| From: | Matb <mbreton@**.NETCOM.COM> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Re: Missing Rats |
| Date: | Sat, 10 May 1997 04:58:15 -0700 |
>>>>>[As an old salt once said, I yam what I yam. Johnny One-Line,
OneLine, and Online are all the same; I use them to tag where responses are coming from.
So it looks like we're both a bit paranoid of each other. Welcome to
the shadows, chummer. Glad you came clean with me.. well, as clean as
shadowscum like you'n me ever get. So, yeah, if you want a yen to blow
the dust off this guy, you got a deal.
What can I tell you about the Rat.. thin blond kid with a goatee; into
Classic Grunge and boot music. He's one of those guys with a faraway
look in his eyes -- hell, here's the best way to show you.
+++++Audio recording (11MP)
[From external sounds - wind rustling, a crow passing overhead - this
occurs outdoors.]
FR: ....I saw them again last night. Two, maybe three; it's only
been, what, five years since they were brought back to the range?
[Pause: 3.2 seconds]
FR: They used to hunt them. They used little devices - just like a
duck call - and once you get one singing, three or four more join in,
until you hear them echoing across the valley. And the damn dogs would
be so glad to sing, a hunter could creep up within a hundred feet of a
pack. Bang. Bang. Bang.
JOL: Well.. they're varmints.
FR: Tell that to a shaman. (Chuckles) Coyote's a slut, a trickster;
She'll love anyone. They still lobby BTL chips under the acronym -
'Call Off Your Terrible Ethics' or something like that...
JOL: You're rambling, >encrypted<.
FR: Oh, and you never do? I could hear them from my parent's old
house - sometimes catch their silhouette against the moon. When I was
just a kid, I always imagined them coming down from the hills, loping
through the backstreets, just to crawl through my window at night and
slaver at my throat. But I grew out of it, eventually: I dreamt I
could run away, out of the Barrens, and join their pack - like Romulus,
like Remus.
JOL: You're thinking wolves.
FR: Whatever.
[Gap in conversation]
FR: ...the Coyotes weren't anything. Just a five-year gap in my life
I'm trying to fill with something better.
JOL: So you'll just pop off to Stuffer Shack, pick up a six-pack of
better childhoods, take a sip of each until you find the flavor you
like?
FR: Something like that.
[Gap in conversation]
JOL: [T]here's Orion.
FR: No.. that's Ursa Major. The Great Bear - for whatever reason,
that's what everyone sees in it. Nearly everyone, I should say. Me, I
see a coyote on its heels, baying -
JOL: You see them everywhere, don't you?
FR: Just the important places. >Deleted< used to say Coyote was
waiting to call on me, waiting until I was ready. Guess he'll never
find out if he was right, now.
JOL: >Encrypted<, one of these days you're going to look back and see
they were just a drag on your life. You can do better than be a
datachump all your life.
FR: I still can't believe they're gone. It's like, one day they're
the center holding everything together, and the next, they're gone.
That entire night seems like a dream.
JOL: What was the first thing you did, the next morning?
FR: I got up to shave. Realized my razor was missing, went down to
the Shack on the corner to pick up a new one.
JOL: I was hoping you weren't going to say you did something stupid
like "I went back to >encrypted< and asked if he had a courier job for
me." But that's what I thought you'd do. Day One of your new life and
you successfully put everything behind you.
FR: I don't want to lose that, though... just outgrow it.
JOL: As long as you keep thinking about it, though, you can't.
FR: Thanks, Dr. Freud. Mind telling me what the hell's the difference
between what I did for the Coyotes and what you want me to do for you?
+++++End audio recording.
Fact Rat - he was called something different back then, and worked hard
to put /that/ behind him - used to record everything. He thought this
was an important enough conversation for me to save for him. (And yeah,
there's more on the chip - I didn't want to bore you to tears.) No idea
if he kept a copy for himself - he literally pulled the chip out of his
skull at the end of the night and asked me to keep it for him.
It's been a while since we've run together. Maybe enough time's passed
for him to start collecting the bits and pieces of himself he left
everywhere. Thought he might appreciate.. well, the memories.]<<<<<
-- Johnny One-Line <time/date>
