Timefall: Chapter 7 (by Elliot Bowers)

_____Gally and Mr. Dark walked into the recreation center.

Both of them looked worn out and bedraggled, beaten and

tired as they passed through this foyer. The collar of

Mr. Dark's shirt collar was undone, his pants and hair

dusted with something--missing tie. Gally's metal body

looked dusted as well, her pretty face was smudged and cut.

And her straight dark hair full of grit. Both she and the

bedraggled big man trudged their way toward the white

office.

_____They walked... Walked through the public lounge, with

the building's janitorial staff looking on curiously.

Those people said nothing to Gally and Mr. Dark, knowing

that it was none of their business. What those two did

was best left unquestioned.

_____When the two came to the white office, Mr. Dark was

so worn and feeling downtrodden that he let Gally open the

door. They went in.

_____And both were surprised to see a uniformed soldier in

here. A tall soldier in green camouflage, black boots on

his feet. The pin-on marks on his shoulders indicated that

he was a corporal. Looking at Mr. Dark, the soldier stood

straighter and did the Army salute. "Good morning, Master

Sergeant Dark," he said.

_____Mr. Dark did a quick return-salute, and the soldier

put his hands behind his back and stood with feet apart--the

"at ease" position. "Well, Corporal Boogs," said Mr. Dark,

glancing at the soldier's nametag. "Why are you here? Does

a local unit want to move in and give more direct

assistance?"

_____Corporal Boogs shook his head. "Sir, I am not authorized

to make such a statement at this time. I arrived here with

my squad to deliver raw supplies and the damaged gynoids.

Dr. Briette recieved the supplies and the gynoids. Also, I

have been ordered to remain behind and communicate a

message--for ears only."

_____Mr. Dark glanced down at Gally, who was not addressed

by the soldier. Since that soldier said nothing about

Gally standing here, it was fine for her to hear as well.

"Okay, tell me the message," said Mr. Dark.

_____Nodding once, Corporal Boogs began to recite the

message. "The local unit of the Science Corps has been

monitoring meteorological and chronological stability

within Franklin Township. And, it has come to the

following two points of important data.

_____"Number one--airborne anomalies have returned to the

skies above this town. Likely, the anomalies are weather-

related, but another explanation is very possible.

_____"Number two--be aware of anomalous daytime activity.

Though the anomalies have been primarily active at night,

morning readings indicate the presence of daytime

disturbances of the sort common in Franklin Tonwship. That

is all."

_____Hearing this, Mr. Dark grimaced. "So, we're going

to see some trouble during the daytime... The freaks are

going to make their way into the day."

_____Corporal Boogs looked at Mr. Dark and down at Gally.

"I am not authorized to answer that question, sir--just

authorized to deliver the message."

_____Shaking his head, Mr. Dark spoke. "You're dismissed,

corporal. I recieved your message. Tell your C.O. thanks

for the supplies and the help." He saluted.

_____After a return salute, Corporal Boogs jogged out of

this office. And he quickly and quietly closed the door

behind him. So quickly did the corporal leave, that it \

seemed as if he were never here...

_____Mr. Dark looked down at Gally. "Well now, you know

what this means... A world of trouble, and a change of

plans."

_____The petite cyborg spoke, her smudged and cut face

confident. "I do understand. But, those who need

understanding live throughout this town. Change of plans

for them as well."

_____Nodding a few times, Mr. Dark went over to his desk

and reached under the top to activate the elevator. The

section of wall behind the desk opened, revealing that

elevator. "Gally, go down to get washed and fixed up...

I need to go elsewhere to wash, to get decontaminate... All

that sort of stuff. We don't know what's in this dust we've

got on us..."

_____Quietly, Gally walked into the elevator. The doors

closed and she went down. As for Mr. Dark, he went out of

the building to get a change of clothes. Then, he would

wash....

