Felix asks, “What is going on, though? Is all this about some kind of… gods?”
“Why would you say that?” Wahrheit cautiously asks with partially narrowed eyes.
“Audrey said ‘he’s going to wake up the gods’ last time I saw her. I guess maybe she meant Fleischmann or Obrist? She seemed pretty shaken up by the prospect, and she’s no slouch in the scary department”
Siobhàn says, “She doesn’t mean…”
Wahrheit and Siobhàn share a look before Wahrheit locks his attention back on Felix.
Wahrheit says, “Did she say when?”
“N-no.”
“Did she say how many?”
“No.”
Siobhàn says, “Any is too many.”
“Too true. Okay, you two get to Sausalito double-quick then. If things are really that close to going that bad, they are the only ones who can make sense of it.”
Felix asks, “What are you doing?”
“Obrist knows I’m here now. He raided my house for hoarding the four-two-sixes and spreading knowledge with my street teams, but I doubt he had any idea it was me. If he went after you with that much of his nightmare brigade, he’ll go ten times harder for me. Just the fact that he’s using Warps at all is a disturbing sign… He knows something I don’t and it’s big enough to risk that much. Or maybe… Anyway, I’m a liability to my own mission now and you need to get gone.”
“Oh fuck off, man! What, you’re gonna make a last stand down here?!” Felix exclaims.
“Simmer down, spunky. Hell no, I’m not making a last anything. I’m on borrowed time already but I’ve got something to do before I give it up. Apparently a few things, if what you say is true. Don’t worry about me. With this plan, I go from liability to vital mission element.”
Felix cringes out of frustration and says, “What?”
The little spheres in Felix and Siobhàn’s fists vibrate and beep in a pleasant tone.
Siobhàn lets her sphere drop from her now open hand and roll across the platform at an angle from them and says, “Decoy,” as the sphere rolls to a stop and beautiful, layered symbol equations flitter and spray up out of it and swirl around above it into a five foot, ten inch glowing tornado. It swirls into itself in different ways and forms into an almost perfect facsimile of Siobhàn standing above the sphere. “He means decoy.”
Felix shakes his head, still able to be amazed after all he’s seen. He looks back and forth between Siobhàn and faux Siobhàn and notices that the only real obvious difference is that the faux version is brighter in color all around like a setting was off.
Felix rolls his gently across the floor but it doesn’t get very far and he’s met with a bright mirror image which unsettles him for multiple reasons. At least it doesn’t move with my motions… or is that worse?
Wahrheit steps closer to Siobhàn and asks, “Will you protect this kid?”
“Not for you,” Siobhàn says with a look that says “but I will protect him.”
“Whatever it takes, I guess.”
Siobhàn says, “Exactly.”
Wahrheit lets his Bergmann dangle under his coat from its sling and fishes through his blood-laced duffle bag. He produces a Webley revolver with brass tubes and fittings and a mostly shrouded brass ampule compartment running along and below the barrel with holes down its length to show how much of the glowing green and blue fluid is left. He hands it to Siobhàn grip-first and she takes it and nods in appreciation. He hands her a few quick loads and a thick cigarette case that must contain a few more ampules. She squirrels them away into her bag and tucks the pistol in her waistband against the small of her back then covers it with her shirt. “That’s a Polish Stan original and I will want it back.”
Siobhàn nods and says, “Understood.”
Next he takes out and holds up two vacuum-sealed plastic baggies each containing a small, shiny black ball.
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In those bags the small spheres look like Wahrheit is selling homemade “Atomic Fireballs” or something.
Wahrheit says, “These are an old design. Far from perfect but they should do what’s needed of them. Didn’t have the scratch for new, good ones. These are probably more for fetish role-play or simulated cheating with your spouse or something than disguise, but it’s what I could get. To pinks you’ll look great, but those that can see will notice distortions and odd details if you get too close.”
He offers them both up in his open hand and Felix and Siobhán both reach for them at the same time. Their pinkies brush together and they each nervously take one. The moment makes Felix think of weddings abstractly and he blushes.
