The swarmcraft hugs the edge of Chinatown. NPC-X40 walks into Hankook Sarang and orders sam gye tang and a Gorkha Strong. The clouds threaten a downpour.
“Namaste…”
“Namaste.”
How happy are the goldfish in their pond, the NPC thinks. How like us, bit-part players. The restaurant’s kitten stares at me agog.
“Namaste baini… kasto gyani biralo… cutie… Q.T.”
The waitress listens.
Tomorrow it will be Dashain 1st and they will leave the city. Nepal’s biggest festival. Some will stay, mostly Non-Player Characters and the bideshi. Androids and whiteys. They will hang around doing nothing.
“It’s like a holiday for me.”
The waitress laughs.
“Where do you go for Dashain, baini?”
“I am Buddhist.”
Just now another waiter brings the chicken soup.
“Oh, dhanyabad, brother. Dherai ramro. Tasty.”
It’s like a holiday for me.
Already there are fewer manche with their halla. Men…
For a week the LARP stops, and they leave me alone.
Maybe I will breathe.
Walking through the belly of Thamel, NPC-X40 smells frying chicken feet again and remembers when he had that for dinner. There’s a stray dog sniffing at his knees, then another one, and another one, so the owner of the khaja ghar shoos them away with a kitchen knife. Are the stray dogs NPCs? Now the rain comes so he opens his umbrella. But still my feet get wet. My little toes…
In his bed back in Gokarna he’s like a jewel sheltering from a sandstorm. He plugs his ears with white noise generators and lies in the foetal position. The swarmcraft are looking for me, I must have broken some rule or other. He doesn’t think of sleep. He stares at the blue wall. I don’t want to lose my visa… I’m enjoying Kathmandu.
Where shall I go?
What shall I do?
Assess NPC-X40… Check movement.
<Movement normal.>
Search interactions. Network check.
<OK-chief. Scanner on.>
<<Network is normal.>>
“Try again,” said the officer.
I should find a real job. And some real friends. Every day I am living in fear. But who isn’t…
It was late October when the rain at last came. The droid knocked on his door and when he didn’t answer it barked MAKING ENTRY.
He was frying some eggs at the time and when he saw the thing like a giant cockroach on the threshold of his bitter world he fell back into the LPG bottle and the pan flew off the cooker.
STAY CALM STAY CALM
He could hear people laughing in the stairwell, a family. Mr. Sherpa and his children.
…must have broken some rule or other…
<Retired-chief. NPC-X40. Moving cargo.>
<Roger.>
The swarmcraft was flying low above Amrit Marg when they vaporised his body. The ship’s gut was unlatched, offloading his corpse. As it slid from their umbrellas into the gutters, the routine sky-burial went unnoticed by the tourists and the dope-peddlers.
<Regenerate NPC. New model.>
<On-it-chief.>
Then the officer sunk the dregs from his bottle of Gorkha Strong and watched the river.
“I’m finished.”
“So what now?” asked the deputy. “Another drink?”
“Now? Forget it, bhai. This is Thamel. Nothing ever happens here.”
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I really enjoyed this. Quite compelling from the get-go.