Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Chasers: 2075 ❯ Chapter 27

Chasers 2075: Part twenty-six

Dr. Alexis Jameson felt a bit of nervousness, something that the dark haired woman took great pains to hide as she entered the bar. It was right on the edge of Lowtown, not quite in the slums but near enough to seem dangerous to those living on the higher levels.

The heavily muscled bouncer looked her over, taking in her suit and styled hair with a slight smile. "You're Dr. Jameson?" he smiled, then shook his head. "No one else you could be. Christa's waiting for you at a back table."

"Thank you," Alexis nodded.

The bar was mobbed, filled with both young and old, wealthy and not so wealthy. Club rats, hanger ons, cyberpunks and a dozen other groups mingled uneasily out on the front dance floor. She cut through the mob to the back, meeting the gaze of another bouncer. A female, and quite clearly an android, her face was marked by a single scar.

The black haired woman looked at her coldly, "You know someone?"

"Alexis," she introduced herself, meeting the woman's gaze calmly, "Nyara and Christa are expecting me, I think."

The woman smiled slightly. "You've got spunk," she mused, "I like that." She opened the door and nodded her in as she said, "I'm Yume."

"I'll remember," Alexis answered calmly. Normally this backroom was a fetish club, the people within participating in acts rarely discussed in polite company. Today it was quiet, a sense of a storm coming as groups met and talked around the room.

The white haired Christa wasn't garbed in her usual leathers, and the tawny haired Nyara stood beside her, talking openly. Christa saw Alexis near and smiled, but the hard look in her eyes didn't soften. "Alexis, you're here," she said.

"You did ask me to," Alexis answered. Her own eyes narrowed in anger, "I thought it was a pretty effective message too, especially after every one of my contacts in the rights movement suddenly decided not to talk to me."

"You have to admit we've got cause to be concerned," Nyara said diplomatically, "considering you've been seen consorting with the enemy."

A muscle in Alexis' jaw jumped as she clenched it. Keeping her temper under tight reign she said, "If that's as little trust I've earned, so be it." With that she turned and walked towards the door.

"That was fast," Yume said as Alexis stalked by her.

"I don't think I have anything I want to talk to them about," Alexis growled.

"Hold on a minute," Yume grabbed her arm, holding it with surprising gentleness. She tilted her head to the side, "What happened?"

"It doesn't much matter, Yume," Alexis said, her anger fading a bit, "I'm done. If they don't trust me by now ..."

Yume looked down at her a moment, then nodded once. "Come on," and ignoring Alexis protests Yume tugged her along right back to where a startled Nyara and Christa stood. She parked Alexis then turned to the pair, "You both know this lady has put it on the line for us before. She's earned some courtesy, if nothing else."

Christa hesitated, then nodded. "You're right," she said to Yume, then she turned to Alexis. "I'm sorry," she executed a small bow.

"Yume's right," Nyara quietly admitted. She looked over at Alexis and asked, "Could we talk about this, please?"

Alexis hesitated, then nodded in return. "All right," she agreed, "let's talk." She turned back to say something to Yume only to notice the woman was gone, returned to watching the door.

They walked back to one of the tables, Christa waving Alexis to a seat. She held out a chair for Nyara, pushing it in as she sat, then Christa took a seat herself. Christa's nearly white hair fell into her eyes as she studied Alexis thoughtfully.

"Could you tell me what's going on," Christa finally asked softly, "from your perspective?"

Alexis nodded slightly. "I raised the alarm as soon as I heard about the possible police crackdown on the freewills," she finally said, "but what you don't know is I got the information from a contact in the Chasers itself."

Nyara sat up straight, looking at Alexis in surprise, "You're serious?"

"Very much so," Alexis nodded. She smiled slightly, "I don't intend to name him or her, but this contact has provided me information before."

"I'm not sure if I understand this officer's motivations," Christa frowned, "the Chasers job is to go after androids."

"Androids that break the law, yes," Alexis agreed. She tilted her head to the side, "But are Freewills breaking the law? No."

Nyara nodded slightly, "I see your point. So in your opinion the Chasers are not our enemy?"

"Yes and no," Alexis was as honest as she could. "From what I've learned about them they have no enmity towards the Freewills," she explained, "but they are bound by the political decisions of the city and government."

"So we need to make sure the law doesn't change," Christa mused, "or keep the pressure up on the Mayor to protect android rights."

"That's about it, yes," Alexis said. She hesitated, "You should also be careful about targeting any of the Chasers in your activities."

"We stopped the distribution of photos of Williams," Nyara said. She frowned, "Though I still feel her actions make her a fair target."

"Love," Christa murmured to Nyara cautioningly.

"You might want to look into Kate Williams background before you judge her," Alexis said, her narrowed eyes showing her anger. "It's all in the public record."

Nyara looked at her curiously, then nodded slightly, "I'll do that."

"I'm sorry for the misunderstanding," Christa said, "and I hope you'll continue to support the android rights movement."

Alexis rose from her seat, "I'll do what I can."

The two women waited until Alexis walked away before talking softly. "What do you think?" Nyara asked curiously.

"She's not wrong," Christa finally said with a sigh, "but she doesn't know about the entire situation, either."

"And do you really think the Chasers might be sympathetic to us?" Nyara raised an elegant eyebrow questioningly.

"It's certainly possible. I had some of our people do some research on the Chasers," Christa took out a slim computer pad, "Gwen Musashi isn't your typical police officer."

"Alexis said something about Kate Williams background," Nyara mused, "do you have her personal history on there?"

"Yes," Christa said, "I'll just.." She scrolled through the data, then her dark eyes widened slightly as she murmured, "Oh, dear."

Silently Christa passed the device to Nyara, a section highlighted. Nyara groaned softly, "Her parents were killed by an android. No wonder she hates us."

"Not.. exactly," the quiet voice said. Yume pulled out a seat, the dark haired woman sitting down where Alexis had been.

"You know something?" Christa asked curiously.

"A rumor around Lowtown," Yume said softly. "A woman of Kate's description has been seen with a Freewill down there," she confided.

"Isn't that interesting," Nyara mused. "Do we know who it is she's visiting?"

"I can probably find out," Yume smiled.

"Thanks for stepping in that way," Christa said seriously. "It's been a long couple of days, but we nearly fumbled that badly."

"No problem," Yume said casually. A bit more seriously she added, "The doctor's got a good reputation among us, I figured we wouldn't want to lose her."

"That's true," Nyara agreed.

To be continued...