Chapter 71: The Braindance Store on a Day Off
"Hey, Rhys, I already made plans with a choom to check out some cars in Charter Hill, so I gotta take a rain check. But if anything urgent comes up—and I mean urgent—you call me, I'll be there. You know it. Love ya, mano."
Rhys hung up with Jackie and scrolled through his contacts. He'd already tried Sasha. The kitten was still in Dogtown. Apparently, her sister's business wasn't finished, and her idiot brother-in-law had gotten himself mixed up with a local gang.
After a moment, Rhys dialed another number.
"Speak," Kiwi's cold voice answered.
On the video feed, she was just wearing a red towel slung over one shoulder, her upper body bare. The long towel draped down, covering her breasts. Below her collarbones, two large, silver cybernetic plates were visible. Her skin was pale. She looked like she'd just showered. Her mechanical jaw was exposed as she stared blankly at him.
"Just calling to see... you busy today?" Rhys asked.
"Morning, I'm hitting a chop shop, my bike's got issues. Afternoon, I'm heading to a netrunner shop in Japantown for supplies. Why?"
"No reason, just asking..."
"Heh. You got nothing to do?"
"Pretty much. I've called half the crew, but everyone's busy," Rhys admitted.
Back with the Mox, he'd always had something to do. Since joining Maine's crew, it had been one intense gig after another, and the downtime was spent drinking and hanging out. Now, left completely on his own, he felt... adrift. He had no idea what to do with himself.
"Sasha's not around? Then go find a good BD and choke your chicken, Rhys," Kiwi said, a hint of amusement in her voice. Before Rhys could even react, she hung up.
"F... Fuck!" Rhys was stunned, then burst out laughing, half annoyed, half amused.
He flopped back onto the sofa and turned on the TV. It was all the same crap—news reports, talk shows, all just corpo-sponsored "infotainment." They'd hire actors to "criticize" and "satirize" the corps, giving the masses a safe outlet for their anger. It was all just part of the system. In Night City, even your outrage was manufactured and controlled.
"Fine. A braindance it is," Rhys muttered. He grabbed his BD wreath, went to a small cabinet, and peered inside.
"Dalton's Big Adventure... Fuji Excursion... Dangerous Girls Detective Story... Malina's Secret..."
"I've seen all these."
As a BD enthusiast, he'd already watched his entire stash. Watch them again? Nah. He wasn't the type to re-chew his food.
So, Rhys got dressed, pulled on his baseball cap, and headed out.
His good neighbor David was at school. Gloria was still in the hospital; she was cleared for discharge, but the medical package included follow-up therapy, so she'd decided to stay and recover properly. As for her safety... the regional hospital was Night Corp territory. Its security was corpo-grade. Even 6th Street wouldn't dare start shit there in broad daylight. Night Corp was, after all, the true landlord of Night City.
Rhys took the metro to Heywood.
Heywood had one of the largest commercial districts, anchored by the massive Heywood Mall. It wasn't in the ultra-rich districts like City Center or Charter Hill for a simple reason: those places were inaccessible to the general public. Class divides, invisible walls, and tagged entry-permits.
He took the escalator to the third floor. His destination: a small shop tucked in a corner called "Just One More BD." It was a tiny place, maybe a few dozen square meters, crammed with shelves and holographic posters advertising the latest braindances. These were all legit, studio-produced BDs, not the black-market crap.
Rhys browsed the aisles, overwhelmed by the selection: Action, Travel, Adult, XBDs, and even "Experience the High Life" simulations of being a corpo exec. Braindance had everything. A second life, available any time. It might be fake, but who cared? It felt real.
He picked out three action BDs, then moved to the "Idol & Celebrity" section. This area was split between porn stars and actual pop idols. The former was... educational. The latter offered "experiences," like "One Day as an Idol's Boyfriend."
He quickly found what he was looking for and grabbed two copies of the same BD—the new Dangerous Girls release. One for him, one for Sasha.
With his selections made, he glanced at a small, special-interest rack in the corner, "Niche Scenery." He walked over, scanning the titles, and reached out for one.
At the exact same moment, another hand reached for the exact same BD.
Rhys pulled his hand back. The other hand also retracted.
They stared at each other in the aisle.
The other person was clearly stunned. After a long moment, she spoke. "What are you doing here?"
"I was about to ask you the same thing," Rhys replied, looking at the person in front of him. "You here to buy a braindance, too?"
It was the stupidest question he could have asked.
"Yeah."
Lucy brushed her iridescent hair back, then crossed her arms, watching him. She truly never expected to run into Rhys in a BD store.