The Ultra Big Sleep by PATRICK SWENSON

Author:PATRICK SWENSON
Language: eng
Format: epub
Google: dc4M0AEACAAJ
Publisher: Fairwood Press
Published: 2023-08-02T04:00:00+00:00

CROWELL

21 As the afternoon slipped away, I showed Mom both pictures I had of Alex Richards: the one Liz Richards had given me, and the one from Jennifer, with Alex noticeably older. She had no memory of Richards, although she appeared to study the photos closely, as if she had a dim inkling of a memory, but could not put things together in the parts of her brain Greist had tampered with.

I sent a message to Jennifer about the latest change in my itinerary. She warned me not to wait too long and miss the flight window to Helkunntanas that she’d finagled from the paper pushers. The tracker prog did its best to establish a connection with Forno through the slot, but Earth Authority had likely registered the earlier ping and shut it down.

I took the shuttle out of Lakeside, had a stiff shot of Temonus whiskey on board, charged it to the NIO, and returned to Seattle, a half hour flight. Once away from the port, I commandeered an intercity shuttle to the Emirates Tower.

Depending on what I found out, and assuming Terree hadn’t skipped town, I would likely call in that extra seat to Helkunntanas and let Jennifer in on the whole mess. I could’ve called Terree directly, but something was off at the Emirates Tower, and this was my chance to figure out what.

I’d never been inside the Emirates Tower.

I rethought that. I couldn’t remember having been inside the Emirates Tower. In my youth, had I come in here with my dad? Again, I couldn’t remember these trips Terree—and now the Memory—had told me about. This place was both a hostel and a staging area for many Envoys en route to whatever tasks they had across the Union. Still, nothing in my brain connected those childhood times with this mysterious, oversized building.

A security locker near double glass doors beckoned insistently. The instructions etched on its surface prompted the stowing of any and all firearms and hazardous materials inside the locker. This was the domain of Envoys, where peaceful coexistence allegedly reigned at all times.

The glass doors whispered open after I DNA-locked the weapon in the protruding locker. I entered, looked behind me as the doors shut, and checked the street, still visible through their crystal clear glass. Evening was settling in. Would any daylight remain by the time I got out of here?

Inside the Emirates Tower, I quickly familiarized myself with its layout. The foyer was a maze of glass and dull silver beams. Holo windows built into the glass flickered to life at irregular intervals. Nope. No memories of this.

The windows, indistinguishable from regular glass, grew slightly opaque just before holos populated them, showing views of a Union world from orbit, many of the world’s attractions and a scrolling bulleted list of its DataNet stats. Then there appeared a graphic of the Emirates symbol, and a smiling actor looking first at you, then sidelong at the data, as if all of it were irresistably entertaining. How

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