“I’m so happy I can do this for you, daddy,” Amanda said as she approved the transaction. Ten thousand dollars was a lot of money, but it was worth it. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she thought of finally being able to do something for her father, dead this last decade. She’d just sent the money to the account of an organization that cared for injured racehorses in his name.
“Thank you sweetie.” Her father’s voice was distant, but she could see him clearly, floating in the dark room. “I don’t think I’ll be able to come back again. The wall between our worlds is getting stronger. Goodbye.”
He faded away.
“Goodbye daddy,” she cried.
***
“The money’s in,” Josef said in a university dorm half a world away. “Did you get her passwords?”
“Every one,” Vittoria said.
“Good. Put them in the file. We’ll use them in a month or so.”
Vittoria raised a glass. “Here’s to whoever thought it was a good idea to implant augmented reality cellphones into people’s heads.”
Josef raised his own. “And here’s to the morons who believe they’re unhackable.”
“Unhackable? Hah!”
They drank. Amanda had paid for the wine.
Gustavo Bondoni is a novelist and short story writer with over four hundred stories published in fifteen countries, in seven languages. He is a member of Codex and a Full Member of SFWA. He has published six science fiction novels including one trilogy, four monster books, a dark military fantasy and a thriller. His short fiction is collected in Pale Reflection (2020), Off the Beaten Path (2019), Tenth Orbit and Other Faraway Places (2010) and Virtuoso and Other Stories (2011). In 2019, Gustavo was awarded second place in the Jim Baen Memorial Contest and in 2018 he received a Judges Commendation (and second place) in The James White Award. He was also a 2019 finalist in the Writers of the Future Contest. His website is at www.gustavobondoni.com.
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