Kingdom of Without by Andrea Tang EPUB & PDF – eBook Details Online
- Status: Available for Free Download
- Author: Andrea Tang
- Language: English
- Genre: Alternative History
- Format: PDF / EPUB
- Size: 16.7 MB
- Price: Free
Phantoms
Getting around the city with only one leg, one arm, and not a single drop of
Complacency to compensate for a pair of inconveniently missing limbs was—to
Ning’er’s dismay—way harder than she remembered.
The wooden stick helped a little. You had to cling to the little things where
you could. Sometimes literally. So Ning’er clung to that flimsy little cane with all
her might. It might not be a real prosthetic, but it had kept her upright for two
blocks straight, which Ning’er counted as a win, however feeble. She shook her
head. What a way to spend a Saturday night in the Sixth Ring, mere blocks from
dirt-cheap nightlife. Instead of trolling for free drinks, here she was, dragging her
two-limbed—and honestly, probably pretty delirious—body toward the cave of
a workaholic who hated drinking and was also almost definitely going to yell at
her.
Ning’er sighed. It was a satisfyingly self-pitying little gust of air. “You
absolute fool,” she reprimanded herself, clucking her tongue, which no doubt
made her look even more like a madwoman than she already did. “Sell your
illegal prosthetics, Ning’er.” She grunted as her stick scraped along the poorly
paved street. “Don’t take the courtesy drugs the back-alley doctor offers for the
pain, Ning’er.” Her balance wobbled precariously for a moment, then held. “You
don’t want to end up back on Complacency like your old man, Ning’er.”
Gingerly, she took one step, planted the stick, then took another.
It had been a very long time since she’d had any fewer than three decently
functional limbs. Even before Ning’er had pawned her prosthetics—so, maybe
an hour ago—she’d been used to getting herself banged up. It came with the
territory when you lived in the Sixth Ring. If it wasn’t a bar fight in some seedy
dive, it was wear and tear from hard labor or getting caught out after curfew by
an aggressive patrol android. But usually, Ning’er’s body had the good sense to
only fuck with one major injury at a time. And three good limbs outnumbered
one bad one.
There wasn’t much you could do with one leg, one arm, and a wooden stick,
though.
It would have been a dreadfully depressing state of affairs, if not for three
things:
One, the guy who was—with any luck—about to yell at her was also a guy
who could fix pretty much anything.
Two, his workshop was a reasonably easy walk from the butcher shop clinic
that had torn Ning’er’s prosthetics from her body, so at least she didn’t have to
travel too far.
And three, as she dragged her sad, sorry carcass onto the workshop doorstep,
she saw a light flicker on inside.
A moment later, the latch on the door clicked.
“Took you long enough,” Ning’er rasped, before she pitched forward.
Powerful, well-tattooed arms caught her with the ease of long practice. The
stick clattered aside. “天啊,” sighed Ge Rong. “Ning’er, haven’t you learned
anything from the last time you sold my work on the black market?”
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