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Chap. 1

The wind howled like a lonely messenger of foreboding doom. The night was black, as black as his eyes as he surveyed the streets of GenChat far below him. Lightning flashed, rippled the sky through the torrent of rain, matching the sparks that danced and leaped in his eyes. From his tower he watched as an unsuspecting Chat World bedded down for the night. His cape whipped in the wind held down by his alabaster hands with their long ivory nails.

She was clad in a white nightgown. Her breasts were highlighted by the shear fabric that clung to her skin through the driving storm. He did not know her name. It did not matter. All thought and emotion had been drained from her lifeless form. She was but one of many; there would more.

Electricity crackled and wavered from his body as it always did after he had fed. He could relax now knowing that he would survive until another night. The rest of the evening would be merely for play. He would stalk, hunt, and terrorize his prey, but with the knowledge that it didn’t truly matter. It was only recreation.

He bayed a laugh to the ominous skies and wrapped his black cloak about his gaunt form. A snap of the movement of electrons filled the air with an ungodly ether as he shifted into a form of pure ebony light. A flash to match the impending clap of thunder filled the atmosphere. All that remained on the roof was the body of his latest victim.

He was gone to who knew where.

*****

The evening was quiet, too quiet for my nerves. I had finished my last set at the Tahiti Lounge for the night, and Twinktoes5, my secretary, had still not returned from her trip to the other side of the modem. I looked around my office. It was a disaster. I never could figure out how someone with as few possessions as me could make such a mess. In terms of housekeeping the place was somewhere between the Lusitania and the Titantic.

I had my fedora propped up on my desk and was seeing how many cards I could toss into it. I had been through the deck three times and so far had struck a bullseye nine times. I guess that my heart wasn’t in it.

I sighed and went to get a fresh bottle of mineral water. As I uncapped the bottle I moved to window. It was raining like Uncle Elmo’s sinus condition. The streets were deserted like the volunteer line for k.p. duty. I was glad to be inside and not out on some low paying case. I really needed to increase my retainer.

Suddenly, a flash of eerie dark light zoomed past my window like a spanked puppy. I felt the hairs on my body stand on end as I watched the luminescence careen around the corner and disappear. I could swear that I also heard a faint echoing laughter mock me.

I was as tense as a bricklayer with the hives, which was probably why I about jumped out of skivvies and sloshed mineral water all over when someone knocked on my door. I wrapped my right hand around the roll of quarters in my pocket and walked over to see who it was.

When I opened the door, the sight that greeted me about made me put my rachneros in my left hip pocket. She was tall and thin but filled out in all of the right places with one of those figures that a joe just wanted to see draped all over him. Her waist length hair was the color of her eyes, dark brown, nearly black. She was wearing a black leather jacket and black jeans that were so tight that they left little room for the imagination.

“I am looking for an Al_B._Moonlight,” she said through her cherry red lips.

“Well, you found him, sister. Come in and take a load off your kiester,” I replied while having thoughts of where she could rest it.

“I understand you are a dectective,” she said as she moved across the room with a walk that made me ache in all the right places.

“Right on the button, sweetheart,” I acknowledges as I lit up a HardDrive and felt the delectable raspy smoke corrode my lungs with a hint of doom. “What can I do for you?”

“I have need of assistance,” she continued as she moved my dirty clothes off the chair and sat with a movement that made my hormones spin.

“Okay, let’s hear the skinny, the scoop, the schedule for the third race.”

“I beg your pardon.”

“Sorry, doll, I tend to talk that way.”

“I just hope that you are not proof that evolution can go in reverse. I desperately need aid in seeking out the location of somone.”

“Oh, boyfriend switch identities and left you standing with his socks in your hand?”

“I am afraid it is nothing that trivial, Mr. Moonlight. Perhaps you have heard of...LeStatic?”

I wished that I had not been taking a drink of mineral water with a lung full of smoke when she said that. I started to cough and sputter. I was unable to inhale let alone exhale. The room started to spin and grow black.

The next thing I knew I was laying on the floor, and she was giving me mouth to mouth. Her lips where as soft and tasty as cotton candy at the county fair. She had a pleasant scent that would have made a schoolboy want to play hooky. I kept my eyes closed after I revived and wondered what she would have thought of a little tongue.

She returned to her seat, looked at me quizically, and said, “Your lips are interesting, Mr. Moonlight, but I am afraid there is no time for frivolity. Perhaps I chose the wrong private detective.”

“Give me a chance...what is your name, by the way?” I asked.

“Raven13.”

“Okay, Raven, give me chance. You just caught me off guard when you said that, though I’m not complaining.”

“Very well, Mr. Moonlight. I will pay your usual rate...”

“Fifty dollars plus expenses.”

“...fifty dollars plus expenses. The case will be dangerous, but then you come highly recommended.”

“Who by?”

“Do you know Daybreak12?”

“Who hasn’t? Fine, sister. So what’s the dope?”

She went to the window and looked out like she expected to see someone watching back. She lowered the shade and returned to the seat. I drank in the view of the tempo of her motions like a starving man holding a glass of saltwater.

“Very well,” she said, “it began when ChatWorld was created...”
Chap. 2

He raced through the sky, oblivious to the storm that enveloped him. He had fed and was strong. The night was young. There was much he could do. Then he felt the prey for which he searched.

It was the certain pain he sought. The one where he found the greatest strength. There was no emotion to his actions. All that existed for him was the hunt and the kill. Not one thing else held his interest. Sentiment of any form had long since left him. He would follow the chase, strike, and be gone.

He alit and assumed his corporal form. Entering through the door he discovered himself to be in a room full of chatters. They seemed to feel an unconscious uneasiness from his presence, as if they could sense he was there yet still not quite see him. Loud music blared in a feeble attempt to cover the loneliness of their lives, but he hardly noticed. His fixation was upon his prey. She was there and would not take long to find.

Then he spied her glistening like a candle in the dark. He knew the type, knew the type well. She was middle aged and much had crumbled in her life out there until the pain had driven her to ChatWorld. She searched from room to room for love or peace. At first there had seemed a chance that she could obtain her goals but in the end life had turned out to be the same on this side of modem.

Now she was desperate seeking salvation in each room, in each chat that she embraced. It mattered not whether she had children or other family out there. Each added its own form of angst and made her his perfect prey. Neither did her name matter. He cared little for names now. There was only the victim and the predator. All else he had long left behind.

They locked gazes. The moth to the flame she stood transfixed in the black glare of his eyes. For the first time in ages she felt a thrill about her existance. On hesitant steps she moved to him. Before him she stood, her consciousness impaled in the inky light of his ungodly gaze.

