Glass Shore

by Stefan Jackson

  Geek sends the file.

  I decide to wait a few minutes before I call Gliddin.

  “Earlier, the line went dead for a moment there,” I say to Geek.

  “He probably tried to trace it,” Geek replies with absolute ennui.

  Yet, there’s something about Geek’s demeanor that betrays his confidence regarding the invisibility of his cell phone. And so I play on it.

  “Let’s say he can track this cell phone. How long before we can expect company, Geek?”

  He doesn’t stutter or flinch when he answers. “It’s not that simple. I’m mobile, and projecting global shadows so they can’t get a true setting. If they are able to track the signal, their best hit would place me in the country but they can’t ID the state, county or city.”

  “You think they were able to trace it?” I ask.

  Nikki takes a short pull from her cigarette as she studies Geek.

  Geek rubs his eyes and sighs. “No. Relax and have faith, I’ve been living like this for decades. You can use the phone. It’s cool.”

  I nod. That’s good enough for me.

  “Show me the snip you sent to the President.” I ask Geek as I call Gliddin.

  “I sent a stream, so he’s watching what we’re watching,” Geek says.

  I watch the monitor as I listen to the phone ring.

  “Well no kidding. I’m not telling the world we fired on a UFO with nuclear missiles. The truth is not an option,” the President states.

  Third ring – he’s not answering the phone.

  I hang up on the fifth ring.

  “He’s not answering his phone. That can’t be a good sign,” I say.

  On another monitor, Geek studies the local transport grid, no doubt looking for incoming trouble.

  Nikki paces the room as if she’s trying to stay warm in a meat locker.

  I set my mind for fighting. I will destroy a lot of crap before I’m secured.

  “Why wouldn’t he answer the phone?” Nikki asks no one in particular. She spins around, approaches to Geek’s workstation and asks, “Did he receive the file you sent?”

  “Yeah. I can see that he did,” Geek replies with a curt clip. Never one to lose his cool, this is a bad sign for the home team.

  And Gliddin knows who I am …

  My mind is unquiet. Static, or is this white noise? Damn Mjac plug… Can’t think.

  “Geek – are you sure I’m bug free?” I study his eyes. No, he’s not sure.

  Geek reaches into a drawer beneath his workstation and pulls out something that looks like an antique Colt .45.

  He looks at me.

  Then a shadow crosses his face and I know Geek and I have reached the same conclusion. I’m being used.

  Geek aims the .45 at my face.

  I see a bright blue flash.

  I don’t feel a thing.

  Dead again. I love being right.

  26

  Slow and lazy guitar fades in and out as Jimi Hendrix invites me to Electric Ladyland.

  I open my eyes and see Geek and Nikki.

  Alive again. Naturally.

  But no dreams this time.

  “Griffin really had you tagged. I pulled seven very well designed tracking units from your monkey ass. I inadvertently disabled one unit when I shot you in the right eye. My scans didn’t pick up any signals until you called the president, then all the bells and whistles went off. Good thing I have a deep security blanket over my traveling home. That’s the only reason we’re not in custody or dead, right now.”

  Geek hands me a lit cigarette.

  I take a deep hit.

  My mind is quiet. No static or white noise. I reach back and feel the Mjac plug is still in place. It doesn’t bother me now.

  Nikki smiles down at me.

  “You’re not human. You know that, right?” she asks with a smile.

  “Yeah, I know that.” But I feel so real. Aww, Geppetto, why did you make me? And what is this performance we’re engaged in? I know you’re directing this madness. Who am I playing in your production, the fool, the tool? This puppet must learn to cut his strings.

  Yet I don’t speak my mind.

  So I say, “I didn’t think I could be put down with just a plain gun.”

  “It’s not a plain gun, I just fashioned the device to look like an antique. Your right eye is a reset button. It’s the fastest way to secure you. And I got a million eyes for you.” Geek replies as he eases back to his workstation.

  Geek pulls a bottle of scotch, from the same drawer that had contained the weapon, and pours shots.

