Chapter 350

On Friday night, instead of getting laid, I decided to do the maintenance thing on my body. I cleaned the chutes and ladders as I liked to call the 'I fooled you by drinking coffee and eating donuts system'. That was simply a matter of drinking a glass of baking soda, with a drop of vinegar, mixture. Fortunately it passed over my taste receptor quickly. When I followed it with a large glass of pure water, I would be able to forget all about the taste for at least a month.

I let that mixture hang around inside the storage are for a half hour. Then I sat on the toilet, opened all the valves, and drank a half gallon of distilled water. That's the stuff my mom used to run through her steam iron.

When that was finished, I reset all the valves and switches before I poured myself a shot glass of extra virgin olive oil. I was back on the toilet when I opened the release valve for the olive oil storage container. When it was empty I closed the valve and quickly drank the glass of fresh oil. I figured I was good for another four thousand miles. I know that is silly, but it was my sad little joke.

It took about an hour to do all that nonsense. When I was finished, I debated going to the Cloak and Dagger, but I didn't need sex and I didn't need anything from any of the members, so I chose to plug in and watch TV. My choice was Home and Garden TV, I was always looking for new ideas which I could use for my Real Estate business. I had already learned from watching that any lower end units should be outside of the downtown and only high end condos in the downtown itself. The old buildings could turn into ghetto slums quickly, if not maintained properly. That maintenance could be expensive.

When I thought of the housing units as tools, it became easier to make decisions. Think of the potential home owner before you make a plan, I decided.

My daddy used to say, "Use the right tool for the Job Maxine," He said that, when he saw me take a pair of pliers to my bike. It took me years to learn that he was right. Too bad I missed the chance to tell him how right he was about so many things.

I called Sylvia about nine. "Sylvia, I want you to spend the weekend taking driving lessons and reading your book. Once I get you that learners permit on Monday, you are going to be my chauffeur."

"I understand Maxine, don't you forget to answer your phone. I put on your realty website that the model was open. You should at least be getting some calls." Sylvia said.

"Okay, I will play nice," I said it with a smile in my voice. "I can put everyone off till Monday."

"I know you will try for sure." she agreed.

After that conversation I went to the almost complete shut down state in order for the computer to run the diagnostics on itself. While that ran, I couldn't watch TV or listen to music. I had to just stare into the nothingness of death. Yes it was exactly like the moment before death. I should know. I was the only entity, who had died and lived to tell about it.

After the computer finished I went to standby and turned the music on again. That's how I spent the rest of the evening. The next morning I made strong coffee before I did anything else.

Even though it was Saturday I rode the bike to Helen's Sit Down. When I walked in I took a look around as I always did. It was an old habit to assess the threats in a room and rank them.

There were three middle aged ladies sitting at a picnic table near the rear of the room. Their eyes lit up when I entered. I ranked their threat assessment as high. Not because I thought they were assassins, but because I had a feeling I had seen at least one of them before. If I had, then it had been during one of my visits to the farm.

I opened a channel to the farm while the black man behind the counter found a bag for me. He handed it to me and I put it on my cafeteria tray just like the ones at every other fast food restaurant in town.

Who are these three? I asked the controller silently.

They are employees here, the voice in my head replied.

Get the creator on the line quick, I demanded.

What's going on? the controller asked.

I don't know, but they are here in Aster, I replied.

Holy shit, hold on, the controller said.

Maxine, I am on a data link. We are on the most secure line possible. What the hell are they doing there? He asked.

How the fuck would I know? I asked.

Well find out, he demanded.

You tell me first, who do they think I am? I asked.

"Only four people know you are not what you seem. Everyone else, even the controllers, think you are a contractor who we have a special relationship with. They think that the reason we monitor you so closely is you operate on American Soil, so you are a danger to us. None of the controllers or anyone who wasn't in that room when you were here for the conference knows. Well the Deacon knows some of it, but not even he knows all of it. Those women for sure don't know. They probably know your cover story, the real estate thing, he suggested.

Okay, I'll go find out, I said silently.

I walked toward the rear of the restaurant while working hard to ignore them. What the creator probably didn't know was that I had moved directive two up a notch. The number one directive now was save yourself. If a human had to die for me to do that, so be it. Even in the plastic and metal cage, I was still me.

"You are Maxine Stone aren't you?" one of the three ladies asked.