_____And came down to the cybernetics lab--which now looked

a bit more supplied and busy: There were several large

cases set at the left side of the room, and much of the

cybernetics equipment atop the side-tables had been turned

on. A covered cot was set up next to Dr. Briette, who was

at one of the computer workstations.

_____That scientist turned, stood up in surprise. "Gally...!

About the explosions... Are you okay? Any malfunctions with

your body? Any odd feelings in your head?" She walked

closer, seeing the cuts in the pale synthetic flesh of

Gally's face and the grit in her dark hair. "Oh my God!"

_____Gally shook her head. "No trouble with me passes at

the moment. I simply request a shower for now to cleanse

grit from my face and body. And... As for the twin

gynoids?"

_____Dr. Briette gave a quick dismissing wave of a hand.

"They'll be fine. Vannessa is already fully repaired.

More quickly repaired because the Army brought upgrades and

supplies for the autodoc. Now she's on the cot.

_____"But I'm not going to activate her until the autodoc

is done with Vicki. Without Vicki, Vannessa is more than

just a little trouble... Anyway, you know where the shower

is--in the side room. The shower is set on automatic now,

and there is an infrared-assisted air dryer... The two

closed drawers are full of clothes and has the gynoids'

stuff. But don't touch the bottom drawer--Vannessa would

become so mad if anyone touched her stuff...."

_____Giving a nod of thanks, Gally moved toward the side

room and stepped in. It was a well-lit and nice-sized

bathroom. A closed shower at the far end, with a sink and

toilet at the left. An air dryer and drawers were at the

right. Gally heard a humming sound from the drawers,

and she suspected that they were automated somehow. Indeed,

the drawers used automatons to wash and dry clothes stored

in there--no need for separate washers and dryers.

_____She then moved over to the sink--then stood on tip-toes

to look in the mirror. In the mirror, her own large dark

eyes stared back at her--the cuts and smudges, the look of

exhaustion. A mess.

_____She turned away from the mirror and went into the

shower. Closing the shower partition, she saw and heard

the water came on--a private rain of warm cleansing water.

Though she could not feel the warmth of the water on her

metal body, she could feel it on her face. It felt good...

_____Carefully, she rubbed her metal fingers through her

hair, washing away the grit. Even more carefully, she

rubbed the synthetic flesh of her face with the help of the

water. After that, she let the water wash her alloyed body

clean.

_____So there she stood in the shower, the hiss of the water

coming down. This was time for the little cyborg to think.

So far, so much had happened. She had been struck by the

blast of the machine she destroyed, but not damaged. But

the gynoids, it seems, had to be fully repaired.

_____Odd, Vicki and Vannessa were both completely artificial,

but both looked completely human--and were, in some ways,

just as vulnerable. No, the gynoids were somewhat more

vulnerable: They could not heal. And they had to be

repaired more than Gally; Gally herself only needed

diagnostics as her body's moderate auto-repair systems kept

her in good condition after battles...

_____And then Gally came to a moment of "sartori": a moment

of revelation. She knew why Vicki and Vannessa were not as

battle-hardy as Gally: The twin gynoids were not designed

to be fighters. No, the two were designed and programmed

to be as human as possible.

_____If Vicki and Vannessa had been designed to be fighters,

there could be many sorts of modifications done to make

them stronger: armor plating beneath their skin,

electromechanics instead of artificial muscle, better

tactical subroutines...

____Indeed, the two gynoids were designed to be human--

even if doing so made them more vulnerable. Designed to

seem more human, even if they could never be. As Gally

stood in the shower, thinking on this, she felt sympathy

for the gynoids--sympathy for machines.

_____She stepped out of the shower, and it turned off.

She then used the air dryer set high on the wall, letting

the heated air dry her, especially her hair. Sympathy for

machines... Then again, maybe Gally was herself a machine--

with just a glob of thinking flesh for control? She looked

down at her own physique of armor.

