Neptune Road Volume IV (7 page)

"Yeah, he looks really weird," May says.

098 - A Limousine in Scar City

Sam and Rebecca have traded the back of an unmarked
white van and two thugs for a limousine and several people in
identical dark suits and sunglasses. These have to be Casino
personnel - no one else runs around in matching outfits like that.
The two of them have been installed in the back, their new
entourage ignore them in the front.

"Hey, did you read that note?" Rebecca asks.

"What? Oh! Right. I totally forgot. We were supposed
to be at Darby's because it was quiet, right? That turned out
great," Sam says, digging in his pockets.

"You had a little fan club," Rebecca says. "Normally
people leave you alone, at Darby's. Something's changed over
there."

"Here it is," Sam says, unfolding a piece of
paper.

"You can discard that," a voice says over a speaker
inside the car. "It was from us. Then we heard you were getting
arrested, so we just picked you up."

"Um, okay, thanks," Sam says. He unfolds the paper
anyway. Sure enough, it's Casino. There's a gold Casino logo
stamped in the bottom center. Above it is a handwritten note:

WE REQUIRE YOUR ASSISTANCE TO RETRIVE AN ITEM.

"That's it?" Rebecca asks, leaning in to read. The
folks in the limo haven't even bothered to take her gun. The
concept of "arrest" in Scar City is a loose one.

"They want my mad skills," Sam says, grinning. "to
retrieve an item. I wonder what the job pays."

"Indemnity," the voice says through the speaker.

"Indemnity? From what? For what?" Sam asks. There is
no answer.

"They seem to think they have something on you,"
Rebecca says. "That doesn't explain why I am still here."

Nothing through the speaker. The limo winds through
city streets, people, vehicles, storefronts, gleaming lobbies,
lights, and the rest of the life that populates the ground level of
Scar City.

Soon the car veers to the left and down a ramp
underneath a building. They curve around and around until they come
out into a wide, low-ceilinged concrete area lit with rows of
sickly yellow fluorescent lights. They park and the suits get out.
One of them, a man with enormous shoulders, takes off his shades,
tucks them in a breast pocket, and opens the door for the two
passengers.

"I guess this is where we get off?" Sam asks.

"Don't be a comedian," Rebecca says, elbowing him.
"Eyes and ears open." Always the captain.

They climb out.

099 - Agent Millman's Apartment

David Millman, Agent, stops in to check his anonymous
post office box. There's another package, this time it's smaller.
Just a thick envelope. He takes it up to his apartment.

Some haggling down at street level has resulted in
Millman gaining possession of several large, digital display boards
which he has leaned up against the interior walls. This only serves
to further emphasize the industrial appearance of the unfurnished,
concrete-floored apartment.

He peels open the envelope and pulls out a series of
small cards, each of which he inserts into a slot on the side of
one of the display boards. The boards come to life with diagrams,
schematics, personnel, and the recent history of an organization
called Vertical Technologies.

The contents of the box from earlier have been laid
in neat rows on the floor. Some of these turned out to be copies or
photographs of hand-written notes, seemingly taken from an
engineer's notebook. Many of them are written backwards or in code.
The first task will be to translate it all and index it.

Actually, his first task is to place pieces of tape
over all of the cameras at the tops of the boards, so EarthAdmin
can't pop in any time they like.

And, to set the outer windows to blur, so the folks
he knows are looking in from across the street can't read the
details on his case.

"I suppose I ought to let that Edward chap find me,
and see what he wants," Millman says out loud to himself. He knows
the young man from Darby's is in the hotel a block away. It's his
job to know when he is being followed. He's an agent. Edward must
have something important, to have come down here from Darby's.
Usually those folks keep to themselves.

"Perhaps I will invite him to meet me for tea, like
he did with that other fellow from the soccer game."

100 - Bridge of the Tumbleweed

"Did you get another scan?" May asks Philo. The two
of them and Feller have been huddled on the Tumbleweed bridge for
hours, while Dr. Mangrove has found excuse after excuse to walk in
and out of his workshop - and through the scanner.

"Yes, this one is better," Philo says. "But still no
components or alterations present."

"This is ridiculous," Feller says. "It's like, Dr.
Mangrove has something wrong, but he can't tell us, but the Bird
People put something in him, but we can't find it, and if he tells
us, it will crush his head or something. Makes no sense."

"When I saw the Birds' lab, they were doing a lot of
stuff with people's circulatory systems," May says. "Pulling their
whole veins out and stuff. It was disgusting."

"Perhaps we ought to focus there, then," Philo says,
calling up a schematic of Dr. Mangrove's circulation from the scan.
His screen lights up with veins, and blood flow moving through.
Nothing seems unusual.

"Zoom in," Feller says. Philo's screen focuses in on
just one vein, then the blood inside, then the molecules...

"No. Way. Look at this," Feller says, pointing.
"Philo, are you seeing that?"

"It's on my screen, therefore I see it," Philo
says.

"Right. But look here," Feller says. "That's not
blood. That's something else. Something molecular. It almost looks
like..."

"Nanotechnology!" May blurts out. "They weren't
installing an implant, they were injecting him."

"Or infecting him," Feller says.

"The invading agent is operating on the molecular
level," Philo says. "Now we must devise a method to remove it."

"Remove what?" Dr. Mangrove says, appearing at the
doorway.

Philo blanks his screen.

About Betsy Streeter

Betsy
Streeter is an author and artist and voracious consumer of books,
music, movies, and more books and music and movies. And TV. Don't
forget TV. She can explain the Infield Fly Rule. She once rigged a
special effect for film using a squeeze bottle, surgical tubing and
dry ice.

She's been published by King Features, The Funny
Times, Utne, Perihelion Science Fiction, Literary Orphans, Fiction
Vortex, Oxford University Press, the University of Wollongong, Jack
Canfield, and a cornucopia of other fine publications to whom she
is grateful.

Her YA science fiction novel entitled "Silverwood"
comes out in March 2015.

Betsy welcomes questions, thoughts, or musings about
her stories and artwork, as well as ideas for Great Women to draw.
You can find her in these scenic digital locations:

http://www.betsystreeter.com

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