by Rudy Rucker
"As if what?" Cobb asked. There was a resigned and fatalistic edge to Mr. Frostee's words which terrified him.
"It's like waves, Cobb. Waves on the beach. Sometimes a wave comes up very far, past the tide line. A wave like that can carve out a new channel. The big boppers were a new channel. A higher form of life. But now we're sliding back... back into the sea, the sea of possibility. It doesn't matter. It's right, what you told the kids. Possible existence is as good as real existence."
They were driving into Daytona now. Lights flashed by. One of Cobb's "eyes" watched the road, and the other scanned the sidewalk, looking for one of the Personetics followers. The girls whored and the boys dealt dope. But it was so hard to remember their faces!
"You know," Mr. Frostee said. "You know he split the panels?"
"What do you mean?" There was nothing but darkness, and the two spots of vision, and the controls of the truck.
"There's heat leaking in from where your friend rammed us. The temperature's up five degrees. One more, and our circuits melt down. Thirty seconds, maybe."
"Am I on tape somewhere else?" Cobb asked. "Is there a copy on the Moon?"
"I don't know," Mr. Frostee said. "What's the difference?"
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Wendy got the keys for the red sedan, and Sta-Hi drove them back to Daytona. They didn't talk much, but it was not a strained silence.
The police were all around the truck when they found it. Driverless, it had veered off the road, snapped a fire-hydrant, and smashed in the front of a Red Ball liquor-store. The police were worried about looting, and at first they wouldn't let Sta-Hi and Wendy through the line.
"That's my father!" Wendy screamed. "That's my father's truck!"
"She's right!" Sta-Hi added. "Let my poor wife through!"
"He's not in the truck now," a cop said, letting them approach. "Hey chief," he called then, "here's two individuals who say they knew the driver."
The chief walked over, none other than Action Jackson. He had a mind like an FBI file, and recognized Sta-Hi instantly. "Young Mooney! Maybe you could enlaahten me as to what the hail is goin on?"
The crash had widened the rip in the truck's side, and clouds of helium were billowing out. The gas itself was invisible, but the low temperature filled the air with a mist of ice-crystals. A by-product of breathing the helium-rich air was that everyone's voice was coming out a bit high-pitched.
"There's a giant robot brain in the back," Sta-Hi piped. "A big bopper. It's the same one that killed my father and tried to eat my brain."
Jackson looked doubtful. "A truck tried to eat your brain?" He raised his voice, "Hey, Don! You and Steve open tup! See whut's in back!"
"Be careful!" Wendy squeaked, but by then the door was open. When the mist dispersed you could see Don and Steve reaching in and poking around with billy-clubs. There was a sound of breaking glass.
"Whooo-ee!" Don called. "Got nuff goodies in here to open us a Radio Shack! Steve and me saw it first!" He swirled his club around, and there was more tinkling from inside the truck.
The others walked over to look in. The truck was lying half keeled-over. There was a lot of frost inside, like in a freezer chest. The liquid-helium vessel that had surrounded Mr. Frostee was broken and there in the center was a big, intricate lump of chips and wires.
"Who was drivin?" Action Jackson wanted to know. "It could drive itself," Sta-Hi said. "I rammed it and made a hole. It must have heated up too much."
"You a hero, boy," Jackson said admiringly. "You may amount to something yet." "If I'm a hero, can I leave now?" A hard glance, and then a nod. "Awright. You come in tomorrow make a deposition and I might could get you a reward."
Sta-Hi helped himself to a bottle from the liquor-store window and went back to the car with Wendy. He let her drive. She pulled down a ramp onto the beach, and they parked on the hard sand. He got the bottle open: white wine.
"Here," Sta-Hi said, passing her the wine. "And why did you say he was your father?"
"Why did you say I was your wife?" "Why not?"
The moon scudded in and out of clouds, and the waves came in long smooth tubes.
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Document creation date: 02.06.2008
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