AUGMENTED REALITY

other people: but if we do all this body modification... if we let cybernetics define us... are we still...human?

     She eyes it like it might bite if she doesn’t first as the disc swings round and round his finger. Admittedly, it does sound pretty cool. But it also sounds pretty dangerous, too, in the wrong hands. 

     ( Millie’s already dreamed up fifty ways it could go wrong. Forty-nine ways too many. )

     Tearing her gaze away from the disc, “Have you used one?”

‘Every other day, everything in moderation, right?’ That’s only moderately stretching the truth. He stops the disc spinning when she starts looking dizzy, pops it off his finger and slots it into the player.

Boy, is Lenny Nero excited right now.

He’s not five feet from the tiny noodle bar tucked away between a few chain restaurants and he isn’t sitting down for the box of teriyaki udon he’s just bought.

He’s sauntering over to this person who looks as if they’d be remarkably receptive to the idea of changing their life for even a little while.

‘Be honest, okay. You think I’m the real deal, right? You think I’ve got what it takes?’ He wipes his running nose with the back of his hand, wipes that on his coat because it’s black wool blend and the blood won’t show up that much.

‘Okay, just-- give me a second, alright? Gimme a second to try again.’

He brushes himself down, fully prepared to be picked up bodily and unceremoniously thrown somewhere. Jacket isn’t a mark, he’s not quite a friend but they’ve run into each other a couple of times, sharing loose circles. Lenny knows more than a few people who wear masks, there’s a slim chance he could have mistaken Jacket for someone else.

He persists.