Long Odds
By
Shane Griffin
Smash Words Edition Published by Poupichou Press
First Published in Print in Eclecticism 2010
Copyright Shane Griffin 2010
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Isa walked along the street with her head down. She snuggled deeper into her heavy overcoat as she went. It was so cold it felt like it was about to snow again. Despite the chill weather the city streets were packed with people all looking for a good time, something to excite them and make them forget their mundane existences, just like every other night on Teklas. It was that quest for something different, for a little hope, for something better, that kept food in Isa’s stomach these days.
Teklas was originally a mining and industrial colony which over the last ten years had seen a booming economy. A strong economy meant more money and more money meant more people came to Teklas. Like everything else in life the boom did not last forever and Isa for one had been feeling the pinch for some time now.
Isa stopped at a neon drenched street corner and waited patiently for the pedestrian signal to change. As she stood waiting another woman stepped up and stood close beside her. She was in her mid twenties much like Isa, though a head taller and not as slim or athletic.
Isa glanced sideways at the woman, but said nothing, they had to be careful not to look too obvious. Plain clothes cops weren’t the only things you had to worry about when working the streets.
The traffic on the street finally came to a halt and Isa crossed, with the other woman keeping pace beside her.
“Do you have them?” the woman asked quietly as they walked.
“Yes,” replied Isa discreetly. “Have you scouted out the block yet Tara?”
“I did this one and two either side, looks like we’re going to just have to keep our eyes open and stay on the move tonight. I saw at least three pairs of beat cops.”
Isa turned right after she had crossed the street and headed towards a small alley between two closed shops. Tara followed close behind. With both of them looking around the street thoroughly, to make sure they were not being watched or attracting any attention, Isa made the exchange.
She opened her coat and slipped a portable poker machine to Tara. It was no bigger than a small envelope and not much thicker. Its bottom surface was metallic while its top surface was a luminescent colour touch screen.
Tara grabbed it greedily.
“What odds is it set at?” she asked
“One in eight payout, with an eight hour expiry,” replied Isa sheepishly.
“What?” groaned Tara annoyed.
“It’s the best Jous had, he won’t go higher anymore, he reckons it’s bad for business,” replied Isa.
“How much?” asked Tara with scepticism.
“He put the price up again, they were two fifty each,” said Isa then added hastily, “He’s still taxing us because of the one you lost last month when you got picked up by the cops.”
“Shit Isa! How do you expect us to make enough money to get off this dump of a planet with a one in eight that costs two fifty?” complained Tara shaking her head in frustration. “Screw this, I’m going to fix mine.”
Tara quickly pulled out a hacking tile that was slightly smaller than the pokie. She flipped the pokie over so the metallic surface was facing up and laid the hacking tile on top so the nano wireless connection between the two devices would open.
Isa looked on in concern.
“You’re going to burn it out Tara,” she said. Tara ignored her and kept tapping away at the touch screen on the hacking tile.
“No chance,” she replied confidently. “The burnout protection is only on the expiration timer not the core probability matrix. The guy I got this from hacks these all the time.”
“I hope you know how to reset it when you’re done because if Jous finds out you’ve been hacking the machines he’s going to get angry,” said Isa, absently rubbing the small scare on her left cheekbone where Jous had given her four stitches a few months back, for handing back a pokie with a cracked screen.
“It’s either this or go back to stripping!” replied Tara harshly. “You really want to go back to that? Or maybe back to the mines where you get double the amount of sleazy guys groping you in the dark for half the pay?”
“Maybe we could try and find IT work again?” suggested Isa.
“Forget it Isa the IT boom is over on Teklas. All of the infrastructure is built, they only need caretakers now. All the smart people left while they still had the money and the rest are left working the street. Just like us.”
“We could still try,” mumbled Isa, wishing, not for the first time, that she had never come to Teklas.
“There, done,” said Tara smiling. “Now mine is a one in ten! You want me to do yours?”
“No way, I’m not risking it,” replied Isa.
“Why not, with your luck you’ll be fine. You always seem to slip under the cop’s radar. I don’t remember the last time they chased you.”
“Ha ha,” replied Isa sarcastically. “Let’s go, it’s cold tonight, I need to keep moving to stay warm.”
The two of them entered the street and gradually worked the length of it, one on either side. At all times they were discreet and constantly moved around. Whenever they spotted beat cops they either blended into the crowd or simply moved on in the opposite direction. Everything had been going well for over an hour and Isa had thoughts of warm coffee on her mind.
“Chance your luck sir? It’s a one in eight machine,” she said flashing the pokie as she walked, making her way along the street. The man stopped and nodded excitedly.
“Excellent! I was hoping to come across one of you lot tonight.”
He held out his palm flat in front of her and she quickly swiped the back of the machine over it so it was able to scan his credit chip. The fellow then grabbed the pokie and accessed funds from his account and transferred them into it.
Isa ushered him off to the side and sheltered him from direct view by standing in front of him and opening her coat, pretending to fish around for something inside as the man played.
With practiced ease Isa kept one eye on the man and the other on the street. The screen flashes reflected in the man’s eyes and gave his face an eerie glow. It always amazed Isa how much excitement the players got out of what was effectively a boring game of chance that was inevitably stacked in favour of the house. All for that one in several million chance of that one massive life changing payout.
The man quickly chewed through the fifty credits he had put on the machine and handed it back disappointed.
“You sure this thing is paying out at all?” he asked suspiciously.
“Oh yes sir,” assured Isa as she hastily brought up the payout history. “See sir just 15 minutes ago it paid two hundred and fifty credits.”
The man looked closely at the screen then shrugged.
“I guess it’s just not my night then. Sorry, but I think I’ll try another machine,” he said then briskly walked off.
Isa breathed a sigh of relief as she did whenever a customer challenged her. The illicit machines really were programmed to pay out minor amounts at one in eight odds, but gave zero chance of the major payout offered by the government sanctioned machines.
It felt like time for a break and she was about to cross the street to see if Tara wanted to stop for coffee when she heard someone shout from off to her left. She spun in alarm towards the sound to see two cops racing down the opposite sidewalk directly towards Tara. Tara saw them too, but when she tried to run she was held firmly in place by her last customer, a rather burly tattooed man who was clearly not very happy.
“You’re not going anywhere with five hundred credits of mine still in that machine bitch!” the m
an shouted.
Tara was madly trying to wrestle her arm free from the man while at the same time extracting the pokie from him. The cops were rapidly closing despite the heavy crowd. If Tara got caught running pokies again she would be dumped into the foundries for three months slave work for sure.
Even though it was going to put herself in direct danger Isa shoved her machine into her coat pocket and sprinted across the street, narrowly dodging oncoming traffic as she went. One of the cops noticed the commotion and pointed at her. The other cop was already shouting into his radio and calling for backup. Fortunately Isa was much closer to Tara than the cops and reached her first.
The man struggling with Tara did not see Isa approach from behind and was caught completely off guard by Isa’s mighty kick between his legs and up into his groin.
The man crumpled to the ground with an agonising moan. Unfortunately he dropped the pokie at the same time as he let go of Tara and it fell to the footpath directly underneath
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