Just a little bit of blue R2.04

2.04 - Lord Ganesha, yesterday.

Standing in front of a statue of Lord Ganesha, the Hindu God of beginnings and remover of obstacles, Julius waited in vain for an answer to come from any of the figures in front of him. While he waited for the temple keeper to go fetch Anik, he couldn't stop thinking about what could he have possibly done to land him there. Starting to think out loud, like he was loosing his mind, talking straight at the stone elephant in front of him: -"What have I done? Can you tell me? What am I doing here?"- He was shaken to the core and feeling thankful to his neghbour Natty that had been so kind as to help him get out of Center City. To her, and her political friends. He really didn't know what they were all about, but, still, they'd sure been helpful, bringing him out of the walls inside a trash bin. -"Why am I here?" -"That's not a very long story, Julius", answered a voice from behind him.

(Image: publicdomainpictures.net)

Anik looked like an affluent middle aged man of hindustani origin, in jeans, white t-shirt and a designer pinkish blazer that shouted money. An ostentatious gold chain with an image of Lord Ganesha hanged from his neck. -"You're here to get a new identity, brother." Julius looked at the man straight in the eyes. -"That's not what I meant. What I'm asking is the reason that brought me here..."- Anik wetted his lower lip with his tongue. -"That, I do not know, brother. All I know is I have to get your chip changed, and that we need to do that fast, before they cancel your credits, so, please, follow me." -"What if I don't want to?" -"That's up to you, brother. I don't know what brought you here, but I know who did, and if he sent you, that means you won't last a New York minute out there. You will be killed, and it will happen fast. Your face is already on the fly-pop's screens all over town. Everybody is already looking for you."- Anik covered his mouth with his closed fist and coughed. -"I can't change your face, but I can change your chip. Your call, brother!"

Julius followed Anik across a very large hall that appeared to serve the purpose of hosting community gatherings and into an outside corridor that seemed to go along the back of all the commercial houses in that street. In the end, a flight of stairs went up into a shoddy looking barber or dentist's office, depending on the use you wanted to give to the centuries old articulated chair in its center. Assuming his next move, Julius sat down on the chair. Anik directed himself to an office cabinet in the opposite door and brought out a metallic case. On the inside, were the sterile surgical instruments needed for the procedure. Anik took a tiny cilinder out of an hidden compartment in his Ganesha pendant and turned around: -"Here it is". He said, as he picked up a remote payment unit that he showed to Julius. - First, you autorize the tranfer of all your creds, and then, I'll slowly transfer them into the new chip, through different channels, in order to be discreet".

Through Julius's mind, rapidly came across the idea of this all being a scam to rip him off his creds. He quicly set that aside. He earned above average, but he wasn't rich and really didn't have much in the way of savings. All his money went into his miniature drones collection, that he already started to miss. And, all this, was way too much trouble for a scam operation. -"OK!"- He said. - "let's do it!". -"Alright brother, I will need you to keep very still, so, I will anesthetise your arm. The chip sits in the termination of the ulnar nerve, so, if you move, you'll loose your finger movements. Take off your shirt and let's get to it." Julius proceeded naturally. By this point he had already conformed to the situation. In the back of his head, the idea of figuring out what was behind all this was starting to become an obsession.

-To be continued -

**Link to Next Episode SOON **
Link to Novel beginning

In case you missed R.03 - A case of Sidra, it was exceptionally submitted to an image prompt at WORLD OF XPILAR, and you can just click the link provided.

21.02.25 - @hefestus

To find the other parts, that have been published in Freewriters, visit the Just a little bit of blue Novel link.

Disclaimer:

"Just a little bit of blue" is a work of fiction. Every event, character, planet, continent, country, city, street, building, corporation, institution and product mentioned in this work is totally fictitious and has absolutely no relation to reality or real events, persons, planets, continents, countries, cities, streets, buildings, corporations or institutions. Everything is derived from the author's own imagination and no AI products were involved in the planning, writing or revision of this work. Additionally, the story happens in the future, in a time that has not yet come, so, any considerations about the possibility of the occurrence of facts or release of products mentioned herein, in the years to come, are due to mere coincidence and in no way derive from the author's inside or 3rd party knowledge of any country, organization or person's plans to implement actions or release said products into the market.

Just to be clear: All that's written here is fictional and originated by the author's own toughts about what may happen to come in the unknown future.