[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
chapels of Westminster Abbey. She had a leg folded under her and was
absently rubbing at the fine mist that was forming on her metallic
arm.
Marj said, "We'd like to talk with you, Sally." "All right," the girl
replied in a faraway voice. "Something wrong?" She crouched beside
her.
"Oh, nothing special, Marj. When just about everything is wrong, it's
hard to pinpoint."
Jake told her, "I'm Jake Cardigan and--" "I met your son." "Is he
here?"
"No," she replied, "not anymore."
"But he was?" "Yes. Angel and Ludd brought him in. They found
him wandering around and brought him here."
"Do you know where Dan is now?"
Sally looked up at him. "I'm afraid maybe he did something really
stupid," she said. "I warned him and so did Angel. He wouldn't
listen."
Marj asked, "He came here searching for Nancy Sands, didn't he?"
"Sure, and when I told him the Tek Kids had taken her prisoner in a
raid, well, he said he had to go over to the palace to find her." She
rubbed again, slowly, at her arm. "I warned him that wasn't smart."
"Do you know for certain," Jake asked, "that he got there?"
"I'm pretty certain he did."
"Any idea what happened to him."?"
"I don't think he's dead," said Sally. "Whoever it was that raided the
TKs took some prisoners and maybe he was one of them."
"You sure of that?"
"All I know is that he wasn't among the dead ones. Neither was
Nancy."
"We'll have to talk with the TKs," said Jake.
"Lancelot's dead," Sally informed him. "I don't know who the hell is
running the gang now."
Jake sat down beside her. "You're a friend of Nancy's."
"Not a very good or reliable one, though. After she came to me for
help, she just got in deeper trouble."
"Why'd she come here?"
"She'd found out some things she didn't want to believe.
Nancy thought of this as a sanctuary, a retreat where she could do some
thinking. But, you know, Marj, that this really isn't a good place for
anybody."
"What had she found out that upset her so?" asked Marj.
"Nancy didn't tell me everything, but I know it had to do with her
father."
"With his escape from prison?"
"Did he escape? I didn't know that," said Sally. "But, yeah, that
must be part of it. I think she found out that somebody high up in the
Tek trade was financing a breakout. She hadn't, you know, allowed
herself to suspect her dad was tied in with the Tek cartels."
Jake patted her on the shoulder. "Thanks for your help," he said,
standing.
"I don't think I've been much help to you," said Sally. "Nor to
anybody else."
"It was Nancy's decision to come here," reminded Marj. "And Dan made
up his own mind to follow her."
"We'd best head over to the palace," suggested Jake.
Sally touched Marj's arm with her real fingers. "Maybe," she said
quietly, "sometime soon we can talk about my getting out of here."
Marj smiled. "That's a good idea."
"The thing is," said Sally forlornly, "I don't want to stay here--and I
can't go home."
Bundled up in his new thermocoat, Gomez made his solo way along the
late-night Avenue Victor Hugo. He was striding briskly, to prevent his
blood from turning to ice in his veins. The night was bleak and
bitterly cold.
When the chilled detective tried to whistle a seasonal tune, his breath
came out as wispy mist.
"Remind me," he said to himself, "to spend next Xmas someplace in the
tropics."
The robot doorman in front of the Hotel Hernani had apparently frozen
earlier in the evening. Two uniformed bell bots were pouring steaming
hot water over him from silver teapots.
Three doors past the hotel was the Kowboy Kitchen. It offered,
according to the light sign pulsing in its window, AUmEN-TIC
AMERICAN CHOW!
Shivering once, Gomez pushed through the swinging doors.
TekLb
The simulated scents of frying meat and simmering onions and potatoes
hit him as he crossed the small foyer.
"Howdy, pard!" greeted a huge bronzed robot decked out in a passable
approximation of early twentieth-century cowboy garb. "Welcome to our
homey little chuck wagon
"Well, sir, that's right neighborly of you." Gomez was looking beyond
the robot and into the small dining room.
There were only five customers scattered around at the small tables.
Alone at the table next to the potted artificial cactus was the man
he'd come to see.
"You want a table all by your lonesome?" inquired the jovial robot.
"Or are you--"
"I'll be joining a friend yonder," replied the detective. "I'll just
mosey over to his table."
The small Chinese was hanched slightly in his chair, frowning at the
dozen watches built into his cyborg right arm. "Shit, Gomez, you're
eight minutes and fifteen seconds late."
Sitting down, Gomez said, "That's because I froze twice en route and
had to wait until some good samaritans poured boiling water over me."
"Don't you carry a watch?"
"When you reach my advanced years, Timecheck, you don't want to be
reminded of the swift, inexorable rushing passage of time."
"You've always had a negative view of temporal matters, daddy," said
Timecheck. "I'll tell you something. Since I've relocated in Paris
from Kyoto, Japan, I've found the folks here to be very much obsessed
with time. It's, hey, a real gasseroo to be doing business in a nation
of clock watchers instead of a lot of Zen types."
"Speaking of business, what have you found out for me?" Timecheck was
scowling at another of his built-in timepieces. "Berkeley, California,
is six sees slow again. That's a pisser, because now I'm going to have
to--" Information," reminded Gomez.
"Aren't you going to join me for a snack?" "Nope."
"You really ought to have a fixed schedule for your meals, daddy.
Myself, I always have a midnight snack between 11:58 }'.m. and 12:32
nM. That way, no matter where I might happen to--"
"Excalibur," said Gomez quietly.
Timecheck brought his metal arm up to his ear, listened to several of
his watches in turn. "I don't like the sound of Cairo time."
"Electronic watches don't make any noise."
"Sure, they do." He lowered his arm, then tugged at his ear with the
fingers of his real hand. "You just got to know how to listen."
"I am prepared to listen," Gomez informed him, "to any and all
scuttlebutt for which the Cosmos Detective Agency is paying you a
ridiculous and overblown fee."
The young Chinese rolled down his jacket sleeve, covering most of the
watch faces. "So far I've been able to establish that this guy Wexler
is a dyed-in-the-wool member of the Excalibur outfit." He picked up
his chili soy burger and took a bite. "You really ought to try the
chow here."
"Back to Wexler."
"He's a big man in Excalibur. Those gonzos want a king to rule Merrie
Old England once again," said the informant. "Toppling the established
democratic government of great Britain takes dough. How are
thesejerkoffs going to raise the bucks? The answer, my friend, is--"
"By peddling Tek."
"Yowsah, you got it. Rumor has it there's something called SuperTek
about to hit the market. This new stuff is more powerful than regular
Tek and it's designed to withstand any destructive devices turned
against it," said Timecheck, taking another bite of the burger.
"SuperTek sounds like a neat idea to me,
Gomez, and if these gin ks were selling stock, I'd buy a sizable--"
"What about Dr. Danenberg?"
"The old bimbo's a buddy of Wexler."
"That I know." "But she's not a card-carrying member of
Excalibur. The skirt doesn't care if King Arthur II sits on the throne
or on a portable biffy." He paused, rubbing his thumb and forefinger
together. "The good doctor is in it strictly for the old cum shaw
Nodding, Gomez asked, "You got anything on her itinerary?" "She's
departing Paris comes the dawn tomorrow." "Bound for where?"
"London."
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]