“Your office.”
“And why am I there?”
“Damage control,” Vic said.“We have to convince the public this is nothing more than a mass hallucination.”
“There’s no way,” I said.“This has been going on for so long already?—”
“Look, if anyone can write a convincingly scientific article about a chemical leak, it’s you.Please!You have to tell them where the infection is coming from, explain that it’s a scientific thing, and something to do with food poisoning.It’ll help in the long run.”
“Vic, how do you know all this?”I asked.
“You really don’t want to know,” he said.“I have seen this whole thing go sideways at least fifteen times so far.If we don’t talk the humans out of it, Chicago gets nuked.In the middle of a panic like this, people need something to cling to.Otherwise, the Government and the Regional Council decide that the security level is too high and the best thing to do is wipe Chicago clean off the map.”
“What about Nagisa?”I asked.“He fights that big Bruiser.Twice.The second time, it gets him for good.”
“Then do what you need to do at Feedworthy, then you and Eddie go to the Mall.You hide near the battle-site.I’ll make sure the past you is loaded up in the bus and then you’ll find Nagisa.Give him a second dose of your blood.”
“This sounds like it could go really wrong,” I said.
“Oh, trust me, I already know,” he said.
“And what are you doing the whole time?”
“I have to complete the bootstraps,” he said.“I need to find some dead bodies to masquerade as theirs.After you and me from the past disappear to the now, then you, me, Eddie, and Nagisa will go and confront Corcoran at his hideout while he thinks he’s watching the funeral.”
“Is this really going to work?”I asked.
Vic scratched his head.
“Twenty second time’s the charm,” he said.
Chapter6
“So all this really happened,” Judge Volkheim said.
“As I stated before, veracity vibrations from his speech indicate that this witness is speaking in accordance with the state of things,” Drusella said.
“How useful to have a lie detector aboard,” Judge Volkheim said.“Prosecution, do you have any questions for the witness?”
“So you say you mapped out an appropriate blueprint of the actions as thus described over a course of many, many, many T-flops,” Brynholf said.“Fortunately for the courtroom, the two scoundrels here have revealed their hands and given probable cause for why they would be assisting Corcoran.Due to their multiple connections and bizarre history, there’s no wonder that they would concoct such an elaborate ruse.They may be telling a version of events as they happened; but their motivations are hidden, and as we all know, a Soothsayer such as Drusella cannot pierce the veil that lies within the mind of any sentient person.”
“This is correct,” Drusella said.
“Then how about we bring a witness forward that has no links to Corcoran,” Vic said.“Eddie.”
“He was next on my list,” Abe said, voice high and annoyed.“Eddie, would you please take the stand?”
Eddie lifted himself up.He did not look happy to be here or happy to be put on the stand.If anything, his body language screamed that he was bottling up a tremendous amount of frustration and upset.I did not want to be the one who caused all that.As kind and generous and passionate as he’d been with me, he was still a force to be reckoned with.Even still.I couldn’t help but admire the way he’d dressed for court today.He was in a white button-up, with a long tie and had slicked his hair back.He still had tremendous gauges in his ears, but instead of his usual fingerless bike gloves, he had on a pair of golf gloves instead.It was like he kept the same outfit but tailored it for a different crowd.I could not help but imagine him in a bowling league.
He took his sunglasses off and sat them on the stand as Vic moved.They shared a look of complete distaste.
“What is your relation to the accused?”Brynholf asked.
“I am on the Chicago Board with Nagisa, and I am currently Stacey’s boyfriend.”
“A-HA!”Brynholf spat.Eddie looked down at his breast pocket.A little gobbet of spit from Brynholf had landed there.I could tell Eddie was carefully stowing away that little bit of information for later.
“There is no A-ha about it,” Eddie said.He removed a handkerchief from his pocket and dabbed at the stain with the muted air of a tiger.“If you interview or ask anyone that knows me.You’d know my and Vic Almoday’s relationship is extremely contentious.We may sit on the board together, but he’s been pursuing Stacey while our relationship was ongoing, and it’s driven a wedge between us.There’s no reason I would work with Vic willingly unless there was a threat so big that it would force us to work together or die.”
