"Okay, okay. We'll get to that later. How did you manage to dig out from under Wilkes?"
"Well, when the hocus-pocus started, the stray radiation whatever it was―erased the CPU clean. That was all the opening I needed. The Al program is a computer, but one set up in software. I'm hardwired, therefore one hell of a lot faster. A few nanoseconds was all it took."
"Well, I'll be," said. "But how did Wilkes get the jump on you in the first place?"
"That was a fool's mate," Sam answered. "We should have seen it coming when we ran those diagnostics―"
"Wait a minute, let's save that for later, too. I want to see what the hell Ragna is doing here."
I got on the skyband and hailed him.
"Jake, my most special friend of mine! Hello and breaker breaker to all our buddies of the good variety!"
"Yeah, yeah. Ragna, how did you get here? And why in God's name did you come?"
"Oh, Jake. This is a situation of embarrassment."
"Come on."
"Oh, indeed. Doubtless I am in the process of incurring your wrath when I am telling you that various surreptitious individuals of our people followed you."
I laughed. "No, you won't incur my wrath. Everybody follows me, all the time."
"This is of truth. It was reported that many, many vehicles were being on your case like a ton of bricks. And on the planet where the highways are being interchanged, it was observed that material of an excremental nature, was coming in contact with the rotary blades, to employ a metaphor."
"Yes, that's exactly what happened," I said. "Go on."
"It was at the time that our science individuals are finally understanding what is going on inside the Black Cube."
"Oh?"
"Yes, they have been making some sense of the object. Their understanding is―let me be making this of perfect clarity―far from being of completeness, but they are arriving at the nub of its gist… if you are drifting with me."
"I understand," I told him. "So what is it?"
"Ah, Jake, as I have related, of scientific cognizance I am in possession of doodly squat. However and moreover, Oni is in ownership of vast quantities more than I, and she has been subjected to various briefings on the matter at hand. I will be having her talk with you, if this is not of inconvenience. Be standing by, please―"
"Wait a minute, Ragna," I cut in. "We have someone here who is possession of vast quantities of whatever you said. I want him to talk to Oni, but let's make it later, okay? We're knee-deep in debris here. And I want to find out where they're taking us."
"That is a stupendous ten four. We are having the same vicissitudes in this vehicle of ours. Okay, Jake! We are going to be taking off our ears at this moment, and we will be catching you down the starslab at a later point in time. Until this point is reached, we are wishing excellent numbers to all our good-buddies! Clear!"
"Right," I answered.
"My God," Roland groaned. "Where did they pick up that skyband lingo?"
"I dunno. Must have got it from our libraries." I looked around. "Where is everybody?"
"Aft," Roland said. "More room. But if you think this is chaos, you should see the trailer."
"All right, people," Sam announced over every speaker in the rig. "What do you say we get this mess cleaned up?"
"I like the 'we'," I sneered.
"Heh heh heh."
All attempts at communication with the Bugs failed. We could only guess as to our ultimate destination, and we were too busy at first to do that. The Bugs dragged us out of the underground garage, through a nearby portal, and across a succession of nondescript planets. We spent most of that time cleaning up the mess.
Carl was excused from clean-up detail. His scrotum had swelled up to the size of a grapefruit, and he was in horrible pain. All I could do for him was shoot him up with hydromorphone and cortisone, and hope for the best. Carl had talked, told them everything they wanted to know; they simply hadn't believed him. Toward the end, he'd thought they were coming around to buying his story about the saucer abduction, but he wasn't sure. Mercifully, though inadvertently, the Bugs had intervened. Lori was in a state, alternating between fits of crying and tantrums in which she'd smash things against a bulkhead and screamingly relate in detail the parasurgical procedures she would perform on the bastards who'd tormented her boyfriend. In a day or two, Carl was much better and she calmed down.
The clean-up lasted three days. We took inventory and found nothing missing. Sean's and Liam's vehicle was undamaged, as was Carl's of course, but Carl's car was now behind the magenta roadster, which was better, I thought. We might need to get the Chevy out quickly at some point. I regretted now ever having Carl drive it aboard. Talk about bad moves―I had made my share.
When it became apparent that we were in for a long trip, we settled down to a routine, sleeping and eating in shifts, standing watch at the instrument panel in turns, generally setting up some semblance of housekeeping. Thirteen bodies make living in a trailer truck an exercise in the art of the social contract. The truck was big, but with the vehicles and all the cargo, there was limited living space. Toes got constantly stepped on, elbows jammed into ribs, and there was a waiting list for the toilet. Nevertheless, at one point Darla and I found ourselves alone in the aft-cabin. I took the opportunity to sound her out on a few things. I sat her down on the bunk.
"Wilkes told me, or rather his analog told me, that he hadn't heard of the Black Cube until he actually saw it through Sam's eyes here in the truck. That make sense to you?"
Darla raised her eyebrows slightly and said, "I guess. Otherwise he wouldn't have been so keen on finding Winnie aboard the Laputa. He didn't know I had the Cube. Nobody did."
"Nobody except the person who gave it to you. Who was that person?"
"That person is dead. His name was Paavo and he was a very good friend of mine. He died in the shootout I escaped from on Xi Boo."
"Are you sure he died?"
"Paavo always vowed never to be taken by the Authority."
"Did you see him die, or hear for sure that he did?" I asked.
"No. Is it important?"
I nodded. "I think. I'd like to know exactly at what point the Authority learned of the Cube's existence."
"I'd always thought that they found out from running the Delphi on Marcia Miller."
"Probably," I said, "but when was that? When was she arrested? Sam and I can't find anything in our news files that would fix the date―which isn't surprising, because it was probably a secret arrest."
"Most likely it was. But why is the timetable so important?"
"Let me go into something else first." I leaned back and rested my shoulders against the bulkhead. "You never told me any of the details about what happened at the Teelies' farm that night, after they took me away, that is."
She shrugged. "I gave up, they took us all in."
"You were with the Teelies all the time up until Petrovsky questioned you?"
"No, they took me to the hospital first to get my burns treated. I insisted on it and they grudgingly gave in. I think one of the Militiamen took a fancy to me. I never saw the Teelies after that until we met them on the street in Maxwellville." She frowned and shook her head. "Funny, I expected to find them at the Militia station, or at least get some indication they were there, being held, questioned, something. The cops didn't seem to be very interested in them."
I filed that datum away, then said, "Okay. Now, Petrovsky didn't know you had the Cube. Right?"
"That surprised me to no end. He didn't even search my pack." Darla gave a little sarcastic grunt and smiled strangely. "Of course, he had a personal interest in my case."
"Even so, if he'd known you were carrying the Cube he would have searched you and found it. No?"