_____No...! Closing her eyes to block out the sight of her

own ody. Gally liked to think herself human, and that was

how she chose to live. Her brain was human, so she was still

human. Satisfied, dried and cleansed, the metal-bodied girl

stepped away the air dryer. Left this side-room and went

to be with Dr. Briette. The water washed away the dirt and

grit; help would fix Gally's face more immediately than

autorepairs would.

_____In another building, also in the municipal complex,

Police Chief Hagar was at work. He sat in his office--on

an upper floor of the police station. An office that was

both well-equipped and decorous--certainly more decorated

than the white office. A large window on the side let in

the light of the afternoon--the time of day when the police

had to slow down and prepare to leave for the night.

_____Chief Hagar's desk was--oddly enough--made of sycamore

wood (albeit well-treated wood), and he relaxed his back

against a large bucket seat. Being a sturdy man, once an

amateur wrestler, he needed the big seat and big desk. And

he had to buy clothes of large size to fit his broad-chested,

muscular physique.

_____On the wall behind him were training certificates,

awards, and a big portrait of the current mayor. The other

walls had pictures of various police events--competitions,

picnics, and such.

_____He looked at his big desk, looked at what was on it:

the portable computer on the right and several manila-colored

folders at the left. Time to go to work... He got up from

behind the desk, turned on the florescent lighting to augment

the light coming through the window, then came back to sit

again. Time to consider the craziness...

_____Seated here, letting out an exhausted breath, he opened

the first manila-colored folder. In it was a main report

including summaries and highlights about last night.

Important because it was the first time the police went

outside since things started happening in this town. Going

out, the officers on night patrol had some particular things

they wanted the chief to read and know about.

_____Hmm... Chief Hagar read the report. Essentially, the

report in this folder was written by police officers who

tried to make certain events of last night sound as

believable as possible.

_____What kinds of events? Of course, there were the night

lights, lights in the sky, though local airports insisted

that NO airplanes flew over Franklin Township anymore due

to "weather-related anomalies." And there were locals who

dared to look out their windows, to see misshapen intruders

stalking about their property. Also, there were call-ins

about massive interference with radios and televisions,

especially when the two explosions occurred.

_____To any other police chief in any other town, this would

be quite an interesting series of events. To anyone else

in any other town, in fact, it would be interesting... But

Chief Hagar read about these events so often that the reports

read as usual. The usual creeped-out freakiness...

_____Also in this folder were photographs that ought to be

in supermarket tabloids--but were too damned weird for that

sort of thing. Police cars in Franklin Township used

high-resolution digital cameras--somewhat like the big

armored scout car parked out front. And those digital

cameras were put to work...

_____Two photos from this folder were photographs of streaks

of light in the night sky. Streaks of light so bright and

high in the sky that they lit up some of the clouds.

Another photo was taken of someone walking by a police car--

someone in white shirt and slacks, someone with metal junk

making parts of his chest and dirty wires woven into the

flesh of his face and neck... In fact, the man-like being

in the picture was dressed exactly like Chief Hagar was at

the moment... God-DAMNIT!

_____Chief Hagar dropped the photo atop the rest in the

open folder. There it was, atop his desk: another photo of

one of those damned Night People. "Hmmph... Night People,

ha!" he said aloud. If this were one of those damned horror

movies from the 1980s or a Playstation game from the 1990s,

he would have called them "zombies" or something. But

this was real-life, and the Night People were...something

else.

_____Whatever the Night People were, Chief Hagar refused to

call 'em zombies. Zombies were stupid, slow, shuffling

things. But the Night People had some brains left and

could talk. And, according to reports, they laughed.

Night People laugh. Bullets work against video game

zombies, but bullets don't work against real-life Night

People.

_____Right about now, Chief Hagar wanted to call Mr. Dark's

office. The phone was right here, on the left side of his

desk--next to these damned files he's been looking through.

Mr. Dark's team, they handled the Night People. Yes, two

robot girls and a creepy little cyborg from God-knows-where.

