| From: | Jeffrey Mach <mach@****.CALTECH.EDU> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Back from Chi-town. |
| Date: | Tue, 12 Aug 1997 17:21:37 -0700 |
>>>>>[I'm back in town. Sorry if you weren't the first person I got in
contact with. Celene and I needed a little time to catch up. And yes,
the first thing I did when I got back to civilization was to get myself
checked out, head to toe, to make sure I didn't pick up anything while I
was there; bugs micro to macroscopic inclusive. Not that Celene didn't do
a full workup anyway.
I fulfilled my side of the contract. That's the best I can say.
What can I say about Chicago? It reminded me of the pictures my mother
showed me of the aftermath of EuroWars; that's why we ended up in HK
anyway. Battered buildings, battered people. Even though they dropped
the wall, there doesn't seem to be too much hope for the people left
behind.
It's pretty amazing how feral "civilized" people can become when pressed
too hard. Unfortunately for some, fortunately for others, even a feral
human can use a gun. All in all, a pretty sad reflection on the human
animal.
We--FactRat, Krash, a local merc named Wolf, and myself--stayed out of
trouble as best we could. Wolf helped us to avoid the more hostile areas.
I cannot say the run was a complete success. One place that FactRat was
sure had some of the things he left behind was nothing but ruins. Some
sort of big fight had set off a firestorm that incinerated several square
blocks until it finally burnt itself out. The areas which saw some of the
heavier military action left even less standing. There were a few
precarious situations, but nothing we couldn't handle. Luckily, the look
of a SPAS-25 and LMG in the hands of a pair of six foot plus sams and
associates was enough to convince most of the smaller predators we were
too much trouble to be worth it. As for the bigger predators--we agreed
that discression was, in fact, the better part of valor--and stayed well
clear. But at certain points, some confrontation was inevitable. We were
just smart enough to choose our ground well and lucky enough not to make
mistakes. More than that, I don't plan on saying. It isn't something I
want to remember that well.
After we got as much as we figured we could and got the hell out of what
was left of the Zone, Krash helped FactRat settle up the bill. Don't bug
me about giving a discount to the kid, he nearly put me through more hell,
and had me more in the dark than when the Triads were wanting to use me as
a chew-toy. We figure if there is somebody looking for FactRat, the trail
will head into Chicago and pretty much die there. So, he and Krash seemed
pretty confident heading off by themselves. Krash said something about a
magical group he belongs to, but I told him I really didn't want to know.
I want to go ahead and handle that little matter of ID, now that I'm here
and actually have the cred to pay for it, even if it wipes my savings.
Well, most of it anyway, you'll still get paid. Only when that's done
will I worry about getting another job.]<<<<<
-- Fang <17:17:41/08-12-58 PDT>