He took her in his arms. They began the dance, a slow tango of death. She felt young at that moment, younger than she had in ages. The crowd watched and marveled at their grace, but soon the chatters grew bored as they always did with what they encountered. In a few minutes the duo was alone with the dark and their dance.

His eyes held her prisoner. If she wished to struggle it was too late. A deer's neck locked in the jaws of a wolf would have had an easier chance of escape. Still, he stalked her, hiding behind the thoughts and emotions in her mind, images that she had long hidden from herself. She watched helpless in a terrorized state of bliss and grace as he paraded them one by one before her consciousness.

Finally, he tired of the hunt. It always came to this. They could only be persued so long, then it was time to move in for the kill. He dipped her low in the dance, brought her up close to him. She molded perfectly to his body, eagerly offering her mouth. His lips dipped to taste the salty sweetness of anticipation which was her soft flesh.

Who knew if she struggled or if it was an involuntary spasm of her body? He drank deep, tasting her thoughts and emotion flow hot and deep into his body. His black eyes crackled, sparked with the welling of her life as it passed through his lips. The tango was nearly complete.

He allowed her to slowly slip from his arms lifeless to the floor. There was no worry of discovery. He had found that the chatters were so self-absorbed in their own folly and fantasy that he would have long departed before anyone discovered what had happened. That was the weakness that made them his willing prey.

Neither could they comprehend what had transpired. Unlike the vampires of legend he left no mark nor took no blood. No one could measure the width and depth of thoughts and emotions. Once they were departed there was only death, the final release that certain chatters unconsciously craved. By then he was far away, locked in his next dance or asleep for the day.

He walked to the door, turned, and looked. If there had been emotion left in him, he would have smiled, but feelings were a distant memory. There was only the hunt and the kill. Once outside, he turned again to a ball of ebony light and disappeared into the storm ridden night.

*****

She opened a gold cigarette case and pulled out a long thin coffin nail. I reached over with trembling hands and lit it for her. I wasn’t sure what was happening, but I felt my mind melt away and go for a quick skinny dip in her eyes. The dame had enough chat pheremones to fill a ten gallon bucket.

“You probably know,” she continued after a puff that raised her chest to eye riveting porportions, “that when ChatWorld was created, the technicians soon discovered that pieces of emotions and thoughts were flaking off the chatters and cohering to form cyber-beings or flakes as they are known.”

“For sure, Raven,” I eagerly chimed in as I wiped the sweat from my face, “I’m one of them.”

“You are...interesting...then he cannot use his powers on you...” she continued, “...now I see why I have been drawn to you...

“Flakes in themselves offer no problem outside of the minor annoyance of those who choose to be gutter trash. However, one major consequence did occur. A virus was introduced to ChatWorld. If it was an accident or sabotage, no one knows and does not matter at the moment.”

She took another eye pleasing inhalation and proceeded, “What does matter is the virus created an entirely different kind of flake, one that the chatters soon found to be deadly, a flake vampire.

“This vampire feeds not on blood but upon the thoughts and emotions of chatters. Usually, the vampires stay in the more secluded regions of ChatWorld, preying only on those in lonely private rooms who crave release. It has its own form of morality, I guess.

“However, there is a consequence to their actions. After a time, the act that they perform to survive can drain them of all emotions, leave them an empty husk whose only purpose is the hunt. They go rogue and attack wherever the stalking takes them.”

“Does that happen often?” I asked as I lit up a HardDrive and collapsed in a spasmodic heap of delight.

“It is rare,” she answered, “but it does happen. Unfortunately it happened to LeStatic. I gathered from your reaction earlier you have heard of him.”

“Do untame pontiffs lay body waste in the shrubbery?”

“I beg your pardon?”

“Never mind, yes. He’s a childhood story in these parts. A boogie man used to extort children into doing things they wouldn’t otherwise do. My Uncle Elmo used it as a threat when he wanted me to give him a soapy sponge bath. You say he is real?”

“Real, very real, Mr. Moonlight. He is the king of the flake vampires. Unfortunately, he has gone rogue and must be stopped, for his own good and for the safety of ChatWorld. That is where I need your help, to locate him.”

“Can he be killed?”

“No, but still I must find a way to stop him.”

“I’m sorry, sister,” I said as I eyed her pleasing angular frame, “frankly you look like I could snap you like a toothpick in a glass of water. I don’t see what you could do to stop beans.”

She walked over to me, picked me up by my tie, held me dangling off the floor, and said, “Two things, Mr. Moonlight. I am not your sister, or doll, or sweetheart. You will address me as Raven.”

As she let me drop to the floor like a sack of wet peat moss, she continued, “Second, as you can see, looks can be most deceiving. Now, where shall we start?”

I stumbled to the desk and took a long swig off my bottle of mineral water. My throat felt like she had closed it in a vice and beat on it with a ball peen hammer. I had a funny feeling that this case was a few megahertz beyond my c.p.u. A lesser joe might have backed out. However, I needed the money, and she was one fine looking dame.

“Well, I guess we start nosing around, asking about any unusual happenings,” I said as my rancheros settled down to a dull tremble. “I got some sources we can check out. We can start at the Tahiti.”

Without another word, she turned and glided out the door. I followed, enjoying the view.
Chap 3

He flashed through the night, a pulse of ebony horror throbbing on the hunt. He stopped where he wished, struck when he desired. He offered mercy, whether for life or death, and it was fate where he intervened.

Suddenly, he felt the one he truly sought. He alit, assumed a solid body, and entered. It was a room, like so many where he had stalked. They had long become the same to him. He saw no difference. All rooms and all chatters presented the uniform options of survival and pursuit. Long ago the numbing onslaught of their minds drained into his body had wiped away any emotion within him.

Then he saw her. She was sitting closed legged on the bar. A little younger than he usually pursued, she still extended the same greeting to him. Though she did not know it, she was seeking the release that only he could give her.

He stood in the shadows watching as she chatted with her friends. He sized her up, probing for the weaknesses in her thoughts and emotions, searching for the opening to allow his pursuit to begin. He found it and waited for her to become aware of his presence.

She finally looked in his direction like she was seeking him, too. They locked gazes. She was transfixed by the black eyes that flashed and met hers. All started to disappear save the stare that held her mind like a candle illuminating a lonely dark room.

The hunt had began. He had already won.

*****

It was pretty late or early, depending on how you viewed the sand in the hourglass, when we got to the Tahiti. The place was about as empty as a bucket is hollow and as lively as a morgue. Since I was off work one chatter, Altuna, was tinkling the ivories in an attempt to liven things up a little. He wasn’t having much luck.

The chat from the room washed over us like a yawn.

· NoNo15 says, "COPS=COMPS:"

· Cub_Reporter says, "AL_B.!!!!!!"