“Naturally, you can’t be seen running out of here all normal speed, so you’ll have to turn off them pretty Warps, slow down, and play dumb. After that, I’m sure you’ll do fine.”
Siobhán takes her mask off, squeezes her little package from the bottom, and pops the ball straight into her mouth. She swallows and after a few seconds she grimaces, moans, and doubles over. She puts her mask back on and keeps moaning through it. Her black, blue, speckled, and circle stamped hair becomes blonde wavy locks of the same rough shape and outline. She stands up with a scrunched up face and her hand over her stomach. Her quarter-inch front half of hair on back to the strip of it around the base of her skull at the neck looks like it’s long and pulled back by an invisible Alice or headband. Her face is the same rough shape and proportions but her eyes are a bit too large and candy blue like Wahrheit and Sujit going incognito and her makeup, piercings, and creamy pale skin and tattoos are gone, replaced with a mild case of lip gloss and fake tan. She swallows, shakes her head, and says, “Ugh. Never had to use one of these myself but they’re worse than I heard.”
Felix says, “Great.”
He takes a breath then removes his mask and pulls the little plastic package apart. He pops the ball into his mouth and rolls it around. It tastes like stomach acid already, which makes him doubt its newness. He tries to force it down a few times but his throat fights him.
“I can’t swallow it,” he says and accidentally takes in a small hit of the gas before holding his mask against his face.
Wahrheit takes a flask out of his duffle bag, unscrews and flicks aside the hinged top, then hands it to him. Felix grimaces a bit.
“It’s the only liquid I got on me.”
Felix takes off the mask and downs the ball with a shot of that fine, warming whisky. He replaces his mask and breathes out raspy and hoarse but the shot is already mixing nicely with the pills in his system. Before he can enjoy it, the sickly pressure and nausea creep up and now he doubles over. He watches his shaking hands take on a bronze tint and feels a slight numbness all over his body and face which subsides quickly, taking the nausea and pressure with it. He straightens back up and becomes light-headed from the pills, whiskey, and hit of gas. This brings his high back nicely, like a coffin nail right after a bowl, let’s say.
Hey, if I hadn’t cut my hair so short I could pull some down and see how blond I am.
Siobhán looks kinda cute like that, actually. Cuter the other way, but this works too…
The light head and other pleasantness almost cause him to miss the platform vibrating and shuddering. Then the darkness rolls down over everything again and Felix fights to regain his fear. He knows he’s in trouble without it but the best he can muster at the moment is an abstract assurance to himself that he needs to get out of this place immediately. He still can’t take it all seriously, though, and that’s the part that he’s trying to fight the most. He titters at faux Felix and Siobhán cowering and shaking on the platform while their eyes dart around in terror. Then he remembers again that there is something to be that scared of on its way down to them.
Wahrheit says, “Put the pistol away, Felix. This is where you blend in.”
Felix tucks the Mayor back in his big jacket pocket. Siobhán puts her hoodie back on to cover her “Warp” sphere.
Wahrheit hands them each a pouch containing an
other Warp and says, “You won’t need these if you’re sneaky, but they never hurt to have around. I’m gonna run with the assumption that my probationary pass on getting in trouble for hacking extends to you right now too.”
Siobhán says, “You better be right. Take it easy,” and walks toward the stairs. She stops at the foot of them, looks up the darkened stairwell, and back at Felix expectantly.
The vibrations are becoming strong enough to be hard to hear over so Felix raises his voice and says, “Uh… thanks?!”
The whole platform seems to shift and buck.
Wahrheit takes back the flask that Felix forgot he was holding and says, “Don’t thank me until I do something nice for you!”
Felix walks over and joins Siobhán at the foot of the stairs. The ceiling in the station up above is glowing in overlapping colors near the top of the stairs, which must be from dozens of psychedelic, colored eyes.
Siobhán says, “If we get past this part, we might have a chance!”
