Mikki was looking at her, with the ornaments of the Whatsit Tree turning gently in the bright air behind him. “I was starting to think you’d left the planet,” he said.
“Not today,” Lee said. “What’s up?”
“I have something for you. Or will have. A copy of the obscure object of your desire should pop out in the next day or so, if my connection is on time. She’s having to be cautious: the press is hot to get its hands on these things before the embargo date, and the computers at Five-Interpol’s PR department are being watched with some care.”
“Okay. I’ll start baking. As soon as you get it, day or night, send it to me here: it’ll reach me wherever I am.”
“To hear is to obey. But Lee, keep your head down about this release copy. There may be those who want to know how you got it before E-time if you’re too obvious about how you use the info.”
“I understand you. I doubt I’ll have to use the data publicly anytime soon. What about that gun?”
“Stella says they’re still tracking it through the usual several false registrations, and she’ll let you know when there’s something concrete.”
“Tell her I said ‘Sorry, mommy.’”
Mikki grinned. “Gotta go.” And he was gone.
Lee sat back in her chair, looking once again at the field of Cartesian coordinates covered with file folders, sighed, and went off to get herself a sandwich before starting in to work.
*
When Gelert came in much later, the desktop was covered with the remains of several sandwiches and seven empty cans of green-tea soft drink, almost all other visible spots being obscured by Palmerrand notes Lee had scribbled to herself and sunk under the desk surface. “You find your bus?” she said, without looking up, as she scribbled another note.
“Yes,” Gelert said, falling down on her floor, “and I don’t care if I never smell chewing tobacco, bubble gum, or various other substances again. The habits of these people! It’s no wonder no one wants to use public transport.” He started washing the pads of one forepaw, wrinkling his nose.
“You find the guy you were chasing?” Lee said.
“Impossible not to,” Gelert said. “His scent is most distinctive. My guess is that he got off the bus about twenty minutes later, on the edge of a near-derelict area down by Rampart: one of the places where they’re still doing quake clearance from ‘99.” He put his ears down flat. “But at no time was his scent as strong as it should have been for someone who was in that bus all that while. It got weaker and weaker all the time…as if he were just fading away while he stood there.”
He gave Lee a look. “And I saw someone just ‘go away’ in plain sight,” Lee said. “Like pushing a curtain aside, and going behind it.” She shook her head. “It’s in the record now, Gel. What Matt and his boss will make of it, I have not the slightest idea. But we both perceived it, each in our own way…so if I’m crazy, at least it’s folie a deux .”
Gelert started washing the pads of the other forepaw. “The idea that Elves have secret powers that they’ve never told anybody about isn’t going to wash terribly well as part of a prosecution case,” Gelert said, sounding morose. “Besides, the guy didn’t do anything but vanish.”
“We can’t help that,” Lee said, “and I refuse to worry about it right now. My life seems at the moment to be narrowing to one subject: fairy gold.”
“Wait a minute. Tell me what you haven’t found before you start out on what you have.”
“Oh, the negative side is the big one.” Lee chucked her stylus to the desktop and stretched wearily, leaning back in her chair. “Taking more or less in order the scans you programmed in,” she said, “there is no evidence of drug dealing, drug use, or anything of that sort. No gambling, legal or otherwise—”
“Even in the encrypted files?”
She nodded. “The network manager at ExTel sent along a
“Not today,” Lee said. “What’s up?”
“I have something for you. Or will have. A copy of the obscure object of your desire should pop out in the next day or so, if my connection is on time. She’s having to be cautious: the press is hot to get its hands on these things before the embargo date, and the computers at Five-Interpol’s PR department are being watched with some care.”
“Okay. I’ll start baking. As soon as you get it, day or night, send it to me here: it’ll reach me wherever I am.”
“To hear is to obey. But Lee, keep your head down about this release copy. There may be those who want to know how you got it before E-time if you’re too obvious about how you use the info.”
“I understand you. I doubt I’ll have to use the data publicly anytime soon. What about that gun?”
“Stella says they’re still tracking it through the usual several false registrations, and she’ll let you know when there’s something concrete.”
“Tell her I said ‘Sorry, mommy.’”
Mikki grinned. “Gotta go.” And he was gone.
Lee sat back in her chair, looking once again at the field of Cartesian coordinates covered with file folders, sighed, and went off to get herself a sandwich before starting in to work.
*
When Gelert came in much later, the desktop was covered with the remains of several sandwiches and seven empty cans of green-tea soft drink, almost all other visible spots being obscured by Palmerrand notes Lee had scribbled to herself and sunk under the desk surface. “You find your bus?” she said, without looking up, as she scribbled another note.
“Yes,” Gelert said, falling down on her floor, “and I don’t care if I never smell chewing tobacco, bubble gum, or various other substances again. The habits of these people! It’s no wonder no one wants to use public transport.” He started washing the pads of one forepaw, wrinkling his nose.
“You find the guy you were chasing?” Lee said.
“Impossible not to,” Gelert said. “His scent is most distinctive. My guess is that he got off the bus about twenty minutes later, on the edge of a near-derelict area down by Rampart: one of the places where they’re still doing quake clearance from ‘99.” He put his ears down flat. “But at no time was his scent as strong as it should have been for someone who was in that bus all that while. It got weaker and weaker all the time…as if he were just fading away while he stood there.”
He gave Lee a look. “And I saw someone just ‘go away’ in plain sight,” Lee said. “Like pushing a curtain aside, and going behind it.” She shook her head. “It’s in the record now, Gel. What Matt and his boss will make of it, I have not the slightest idea. But we both perceived it, each in our own way…so if I’m crazy, at least it’s folie a deux .”
Gelert started washing the pads of the other forepaw. “The idea that Elves have secret powers that they’ve never told anybody about isn’t going to wash terribly well as part of a prosecution case,” Gelert said, sounding morose. “Besides, the guy didn’t do anything but vanish.”
“We can’t help that,” Lee said, “and I refuse to worry about it right now. My life seems at the moment to be narrowing to one subject: fairy gold.”
“Wait a minute. Tell me what you haven’t found before you start out on what you have.”
“Oh, the negative side is the big one.” Lee chucked her stylus to the desktop and stretched wearily, leaning back in her chair. “Taking more or less in order the scans you programmed in,” she said, “there is no evidence of drug dealing, drug use, or anything of that sort. No gambling, legal or otherwise—”
“Even in the encrypted files?”
She nodded. “The network manager at ExTel sent along a
Similar Books