· DraculaAnn . o O ( gee nono what a good lap dogs )

· You say, "hi cubbie"

· SingerNAband says, "Well Drac.....you never really know in this game"

· Altunasays, "AL!"

· DollyPardon smiles at Al

· Cub_Reporter says, "NICE81426!!!!!!!"

· SingerNAband says, "I can only guess"

· AltunaLOOKS AT ALTCHAT.. BRB

· Nice81426 says, "Hey everyone!!!"

· SingerNAband says, "That is the exciting part though"

· DraculaAnn husg nice

· Cub_Reporter says, "needa scoop, needa scoop!!!!!!"

· _____ enters

· NoNo15 says, "well time to jet c ya guys later"

· DollyPardon says, "Nice81426!! Oh boy... things are gonna be fun now!!"

· DollyPardon hugs NoNo and whispers something in his ear

· Nice81426 huggles allof you!!!!!

· NoNo15 says, ":0 )"

· DraculaAnn husg NoNo

· DraculaAnn says, "Hi albino"

· _____ watches

· VanesaRedgravely goes and sits on the corner of the bar indian style..

· SingerNAband . o O ( Van looks even better in jeans and a T-shirt bending over )

· DraculaAnn grbas dolly and honks her bye bye and SQUUUUUUZES

We moved to my personal table. Usually, no one else sat there, and if they did they moved quickly when I wanted it or wished that they had. I ordered a mineral water. Raven declined the offer for a drink.

“So what is this place?” Raven asked as I lit up a HardDrive and disintegrated into a fit of estatic wheezing and coughing.

“It’s the Tahiti Lounge,” I replied when I caught my breath, “a little GenChat backwater ginjoint. I play piano here. Besides a good place to hang my work hat, it’s also a good source on the dirt around here.”

I signaled Cub_Reporter to come over to the table. He was a proficient well of info on what was happening in these parts. As he sauntered in our direction, I noticed Raven’s eyes flash as she gazed at the sparse crowd.

“Who’s that?” she asked through taught lips.

“Oh, that’s DarculaAnn. She’s pretty harmless,” I replied.

“Someone should inform her that it not nice for children to play such games. There are those who would not be so understanding, and she could get hurt.”

“Hey, Cubbie, what’s up?” I asked desperately trying to change the subject.

“Not much, Al,” he replied as he placed a pencil behind his right ear. “What brings you back so late? Gotta a date?”

“No, I’m on a case, Cubbie. Say have you heard anything about bodies being found around GenChat?”

“Well, now that you mention, Al, the cops have been finding more corpses than bees on a bear’s behind. Funny, too. All chatters, and no one knows what’s killing them. No signs of struggle, no marks on the bodies, just serene smiles on their faces. You know anything about it? I really need a scoop for The Tattler.”

“Sorry, Cubbie, I’m up a tree in the dark with the hounds at my heels on this one. If you happen...”

All of a sudden, Raven gripped my arm so tight that the circulation fell lower than a gas gauge on empty and yelled, “He is here!”

I watched as she lept to her feet. She headed for the bar where a tall thin man dressed in black was chatting with a woman who seemed oblivious to anything but him. I tried to follow, but Raven moved as fast as a deer with the trots.

She grabbed him by the arm, spun him around, and screamed, “No!!!”

He hissed and backhanded her. She went down like a ten dollar hooker. I arrived and lunged for the man. He grabbed me and lifted me like a bag of feathers. He then hit me with a punch that packed a whallop of a mule with a jackhammer.

I felt myself lifted again like I weighed no more than an angry rumor. He locked gazes with me. Looking into those empty black eyes, I felt like someone had dumped liquid oxygen on my rancheros.

He dropped me and hissed, “A flake! You are worthless to me!”

Raven had recovered and reached for him. He lithely dodged her, gathered up his cloak, and disappeared out the door like a collection notice into my waste basket. I observed a flash of ebony light as I hurried after him. Outside I saw no one. I walked to the end of the block and looked around the corner. He had vanished like a pint of sloe gin on prom night.

I felt Raven standing behind me. I turned and looked at her as she stared into the thick clouds. She had an expression like someone she knew had gone far away and wouldn’t be coming back.

“Well, Mr. Moonlight,” she said as she continued to gaze at the sky, “it appears we stopped LeStatic this time. Unfortunately, we will have to search for him again.”

I felt like the kid who jumped from AAA in Lubbock to the big leagues. I was in a whole new ball game this time and didn’t know if I had the stick to play.
Chap. 4

On he soared through the night, the cool breeze wafting under his speeding ebony form. He had lost the last kill, but it did not matter. He had fed and the later pursuits were merely obeying his instincts.

What did matter was that she was here. Somehow, she had managed to track him to this place. Now he was the quarry as well as the hunter. He did not fear her. Even if disquietude still dwelt within him not even she would be one he would fear. None could touch him nor hurt him. His power was too great. At most she was a minor annoyance.

Then he noticed the first fingers of red light in the eastern sky. He quickly veered left and headed for his loft. It was time for bed. He had been caught once by the daylight; however, it did not kill him as the legends had told. Rather, the day had left him drained and impotent. He had spent weeks thereafter feeding on drunken victims in stupors and cyber-rats until his strength had returned enough for the hunt. He would not face such a state again.

He landed atop a tall abandoned building and assumed his solid form. As the first full burst of sunlight glazed over the horizon he entered, closing the door behind him. Once inside his light quick steps led him to a vault secreted in the wall.

He made entry and said, “/Room secure on.”

He closed his eyes. Before him swirled the visions and hopes of his victims from the night. It was always that way. The experience made him lightheaded but quickly faded into the oblivion where he had drawn their thoughts and emotions. All that remained was the anticipation of the next evening’s pursuit.

He was soon asleep.

*****

We walked back into the Tahiti. I was as shaken as an old quilt in the wind. I had been around the dance floor in ChatWorld a few times but had never encountered anything like LeStatic. Frankly, I would have rather spent New Year’s Eve sipping grog with Aunt Millie than face him again. However, a job is a job. I needed the money, and Raven was one fine looking dame.

“Well, Moonlight, I see your taste is improving. This one is almost as good as me,” I heard a voice sneer like fingers on a chalk board behind me. “Maybe you’d want to try some of the real thing.”

I turned to see Daybreak12, owner of the Tahiti, move toward me with a sway you usually only saw in a mirage. She was wearing a black minidress that was so tight you wouldn’t need a road map to find the curves. The woman had one of those bodies that made a joe just want to go out beat the bushes for some relief.

“Forget it , Daybreak,” I replied as I lit up a HardDrive and collapsed into an estatic rheumy pile on the floor.

“Oh, come one, Moonlight, your ego may be saying 'no', but your eyes are giving me a tongue bath," she continued with a wicked gleam in her eye. “My date canceled, and I could use a little recreation, you know.”