  Nikki steps up to Geek’s workstation as if she’s a regular at the neighborhood bar. We pick up the shot glasses and drink.

  I take a moment and drink in Nikki. The new look is stunning. Yet, it’s somehow easy to believe that she’s always looked this way. She’s just beautiful and it doesn’t matter what she wears.

  “So where do we stand now?” I ask, loving the fire that courses through my gut and lungs.

  “We’re in Nevada, just south of Reno. We’re in the clear.” Nikki replies with a cool air. “We’re heading back to Manhattan soon.”

  Sensing her pleasant, almost jovial demeanor, I ask, “So, did you and Geek bond while I was shut down?”

  “You could say that,” Nikki replies with a neat smile. “We watched the Security Council meeting.”

  Silence. We drink without looking at one another. Then she says, “So thanks to me, Gliddin is now certain the disc and transcript exist and he will stop at nothing to get it,” Nikki states.

  “Yep,” I reply.

  Then something hits me. “I need to call Liz.”

  Nikki reaches for the phone that Geek had given me earlier from the desktop. She holds it out to me.

  “Is it good to use?” I ask Geek.

  “Yeah,” he says with confidence.

  I take the phone from Nikki.

  I call Liz.

  “Hello.” Liz replies.

  Good, she sounds safe. “Are you okay?” I ask.

  “Yeah, why shouldn’t I be?”

  “I think you may get a visit from some assholes that will use you to get to me.”

  “What – again! Are you kidding me?”

  “No. This time it’s the government so stay very low.”

  “Damn! Damn it Apollo! What the hell is going on?”

  “I’ll give you details later. Right now, just make yourself invisible.”

  “Fine.” She hangs up.

  “She’s not pleased, is she?” Nikki says with an impish grin.

  “No, she’s not pleased.” I reply. I pour another shot.

  “You see, as much as they need to destroy the evidence, they can still deny it if it’s released to the general public,” I say.

  “The American media will ignore it. It will get play internationally but that’s not enough to sweat this Administration. They’ll just keep stating that the disc is doctored, all the while continuing to hunt us down in hopes of killing us and destroying the disc.”

  “So my glorious plan to make the government pay isn’t going to happen.” Nikki says.

  “No. You’re not going to get an apology or collect any money.” I’m more delicate with my next words.

  “And you’ll only win a slight victory for your father. Yes, he was under orders to fire on the UFO, but he could have denied the order. He launched a nuclear weapon and he had to realize that if he missed the target, the nuke would strike American soil. Trust me, he will remain a villain in the eyes of many.”

  “I agree,” Geek says.

  “What about the fact that he thought he was shooting at a UFO? He thought he was protecting America,” she says.

  Nikki finishes her drink. She takes a cigarette from the pack, lights it.

  “So I’m on the run forever,” she states.

  “I can help, with Space’s money. I have to vanish too.”

  “I’ll help in any way I can,” Geek says.

  Nikki be
gins to get angry. “I can use Space’s money to fund a political campaign against Gliddin. Force the truth to see the light of day.” She takes a short hit from her cigarette and stares at Geek and me. Then her eyes brighten and the mystery fades from her brow. Looks like someone has had an epiphany.

  “Is anyone from that Security Council meeting, other than Gliddin, still alive?” Nikki asks. “And Thorosen – what can you find out about that guy?”

  “I can answer,” Geek says. His fingers dance over the keypad. Web pages pop up on the large monitor above his head, each page dedicated to a Security Council member. A quick glance at their birth/death stats shows that Gliddin is the sole survivor from that clandestine conference.

  “I don’t see Thorosen’s name on that list, ” Nikki states.

  “Searching,” replies Geek. “Oh, we’re back in Manhattan.”

  “That was quick.” Nikki says. “Won’t that kind of speed register with ATC?”

  Geek replies with bored confidence. “Yes, but shields deflect true position. We arrived in the city before Command captured the real signal.”

  I call Liz. She picks up on the first ring. “Tell me good news, Apollo.”

  “Coming to your home.”

  “Don’t. I’m on the move and I’m being tailed.”

