Amazon
Romantek Corporation creates dreams for
its customers--dreams of exotic, historic places and events more
fabulous than a time machine. As part of their dreaming apparatus,
they're releasing a new product on the market, Soma- gen. The
Soma-gen process is part of the dreaming technology, helping cells
regenerate and scrubbing out impurities and annoying genetic problems
like receding hairlines. Romantek's Chairman of the Board is a
perfect volunteer for a high-profile test. He's fit, old enough to
have begun feeling the effects of age, and a person used to taking
risks. Sergio Corvino is excited to experience his Romantek dream at
Carnival in Rio de Janeiro in the year 2000. Everyone is eager to see
how his real body fares as a result of Soma-gen.
Amber Tachibara will also be
experiencing the vacation in Rio with Sergio. He doesn't know it, but
she's been sent as a bodyguard. There have been problems with
cyber-terrorists in the past, and Romantek isn't taking any chances
with their Chairman. Tachibara is tough on the job, but submissive in
intimate situations. Her discovery of that side of her surprises both
people concerned.
When a cyber-terrorist shows up in Rio,
can Amber keep Sergio safe? Things can get deadly fast in a dream.
Will Amber and Sergio survive their vacation in Rio?
The streets were teeming with revelers,
some drunkenly weaving through the crowds, as loud, dissonant music
blared nearby. Amber quickly got her bearings. It was night time. She
was standing in an alleyway, off a main street, where some sort of
parade was going on. She glanced down at herself, making sure all her
parts were intact, and immediately commed Romantek's security room,
using the implant in her skull. "Shit, guys. You couldn't give
me clothes?"
There was some snickering, and then a
junior team member spoke up. She recognized his voice. It was
Davidson Smith. "We gave you clothes. It's a costume so you'll
blend in."
Amber snorted. She was wearing a gold
G-string, gold knee-high boots with red leather flames on the front
and sides, and a gold push-up bra. Her boobs were huge in this
costume, bigger than they were normally. In her opinion, they were
excessive, weighing her down, but apparently, in the eyes of the
Romantek programmers, a little enhancement wouldn't hurt. Gold
bracelets, two dozen or more of them, jangled on her wrists. As she
moved, she felt something on her back. Reaching behind her, she
discovered wings, so she glanced back. They were white with gold
flashing. On her head was some sort of headpiece, lightweight but
awkward. She must look like an avenging angel. "You guys slay
me," she said, disdainfully to her crew. "An angel? God
damn."
"Go with it." This time it
was Rex Boyd's voice. Her boss.
"Yes, sir. Where is Corvino?"
Davidson spoke up again. "He's one
hundred, two point five meters away, southwest of your location. Go
to the big street—Avenida Presidente Vargas—and make a left. He's
on the street. Sending you a homing signal right now. You should see
an arrow on the sidewalk."
Amber stumbled out of the alley,
cursing her high-heeled boots, and onto the giant avenue full of
people dressed in wild, revealing costumes. All kinds of people took
part in the festivities, apparently, including men, women,
transvestites, and androgynous persons. Everyone was dancing, more or
less, to the heavy samba rhythms being blared from rooftop speakers
on the nearby buildings. There were clowns, devils, birds of
paradise, and flowers. So many of them were beautiful, bright,
sequined and extravagant, Amber was a little dazed. Willing herself
to focus on her job, she looked down past her boots and saw the faint
outline of a white arrow, pointing southwest up the street, against
the flow of traffic. Of course against the flow of traffic.
Frowning, Amber wiggled her way through the river like a salmon
swimming upstream. Someone pinched her naked ass and she turned to
smack the offender, but couldn't figure out which person it was, so,
frowning, she went back to following the arrow. It continued up the
street for a while, then turned red. It was her signal that Corvino
was close by.
In the sea of laughing faces, many with
heavy makeup, it wasn't too hard to spot him. He was laughing like
the rest, but wasn't as showy. He wore a devil's costume with loose
fitting black satin pants, and a red, sequined, long-sleeved shirt
with billowy sleeves. The cuffs were black satin, like his pants. His
forehead sported red glued-on horns and he had a plastic pitchfork,
with blunted tines. He was a bit of a caricature devil, but
recognizable, sambaing in the crowd as though it was ridiculous fun.
Amber sidled up, pressed against him
with others, and shouted over the din. "Hey, devil! I'm an
avenging angel. Beware!"
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