drop down three feet to a small garden behind the house. Using alleys
and back gardens, he made his way to the edge of the wilderness. Then,
having sent a second message to Cassidy, he sat and waited. Cassidy
-would want to talk to the forensics woman.
\ No newline at end of file
+would want to talk to the forensics woman.
+
+==== Cassidy: Second-in-Command of the Syndicate ====
+
+The woman was awake when Cassidy got there, shivering and sobbing.
+Alfie sat a little away from her, smoking a happy joint. Cassidy got
+the information from the woman. Harlan was alive although might die
+overnight. He glared at Alfie as he slit the girl's throat.
+
+"Yer not doin' so good, Alfie. Two tries and you miss both times."
+
+Alfie got to his feet. "I didn't miss him. I shot him." He motioned at
+the bloody corpse. "You heard what she said. He's expected to die
+tonight."
+
+"Yeah. I heard what she said." said Cassidy. "He's alive." He leaned
+forward and grabbed Alfie's lapels. "I want you to rectify that
+condition."
+
+He turned and started back toward the city, talking over his shoulder.
+"You hear me, Alfie? Last chance. Make him dead by midnight."
+
+==== Mellie: Detective ====
+
+The door announced another visitor. Mellie checked the viewer.
+Santorini! He never came here. She pulled the door open and yanked him
+inside.
+
+"What are you doing here?" she demanded. Then she noticed how pale his
+face was and the sadness in his eyes. "What happened?"
+
+"It's Harlan. He's been shot."
+
+"Is he alive?"
+
+"For the moment." The Boss looked around the condo, not really seeing
+it, just trying to avoid Mellie's gaze. "The surgeons don't expect him
+to live through the night." He dropped his eyes then to look at her as
+she backed away, hand over her mouth. "Get your coat. You'll want to
+be with him."
+
+She grabbed a jacket and attached her bag to the sticker on her skirt,
+picked up her gun, and ran out the door, locking it with a word.
+
+Santorini had brought a skimmer, a small air-borne vehicle that could
+skim over the roofs. They arrived at the Emerald Palace in five
+minutes, leaving Mellie a bit nauseous and white-knuckled. They got to
+Harlan's room only to find that he had been taken back to surgery..
+The bleeding had started again.
+
+They waited. Mellie's tired mind wandered, conjuring scenes from the
+time she was chasing Harlan to love scenes. She slipped into a doze,
+then woke when the Boss shook her.
+
+The surgeon was coming down the hall. His face was serious, she felt,
+but not stony hard.
+
+The surgeon looked at her and then with raised eyebrows he turned his
+gaze to the Boss.
+
+"She's one of us." Said Santorini.
+
+The surgeon nodded. "He's still alive and somewhat stable now.
+Survival is going to be up to him. It all depends on how tough he is
+and how much he wants to live. Right now he's hanging by a thread."
+
+Hours passed as she sat by his bedside. Santorini had disappeared when
+an aide came to whisper in his ear. She held Harlan's hand and talked
+to him, telling him things she had never told anyone. Her mind was
+still wandering and she talked about playing with colored glass beads
+when she was a little girl and how she loved the way the sunlight made
+the colors zing. She jumped to a party at college where she had
+literally had to fight to get away from a couple of guys who wanted to
+'play' with her.
+
+Crying, she revealed her deepest feelings when her mother had died and
+her anger at her father who retreated into a fog of drugs to bury his
+pain. She had been eleven. Then he died and she had been alone except
+for a scruffy old cat who bit her. She spoke of hiding the fact that
+her parents were dead from the school. Getting up every morning, she'd
+feed the cat and go to school. At night she did her homework and
+studied. Sometimes she watched the vid-tube, but mostly she read.
+
+Eventually the school found out when she wasn't able to pay the bills.
+She'd been hustled off to a foster home. There were lots of those
+these days with all the orphans from the war. She told Harlan about
+the kids she'd lived with then and how she couldn't stop crying
+because she had lost the old cat.
+
+Her voice became hoarse, but she felt that her words were keeping him
+alive. So she talked and recited poetry, told him stories, and sang to
+him softly. Fatigue finally won out against determination and she
+slept with her head on the bed, next to his hand.
+
+==== Harlan: Thief ====
+
+He drifted up and down. Sometimes he felt pain, but most of the time
+he just rode on a sea in the darkness and listened to the voice. Each
+time he started getting too far away, the voice would draw him back.
+He heard the words but didn't understand much of what it said. Then
+came songs and that was wonderful, too. Eventually the voice stopped.
+He lay on his back, waiting for the voice, but it didn't come back. He
+decided to go find it.
+
+The first sensation he had was the feel of breathing on his left hand.
+He moved the hand toward the breaths and felt soft hair and a head.
+Opening his eyes, he saw Mellie, asleep. Gently, he stroked her hair.
+She smiled and opened her eyes.
+
+Then she jerked up in the chair and yelled "Surgeon!! He's awake!"
+
+There was a lot of activity then. They pushed Mellie out of the way
+and worked over him, taking blood and scans and checking vital signs.
+He just lay quietly. The pain was back and he really wanted to go back
+to sleep, but they were all talking at him. Finally, a tall woman
+shooed the others back and stood beside him.
+
+"Are you in pain?" she asked.
+
+"Yes" he mumbled, eyes closed.
+
+A nurse stepped forward with a syringe, but the tall woman raised her
+hand and stopped him. "Do you want something for pain? Or would you
+rather stay awake for a while and talk to Mellie?"
+
+His eyes opened. "Mellie." he said, voice stronger.
+
+Then she was there and holding his hand. His eyes closed, but he lay
+listening to her voice as she told him what had happened and drifted
+again on the sea, but this time there was light all around.
+
+==== Alfie: Thief, Assassin ====
+
+Alfie looked out from the window of a house across the street from the
+Emerald Palace. There was a small door in the wall of the Palace, put
+there primarily for the convenience of the cleaning crew. He saw men
+and women come out occasionally with robocleaners to utilize a plug-in
+on the electrical box on the street. The box was for the neighborhood.
+The plug-in was illegal. He smiled. Even the Resistance were thieves.
+
+Late in the night, there was no more activity. He slipped out of the
+house, leaving three bodies behind him. Crossing to the little door,
+he found it locked. Having the most up-to-date equipment, he simply
+inserted his uni-key and the door opened. Alfie stepped into the
+Emerald Palace with a knife in his hand.
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projects / universe.git / commitdiff