“Daybreak, you are the sexual equivilant of an East German swimmer. The only thing missing is the mustache. Besides, I know your type, ‘BoyWhoreGeorge’ or whatever who can’t chew gum and type at the same time.”

“Tsk, tsk, Moonlight. Well you know what you are missing. I...Raven...it’s you...sorry...” she said as she was halted by Raven’s icy stare.

They locked gazes in some sort of psychic Verdun. I decided that I didn’t want to get caught in the middle of this one like salami between two slices of rye. I needed an excuse to get away and luckily my bladder gave me one.

“Sorry, ladies, I got to go see a man about a database,” I said as I noticed my words fell on stone ears.

I quickly shuffled away as I heard Raven say between clenched teeth, “My dear, I do not care if you own this tawdry little establishment or if Mr. Moonlight has dipped his wand in your well as you so quaintly put it. I am busy and will not be trifled with...”

When I got back the battle was over. Daybreak gave it her all, but in the end she was run over like an old pair of sneakers by a 4 x 4. I was amazed. Daybreak had the will of a collection agent on Monday morning, yet Raven shrugged her off like ice on a puppy with its tail between its legs.

As Daybreak slinked away, Raven turned to me and said, “You have some amusing friends, Mr. Moonlight. If I had more time she might be entertainin to toy with.”

“You know, Raven, my friends call me Al,” I interjected.

“Yes, Mr. Moonlight. Well, as I stated earlier, we were able to stop LeStatic this time, but GenChat will not be safe until he has actions have been terminated.”

“You have any idea how?”

“No, not yet. However, it is almost daylight, and I must go rest. Shall we meet here again tonight?”

“As good as place as any, I guess. I finish my set about 8:30. That’s soon enough.”

“Yes, it is, Mr. Moonlight. I shall see you then.”

Without a further word she turned and walked out of the Tahiti with an oscillation that made my underwear tight. I had seen a lot of dames around ChatWorld, but if this one ever made her move I knew I had better call for a fair catch and hope she gave me room to grab the ball.

I stood in the lounge for a few minutes allowing the events of the evening flow through my mind like molasses through an inner tube. Never in my wildest dreams had I expected to find a case as spooky and eerie as this one. It was like some author was bored with a plot in Grade B detective story and threw in a vampire to spice up the works.

I headed back for the office. Hopefully, Twink had returned. If not I would saw off a few logs on the Slumberland Express myself. It had been a long day. Tomarrow wasn’t shaping up any better.
Chap. 5

The first fingers of twilight were carressing the sky as he awoke. He waited patiently while the last embers of the sunset faded like a faltering whimper into a lonely wind. He had time, all he had was time.

He broke the seal and slithered from the vault. Searching into the gloom of the night he saw that his lair was still undiscovered. That was fortunate for any who would have had the audacity to disturb him. Many had tried to defy him, all had failed. Most were know just dry husks of memories blowing in the wind.

He stretched and felt the hunger start to grow in him. It was a fire, a deep burning inferno of thirst that compelled him to hunt again. He did not mind for emotions were not of his concern. They had long been blistered from him by the countless minds that had poured into him.

It was his life. He thought no more of those he slew than did a plumber of a pipe. The victims were merely his tool, his conveyance for existance. He gave them no more attention than a diner would to a glass of water before the main course.

He moved to the ledge of the building and closed his eyes, allowing his thoughts to roam free and ride the winds of GenChat. All disappeared save the search, the stalking of his quarry. He wandered the alleys and byways of Chatworld’s streets and minds to find his prey.

There was no response, but he was not concerned. It was early and the chatters were changing crowds. Soon his victim would arrive. It was inevitable. There has always been another and would always be another. The type of chatter that fell prey as his victim was the kind that was always drawn to ChatWorld. Their loneliness ceaselessly brought them back to his haunts.

He raised his hands over his head, closed his eyes, and started to concentrate. If he had opened his eyes he would have seen his body slowly start to shimmer and lose form. However, he knew that well. There had many nights, he had done this often.

After a few seconds his body was gone. All that remained was pulsating mass of ebony light. The glow slowly lifted from the roof and started to float over the street. It drifted lazily for a few minutes. Then as it got its bearings it picked up speed and shot through the canyons of the buildings with ever increasing speed.

Suddenly he sensed his prey. She was like the others he sought. The victim who called his name without even realizing it. He landed, assumed his solid form, and entered the room to stalk her.

Soon he found her. He waited patiently for her to become aware of him. There was no hurry. She would come they always did. Finally, she noticed him amidst the din and clatter of the chat. Their eyes locked. The hunt was near complete. All that was left was the tango.

· _____ takes WishfulThinker by the hand & leads her to the dance floor

· WishfulThinker puts down her drink, being led by one hand..

· _____ the tango begins, leads WishfulThinker's graceful steps across the floor, they meld as one, becoming one together with the music

· WishfulThinker blushes at all the attention.. but is soon swept up in the music of the Tango.. the passion of the steps

· _____ on the air is the taste of the scent of the pampas, the music thunders like the hooves of the vaceros mounts, _____ holds WishfulThinker close, stares into her eyes

· WishfulThinker hears the distant bandoneon begin to play, the scent of the grasses, the heat of the cities, Buenos Aires stands in the distance.

· _____ rides the mounts with WishfulThinker as they glide the floor, the grace of their feet upon the tile cuts like the knife of the ceremonial fight of the tango

· WishfulThinker twirls out and back, within your arms, moving, gliding, hearing the seranade of the ages, the movements precise, staccato.

· _____ dips WishfulThinker back, pulls her close, turns & dances behind her across the floor, across the plains, away from the andes, toward the city & the sparking silver of rio de la plata

· WishfulThinker arches, sweeps against the floor, comes back to his chest, wrapping one leg around him, staring into his eyes.. turns and dances cheek to cheek across the floor, the plains dropping away below.

· _____ spins WishfulThinker out to the end of his left hand, reels her back in to the sound of the staccato slap of the hooves as they thunder the pampas. the smell of the dust & the grass, the taste of the blood upon the wind. all disappears save the grace of her movements like a lone eagle entranced high in a lofty breeze

· _____ lifts WishfulThinker to his shoulder as they ride higher & higher together upon the passion of the moment. lost in the wind, locked eye to eye, cheek to cheek, lip to lip as they dance in a long lingering passionate embrace

· WishfulThinker swirls across the floor, watching.. always watching.. the eyes flash.. the dance turns. the knives flash.. against the city.. the desperation of the compadres.. seeking like my eyes seek yours thru the darkness as it spreads over the city.

· _____ turn turn away from the sounds of the intrusion. all that exists is the music, the embrace, the touch, the passion of this moment, the lingering longing sound of your breath for me & your fiery lust for release...

