SF in The City Anthology by Joshua Wilkinson Read Free Book Online

impatience.
    “Upon inspection, I found nanoids in the drinks too. They were designed to invade the human limbic system.”
                  “Meaning?”
                  “Have you ever heard of optogenetics?”
                  “I really don’t know anything about it,” Patty conceded. “With all the brain research Central Authority’s science division has done, I’ve come across that word in the media before.” 
                  “The general idea is that you use light to control neurons,” Aoto said. “Looking at that last addition to the film, it emitted light at a very specific frequency. I think what we are looking at here is mind control. The Studio gets nanoids inside peoples’ bodies and then controls their behavior with flashes of light.”
                  “Why create such a complicated system for control?” Patty asked suspiciously.
                  “The nanoids self-destruct after fulfilling their tasks,” Aoto pushed up his glasses again. “In such a complex web, how can I pin anything on them? I mean, the nanoids in my apartment already destroyed themselves.”
                  “So you mean to tell me,” Patty put her hands on her hips, “that you pulled me into this mess without proof to back up your claims?”
                  “Well, I did have proof, but…”
                  “I’ve listened to enough of this,” Patty pushed open the exit’s door. “If you are so sure about this, take it to the CA. I don’t have time to listen to this evil master plan crap.”
    ***
    In all honesty, Patty’s encounter left her more rattled than she would care to admit. Aoto Frolov had always come across as…an eccentric individual, to say the least. She was certain that he harbored perverted feelings for her. Yes, she remembered seeing him around the studio with old-fashioned comic books often. He could have created this whole conspiracy in his mind, as a way to impress the object of his desire, to demonstrate his incredible capacity for finding problems in the system.
                  Or he was just an unromantic nut.
                  After taking another shower, Patty now found herself traveling to Eulalia Spire, where a new restaurant, Nourriture Incroyable, just opened. Her current boyfriend, Blathasar Agresta, greeted her after she landed and told her that their reservation had somehow fallen through.
                  “We can communicate telepathically, yet restaurants still make these kind of mistakes?” she had responded angrily. Blathasar had made the dining arrangements for the evening, so it was even easier to take frustrations out on him.
                  “We’ll hit up a buffet instead,” Blathasar said with forced energy. “Comida Ilimitada is a great place.”
                  “Sure, why not,” Patty said as he walked her to a nearby elevator. “Let’s just get there quickly. I have a headache.”
                  As chance would have it, the buffet had a large crowd that night. Some businessmen had taken up over 100 seats. Patty wasn’t thrilled that they had a twenty minute wait, but she felt better once she got some food in her stomach. Being “attractive” in the entertainment industry meant starving oneself more often than not.
                  When she had gone up for seconds, the charactor had a completely oblivious man bump into her. She presumed he must have been a “meanderthal” – someone who lived with the cyber connections in their mind to the point of losing nearly complete attention to the outside world. However, her original judgment necessitated revaluation after she saw it in the bowl of beef stew she had on her meal tray.
                  A small plastic note, folded like an archaic paper book, rested in her food. When she set down her tray by the