that may be—”
“We’ll pay upfront, credit chips,” Hoss said disinterestedly, focus scanning the other items on display.
Staniel flipped open a hinged countertop with a register and walked behind it. Hoss approached the counter casually and leaned up against it. He rubbed his hand across his chin, still insisting on his high-roller persona. Staniel logged into a store computer and began entering the details.
Hoss began whistling an out-of-tune song to himself nonchalantly, which caught the ire of the suited clerk. Staniel slowed his typing and glanced towards Hoss before the clerk blinked his eyes out of sync and twisted his head to the side, evidently irritated by the whistling.
Jaeden casually made his way towards the counter himself, browsing the displays of other software. There was a display for solar web browsers, giving the user access to the solar system’s information network. He saw creative applications to be used with built-in optical cameras. Another kiosk had applications for sharing homemade videos, and another for music. Software to help track and plan one’s finances, others for games and entertainment.
In one display, Jaeden saw a cosmetic application for one’s fingernails and accessories, which made him think back to Sylvie, the admin assistant for Lorenzo. As Staniel was preparing their order, Jaeden let himself daydream about the Indigo Station. He wondered how Lorenzo was handling Tobias and all the new quotas. Jaeden’s eyes fell upon a red company logo and thought about Joanna’s red hair. He thought about how she was coping without him, and if she had replaced him as a best friend yet. The two of them were very close, having spoken daily. This was the longest they had gone without speaking; it felt weird.
“Alright, we have two copies of the premium Data Protector. Would you like the monthly subscription or annual?”
“Let’s do the annual,” Hoss said, leaning his back against the counter.
“Very well, two copies of the annual subscription of the premium Data Protector. Of course, we include the twenty-one percent corporate taxes. Your total comes to five hundred thirty-two thousand three hundred ninety-nine credits, all in.”
Jaeden spun around when he heard the total, eyes nearly bulging from his head. “I’m sorry, you said what now?”
Hoss, equally as shocked, started gnawing on his bottom lip and turned to face Staniel. “Five hundred thousand, was it?”
“Five hundred, thirty-two thousand. And three hundred ninety-nine,” Staniel said, a perverse smirk forming on his face. “As discussed, with credits being no object, this is the finest of protection one could receive.”
“Yes, of course. I’m just thinking about…” Hoss trailed off. He looked away from Staniel and mumbled under his breath. “Something my friend was saying. Not this friend here, another one. Uh, he was saying something about another version…”
Jaeden shook his head and approached Staniel. He gently shoved Hoss away from the register. “How much is the monthly subscription?”
“The one-month premium is twenty-four thousand one hundred ninety-nine credits. You receive a nine percent discount by getting the annual subscription.”
“Let me ask you, straight out; is it worth it?”
Staniel pressed his lips together tightly and sighed softly. “It truly is the best protection on the market today. Hence the substantial price. If you are a person of high importance…” Staniel delicately squinted at Jaeden before continuing. “Or if you work in a particularly hazardous occupation, you could not ask for better Technological protection.”
Jaeden thought about the proposal for a moment and raised a hand to his chin. It was a steep price, but if it was the best credits could buy right now, it would likely be worth it. Especially considering the line of work he and Hoss were getting into.
“Alright, we’ll do it. Two copies of the monthly subscription. Credit chips up front, separate bills though. The high roller over there can pay for himself,” Jaeden said, combing through his pocket for a credit chip.
“Nah, yeah, that’s a good idea. It’s just that I left most of my chips back at my place of business,” Hoss said, puffing up his chest. “Which I own by the way. I’m a successful business owner. I just never travel with all my credits on me. You know how it is. Thugs and thieves on the streets.”
“Of course, sir, one can never be too careful with thieves and criminals,” Staniel said, raising a knowing brow towards Hoss.
"Oh, and can I get a language expansion?” Jaeden asked.
“Certainly sir,” Staniel replied, reaching into a cabinet behind the register. “What language package did you have in mind?”
Jaeden glanced back at Hoss, who looked to be having an internal conflict with himself. “What would you recommend? All I have is common at the moment. Where’s a good jumping-off point from there?”
“Well, if you’re looking for just a single expansion at this time, I would recommend the Inner Central package. It includes over one hundred additional languages used within the inner rim.”