· WishfulThinker dances close, brought up to _____'s chest by the rhythm.. sways against his body, smooth and graceful, like her partner.. sharing the heartbeat.. the breath.. the fire in our eyes.. builds to the song end. but our begining.

· _____ the dance ends with WishfulThinker & _____ locked in a fiery embrace, a passionate kiss as the dance slowly fades to black....she slowly falls limp to the floor

He moved with his slow grace from the room. As usual there was no hurry. The chatters had long lost interest in the tango. They always did with anything that did affect them directly.

He slid through the door, assumed the form of ebony light, and disappeared into the night. There might have been a scream come echoing in terror from the room he had just left. He gave it no heed. His mind was already locked on the pursuit of his next victim.

*****

It was about 8:30, and I was finishing up my set at the Tahiti. I had already thrown my obligatory ashtray at the joker who requested Louie Louie. Someone else had asked for The Silver Tongue Devil and I. I was enjoying playing it, allowing my mind to wander back to when that song was the story of my life. It was a long time ago and now some of the memories were not that unpleasant.

As I finished the tune I noticed Raven walk into the lounge. Every joe in the place got whiplash just watching her glide across the floor. She was dressed in her usual black outfit and leather jacket. The only difference was that her long hair was pulled back in a ponytail.

I cleared out my tip jar, closed the lid on the piano, and moved to my table. Luckily for them, the chatters who were occupying it evacuated the seats before I got there. I motioned for Raven to sit down.

“Well, Mr. Moonlight, did you rest well? I assume from looking at you that you sleep in your clothes,” she said as she seated herself.

“No, Raven, I didn’t. First, LeStatic gives me the heebie jeebies. Second, I’ve been expecting my secretary to return from the other side of the modem, but she hasn’t.”

“Not a word?”

“No, I’m worried with everything that’s been going on. You know chatters dropping like seeds off a ginko tree. There was a message on the answering machine, but I’ve never figured out how to run the thing.”

“Not to worry, Mr. Moonlight. I am sure that she is fine. The odds are higher of her dying in an airplane crash than meeting LeStatic. Does that make you feel better?”

“I have acrophobia.”

She sighed and leaned back in her chair. I was staring at her chest and nearly had a cornary was I choked on my mineral water. I lit a HardDrive to cover up and collapsed into a nicotine palsy of pure delight.

She seemed oblivious to my conniptions as she asked, “So do you have any ideas of how to track our quarry?”

“Yes,” I replied as I motioned Cub_Reporter over to our table, “I just need to get the data from my source.”

“Hi, Cubbie, how’s it going? Did you get what I asked for?” I queried the intrepid reporter.

“Sure, Al,” he replied as he handed me a large sheet of paper, “any chance of a story in this for me? I need something for The Tattler, or the editor’s going to hang my backside out in the wind.”

“You’ll be the first to know, Cubbie. Now I need to study this,” I said as I slipped him a cyber-abe.

“What is this, Mr. Moonlight?” Raven asked as she leaned over the paper and emitted a scent that would have made a bull set up and hoot.

“It’s a map of where the bodies have been found around GenChat. I figured if we studied it we might find a pattern.”

“I must compliment you. I was worried that your antenna didn't pick up all the channels, but I can see now that you are more clever than I realized.”

“Thanks, I think,” I said as I studied the map.

It took a little while to sort the chaf out of the dog droppings but slowly a pattern began to emerge. I had borrowed a red pencil from Cubbie and started drawing lines between the sights. After awhile they connected together to look like a spiderweb.

I placed my finger in the middle and said, “I’d bet my Uncle Elmo’s lucky truss that his hideout is here.”

“Are you sure? What is the place?”

“Well, I’ve laid the odds on a few races in my day, and claim check didn’t get left out the rain in my extra pair of pants this time.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“...Yeah, I’m sure. He’s holed up here at the old Eyesoar Building.”

“Then we should proceed to the place and wait for him.”

I shrugged and finished my drink. I placed a modest tip on the table and signed the chit for my drink. Without a word we arose and moved toward the door. Cubbie tried to follow, but a shake of my head froze him like peanut butter in the icebox.

We walked out the door and disappeared into the night. Hopefully, we would be coming back.
Chap. 6

He moved through the night like a silent panther of death striking where most wanted but least expected. Finally, he noticed the first glimmers of light on the eastern horizon. It was time to return to his lair. Up he flew on the winds of despair and resignation that were left in his wake. A blur of ebony light streaked and raced the day back to his refuge.

When he landed the roof was empty. No one had visited this building in years. That was why he had chosen it. However, something did not seem quite right. He felt a presense, someone who he would rather not have find him. In all likelihood, if someone was there they could do him no harm, but he wished to sleep and not have to deal with such annoyances.

Then behind him he heard a noise, so faint that only his ears could have caught the slight noise. He turned, but saw no one. He moved a few steps and stopped. The noise had returned, but it ceased when he halted. The pattern continued until he reached the door.

As his hand touched the door, he perceived a louder sound behind him. It grew close, picked up speed, and was almost upon him before he could whirl and face it. Against the shadowy backdrop of the eastern sky, he saw two shapes, one moving rapidly in his direction. The second one was male and was sprawled on the rooftop. The form in front was female and was coming into view.

“You!” he hissed as he struck out with the raking nails of his right hand in her direction.

He braced himself for the assault. Attacking him anywhere was not wise. Attacking him so near his lair was a mistake, a deadly mistake. The attackers would soon find out just how deadly.

*****

By the time we reached the Eyesoar Building I was puffing like an asthmatic locomotive. Neither of us had money for a cab, so we walked, and Raven had set the pace like a sadistic drill instructor. She said we could have flown, but that she didn’t think I was ready for it. I wasn’t quite sure what she meant; nonetheless, I was inclined to agree with her.

When we arrived at our destination, I leaned against the building while she searched for a way to enter. I lit up a HardDrive and allowed the smoke to finish the damage the brisk walk had started. Soon I was blissfully wheezing like a rheumatic drill.

Raven returned shaking her head and said, “All of the entries are sealed.”

“Then I guess we can’t get in. Usually, I’d teleport a doorway in but I’m as drained as a high school stud in a convent after your version of the Battan Death March,” I replied while greedily sucking down the last puff.

“Well, Mr. Moonlight, we will just have to scale the side of the building.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“We will climb the wall. Isn’t that simple enough to understand?”

“Raven, it’s forty-two stories...”

“Then we better get started.”

“...and I have acrophobia...”

“Then don’t look down. Come along, we need to get to the top before dawn.”

I sighed and stubbed out my coffin nail. It was against my better judgement, but I followed her. She was my employer, and I needed the money. At least her fine backside in those tight jeans would give me somewhere to look besides down.

