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is really drag-ass," the in ormant told him. "Twenty-three seconds.
Not so good."
"Excuse it." Jake guided his car up to an altitude of 5,000 feet. The
further you got from the artificial canals of the Venice Sector, the
less woebegone they looked. "I was on the verge of getting in touch
with you myself."
"Let me pass on my bulletin first," requested Timecheck. "I'm a little
reluctant, since you may get the notion that I'm no longer a reliable
source of---"
"Some of what you told me last night turns out not to be true?"
Timecheck paused to tap one of his watch faces with his forefinger.
"Tokyo's quit ticking again."
"Get back to what the hell it is you're apologizing for."
I,
"Listen, Jake, every word of what I passed along is the absolute and
unvarnished truth," assured Timecheck. "However, subsequent data I've
been collecting leads me to believe that I probably, through no fault
of my own, nudged you along a wrong path."
Jake grinned in a bleak way. "Explain."
"Okay, it is still God's own truth that a pack of Europe-based Teklords
sent out orders to pick up this Jill Bernardino lady," continued the
informant. "The thing is, Jake--well, sir, somebody beat them to
it."
"Who exactly?"
"I'm at work on that aspect," said Timecheck. "So far it looks like a
local cartel got to her first." "A SoCal Tek outfit?" "Almost
certainly, yes."
"Thanks for filling me in." Jake nodded thoughtfully. "Anything more
on what these European Teklords are really up to--or why they were
planning to abduct Jill?"
"Not yet, but they're cooking up something mammoth," answered
Timecheck. "So, what are you following up at the moment?"
"Trying to locate Jeffrey Monkwood," he told the phone screen "But
Jill's professorial beau didn't show up to teach his Advanced
Communications class today. Nor did he bother to notify the university
that he wasn't going to drop in. Nobody has any idea where the hell he
might be."
"You try his house in the Glendale Sector?"
"I phoned and got no response. I'm heading there now to look around."
"I've dug up a few more facts about the prof," volunteered
Timecheck. "The one that'll do you the most good right now is that he
and his wife no longer reside under the same roof. She has a place
down in the Palm Springs Sector."
"If I don't find out anything at his setup, I'll try her."
"And, Jake," cautioned the Chinese, "now that we're getting even more
Tek people coming aboard--be extra careful, huh?"
The home medibot was a cheap reconditioned model, all she could afford
just now. It stood an inch or so under three feet in height and its
white enameled surface had a yellowish tinge. "I'm coming, I'm
coming," the got was saying in a fuzzy, rattling voice. "I'm not as
spry as I used to be."
"Hurry .. please," gasped Eleanor Monkwood. "Starting . to have .. .
breathing trouble again." She was a blonde woman in her early
thirties, thin and pale, standing now in the doorway that led to the
tiny sundeck of the three-room domed house.
"If you'd stay in here where the air circ system provides breathable
air," the medibot told her as it waddled nearer, "you wouldn't have
these respiratory problems, lady."
"Wanted .. . some sun."
"Smog's all you get when you stray outside on a day like this."
When the little white robot reached her, it poked at a button in its
side. "Darn, this thing's stuck again."
Eleanor held on tight to the doorframe with both thin hands.
She could barely inhale at all now and she was growing dizzy.
"Hurry .. ."
"I'm not a top-of-the-line mech," the hot reminded, whapping
$0 itself in the side a few times with one metal fist. "There, that's
popped her." A panel swung open and the got reached in to pull out an
oxikit. "Here you go, lady."
She hesitated, then carefully and slowly let go with one hand,
bent and reached out to grasp the breathing mask oxygen container unit.
"Can you .. . help me .. . put it on?"
"You're going to have to tilt over a bit more." The medibot's stubby
arms didn't reach to her face, even though it was now standing on
tiptoe.
Eleanor leaned, then started swaying. She suddenly started to topple
forward.
The got hopped aside, let her fall.
She hit flat out and facedown on the grey carpeting. Her mouth was
open and she was trying to breathe in air.
"You're really a mess today, lady." The got squatted, picked up the
oxikit. It rolled her over on her back, attached the mask and clicked
on the oxygen.
Slowly, painfully, Eleanor's breathing improved. The dizziness passed
and she sat up. "Thanks .. ."
"Now let's see if you can stand all the way up. That's it, hold on to
me."
Pressing her hand down on the metal shoulder of the mechanical man, she
managed to push herself upright.
"Okay, we'll take a stroll over to your chair." It managed to guide
her across the living room to a metal chair that faced the vie window
From there you got a view of dozens of other small dome houses, patches
of dry yellow desert and a good deal of cactus. There were also
several holographic Joshua trees out there. Leaving her in the
chair, the robot wobbled over to shut the door to the deck. "There'll
be a beck of a lot less trouble for the both of us, lady, if you'd
follow the Medplan you were given."
"I'm sorry It's just that I never had smog-asthma until I moved out
here three months ago," she said in a weary voice. "Takes some getting
.. . used to." "Here we go again," remarked the medibot, turning its
back on the view. "Self-pity time in the desert. Going to blame your
husband for dumping you and giving you such a trauma that you acquired
this malady." [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]