They left the flat as soon as possible after the shutting down of the neon signs, heading straight for the Great Ringroad. Dave had learned of someone wanting a pest exterminator, although he imagined his method would end up causing more damage to the pests than others', and had accepted the job primarily so Emily could start practising with her new pistol on a target that wouldn't fight back, rather than on a Watford Metallic or Mr Shadow.
The job was at the Bluewater Centre, a minor hub of commercialism in the old world and a home of trendsetters in the new. Bouncing through the Great Ringroad, already able to see the Bluewater Centre's advert tower, Dave glanced over at Emily.
"You've never spoken of your family before."
"My father was murdered when I was twelve, something about a business deal. Soon after that Mother began coming home with strange men. I suppose she was looking for a new husband so we'd have financial safety but some of them..." Emily fell silent and Dave went to extend a hand, unsure if she wanted comforting, before withdrawing it when she resumed talking. "When I was sixteen Mother was going to marry me off, to secure the family fortune, but I was dumb and privileged. I refused her and ran away. A few months of drugs and partying meant I'd run further than expected..."
"And you found yourself in the low-city."
Emily absently nodded, partially distracted by the giant electronic billboards that adorned the Bluewater Centre. Each billboard was rapidly flicking between different products, the corporations fighting for ad-space, and it gave the centre the impression of chaos.
Pulling into the sprawling car-park they retrieved a decent-sized collection of items from the back of the van. Stacking boxes on top of each other Dave turned to organise their removed contents, pausing as he took hold of a partially disassembled computer tower.
"Why do you have this?"
Emily poked her head up from behind a pile of wheeled drones, glancing at the machinery for a moment.
"Partying. I picked it up at a cy-club about a year ago."
Dave shook his head as Emily disappeared. He'd heard of the type of club she was on about, where cyborgs linked minds together and shared multiple experiences at the same time. Glancing between the drones and the computer tower, a plan forming in his head, David climbed into the van, squeezing around the clutter to stand over Emily.
"Could you use the tower to remotely control these drones?"
Emily rocked back on her heels and rose, taking hold of a drone and slowly turning it in her hands.
"If we stuck a wireless connector onto it then I don't see why not. But do we have any?"
---
Setting up in a backroom of the Bluewater Centre's security office Dave helped Emily set up the computer tower and an interface to monitor everything. He'd worked with cyborgs before and knew roughly what to expect when it came to wireless networks, although Emily's connector, embedded in the flesh of her left wrist, was of a more advanced model than he had seen before. Powering up the computer tower and then opening a wireless network, watching her eyes rapidly move beneath her lids when she connected, Dave turned his attention to the drone they’d outfitted. It began moving, at first in spits and spurts but gradually the movement became smoother.
"Good girl."
Attaching connectors, on loan from one of the centre's many electronics stores, to the other drones Dave gradually released the robots into the complex's maintenance network, although the effort of controlling them forced Emily to lie down before she slipped from the sofa. Feeding Emily subconscious instructions using blueprints and cameras mounted atop the drones Dave positioned boxes in front of a handful of grates, catching rats as the relatively larger drones forced them from the network.
Each box ended up holding four rats before their exodus was believed over and, after a final sweep of the maintenance network had been carried out by both the drones and the security office's own systems, Dave turned towards Emily, getting ready to cancel the link. She'd been laid out on a sofa whilst controlling the drones so there wasn't really a danger of physical injuries but it was mental injuries that made Dave cautious. Too fast and a piece of Emily might get stuck within the computer, doomed to disappear when it was shut down, or too slow, in which case the mind would resist separation. Glancing back towards the front of the office he spotted a guard and moved to the door of the backroom.
"Help me with her will you." The guard huffed as he rose from the chair he'd just settled onto and followed Dave into the backroom, standing by the computer tower and the interface attached to it. "Cut the link when I tell you." Moving to stand by Emily's head Dave lightly tapped her cheek and watched her eyelids flicker, murmuring to himself under his breath, before tapping her again, although stronger this time. "Cut it now."
The guard closed down the wireless network and both he and Dave watched as Emily slowly opened her eyes, moving her arms and legs to check her mobility.
"All there." She looked round the room as the guard withdrew, the woman finally focusing on Dave. "We get them all?"
"Eight boxes, with four rats each. We've already been paid and I contacted a friend to fix the lighting at the flat."
Carrying the drones and the boxes back to the van took a couple of trips, the rats occupying the spaces the drones had been in before. Crossing the car park for the second time Emily looked at one of the boxes she was carrying, watching the rats inside.
"What will happen to them?"
"We'll find a tree, string them up, and then I'll teach you how to use the pistol I gave you."
Emily felt like she slumped, feeling gloomy about the upcoming activities, and glanced over at Dave.
"We couldn't just let them go?"
"Bexleyheath, and most of the low-city, is mostly peaceful and you'll rarely see a weapon used. But Watford isn't like that." Placing his stack of boxes in the back of the van Dave turned to look directly at Emily, a stern but concerned expression on his face. "You need a pistol, or better, and you need to learn how to use it."
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