"Oh fuck." I knew I had slept in and knew it was far beyond when I wanted to wake up. I didn’t need to sleep. I needed to be awake, ready to go, ready for…I stared up at the ceiling trying to figure out what exactly it was I was supposed to be ready for. There had to be something. When I was in the Marine Corps everyone used to come to me. I seemed to know everything or knew how to find out whatever it is they wanted.

"What the hell am I supposed to do about this Cleo thing, Bevisste?"

"You could get up out of bed for starters; unless you are expecting little birdies to bring the information to you. In that case you’ll still have to get out of bed to open a window."

"You’re a lot of help."

"Thank you for noticing."

As I sat up and swung my feet over the side of the bed I got the scare of my life. An enormous golden sasquatch looking dog was looking me directly in the eyes, its tail wagging slightly with a constant thwack as it hit the wall. Damn near emptying my bladder right there on the bed my thought process luckily snapped into place.

"Holy shit dog. Next time bark or something so I know a dog is here." She tilted her head to the side. "Bark. You know, woof."

She continued looking at me like I was a curiosity she could not figure out.

"The command is ’speak’." Bevisste interjected.

"Thanks. Speak." The sound was deafening in the small room. "Let’s not do that again."

Lucky wagged her tail faster and pushed her face into mine, licking me with an enormous wet tongue. While I had been on the fence about taking a shower, that decision was suddenly much easier to make.

"Me first Lucky." I said to the huge golden retriever when she ran directly for the front door when I got up out of bed and headed out of the bedroom. "You’ll most likely want to sniff for an hour before finally peeing."

While I was standing in front of the toilet feeling the euphoric feeling of a morning pee, I realized my ankle did not hurt in the slightest. It did not even so much as twinge when I put all of my weight on it. It was as if Laetitia had done witchcraft on it last night and healed it right then and there. At the thought of her my morning suddenly felt like the best morning of my life. Not only had I found out the real name of Miss Gorgeous I actually had dinner with her and she massaged my leg.

Lucky whining at the door broke me from my joyous revelry.

"Fine, fine, I’m coming." I called out as I waved my hands under the sanitizer and hobbled out to the living room. The hobbling was more from the cast putting me at an angle when I stood straight up than any real inconvenience.

"Holy shit, I got it!" I snapped my fingers just as I opened the door. Lucky didn’t care what I got, she wanted outside and made her desires known by barking for a second time. The lack of soft squishy things to absorb the sound made her bark twice as loud. I was positive I was going to have some sort of permanent hearing loss now.

Stemming a guarantee of permanent damage to my hearing I hobbled quickly to the front door and opened it. Leaning against it, I don’t keep my keycard in my boxers, I watched Lucky do exactly what I knew what she would do. Sniff, sniff, sniff everything she possibly could.

"What is it that you get?" Bevisste asked.

"The butler. The butler is the reason why something has been bothering me since we left Cleo’s house the first day. Even when we were walking home after The Extra IPA I had that nagging feel something was off and just could not shake it."

"What is wrong with the butler?" Bevisste asked.

"I can’t believe I’m the one to remember this. Timber is famous or infamous, I suppose it depends on your view of big business and what race you are, for not having a single human employed by TimberAIR. There’s something like what? Twenty-two million people employed by the company and not a single one that is not him or apparently his daughter that is a human." I said supremely proud of myself.

"Wow, point for Tom. However the claim that he has zero human’s working for TimberAIR could be not entirely true, there is a chance it is ninety-nine percent non-human employees so everyone just saying one hundred percent human free to make it easier."

"I know a way to settle that."

"Dogan." We both said in unison. Lucky barked at the passing monorail then promptly went back to sniffing what looked like a dead rodent. I knew she was two seconds from trying to roll around on it.

Bevisste initiated the call to Dogan before I could tell her to. Dogan’s remarkably human like face showed on the screen. Of all the races humanity had encountered as we conquered and stumbled our way across the universe, kleens were the most human like in appearance and shared a very similar anatomical structure. The only real physical difference one could see was the tail as kleens never lost the ability to climb and run like the simians of Earth.

"So did you tap that rich spoiled brat?" Dogan asked immediately. He was a friend from the Corps and his juvenile nature showed it; though even at fifty years old he was technically a teenager, young adult, to the long lived kleens. I suppose for that he got a pass for being so juvenile.

"If only. What am I saying? Those four arms just weird me out too much."

Dogan rolled his eyes. "I’ve been looking up images and vids of Timber’s daughter and you have to be dumbest motherfucker alive to pass up a chance at her. She could have thirty arms and seven legs and I would still beg her just to look at me."

"Rich people always have issues and crazy baggage." I said

"She could kill her lovers after having sex with them one time and I wouldn’t care."

"You’re insane man; Cleo isn’t the reason why I’m calling. Well it sort of is but not about what she looks like. Is it true that TimberAIR employs zero humans or is that just a myth?"

"Oh it’s true alright. Expanded Payroll has an entire department dedicated to fielding calls from assholes that say we should stop processing TimberAIR’s payroll and supplying HR outsourcing services to them until TimberAIR becomes an equal opportunity employer. I will admit it is weird a company owned and founded by a human has no human employees."

"See Bevisste. I told you."

"Bevisste, force this drunkard to come to the next Four River Cards game next week. I gotta split and get back to work but don’t keep me in the dark about the juicy details between you and Cleo. I want vids!"

I laughed at him and cut the connection. Whistling at Lucky, I slapped my thigh and held the door open. She finally took the time to go pee then bounded up the steps. As I stood in front of my door I thought of knocking on Laetitia’s door to see if she was home and say hi. Even I knew that could viewed as a little weird so I headed inside and straight for the shower.

