Текст книги "Houston, 2030: With Proper Legwork"
Автор книги: Майк Мак-Кай
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“You can burn wood and straw. The coal will be with us too, at least for some while. But, in short, yes.”
“When you say it, it looks so simple!” Kate says, “How come nobody understands it?”
“For most people it's so much easier to live a dream. You two, for example. Two tough through-Meltdown kids! You have seen horrors I personally prefer not even think of,” with his fingers he taps the tatami in front of Kate indicating her missing legs. “Fifteen minutes ago, you learned about this wonderful energy-from-nothing D-CAT thingy, and you started making plans for the shiny future. In less than thirty seconds, you had our dirty slums converted into civilized suburbs, fixed the plumbing to fill your hot bath, and even built yourself an electric Winnebago.”
Kate runs her fingers on the tatami mat as if touching her missing leg. Lee shakes his head, “Did I trigger the pain? Sorry. I did not mean…”
“No, no. I am a tough girl. You can't trigger my pain, even if you whack me with a softball bat. But the Winnebago was such a nice dream.”
“So you must understand. Imagine somebody who is not as tough and smart, who has lived in the civilized world for forty goddamn years and have dreamed of abundant energy for the last fourteen? How do you convince him that the energy does not come out of nothing?”
“So you believe somebody is still hunting for this non-existent Rossi's secret?”
“Chen thought this time it was the Mainland Chinese. But could be the ex-CIA too. Since the 2018, he and Victor were moving every year or even more often. Chen is not his original surname, by the way. He has changed it several times.”
“Chen has lived in the GRS for almost two years.”
“Yes. He had hopes that all the chasers finally gave up. But still, he had no illusions and carried his gut-driver with him at all time. It just turned out that he must run again…”
Kate nods. “I think you are a tough through-Meltdown too, Mister Lee. You were willing to give your life to save Victor.”
Lee smiles and bows, “Thanks. I am not a hero, not as much as you think. But the Meltdown taught me two main rules. The first is…”
“The First Rule? Like, the Slum Rules? Everybody must give once a day?”
“You can put it that way too. The proper first Meltdown rule translation is like this: if the strong care only for themselves, nobody will survive. In wider sense, we are to protect our neighbors. At all cost.”
“Don't you find it's a bit excessive? Going to gallows to protect your neighbor?”
“Not to the gallows. Only to your Station slammer – for few days. Here comes the second Meltdown rule: always have a Plan-B! Chen Te-Sheng and I, we decided our Plan-B, no problems.”
Kate shows her thumbs-up. “Can I guess?”
“Sure.”
“In case the Police discover the body, you are ready give a written statement that you have killed your neighbor, Chen Te-Sheng. After Victor is released, you will stall the Police long enough, so Victor can pack up and leave. Meanwhile, Chen Te-Sheng would visit a Police Department in some other city and identify himself.”
“Absolutely right. We agreed that in four days time he will report his wallet stolen, and show his driver license, which, by pure chance, has not been in his wallet, that's all. The incident will be recorded. Later in the court, I would just withdraw my statement. My neighbor killed a stranger. He threatened me, so I hid both the murderer and the body in my shack till the midnight. The body in the ditch is positively not Chen Te-Sheng, so my written statement is garbage anyhow. That is because I am still afraid that the villain Chen Te-Sheng may return.”
“All they can pin on you is the obstruction of justice, and hardly even that. Undeniably, you have assisted the murderer, but you have not been a part in the premeditated murder. Or even an accessory to murder – nobody can prove the prior knowledge. Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!”
“Exactly. And hence our Sherlock Holmes got it right… Back to our business! I have two ways of writing things up. The first is my doctors' shorthand, but for the statement it will not do. The second way, as you may imagine, is perfect in every detail, but quite slow. Are you OK to wait, or prefer to write the statement for me? If you take care of my justice-obstructing statement, I can use the time and scribble for you my special tea recipe…”
***
We are returning home at half past four. Kate sits behind me, on the bike's cargo platform, holding her skate and a brand-new Chinese wisdom scroll. ‘Apparent is not always real.’
The scroll contains the final piece of evidence – the one we will never use. If you crack open the lower bamboo stick of the scroll, few inches of paper within have ten fingerprints – from the body presently decomposing in thick mud at the bottom of the irrigation ditch. Mister Lee has told us so, but neither Kate nor I want to check his words. The fingerprints may or may not reveal the spy's identity. But breaking such a handsome piece of art for the useless identity check? No, not us. The spy died of his own stupidity. He believed in free energy. Better he believed in free cheese in a mousetrap.
“Are you positive Victor Chen is going to be released?” Kate asks.
“I have no doubts. Woxman has a dead case. Victor is smart. He knows to keep his mouth shut. There is no dead body and no fingerprints on the gut-driver… In four days, an e-mail comes, saying that Mister Chen Te-Sheng is alive and well, but has his wallet picked, let say, in Dallas. The DA will surely decide not to play clown in front of the jury. After the mail, Victor will be out of the slammer in minutes.”