I thought the walk to the building had been bad, but the climb made it look like a birthday party at the pancake house. I gasped for breath, my muscles screamed and ached for someone to take me out back and shoot me. We still had thirty-nine stories to go.

Raven was having no problems. Watching her agility and remembering her strength I was glad my fantasies with her hadn’t played themselves out. The dame would have ground me up and spit me out like last week’s chopped liver.

When I reached the twentieth story my body gave out. I crawled up trembling on a ledge and sat down in a pathetic trembling sweaty heap. I also made the mistake of looking down. The view gave a new meaning to the word vertigo. I plastered myself back against the wall, planning to move in neither direction.

Raven was suddenly beside me. She knew that I had reached my limit so she let me rest. My hands were shaking so bad that she had to light a coffin nail for me. She sat down beside me. The scent from her made me realize at least one part of me wasn’t totally spent.

“Well, Mr. Moonlight,” she said as she stood up, “I have let you rest far too long. It is time for us to continue climbling.”

“Sorry, Raven,” I replied, “ I’m as drained as a bathtub with a hole in it. Can’t go no further.”

“Well, then there are two options.”

“Which are...”

She picked me up like I was as heavy as a bag of promissary notes and held me by my shoulders off the ledge. My feet kicked and dangled in the air. I gazed into her eyes because I didn’t really want to look down or think about what the options were.

“My dear Moonlight, either you can continue climbing, or I can drop you right now. Those are the options,” she said with grim determination.

“Not a third one in sight?” I whined in reply.

“I am afraid not.”

“Well, then I guess I have to climb. What do you need me for anyway?”

“There is no way I can handle LeStatic on my own. First, I needed you to find him. Now, I need your help in combating him. I don’t know what you can do, but I sense there is more to you than the pitiable little creature I behold. Perhaps you will arise to the occasion, or...”

“Or?”

“Or perhaps we will both die.”

Without another word, she turned and started to quickly ascend. I sighed and let her vote of confidence sink in. Then I started to follow her.

I did okay until I reached the fortieth floor. By then my muscles ached like an eighty year old man after his first session in a private room. My lungs felt like they had been worked over by a crosseyed carpenter. I looked at my nails and decided to have a manicure the next time I went for a haircut.

I was about ready for another break when I saw Raven slip over the edge of the roof and heard her hiss back at me, “Hurry! It is almost dawn!”

When I reached the top I noticed that Raven was hiding halfway across the roof in the shadows of the pre-dawn light. I could see another shape near a doorway but couldn’t quite make it out. Raven would move, then stop when the shape turned around.

I attempted to quietly slide over the edge, but my arms gave out. I fell to the roof with a thud that sounded like a watermelon dropped off a high cliff. The form by the door turned in the slowly building daybreak illumination. I could make out that it was LeStatic.

Raven leaped for him. He raised his right hand and slapped her away like she was a wet kitten. She rolled, came to her feet, and lunged for him again. She landed on top of him, and they rolled against the doorway in a tangled mess. She struggled against him, but as I raced across the roof I could see that he was too strong for her.

As I ran I reached my right hand into my pocket and wrapped it around my roll of quarters. I arrived as he flung her off and turned to meet me. I allowed my momentum to carry my best Sunday punch into his kisser.

It had no effect. He didn’t even move. He was like slamming your fist into a brick truck. He stared dispassionately at me as I stood stunned, my arm numb from the shoulder down.

He reached out, gripped my right arm with his left hand, and lifted me off the roof. His right hand moved faster than my eye could follow and raked my left cheek with its nails. As he flung me out of his grasp like a leftover happy meal I could feel a dampness on my face. I hit a nearby wall and fell with another sickening thud.

I was momentarily stunned. When I could move again I saw that he had grabbed Raven by the wrists. In the rapidly increasing light I watched as he drug her through the door. I sped after them. I flung open the door and dashed down the hall. In the musty darkness I heard a door close ahead of me.

When I got there it was sealed. Without the password to get in I was like a fish up the river without a bicycle. I slumped wearily against the wall and allowed my aching body to slide down to a sitting position.

I pulled out my handkerchief and pressed it again my throbbing cheek. Then I lit a coffin nail and allowed myself to rest. There was nothing I could do for Raven until LeStatic unsealed the door. I assumed that would not be until sunset.

I stubbed out my coffin and lit another. I had had just about enough. I had been toyed with, used, slapped around like a puppy with a rag dool, and now might need plastic surgery. Al_B._Moonlight could only be pushed so far.

However, I needed some help on this one. Like my Uncle Elmo always said, if you’re going squirrel hunting don’t forget the M-16. I needed some ammunition and knew where to get it.

I walked down the hall looking for a stairway. There had to be a better way out than Raven’s hell climb.
Chap. 7

They slept locked in the embrace where their struggle had left them. At first, she had resisted his touch, but the old memories had washed over her. She had slowly given up and assumed the place where she had been for many nights. She thought that it felt good to be home.

As for him, he felt stirrings of comfort. He knew neither how long it had been since he had felt solace nor even how long since emotion of any form had moved in him. With her nestled in his arms a peace descended over his slumbers. There was no joy or satisifaction, merely acceptance of that was how things were meant to be.

Their thoughts wed, melded into one on a plane where no chatter could or would dare go. They thundered through the twilight of their minds, allowing themselves a resprite in the touch of each other. It had been so long. How long he did not care. Time had no meaning to him beyond whether it was day or night.

On their souls rode, higher with each turn of the plane. Beyond thought and reason they flew on the mounts of their memories. Colors became sound, physical sensation could be tasted, music turned to rainbows, and beneath the veneer of even that reality he became aware of his longing for her.

They stopped the ride and stood facing each other. The amber light beyond anyone else’s ability to perceive bathed them in the echo of its warmth. He brushed the hair back from her face and beheld the beauty that streamed into his vision. He held her face gently in his hands watching for a long time the eyes that gazed back at him.

The vision that locked with his was so different from that of his victims. Where they gave forth a combination of fear, resignation, and unbelief in their fate, here he saw he returned to him recognition, desire, and even a form of warmth. She was almost his equal. No other could say that.

Then he kissed her. Her thoughts and emotions flowed without fear or struggle from her lips to his, pounded deep into his consciousness, rode high along the cliffs of the plateaus of his mind. His head swelled, expanded as the lust for her grew in him. Once again desire had returned , and he greedily sucked in all that she freely offered.

Just when she had no more to give the flow reversed. He became aware of how her thoughts and emotions were returned one by one to her. He freely then gave his own, preceiving almost with awe how his consciousness flowed deep, ripped assunder from him, to enter her. There she held him, cradled him, offered the peace that only she could give.