  “Has anyone made direct contact with you?”

  “No.”

  “Good.”

  “I hate that statue.” Liz says.

  And now I know exactly where she is.

  “Tell you what, I think you need a drink.”

  “Right.”

  We hang up.

  “Liz says she’s being followed. She’s at Fifty-third and Eighth. There’s a statue of Thom Rudi in the Hoover courtyard. Liz says that with his arms outstretched, reaching and gangly, he looks like Frankenstein stepping off the pedestal. It freaks her out. So I sent her to the M1R.”

  Geek nods and dials in the course.

  “It’s an Underground club. We’ll be there in three minutes,” he states.

  “Nikki, you’ll go into the club and pick up Liz and bring her back. You cool with that?”

  “Yeah,” she replies with a nod.

  I grab the cell phone Geek gave me and stare at it. I can’t remember Carol’s number.

  “Geek, are you sure I’m getting better with age? I can’t recall a phone number.”

  “Oh yeah …” He pulls up the mind pool, according to which, I’m ice-skating at large indoor facility.

  “What’s wrong with you?” Geek asks, not looking at me, the physical me standing right next to him. We all look at me, as I appear on seven floating screens. “Well … All systems are green. You’re running well. No abnormalities, nothing glitchy. You can’t recall a phone number? That shouldn’t be possible.”

  Nikki has a sweet laugh to herself.

  “What?” I ask.

  “I dunno. You have a sharp dress code and you’re always neat, even your nails are fine. Let’s face it; you can be a little prissy and fussy. You’re a flirt, which makes you cute as hell. The mind pool indicates you’re leaving false memories, which is deceit. Now you’re exhibiting signs of forgetfulness. You have a lot of human traits for a construct.”

  “Good to see you’re enjoying yourself.”

  “You’re very good in bed.” She winks.

  Geek laughs, then says, “Interesting catch Nikki. I’ve tracked all forty-nine of the originals since day one. Each has acquired distinct personality quirks that programming should have prevented. The newer models don’t exhibit any of the characteristics that plague the originals. Also, the newer models don’t visit the Underground unless ordered and seem to abstain from drugs, alcohol and sex. A few of the originals were like that for many years but the clean living lifestyle didn’t take. With the exceptions of Michaels and Becuá. Those are the only two original units that remain clean.”

  “Oh please, don’t you start praising those assholes,” I say, shaking my head in disbelief.

  “What? I’m only saying that out of the original models, only two have continued to live a clean lifestyle. Let’s see if these new models stay on that straight line over time.”

  “Was Apollo a bad boy from day one?”

  “Yes, yes and yes. He gets the blame for bringing down the top ten. He was first out of the gate and everything he did was shared over the mind pool. And since he was having so much fun, others followed his lead.”

  “A bad seed with high self esteem,” Nikki laughs.

  Geek agrees with Nikki by nodding and smiling.

  “Okay… back to Carol,” I say.

  “Just look at your phone for the number,” Nikki says.

  I stare at her. Exhale. Pull out my phone. Get the number. I punch the number into the phone that Geek gave me.

  Nikki applauds.

  Carol picks up on the first ring. “Hello?”

  “Hi Carol, Superbad here.”

  “Well hello, stranger. Good to hear from you. You comin’ in?”

  “No. Got a situation and I need your help. Liz is coming to you. I need you to give her a make-over so she can shake her tail.”

  “Not a problem.” Carol’s reply was confident. And that’s what I wanted to hear.

  “Thanks. I’m sending a friend down to pick up Liz and bring her back to me. Her name is Nikki. She’s beautiful. You’ll know her when you see her.”

  “Very good.”

  “I owe you, lady. Just call.”

  “I know. I’ll talk to you soon.”

  Carol hangs up.

  I turn to Nikki. “Look, when you get inside the club, ask for Carol.”

  “First, thanks for the compliment. Second, and more important – Superbad?” Nikki howls.

  “You telling me I’m not?”

  Nikki smiles big. Then says, “So give Liz a new look and bring her back here.”

