Chapter Thirty-Seven - Heading For Greener Pastures


    Chapter Thirty-Seven - Heading For Greener Pastures


    The standard 9AM to 5PM workday (with weekends off) proved entirely inefficient as travel time increased and working from home became standard across many industries. Now workers can look forward to daytime work hours that better reflect the needs of modern corporations, such as 8AM to 6PM shifts that occasionally include one day off per week!


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    Your employees are going to kill themselves anyway; might as well make the best of it while theyre still work-capable!


    Excerpt from A New Standard for a Brighter Future!: How to Make the Best of Workplace Suicides! a Business Outsider article, 2031


    ***


    Im going to be real honest here, I said as I stared out across the crowd. As it turned out, the Sewer Dragons at the Oasis when wed showed up were just those that made it there in time to hear my speech. There was supposed to be something like twenty thousand of them, and I was starting to believe that number.


    Im listening, Gomorrah said. She was eyeing the crowd. The crowd that didnt stop growing. There had to be five hundred of them by then.


    I dont want to be here. I gestured to all of the people before usa sea of humanity, despite all of the modifications and prosthetics and the shit. Actually, the shit was pretty human too. I want to go home.


    We still have a lot of work ahead of us, Gomorrah said.Fo?ll0w current novE?ls on n/o/(v)/3l/b((in).(co/m)


    I sighed. Yeah, I know. Just complaining.


    You have the right.


    I chuckled. I hope so. You know, Ive been a samurai for... has it been four days now? Its been pretty non-stop.


    Need a break?


    I pressed my hands into the small of my backit was a bit awkward with the armour therethen I pushed and stretched as best I could. I think I do, I said.


    Gomorrah shifted her shoulders. I could take care of the rest here.


    What are you even going to do with this many people? I asked. We promised to help them, and I intend to, but... theres a lot of them.


    We have the church, Franny piped in. She was still in the Fury with Rac. Things didnt seem dangerous, but still, I didnt exactly trust the people Id spent the morning shooting at and being shot by.


    The church? Gomorrah repeated. Theyd never accept this many. One or two, certainly.


    Theres room for this many. We have that entire shelter thing set up to take in refugees. It filled up after the incursion, but I think its nearly empty now. It was temporary housing.


    Gomorrah tilted her head. Bit creepy, with her mask and suit giving the impression she had a longer neck. That could work, she said. I think we have enough shuttle busses that it wont take too many trips.


    Theyll stink, I warned.


    We can set up a decontamination system, Gomorrah said.


    Huh, I replied. That wont exactly un-fuckerupify these people though.


    No, but its a better step than leaving them here.


    I tugged my Trench Maker out and removed the magazine. Myalis, I said. Something with a bang. Some ammo for the Claw too.


    A box thumped into place on the dash ahead of me and I started to reload. Myalis sent me a text, just the number 10,705. Was she napping or something?


    Oh, shit, the driver said.


    Not going to shoot you. Or steal from you or your awesome car, I said.


    No no, I mean... youre a, ah.


    Shes a samurai, Rac said, obviously relishing being the one to spill the beans.


    Our driver nodded and pulled out some wireless earbuds from a pocket. Im going to listen to some audiobooks and shut up now, he said.


    Clever guy, I said. I could respect someone who didnt stick their neck into trouble. I cocked my Trench Maker and shoved it away, then reloaded my Claw. My railguns still had eighty percent of their ammo, and my Icarus was in Gomorrahs car. Didnt think Id need a grenade launcher to talk to some snobby politician sorts... then again.


    We moved out of the lower parts of the city and merged into morning traffic. It was approaching seven in the morning, which meant the roads were congested with idiots heading to work.


    Just fly under them, I said. I dont want this to take all day.


    Uh, thats... illegal?


    Yes, and? I asked. Myalis, can you tell any cops or whatever to leave us alone on the way over?


    That should be easy enough to do.


    The driver grinned as he flicked off his auto-pilot and darted under the thick columns of air traffic. Always wanted to do this. Fly past all the chumps with an eight-to-six.


    One of the perks of the job, I said. Then again, that job meant I was fighting monsters in the sewers all night, so eh.


    Yeah, yeah, he agreed. He was staring ahead, and we werent moving all that fast. I guessed he didnt have Gomorrahs confidence in his own driving, which was probably for the best, actually. I dont think his rust bucket could do what the Fury did with casual ease.


    We were in the older part of the city, where there were fewer skyscrapers. The buildings were all the fancy expensive sort that law firms and banks used for their headquarters. City hall stood out against those. Old and made of big bricks, with pillars by the entrance.


    Drop us off at the front, I said.


    Thats not a parking spot. he said. There were, in fact, large pillars to prevent cars from ramming into the front of the building. A smaller building next to city hall had the entrance to a parking garage in its front.


    Dont really care, I said. I want to get this over with.


    Alright then, he said.


    We shifted down and slid to a lurching stop. Thanks, bud, I said. I transferred the money we owed him, then a generous tip on top of that while opening the door.


    Rac scrambled out and stood next to me.


    Come on, Rac, lets do some politics!


    ***