Read Division Zero for Free Online Page B

take one of theirs home at least?”
    She closed her eyes and bonked her head back into the window several times. “I can afford a car; I can’t afford the insurance.”
    “Heh, I hear that,” said a man a few seats over.
    “Well then, take your patrol unit home.”
    She almost blushed. “I don’t know… I’m not sure I want to have it around the apartment.”
    A few of the passengers looked at her with raised eyebrows.
    He made a dismissive wave. “Oh, I’m sure you’ll be fine.”
    She remained silent through several more minutes of paternal nattering, embarrassed at having her father follow her to work like a third grader on her way to school. Kirsten tried her best to tune him out.
    The PubTran stopped at a traffic signal. Through the window, she caught a glimpse of a middle-aged guy in a mangled grey suit stumbling around among six lanes of oncoming traffic. Kirsten made a squeaking cringe as a car lined him up for a head-on. He turned to face it just as it hit. The impact dispersed him into a cloud of fog for a second before he coalesced, facing the other way with his middle finger aimed at the driver.
    She deflated in her seat. From the look on his face, he had no idea what happened to him. No traces of a wreck remained in the road; he had to have been there for some days now. Kirsten watched his confused wander as the PubTran pulled away. He turned and stared, making eye contact for just a second.
    Oh, great, he knows I saw him.
He trotted after the bus, raising his hand in a pleading wave. She hung her head.
I’ll try to find time to come back here later.
    “They certainly seem to have taken good care of you at the school, dear.” Her father looked her over. “I’m not so sure about happy, but you look healthy.”
    “I’m
fine,
dad. I can get to work on my own.”
    A few people on the bus turned to look. An older woman gave her a disapproving smirk while muttering something about drugs. Kirsten looked away from her father, staring through the window. His continued attempts at small talk met with the occasional smirk, but no reply. She figured it made him feel better to ‘guard’ her. As usual, he did what he wanted to do, indifferent to the opinions of the women in his life.
    The PubTran came to a halt at the next stop. She kept her head down amidst the jostling of people shuffling on board at the beginning of their daily drudgery. A sudden muting of her father’s continued rambling made her look. A well-dressed man had just taken the same seat, his presence smothering the voice. She snickered at the sight of an extra pair of arms protruding from this man’s chest. His hands swiped at the man’s face, feeling around as if to ascertain why he sounded like he had wet towels over his mouth.
    The suit smiled, despite her frumpy sweats.
Six empty seats and he lands in the one right next to me
. The look on his face betrayed the inevitable cheesy introduction. As he started talking, she let the air out of her lungs. Predictably enough, he thought she was a poor, working-class girl he could impress with his salary and suit. She offered a pleasant reply, but did her best to look disinterested. A wave of intensity came from her father, making the man shiver.
    “That seat’s a bit drafty.” She pointed up at the roof vent. “You might want to move over one.”
    Her father stood out from inside the man and turned on him with an indignant glare. His face softened, realizing the futility of being angry with a living person for not noticing him there.
    The man kept trying to make small talk with her for the rest of the ride. She must have had sorrowful eyes, because he had taken on a protector’s tone and tried to ask what was wrong. She did not tell him she felt sad at just another superficial douche wanting nothing more than a place to dock his unit for a few nights. It pained her to ignore men being this lonely, but she wanted more than what they were offering.
    Kirsten leapt from her seat before the