Free Digital Venous by Richard Gohl Page A

wouldn’t survive for more than minutes out here, thought Shane. Either way, she’s free.
    Shane reported the good news to Magellan immediately. The two had flown into the Service facility with winged body suits to steal as much N.E.T. as they could carry out. Apparently Wilson had an ill teenage daughter that he hoped would be saved by the treatment. Their plan was to escape from the Greenhill gate and, under cover of night, run across the desert to safety underground. Shane made sure that the news of their failure and his success was widely publicized.
     
     

Chapter 15
    Eyeball
     
    MADI AND BES were given the job of going out and getting an iris or two.
    One afternoon, just after the return of the real workers, Madi and Bes walked back through the searing heat to the Crafers gate in the East.
    “What the hell are you doing?” asked the returning workers. “We need medicine.”
    “Good luck with that; they won’t help you—not now. Once the gates are shut, that’s it. They’ll all be gone.”
    “Well, that’s just great,” said Bes, feigning disappointment.
    Bes was an attractive woman with big, dark eyes that flashed with energy and emotion. She was petite and fit, having worked as an exotic dancer in her teens. There was never a moment’s hesitation with anything she did. Her honesty and verve was an attractant to all men.
    Men tended to find Madi scary. Tall, solidly built with long blonde hair and blue eyes. She had a quicker wit than most and an unpredictability that together could create in others, especially men, a feeling of insecurity.
    Despite the darkening world above, the hot dry wind pulled at the women’s hair as they scurried across the covered pathway to the Eastern gateway to the Napean city. There might be a brief window where they could catch a guard still around the perimeter gate.
    Through the brown perimeter wall, in a tower above and to the left of the gate, a bright light shone, silhouetting a figure inside. The girls waved and yelled out. They couldn’t be sure he was listening.
    “Two guys have taken over our house!” There was no response. “Hello?” called Bes. Nothing. Madi continued trying.
    “We managed to escape but now we have nowhere to go. No one will help us—the guys are dangerous. They’re in our house! We can’t get rid of them. They say they’re just waiting for us to give in to them…” The silhouette disappeared, and then a second later, the main gate opened. A Napean guard peered through.
    “Can you help us?” asked Madi. “You’ve got much better guns than them. And they’ll listen to you…”
    “We can’t go down there…” said the guard. “But no one will help us.”
    “Can’t you get someone else to help you? It’s against the law for us to come down there without an edict.”
    “They’ve invaded our home.” The guard was losing his patience.
    “We’ll make it worth your while,” Bes said with a smile. She grabbed her breast with her right hand and her crotch with her left, and just stood there. She turned out her palms and extended her arms. Madi followed suite as if to say, “Take us.”
    The gate closed again. Silence. “Hello?” yelled Madi.
    “Please! We need your help...” The two girls looked at each other blankly, unsure as to the outcome. The small doorway at the left of the gate came open. Two fully armed guards came out. They looked identical.
    “Two of them! Fuuuuck,” whispered Madi.
    “It’s fine. Relax,” said Bes through the side of her mouth.
    As the guards approached, Bes bounded up to them, grabbed one by the hand, and said, “Thank you, thank you. You are wonderful and so good-looking.” She looked them up and down. Madi sealed the deal, promising, “We’ll pay you back in full, don’t worry!” The two girls smiled at each other cutely. The guards shot each other a sideways glance.
    “Okay, then. Let’s get rid of these jerks for you…”
    “Thank you so much. You won’t be sorry!” said