Metropolis wasn't a bad place, but it wasn't a good one either.

A CRUEL CYBER SUMMER NIGHT is a novella in the LIQUID COOL sci-fi/cyberpunk detective series.

It's a world of colossal skyscrapers. Hovercars fly above in the dark, rainy skies and gray people walk below on the grimy, hard streets in the "Neon Jungle." Uber-governments and megacorporations fight for control of the super-city, but so does crime.

In the distance, I could see the light show of red and blue flashing sirens. Did this mean that the official days of "cyber summer" had begun? The season of summer was a relative term in Metropolis, since it rained all the time.

Metropolis had its crime: tech hustlers, neon gangsters, samurai street soldiers, cyborg psychos, etc. "Cyber summer" was that time of the year when the "normal" mayhem of the streets increased. I was in one of three professions that lived in the mayhem: police, hospitals, and private detectives like me.

There are a million victims and perpetrators in this High-Tech, Low-Life World.

I was headed to see the client and as long as I avoided any laser-gun shootouts, I'd consider the night a good one.