Living in the Fray

Chapter 23

Justin and Krieger were waiting on the catwalk above the cargo bay aboard the Osiris. Justin was peering intently in to his bosses eyes, trying to see if there was any difference between these brand new Carl Zeiss eyes she just recently had installed and her previous Leica manufactured eyes.

'I can't see any difference, to be honest these look way better. More like real eyes.' He stated as he backed away. 'The iris colour looks a touch different though.'

'Yep, Zeiss are using some new DNA matching method and some weird colour process that replicates the colour perfectly.' Krieger replied.

'You never wanted a different colour?'

'Nope. The first set of eyes I had that Bishop installed were awful. They didn't work right and they looked like creepy dolls eyes. The pupil never dilated or constricted properly and sometimes you couldn't even blink with them, so I was walking around all stare-y and shit.'

'Well I never had that problem.' Justin shrugged. 'Mine are still real.'

'Yeah I forget you're nearly all human and barely augmented.'

'Never fancied it, even when I was back in the service. Whatever, anything I should know about these new peepers?' Justin asked as he wanted to update his medical records on Krieger with his own notes.

'Not really. The clinic should have sent you over all the specs along with the safe back ups for me and Ronson before our update.'

'Yeah I got those I just haven't got round to reading them yet. You're both feeling okay though?'

'I guess so. Chris was feeling a ropey after but he slept the rest of that day and he seems to be fine now.' Krieger said. 'He should be here soon if you wanna quiz him?'

Justin shook his head.

'Nah it's fine. Why are we waiting for him anyway?'

'We got a last minute cargo run to Pacifica. He's escorting an all electric, refurbished VW camper van from Leroy's. Some guy on Pacifica found out Leroy had a knackered one in his yard and requested he fix it up. Paid a lot of money for it actually.'

'And we're delivering it to him?' Justin said sounding a little confused, Krieger picked up on this and raised an eyebrow.

'Yes. We're a reliable delivery company Justin.' Krieger said in all seriousness.

'How much is it worth?'

Krieger grinned at him, she knew exactly what he was doing.

'Ninety thousand creds for the van, a good chunk of that is actually profit for Leroy. We're getting twenty five thousand just to get it to Galleria in one piece.'

Justin pursed his lips in to an odd grin and left Krieger chuckling away on the catwalk as he made his way downstairs to wait by the cargo bay door. Sure enough in the distance, he could see a recovery truck with a distinct VW camper van shape on the flatbed on the back. Ronson wasn't in the trucks cab but was riding on the flatbed instead, ready to take a shot at anyone who would dare fire a round or chuck something at the freshly refurbished and incredibly expensive van. And there were plenty of idiots on New Edo who would do such a thing.

'He's here now boss!' Justin shouted up to Krieger.

Twenty minutes later, the van had been unloaded off the recovery truck and was safely nestled in the cargo bay. Krieger had called everyone in to help make sure absolutely everything in the cargo bay was properly secured.

'I want straps around everything too, not just grav-mags. That's a seventy grand fun bus I am not footing the fucking repair bill if it gets damaged by summat not tied down right!'