Paraskevas Kalogeropoulos

Par looked out over the city from the balcony, a slim orange cigarette dangling from his lips. The lights from a passing car reflected off the obsidian-black lenses of his eyes, early-model Saireeka/Zanger All-Blacks that had served him well for almost a year, now. He breathed in deep, the combination of the smog of the city and the smooth honey-mint smoke mingling in the back of his throat.

He coughed, hard, the electronic smoke-stick falling from his mouth, bouncing once on the rail, and departing quickly to ground level. He almost leaned out to try and catch it but common sense caught him quickly enough to arrest the movement just as it started, and he watched it fall, his eyes automatically zooming and refocusing to track its descent.

Shit, he thought. I liked that one.


He sighed and went back inside, the door opening and shutting in his presence. Back in the apartment he crossed from the plush carpet of the sitting area to the cool tiles of the kitchen, snagging a glass on the way; cool water from the sink filled the glass, filled his mouth. A quick rinse and the glass was set aside to dry.

The phone rang. He ignored it. He moved to the door, stopping to collect a jacket from its hook, a black and red number made from some high-end faux leather, tailored and nano-augmented to accentuate the wearer's physic on the fly. He wore it over black slacks and black loafers, his chest left bare, one of the more recent fashion statements up from the lower levels of the city. As he left the apartment the door clicked shut behind him, the light over it turning the same color as the setting sun.

As he approached the elevator to ground floor it opened and a young couple came out, laughing at some private joke. When they saw him, with his obvious cybernetics and his lower-city fashion, they stopped laughing and warily let him past. The younger of the two women made a remark he heard clearly but chose to ignore.

Just as the elevators doors began to close, the older of the two women turned back, having just noticed the orange light over her door and realizing, wait, that was her jacket.

Par rode the elevator, closed his eyes, and laughed.