The Hookup: Science Fiction

We're all stars now, or at least that’s what the advertisements say. The gear and hookups are free, and after that it's just a matter of waiting to see if any credits flow in while you carry on with your ordinary life. That's how it's pitched. In reality, 9/10ths of the kind of people who sign up for the hookups have their own plan of how to make their life stand out in the streams, how to become rich and famous. It works for some of them. It kills a lot more of them, or at least wrecks their lives. And--I sighed--it also wrecks a lot of surrounding scenery. Two would-be divas had exploded over a man who looked rather bored, right while I was in the middle of my shift, so of course I had to clean it all up. Just as I finished sweeping the last glass shard out of the corner while apologizing to the group of (hookup-free) patrons in the corner, another man stopped by and watched. "Three thousand dollars," he said. "I beg your pardon?" I asked, trying to keep any offense out of my tone. It was entirely possible that he was making ordinary conversation, that he was not in fact making the kind of lewd suggestion that watching the cat-fight might make me expect--


Inspiration: "The Dope Show" - Marilyn Manson
Story potential: High.
Notes: He wants to pay her to get the hookups. Why? Don't do the obvious thing, with her immediately having people trying to kill her. Find something else interesting.