This was peak Status World: the tables were alive, music pounding at interconnected clubs, and MACEI's holograms buzzing overhead across every table game and slot. Goldstar, alias chosen, "DiamondHands", moved toward the FRAPS table Kevin's voice still echoing in her mind from their chat: Find the loudest table. High energy equals high payout. Step in like you belong. GTFO.
The FRAPS pit pulsed. A massive glass block that acted as the FRAPS table floated via quantum tech, 4ft above the floor, its frosted surface illuminated by cascading holograms: odds, numbers, usernames, emojis, all projected in shimmering light with accompanying sound effects. Whatever the chipheads were capable of seeing was even more immersive. A tiny MACEI avatar zipped into view:
"New player detected. Mink-Link or say your name outloud to join."
Goldstar's false confidence was rising. "DiamondHands." She shouted, finding it interesting that within the walls of Status World the chipped were encouraged to occasionally speak with their real mouths opposed to just Mind-Linking. In other parts of society and throughout areas she had snooped around in Los Angeles, speaking was essentially forbidden and mostly forgotten.
"DiamondHands to the FRAPS!" the MACEI avatar announced, and the table's dealers echoed, "DiamondHands, to the FRAPS! The table's hot, you've got this!" The corporation was of course very enthusiastic about players losing all of their money. It just meant additional indentured servitude once Monday hit.
A floating glass dish zipped across the table with small drone blades propelling it. She shook her 9,000 F8-coin stack of NiGHTSHIFT-issued chips, as Anya had taught her, and dropped them on the flying surface. Light rippled across the FRAPS table, registering her entry.
The current round was already in play. A woman beside her, dressed in a silver top and tight purple skirt that gleamed under the projections, flicked her hand with practiced intent. The holographic 3D dice skipped and animated across the glowing surface. Goldstar noted the positioning of the woman's fingers, and how she flicked the holo-dice.
"Hard Six! Making coin the hard way!" the dealer cried with hype.
"Yessss, you know me! I love it the hard way!" the woman shouted, her voice oozing with sensation and greed. A deposit of holographic chips erupted in her balance tally visible to all at the table.
Goldstar blinked, stunned. "No way…"
The woman caught her look and grinned. "That's right, babe. The name's Luna Luck. And they don't call me that for nothing. These heels I have on are from last week's payout, they cost some people's whole life." It was true, Luna had just won more money in a single bet than she had earned doing any odd jobs or sketchy hacking gigs in her entire unchipped life.
MACEI's hologram flared up virtual confetti, reading: HARD SIX WINNER, LUNA LUCK! The pit of players cheered around them.
Goldstar glanced back at her own position. Kevin's strategy notes played out in her mind, guiding her bets. Her aim, leave the table with the same amount of money Luna Luck had secured, enough to fuel more than her escape mission with her new alien g00-filled friend.
"Shooooooooooterrrrrr you're up!" a male player at the table yelled, barely able to hold in his excitement. Another chimed in replying back to him "I hope she doesn't fuck this up. Never seen her shoot before." Luna butt in with support "Boys boys boys, if the babes on my side of the table, you already know she's a winner."
Goldstar pondered the holo-dice, lifting her right hand up mimicking Luna's previous finger gestures. The dice spawn between her fingers. A diamond-and-hands emoji flickered onto the table revealing it was her turn. She shot the dice. They landed on a 5 and 3, 8.
"Eight on the board!" the dealer called. "Give me all the hard ways and press the four." Goldstar commanded, mimicking Luna and the other players FRAPS language. "Done." The MACEI Avatar said, populating her bets onto the table. Goldstar shot again, the holo-dice rolled across the table in slow motion, two pairs of snake eyes hitting. "HARD FOUR!" the dealer shout
A burst of digital fireworks flared over her name, a large projection of Liander Xang emit from the center of the table. "Well Played DiamondHands", his fake avatar concluded. Goldstar would usually be disgusted by the sight of Liander, but in her current state wasn't phased, she slapped her hand over her mouth in shock, her dopamine spiking upwards instantly. The table erupted in cheers, glasses clinking, players slapping hands, giving fist bumps, and tossing back their drinks. She had successfully hit a bet that secured her more money then she ever had. Scantily dressed cyberpunk looking servers scurried by with additional trays of Clarity coded cocktails to keep the vibes and bad decision making high. For the chipped these drinks produced euphoric illusions, but for Goldstar and any unchipped, it was just plain water in a fancy glass. She took a sip anyway, remembering m00m's advice about staying hydrated, while also forcing herself to blend in.
"Yup, just tap water" she quietly muttered to herself under her breath, a little disappointed.
Luna leaned in, mouth slightly open with her lips and two of her teeth brushing her ear with deliberate intimacy, her breath warm against Goldstar's skin. "It might just be water for you," she whispered almost erotically, "but for everyone else? It's pure ecstasy."
"That's also why I brought this." Luna slid a small triangular metal vial into Goldstar's palm, the liquid inside glowing faint green. "Two drops, and you'll finally feel what the rest of us do. Or maybe it'll do something entirely different for someone like you…" Luna added with a dangerous smirk, her eyes drifting upwards suspiciously to the temple where Goldstar's fake glued on Clarity chip clung, sweat loosening its grip.
Goldstar froze. Was she just caught? The music, the cheering, the flashing lights, the euphoria of greed, all of it dimmed away as she froze to that terrifying possibility…