The Astral Hacker (Cryptopunk Revolution Book 1) by Brian Terenna (motivational books for women TXT) 📕

until I find a style that I like. I add the Silent City logo on one, then pick several more shirts and pairs of shorts.

“Print,” says Nav.

I grin as the shirt grows under the machine and then drops onto a shelf.

“Clothes printer,” says Nav. “It uses a synthetic material, and you can print any outfit.”

Nav prints her own clothes, and then we go down a hall to a shower. We take turns, and when we’re done, I feel much better.

“I have one more gift for you,” says Nav, now wearing a T-shirt with the anarchy logo. She hands me a q-link. “It’s the Lumicode 4000. They had an extra one. I know it must have been hard to lose yours.”

“Thank you. I love it.” I put it on my wrist and admire its oval face and slim blue band.

“Now, let’s go see what they have to eat around here,” she says. “You need to recover from that gunshot.”

We leave for the kitchen, and Sunny catches up to us.

Three people walk by with heaping plates of food. “Hey, Naveha,” says one.

She nods to him.

Americus leans against a wall next to the kitchen, eating the meal. I study his face, trying to place where I saw him. After a moment, I shrug.

A burly man, dressed in a button-down shirt under his vest, whistles as he cooks two pans of seasoned veggies and rice. A completed stir-fry and separate plates of meat sit on the counter. He wears a stamped silver bracelet on one arm and some kind of technological device next to his q-link on his other arm.

He stops and turns to us. “Naveha,” he says with a wide smile before hugging her. “I was worried about you. How’d you make it through the drone attack? It must have been harrowing.”

She shakes her head with a huff. “The government shouldn’t be allowed to use them on people.”

“This is the first time I’ve heard it happen,” he says.

She shrugs. “Fae and I destroyed several drones, but Alexander saved us in the end.”

Brandon winces at Alexander’s name, then turns to me. “Who’s your friend here?”

“Oh, sorry. This is Fae.”

He smiles at me as he adjusts his bracelet. “You know what? You look just like this friend I made when filming my adventure TV series in the Dominican Republic.”

Interesting. I wonder what it was about.

“Only your eyes are a much more beautiful shade of brown.”

I look down, my face suddenly hot and smile at the compliment. Something about him, though, tells me to stay away.

“I like your shirt,” says Brandon. “That’s Silent—”

“Watch out for this one,” says Alexander from behind me. “He’ll say anything to get you into bed.”

Oh. I step away from Brandon, crossing my arms.

Brandon scowls at Alexander, his eyebrows lowering. “Still bitter, I see.”

“Always will be,” he says, now dressed in a military shirt under his vest. His eyes bore into Brandon’s.

Nav looks between them, a frown of confusion on her face. I take another step back, worried it will come to blows. After a moment, the more muscular Brandon turns away.

“Just lay off of Fae,” says Alexander. “She just went through something traumatic.”

That was nice.

Alexander passes up Brandon’s stir-fry and grabs a can of soup. He tosses it to his other hand, then takes two more before leaving.

Brandon shakes his head with a scowl. “Noob,” he mumbles.

“I like your haircut Brandon,” says Nav as if trying to change the mood.

Brandon smiles. “I did it myself. My mom used to own a salon that I worked at when I was young.”

“I’ll have to hit you up at some point.”

“Anytime,” he says, looking into her eyes. “I’m sorry to hear about your husband.”

She rests her cybernetic hand on his shoulder. “Thanks, Brandon. That means a lot to me.”

 “Will you be joining us now?” he asks Nav. “Your kind heart always lights up this place.”

She smiles, looking flattered. “Thank you. That’s nice to hear. I’ll be sticking around…even though it’s hard to tolerate the boss.”

He nods knowingly. “Enjoy your lunch. We’ll catch up more later, Naveha.”

“Fae, grab a plate,” says Nav.

I grab one from a stack and load up with stir-fry.

“No meat?” she asks.

“Not for me.”

“Nice, me either,” she says. “Even though it’s all lab-grown now, I still can’t bring myself to eat it. You’ll like the vegetables, though. Brandon is quite the cook. He worked as a chief for a few years.” She prepares a plate, and we both walk to a bench.

Sunny sits next to me, and I pat his dented head. I want to talk to him about the day’s events, but it will have to wait.

Nav leans over. “Make sure he doesn’t give himself away. This crowd is less forgiving than I am.”

I don’t like the sound of that. I take a bite of the delicious meal as I look around the room. Americus sits at a table with some older men. They listen intently as he talks.

“There’s such an age difference here,” I say.

“Patriotism is for all ages,” says Nav. “At least that’s what Americus would say.”

“It seems like you don’t really fit in with your views.”

“I believe in complete freedom, but we all agree that the National Intelligence Agency’s creation was unconstitutional.”

“Screw them,” I say, then notice Brandon talking to some younger woman who giggles. “What was Brandon’s TV show?”

“Isn’t that cool? It was a rewrite of this old show called Lost, where this group of people crashes on an island, and weird things happen to them. It was fantastic, but they canceled it after one season. Bad timing, I guess.”

“So, what happened between Brandon and Alexander?”

Nav shrugs. “I was wondering the same thing. I’ve only been here a few times. I’m