_____Damn, as if the idea of semi-classified robot-girls

wasn't enough... Now Mr. Dark's team included a petite

Japanese girl with a metal body. Night People, freaky

lights in the sky, weird television interference... Now

a real-life cyborg.

_____Oh, this town was becoming a real freak show! Night

People, lights in the sky at night, gynoids, time travel,

a little cyborg girl, and distorted reality! Oh yeah,

real Stephen King or John Saul sort of stuff. Pretty

soon, somebody would write a damned book or movie about all

of this--probably that weird guy who rode his bike to the

library every Sunday. Almost like a... Final fight.

_____Chief Hagar rubbed his face and let out a tired breath.

This was getting to be too much... Right about this time,

the stressed police chief half-expected little gray aliens

from television to walk into his office and shove brain-

probes up his nostrils and into his right ear. And when

the telephone made it's electronic trilling sound, his hand

snapped to his holster--to his gun.

_____Yes, Chief Hagar still carried an officer's gun. The

telephone rang again. "Hello...? Oh, good afternoon,

Mr. Mayor."

_____It was the mayor on the line. The mayor's voice and

manner was never serious, even in the bleakest and eerie

of times. Right now, the mayor wanted the telephone

number to Mr. Dark's office. It seems that he lost it.

And Mr. Dark's office number was not listed in any

telephone directory... A contradiction, since Mr. Dark's

office location was not secret.

_____Chief Hagar told the mayor the number. "Will that

be all, Mr. Mayor?" he asked. The mayor said that was the

only reason he called. And, told Chief Hagar to keep up the

good work and all that. "Thank you, sir. Have a good

afternoon..." Then Chief Hagar then hung up. Didn't the

mayor want to know about last night?

_____Over at the recreation center, in the white office,

a cleaned up and neatened Mr. Dark picked up the telephone.

"Oh, good afternoon, sir," he said in a tone of voice quite

like Police Chief Hagar's. "About the girls? Oh, they were

a little bit thrashed up by the explosions, but they'll be

fine by nightfall. Don't worry. In fact, the only one who

needs fixing up now is Vicki."

_____The mayor's laugh sounded tinny and electronic through

the telephone. Then he asked Mr. Dark about how the new

girl did with the trouble last night.

_____"Oh, Gally?" voiced Mr. Dark. "She just needed her

face redone a bit... She's small but tough, really tough.

Dr. Briette sas that the only things vulnerable about Gally

are her face, her brain, and the mind in it..."

_____Trouble? The mayor wanted to know if the new girl

put up any trouble, especially in getting along with

Vannessa. If Vannessa was bitchy towards even her own

equally synthetic sister, then how bitchy was she towards

Gally.

_____"You'd be surprised, Mr. Mayor," answered Mr. Dark.

"For once, I think Vannessa admires something with a real

human brain. She and Gally are getting along surprisingly

well. Like I said, you wouldn't believe it. No, strike

that: Even I don't believe it.

_____"Of course, we had some trouble with Gally before, but

she's shaping up. I'd have adjustment problems, too, if I

was yanked through a warp to end up in THIS town."

_____On that, the mayor gave a loud laugh. A laugh so loud

that Mr. Dark had to pull the telephone a bit back from his

ear. The mayor said that adjustment problems were the least

of Gally's troubles! On the idea of adjustments, the mayor

wanted to know if Dr. Briette was still planning on

developing those special ceramic bullets for the police--

so the police could go out every night and defend themselves

against those You-Know-Whats.

_____"Unfortunately, sir," began Mr. Dark, "Dr. Briette has

been so busy with diagnostics on Gally that she couldn't do

that. But we're getting close enough to stopping the

problems that nobody will need special ceramic bullets,

anyway..."

_____Ah well... The mayor granted Mr. Dark that point.

Well, that was all the mayor wanted to talk about. And

he asked that if Mr. Dark saw the Little Man around, tell

him "hi." So, goodbye...

