Part One

Standing in the middle of Tau’s Bio Mod Shop, a statement entered his head: It’s not supposed to be this way. 

Mallack held the dual-barreled handgun straight-armed, aiming at blue-haired Tau while fighting a tremor in his wrist. His mind flashed to the mode the gun was set to. Was it set to stun or...not stun? There was only one trigger but two barrels; the setting determined which barrel fired. Stun would release a bean bag at a relatively slow velocity, but fast enough to knock Tau on his ass. Otherwise, three energy-charged projectiles would be delivered in rapid succession, traveling a few times the speed of sound and right through whatever stood in their way, leaving behind a hole large enough to see through. Mallack darted his eyes down to the gun, trying to see which way it was set. He saw his hand flinch, his strength yielding for just a millisecond. He quickly looked back to see if Tau had noticed. The grin told him that he had. That was when things became surreal.

In addition to facial piercing and tattoos, Tau also had artificial facial muscle implants. These “muscles” were tiny carbon nanotube strips that contracted and relaxed wirelessly or in response to hormonal stimuli released by the brain. The result were tics, twitches and foldings of the flesh in a way nature never intended. 

As Tau smiled, implants in his cheeks expanded, pushing the sides of his mouth together, causing his lips to purse while this teeth were exposed beyond the gum line. The sides of his eyes stretched outward, causing the outer edges to pull away, revealing the curvature of the orbs and the pinkish red of the socket that contained them. The sides of his neck unfolded outward, similar to a gecko lizard when threatened and making himself appear much bigger in order to scare off enemies. This was having the same effect on Mallack. 

“You are out of your depthhh,” Tau hissed through teeth and pursed lips. Tau took a step forward, closing the three meter gap between them. He cocked his head sideways, staring at him intently. “Is this what you want? Was all this part of your plannn?” His eyes went black. 

“All...” Mallack had to clear his fear-constricted throat, damn what impression of weakness it might convey. “All I want is the battery. Then I’ll go.” 

Tau grinned a little wider. How does all that stretching not hurt? Mallack wondered. Maybe it does. Maybe that was the point. Tau took another step closer. “Battery? What batter-ee?”

“Don’t mess with me!”

“Easy, friend.” Tau raised his hands. Mallack glanced at one of the upright hands, looked back at Tau’s disfigured face, then back at the hand. There was something wrong. What was it? One, two, three, four, five…six fingers?

Tau’s other hand was suddenly on the gun, the grip strong, and began to twist. The barrel aimed away from Tau’s body. Mallack’s body began to yield in the direction his arm was rotating, as his forearm was reaching it’s breaking point. Tau’s face was suddenly very close to Mallack’s. He stared straight into his overstretched eyes, in which he could see corneal implants, with tiny displays that provided meta information to augment reality.

The gun went off; stun or kill Mallack did not know. Their faces still centimeters apart, Mallack saw something red flash in Tau’s eyes. It was a tiny word in inverse. Mallack squinted to read it. The word was "error."

Mallack collapsed to the floor, his arm unable to bend anymore. He looked down at the ground where his knees thudded, and Tau release his grip. The floor was stained concrete, scratched and pock marked from years of use and abuse. There was a gum wrapper near his hand. Is this where I am going to die?

The gun thudded on the ground next to his hand, crushing the wrapper. Mallack studied it, and observed a green light on the grip next to the word “Kill.” He looked up at his attacker, who had his hands to his face, writhing in agony. How could I have shot him in the face? Mallack wondered.

Mallack looked past Tau, over to the target of the single gunshot. It was a destroyed terminal set up next to a patient chair. There was also a robotic microsurgery arm, tattoo needle guns attached to hoses, a large display with a camera attached to a swinging arm, and an empty IV bag suspended by a gleaming chrome stand. What was now shattered must have been the work station that tested or controlled the artificial facial muscles, Mallack assumed.

