Up The Tower Read Online Free Page A

hands.
    Ana was pretty. She was too tall, she knew, to ever be taken seriously enough as a real powerhouse beauty. She hoped in maybe a couple of years, when she was twenty-one and had safely stopped growing, that Raj would pay for some height reductions. Raj could afford such procedures. His chin and his jawline, for example, were entirely artificial. They suited him—strong, sharp lines of tech implants covered over with dark bioskin fabric.
    Raj ran a business contracted under Trandam, which was under GenEnTo which was under Barbacoa which was under Woodflap, which was under the inescapable umbrella of Tri-American. With only four corps away from the tip-top, Raj was on his way up in the world. He was handsome, with a short dark beard that contrasted neatly with his tanned skin. He had dark eyes that glittered in the dark when he said nice things to her in his bed. She liked all these things about him—his eyes, his handsomeness, and most especially his ability to get her out of Junktown.
    His business, Choice Thought, offered choice consultation to the Tri-American folks in the surrounding region. Soon, powered by Tri-American’s money, they hoped to become a national entity.
    Choice consultation was an outgrowth of the overwhelming possibilities of entertainment and direction offered to the employee class. A person could spend every hour of their life soaking up just three channels of cable and never once watch the right thing. It was a sad state of affairs. When a person was required to spend a quarter of their income—disposable or not—on products sponsored by Tri-American, they wanted to make sure they were getting their money’s worth.
    In an odd hiccup, Choice Thought was actually not sponsored as a product by Tri-American, so people could spend their money on the service assisting them with what to buy without actually burning up their requirement to spend. This was said to be a courtesy for the consumer.
    Raj’s business had started with entertainment—what channels to watch, what shows to binge through. When that business picked up, Choice Thought expanded to other areas—places to eat, diets to maintain, where to live, what to wear, who to be seen with, who to date, where to go to school, what careers to pursue. The contracts were ironclad, and everyone who signed one also signed up to be a spokesperson for Choice Thought. Failure to comply, like failure to comply with any contract, sent a person off to the gulag.
    Choice Thought offered packages—you could buy singles, in threes or fives or bulk, even. You could tailor the kinds of choices, restricting them purely to social activity, for example, or gambling up and choosing economic activity or lifestyle choices. The first choice was free. Usually, Raj had explained to her, they offered something simple and guaranteed to satisfy. Dropping sugar out of a diet. Eating blueberries for lunch, but only the synth-organic kind. Things like that. Things with tangible, bodily results. This drew folks in.
    Feeling bored with their romantic life not too long ago, after more than six months of dating, Raj had suggested she buy a package. Raj told her to do things by suggesting them, but it was telling, all the same. This is how Ana wound up exercising more than she ever studied, and getting a regular new hairdo every other Thursday at the second-most expensive salon in town (Raj paid for half). As a result, so far, she felt tired most of the time, and also had begun to feel as though her appearance was some sort of doll’s game to Raj; a doll’s game that he portioned out to dolls higher up on the totem pole than Ana.
    Raj's business was very specific, very thorough. She knew that these activities he picked out for her were ones she enjoyed. She just didn't enjoy them yet, that was all. There were no errors by Choice Thought, simply errors by users.
    “We’re really getting a lot of funding,” said Raj, gently inspecting a cleanbot as it brush-shuffled up a