_____"Goodbye sir," said Mr. Dark. And then he hung up.

He moved his chair forward, closer to the desk. He was

going to look at some police reports copied from the

station earlier when he heard the elevator come up.

_____He swiveled around on his chair, to look at who now

stepped out of the elevator. "Oh, hello Gally," he said.

"What can I do for you?"

_____Stepping around to the front of the desk, Gally stared

at this big man. And now, her huge eyes seemed infinitely

dark and deep, somewhat disorienting. In fact, staring at

those eyes made the room seem to swirl. Something was

wrong here.

_____To try and shake off the sudden disorientation, Mr. Dark

shook his head. He asked, "What did you come up here for?

And what's happening? You can tell me!"

_____Gally shook her head. "I am not quite sure. Yet,

Dr. Briette allowed me to come up here." She turned away

from Mr. Dark's desk and looked around at the very plain

white walls. "But I went up the elevator for a distinct

reason... Never mind, I should say. I will remember the

reason another time."

_____Looking a bit askance at the lost-looking litte

cyborg, Mr. Dark asked, "Are you feeling all right? Maybe

shrapnel from the explosion gave you a hit to the head...

Have Dr. Briette take another look at you."

_____Considering it a second, Gally nodded once in agreement.

"I will do so... I thank you." And with that lost look in

her eyes, she stepped toward the elevator behind the desk.

The elevator doors opening as she walked toward it.

_____"Huh? I didn't press the button..." mumbled Mr. Dark as

he swiveled around to see the open elevator door. He

expected to see someone but... ARGH! A splitting

headache CUT INTO HIS THOUGHTS! "What the HELL?" And he

heard an odd metallic sound...

_____That had to be the sound of Gally's metal body falling

to the hard shiny office floor. Headache still cutting

into his head, blurring his sight, Mr. Dark managed to

swivel around. "Gally?" he asked through pain-clenched jaw.

He staggered to his feet to look around. Gally was gone, but

there was no way she could have left the room without

having gone through the door or having used the elevator.

_____Then he felt himself falling to the floor. The headache

was just so severe. Not only did he feel himself physically

falling, but he also felt his mind falling into another

place. Falling... Going down into darkness...

_____...And it was THAT place again--the Third Place.

There was the round formica table, surrounded by absolute

darkness above and all around. Gally was seated at the

left, sitting on a chair and with her gray arms at her

sides. Seated on the right was that dwarf-midget in red

lounge suit... The Little Man.

_____The Liitle Man set his small but strong-looking hands

atop the formica tabletop. And then he said, "ANOTHER ONE

comes into town! He comes...through THE breeze!" He

raised his left hand, then threw something down onto the

tabletop: a red piece of paper in the shape of a circle.

_____Looking at the red circle on this formica table, Gally

thought she understood. The white paper circle symbolized

whoever the Little Man was talking about. But, what did

he mean by "another one?" Who was the first...?

_____Staring at the paper circle, she tried to understand.

Then, she saw things change... The color of the paper

circle faded into darker red. Then a round paper head

appeared atop the circle, followed by little paper pants

and paper arms. A paper hat followed. The result was

that there was now a little, winter-dressed paper person

on the table.

_____Shaking his head sadly, the Little Man spoke again.

"Oh, INDEED. ANOTHER one comes to the town. The breeze

will darken again, because The ANOTHER becomes a DARK LAUGH.

Beware The Another from THE breeze!"

_____A dark laugh? As it was, Gally barely understood the

past few riddles put to her. But this latest set of symbolic

riddles was more troubling and somewhat more puzzling. Who

did the little paper figure represent? And what did the

Little Man mean by "The Another" person being a "dark

laugh?"

_____A headache interruped Gally's thoughts. She shook

her head, then fell to the hard floor in the darkness. And

she knew she would awaken back in...

