The Edge

Adoette: Part Eight

Not all of them went on the trip that night. Tola and Luca had elected to stay home, and Matteo along with them. The first two were too pure for the club scene, and electronic music messed with Matteo's hearing aids something awful. That left Helen, Arian, Gideon, and of course Adoette to wander the back streets of the city. Most of it was about what Adoette expected—neon lights, lots of smog from vapes, and a generous helping of people looking to get messed up after a long day of work. There was a lot of street fashion on display, mostly dark shades and neon colors, but there were some variations. The looks meant that she stuck out the least of her siblings. That was a new one.

"Wow. We're not in the weird or seedy part of town at all," Arian said sarcastically.

"Listen, I'm sure you've seen weirder and seedier," Adoette said as she checked her phone. GPS didn't seem to have led them astray yet. She didn't feel any more unsafe than she usually did in an unfamiliar setting, which meant that they were probably still good. Probably. "Didn't you used to sleep in an abandoned factory?"

"Fair enough. I'm just calling it like I see it." Arian nudged Gideon. "C'mon, big guy, lighten up. We're trying not to look like weird scary outsiders."

Gideon grunted in response, his dour expression only increasing. Adoette hoped he didn't get too cagey—or, at least, that he'd be able to keep that caginess to himself until they really needed it. Sometimes tables had to be tossed and people had to be punched, but not here and now. "What's this place called, again?" Gideon asked.

"Moonlight Sonata. Kind of a classy name, so it's either going to be super bougie or a strip club. If it's the latter, I am so sorry. The dude I spoke to didn't mention that."

"About him...how do you know this isn't a trap?"

"I don't, aside from hacker's honor, but do you have a better idea?" Your destination is on the right. Adoette glanced at her phone, then to her right. "Oh, hey, found it."

It helped that there was a big old sign that said Moonlight Sonata hanging by the door. It looked very retro-futuristic, with a lot of art nouveau curves and elegance in the sign's design (which featured a woman sitting on a crescent moon) and in the designs on the stained glass windows. It did still have some edge to it, mostly in the thin neon strips that made up the sign and the purples, blues, and pinks that colored the stained glass. "It looks clean, at least," Arian said.

"Fancy, for sure. Maybe they have absinthe." Adoette peered inside. It was a bit hard to tell from how tinted the windows were, but it looked like there were people inside. "Well, here we go."

The first thing she noticed upon entering was how purple everything was. It cast a more contemporary sheen over the semi-old furnishings—painting that retro-futurism with actual-future colors. It also smelled amazing. She wasn't sure what it was, but the minty smell was a good thing to walk into. Some jazzy-style music was playing in the background, peppy and fun without being overwhelming. It wasn't the place she'd expect a bunch of hackers to hang out, but it was someplace she'd go out for a few drinks with the girls, even if it was in such a weird part of town.

"So, we're supposed to go to the back door..." Adoette scanned the club. There was a sit down section to her right, a dance floor to the left with a stage in the center, two different bar areas along the far wall, ladies room and men's room in the left and right hand corners, and then two bars along the far wall...with a door that looked like it could lead to a private area. Adoette approached with all the confidence of someone who belonged there. That was the key to getting around, in her experience.

None of the bartenders gave her a second look, so it must have been working.

"What do we have here?" Instead of a doorknob or some kind of keypad or other electronic system, there was a second of door composed of nothing but metal tiles. Each tile was about the same size as the card she'd been given, and each had a similar circuit board design. There was a missing place where the final piece could go, but as she looked, she realized the circuit boards didn't line up.