Thirty minutes later with my stomach grumbling I was hunting through my closet for what I knew had to be in there. I had used it once before several years ago and of course put it away exactly where I would remember to look for it. It must have gotten bored by staying in a box and moved to under the bed where I found it.

An air cushioned wheeled bootie.

The device would wrap your entire leg with air and do the heavy lifting for you, leaving you putting almost no stress on the injured part of the leg. It was a staple for someone who insisted on a riding a bicycle everywhere. You have no idea how many jerks drive cars until you ride a bicycle.

Lucky came with me.

I took one look at the dog chewing and licking on herself near her crotch then looked around my apartment. I had a powerful vision of anything that could get broken, lying broken, strewn about the apartment and Lucky standing in the middle of it all as proud as could be.

Walking along the sidewalk I felt naked without the bicycle and a little odd. It’s like the feeling someone who drives a car everywhere gets when their vehicle is in the shop and they are forced to walk or ride public transportation. I didn’t like it but there was nothing I could do about it. Bicycles are designed for people with two good feet and legs, at the moment that was not me.

"I have been thinking." Bevisste said as I clapped loudly at Lucky to get her attention. She had wandered towards a recycler canister, eyeballing it like she was about to push it over; of which I had no doubt in my mind she was capable of.

"You’ve been thinking?" I asked.

"Yes and it is not nice to be mean to women." She always used that statement on me. Thing was, I could not argue against it. Her sassiness proved she was a woman more than the tone of her voice. "What if the butler is employed by Cleo directly? She changed her name two years ago to get out from under her father’s spotlight, so maybe she does other things he does not approve of."

"Like getting two more arms surgically grafted onto your body?"

Lucky finally gave up on the recycler canister and walked over to me to give me kisses on the hand and arm.

"Among other things. If she and her father had a falling out two years ago then her hiring humans to work in her house would be the ultimate snub at Timber."

"It also makes the perfect set up for Timber. Have his daughter hire a human, but choose the picking yourself and have a spy in the manor since I am sure she pitches a fit if he tries to come over. I doubt even his daughter would think of him employing a human even in a shady manner. The man hates humans. Isn’t Cleo’s step-mom a kleen?"

"Yes she is. This just deepens the plot Tom and makes it that much more likely you will end up dead very soon."

"Nah." I said unconvincingly. Hell I didn’t even believe myself when I said it. If this was some family dispute that escalated to the killing of a cat then moved to kidnapping of the daughter-heir; I was way out of my league. With the amount of money Timber had he could literally cut me apart with a saw in front of a police station and all they would end up doing is bringing out a warm washcloth to clean the blood of his hands.

"Maybe if I save Cleo she’ll do more than just hug me and kiss me on the cheek." I said trying to cheer myself up and muster a little resolve. It actually worked much to my surprise.

"Laetitia may like you." Bevisste said.

"Well we aren’t dating yet so there’s nothing wrong with fantasizing about Cleo right now."

"You are a pig."

I took a bow then followed Lucky down the road towards Boro’s restaurant for lunch while I mulled over why exactly I wanted to go back to Cleo’s place. That’s where I was heading even if I was going to take a detour there. I was fairly positive no police would be at the house or ever go there giving me plenty of time to snoop for clues I hoped jumped out and tackled me. What exactly those clues were stayed lost to me though.

"Oh my Tom, is that one of those horses you told me about from Earth?" Boro said as Lucky and I walked into the empty restaurant.

"Believe it or not, no. She’s some sort of golden retriever and I’m hungry. Do you have any sen and ziri hot and ready?" Sen was similar to white rice while ziri was spot on for Earth turkey. Boro did something with spices that made the dish so amazing when I was drunk that I would eat until I threw up. It was still really good when sober.

"Yes I do Tom. It should be coming out of the fast-maker any second now." A two toned beep announced the end of the ’any second’ time limit.

"Sit, sit." She looked at Lucky for a moment. "What exactly does a beast that large eat?"

"Hiwas that take too long in getting me my food." I said with a smile.

"Oh stop it. I think I know just what she will eat. Stay right there, I will be right back." Boro said and ambled back to the kitchen.

After a few minutes of banging together every pot and pan she had in the place, she came back out to the dining area carrying a large wok with her left tentacle arms and a large steaming plate of sen and ziri in her right tentacles. Thank God for six arms, she was able to put the wok on the floor and my plate on the table in front of me at the same time.

"It’s bos feed. Very high in calories and good enough for a human to eat, I suppose it is good for the dog as well."

"Are you calling me a dog?" Lucky seemed to have to problem with it. From my vantage point she was inhaling the food, not bothering to take the time to chew it first.

Boro smiled at my question. I think. I have never been all that great at telling the facial features of hiwas. The one large silver eye, about the same size as my two put together, in the center of their face where a human assumed noses went and a circular mouth with teeth that looked exactly like a human’s, always keeps me from ever knowing exactly what kind of face they were giving me.

"Tell me, tell me, what is new with your job? Do you have a girlfriend yet? I still can’t believe you broke up with Samantha."

Her and my ex got along fantastically. If I didn’t love the food so much I would tell her what I think of her two cents in my relationships. She was a damn good cook.

"Pam has me writing a story on the dead cat."

"What a shame that is. I’ve seen images of the animals." She rubbed her bottom two tentacles together. I’m sure she wasn’t feeling sorry for it dying. "Things have been slow here. Not many people last night or today."

"Is that because of the closed sign on The Extra IPA?" The door to the establishment was a literal closed sign. A big circle with a flashing closed on it. The door was most likely still there, though to the wearer of EEs, which was everyone, it was a large sign.