_____...Back in reality. She stood up from the floor, back

in the white office. Mr. Dark was slumped forward on his

desk, arms folded to cushion his head. Both Gally and he

had fallen asleep in the middle of the day. Odd...

_____Or, not so odd considering what else happened these

days. "Mr. Dark? Are you well?" asked the little cyborg.

She carefully stepped over to him. "Are you fallen with

sickness?"

_____"Argh..." grunted Mr. Dark, sitting up. "Well now,

what was THAT all about?" A sigh, and his eyes blinked

against the florescent lighting. He checked the flipped-up

screen of the portable computer atop his desk. "We didn't

sleep long. It's still afternoon." He then looked to

Gally, standing before his desk--like before. "But what the

HELL was that really about?"

_____"The Little Man... He gave us an event," said Gally.

"In doing so, he presented information. And we should

understand it."

_____With his headache cleared up, Mr. Dark thought about

that. "Hmm... The Litte Man pulled that same weird trick

back at the mini-dump... The junkyard. Let me guess, we

both went into the same dream, right? Something otherwise

impossible, but not impossible here. GOD, I can't wait to

get out of here..."

_____Gally nodded. "We were in that other place, where

the Little Man seems to stay when he is not walking the

streets. You know it--a round table set in darkness. With

him sitting there and presenting riddles. This time, he

spoke of 'another' coming to town, someone who is a 'dark

laugh...'" Then, Gally KNEW what the Little Man meant.

_____"Hmm..." went Mr. Dark. "The Little Man could mean...

No, I don't know just yet. But, maybe another..." He saw

Gally's eyes widen. "Well now! Looks like you figured out

something. Tell me."

_____Carefully, she spoke. "The Little Man said that 'The

Another' comes to town. Meaning, another being with power

has come to town. The Little Man is an empowered being,

and so we should expect another empowered being. One who

has come with a recent breeze. As he is a 'dark laugh,'

put in local cultural context, dark laugh meaning a

malevolent being."

_____Mr. Dark slammed his fist on the desk. "Damn it!

You're right, Gally! If that's what the Little Man meant,

then we could be in some real trouble. Some more trouble

than before.

_____"Up to this point, the Night People and all the things

that happen at night were just things that just...happened.

Almost at random. The altered night was just a sort of

invisible pollution, a sort of reality pullution caused by

those two damne machines--which you and the two gynoids

destroyed last night. But now..."

_____Gally completed Mr. Dark's spoken line of thinking.

"Then, the Night People may have gained a leader. Just as

we seem to have someone on our side, the Night People may

have gaine a being favoring them."

_____Thinking about that, Mr. Dark asked Gally, "Did that

last visit to the Little Man link back to previous clues

from him?"

_____For a second, Gally thought on that. Then she knew.

"Considering a previous dream-visit, I now believe that

the newcomer to town is likely equipped with something

dangerous... The Little Man showed me something about the

machine not totally being destroyed. Somehow, the newcomer

must have gained a piece--from one of the dark machines.

I further suspect that such a piece of the machine is enough

to keep things happening at night."

_____"That would make a lot of sense," said Mr. Dark. "The

night was made normal and safe enough for the police to go

out onto the streets after the explosion, but some things

are still happening..."

_____It was 2:00 p.m., and the students of Franklin High

School were coming out for the day. Franklin High was a

massive and wide structure, three town blocks long and two

town blocks wide--two stories tall. A vast building of

tan-red brick and concrete that looked warm in the afternoon

light. A big school, because this suburb has MONEY to

spend. Not that the teens had an appreciation of this;

they just wanted to hang out after school.

_____Last year, dismissal time was 3:00, but that was when

daytime lasted longer and sunset was less dangerous.

Nowadays, everything had to be hurried and cut short during

the day. Even education...

_____Which was perfectly cool with the local youth! Three

such youth--Jimmy, Leela, and Reina--all left the building.

Went to their motorcycles, which were parked in the parking

lot on the west side.

