Sci-Fi part 2

Chapter One: Planned Obsolescence

The sudden rush of warm air takes me by surprise. A glistening light and soft spoken words draw me to look around and I quickly regain my senses. Before my eyes is a face I remember all too well.

A beautiful Va'tu woman I met a few years ago on my first visit to Seketh. I arrived at the spaceport with little knowledge of the place and a job given by an anonymous stranger. I was young and reckless and I botched it. The target was eliminated but I wound up getting spotted and was forced to kill a passing stranger. After fleeing the scene I had to hide for a while but I bumped into a young scholar by the name of Kerav'ah who happened to be studying at the local university. I accidentally knocked her down. When we finished apologising and picking up books she looked at me and I felt my chest close up. She had the most amazing eyes. After standing slack-jawed I apologised again and offered to take her out for a drink, thinking she would reject me. Happily, she said yes. We spent the night out at a local bar and found out that we had a lot in common so started meeting up regularly. I was supposed to go back to HQ (A little house on Va'tuar) but something about her made me stay.

“Honey, are you okay? You seem a little flustered. Did you have that dream again?” Her words warm me and a surprising smile brushes across my face. I remember her saying those words and wondering what she meant by it. I guess the universe knows more than it lets on sometimes.

“I can't seem to stop it. Sorry if I woke you.” She smiles. A flash of pink bubbling on her lips and the sweet scent of her perfume dance around me hazily. I remember this all too well.

“I'm really sorry but I have to go.” I didn't have to but something always told me I should. “I'll come by later after work, I promise.” I wouldn't. She holds my face in her small soft hands and presses her lips against mine. Her eyes close and a whisper breathes across my skin.

'Be safe' she thinks. She doesn't say it. But she means it.

Her eyes begin to open as I break off the embrace. Her eyes say it all. She doesn't know what I do, but she knows that it can get dangerous. Maybe she thinks I'm with the Enforcers? It's what I've always told myself in a vain hope that she holds me in a higher regard than I rightly deserve but I've always suspected she knows more than she lets on.

“Goodbye. I'll be waiting for you when you get back.” She smiles again and her fluorescent emerald eyes linger on me for a while. “I love you...” Her voice trails off but her stare still holds.

“I love you too.” I almost don't say it. Deep down I feel something akin to love but I can never let myself grab a hold of it. Like a serpent, it slithers around my mind, flashing glimpses of its venomous fangs, just waiting to strike and deliver its irreverent poison. I've never let it latch onto me but she drifts closer and closer each time I see those emerald eyes.

The door closes without a sound and I find my breath returning to normal. Whatever happened last night wasn't a dream. That much I'm sure of. I take a minute to check myself and see where I am. An old habit that's saved my life more times than I can remember.

Cigarettes? Check.

Nanochip? Check

Tech pass? Check

Full quantized scan up and running...

A barely visible canvas folds over my vision as the quantum computer in my brain takes over some functions. Macrovision confirms target identification. Neural dampening negates pain receptors. Cerebral bypass speeds up reaction times to near instantaneous level. All systems, check.