Bad Hand: Aces High, Jokers Wild, #0

By O. E. Tearmann

Jump into this fun, spooky short with your favorite queer cyberpunk cast!

Tweak gets a nickname.

Naomi gets to lend a hand.

The Wildcards get a little more than they signed up for.

Maybe they'll think before they pull pranks next time.
...or maybe not.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Amphibian Press
• Release date: Oct 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9781949693577

Book preview

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.

BAD HAND

Copyright © 2019 by O. E. Tearmann

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher at the address below.

Amphibian Press

P. O. Box 190

West Peterborough NH

03468

www. amphibianpressbooks. com

www. aceshighjokerswild. com

Printed in the United States of America

All songs quoted are properties solely of their authors and have been quoted under Fair Use standards. All songs quoted are given a full citation in the back of the book.

ISBN: 978-1-949693-57-7

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Timestamp: 0730-10-30-2156

I swear, if they prank me one more time! Just one more time, and I’ll— Naomi Headly mimed an uppercut with her prosthetic arm.

Tweak caught the taller woman’s plastic wrist mid-swing. If you don’t hold still, I c-can’t get the s-s-shaving c-cream out.

Naomi sighed, and let her shoulder relax. The servos and motors inside the black plastic of her arm eased down into the rest position, except for the fingers. Those were gummed up with dried shaving cream, and they were stuck in all kinds of weird angles now that Naomi had tried to make a fist with them. Tweak suppressed a laugh, biting her lip instead. How’d they d-do this? she asked, busying her fingers with the ion wand she used to clean out the works of Naomi’s prosthetic.

They snuck into my room while I was sleeping. Put on white noise filters so I couldn’t hear them moving. And filled my off-hand with shaving cream, Naomi admitted in a grumble. I got the stuff all over the damn bed. Had to strip the sheets. And it was in my hair. And the heat off the arm’s servos melted it into the works. And I’m about this close to killing Sarah and Yvonne.

Nah, Tweak waved her free hand in dismissal as she pulled the ion cleaning case and the micro-utility case off the wall where she’d started keeping them since her commander’s sister had come to their Democratic State Force unit.

Well, on paper they were a unit. Nobody used the word ‘unit’. They were