'Yes!'
'Reading file name: Revela-' There was an interruption.
'Computer? Hey, what happened? Computer!'
'Jake, this is Sam.'
'Sam! Where the hell-?'
I broke off. It was only a recording.
'This is going to be quick,' Sam's voice went on. 'Didn't want to leave a message with the Wang A.I, thinking you'd suspect tampering if you didn't hear it straight from me. I knew you'd search for a file with the emergency code name, and if you're hearing this, that's exactly what you did. As I said, this is going to be quick. I figure I have just a few more microseconds of real-time before I'll be shut down-whether it's for good, I don't know. I also don't quite know what's happening. Someone is fiddling with me, the rig, and everything else. Trouble is, I can't see, hear or scan a thing. Whoever's doing it is pretty damn slick. If I come on-line again, I'll erase this file. But if I don't ever wake up, I just wanted to say that I love you, son. You've always been just about the best son a father could have. And I know Mother always felt that way, too. You know that, but I wanted to say it. Take care, and say good-bye to everyone for me. Look after Darla. She's carrying my grandson. She loves you, too, Jake. I can tell. I'm sure everything will turn out all right in the end. Just keep driving straight, and don't take any nonsense from anybody. Don't feel too bad about me. I've had a long run, and maybe I've taken one too many curtain calls. It's time I-' There was silence.
I sat back. For the second time in my adult life, I cried.
9
There wasn't much else to do in the truck. I checked for vandalism, booby traps, and general damage. Nothing on all counts, Meanwhile, Carl and Lori had gone back to inspect the trailer, and before long we heard a blood-curdling yell. I dashed to the access tube and scurried through, Darla following. I somersaulted into the trailer.
'They took my car!' Carl was standing in an empty area of deck. Yesterday afternoon his 1957 Chevrolet Impala had been parked there. 'It's Prime. I'm gonna kill him.'
'No, you're not,' I told him. 'You'd like to, and so would I, but we can't. So, forget it. What we can do is confront him. I intend to do just that, so hold on until lunch.'
Carl exhaled. 'Shit.'
'Don't worry.'
He was suddenly very glum. 'Maybe he'll give Sam back, but I can kiss that car good-bye. Whatever it was for, the job's done. It's not needed anymore. I'm not needed anymore.'
'That means you can go home.'
Carl sighed. 'Yeah.' Then a flash of indignation. 'But they owe me a car!'
'Good luck.'
Carl moped back to the access tube, crawled in and went through.
Darla was looking around the place. She clucked. 'This is a mess. It smells in here.'
She was right. I kicked an apple core away, bent and picked up a half-eaten chocolate bar. 'Goddamn filthy tenants,' I muttered. 'I oughta raise the rent.'
'Lori,' Darla called, 'there's a broom behind that junk over there, I think.'
'Let's all pitch in,' I said.
'No, Lori and I will handle it. You make sure this truck is Skyway-worthy. I want to get the hell out of this place.'
'Me, too. But what about the others?'
Darla sneered. 'They can stay here and become gods if they want to, the whole lot of them. I'm for leaving right now. Prime said he'd see that they got home. They can take their chances. We'll take ours.'
'Don't you have any aspirations to superbeinghood?'
Her mouth curled into disgust. 'Fuck.'
I nodded. It was the first time I'd heard Darla use the word.
'Yesterday, you seemed to think our destiny was here.'
She shrugged. 'I guess I did. A lot can change in a day. And a night.' Suddenly she threw her arms about me, her eyes wide and pleading. 'Jake, I think our destiny is to get back. Let's go, take off. Just us. There must be a way back from this place.'
'Where? How?'
'I don't know.' She cast about in her mind for something. Her eyes lit up. 'The Bugs! Where did they go? They headed toward Emerald City. We haven't seen them here-'
'This is a big place.'
'But there might be a Skyway route back from here. There has to be.'
'We didn't see a portal anywhere on the planet,' I reminded her.
She chewed her lip. Then something hit her. 'The other side!'
'The other…?' Then I got it. From space, we had only seen one face of the world-disk. 'Yeah, maybe.'
'Oh, Jake, let's do it. I want to get back on the road. You and me, Jake. I want that.' She drew close, resting her head on my shoulder, and I held her.
'We can't just leave them, Darla.'
'If they don't want to go, if they're going to stay here and get involved in things we can't begin to comprehend, why can't-' She took a breath, and lifted her head. 'Is it Susan?'
'Huh? No, no, it's not just Susan. I couldn't just up and leave any of them stranded. I'm partly responsible for their being here.'
'No, you're not, Jake. I am. I'm responsible for the whole thing.'
'Enough of that. Look at me. I promise you that we'll get home. Do you believe me?'
'Yes, Jake. Yes, darling!'
She kissed me, then said, 'I'm going to have your baby… I want it to be someplace normal, in a farm hut on some backwater planet, in a dingy motel room-anywhere! — anyplace that's not strange and frightening and totally alien.' She buried her face in my jacket. 'Oh, Jake, I don't have anything against anybody. Really, I don't. Susan can come with us, or any of them, I don't care. It's just that I'm so tired, darling. So very tired. I want to stop running. I want to go home.'
'So do I, honey, so do I. But we've got a long road, ahead of us, and it might be a little while before we leave. Can you hang on?'
She knuckled her eyes dry, sniffling. 'Sure.'
I looked around. Lori was gathering some trash together behind Sean and Liam's battered magenta roadster. She had been trying not to eavesdrop, but was aware of my looking at her.
She grinned at me. 'Place sure is a sty.'
I gave her a wink. 'Oink, oink.' She laughed. Darla stooped to pick up some food wrappings. 'Sure. you don't need a hand?' I asked.
'You men folk'll just be in the way,' Darla said, smiling. 'Seriously, I really want this truck to be ready to leave on a moment's notice. I'll feel much better knowing that.'
'Yeah,' I said.
'We'll get him back, Jake. Sam will be back.'
I remembered the White Lady's pipette. 'Speaking of finding a way back…'
Darla looked puzzled.
'Got something I want to check out,' I said, and left her staring at at my back as I jogged to the access tube.
Carl was slumped in the shotgun seat, staring moodily out the port. I slid into the driver's chair.
'Buck up, kid. All is not lost.' He gave an ironic snort.
I took out the pipette from a zippered pocket of my jacket and fed it into the pipette deck on the dash.