  I nod.

  “And your friend will have a wig, make up, and clothes handy?” Nikki asks.

  “It’s a strip club,” I state.

  “Of course it is.” Nikki chuckles. “What’s Liz look like?”

  “Damn, all these years and you’ve never met Liz?”

  “No.”

  “Neither have I,” says Geek.

  I think about it. He’s right.

  I look back to Nikki. “Well, you saw her earlier, on the car phone.”

  “That wasn’t an avatar?”

  “No, that was true Liz. She’s a lean and hard Spanish beauty with long, curly red hair. She’s about as tall as you. She’s has kissable thick lips.”

  “Easy, Skippy, I got it.”

  “Okay. We’re parked.” Geek states. “The Underground entrance is right outside the door.”

  Geek escorts Nikki out of the cabin.

  27

  I stand alone in the lab, waiting, listening to the cold hum of electronics.

  Scanning twenty-seven monitors that display the earth. I count ten monitors that deal with this vehicle. I’m still on display on seven screens.

  Geek returns to the cabin. He sits at his workstation. His fingers play over the keypad. A moment later, a new picture appears over Geek’s workstation. It’s a three hundred and sixty degree, live image of Nikki walking down the sidewalk. Up, down, north, south, east, west and all points in-between is presented in one flat, storyboard view, sans panels or overlapping windows or upside down shots. I watch Nikki’s shiny hair bounce with every step she takes, the people approaching her, the people behind her, the constant traffic and cumulus clouds above and the sparkling sidewalk below as one continual view. The tall guy approaching Nikki is just as clear and in perspective as the nattily dressed teenaged boys behind her. I watch the tall guy pass Nikki on her left and he is now behind her nearing the boys, he turns his head to get a look at her ass. The boy closest to the tall guy notices the tall guy’s glance. The young boy gives the tall guy the thumbs up.

  Nikki descends the clean stairs into the Underground. Her eyes are scanned as she w
aves her Lifecard at the sensor. Green light – the clear force field shivers — and Nikki zips through the barrier. Nice to see she’s disease free. If her health-line had been negative, she wouldn’t have been allowed to continue. The cops would have held her and arranged immediate transport to a medical facility for a mandatory checkup.

  “This isn’t the city’s feed.” I state.

  “That’s correct. It’s a camera I created. It’s fixed to orbit Nikki.”

  “Cool and it doesn’t seem to annoy her.”

  “It shouldn’t. It has the same visual warping program as you.”

  “It’s invisible.”

  “In a fashion.” He shrugs. “The camera floats on the grid. There are some maneuverability issues to iron out but I expect to have units available to uplink within the year. It’s going to change the way we view sports because as you see, the camera can sit right on a player’s shoulder so the viewer is truly in the moment of any athletic event. Dozens of cameras can be placed on the field so a viewer can choose their favorite player and the angles they want to watch. The viewer can sit on the quarterback’s shoulder, watching and listening as an angry defensive end delivers a punishing blindside tackle as the unaware QB is checking off his eligible receivers. Hell, a viewer can even be the ball in play. Yet, that’s the tracking issue I’m still working on. It’s easy to hitch a ride on a football tucked under a running back’s arm. My goal is to smoothly track a fastball hurled from a pitcher’s hand then being launched from a solid wood bat.”

  “Damn man, this is great. So how big is this camera?”

  “Twenty-nine millimeters in diameter and weighs seven point six seven grams, about the dimensions of the human eye. And no, I didn’t tell Nikki there would be a camera following her.”

  “You know every government on the planet will want this toy.”

  “Of course. That’s why I control all use. You have to buy the service and cameras from me. Period.”

  “All for the money.” I say without disapproval. No condemnation from me. I like money.

  “Yes. Even you.”

  Even me. Geek created me because they paid him. Selfish behavior and economic incentives rule every aspect of life.

  We watch Nikki pass Mr. Tony’s casino on her way to M1R.

  Mr. Tony’s is a high-end establishment. The spot is solid with players. The bouncers turn people away.