“We are committing an obstruction of justice right now. It's a criminal offense, you know?”
“You are talking garbage. Nobody needs to know Lee has told us everything. If worse comes to worst, I will state under oath that you had a nasty attack of your phantom pain, and we went to see a traditional Chinese doctor.”
“You will be lying. Under oath.”
“But you had a pain attack.”
“Not a single bit.”
“What? So you lied to Mister Lee?”
“I didn't. He asked if I had the pain and I told him ‘Yes, sometimes.’ ‘Sometimes’ doesn't mean ‘now’.”
“So you knew he was a doctor?”
“Not necessary a doctor, but positively a medicine man.”
“How?”
“I buy my Wonder-blend at the Chinese medicine shop. The very moment you opened the shack door, I recognized the smell.”
“Awesome! You know, Lee played the same trick on Woxman. He told him: ‘I have it! Looks like a body!’ The man did not lie a single word of it! He had it, and it was the body! Our Woxman was standing one foot away, looking at the rotten snag. He assumed that he knew better and didn't lean over to check it himself. The brand-new Deputy Investigator deserves his dead case.”
“Forget it,” Kate playfully slaps me on the back. I know it's her quarter-strength slap. “Deputy Wile E. Coyote! For us, the case is closed! By the way, are you aware that we, once again, have no water in our jerrycan?”
“Believe me, I've noticed. No worries, Road Runner. At sunrise, your trusty Wile E Coyote will be at the water well. We can survive without your dream plumbing.”
“What about your dream king-size camper? You said: Winnebago? Trip to California?”
“Do not worry, Road Runner. The tough through-Meltdown Navy hands will see the Pacific Ocean. Eventually. Do you mind riding there on the back of my bike?”
###
Dear Reader! Thank you for reading my book.
Would you be so kind to leave a review at your favorite retailer site, or at least rate this book? I am very interested to know your opinion: positive, negative, or neutral, does not matter.
Houston, 2030: With Proper Legwork is a story-size spin-off of my novel Houston, 2030: The Year Zero. If you like this book, you may want to check the novel too. Currently I am working on the second novel in the sequence: a prequel called (at least for now) Houston, 2015: Miss Uncertainty.
Back in 2009, the beta-readers of The Year Zero asked me: are you sure this Meltdown thingy of yours is going to happen? This year, two beta-readers asked independently: how do you know it will be called the Meltdown? I have to admit, I have no idea how ‘this thingy’ is going to be called. It could be called GFC-3. Or the Great Depression-2. Or Peak Everything. Or ‘Holy crap! This thingy is here!’ Further on, I have no idea if the ‘Holy crap! This thingy is here!’ event is going to happen exactly in 2016. In Eastern and Southern Europe, the energy crisis is presently on-going (my Houston, 2030: The Year Zero has placed these events in 2014!) If we are very lucky, the collapse in the United States will be delayed till the mid-twenties. Or it may come in 2015. How about tomorrow?
I am not in the business of making prophecies, because I am not qualified. Can I predict that Ebola virus not only finds its way to Europe and America, but also learns how to defeat the WHO protective suite protocols? Hey, who cares about Ebola? I fail to foresee that our Commander-in-Chief is going to introduce those new coffee-cup military salutes! I don't believe in divination. I believe in geology and physics. You may dream all you want about fitting the present opulent lifestyle on the finite planet. The Mother-Earth knows better. It will take care of your ambitions. The Peak Oil is just a starter.
But wait! The Peak Oil is a myth! The latest BP World Energy Report says… Dear reader, may I remind you that the Enron's Year-2000 Report told the investors that the company with twenty thousand employees, 68-year history and the annual revenue of almost $111 bln (in the full-weight year-2000 dollars) had an exceptionally bright future? And what about the respective end-of-year reports from the late Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and other such wacho-nachos and frodo-motors? And the BP. It's not British Petroleum (no more!); it's Beyond Petroleum, which is quite telling. These are the very same finest professionals who give the United States its Deepwater Horizon, an environmental marvel rivaled only by the beauty of Chernobyl, Bhopal, and Fukushima-Daiichi.
Perhaps, you are telling yourself the author is paranoid. Perhaps, I am. In such case, dear reader, pick a nice fantasy novel, with elves and goblins (yes, I like those too!) Your sword will be sharp and quick, your arrows will fly true and strong! And the Meltdown – Oh, holy crap! – will come totally unexpected.
May the future be kind to you and to all you love.
Mike McKay, author.
2014
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Contents
Katherine Bowen, Records Clerk, Former Mermaid.
Kim Den Gir, Deputy, Harris County Sheriff’s Office.
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Footnotes
[1] “Order though Law, Justice with Mercy.” The Houston Police Department motto.
[2] A personal stamp, used in China, Korea, and Japan instead of or together with the person's signature.
