From: Jason Self Date: Sun, 20 Mar 2022 20:57:12 +0000 (-0700) Subject: Publish new installment X-Git-Url: https://jxself.org/git/?p=universe.git;a=commitdiff_plain;h=330ac47cf3b55c7d097d85cecb04d517f05290ed Publish new installment --- diff --git a/agalder.txt b/agalder.txt index ab7bdd1..ff922df 100644 --- a/agalder.txt +++ b/agalder.txt @@ -828,4 +828,148 @@ minutes before crossing over himself. From that roof, he was able to 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. \ No newline at end of file