"Yes I think it has to do with that. Abe closed up early yesterday. He said he was taking a nice needed vacation; going to visit his mother over on Light Isle. He’s a good man; came in after he closed to get a bite to eat with a few friends. Very lively bunch them. He looked drained though. I gave him a whole bos. His mother is going on her third molting and getting up there in age. He wanted to visit her before he could no longer see her. Good man that Abe."

The plot thickens.

Abe had never taken a day off in his entire life. It was the antithesis of a sonji. The people did not understand what a day off was and actually looked down on everyone else who took a day or two of rest every week. There was a reason why he decided to leave town and I had the nagging feeling like a fart feeling too wet that One-eye was part of it.

"I didn’t know Abe has friends." I said between bites. I’m pretty sure he didn’t. The fact that he told Boro, Oazan’s largest gossip, meant...It meant something. I hope Bevisste had an idea. My idea meter was running on empty.

"Of course. A few sonji of course, those people don’t mingle well with other folk. I could never reason that out. They are such a nice group of people. They should really branch out and make other friends."

They were not nice people. Goddamn Super made it his life’s mission to make my life miserable. Though for the price of rent for the place I was game to entertain him.

"Sonji?" I asked.

"Yes." She leaned closer to me. "Don’t go spreading this Tom but to me they all look alike."

I laughed at her and pointed at Lucky. She was done breathing in her food and eyeballing mine, gauging when it would be a good time to snatch the entire plate off the table.

"They look the same to me too, so your secret is safe with me." They didn’t really look the same. I’ve always had good eyes that are able to pick out the slight differences. I had doubled as an Integrator for a time during my military career for that reason. It didn’t last long and was the reason why I was not allowed to reenlist for my fourth time. "You have any more food for Lucky? She looks ready to eat the table."

The dog looked at Boro hopeful. I swear the dog knew exactly what I said. It was as magical as a unicorn.

"Of course I do!" She said and ambled off to the kitchen again.

I patted Lucky on the head and winked at her. She stared at my half eaten plate of food.

"No. This is mine. You get bos feed."

She looked at me like I slapped her.

"Do not be so mean to the dog Tom." Bevisste said. "She was great with Laetitia."

I shook my head and pushed the plate to the side of the table. Lucky wasted no time in breathing the food in.

"I hope you choke."

She wagged her tail thumping my chair.

"Already done?" Boro asked pointing at my empty plate. She held a cloth bag over the wok on the ground and poured until it was at the brim.

I watched Lucky eat as if it were her first meal in four days. It really was going to eat twenty pounds of food a day.

"I’ll take the check. Got things to do today." I said to Boro.

She nodded. I choked on my saliva at the price presented to me on my lenses. I thought she was going to be nice and feed Lucky for free. That dog was not going to get bos feed on a daily basis.

Leaving Boro’s feeling as poor as I’ve always been I shuffled my feet in the direction of my apartment. When Boro mentioned Abe taking a vacation and being with sonji friends I felt a very real urge to grab my Luxor 56 Special. It had been years since I felt naked without it. I felt naked without it.

Somehow the dog knew to stay off the street and stop at intersections. Crazy smart animal. Why would people want cats with creatures like Lucky?

A few boats passed by us, of which I moved as close to the buildings as possible until they were past. Things were death traps on magnets. I don’t know why anyone would want one. The things seemed to break down more than they worked.

We were both waiting out front of my apartment building, well I was waiting on Lucky to stop sniffing and do her business. I had yelled twice and clapped my hands for my own amusement by how much of an effect it had on the dog.

"You haven’t paid for a dog." A deep voice came from behind me.

I groaned and turned around. A sonji a good foot taller than me with the yellow skin well fed sonji had stood glaring at Lucky. He had on a white shirt today. That was different, every other time I had seen my Super he was wearing denim everything. I’m positive he only had one pair of the same clothes.

"Really? I thought for sure I had paid a pet deposit. Anyway I’m just watching for a friend, so I shouldn’t have to pay."

He looked at me like I was an idiot.

"Unless that mangy animal stays outside, you owe a pet deposit."

That wasn’t fair. Lucky looked like she had just been too the groomer. I was about to say just that when the dog began rolling on something she found in the gutter.

"Fine." I sighed and sent the payment. I was going to have to ask for a raise if that dog stuck around.

My Super nodded and walked away down the side of the building. He glared at Lucky the entire time. I clapped my hands again, and of course she jumped up and ran to the door.

"You couldn’t have done that five minutes ago?" I said wagging a scolding finger.

She looked at me with her tongue out the side and tail wagging. I muttered under my breath and let us both inside.

"Hey neighbor." Laetitia said as I pressed my thumb to the doorknob.

The feeling I felt after spending and entire week’s pay vanished. I turned around with a giant smile on my face that quickly melted away.

She was as gorgeous as ever. Blonde hair pulled into a ponytail, a slight blush to her cheeks and wearing an amazing red robe that went half way down her calves. The robe wasn’t all that spectacular but on her it was positively amazing. However she looked like death twice warmed over. Bags were under her eyes showing how tired she was. Lucky walked straight up to her giving her the pathetic look dogs are wont to do.

"You alright?" I wanted to hug her and pet her hair and hold her until she was happy. I stayed next to my door.

"Yeah, rough day at work. I left early. How’s your day?" She petted Lucky and smiled down at her.

"Just beginning actually. Bevisste deemed it a good day not to wake me up early."

"You slept through me yelling at you." Bevisste replied.

"I got more of a lead on the Cleo story and need to do some follow up work. What are you up to?"

