Fixed by Beth Goobie Read Free Book Online

more days until the candy codes were updated. This meant a massive sugar withdrawal tomorrow, but she wasn’t doing too badly. Usually she was overdrawn a week ahead of schedule.
    From behind came the sound of running footsteps, and suddenly Nellie was staggering under the weight of a body that clung to her back. Twisting to the right, she butted it gently against the nearest wall. As soon as she’d heard the approaching footfalls, Nellie had recognized their pattern. Besides, there was only one person who would dare jump her from behind. Anyone else would have been flat on the floor by now, their jugular in major crisis. No exceptions.
    “Gotcha again, asteroid brain.” Slipping off Nellie’s back, Lierin flipped back her long black hair. “Lucky I’m not an Outbacker,” she giggled, “or you’d be terminated.”
    Nellie gave her an answering grin. Lierin was a functional cadet, but her skills were low-level. Sometimes she flinched at the most basic things in the maze. Lt. Neem was always on her back, ranting at her to upgrade defense. All in all, her ego could use the odd boost.
    “Yeah,” Nellie shrugged. “Terminated, but good.”
    Lierin flushed with pride. “C’mon,” she said, turning and heading through the security beam in Nellie’s bedroom doorway. “Let’s watch Star Heat .”
    Quickly Nellie followed her through the doorway. None of the bedrooms had doors, which meant there were only the security beams to keep the unwelcome from entering. To get into another girl’s room, you had to pass your ID chip through the beam just after she’d punched an acceptance code into a small mechanism attached to the wall inside the door. She could give you a one-time entry or register you as a general pass, which meant you could come and go as you wished. Lierin was the only person Nellie had given a general pass to her room. Well ... and Duikstra, and anyone with upper-level Detta clearance. Everyone else would be left stunned and senseless on the floor.
    Pausing in front of the alcove by the doorway, Lierin bobbed her head perfunctorily at the tiny blue-robed statue. Then she launched herself through Tana’s half of the room, around the end of the barricade and onto Nellie’s bed. “So, where’s your favorite roomie?” she hollered.
    Kneeling before the statue, Nellie kissed the hem of its robe. As she got to her feet again a click sounded, followed by the sound of rapid dialogue, and she realized Lierin had used the remote lying on her bed to switch the monitoring screen to its TV function. Carefully she snuck up to the barricade and found her friend in a headstand, watching Star Heat from an upside-down perspective. With a half-grin, Nellie kicked the end of the bed, then ducked back as Lierin lost her balance and toppled lengthwise.
    “So where is she?” repeated her friend, staring out of a mass of tangled dark hair. “I want to know when I have to brace myself for Instant War.”
    “Probably in one of the Pleasure Rooms,” shrugged Nellie. “Since she turned sixteen, they upgraded her to three visits a week.”
    “Not bad,” said Lierin, wriggling to the head of the bed and glueing her eyes to the monitoring screen. “Who’s she with?”
    “Could be anyone.” Dropping onto the end of the bed, Nellie added significantly, “Anyone available.”
    Lierin shot her a grin. “So, who’s the first guy you’re going to ask? Phillip?”
    “Friends aren’t good for the Pleasure Rooms,” Nellie said, automatically repeating one of the laws of sexual behavior they’d learned in Social Studies. There seemed to be an endless list of them, but this law was definitely one of the basics. She gave herself a tiny grin. Her thirteenth birthday was in three months. When a cadet turned thirteen, she was implanted with a birth control chip and given a once-a-week pass to the Pleasure Rooms. She was free to choose any partner she wished, but variety was encouraged — a steady sex partner was heavily