_____They dressed as usual: blue jeans, tee shirts, leather

jackets, and backpacks--helmets attached to backpacks. In

general, badass biker gear right out of the 1950's.

_____Reina sat in the seat of her motorcycle, with Jimmy

and Leila doing the same on theirs. Since the three had

parked side by side, they could pretty much sit here and

talk, even with the din of many teens leaving the school

and getting into cars.

_____"Hey," said Reina, "I have a quarter-mile of English

homework to get through. So if we're going to do ANYTHING,

we should do it now."

_____Jimmy shook his head. "I've got some homework to do,

too. Just some. But you're the one who's always got

something cool things to do.... No dice, Reina? Aah,

screw it. What d'you wanna do, Leela?"

_____A shake of her head indicated that Leela had nothing

to suggest either. "I don't know! What do YOU want to do?

I'm clueless. Back to you, Reina..."

_____"As I said BEFORE," said Reina, her anger not as pretty

as the rest of her, "I DON'T KNOW WHAT WE ARE TO DO! What

do YOU want to do?"

_____Jimmy shrugged. "I dunno. What d'you wanna do? I'm

flat out bored. And it's only a few hours before night...

What do YOU wanna do?"

_____Catching Jimmy's expectant stare, Leela put up her

hands. "Uh-uh! I TOLD you: I don't know what to do.

What do YOU want to do?"

_____And so it went for some minutes... Each one wanting

to know if the other wanted to do anything. What do YOU

want to do, Reina? No, what is it that YOU want to do?

I dunno, what do you want to do? Don't ask me... Ask her.

Ask him. Don't ask me! What do YOU wanna to do?

_____A yellow taxi screeched to a halt here, and out

hopped a very chubby boy. He was about as wide as he was

high, but the tailored suit he wore fit him well. "What's

happenin', guys?" he asked, rubbing his mittened hands

schemingly.

_____Reina, Jimmy and Leela just LOOKED at the odd little

boy who stood before them. For an odd reason, Reina wanted

to start her motorcycle's engine and run that fat little

business-suited freak over. But that would not be polite;

running over creepy little fat boys was not proper--regardless

of how creepy they seemed.

_____Jimmy answered first. "Who th' HELL are YOU?" he

asked. "Shouldn't you be home right about now? Playing

with your little friends?"

_____The well-dressed fat boy, Cartman, put on a scrunched-

up expression. He SO wanted to shout four-letter words at

that guy on the motorcycle, with two chicks at his side...

Oh, Cartman wanted to call him a pussy-whipped, bed-breaking

pig-fucking jackass with HERPES!

_____But no, Cartman wanted to hire that jackass and his

friends. "Heh-heh-heh..." he chuckled, still trying to

play nice. "Hello there... Let me introduce myself. I'm

Eric Cartman!" He pointed at them with both hands. "And

have I got a KEWL business proposition for you! I want to

hire you to be my bodyguards. Three thousand dollars a

day!"

_____Reina gave a shake of her head to get some lengths of

her long dark hair away from her face. "And WHY would we

want to be bodyguards? No... Let me put another question

before that one. How do you know we would be effective

bodyguards?"

_____Moving surprisingly quickly for someone of his bulk,

especially for someone in a full business suit, Cartman

stepped forward. "I wanna hire you because you three LOOK

SO-O-O COOL!"

_____"Well yeah..." said Jimmy, looking at Reina--to his

right. "You do look pretty cool, Reina. Got a nice body.

FIRM and SEXY! Nice tits and cute ass..."

_____SLAP! Reina's left hand had move so quickly that

Jimmy didn't even see it coming. He rubbed his jaw,

forgetting that Reina wasn't that kind of girl. But Reina

really did look nice, especially in that outfit. VERY nice.

_____Leela mumbled something about being reminded that Jimmy

was a guy. And how guys act that way. Men!

