DEADSTOCK

Without having to be asked, Watt pulled a tap with his insect-like prosthetic arm to fill a glass with Zub beer and placed it in front of him. "You doing okay, man?" the Choom asked him gravely.

"Never been better. I think I ll take a shot today, Watt."

"Hey, Stake," slurred a hulk down at the end of the bar. Still no one had told Lark that Stake was responsible for his own recent trip to the emergency room. He momentarily diverted his attention from the alcohol-dazed woman on the stool beside him. Stake had to admit she was attractive for a mutant, except for having one bulbous eye four times the size of the other. Defiantly, she called further attention to their mismatched state by wearing too much makeup around them. Lark went on, "What the hell did you come home in one piece for if you re going to get yourself all shot up now?"

"It s something to kill the time."

"Well, I hear that. Time s all we got left to kill these days, huh? But next time you run into some trouble on the job, you call your buddies down here at LOV 69, will ya? We'll cover your ass. Right, Watt?"

"I d be more afraid of taking a stray bullet from you than from someone else," Watt told him.

"Aw, blast you, ya fuckin wanker."

Lark turned back to the woman weaving precariously on her perch, her larger eye looking especially glassy and bloodshot, and Watt pulled a Clemens Light for another veteran.

Stake was halfway into his own beer when his wrist comp alerted him to a call. His heart quickened, but it was not her, of course. From the little screen, Janice Poole smiled up at him. He did not engage the screen so that it filled his mind, this time. "Hey," he said.

"Where are you, mister? I hear you left the hospital this afternoon."

"I m having a beer at my Veterans Post."

"Sounds exciting. How do you feel? I came to see you yesterday but you were out of it."

"I feel fine. A little stiff."

"Stiff can be good. I ve missed you."

"Sorry. Things have been busy lately."

"Yeah." Even with her image this small he could see the skeptical expression on her face. "Well, Yuki s father called me a few minutes ago. He s the one who told me you d been discharged. I think he was checking to see if you were with me. He probably needs to talk to someone."

"I m sure he does. He s called me a couple times but I didn t answer. I guess I m not ready to talk to him yet."

"Well, he told me a little of what happened." Janice shook her head. "She was so dear. It's too terrible, Jer. Too terrible."

"I wish I could have saved her."

"Fukuda told me you did what you could. He said you were very brave."

"That's generous of him."

"That place where Tableau had Yuki… did you see on the news it blew up? Good thing you have an alibi, being in the hospital, but I guess the authorities have already questioned Fukuda about it."

"I ve got some questions about that myself."

"Well, he told me he has no idea how it happened, and he said he ll submit to a truth scan to prove he had no hand in that. I hope not, because a couple of people in surrounding buildings were killed in all the damage."

"That's awful. But it could have been worse. Much worse." Stake did not elaborate further. Did not mention Dai-oo-ika. His personal theory, because traces of explosive material had been mentioned on the news, was that Thi Gonh had used more of her military expertise. In that regard, he was glad she was off Oasis and back in her own dimension. If he himself were truth sca

"They saw me in the hospital right before I left. They know me and all the respectable private dicks in town; they know I'm not some mad dog. They give us a bunch of dung but in secret they love us, because we tackle a lot of headaches that they don t have to deal with except in the aftermath. But I m sure I ll still be seeing some mess before it all gets filed away."

"I ve heard Tableau had syndy co

"Nah. He wasn t in bed with them to the extent that they d come after me, I m sure."

"Well, I hope you re right." Janice shifted to a brighter tone in an attempt to restore their spirits. "So, my dear, are you interested in my own brand of nursing? I can be quite the nursemaid. It s better for you than that beer you re sipping. And maybe you can put on your Dr. Lambshead mask for me, hmm?" Lambshead, MD was a popular VT show, popular largely because of the sexy young actor who played the titular skilled physician, treating (and romancing) a multitude of sentient races on a far-flung space station.

"Maybe another time. Like you said, Fukuda needs to talk, so I guess I should return his call."

"I get the message, Jer."

"Janice."

"You know, there s nothing wrong with being attracted to someone because of their personal attributes. Because they re fu

Or blue skin, Stake thought. He cut in, "But Dr. Lambshead s attributes are what you d be seeing, Janice. What are my attributes? Am I me to you, or just a cha

"Oh for God s sake, Jer. You know I care about you. But if I do find your gift exciting, so what? What s the alternative for you. a woman who finds it freaky and disturbing? Does it really hurt you that I became attracted to you because of that?"

Ga Noh, the Earth Killer had called him. Wasn't it much the same? Hadn t she become attracted to him because of his gift, as well? But, Stake thought, it had also been different. For Janice, he was a malleable toy. To the Ha Jiin woman, he had been, as Henderson told him, "A chimera or a shapeshifter. A mystical kind of being; part human, part god."

"Janice. I ll call you. I will. But right now. right now I just need some me time."

She sighed. "Whatever you say. Call me if you get lonely. We all get lonely, Jer. I know I do." And with that, she vanished from the wrist comp s tiny screen.

Stake gave a sigh of his own. Time for that shot. He tossed it back in one throat-searing swallow.

Before he started another beer, and forgot who it was he meant to call, Stake finally contacted Fukuda. The man picked up immediately. His miniature face showed a wan smile. "Well, hello. Welcome back from the dead."

An odd thing to say, Stake thought. Or at least, uncomfortable, given the circumstances. "Janice Poole said you were trying to reach me."

"I just wanted to know how you were, mostly."

"Care to join me for a few beers? I m at the Legion of Veterans Post 69, on Diode Avenue."

"I m on my way, then."

"Better hurry. I have a head start."

"I won t be long."

"Great. See you then, Mr. Fukuda."

The anemic smile faltered a bit. "You can call me James." Then he signed off.

When James Fukuda entered LOV 69, he found that Stake had moved from the bar to one of the tables for more privacy, and that he was drinking a coffee instead of beer. "Have you quit before I could start?" he joked.

"I m just waiting for you so I can start again," the detective told him.

"Then I ll get this round." Fukuda went to see Watt about two fresh drafts.

When they sat across from each other, they formed a silent and uncomfortable diptych. Stake expected Fukuda to ask him about the Ha Jiin woman who had come out of nowhere to get them safely from Steward Gardens. Fukuda, Stake was sure, expected and dreaded the subject of Yuki. But that part was inevitable, wasn t it? So he thought he might as well broach it first.

"Mr. Fukuda. James. I m so sorry about Yuki. I ve been wondering if it wasn t my fault. If I hadn t come in there guns blazing like a cowboy."