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Stories from the Verse
Con Version
Chapter 209: Cooper 66
Table of Contents
Previous chapter: Takano 149
The BBS offices were still closed, so Brian took the day to shop around and make a few phone calls. Finally he found not exactly what he wanted but what would suffice, spent a bit more than he thought they were perhaps worth, and brought them to dinner, where he gave one to each of his three companions and kept one for himself.
"Citizen band radios," he said. "They were all the rage, probably before you were born, but in the fifties they were the toys of hobbyists. These have about a two-mile range, so we should be able to keep in touch as far as Granville's place just outside the city."
"And we need these because?" Derek asked.
"I don't think we can reasonably expect Granville to move out of his home--what would we tell him? We don't even know whether it will be Mordenslice or Cutter, or indeed some lackey, who visits him. We need to watch, a sort of stake-out taking turns keeping an eye on the place, and we need to be able to alert each other if anything happens."
"Just because we can call each other," Tommy observed, "doesn't mean we can get there to help. Certainly Derek can fly, but if he's the one on watch he's already there, and I'm not sure he could carry two of us if we rely on him to get us there."
Derek shrugged. "I carried Crystalline maybe half a mile to the river, but I was using telekinesis to carry her. Lifting her with my wings was definitely a challenge. I wouldn't want to risk dropping any of you; I m not that good at it yet."
They stared at each other, looking for a solution.
"Motorcycles are the obvious choice," Derek said, "and I was taught to drive them in spy training, but we don't have them and I don't know how the rest of you would do on them."
Brian answered, "I had one in my twenties, but you're right--we don't have them, they're probably not in the budget, and the girls have no experience in that, I'm sure.
Tommy didn't object, and it was obvious that Vashti wasn't likely to have had a secret past in which she was a biker. They were going to need another solution.
"How's this?" Vashti ventured. "If Tommy can ride the bicycle, I can get the robot to carry me, and that solves two of us."
Brian nodded. "That works," he said. "You can ride a bicycle?" he asked Tommy.
"It's been a few years, but they say it's not something you forget, so I'll manage. But what about you?"
He shrugged. "Maybe I can speed run; maybe I'll call a cab or flag down a patrol car. Anyway, I'll think of something."
They agreed to get a cab to take them out there after dinner, partly so they would all know where it was, and left the dishes for later.
As to the old stories that have long been here:
