For a moment he just stood there, staring blankly into space.
“Well that was… different.”
Leaving the woods behind his apartment, he went inside to call Rick.
“Dude what the c—”
“Stop,” Keegan interrupted. “We aren’t talking about this over the phone. I’m just calling to make sure you’re fine and on your way home.”
“Yeah I’m fine, the shooter—”
“Save it for when you get home, I’m on chat now. Just go right home, don’t check out the scene or anything.”
“Yeah, yeah. I’m already on my way. In fact I’m almost there.”
“Talk to you in a bit then.”
After hanging up Keegan sat at his desk, trying to find the right words to describe what just happened to Tamaya. As he sat there drumming the keys, Rick started the conversation.
Rick: WTF was that about?!?
Keegan: That is a very good question.
Tamaya: What was what about?
Rick: Keegan got into a super battle.
Tamaya: WHAT?!? Are you okay?
Keegan: I’m fine. It ended with me getting shot in the head, but you know how that goes.
Tamaya: What happened?
Keegan: Some random person fired a gun near the theater. Apparently she was hunting a runaway robot? And she could teleport.
Rick: That was a ROBOT?!?
Keegan: Apparently…
Rick: NO FREAKING WAY!!!
Rick: Was it a good AI or an evil one?
Keegan: How would I know?
Rick: Um, were the eyes red?
Keegan: This isn’t a comic book Rick. Besides, I didn’t see the eyes at all.
Rick: Yeah, I was kidding.
Keegan: Oh, and she called the robot “Initiative property”.
Tamaya: I think “Initiative” may have something to do with the place where I work…
Tamaya: I’ve heard people using it, but the only official title I know for the place is “Site 09”.
Keegan: Fun.
Rick: Dude, did you see the hole you made?
Keegan: I made a hole?
Rick: In the walkway. You must have been really hot to melt bricks.
Keegan: And you were close enough to see this how? I thought I told you to stay away from the scene…
Rick: I just had a quick look, and that was long before you called.
Rick: What was I supposed to do, go back and un-look at it?
Tamaya: So they have teleporters and robots… this is news to me but I guess it makes sense. It’s just kind of unnerving to know they’re actually deploying them.
Keegan: Well, keep an ear out for any talk about the confrontation. It would be nice to know for sure whether they’ll start looking for me again.
Tamaya: Will do.
—
“The amplifier is breaking down faster than it should be,” one of the slipspace generator technicians observed as they tuned Selena’s suit. “How much time are you spending on the other side?”
Selena cleared her throat. “Hey do you know anything about—” Selena began, trying to change the subject.
“This will change our deterioration models,” the other technician interrupted. “If the amplifier is like this we may start seeing random breaches sooner than anticipated.”
“Look, I don’t care what you guys do just keep it running.”
Before the technicians could respond Jonah, the overseer of all site operations, entered the room.
“How could you return empty handed?” he asked. “This mission is top priority and now the trail has gone cold!”
“I know sir, but…” Selena paused, considering carefully what to say next. “someone stopped me.”
“Hold on, what do you mean, ‘stopped you’?”
“Sir,” one of the technicians interjected. “The amplifier is breaking down at an alarming rate.”
“It is?” Jonah sighed. “Then I guess we’ll need to take it out of commission for the time being.”
“No! Wait—”
“Disable it for now, keep an eye on those deterioration models. I want to know exactly where we are and when it’ll be safe to start it up again.” He turned to Selena. “Now, you were saying something? Someone stopped you?”
“Well—”
Jonah raised his hand to cut her off. “Is it something the technicians need to leave for?”
“Um, no. It was… nothing… sir. Just a civilian who got in the way.”
For a moment Jonah looked at her, a hint of suspicion in his eye. “Alright,” —he turned to the technicians— “Carry on.”
As Jonah left the room Selena muttered under her breath.
“I’ll catch him myself.”
So Jordan has a full schedule for the next month or so, and he doesn’t know when he’ll be able to get writing done. So for the time being it’s just Tian and I; Jordan will catch up when he can…
‘Till later
-David
chipgw.com 