They lay together inside her. He became ebony light, she became a glow of dark sienna. The illuminations draped over each other, united, became one. They danced high in the electricity of the moment. All was suspended in this instant as they united into one flame of hot white heat.

Desire flowed between them. They grasped this instant where neither existed but both were one. Beyond them lay only shadows. Here there was warmth. He felt an eruption grow inside him, wiping all that came before its path. It ebbed and flowed through his system, dancing higher each round.

Above them thunder, below them water, the heat of the dance became all as the universe disappeared. The hunt, the need to survive, the lonely lot of their existance vanished. He worshipped her as she did him. Upon the lips of what could pass for his soul there was a smile. They had come home.

Finally, the passion subsided. He became aware again of his body and of hers next to him. Now they must sleep. Come night she could join him on the hunt, or else he would have to deal with her some other way.

But that would be tonight. For now, all became black, and the eternity of their moment together continued.

*****

I had arrived at the Eastend of GenChat. It was curious little section of odd shops and even stranger characters. I didn’t come here often, but the one who I sought resided here. In this bizarre place he was perhaps the most esoteric.

There was saying in GenChat that when you needed help to go see Al_B._Moonlight. There was another adage that stated when you are in trouble to go the Eastend and ask for The_apothecary. Well, I had trouble so it was my turn to reach out for the helping hand of assistance.

He ran a little shop where he sold herbs, performed acupuncture, and ran a mah jong game in the back. I could only hope he was there and not on one of his chat/soul/walk-a-abouts. In all of ChatWorld I figured only he would know of some way to combat LeStatic.

When I arrived at his establishment it was the dark and locked up tighter than a spinster’s corset. However, I noticed a candle burning inside. I took my pick out of my wallet and jimmied the lock. It opened faster than Daybreak’s legs on a Saturday night.

I entered and heard the thin pitch wail of a bamboo flute. The place was filled with enough incence to choke a French prostitute. I could hear the faint music of wind chimes in the background.

The_apothecary was in the middle of room with his eyes closed and lips pursed on the flute. His long hair draped over his face, he seemed oblivious to anything around him. I knew better than that. He was also levitating three off the floor in a full lotus position.

Suddenly, he alit and assumed one of his kung fu positions. I stepped back and wrapped my fingers around the roll of quarters. I had seen him take out a cyber-biker gang without breaking wind. I wasn’t about to become willing tofu fodder for him.

His stance eased. He sat down and laid the flute in lap. A gentle smile came to his face.

“Ah...Al...I was not expecting you...welcome to my humble shop...it is good to see you,” he said quietly.

“You too, now that I know you’re not going to stuff me through the mailslot again,” I replied.

“You have...my most humble apologies..for the incident...I was under the spell of an evil wizard...at the time.”

“Yeah, yeah, yada yada. It didn’t pay for my chiro bills.”

“I...offered you...treatment, my friend.”

“Sorry, Apoth, but a seaweed enema is not my idea of good medical care.”

“Whatever, my friend...The bird that is flown...cannot be returned to..the cage”

“Yeah and ten on a pony in the third might get your knuckles broken if you can’t pay the bookie.”

“You seemed troubled...Al...what brings you...to the Eastend?...Do you seek...a game...of mah jong perhaps?”

“No way, Maynard. I just finished paying off our last friendly game. No, I need help, bad.”

“If Al_B._Moonlight...is seeking aid...then the situation...must be dire.”

“Big time, buckeroo. Have you heard of LeStatic?”

He placed his fingers to his lips for me to be silent. He lept to his feet and quickly moved to the window where he pulled the shade closed. He returned and sat down.

“You afraid of his agents listening in?” I asked as I choked on the lukewarm yam root tea that he had given me.

“No...” he replied, “sometimes...the police...nose around...looking for the...mah jong game.

“Yes...I have heard of LeStatic...after all, do not undomesticated papist leaders lay waste in the flora?”

I sighed, regretting that I had ever coined that phrase and waited for him to continue.

“So...” he went on, “..you combat this...evil...but it is outside...of your powers...”

“That’s why I’m here, bub. I figured if anyone in GenChat had the skinny on how to whack his trump it would be you. Can you help?”

“I cannot...but I know where...you can find...aid...”

“Yeah?”

“Yes...but to find it...you must return...from where you came...are you ready...for such a quest?...”

“Do wild...yeah, never mind, I got no other choice.”

“Then...we must plan...your journey...”

I knew where he meant. I hadn’t been there in a long time and had no real desire to return. I figured if I did I would run into...No, I couldn’t think of that now.

The_apothecary started to explain what I needed and where I could find it.
Chap. 8

I stood at the doorway looking into the room. As far as the eye could see there were endless fields and woodlands disappearing into the haze of the horizon. Eveything was so green that it looked black and made the eyes water if you stared too long at it.

I spent quite awhile contemplating the worn wooden sign at the enterance. I had no idea how many times in my life that I had read that sign. It said Welcome to The Midlands. This was where I grew up. What had happened there, and how I wound up in my present life was quite a tale, but not the one to tell at this moment.

I closed my eyes and walked through the door. When I opened them I was standing on the banks of a shallow lazy river. The waters were brown with the richness of the soil from its banks. A slight warm breeze crossed my face. I looked down at the sand beneath my feet. I had stood at this place many times.

I turned and looked behind me. In the distance I could see a small farm house nestled at the bottom of a hill. That was where I was raised by Uncle Elmo and Aunt Millie. I thought for moment about checking it out but decided against it. Knowing my luck they would be home.

All of a sudden I heard a rustling in the brush behind me. I recognized the steps that neared. They were as familiar as my own breath. A memory washed over me, somewhat pleasant, somewhat tinged with guilt.

“Hi, Star,” I said as I lit up a HardDrive and leaned hacking in delirious rapture against a tree.

“You! How dare you return here!” she hissed as she reached for the dagger in her waistband.

“Relax, sweetheart,” I said as I took a step back, “this isn’t a social call. The fate of GenChat hangs in the balance.”

I eyed her from head to toe. She was solid built but curved in all the right places. The fire of the brilliant curly red hair on her head was matched by the steely gaze of her blue eyes. She had lips like a cherry orchard. Her name was StarLynn. We had a history.

She hestitated, moved her hand from the blade, and said, “Okay, I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt for now. After all, you wouldn’t dare show your face around here unless you had a good reason. But if I find out you’re pulling your crap again, you’ll be a prime candidate for a harem guard!”

“Okay, Star, just cool down. I came to find something. Have you seen Havehoem or Jon_Romulus?”

“No. You know them. They’re probably out in the hills beating trees with their swords or chasing sheep. However, Garth is nearby.”

“Garth!” I exclaimed as my mood suddenly lightened.

