Ambasadora (Book 1 of Ambasadora) by Heidi Ruby Miller Read Free Book Online Page A

protesters.
    “The ambasadoras are just
another Embassy spectacle of shallow grandiosity.” The pain subsided as
Zak’s arm healed. He looked down to confirm the blood was fading, then checked
to see the sleeve had been properly repaired.
    “The Media have been calling
them the Faces of the Embassy . Rumor has it they’re all women.”
Bullseye’s marmoset-like mouth morphed into a lascivious grin as his furry,
prehensile tail flicked back and forth.
    “ Of course they’re
all women.” Ariel’s brown braids swished against her almost bare backside
as she sidled up to the meter-high Bullseye. When she scratched under his furry
chin, he snaked his tail up her booted leg.
    Just as he was about to reach the
skin at the top of her thigh, she clasped a hand around his throat and threw
him to the ground. “Women make better distractions than men.” She
gave him a kick to his mid-section.
    Everyone laughed, except Zak. He
hated to waste time socializing with a bunch of dosed-up fraggers, especially in
the V-side. The anonymity it afforded allowed egos to run high with avatude and
behavior to go unchecked. Of course the entire fragger organization was set up
that way, and with good reason. Even if the Embassy found out the identities of
a few fragger operatives, the loss would be minimal. Only select bosses knew
all their members.
    Zak looked around at the dozen
members of his contingency and wondered if, as a fragger node, he should
secretly learn a little more about the people he led. He trusted them because
they hated the Embassy. Aside from opposing the Embassy’s suppression of
technology, his fraggers also rebelled against the society’s millennia-old
caste system. All this reflected Sean’s own ideology. Putting their lives at
stake to make a difference made them honorable.
    There were still flaws in the
system, though, like when someone’s ideology changed.
    Zak looked from av to av. It was
more to show authority than to get a read on any of their faces. The
expressions weren’t real anyway, just the result of each fragger’s preferred
programming. Nothing in this world was real. Of course, most of society was
fake, too—the Uppers cosseted existence, Sovereign Prollixer with his claque of
Socialites, the Lowers wasting away in menial jobs, unseen and unheard.
    “The bosses confirmed a
leak.” Zak kept his tone even.
    “They sending us in to take
care of it?” Ariel loomed a head taller than any of them.
    Take care of it , as big a
euphemism as the word fragger , both just a nicer way to say kill .
    “Yep. That’s why the invites
went out for today.”
    Even the fraggers who weren’t
already plugged into a gaming world were summoned.
    “Is it because of the
Palomin siphon?” Bullseye used his tail to swing up onto Ariel’s shoulder.
“That was a month ago.”
    “I thought one of the other
contingencies took responsibility for that.” Ariel shoved the marmoset
back to the ground.
    “They were there, but not
responsible for the extraction,” Zak said. “A group of rogue
contractors pulled the siphon from inside.”
    “Rumor has it we lost three
fraggers during that siphon. That true, Zak?” Ariel trailed a finger down
his gun arm. He felt the sensation through his neural transmitter, and though
it registered in his pleasure center, he casually twisted his arm out of her
reach.
    “That’s true. The rogues
caused complications, but the virus we gave Prollixer is back to doing its job.
Sources say once the quarantine was siphoned, his cell sweepers ceased
functioning. He’s now aging normally. Calls it his ‘curse.’” Zak dropped a
hand to his side and secretly unlocked the safety on his weapon.
    “Can’t think of someone who
deserves to be cursed more,” Topper said. “Guess he can’t have the
rest of us knowing about his longevity bots. Might have a societal mutiny on
his hands.”
    “He already does,” Zak
said.
    “Those rogues did us a favor
then,” Bullseye