arrived at the underground BICE chop shop, and
Dawn discovered that Jed had hidden the gold coin in his pod. This little fact
triggered another loud argument between Dawn and Donavan. In the end, after
Dawn admitted that this time, she really, really, really owed him big-time , Donavan agreed to go back to the station for the coin. Jed
told him precisely where it was, and Donavan wrote down the pod number on a
piece of paper so he could remember it.
There was one last argument when Dawn told Donavan that
she wasn’t going to pay him the six hundred thousand unis until he returned
with the coin, but this time the hostility storm blew in fast and didn’t last
long. Jed heard Donavan curse under his breath as he left.
Dawn went under the knife first. Removing a BICE was a
complicated but minor operation, and they only used some form of local
anesthetic. Jed and Jerry sat against a far wall, and the operation took place
in the middle of an expansive room and not in any kind of specialty operating
theater. A slice was made along the hairline at the rear of the neck, and the
BICE unit was removed with practiced precision. They’ve done this
before , Jed noted.
Jed and Jerry talked during Dawn’s operation, but there
wasn’t too much they could say. All they had were questions, and there weren’t
many answers to those questions available to them. They were both just glad to
be alive, and no matter how bad it was here, they both agreed that it had to be
better than if they’d been sent to Oklahoma. At least now they had a lifeline,
however tentative it might be.
Jerry went to the operating table next, but before he did,
Dawn instructed him on how to transfer the unis from his TRID to Jed’s
wristband. Once the unis were on the band, Jerry headed to the table and Dawn
filled Jed in on some of the things that were happening—or at least, what he
could expect to happen next. TRID removal was a lot easier than removing a
BICE, Dawn told him, and it wasn’t nearly as dangerous. Being caught without a TRID was what was dangerous.
She told Jed that she hadn’t expected to come on this
trip, even right up to the moment when she’d given him the note and the coin.
Coming along was a last-minute exigency that she’d have to explain in greater
detail later.
They needed the gold to get into the Amish Zone. Getting
to the AZ meant that they would have to travel safely through the battle that
currently raged all around them in this new world, and there was only one man
Dawn knew who could accomplish such a thing. That man was her cousin. Pook
Rayburn.
****
A harrowing walk of a few blocks through a darkened city
under siege brought them to Pook’s place of business. From all appearances,
Merrill’s Grocery Supply was mostly a bombed-out shell of its former self.
Broken crates of canned and packaged groceries and kitchen supplies were
scattered helter-skelter around the place, and Jed was surprised when they
found Pook Rayburn himself still working at his desk in his second-floor
office.
“What in the world happened here?” Dawn asked, as she gave
her cousin a hug.
“Which world?” Pook replied with a wink. “ We happened here. We—that is, the resistance —happened. It’s a major
offensive. This is the closest they’ve ever come to the City. I barely
learned about it in time to warn you. I’m glad you made the trip. There
probably won’t be any more after yours.”
“It’s that bad?”
“For now it is.” Pook placed a file he’d been looking at
back on his desk and sat down, indicating that the rest of them should sit down
too.
Jed was surprised to notice that there were no computers,
no electronic devices anywhere to be seen. Jerry must have noticed the same
thing, because he leaned over to Jed and whispered to him. “Apparently the
resistance is purely analog… like you folks in the Amish!”
Pook overheard the jest and smiled.
Dawn discovered that Jed had hidden the gold coin in his pod. This little fact
triggered another loud argument between Dawn and Donavan. In the end, after
Dawn admitted that this time, she really, really, really owed him big-time , Donavan agreed to go back to the station for the coin. Jed
told him precisely where it was, and Donavan wrote down the pod number on a
piece of paper so he could remember it.
There was one last argument when Dawn told Donavan that
she wasn’t going to pay him the six hundred thousand unis until he returned
with the coin, but this time the hostility storm blew in fast and didn’t last
long. Jed heard Donavan curse under his breath as he left.
Dawn went under the knife first. Removing a BICE was a
complicated but minor operation, and they only used some form of local
anesthetic. Jed and Jerry sat against a far wall, and the operation took place
in the middle of an expansive room and not in any kind of specialty operating
theater. A slice was made along the hairline at the rear of the neck, and the
BICE unit was removed with practiced precision. They’ve done this
before , Jed noted.
Jed and Jerry talked during Dawn’s operation, but there
wasn’t too much they could say. All they had were questions, and there weren’t
many answers to those questions available to them. They were both just glad to
be alive, and no matter how bad it was here, they both agreed that it had to be
better than if they’d been sent to Oklahoma. At least now they had a lifeline,
however tentative it might be.
Jerry went to the operating table next, but before he did,
Dawn instructed him on how to transfer the unis from his TRID to Jed’s
wristband. Once the unis were on the band, Jerry headed to the table and Dawn
filled Jed in on some of the things that were happening—or at least, what he
could expect to happen next. TRID removal was a lot easier than removing a
BICE, Dawn told him, and it wasn’t nearly as dangerous. Being caught without a TRID was what was dangerous.
She told Jed that she hadn’t expected to come on this
trip, even right up to the moment when she’d given him the note and the coin.
Coming along was a last-minute exigency that she’d have to explain in greater
detail later.
They needed the gold to get into the Amish Zone. Getting
to the AZ meant that they would have to travel safely through the battle that
currently raged all around them in this new world, and there was only one man
Dawn knew who could accomplish such a thing. That man was her cousin. Pook
Rayburn.
****
A harrowing walk of a few blocks through a darkened city
under siege brought them to Pook’s place of business. From all appearances,
Merrill’s Grocery Supply was mostly a bombed-out shell of its former self.
Broken crates of canned and packaged groceries and kitchen supplies were
scattered helter-skelter around the place, and Jed was surprised when they
found Pook Rayburn himself still working at his desk in his second-floor
office.
“What in the world happened here?” Dawn asked, as she gave
her cousin a hug.
“Which world?” Pook replied with a wink. “ We happened here. We—that is, the resistance —happened. It’s a major
offensive. This is the closest they’ve ever come to the City. I barely
learned about it in time to warn you. I’m glad you made the trip. There
probably won’t be any more after yours.”
“It’s that bad?”
“For now it is.” Pook placed a file he’d been looking at
back on his desk and sat down, indicating that the rest of them should sit down
too.
Jed was surprised to notice that there were no computers,
no electronic devices anywhere to be seen. Jerry must have noticed the same
thing, because he leaned over to Jed and whispered to him. “Apparently the
resistance is purely analog… like you folks in the Amish!”
Pook overheard the jest and smiled.
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