"Eating ice cream and watching shitty holos." She said not looking at me. "You taking Lucky with you?"

I opened my mouth them shut it. A devious plan went through my head. That dog was going to earn its name.

"I didn’t really want to. Is there some small chance you can watch her? I will owe you enormous." I folded my hands and tried to look as pathetic as possible.

She smiled and rolled her eyes at me. "I love dogs; she makes me miss mine from Earth. Yeah I’ll watch her but I get to do it at your place. I don’t want dog hair all over my stuff. I may miss my dogs from back home but I do not miss how much they shed."

I had forgot all about the shedding.

"Deal. I just need to grab one thing and then I’ll leave you two alone for your date."

"Okay. I’ll be over in a couple minutes." She said and pointed at my open door. Lucky turned obediently and walked into my apartment. I looked at the dog incredulous. What the fuck? She ignored me as if I wasn’t alive when I tried to give her commands.

Laetitia walked back into her apartment and closed the door. Goddamn it was a huge crush. I mean it’s so big I’m pretty sure it’s not normal. I left Lucky to do whatever it was she was going to do and went to my room for the Luxor. I found it much faster than I found the air wheels. It was in a gun safe that kept it from being the theft deterrent I wished it to be. The damn thieves would have had time to clean out my apartment and make themselves a snack before I got it out of the safe. I was going to have to rethink where I kept it.

Laetitia sat on my couch, changed into a pair of pants I think she painted on her legs and a matching red top that showed no cleavage, though there was no hiding what lay beneath. She could have worn sack cloth and made it look good.

"Say bye Lucky." Laetitia said.

Lucky barked. It was not as loud as in my room or in the lobby but loud enough for me to wish she never did that again while indoors.

"See ya later Tom. Bring food back with you. Your fridge is empty and I’m gonna go broke if I have to keep fixing you food. Bring Lucky back some food as well."

"You wish is my command." I said and bowed to her. I winked and wished like hell as I went to leave the apartment that Pam had chosen someone else for this story.

"Oh and don’t go crazy on that ankle. I wrapped it with medical tape, it may feel like new but if you push it too hard you’ll just end up hurting yourself more." She said pointing her finger at me as if she knew I was going to go on a long run.

"Fine. Thank you though. You’re magic." I waved at Lucky and headed out the door.

"She is in your apartment all alone Tom. I hope you hid everything you do not want her to find." Bevisste said.

I stopped at the top step outside and went through a mental check list. Aside from the condoms I hadn’t used in a year I was pretty sure I was safe.

"We’re good. I hope. Now use that great intellect of yours to tell me what I’m missing about Abe." I said.

"Still have not found your intellect?"

"Still looking. I think I may have a lead on it though." I replied and gingerly walked towards the bus stop. Suddenly I was much more aware of the ankle even though with the air wheels I hardly putting pressure on it.

"I have two thousand bits that the sonji Abe showed up with are part of One-eye’s crew."

"Can you just deposit those bits into my bank account and anymore you have handy?" I asked. "I’ll bet you’re correct in that though. Why did he tell Boro where he is going? That does not make any sense. He has to know she would tell every person who went into her restaurant where he went to."

"Do you want to go to Light Isle to talk to Abe?" Bevisste asked.

"I have half a mind to do so, yes."

"That is why. It is called misdirection Tom. I thought you were an investigative reporter. Should you not know about that? People bullshit you all the time. Did One-eye break the bullshit meter along with your face?"

Sometimes I think Bevisste goes through PMS. I don’t know why a programmer would give a woman AI PMS but I am almost positive they did. It was most likely one of those innovations they like touting. I hate programmers.

I muttered silently as I thought that over. Perhaps he gave a clue about his mother on her third molting and going to Light Isle. I had to stop drinking. The shit was making me stupid.

I waited at the bus stop with one kleen and three androids. The three looked identical. Shaped like a beer can they ran on tank tracks and had three arms. One in the front and two on the sides. Their faces were like the rugged mountain men models on holo shows. It was so comical I had to bite my tongue from laughing. I had no clue why androids designed themselves like they did though I was glad for it. It made for amusement in otherwise shitty days.

The kleen and androids went on the bus before me. As I got on the security guard, a really ugly lope held its odd appendage up to me and glared with its large bug eyes.

"Where is that Luxor going to stay?" It asked me.

"In its home. It doesn’t like leaving it." I replied. It was really the only reply you could give and get on a bus. It was odd though; the security guard had a mental bridge with the security system on the bus, so I wouldn’t have even been able to wrap my hand around the grip before I was subdued in what I had seen to be a very violent manner.

He nodded and held the payment scanner out. I palmed it and took the first seat on the bus. I needed to look out the front window and be near an avenue of escape. The last time on the bus my mind was preoccupied with Lucky and Cleo so I wasn’t thinking clearly. This time, although my mind was preoccupied, I was thinking clearly enough to act on my idiosyncrasies.

We made it all of two stops when a gang of lopes got onto the bus. I knew it was going to be a long day without Bevisste having to say anything. The security guard merely nodded at them and pointed at me.

"This is bullshit." I said as I stared down the six lopes surrounding me. Two more were standing off the bus. "All I want to do is go get some groceries."

"And we will take you right to the store. It’s not too far, follow us." The lope next to me said. He had silver and black painted around his eyes to signify whatever gang he was in. His right arm was missing half way up.

"You all are assholes."

"Quite the diplomat Tom." Bevisste said.

"Whatever." I replied.

"What was that?" The lope said to me moving the six inches until his double jointed leg pressed into mine.

