Wow! Two in the same day:

After spending a whole day reading through all of

Granberry's Cold Dragon in one sitting,
(We're waiting for part VII)
I was so absorbed im my e-mail I missed class.

Oops

  A reasonable length of time passed before I ever found out
where Chris had been heading. After that, I probably wished that I
had gone sooner. But at the moment I didn't pause to consider it.
They were all staring. The ride stopped, the front door opened,
then my door opened, and I was yanked out freely by the front of
my shirt.

My. It does appear Chris might be a bad guy with how brusque he is.

  Wesley glanced over at Chris, who was grimacing. "It was
my little friend Zigwell, wasn't it? I heard him tell you not to trust
me. Which means of course we can't trust him."

  "Since when has Zig been trustworthy?"

Chris: Point.

  "Did some narc bust him?"

Interesting question

  I took her hand which was cold. "Alethea, there is no bail.
He will probably be sentenced tomorrow."

  "How can they do it tomorrow? He won't even have time to
hire a lawyer!"

  "Lawyer's

Lawyers' (Here I think since you have 'aren't' after it)

  Each of us was growing exhausted of all this business, and really
just wanted to be somewhere else. It was quickly becoming an
early Wednesday morning, though we probably had hours to go
before we slept. I blinked, and kissed her. She smiled a little bit
and brushed my cheek with her palm. Alethea and I were
developing that common bond between all of those forced to
endure together.

True. People do tend to bond through things like that.

  "How do you know about that? Were you eavesdropping
on my call?"

  "I didn't need too. I have an excellent sense of hearing."

  "Just not an excellent sense of privacy, huh?"

Chris; Only when it comes to my own.

  "Keep your voice down. I'll explain when we get to the
sanctuary."

Hmm. Terms of revelation keep changing. Sounds like he's trying to sucker
Screw

  "I was underground until two and a half years ago, a year
and a half later than you because I was never awarded time off for
good behavior

He didn't play nice with the other cons.

  "What faction are you talking about?" I asked him, starting
to frown myself.

  "She calls it 'The Cabal.'

She made it up so people don't realize it's really an eighty year old
grandmother calling the shots. :)

  "They know that you are part of this too, Screw, which is
why I'm coming with you to Lanz Island. Zig has been approached
by the wrong people, and though he believes he is doing the right
thing for you and his other friends, he is mistaken. It's not
surprising, he has always had a weakness for the well told story."

Interesting story. Either well woven or it has a ring of truth in it.

  "That wasn't how he saw it. Don't blame Zig, Screw, he
didn't know any better. He's still your best friend." This last part
he said with a smile on his face.

Hmm. A bit too enthuseastic for my taste.

  I nodded sardonically in silent agreement, but my true
sentiments were far from there. This didn't ring true. Zigwell Cane
was no idiot. Life on the black market had made sure of that. He
wouldn't have listened to Wells without a damn good reason; hell,
he probably would have asked me to put a bullet in the man's head
just for showing up at his door with a badge. And then the lack of
any real explanation on the phone. He was trying to tell me
something by leaving out all the real information, maybe that he
had realized he was in the dark about things too, but knew what
had to be done.

Yeah. Does sound better that way.

  "Zigwell will be convicted of the crime he did not commit and then
used as bait. Wells will also be in Lanz Island waiting for you.
When we meet him, you will have to get Zig out while I take care
of Wells. So you see, your position is unfortunately uncertain. I
need you to flush out Wells but I cannot let you be captured, if
they do intend to use you for something. Why they want an ill-
fated ex car jock from the south side is beyond any member of the
group I represent."

Well at least he can admit ignorance in that respect.

  "No, he has tried to kill me too often and always without
purpose.

Oh, I'd say the purpose is to kill Chris. :)

  "If you think I'm the only one benefiting from tomorrow,
you're wrong. As I see it Screw, you don't have a choice. Your
only chance at even surviving till New Years is to handle your
problem at the source. Either you let him come after you in your
sleep, or we take him out on our terms. And yes, you'll probably
have to do some work yourself, but I've never known you to back
down from a fight. Of course you will be informed of the full plans
when I take you to the Cabal tonight."

Heh. Still think he won't make it there. Too many answers to soon.

  "Happy fucking birthday. You can't fight evil with an
empty gun."

  So he had known. Heh.

And it's a vote of confidence in his favor.

  Some kid had taken my screens, my microwave, and even the
fridge. I had no idea how they even got it out of the room. They
had even poked a hole in my waterbed. Bastards.

Yeah. That's just punitive.

could I do. She did not say anything as the middle eastern driver
pulled off.

I see some things yet remain the same. :)

  Diago held the most credibility for taking care of himself. Derring
was not at his apartment, and I left a message. My phone auto
dialed all the numbers stored in its memory and gave them a
similar message. Zig was in jail, Alethea was with me. These
finished up the list of the only close friends I had kept in the past
few years. Welfare and food stamps are not a ticket to stardom.

True

  The light blue sea water from the Aqueduct was the only
thing in this city that we did not make ourselves. Food was grown
by hydroponics in plants on the eastern side of the city.
Vegetables, meats, everything. Dairy products where made
synthetically by chemical processes. It was commonly known that
milk was very similar to that which mothers fed their infants, only
that it had once come from large animals. The largest land animal I
had ever seen was a dog who regularly scrounged through the
dumpsters outside my apartment.

Hmm. Interesting. Must be one huge megaoplis here.

Island, where the government's main offices and court rooms sat.
They had built it here in order to make some sort of statement
about the separation of citizen and state. I think they did it so it
would be less vulnerable to terrorist attack.

That too

  The Filtration Level left us joining fast moving lines going
through the first entrance audits. Security personnel checked every
i.d.

I.D. (I think)

  The Mandate's image relies on the Island, a fortress far
away from the possibility of assault. But those of us who have had
direct dealings with them know the majority of them live right here
in the Capital Plaza. Many of the buildings there, which profess to
be offices of nameless big business, were really fronts for the
Mandate's citizen management programs. An average man would
be shocked to learn the degree to which the Mandate strove to
control the population's opinions. And the Mandate would be
shocked to learn the degree to which their money was wasted.

Heh. Cute

  Alethea frowned. "Won't they wonder why such a heavy
bag shows up empty on their little screen?"

  "It has a metal film over the x-ray proofing, which will give
them a artificial image of what's inside. All they will see is a pile
of clothes and some music discs. Hurry up."

  "Cool."

I agree

  We took our seats on the mag-lev train, and after a fifteen
minute wait while the conductor  performed the secondary i.d.

And again here, I think.

  I decided to keep this thought to myself.

Probably for the best.

Nice work. Another semi-sort of filler chapter. Seems like things are about
to take off, though.

D.B. Sommer




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