Hacking the Sun - The Re-Remake

Chapter 4 Yin-Yang Girl 2/3

Marble on the edge of black steps led up a single, sliding glass door. Overhead, transparent letters ignited into Nocturnal Maryment. Blacklight informed the blueness of the quaint cafe, leading down the zig-zag lounge of round tables and booths. Small sets of stairs split each nook, connected to a bar where one bartender with luminescent blue hair slid drinks along the countertop. Dressed in black, skin-tight attire, the patrons distinguished him as "Ned."

At the end of the lounge, every white light converged upon a small stage where poets aired serenity into a microphone:

If I walked into the sea, the great Wind,

Does it carry me solemnly, slowly?

Would it slowly and carefully hold me?

And uplift my corporeal soul of Sin

Saying 'we need not the sea

While we sync so seamlessly'

After, the Sun would depart,

Leaving the sky dark, stark

And claiming my gaze, the Moon

To say in Silence, 'Do come soon.

I am here, the sun is where.

Where art thou, young Soul?'

Striding neither here nor there,

Where the Wind does not carry me

Fingers snapped in every corner as the young woman let her head low, even after she parted from spotlight and mic. All the while, Jessica sat at the rear of the lounge, alone, to mumble and hear within her own thought bubble. "ToTool, work this magic and show me the binary. Tata, tatata, tatata, ta..."

"Hey, what's up?"

"Private, variation, mobile, media..."

"You, with the computer!"

Jess eventually lifted her gaze to the righteous figure in front of her table. Black shoes, dress pants, and a buttoned-down shirt; they complimented and contrasted the curly streaks, finalized by the dark skin behind thick-rimmed glasses. Sophistication and style in a feminine package. What did this woman want with her?

"Not to sound rude or anything, but what are you doing here?" the woman said with vocal authority.

Jessica blurted out anxiety. "I'm just, uh... I'm fixing a friend's ATab."

"Here?"

She glanced around, searching. "It wasn't my idea."

In the kindest, friendliest way possible, the girl returned. "You know where you are? You're in a mellow joint with phenomenal artists, chill people. Not an office. Why don't chu just take a moment to enjoy the lyrics of the cats on stage?"

"I—" She shrugged. "I get really absorbed in code sometimes. My head works in weird ways, and I can't really control it. I hope I'm not offending anyone."

"I mean, listen, you've got poetry here. Good poetry. And good people. To me, that sounds like good a reason to take a break from... codes."

A tall young man in a white jacket suddenly stepped close, a glass in each hand. His jacket's front pocket shared a pair of jays stitched over a tapering blue shield, the symbol of a local alma mater. First, he bowed his pale forehead and bleached hair at Jessica.

"I've got youuu a Syringer," he said haughtily. Jessica fell back in her chair, surprised. The young man quickly scowled at the girl next to them. "And how might I help you, madame?"