"You all are assholes. Do you want me to paint it out for you or do a sketch?" They wouldn’t do anything to me on the bus. The security system was designed to snap into place even in the event the guard could not or would not activate it.

"Get up." He said again trying to sound like a hard ass. It sounded like a whine.

I had half a mind to stay seated though I knew they would just follow the bus and possibly be violent with me when I finally got off of it. I couldn’t live on the damn thing. At least they didn’t come to my apartment so Laetitia would be safe. Maybe Lucky liked the taste of bugs.

I followed the gang out of the bus. One of them shoved me then grabbed my arm to keep from falling. They were actually nice people, raised quite well. If I lived through it all I would have to find his parents and thank them for a job well done.

The bus pulled away. I watched it longingly then held my hands up as one of the gang pointed at the three that had begun walking across the street. They weren’t even using a crosswalk. Huge rebels this group. As we walked I touched my Luxor strapped to a light bending holster.

Lope gangs really made no sense. If it were a gang of sonji they would have beat me right as I got off the bus, searched me for weapons and then carried me to wherever they wanted me to be; where this gang wanted me to be made me chuckle.

A French cuisine place under construction.

In the millennia and a half since humans left Earth to search out and conquer the universe, they were quite good at searching, not so good at conquering, a few things had stayed the same. People of all races loved dogs from Earth, the games of soccer and golf, Chinese restaurants and French cuisine. Unfortunately there were no Chinese restaurants in New Hamp City.

They led me to the storage room, seemed to be the only thing complete in the place from the look of the rest of the building. All nine of the lopes sat on stools as they closed the door and began to pass around snaze fruit. It was a weird watermelon type fruit that was native to Oazan. Sour as a lemon when you bit into it then as savory as a juicy cow steak. It cost an arm and leg so I never had it much so as they passed the tray around I did not pass up on it.

"What’s up guys? You want me to do some sort of exposé on you?" Damn fruit was amazing. I looked kind of sad at the empty tray when it made it to the last of them.

"No we don’t want you to exposee!" The one closest to me said.

Like I said, a very poor gang.

"Can I offer you one tidbit of advice?" I asked.

They all seemed to lean in on their stools. I almost laughed.

"Don’t be nice to the next person you kidnap. Interrogation works better that way. I know, I was one in the Marine Corps."

I think they looked at me in surprise. While I was damn good at telling facial expressions, surprise on a lope was the one I could never figure out the eyes were just too damn big.

"Whatever man, where were you going?"

"To the grocery store. I told you all that on the bus."

"Bullshit! You’re a liar. We know where you are going." The lope that led me off the bus said from across the room.

"Maybe they will tell you where you are supposed to go. Play it cool." Bevisste said to me.

I nodded to her.

"So I wasn’t going to the grocery store? I have a really big dog and need food. She eats a small child a day. I ran out of children so now I’m forced to buy dog food. Do any of you have coupons?" I asked.

"Play it cool, not the moron." Bevisste said.

I bit my tongue from laughing. The lopes all looked at each other. I could tell from their mannerisms that they were unsure if I was telling the truth or not. God bless the military, you learn quite a bit about everyone when in it.

"You were going to Cleopatra’s house!" One of the lopes said. The others nodded.

"Should I not go there then? Did she sell it?"

"She didn’t sell it; she just doesn’t live there anymore." The lead lope said.

I knew what my next story was. Why lopes should not be involved in gangs. I wondered if they were going give me some money for occupying my time when they let me leave. If they did I was going to take up a second job trying to get kidnapped my lope gangs.

"Oh. Well that sucks. I’ve seen the images of here. Quite the looker don’t you say? Any clue where she went?"

"Mar-." The lope that spoke up stopped as they all looked at him.

The three letters were enough. I knew exactly where she went.

"Tom Moore. Go home and do a story about a cat a rich person owned that died and nothing more." The lead lope said. "Don’t make us get angry."

I’ll bet they served cold soup at these functions when they got angry.

"Will do but I really do need dog food. You won’t mind if I hitch a ride on the next bus and go to a grocery store or a pet store?" I asked.

"No, the next bus gets here in three minutes so you may want to run there." The lope said.

I nodded and walked to the door. I looked back at the group, waved and left the genial group of fellas. They really were a nice race. One of two races humanity did not get in a war with. When humanity stumbled across them the lopes presented humans with a giant trophy for achieving faster than light travel and making it to one of their planets. They were so nice that we left them alone.

I just missed the bus which meant I had to spend another three minutes standing there. I supposed I could have sat though I would have had to stand back up when the bus arrived. It seemed like a hassle.

"You know where Cleo is right or do I have to use my great intellect to reason out the word game?" Bevisste asked.

"Port Richey right? I think that begins with M-a-r." I said and smiled.

"I honestly think you’re telling the truth. It’s Marland."

"I know. What is wrong with you? Normally you’re not so bitchy. What’s happened?"

"Pam has done a review on you and it is not good." She replied.

"What are you talking about? I’m his best employee and my review isn’t due for another two months."

"Well he decided to do it early and by the look of it, we are both out of a job. I smell Timber’s hand all over it."

"Son of a bitch. This story sucks."

"You could always just do what Cleo gave you and call it a day"

"I could always just become a bar-back and work a shitty job."

"I am kind of happy you said that. We need a good story Tom, good enough to make Pam give the finger to Timber and keep your job."

I nodded. This story was getting out of control. I never turn down stories Pam asks me to do, I love story telling too much, though this one was borderline ridiculous. It was supposed to be about a very wealthy person whose cat died, not a piece of detective work left for the police. It made me feel alive though. Alive like when I was in the wars I was sent on. Goddamn I missed the action.

