“Dr. Easter, you seem to be a little too familiar with society’s squabbles for my liking. But yes, you are indeed right. And I have no intention of allowing our data collection efforts on Rune-Balot to be interrupted before we’ve finished harvesting what we need. Very well—I take personal responsibility for the reception of callers to the gates of Paradise. Tweedledee.”
Tweedledee, summoned without warning, turned to Faceman with a jolt.
“It looks like some rough customers are on their way here. Will you help me welcome them?”
–Does that mean I have permission to interact with outsiders?
“Indeed. A rare opportunity.”
“Professor…are you planning on leaving it to Tweedledee?” asked the Doctor.
The Tweedledee in question answered.
–No worries. I’ve read up on what to do when contact is made with outsiders. I’m looking forward to it.
“Dr. Easter. Why don’t you use this opportunity to prepare your next course of action. It looks like Rune-Balot’s activities down there are going to take a little while yet.”
The Doctor nodded calmly, but his countenance betrayed his nerves as he hurried back into the jungle, taking the same route he’d taken to get there.
–What do you think Dr. Easter plans to do?
“He’ll take Oeufcoque into the Humpty-Dumpty that he has standing by on the roof. Then, as soon as Balot finishes her work here, they’ll all be heading off.”
–Oh, they’re leaving?
Tweedledee’s mouth went a little sour.
–Will they be back anytime soon?
“Let’s just say that I pray that one day the girl—and indeed all of society—will understand just how positive an influence our work can be.” Faceman spoke in an uncharacteristically subdued tone as he made his cage float up into the air. “Now, let’s go and see to our visitors.”
≡
Boiled stared out the window with half-closed, emotionless eyes, taking in the night lights.
–The contract’s confirmed.
Shell’s voice—along with a trace of static—on Boiled’s cell phone.
–Well, we’ve only just published the marriage banns, but as soon as my transaction is complete we’ll move on to the actual nuptial contract.
Boiled listened to his employer’s report without seeming particularly interested.
Next to him Medium’s shoulders were shaking. He was struggling to suppress laughter.
–It’s all going smoothly now. Whatever happens at the Broilerhouse, it’s going to be too late to affect anything.
“Do you have a fixed time and date for the contract yet?”
–It’ll all be sorted out within the hour. There’s a mound of official paperwork the height of a thick steak still to get through. Steak is right, actually—you could say we’re all playing for high stakes. Except that I’m going to be helping myself to the best pickings. After it’s all over I’m comping the girl’s father in my hotel. I’ll pile him high with zero-interest chips and make sure he enjoys himself good and proper, on the house.
“This is a personal matter for him, then?”
–He’s on the board of OctoberCorp, so… I’m sure he’ll have a dozen wine-swilling legal advisors lined up in a limo somewhere, but it doesn’t bother me. Her family name is about as prestigious as it comes, and it’s going to be my lucky star. You know her dad, right? Cleanwill John October.
Shell enunciated every syllable of the name.
–And he lives up to his name—he’s a clean-living john. A john as in a sucker, mark, or maybe even a john who likes his whores. Either way, John’s a john, pure and simple.
“What about the girl?”
–I’ll leave her in the hotel for now. Sooner or later she’ll become my official property, of course, so I’ll need to start thinking about a storage space for her. I’ll keep her locked away in a pretty little jewel box of a place, somewhere.
“I’ll proceed according to schedule. I’ll send you a report on the outcome sometime between midnight and dawn.”
–Night mail, then. I’m counting on you. Make sure that your night mail is good enough to banish my nightmares forever. Make the girl, the one that should have already disappeared a long time ago, disappear for good.
“Understood.” Boiled cut the phone line. Next to him, Medium burst out laughing.
“I have no idea what you were just talking about, but there’s one thing that I’m sure of.” Medium pushed his sunglasses up and glanced at Boiled. “Your client’s totally crazy.”
“None of your business.”
“Hey, I don’t mean it in a bad way. He’s about as crazy as us, I mean. A good client to have. A true fetishist’s assignment. That makes me happy.”
Boiled didn’t answer. He slipped the cell phone back in his jacket pocket before changing the subject. “Earlier this morning I put in a request for a coworker on this case, as a witness. That’s you.”
“Ha…so I’m a PI, now?”
“A PI’s assistant. The target, the girl, has a similar request in.”
Medium’s face twisted into an ugly sneer. “I get it. So we can kill her fair and square now, right? All above board and within the law. Brilliant. I’ll kill her all right. I’ll kill her good and use up all her parts. Until I’m satisfied. That’s the agreement, right?”
Boiled nodded.
“I can’t wait.” Medium’s face lit up in an instant, and he stared out at the long, meandering road in front of him.
Greenery was all around them—a result of the plant farms that had been set up in the area, the loam impregnated with concrete-dissolving enzymes. All kinds of trees were there, and in the gaps, buildings that hadn’t yet been completely destroyed—a sort of graveyard for a city.
“The reforestation program for the area bombed out by the war—a Band-Aid for a city, don’t you think? About as much good as a couple of Band-Aids after you’ve been shot up by a machine gun, I mean…” Medium’s eyes glinted red, and a twisted smile flittered across his mouth. “If I remember rightly, a number of unmanned fighter planes were shot down in this area. The ones that the military-capitalist Continentals started sending over toward the end of the war, remote-controlled to cross the sea automatically and release their payload. According to rumor, there was some sort of military facility here. Why would our little kitty-cat be in a place like this?”
“She’s already on another road leading into the grounds.”
“Grounds? Of what?” Medium asked.
“The experimental facility. There was a time when the army and the government poured funding into it.”
And then it emerged. A structure made of bright metal and glass—very different from all the abandoned buildings in the vicinity—could be seen in between the darkness of the forest nightscape. It was so large that it was hard to tell at first glance what sort of construction it was. Something vast and white, almost like an endless wall, surrounded it.
“All the mountains…” Medium was struck dumb for a moment, then slapped his knees like a child enthralled by the television. “And here’s Noah’s Ark! What a surprise. So, this is where she’s hiding out. The little kitten’s rolled up in a ball, purring away as she sleeps? I’ll purr you, my little kitty-cat. I’ll purr you all right.”
Boiled’s sleepy eyes were trained on the rolling hills in front of him.
Mardock City was originally a trade port and an engineer’s city.