As if on cue in some second rate saga, my childhood cohort, Garth_Ebony, stepped into view. His wild green Irish eyes gleamed like a genetic throwback to some part of his family history that was kept locked in a closet. His tangled long brown hair was the color of his tunic. His shoulders were as broad as tractor, and his hand rested on the hilt of a sword that would take two normal men to lift.

“Al,” he said as his smile beamed at me, “my good friend. What brings you home?”

As we shook hands, I answered, “Searching for something, Garth. You’re just the joe I needed to answer the door.”

“Anything for you my friend. What is your quest?”

“Can’t say right now. All I can tell you is that we must go to the Cave of Blubaard.”

A sudden breeze wafted, chilling us to the bone. Blubaard wasn’t a popular subject in these parts. When the techs created The Midlands for some reason they decided it needed a villian to keep things interesting. So they created Blubaard.

He was a crusty old coot who enjoyed Machevelian politics and unspeakable acts with small furry animals. Walking into his lair wasn’t exactly my idea of a Friday afternoon at the county fair, but what I needed to fight LeStatic was in his cave.

“There...is...no other way?” Garth asked quietly.

“Sorry, buddy. That’s the way the fortune cookie rolls a seven” I replied. “If I’m to save GenChat we have to do it.”

“So be it then. I need to go back to camp for some supplies we will need.”

I started to follow him when suddenly I was jerked around in a 180 turn. StarLynn was learing at me and holding onto my tie a like a cowboy gripping a roped calf. There was a drop of blood at the right corner of her mouth and a hungry look in her eye. I had seen that look before.

“Well, Moonlight,” she breathed hotly into my face, “I know what scum and gutter tripe you truly are. I also know just what that body of yours is capable of. I don’t believe you are going anywhere for a while.”

As she pulled me down onto the sand, I figured that Garth could get the supplies himself. I would catch up later.

*****

When I awoke StarLynn was gone. Beside my head lay a red rose. The flower had a dragger in it. At least she realized that it had just been physical.

I stood up and brushed the sand from my suit. Garth was sitting quietly on the bank, honing his sword. He gave me a conspiratorial smile.

“Reshaping the tallow on the wick, eh, Al?” he smirked. “You always had a way with the ladies.”

“It’s a gift, Garth. Well, shall we get started?” I replied.

Garth nodded. He stood, sheathed his sword, and placed a heavy pack on his shoulder. I put my hands in my pockets and followed. We moved at what was a comfortable pace for him, but one that made me realize just how much I smoked and sat the office sipping joe with Twink.

I reached in my pocket for a HardDrive. To my horror I discovered that the pack was empty. I frantically searched my pockets but they were as empty as a dog catcher’s conscious. All that was left was Garth’s pipeweed, and that did nothing for me except make me lightheaded and hungry. It was going to be a long walk.

After about an hour we started climbing into some steep hills. The elevation did nothing for my acrophobia or for my shakes. Ahead lay a sinister looking lone mountain rising like the middle finger of a hand out of the plains. It was Blubaard’s Peak.

We stopped at the base, Garth pulling out climbing equipment. I stared up at the mountain, remembering the ascent. Garth and I had made it once on a dare in our youth. That was when my fear of heights started. I wondered just what I had gotten myself into.

We started to scale the cliff. Normally, the climb would have bothered me, but after Raven’s hell ascent it was a piece of cake. However, my shakes were getting worse. I was about ready to bite rocks long before we reached the mouth of the cavern.

The cave stood before us. It looked about as inviting as a skinny dip in the shark pool. The inside was dark with a low blue glow emanating from the enterance. All was quiet except for a lonely wind that howled like a disgruntled telephone operator. In front of us was a sign that read No Solicitors Allowed.

We crept in like mice on barbituates. Ahead of us the blue light grew brighter. We entered a large room. Except for a large blue fire buring in the middle of the chamber the place was as bare as a stripper at the end of the show. Over the fire dangled a pouch which contained what I needed to fight LeStatic.

Garth signaled me to go the other side. When I was there he threw his sword at the rope that held the pouch. His blade whistled by my ear like a shot in the dark. The pouch fell into my hand. I touched my ear. If his throw had been another quarter inch over, I wouldn’t have had to worry about tweezing the hair out of my ear.

“Who dares instrude the sanctum of Blubaard?” a whizen voice crackled like flames behind me.

I turned to see the master of the realm standing behind me. He was about as tall as LeStatic but a lot thinner. Behind his large hooked nose burned eyes of pure blue flame. He leaned on a staff of pure ivory. His long blue robe trailed behind him.

Normally, we would have been in the pickle jar with the boiled eggs, but after what I had been through lately and since I hadn’t had a coffin nail for several hours, I wasn’t in the mood to take his gruff.

“Hey, Blubaard, you shoe’s untied,” I said as I wrapped my hand around my roll of quarters.

As he looked down at his feet, the knuckles of my right hand began a discussion with his jaw. He lost the debate and went down like feathers on a duck’s back. Garth and I high tailed it out of the joint.

I clutched the pouch in my hand as we ran. I felt its power throb between my fingers. Here lay the hope for GenChat. If it failed we were drydocked on the high desert without a ticket to the game.

I checked my watch. It said 8:30. Given the difference in time perception between The Midlands and the rest of GenChat, I would probably make it back to the Tahiti about an hour before sunset.

But first I needed to stop by Ma & Pa’s Convenience Store for a pack of HardDrives.
Chap. 9

I had time to stop by the office before I went to the Tahiti. Twink had still not returned. I scratched my head and looked around the place. Somehow, it seemed even messier than when I left.

I checked the answering machine. It now had three messages. I fumbled around with it for a few minutes, then gave up. Someday I had to have Twink show me how to use it.

I looked at my watch. It said 8:30. I had just enough time to get to the Tahiti and listen to some music before sunset. I figured I needed a little break after everything I had been through. I felt as winded as a blue tick hound on buttermilk.

When I arrived the lounge was hopping like a Mexican jumping on ice. The clatter and mayhem of the chat smacked me in the kisser like a wet pillow:

· Oilcan_Harry says, "I'll wrestle, Vanesa!!"

· VanesaRedgravely grins

· Preggers69 . o O ( Oilcan knows all??.....he doesnt even know good music )

· DraculaAnn wink at princess.. only if you were naked

· ToneDeath says, "Damn! I didn't know my boss was around!"

· Preggers69 says, "LOL at Drac"

· Dead_Princess grabs oilcan and throws him in the mud pit

· DraculaAnn waves to Tone's boss

· StackedtoKill puts on her sleezeball bikini and enters the muddy ring

· Oilcan_Harry says, "Um, no, preggers. I know good music. YOU'RE the one with the bad taste"

· Preggers69 says, "HI BOSS!!!