The bus ride to Port Richey was normal, thank God. I still needed to go there. I couldn’t just go to Marland. It was on the other side of Oazan and would have taken me at least two days. Laetitia seemed to like me but abandoning her to my dog for two days seemed like stretching the newly found friendship. I frowned at the word as I walked into Port Richey. I hoped she didn’t mean friend and only friend.

"You are past the sensor point and no cops." Bevisste said.

"Is there really a sensor?" I asked as I looked around.

She laughed at me. "It was a joke though it certainly seemed that the last two times."

I nodded at that. It was most likely my bicycle that had warned the cops. Very few people rode bicycles, viewed as an outdated mode of transportation. I loved it from the freedom though it was especially difficult to find parts for the thing. Most of them had to be delivered from a different planet.

Walking gingerly on the foot, lest I make Laetitia upset, I made it to the front gates in about an hour. Sweat poured off of me. It was hot, really hot; a heat wave was sweeping the area and made the normal miserable spring especially miserable. I stood at the gate and looked at it like a gigantic jigsaw puzzle.

"How am I supposed to get in? Did you happen to map out where Lucky came from?" I asked Bevisste.

"Unfortunately no but I can override the gate." She replied.

I thought it over. Her ability to override systems was a carryover from my military days that a friend in Admin had let me keep during discharge. It was great to have but meant a stiff penalty when used in the civilian world. Breaking into the offspring of Timber most likely would mean life on a prison planet with less than pleasant surprises every day in the shower.

You only get to live once though.

I needed to see around the place again. I was sure there was something in there I was missing.

"Please do Bevisste. Don’t get caught though, I like my ass as it is right now."

"No guarantees. I may stumble a bit while trying to access the correct code blocks and trigger the turrets hidden in the trees or call the police. I would think SWAT may come for a call from this house."

She’s a bundle of joy that Bevisste though brilliantly clever. As she went over another six scenarios in which I was either maimed, killed, arrested or a combination of the three, the gates swung open.

"Oops, I hope that is not the police number." Bevisste said.

"You’re not as funny as you believe yourself to be Bevisste." I eyeballed the trees like they were full of poisonous snakes. I wasn’t sure if Bevisste was telling the truth about the turrets hiding in the trees. If I asked her she would just bullshit me just to keep me on my toes.

"How do you know I did not mistakenly contact the police or the Army? I would be mildly surprised if the Army did not show up for distress calls made by Timber or his family."

Keep me on my toes, Bevisste, and my heart rate elevated to levels my doctor would frown at if I ever went to one. In situations like this I always wondered if the AI’s other people had with their lenses were as sassy as mine or if I was just that lucky.

"I’m swimming to that beach near here if you contacted the SWAT. I can take the Army, I’ll just tell them I’m a Marine and they will all run away crying." There’s nothing better than a little rivalry between military branches.

"You are so mean to them Tom, is it because they always got the new stuff while you all got the hand me downs?" Bevisste goaded me.

"Of course not, I love it when everyone else gets new shit and I get the leftovers. It’s grand." I froze in midstep.

 A few hundred feet into the yard were four whirlwinds of blades. The landscapers on the yard stood on legs that were only deployed for stabilization and the arms that ended in whirring blades extended if their large oval body could not get close enough; they were basically androids minus the smart. These were smart enough to not cut a person’s arm off as they mistook it for a tree branch and smart enough to stay within the boundary markers of the home they were working and not much smarter than that.

"There are landscapers in the yard Bevisste." I whispered

"Yes Tom, you are correct."

"Why are there landscapers in the yard Bevisste?"

"To keep it looking pretty I would assume Tom." I could hear her laugh slightly. The AI’s in EEs were supposedly not fully sentient. They were supposedly just incredibly complex and could mimic human behavior so closely that they seemed sentient.

I had my doubts.

"When I accessed the security system, which is the outside one, apparently there is one for inside the home, the dimwitted machine asked for an updated time-table on when Cleo would be returning. He is very distraught, time-tables are very dear to the halfwit. I told him we were here to get some belongings for Cleo and she would be returning in ten days. It seemed like a good time frame, it should not take ten days to go through the house."

"Why are there landscapers in the yard Bevisste?" I repeated the question. Knowing the security system that lorded over possible turrets in trees and only God knows what else was a halfwit was not reassuring in the slightest and it did not explain why landscapers were in the yard.

"The dimwit says they work in the yard three times a week. Not a private company they are owned by the Eviner Manor." Bevisste replied.

"This house is called Eviner Manor?"

"According to the halfwit."

I continued slowly keeping the landscapers in the corner of my vision. They could have been part of a vast plot put in place by the security system disguising itself as a halfwit.

"You sure no one is here?" I asked Bevisste. The landscapers appeared to have moved onto the trees I had leaped around on.

"Yes Tom." I could hear the exasperation in her voice. I may have been acting more overly cautious than normal, though then again she would not be the one to feel the surprises in the shower on the prison planet I was sent to if someone caught me snooping around the house.

I bypassed the front door as I finally made it up the very long drive. Using the front door just struck me as not right. I generally follow the odd feelings in my gut. The scar I refuse to let mediticians and doctors remove is a constant reminder to never forget it. This time when I made it to the odd grass I kept my eyes up away from the ground. Damn stuff gave me a dull throbbing headache that hadn’t gone away until Laetitia put her hands on my legs.

Suddenly I did not feel as tense. The woman of my dreams was alone in my apartment, a little down in the dumps with a dog I am sure is magical. It was perfect, the dog would cheer her up while she was in my apartment, that’s what dog’s do, cheer people up, and Laetitia would associate the feeling of happiness with my place. I was positively giddy as I finished explaining it all to Bevisste.

