影の華, (Kage No Hana) is another of Saito-Gumi’s casinos located on the Nevada side of Tahoe. It is where Inger and Tala are headed. Lake Tahoe is a border town in 2125. The border crossing is controlled by loyalists to Primaris Solenne Vexton Ulyth. Ulyth is the war lord who controls what used to be Berkeley, CA and is now named The Citadel. You can read the full story here.
Inger and Tala are at the Fairfield Inn in Winnemucca, NV. The drive from the casino to the hotel was uneventful. They left on New Year’s Eve, 2124 early enough to make their 3pm check-in. Both Inger and Tala usually work New Year’s Eve. It’s a good night for tips. The reason for the trip is a boy who didn’t listen when Inger refused him.
Guys take their shots. They do that until a woman says, “yes.” Then things progress to either marriage or a break-up. The claim that sex should be easy and minimally consequential is older than the Beat Generation. But it is the Beats that popularized Free Love. And this boy doesn’t want free love. He wants to own the love he seeks. Some wants go unfulfilled.
Breakfast
Inger and Tala checked out of the Fairfield Inn and drove to Sid’s Restaurant. They were seated quickly. A tale of two apetites: for Inger the menu was problematic. For Tala the menu was trouble for a different reason. There is no steamed rice or sawsawan. Inger ordered the vegetable omelete and tea. This was the best she could do in this foreign food land outside the Paradise Resort and Casino. This place was a temple to bad food choices.
Tala squirmed in her seat, “there is nothing to order. I’ll just get tea.”
“You should eat. We don’t know what the road is like. This might be the last decent place to eat between here and San Lorenzo,” said Inger.
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure,” nodding to the waitress.
“Chicken fried steak. My Mom used to make that. Can I get that? I mean, it’s expensive,” as Tala reconsiders tea.
“Get it. You need it.”
This is the answer Tala was hoping for. She turns to the waitress, “Can I get the chicken fried steak with coffee and cranberry juice?”
“And for you, Mam?”
Inger felt a little flash of home. Mam was for married women. Manners, though, said the move is to let that go, “I’ll have the vegetable omelete and tea.”
“Sure thing.” The waitress disappeared to the kitchen to put in the order.
The Road Ahead
While they waited for their breakfast at Sid’s, the waitress had just poured refills when Tala leaned in, voice low over the clatter of plates.
“Is the road clear?” Inger pulled out her palm-sized Hive node—styled like an old chrome radio, but pulling real-time mesh feeds from Starlink ghosts and scattered Caltrans relays. She thumbed it awake, the screen flickering pale blue.
“Let me look.” She scrolled through the fragmented reports, eyes narrowing. “It snowed heavy on Donner Pass last week. But it warmed up enough that plow crews got in and cleared the main highway. At altitude, though… more snow’s forecast. Fresh stuff coming in tonight into tomorrow. Chains might be back up by the time we hit the summit.”
Unchained Wheels
Tala bit her lip, glancing out the window where snow already dusted the parking lot. “So… we might need to chain up again?”
“Maybe.” Inger set the node down, screen still glowing with grainy cam feeds from the pass: plowed lanes flanked by towering snowbanks, visibility low, a few rigs crawling through. “The muteki‘s got the torque for it. We just take it slow. No hero moves.”
Tala nodded, but her fingers twisted the edge of her napkin. “Girl, this feels… real now.”
Inger met her eyes, a small, steady smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. “We’ve got this.”
The waitress slid their plates in front of them—vegetable omelet steaming for Inger, chicken fried steak golden and gravy-rich for Tala. For a moment, the diner warmth pushed back the cold outside.
Tala exhaled, picking up her fork. “Inger na. Let’s eat fast.”
The breakfast went down quick. Plates cleared, bill settled, they stepped back into the biting air, boots crunching on fresh powder. The muteki waited, engine already humming from a quick preheat. Chains still on from the earlier squall, ready if the pass demanded more.
One more leg to Reno, then the real climb. The road wasn’t clear—not completely—but it was open. And for two women who refused to turn back, that was enough.
無敵
A light snow began to fall in Winnemucca as they left Sids and got back into the truck. Inger unlocks the fuel door with a key, switches the battery disconnect to “on” and gets in, “It got COLD quick!”
“Yeah. Let’s go. Turn the heat on.”
“Gotcha” Inger turned the key in the cab to “On” (that’s two power keys) and pressed the start button. The twelve-valve clattered to life and settled into a noisy cold idle.