_____Again facing the fat little boy, this time with a

smile, Reina looked at him. "You know what? You look

very familar, Eric Cartman--as if you are the real-life

version of something I once saw on television."

_____"Oh, I get it...." said Cartman. "You're just trying

to piss me off to test me! You may think that someone of

my age is im-mat-ure and un-able to par-ti-ci-pate in

business transactions." Cartman carefully enunciated those

words. "But you can TRUST me! I have MONEY!" He then

reached into the left pocket of his tailored dark slacks--

pulling out a thin stack of light green money. He

waddled forward, getting by Leela and her bike to get to

Reina.

_____Reina accepted the cash from Cartman... Much cash

for a teenager: Each bill in the little stack was a

five-hundred. It was several thousand dollars. Then she

felt something turn VERY cold in her right pocket.

_____At the same time, the fat little boy put on a pained

expression--that scrunched-up look on his face. "God-

DAMNIT!" he whined. He clutched his right pocket.

Something he had in that pocket was sizzling hot. "Screw

it, the deal is OFF! You're jinxing my MAGIC TOOTHBRUSH!

Keep the cash, you horse-humping bitches! Go screw

yourselves raw! Just stay the HELL away from me! Damn!"

He then waddled away to where the yellow taxi waited for

him--still in this parking lot.

_____Leela looked around, wondering if anyone else coming

out of school noticed. Or, if any teachers or school staff

noticed what just happened. They didn't notice.

_____Still holding the cash in her left hand, Reina rubbed

a place on her right thigh--right where her right jeans'

pocket was. Something she had there really DID become

very cold--freezingly cold.

_____"Gee, Reina. What'cha gonna do with the money?" said

Jimmy. "Not like every day a freaky kid rides up in a cab and

gives you about ten thousand dollars. Wait a minute... Is

that stuff REAL or play money?"

_____"Hmm... Let me see." Ignoring that coldness in her

pocket, Reina took one of the five-hundred dollar bills from

the stack she held in her left hand--held it to the sky to look

through it. "Yes, it's authentic cash." She counted out

two thousand dollars and gave that to Jimmy. Then she leaned

right on her motorcycle to give the same amount to Leela--who

quickly pocketed it. And indeed, some kids nearby DID

notice.

_____Not that Reina minded. If anyone tried to move in on

them, she could literally kick their asses. Yes, she had

aspirations to mastering both her studies of English and

martial arts.

_____As Jimmy fondled his cash, Leela had sense of mind

enough to ask Reina a question. "Say... Reina, what

just happened with you and that fat little boy?"

_____After sliding some cash in her left pocket and some

in her right boot, Reina sat up on her bike. She stretched

out her right leg as so she could reach into that pocket.

She pulled out a small, green-bound Christian Bible. THE

NEW TESTAMENT was written on it--gold letters. And it was

covere with some frost.

_____Leela leaned left to look closer at the small green

Bible. She saw faint emenations of condensing water vapor

coming off of it. "That's creepy! Hey... I thought your

religion was that Japanese religion... Shin-something."

_____"I do follow Shinto... A bit," corrected Reina. "My

father would hate me if I didn't. But reading the Bible

helps my grades: This school's teachers think within

Christian contexts, and so reading the Bible helps me see

things their way. It is pre-emptive action for better

grades.

_____"But, that is enough talk of myself. The bank

closes within the hour, and I wish to see the looks on the

bank tellers' faces when I make such a massive direct

deposit!"

_____That said, she put on her red helmet. She started the

engine of her customized, turbo-charged Kawasaki. A hearty

thrumm of the motorcycle's engine, and she sped out of the

school parking lot--skillfully weaving between leaving

cars.

_____"Hey, wait up!" Leela put on her own helmet, then

turned on her motorcycle and sped to catch up with Reina.

That, and she wondered why that Bible had frozen up--and

why that creepy little rich boy had something burning in

his pocket?

_____Jimmy soon followed on his motorcycle. His thoughts

were on the cash he had.