He watched Tau stagger to the equipment and survey the damage, helpless. He screamed again, then stopped and stood bolt upright, his clenched fists at his sides. A terrifying sound started and grew in volume. A laugh? From the back, Mallack could see the sides of Tau’s face stretching outward then contracting in random intervals. He slowly turned around. It looked like beneath the skin of Tau’s face there was a storm. Rips began where synthetic muscles tore through the epidermis, looking like black worms struggling to wriggle free. Blood streamed down his face, but he kept laughing maniacally 

“The...pain...oh wow!” He raised his arms heavenward, then all the flesh tore away from his face all at once, exposing muscle and bone. Mallack turned away. He heard Tau’s body collapse to the floor, and the shop fell silent, save a crack of arcing electricity that issued from the ruined terminal.

Mallack slowly got up and retrieved up the gun from the floor, careful to point it away from himself. He found the safety and touched it on; a red light next to the word “safe” glowed on the side of the grip. He approached the workspace, stepping carefully around Tau’s lifeless body, and placed the handgun atop a tray of scattered surgery tools. He searched every drawer for the battery, or what would look like a battery, but only found things associated with repairing, modifying or ruining human flesh (depending on how you looked at it.)

He turned around to study the blue-haired corpse sprawled on the floor. A pool of blood gathered beneath his head. His face was turned away, sparing Mallack a view of most of the gore. His back was also facing him, and his shirt was raised up above his waist. Something caught Mallack's eye and he stepped towards the body and leaned in closer. There was a slight bulge on the left side of his lower back. Mallack crouched close, reached out and touched the distention. It was a flap, made of something synthetic that looked like skin. With his finger he pushed it up and revealed a small gray cylinder, about 8 centimeters long. It was inserted into an implanted plastic gray enclosure It was the battery. 

Mallack pushed gently on the cylinder and it raised out of its enclosure, and he retrieved it through two pinched fingers. He brought it close to his eyes to examine it, turning it around and squeezing it gently so that it bowed. It was flexible! So that is what all the fuss was about.

He stood up quickly, pocketed the contraband, and began to hurry out. Then stopped and gritted his teeth, angry with his carelessness. He turned around and retrieved the gun from the surgical tray and replaced it in his belt loop, making sure his shirt and jacket covered the bulge. On his way out, he stopped at the threshold and touched an “opaque” icon, whiting out the shop windows, then touched the “closed” icon next to it, so that the same word would display on the window outside. The shop door slid closed behind him.


Part Two

“Did you get it?” Velinta was like a little girl on Christmas, eyes wide with neon pink irises. He was at her apartment, a 400 square foot concrete cube wedged underneath the I-55 expressway. He placed the battery on the table, clicking against a glass beaker. She scooped up the cylinder with both hands, nestling it like a baby chick as she studied it. “I’ve been so worried about you!” He placed the gun heavily on the counter. She studied it.

“You didn’t need that, did you? I disabled the biometric safety, but wasn’t sure if it would work.”

It worked, he wanted to say, but didn’t. He didn’t want to share much of anything. He was quiet by nature, and his recent near-death experience did not inspire sharing.

During the 'L' train ride here, he decided that he was being used. He replayed the night he met her at a basement bar. She had come on to him, strong, but not too strong, and following their “chance” encounter was a sequence of events that deliberately and inevitably led to this moment, and to her getting back her pliable energy storage device. He had come to conclusion that the battery was a high tech item that she created and was going to sell for a lot of Chinese yuan. And he sensed it was to an organization to which such things shouldn’t be sold. 

She looked at him with a slight smile, a smile meant to reassure, but it was another deliberate, calculated gesture. Though he was burning with rage, he didn't let on. It wasn’t worth it. He only wanted to exit gracefully and put all of this behind him. 

“Thank you, Mallack,” she said. “I didn’t think I’d get it back after that son of a bitch stole it. I still have the bruises…” She lifted her chin and turned her head to show him the faded contusions of where Tau had choked her. He looked at the marks, then met her eyes. They held their gaze. After a moment, her eyes shifted maybe a millimeter or two and he knew she was focused on something displayed on her iridescent contact lenses. That’s my cue, he concluded, and he turned to leave. 