"So I am lost; is Laetitia the dog or is it Lucky; or are they both dogs you are training?" Bevisste asked when I finished.

"Huh?" The question came out of left field completely stumping me.

"Laetitia will associate a feeling of happiness with being some place? I just quickly referenced some dog training books and it seems to me you are in the wrong industry. You gave a perfect plan for training an animal without even knowing what you were doing. I can see it now, ’Tom Moore the Animal Wizard’."

"Oh my God." I covered my face with my hand then smacked myself in the forehead.

"Yeah. Shall I look up some books on courting women or sure fire ways to land the woman of your dreams?"

"Shut up."

Bevisste giggled at me. I kicked the dog door that was now in front of me. It was open last time and everything turned out wonderful. I figured I would go two for two with it. The door did not move at all, it was as if I had kicked concrete. I put my foot on it and pushed, the air wheels did not compensate entirely sending me cartwheeling my arms as I fell backwards onto my ass.

"Can you open the door?" I asked Bevisste rubbing the bruise I was sure was going to show up on my ass.

"I have to advise against that course of action Tom. If there is someone in the house you would be a sitting duck as you crawled through the dog door. If someone is in the house one of their crew would not crawl through a dog door to enter the house so that means they would shot you before you were aware of someone in the kitchen with you. I advise using the garage. It is large and there should be plenty of objects to use as shields."

She had a point. It’s why I keep her around. No one else can hear her talk so she makes me look smart when I regurgitate what she tells me.

"Sounds good, maybe that van will be there waiting for us to find that room full of rare coins."

"Maybe." She replied.

My jaw dropped as I rounded the corner to the rear of the house. I was expecting possibly a large pool, some poolside cabanas, a few lounge chairs and a lawn smaller than the front gently sloping to the water’s edge. The goddamn backyard was twice the size of the front. There was a pool—if you can call it that. I think an island oasis with a partial ocean transported to the backyard would be more fitting of a name.

Along the far side of the partial ocean making the border of the island oasis was one hundred feet of bedrock that had been raised from the ground with water creating a waterfall that I am sure came from an underground spring instead of pumps moving water around the pool. There were poolside cabanas and lounge chairs, two outdoor bars, a dance area and multiple grottos. My head was swimming at the sight; I couldn’t get an accurate count on everything.

"So this is what you can buy with a lot of money." I stated a little dumbly.

"I like the golf course. Nice touch."

"Golf?" I moved my head to the left and laughed. I had seen the course on my EEs while window shopping at the stores where only the most wealthy shop. I liked to remind myself how poor I was. The course was one hole at a time stretching to six hundred yards, changing the tee-off area and the entire field of play when the players finished each round.

"Where’s the garage?" I looked around and did not see anything like a door to open for vehicles to enter and exit.

Bevisste modified the vision overlay of the lenses to show a really long rectangle outlined in blue along the bottom floor. It was huge, far longer than I was expecting. I had expected something to put a dozen different vehicles in. This was long enough to house a modest size dealership.

"No way. That all can’t be the garage. Where the fuck do things come out?"

"It’s Garage Keeper Special. They don’t make too many of them. It parts enough for the vehicle to go out when you get in one. I had a feeling she would keep the garage in the rear. That way she can impress her guests at the pool or golf course by showing off the special garage door and whatever flashy vehicles are inside when she takes them for a spin."

Just when I thought I was getting numb to the extravagance, something else presented itself to one up the last extravagance.

"Just walk up to the garage. I’ll take care of opening it." Bevisste said.

At the face of the house outlined in blue I waited and tentatively reached out to touch it. It felt as solid as brick. Suddenly an opening slightly larger than my body opened like an iris. My jaw was so tired from dropping open I didn’t have to open it. It was already catching flies.

When I entered the garage I scowled for a moment. The place was pretty much empty. There were two hyper-cars, both appeared ready for racing and ready to win, three boats, two personal flyers and six everyday exotic multi-million bit cars. I was expecting more from something so large. She probably used the excess room for the pits crews, I convinced myself.

"The indoor security system is dead Tom. I can tell it is there but it is as dead as if the body was lying on the ground in front of us."

"I don’t like it either." I said in response to the tone of her voice. The excess room was in high probability not place for the pit crews.

I pulled the Luxor out of the holster to make sure it was easily accessible and decided to take the time to check out the hyper-cars. I had only ever seen vids of the things; I had never actually seen one up close and in person. They were awe inspiring vehicles that spoke to my inner twelve year old. Anti-matter propulsion engines with a car body built around it. Just sitting there the things looks like they were going to leap off the ground at terrifying speeds. I went to touch one and stopped with my hand hovering centimeters above the body. I could feel the theft deterrent system. It felt like the suit of armor I touched at the Met. I liked having the feel of both my hands so I moved on.

"Anything pop out at you?" I asked referring to the ability Bevisste had to pick out weapons and mines that had been hidden. The friend in Admin was awesome, really the only thing that differed between Bevisste while in the Corps and now was her inability to access government appointed funds. God how I wished that part had been overlooked when I was discharged.

"Not at all, although I am glad you did not touch that car."

"You could have warned me."

"And have the amusement spoiled? I think not Tom."

I rolled my eyes and made my way slowly through the garage staying close to the door that appeared to be a solid piece of the house. I wanted a quick escape route if things went south in a hurry.

The personal flyers were the last of the vehicles I made it to when I noticed an open entryway. My eyes went back and forth between the open entryway and the flyer. It resembled a chaise lounge. I actually thought it was a chaise when I walked up to it, it felt like one. The only thing that gave away that it was a flyer were the holoscreen controls in the two armrests and the fact that chaise lounges don’t have armrests. If there was something money could not buy I really wanted to see it.

