{"id":362,"date":"2026-07-19T11:45:33","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T09:45:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cdillingerbooks.com\/?page_id=362"},"modified":"2026-07-19T11:45:33","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T09:45:33","slug":"teaser-aurore","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/cdillingerbooks.com\/?page_id=362","title":{"rendered":"Teaser &#8211; Aurore"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Aurore Ashley is plumber. Plain plumber, unusual in London, where so many MultiTools can perform tasks faster by attaching screwdrivers bits and spanners to fingertips or palms. Still. She\u2019s got steady work, mostly posh. Plains households who don\u2019t want <em>noocompletes<\/em> in their homes, who don\u2019t trust, who don\u2019t do equality bullshit. She <em>looks<\/em> safe. Kids in these houses are taught Mods are monsters in wardrobe, witches with moles, and Aurore kinda cute, polite, and above all: <em>whole<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She\u2019s Guild Member proper though. She displays CAU MultiTools badge with pride (a provocative adjustable spanner head crossed with hammer in oldskool Soviet red), and fellow workers know of her: she\u2019s one of a handful of Plains to be Union in the whole of London. She chose that path because, one, CAU has infrastructure in place that provides her with contracts, and two because she could have been hand-pierced just like them. Something happened on her eighteenth birthday though, and she didn\u2019t, in the end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She woke up with buzz in her head, five years ago, on her day off. Eighteen today, already one-year orphan, living in warren rented with parents\u2019 meagre inheritance. Through morning ablutions to breakfast, a steady hum crossing frequencies, like oldskool radiodialing. Then the noise settling into number string repeated in loop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>9853562951413<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Around midday, a comm from unknown sender, opening to crisp minimalist logo and cursives spelling Bern KantonalBank Internationale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Dear Aurore Fletcher. Welcome. blablabla. Activated today. Secure line. Identifier. blablabla.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Exit to white page with single blinking vertical bar in centre. Normally she wouldn\u2019t, but. If spam, it\u2019s too dated, too obvious. Quaint. <em>And this number in her head<\/em>&#8230; On impulse, she\u2019d entered it. As if pushed, remoted. New screen with name, <em>her<\/em> name, and another number. It\u2019d taken her a few mos before realising new number was Sterling Pound amount.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She\u2019d stared at comm for a while, then checked credentials: not con, coz bank name&amp;address looked legit. Bern, Switzerland, home of banks, BKI apparently kosher. When doorvid had pinged, she\u2019d jumped. Delivery guy handing over envelope for which she\u2019d thumbprinted receipt. Back inside, envelope had revealed creditcard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>The fuck?<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Aurore Ashley is plumber. Plain plumber, unusual in London, where so many MultiTools can perform tasks faster by attaching screwdrivers bits and spanners to fingertips or palms. Still. She\u2019s got steady work, mostly posh. Plains households who don\u2019t want noocompletes in their homes, who don\u2019t trust, who don\u2019t do equality bullshit. She looks safe. Kids [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-362","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cdillingerbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cdillingerbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cdillingerbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cdillingerbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cdillingerbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=362"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cdillingerbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/362\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":363,"href":"https:\/\/cdillingerbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/362\/revisions\/363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cdillingerbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}