“Does it include cobra?”
“Cobra, Jaxa, and D are all included.”
“Perfect, how much is that?”
“That will be fifty thousand credits,” Staniel replied curtly.
“Oh, yeoch.” Jaeden winced.
Staniel pursed his lips together and furrowed his brow. “However,” He tilted his head to the side to look at Hoss over Jaeden’s shoulder, before looking back at Jaeden. In a hushed tone the store attendant added, “Since you’re already getting a substantial program, I could throw in the language package for fifty percent off. Just a single copy, mind you.”
A smile spread across Jaeden’s face, and he touched a finger to his nose. “I got you. Thank you Staniel.”
“My pleasure, sir,” Staniel replied pleasantly.
Jaeden grinned to himself and pulled out a few dozen credit chips. He carefully counted the amounts on each chip until he held the total amount needed for his portion of the transaction. It was a strange sensation to be holding nearly fifty thousand credits in just four simple chips.
Hoss dug through his coat and prepared his payment, still muttering under his breath. Jaeden placed his credit chips on the counter and looked toward his friend who was placing his chips alongside his. Staniel carefully picked up the credit chips and studied them before plugging them into a credit calculator. The machine blinked green to signify it had downloaded the credits, and once all the chips were emptied, Staniel nodded in approval. The store clerk then placed two copies of the antivirus and the language package onto the counter and slid them toward the two men.
Jaeden picked up his antivirus and language package. This had to be on the list of the top five most expensive transactions he had ever made, and the boxes were small enough to fit in his hand. Well, maybe it was a bit larger than that, but the point was not lost on Jaeden. Hoss snatched up his box and quickly stuffed it into his coat pocket, still trying to maintain his cool. Jaeden thanked Staniel once more for his help and made his way to the exit.
Before following Jaeden, Hoss turned and leaned in toward Staniel. “You get a commission on these sales, don’t you?”
Pressing his lips out and looking towards the ceiling, Staniel simply replied, “Oh, I am not at liberty to say, sir.”
“How much is it? Two percent? Five? Did you just make twenty-five hundred credits?” Hoss pressed, eyes squinting at Staniel.
“Come on, Hoss,” Jaeden called out as he opened and held the door open. “Your successful business needs you to mop the floors before tonight.”
“Alright,” Hoss said, nodding at Staniel. “I get it, Stan. It’s cool. You sly devil, you.”
Hoss pushed himself away from the counter and adjusted his jacket calmly. He turned and walked past Jaeden through the open door. Hoss turned his head just slightly enough to say loudly, “Now where did I park my JTR sports hovercar.”
“Escape to a world far, far away with our mind-blowing Galaxy Package! Vista Cruise offers vacation packages on nearly every high-end resort in the solar system! Disclaimer, due to the civil rebellion on Proteus, all related packages are nonrefundable.”
(Vista Cruise promoting the Galaxy Travel Package)
CHAPTER
TWELVE
It had been a few days since Hoss and Jaeden’s shopping spree, splurging their hard-earned credits. They had been taking things slow and keeping a low profile after the heist, but Jaeden was starting to feel restless.
It was nine in the morning, and he sat alone in a booth at The Wishing Well. Teagen had gone to see Cyrus after the group got word that he had another job for them. Before she had left, Jaeden asked why they always needed to meet Cyrus face to face. Jaeden had thought maybe it was because the jobs were secret, or someone might be listening in to their communications. Teagen had shrugged off his conspiracy theories and told him it was because Cyrus was old school. The elderly broker just liked to sit down with his agents.
Hoss was in the back office of the bar, looking after his day job, running numbers, and paying the bills. The image of Alexander Hoskins running his own business was still alien to Jaeden. Hoss had always been a free spirit, floating onto the next big thing and never really staying in one place for too long. Hoss was lucky that Nellie handled the day-to-day operations of the business.
Nellie was standing behind the bar, replacing empty bottles with full ones. After the trio’s last job, Hoss was able to splurge on the business and brought in all the supplies that Nellie had been begging for. The bartender was ecstatic that she finally had a fully stocked bar to work with and whistled to herself as she worked.
“You sure you don’t want me to help?” Jaeden called out to Nellie as he yawned and stretched his arms out.
