How embrassing. Did the chapter before this without realizing it:

    1

  Smog and smoke dissipated overhead in either direction as
Zig and I trudged tiredly through the drenched streets south of
Capitol Plaza. The farther we got from the dull orange glow, the
clearer the sky became and stars peeked through. Constellations
were completely foreign to me, the important ones had been
pointed out before but

before, but (I think)

 I could not recognize any. I did not even

really know what stars were; like I said, I had never done well in
school. I remember my blatant lack of interest in anything that
wasn't automobile related. It was a shame, that. But I guess you
need life experience before life has meaning to you.

  This of course was

This, of course,

And, yep, it would be. :)

Screw talking.

  Somewhere back there I knew about all things
astronomical, and when I looked back at the sparks above me,
increasingly brilliant against a background of black, I remembered
that they were huge balls of fused gas. The sun was a star. I nodded
my head as I stepped

walked (would be better, IMO)

 in silence. My interest was returning with my

concern like a stray mutt. Life had long been something for me that
dragged me

I'd drop 'for me' Would flow better w/o it, IMO.

full signs of collateral damage, though many windows were broken
and there was even a wrecked car that had been pushed onto the
sidewalk which was still burning. The masses were too confused
and angry to realize that they only hurt themselves when they
destroyed the businesses they patronized. But who could blame
them? It hadn't even been their idea.

But that's the way all mob's behave.

  Zig sat down on a wet park bench to rest, and ring

wring

 the water

out of his sleeves. The storm had subsided and now it was only
really drizzling. By tomorrow even that would be gone and we
would have clear whether for at least a month.

How does he know that?

  Zig's place would be under the watchful eye of Das
Uberdog, checking to see that their investment had been worth it.
If the old woman got word that we had escaped from Rufius she
might have her men try to pick us up again to be handed back.

True. That's the problem when people sell you out. :)

  "Actually a lot of odd ones. 'Das,' 'Gaines,'
'Richter' -hell, friends even called me 'Halo' for a while, back
when I had blond hair. We didn't know each other back then."

Heh. I like Halo.

and lost. There were all sorts of crowd control barriers littering the

pavement and patches of grass which passed for lawns around
here. I saw many broken riot shields, and Zig actually tripped over
a body lying half down a storm drain opening in the sidewalk.

How do you miss a body like that? I'd have them just notice it, myself.

  We looked around to make absolutely sure no one was
watching, and then I opened the lid. I did not like what I saw. At
the bottom, my motorcycle in compact form lay unmolested. But
on top of it was another body, clearly civilian. The face and chest
had been badly burned, and I saw the left arm twisted unnaturally
against the steel side. Zig poked his head over the rim, saw what I
was looking at, and pulled back quickly.

You think he'd be used to bodies by now, considering how many of them he
helped make. :)

  "Shit, it's your cyc, you can get it out."

  I swallowed and replied, "Thanks a lot."

  Trying not to look at it, I reached down and got a hold of
the cyc's titanium alloy shell. With a grunt and a bad word I pulled
the machine out, and set it carefully on the ground.

My, he is strong, isn't he?

  "Oh, you need a ride?"

  "But there's only room on the cyc for two," Zig interrupted.

  "I know."

know,

I said back.

And heh.

  "Well it was great talking to you!" Karen said. "But I have

  I shrugged and took a sip of coffee. "One well-rounded girl
if you ask me. I don't think future employment is going to be any
problem. You know, I wonder who she-"

  "It aint

ain't

about to be you. Have you forgotten about the little

brunette who always seems to be absent when you need
remembering? They're ex-best friends for god's sake. Don't tell
me I have to warn you about the bad karma there."

Oh, I think things with Alethea took a hit a little while ago. :)

  "Oh yeah? What do you know about her that he wouldn't?"

  I grinned. "I think it was Raymond Chandler who described
it best-"

Hmm. He does remember his past life well, doesn't he? All these reference
that I doubt Zig has heard of.

  "I never really told you about the deal Chris and I had
worked out years ago," Zig continued. "On my end all I had to do
was come up with the police uniforms, Special Forces weapons,
and few other rare items he said Das needed.

Oh, that's all. :)

  I blew steam out of my nose and thought. "You think he
might have been tricked like you were? I mean, you said Wells
was good. Maybe he just made the mistake I didn't, and he's been
duped. Chris ain't any smarter than you."

  Zig sighed. I motioned to a basket of short breadstick like
things, and he took one on the end of his knife, examining the
greasy biscuit. Zig flicked his wrist, and the pastry flew across the
aisle and rebounded off a trash can. He sniffed the knife.

Cute.

  For some reason I suddenly remembered the deranged train
of thought I had the last time I had seen Chris; it was with Alethea
and the old woman as they carted me off to the merusion chamber.
What was it I had been thinking again? Chris and Alethea... But
before I even considered what that would mean, I pushed the
thought from my mind. That just had to be wrong. There was no
evidence at all.

Which means it's probably true. :)

Nice work, although it served as much as a set up for the next chapter
rather than accomplishing much in its own right. Slowed things down a bit,
which might have been good after the last chapter. Will get to 3.3 when I'm
able.

D.B. Sommer



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