"They may have had something to do with the security system being dead." Bevisste said before I noticed what she was talking about.

The Luxor 56 Special was in my hand by instinct, the safety off, the extra power coil converting energy from the heat of my hand. A dead android lay half out of the doorway. I could tell it was dead, sometimes you think they are dead and the people surprise you, by the way its head was a melted mass like a neo-noir sculpture. I idly wondered if I could somehow get it out of here in one piece and sell it to an art house.

"You recording everything?" I asked Bevisste.

"Began as soon as I saw the android."

"Good." HTY.13R rifles were banned on every planet The United Planets ruled. The melted mass of the android’s head was the product of a said rifle. It was by far the nastiest weapons I had ever encountered and when you had the job I had in the Corps you encounter a lot of different weapons.

The melted head was an off target blow to the android and an effect specific to the synthetic flesh and blood that made up the people. The rounds all had a different effect depending on what races it hit. The effect it had on humans was the reason why I was now sweating profusely. I was in the zone though. I may have been sweating like a morbidly obese man in a sauna; however my senses were on overdrive. The large revolver was rock steady in my grip.

I moved slowly forward to get a better look at the android and noticed a dead lope inside the house a few paces from the feet of the android. The 13R was not going to be used any time soon. It lay next to the dead lope, one of its eyes jelly with the other hanging to the side on the floor, the rifle half melted in a puddle of silver metal. Whatever the android had used was quite impressive to get that affect.

Bevisste took images in detail of the two dead bodies and the 13R. It took a little longer than I wanted to stand there, especially since I could not look around for any of the lope friends if there were some around.

Getting the go ahead from Bevisste to continue I stepped over the bodies, deciding that I did not want to try to sell the body to a morbid art collector. Ten steps into the house I stopped and stared. I could feel heat rushing to my face and anger gripping me. My hand actually shook with the rage pumping through my body. Twenty to thirty feet in front of me was a dead kleen.

I could take a lot of atrocity. I had committed a lot of atrocities in the name of The United Planets. However every time I saw a dead kleen I felt like snapping and ending the universe.

Kleens are long lived people. Incredibly long lived, if one died of natural causes before hitting three hundred years people were surprised and full blown investigations were opened. It may have been the long life or possibly something from their distant past for they were quite the peaceful people who devoted just about all their time to improving technology in the name of peace.

Lopes were nice as well though when cornered they fought like a rabid dog in the middle of a roid rage. When kleens were cornered they simply refused to fight, rather hoping you would tire of terrorizing them and leave them be. They also never told what they saw.

Never.

It’s a trait that no one that is not a kleen can understand. I saw a kleen when I was in the service get court martialed and sent to Qusong Military Penitentiary Planet simply because he would not testify against a sonji that he had watched put poison in the water supply of the platoon the sonji was in. The kleen didn’t drink the water. He also did not tell anyone the water supply was poisoned for to do so he would have had to tell why he knew it was poisoned. Despite their odd idiosyncratic culture they made the best of friends.

This kleen, possibly around one hundred years of age by the black rings I could see on the tail, had no reason to be dead. The people that had come into the house could have ran a train on Cleo two feet from the man, then burnt the house down and stood beside him while the fire brigade put it out and he would have walked home only mentioning how hot he thought the fire may have been. Whoever was here had killed the kleen simply because they are bastards.

"I hope the son of bitch that did this is still alive. Oh I fucking hope they are."

Bevisste said nothing. She knew what I turned into when seeing a dead kleen. She did not approve though I had the feeling she understand my reaction.

Not seeing a sheet or any sort of fabric lying around that I could use to cover the body I continued on. The Luxor was at the ready, ready to deal death to whoever happened to still be in the manor. As I walked the extravagance of the place was lost on me. Statues that were priceless pieces of art that should have been on display in museums went by me like they didn’t exist. Holoscreens that were prototypes went unseen. I was now looking for someone alive in the house, I left it to Bevisste to look for clues as to who did this.

As I entered a game room I stopped and turned around heading back to the garage. A dead kleen, humped over a chair, my age hardly more than a baby to kleens was in the room. I stopped stalking when I saw the dead lope and fired three times. It exploded so violently I was wiping yellow blood from my face as I retraced my steps.

"I no longer care if Cleo is alive. I will find who did this. I will find them and make them understand just how much they fucked up." I said.

"We will Tom. You have my word on that." I could tell Bevisste was beginning to get phased by the dead kleens.

Passing the game room I entered an atrium. Full sized broad leafed trees shadowed a large pond filled with croaking amphibians and slithering snakes. A few birds flew above my head, one alighting on a bush to my immediate right. The neon green feathers and black feathers outlining a heart on the breast would have made me gape and smile under different circumstances.

Aside from the animals and plants nothing of value was in the atrium. I did a double take on the far side at a box that looked like a chest of some sort. It turned out to be an odd bench. As I made my way to the exit door the light in the room changed subtly. Rounding one of the trees I found out why. A sonji, a foot taller than me, yellow skin, four arms, four legs, bulbous eyed, black spindly hair and a two inch long tubular mouth stood in the door with a HTY.13R in its hands.

I fired twice without hesitation. The lower half of its two right legs vanished in a puff of red blood. The sonji bellowed, falling down in pain, grasping at the mangled legs. I walked up slowly to it, pointed the Luxor at its face then spun the gun in my hand bringing the butt of the gun down on its head.

Next Chapter: The past comes to say hi