Freda stared at me for a moment in silence, than sighed. “Okay, Bob. I guess we have to go through the standard lies first. We initially thought you might have been spies for the Administrator, but she seemed interested in the oddest things. And you followed Skeev, but not to do him harm, as it turned out. I admit to being perplexed. Are you another Resistance group?”
“Logically, to answer that, I'd have to know what Resistance group you are. But short answer, we aren't part of any Resistance group. Nor are we part of the Administrators group. We actually don't know anything more about the Administrator than most people.”
“So, what are you?”
“Like I said. Travelers.”
Freda glanced over top of my head and nodded. Immediately, I felt a blinding pain. I arched my back reflexively as internal systems went into damage control. I turned my head to see Popeye standing there with a couple of wires in his hands, insulation stripped off at the ends. My gaze followed the wires back until they terminated in what were almost certainly some batteries wired up in series. Well, that explained it. Mannies wouldn't be any more resistant to electricity than any bio. That was a real problem, and I added an item to my TO-DO to look into countermeasures.
“Hurts, doesn't it.” Popeye grinned at me. “Why don't you threaten me again, moochin.”
“Okay. Next time you use that on me I'm gonna throw you through the nearest wall. Happy?”
“Let’s try to stay on topic, shall we?” Freda said, interrupting the stare off. “Bob, sooner or later you'll give us what we want. Why not spare yourself some pain? We’re not really your enemy.”
I turned back to her. Maybe simple candor would work. “Look Freda, cards on the table. We’re looking for a friend. I mean it. We’re not associated with the Administrator, or any underlords, or Lords of Flatbush, or any Resistance to or against any of the above.”
“Paper on the table? Lords of flat bushes?” Freda frowned at me, then with a weary sigh, she nodded over my head.
“No, do not-”
Again, searing pain, but this time I had the sensory feedback filters dialed up, so it registered more as data than as agony.
Then Popeye snickered. “Wanna threaten me some more?”
That did it. The fleas had made a good start on my wrist manacles while we’d been talking. Time to test the results.
I stood up, and before anyone could even begin to react, I yanked upward. The manacles snapped exactly as I hoped they would, although my telltales registered some blunt force damage around my wrists. I reached, grabbed a handful Popeye's fur, and flung them at the nearest wall. He didn’t quite go through it, which I suppose qualified as false advertising on my part, but he did definitely damage the drywall. His unconscious form slid slowly to the floor, leaving a more or less Popeye-shaped indentation a couple of feet above the baseboards.
I turned back to Freda to make some snappy comment, and found myself staring at the pointy end of several pig stickers. The sword-wielders all had a kind of wide-eyed, semi-panicked look that very clearly stated that they would react badly to, um, just about anything.
I cocked my head and said “Well, I did warn him.”
It took a few minutes, but I finally convince them that I wasn't about to go on a killing spree or make a run for it. We were once again seated, although Freda's chair was placed a couple of feet farther away than before. I glanced at the wires, which were still lying on the floor where Popeye had dropped them. No one had volunteered to man his station. Popeye had been helped to another room, where presumably he was receiving some medical attention.
“I'm a little surprised,” I said, gesturing to the wires. “I thought that level of technology was banned.”
Freda tried to smile, and did a credible job, honestly. “We don't tend to be law-abiding as a rule.”
“’We’ being the Resistance?”
She frowned at me. “You really don't know. And yet you recognize the battery as forbidden tech.”
I frowned back at her. “Look, why don’t you think of me as someone who has just discovered this whole Administrator-Resistance conspiracy thing and is still trying to figure it out. It's actually true.”
“I’d say there's a lot more to you than that. For starters, there are your physical abilities. There’s a report that one of you took a dart point blank and just got mad. Then there are the weird phrases, and slang you keep spouting.” She stared at me, thinking, then added: “You are definitely odd. Something new. I think we're going to need to get the higher-ups involved.”
I nodded in what I hoped was a respectful manner. Inside I was doing a happy dance. This might finally be a break. If these people were amenable to a little give-and-take, I could conceivably get some real information on Bender. Finally.
They put me in a back room with a small high window, far too small to fit through. A lot of bumping and banging on the other side of the door made me think they were reinforcing the lock, probably with furniture. I had a feeling that this apartment had been specifically picked for its security features. Or maybe built. Could the entire building be a Resistance stronghold? I'd have loved to check it out, but unfortunately, most of my biggest roamers were ensconced in various pubs, listening for information about the Resistance, and I didn't want to risk the rest. The whole spying thing seemed like an obsolete strategy, but I didn't want the roamers to after cross some unknown stretch of city to get back to me. I’d hold that plan and reserve, for now.
Meanwhile, I figured now might be a good time to check in. I didn't want to interrupt anything important, so I settled for a ping to my