Wahrheit yells, “Hey, Felix!” and Felix looks back. Siobhán keeps watch on the approach above. Felix can barely make out Wahrheit in the darkness because it’s becoming thicker than the times he’s seen it before; it’s like a fog and the glow from his Warp barely cuts through it.
“The falling tree does make a sound! But with the right chemicals, you can choose to ignore that fact for a while!”
Wahrheit raises the flask as if in a toast just as Siobhán reaches over and engages a pressure button on Felix’s shrouded Warp in unison with her own.
The darkness, time sludge, and Wahrheit warp and blink out all at once. Felix feels dizzy for a moment and the sudden sounds of rush hour commuters, tourists, and high school kids on the platform create a cacophony when compared with the relative silence and sound warping of the slowed time effect.
As Felix blinks, there’s a fluttering of layered darkness, which he hopes is the Porkers passing and ignoring the shit out of us. He also hears a buzzing sound not unlike a loud gnat which could be the Bergmann going off really fast? Then it’s gone.
Doesn’t matter. Let’s just get out of here.
Siobhán starts up the stairs with a convincing casual air about her and Felix follows. He tries his best to act as casual but even in his chemically enhanced state he’s still expecting talons or a blow of some kind to meet him. Then he realizes that it probably would have happened already based on his mental estimates on the relative time difference the Warp spheres cause. We’re practically statues right now if anybody’s watching in Warplandia. At this speed, it would be an hour or two after anything happened to Wahrheit and they would have moved on… I think? Hard to keep my head around it.
They make it to the top unscathed and cruise through the station seeing nothing weird other than open slatted gas vents filling the station. It’s actually weirder to see so many people looking almost happy at once, dopey as they are from the gas.
As they approach an open-air stairwell, which leads up to UN Plaza, Felix sees rain pouring down into it. I could use a shower, sure.
The gas is thrown around in tiny, wispy tornadoes around the rain impact points and all of it swirls like smoke in an LZ as a chopper is dropping in to pick up the last of a shot up platoon.
Felix follows blond Siobhán up an escalator to the right of the stairs and enjoys the feel of rain pattering down onto his face and head. The surface of his skin and hair make a slight sizzling sound he assumes in reaction to the moisture but he feels no heat.
UN Plaza is mostly empty, probably due to the rain. Buildings and trees line it north and south and gas pouring out of more vents in the buildings is clinging to their branches and lightly fluttering leaves.
There are open gas vents as far as Felix can see in all directions and a layer of the glowing miasma slides across the streets and sidewalks like green fog. People walking by under umbrellas or raised newspapers breathe it in and exhale dark blue as they calmly shuffle to their destinations.
Siobhán throws her blueprint-blue hood over her fake blond locks and struts through the plaza and starts up Hyde on the sidewalk. Felix follows, watching a Swimmer gliding through the air above the rising gas like a sleek, graceful seal while another dips down into the gas and swims more erratically through it.
She says, “Alright, let’s hike up to Bay Street and start working our way over to the Golden Gate.”
“Why not just take a–”
“Taxis are risky ‘cause they trap us in a small space with prying eyes. You never noticed the little black cameras hidden in them? They’re made to look like rivets or rounded bolts in the door frames and ceilings. This town has become a surveillance nightmare for the not-so-normal. I thought London was bad, but this Obrist has been working overtime hooking in all these vents and cameras. Wasn’t nearly this bad in the eighties. No, Slow and steady and we act like tourists. We’ll hop on some tourist bus that crosses the bridge. Shouldn’t raise any suspicion. I just hope your pilot friend is right about these ‘hackers.’”
“Pilot? Anyway, I couldn’t tell you. They’ve always just been my aunt and uncle as far as I knew. So, you think Wahrheit’s alright?”
Siobhán says, “He seems to know his way around this silly mess of a life. Knows his guns too. I have a feeling he’s in a hot bath downing a fifth somewhere right now, sure.”
Felix isn’t sure she believes that and he definitely doesn’t.
They continue north up Hyde. Felix is on the inside of the sidewalk toward the buildings. Something his grandmother said once about a gentleman being on the outside to protect the lady pops into his head. He pictures an out of control station wagon barreling toward Siobhán and her flipping or jumping and running over it like in a “wire fu” movie.