“Wait!” He stopped but didn’t turn.

“I gotta go,” Mallack said to the floor. “Good luck with your battery.” He gritted his teeth, hoping his abruptness didn’t reveal his hand. He started again for the exit. Something heavy and metallic slid on the table behind him, followed by the faint whine of a gun spinning up. He stopped, his finger just short of touching the open icon on the door, and turned around. The irises of Velinta’s eyes were brilliant red.

“Dramatic,” Mallack said, raising his hands. She smiled. She had a cute smile. That’s what got me into this mess in the first place, he remarked silently.

“Sorry I got you into this,” she said. “You seemed like a nice guy.” 

“Seemed?"

She shrugged and firmed her grip on the handgun. He braced himself. I should do something, he said to himself. It’s not supposed to be this way!

There was the sound of a gentle breeze as the door behind him slid open. He opened his eyes and watched as Velinta’s cute smile faded and her expression changed into one of wide-eyed horror. The color of her irises transitioned to their natural gray with hints of green.

There was a muffled blast next to Mallack’s right ear and he watched as the side of Velinta’s throat disintegrated into a pink and red cloud. Her arm holding the gun went up and the pistol discharged, shattering a light over his head. Sparks and bits of glass and plaster rained down. He crouched close to the floor, putting his hands over his head, and twisted around to see the executioner. It was another young woman, this one with bright green hair, tattoos, and piercings. What caught his attention, though, were the side of her neck, which were flared out like an attacking lizard. After a moment, she brought her gun down, and the sides of her thorax retracted into a more natural form. 

She stepped past him, debris crunching beneath her heavy boots, and dropped her gun onto the counter in almost the same spot where Mallick had placed one only moments earlier. She stood over Velinta’s lifeless body that was sprawled on the floor. She bent down to extract the battery from her twitching clenched hand. 

“Stupid bitch,” she spat. She turned and looked down at Mallack, still crouched down. She approached him and proffered the battery in an open palm. He stood, surprised to find himself almost a foot taller than her. He stared at the battery and gently picked it up between thumb and forefinger. She turned her back to him and raised her shirt to reveal an intricate tattoo of braided vines and barbed wire on her lower back, surrounding a small rectangular flap of synthetic skin. With one hand he gently raised the flap and with the other he popped out the old battery (copper brown and inflexible) which dropped to the floor with a metallic clang. He put Velinta’s creation in its place, and as soon it snapped home the tattoo glowed a brilliant blue. Her back arched and she stared upward, mouth open, letting out a lustful “aah.” He let the flap drop and stepped away as she turned back around to face him. 

“Thanks." She noticed that he was looking at the pool of blood expanding across the floor beyond the kitchen counter. "She was no good for you,” she said. “Too smart for her own good.” 

“It...it’s not supposed to be this way,” he whispered. He shivered uncontrollably with adrenaline.

She gently put a hand to the side of his face and smiled. “Then change it.” 

And before he knew it, she was gone. 

The apartment was quiet save the basso rushing of self-driving cars and trucks traveling the expressway above. He stared at the feet that stuck out from beyond the kitchen counter, at the gun on the counter, the second gun in Velinta’s lifeless hand. 

After some unknown space of time he walked out, closing the door behind him. As he walked to the 'L' station, he let his mind race and sort through everything. He had dropped into this strange world of body modifications, guns and batteries because of a young woman with a cute smile. Velinta had talked him into a simple scare-and-grab that resulted in two people dead. He shivered and felt his stomach twist around itself. It was his first time seeing anything like the gore and death he had witnessed. All he wanted to do is return to his quiet and predictable life of fixing the air recyclers in Chicago north side apartments. That was the way things were supposed to be. But, Mallack sensed, this was just the start of his new normal...