AriadneExcerpt2015-SaraStamey.docVIP

New Los Angeles, 2027 NeuroLink NewsEntertainment Studio Leeza Conreid, hostess of “Celebrity Smackback,” plops her well-honed tush onto a stool at the production console, hooking her stilettos over the rung. Violet fingernails flick open a popper beneath her nostrils as she inhales with a hiss, and focus sharpens into max clarity. She snakes out two leads and snaps them into her lower-back spinal insert. Slips on the goggles. “Showtime.” Reaching into deceptively empty space, her long pale fingers spider the air to cue the file: ***NLNE REQUESTED FIELD ASSIGNMENT: 5 March 2027 LEADLINE: Where is Ariadne? Who is Ariadne? SUBJECT: “Saint Ariadne,” rumored healer of New Plague leprosy victims. MEDIA SATURATION: 53% and growing. QUOTABLE: Gaea Speaks cult leaders: “Mother Earth is fighting back against the pollution of the patriarchal corporate technocracy. Only Ariadne can save us now.”*** Behind the goggles, Leeza smirks. “You said it, bitches. And I’m the one gonna nail her.” Another finger-twitch through the file, images cascading across her retinas. ***ASSIGNMENT DANGER RATING: High. No data on risk factors for illegal penetration of Med League border. No weapons or training provided.*** She licks her lips and shimmies on the stool, running a fingertip over her thigh. Leeza Conreid doesn’t need a gun. ***INITIAL FIELD CONTACT: None established. Field agent Conreid advised to search Athens’ Piraeus Harbor taverns for one Peter Mitchell, AWOL NorthAm Navy. Current occupation: smuggler.***  1 Geomagnetic palsy hit the satellite navigation again. Peter Mitchell scowled at the rebellious LEDs and the radar static, rubbed his chin stubble, and watched the compass in its plexiglas bubble dip and spin aimless as an oracle. It was built-in and he hadn’t seen any point to removing it. Anyway he liked it, part of the old bucket of bolts, like the crude mermaid some forgotten seaman had painted inside Nereid’s wheelhouse. He pul