As they reach the corner of Hyde and Turk, Felix hears a whir and looks east. He grabs Siobhán’s hand and yanks them both back around the corner. Before he can flatten back against the wall, Siobhán has pressed herself against him and firmly clamped a gloved hand around his throat.
“I am not a doll, Felix!”
She is only inches from his face and her expression softens as she studies him up close. He can feel her breath coming out of the filter ports onto the parts of his face the mask doesn’t cover.
Felix bends his arm and jabs back toward the east around the corner. Siobhán loosens her grip but still holds him against the wall while she leans over and sneaks a peek. He exhales sharply into his barely visible mask and his eyes roll around. Dim, grey light glints off the trim of a passing car and he winces. His eyes land on something west down Turk.
Siobhán watches two grey-eyed Porkers atop flying platforms hover through the air above the intersections of Taylor and Leavenworth that run parallel to Hyde to the east, equipment and clockwork “eyes” scanning civilians for an ID hit of some kind. One is heading north and one south.
She says, “Okay, maybe they’re focusing on downtown… So we just play dumb and keep going…”
“Or not,” Felix jabs as he pries her hand off his throat. He’s high but scared too now and that combination is a doozy. His eyes jump around, desperate for another way.
Felix spots what he decides is their salvation and walks into the busy street without looking around for cars at all. He hums a little tune then says in a sing-song way, “Let’s do… the time warp… agaaaain,” and he presses the sphere on his chest back into action just before he would be hit by a speeding SUV. The driver has just enough time to start laying on the horn before: The Warp sphere warms back up and Felix is hit by a wave of thick, invisible sludge which breaks over him then releases its pull almost entirely as it passes, allowing him to casually stroll out of the path of the now slowly cruising vehicle.
He looks down at his warping, “catch-up” organic goo hands and chuckles as he waves them around.
Felix looks back up at the object of his desire, that damn candy pink Bentley Continental with the pink zebra interior. I spotted it double-parked halfway down the block on Turk. The si
lly young slutty dressed driver was running out of a bodega, packing a fresh box of Virginia Slims against her palm lightly with the filter side up, the opposite of how you should, when I hit the slo-mo button. There she is now caught in an almost frozen pose of shifting her weight from one “fuck me” wedge platform to the other as she rounds the back of the car.
As Felix approaches the Bentley and its soon-to-be former owner he says, “Hey, how’s it going? I’m gonna take your stupid pink vehicle now. You probably didn’t earn it in any honest way so I’m not real torn up about it. Basically, what I’m saying is, ‘fuck you and everyone like you.’”
Felix takes the pack of skinny cigarettes out of her hand with a little crackling sound and flips them over. As he’s tucking them back into place just a bit further into her packing motion he says, “Oh and just to put your nerves at ease, I’m mortified by cars, I’ve never driven, and I’m pretty sure it’s a bad idea to start today, but… what’s that? Yeah, exactly… fuck it! I knew you’d understand.” Felix strides up to the driver side door, opens it, and slides into the zebra print bucket seat. He takes the extra Warp sphere Wahrheit gave him out of its pouch and presses its activation button. After letting it warm up a bit, he presses the Warp against the dashboard and it sucks into place. The sound of the running engine revs up to normal speed and the rain pelting the outside explodes strangely against the surface.
“First time for everything and all that? Okay… So, in theory…”
He adjusts the mirrors, starts the wipers at medium speed, shifts in the seat until he’s comfortable, and moves the seat back with an electronic button on the left side of its base. The wipers cause a beautiful, hypnotic series of waves to roll across surface of the windshield as the water fights two time states. He surveys the relatively slow moving traffic for a moment, then presses the brake in, shifts it from “P” into “D” with the polished auto stick, and gently grasps the wheel at 2 and 10. He releases the brake pedal and depresses the accelerator… but nothing happens other than a loud rev from the engine.
A Tear in the Veil Page 43