Tala reached for the heater controls. A switch with detents for low to high speed for the fan, another switch to direct heat to the floor or the dash, and a temperature slider from off to full on. She pushed the fan to high and the temperature control to hot, “Still warming up, let’s go”
Sid’s sits on West Winnemucca Boulevard. The interstate looms just beyond, a wide, straight ribbon of concrete that used to carry the whole flow of America west. In the old days, you’d hop on I-80 westbound in a heartbeat; now, with maintenance spotty and loyalist eyes everywhere, the on-ramp feels like a gateway to whatever the road wants to throw next.
Inger slid behind the wheel, the heavy door thunking shut. Tala buckled in, thermos of diner coffee still warm between them. “West it is,” Inger said, tapping the start button. The Cummins clattered awake, low and steady.
I80W
From the lot, they pulled right onto West Winnemucca Boulevard—heading west already, parallel to the interstate. The road runs straight for a mile or so, past faded motels, a gas station that’s more relic than business, and the occasional drifting drone scanning plates. Snowflakes danced in the headlights, catching on the windshield wipers Inger flicked on with a casual swipe.
The boulevard dips gently, then rises to meet the I-80 interchange—Exit 176, where US-95 peels north but the big lanes continue straight west. Inger eased the truck onto the on-ramp. No toll scanners here yet (Saito-Gumi hasn’t bothered this far east), just a faded sign half-buried in snow: I-80 West – Reno 165 miles.
The merge was smooth—the 無敵の torque pulling them up and over, Inger cleanly shifting through the gears as they transitioned from city pavement to the open highway. Once on, the lanes opened wide: two lanes westbound, empty in the gray morning light, sagebrush flats stretching out under a low sky. The wind pushed drifts across the road in lazy waves, but the plows had been through recently enough to leave a clear path—blacktop peeking through white.
Easy Roads
Tala glanced at the rearview. “Feels like we’re leaving the last bit of town behind.”
“We are. I have a contact in Lake Tahoe who can help us with paperwork,” said Inger. The muteki settled into its rhythm. Winnemucca faded in the mirrors while the high desert unfolded ahead, vast and unforgiving, carrying them toward Battle Mountain, the Ruby Mountains, and the long climb into the Sierra.
That done, they went outside, fueled up, and got back on I80 West to continue to their next overnight at Harrah’s in Lake Tahoe. 無敵 settled in to a comfortable 90mph on clear roads. So . . . one thing I haven’t mentioned because it seemed two obvious to bother. In 2125 the car radio is a bit better. Apple Car Play, of course, and an LTE data connection to the Hive Mind, a mesh network connecting the majority of devices that use what the Internet became. Muteki’s “radio” is a bit of design “fool the eye”.
Two hours in, Loves in Fernley NV was the next stop. I80 was clear so they made good time. Loves was a snack and piss break. Tala topped up her thermos with coffee. Also bought dried mangos and string cheese, “Wait—may Arby’s sila? For real? Okay, roast beef sandwich na ako.” Inger followed her into the Arby’s to wait for her. She was anxious to get to Tahoe but there was time for a roast beef sandwich.
Hot Hits AM 880
Behind a painted wood grain, carbon fiber shell is a Hive Node named Kenji. Kenji is voice controlled. He also has a touch-screen in the center of the dash. Kenji is voiced as Japanese. He also talks shit when the occasion arises, like if someone tries to steal Muteki. The look and feel is of an Art Deco face plate. The default image on the touch screen is of a pre-war (WWII) tube radio. Until you speak to it or touch the screen. Then Kenji wakes up.
Kenji also wakes up when there is a notification, “Just so you know, Border Crossings in Tahoe are worse. The guards have invented new demands for compliance.”
“Awesome sauce!” said Inger with snark dripping from her voice.
“I wouldn’t worry. The word is there is a guard in Tahoe asking for Tastycake Butterscotch Crumpets. The move is to leave a box visible.”
“Gotcha”, said Inger. Tala giggled, “Snacks? All that for snacks?”
Kenji, “Yep.”
Tala, “Annoying.”
“Can you get what we need? Our next stop is Harrah’s in Tahoe,” asked Inger.
“I’ll try. Getting anything here from Pennsylvania is difficult.”
“Appreciate you.”
Ridin
Through the dash radio, “Alright, alright, you degenerates tuning in from the sprawl—this is Howard, live on the mighty AM880. Listen, I love this track—it’s got that perfect mix of paranoia and swagger, like you’re rollin’ dirty through the neon jungle! Crank this bad boy up, babies—here comes “Ridin'” by Chamillionaire, the one that makes the cops hate and the streets love… don’t get caught, or do, I don’t care—just turn it loud enough to piss off your neighbor’s neural nanny! Let’s go!”