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STORY: Logan approaches rusting rocket gantries, deserted bunkers, raw concrete blockhouses,
the Cape. Lifeships lay charred, hulls rusting from nitro blasts. Logan saw the glint
of the Outlanders jetcycs. Rocket Pequiod--Logan kraks a half drunk guard's neck
from behind, hoping this one didn't kill Jaq, this was too fast. Logan grabs another
around the neck as the big man walks down the hall, "Talk to me or I will kill
you." Logan kicks the man's back and kills him as the man tries to get away,
"You should have talked to me...although I would have killed you anyway."
Logan has two burn weapons (fusers) now. Logan goes into the room and asks which
leads. Prince comes forward, "I am Prince. I lead." Logan shoots him down
and the Prince that hits the floor has a charred skeletal face. Another male says
Jess wanted to go with them, begged them to take her along with...Logan blasts this
male's chest and back out. "Someone else talk but only tell me the truth."
Ris tells him. She tells him Prince killed the boy. A male blasts Logan's shoulder
and two other males raise their weapons. Logan kills them all. Logan bit hard into
the round of muscle below the thumb to find a new pain center to counteract the agony
in his shoulder. Lucrezia drops her dagger and tells Logan the others were a stupid
lot. She will not tell him where Jessica is unless he promises to let her leave the
ship alive. She knows Logan is a man of honor and won't kill her anyway. He tells
her he will let her live and then says, "Your Jessica is dead." Lucrezia
tells him that Prince killed her and burned the body...Jess was troublemaker and
stubborn. Lucrezia tells him she tried to save her but couldn't. Logan says, "Die,
you inhuman bitch!" He blasts her into a skeleton. Logan returns to the struggling
colony. He withdrew into himself. Logan asks Jonath for the drugs--it is the only
way he can ever see Jessica again but the dosage will draw him completely into the
past. He will be a prisoner of his own mind. Logan needs R-11 compound. Logan will
get it at Market. Without Jess and Jaq, Logan is dead already, he feels. Jonath tells
Logan he'd rather not see him do this. He also will deal with anyone to help the
people of this camp--they are his responsibility. Jonath will help Logan because
he realizes there is no stopping him. Logan is glad he realizes that. Carolinas:
summer heat, humid. Even worse when the cooling machines died. Rawls 7, a long haired
man had a malfunctioning slideway cut off his legs. Once his sexual exploits had
been the envy of all the males in the glasshouse. He can still feel both his legs.
Logan asks him where to find the quantum of R-11. Rawls 7 tells him NY. He bangs
on a drawer and gives him the name from it of a contact in NY. Logan gives him jewels,
Skin Jewels---change color with your mood. Logan leaves. Green Giant is larger than
the World Trade Center, dwarfing it in fact. It was to accommodate 300 million. Logan
meets the guardsman and notices his eyes were pitiless: Sandman's eyes. Logan can
leave the paravane here but cannot take weapons inside. He needs to see Lacy 14,
an Oriental. She insists he drink a fruitwine from Spain. Logan has a stack of mooncoins
to give her but she wants her to come first. She touches a clasp and three bald women
come out, "They are for you, Logan. And you are for them." Later, Logan
has his leather jacket open, no shirt beneath. Logan wonders if it what Lacy wanted
was to watch him enjoy himself with the females---to watch him pleasuring them so
she could pleasure herself--why won't she give him the quantum. Logan needs Jonath
to administer the R-11 and he needs his ship to get back to his camp. She tells him
he could stay with her, she can administer the R11 which could kill him. Logan takes
his belongings out of the paravane--now Lacy owns it. Logan insists with the guard
that the gun go with him. The guard makes an exception and lets Logan take it in.
Logan tells the guard he can have the fusers if he wants them. Logan will have water
injected into his system. He doesn't want to be observed. A normal dosage of quantum
is almost microscopic. Usually as much as Logan is taking is taken in several stages.
She never saw anyone take a pearl. Logan does--the re live parlors died with the
cities. Lacy tells him, "Good luck." She tells him to take it on his tongue--let
it dissolve directly into the tissue. It is effective immediately after ingestion. |