11. Down On The Drag

Mona wakes as the plane lands in the northern Sprawl. Prior, now in a business suit, brushes aside Eddy’s scam talk and ushers them to a mid-tier hotel, warning Mona she’ll mostly stay in her room. He stocks the room with Angie stims, a deliberate comfort and distraction that plays to Mona’s fandom.

Alone, Mona showers and takes wiz, deciding she can start tapering even as she uses more. Afterward, Prior returns with Gerald, a medic. Gerald performs a brisk exam: ocular check, teeth, and a general assessment, noting her stimulant use but deeming it manageable. He reports Mona is close to the target’s parameters, needing only tint and minor cosmetic work, confirming she’s being prepared to approximate someone specific.

Upset that Eddy has a separate room and that Prior can enter at will, Mona takes more wiz. Restless and seeking crowds and music, she slips out of the hotel despite lacking a key, drawn by the city’s glitter and the promise of anonymity in motion.

On a busy plaza by a dry fountain, a trio—two women and a muscular pimp—move to block her. Reading the blonde’s warning look, Mona bolts. The pimp tears her disposable raincoat but she escapes into the flow of pedestrians.

The wiz turns on her; the city’s glamour becomes hostile and cold. She realizes her coat is ripped, panic surges, and she suffers a sharp crash that flips into a vivid memory of the old man’s place—catfish tanks, cornbread, and his strange books—before the street snaps back, leaving her shaken and exposed.