“Don’t you worry about a thing,” Nellie said, picking up another box of bottles and putting it on the countertop.
“Honest, point me in a direction and I’ll do what I can!”
“Do you know how to recharge a liquor line?” Nellie challenged.
“Uhh,” Jaeden started, “I could look it up!”
“Like I said, I got this, hun. Just sit there and look pretty for me.”
Jaeden leaned back into the booth and put his feet up on the bench across from him. He stretched his limbs out and made himself comfortable while he waited for Teagen to come back. Looking down at his wrist jockey, he mindlessly checked to see if he had any new messages.
“Hey, Jae,” Hoss called out as he entered the room. “Check this out.” Hoss pulled out his gun and started spinning it forward on his finger. “Not bad, right?”
Jaeden glanced up from his wrist jockey and watched as Hoss spun his gun. “Yeah, not bad.”
“Now watch this.” Hoss gripped the gun and began spinning it in the other direction.
“Look at you go,” Jaeden said, “Uh… That thing’s not loaded, right?”
“No man, course…” Hoss trailed off, inspecting the weapon in his hand. “Not, of course not!” He finally exclaimed. “Now, put it all together, and—” He now spun the gun back and forth, while moving his arm erratically in front of him. During his presentation, Hoss pressed his eyebrows together and made woosh sounds as the gun spun in his hand.
“Are you seriously just standing there flipping that dumb gun around while I’m charging these lines?” Nellie said, kneeling behind the bar. The top of her head was just barely visible over the counter.
“What!?” Hoss exclaimed. His concentration split and the gun nearly slipped from his hand. “What about him? He’s not doing anything!”
“He doesn’t have his name on the lease, you jackass! Get downstairs and clear the lines!”
Hoss scoffed as he steadied his gun. He shoved it back into its holster and flipped the safety on. “Yes, Mom.”
“I’m sorry, is my wanting to run this business and make money interrupting in your play time?” Nellie snapped.
“I’m going!” Hoss said, thrusting his hands above his head and moving towards the basement stairs.
Jaeden laughed to himself and shook his head. He he looked back down towards his wrist jockey. Opening the news tab, he skimmed through the various article titles. A breaking news article caught Jae’s attention, and he opened the video to see more.
“So ends day twenty-one of the trial of Scott Morris. Mr. Morris, the husband of the well-known singer, songwriter, and actress, the late Hazel Morris. Mr. Morris has accused pharmaceutical conglomerate InDev-BioTec of gross negligence after his wife was found dead of an apparent drug overdose. Representatives of inDev-BioTec called the allegations baseless and called for the arrest of Mr. Morris on the grounds of corporate defamation. Thus far in the trial, the corporate courts have dismissed Mr. Morris’ claims and are open to listening to InDev-BioTec’s countersuit—”
“What was that guy thinking, publicly going after a corporation like that?” Jaeden said out loud to himself before closing the news article.
The door to the bar opened, and Teagen marched into the building. She was looking down at her wrist jockey as she approached the booth where Jaeden sat. He could tell she was currently on a call with someone. From what he could tell, the conversation was wrapping up.
“I’m here,” She said into her jockey. “Come up here now.” She then ended her call and sat in the booth across from Jaeden.
“Hey, Teagen, how was Cyrus?” Jaeden asked, straightening himself in his seat.
“His blood sugar levels are unbalanced, but upon further analysis, it was nothing to be concerned about. If they should continue rising, I’ll advise him the next time I—”
“I meant like, was he happy to see you? How was he feeling?”
“Oh,” Teagen said, her face a blank slate. “He seemed cheerful.”
“That’s good,” Jaeden replied.
Teagen shifted in her seat somewhat uncomfortably. “There was a strange man there.”
“Strange in what way?” Jaeden asked.
“I can’t quite say,” Teagen said, shaking her head. “But his presence felt off. He didn’t belong there.”
Jaeden leaned forward and furrowed his brow. “What, like a security officer? Or one of those gang guys we knocked off?”
“No, definitely not. I feel he may be a Technologist of sorts, but a very talented one.”
“Oh, well that’s cool, right?” Jaeden asked, slightly relaxing. “I bet Cyrus knows lots of Technologists in his line of work.”
