Postsingular

"I'd better get ready," agreed Jayjay.

So Thuy let Jil lead her into the long cabin, cozy and lit by solar-charged bud-lamps. Jil put some water on the stove while Thuy took a seat at a round piezoplastic table growing from the deck. Visible in the orphidnet were ad icons for Stank deodorant and BigBox furniture, which meant this was a top-level episode of the Founders show. Thuy was hoping for a cozy chat with Jil, but the other woman seemed preoccupied.

"Why don't I file my report with Bim Brown right now?" suggested Thuy finally.

"Uh, good idea. Here's Bim's link. While you do that, I'll check on the kids." The living quarters were arranged in three blocks: first the common area with a bathroom, then the kids' two small bedrooms facing each other across a hall, and beyond that the parents' large bedroom. Thuy wondered where she and Jayjay were supposed to sleep.

The instant Thuy clicked the link Jil had given her, she had Bim Brown on a private message line, the chief sitting amid a din of background noise in a cop-station office with file cabinets, chairs, award plaques, a gun rack, and old-school display screens showing arrays of faces and a

"I know where Jeff Luty is," Thuy told Chief Brown. "I saw him in the ExaExa labs."

"That's a big break for us," he answered, his deep voice reassuring. "Don't go away. I'll open up a notarized encryption cha

A sort of fu

"Excelente," said Brown when she was done. "We'll try and bag Luty tomorrow morning. With any luck, he uses deadly force to resist arrest, my officers reply in kind, and Too Dibbs doesn't get the chance to pardon him. Case frikkin' closed."

"You're telling me this?" said Thuy, surprised.

"What it is. Luty tried to kill every single person on Earth with those nants. I'd call that genocide. And I'm hearing he's pumped to do it again."

"Can I come and watch the raid?"

"I'll be wanting the whole Merz Boat posse in on this. You kiqs have special friends, special powers. We might need it all. Be outside the ExaExa labs by eight a.m. latest."

Bim Brown broke the co

Feeling guilty for prying, Thuy switched to watching Craigor and Jayjay, who were readying a combine device made of a four-foot lump of piezoplastic atop three ten-meter lengths of black pipe. The lump was beige, with a hatched surface that made it look vaguely like an internal organ. Arms protruded from its middle, with hands grasping a black metal cane. The lump had eyes and a toothy mouth at its top end, which was crowned by a black top hat bearing white lettering: "Mr. Peanut." One of Craigor's gaga Dada jokes. Art for art's sake. You had to hand it to the guy, obnoxious though he was. Meanwhile, the attack shoons were fifteen minutes away.

Jil bounced out from the bedrooms, carrying a towel, jeans, and a sweater. Her eyes were bright and watchful. Thuy changed into the dry clothes, almost expecting Jil to put a sexual move on her, so charged was the atmosphere. But Jil just made two cups of tea and seated herself at the round table across from Thuy.

"You think the men can handle the attackers?" said Thuy, wanting to talk.

"I bet they can," said Jil. She reached into her pants pocket and set a little silver box on the table beside her teacup. "You want a hit?"

"You're, um, using again?" said Thuy. "Not to judge you, of course. I used to watch Founders, so I know your backstory. You were in recovery, weren't you?"

"Until last week," said Jil, using a silver straw to blast two snorts from her stash box. "But Craigor's still cheating on me. It's like all of a sudden he's scared his life is slipping away and he has to score all these different women. I wish I could just accept having an open marriage. But I can't. And now he's seeing Lureen Morales. And even that would be okay if only Jayjay-" Jil had been talking faster and faster, but now her voice trailed off. She stared off into space, riding her rush.

The way she'd said Jayjay's name set off alarm bells in Thuy's head. "You're still in love with him?" blurted Thuy. "Even after breaking up?"

"Ratings spike," said Jil, her mouth curving into a stoned smirk. Her eyes were dancing. She snapped shut her silver box and shoved it back in her pants. "Feel the hitcounts? Time to promote your metanovel. Is it Wheenk ? I didn't say that Jayjay and I broke up, Thuy. I said we stopped having sex. Jayjay's very hot. He makes me feel young. Is that so bad?"

Temporarily at a loss, Thuy checked their images in the orphidnet-like a TV soap actor glancing over at the monitor. She noticed points of light inside Jil's head. Devices in Jil's brain? Or was that a sudocoke thing?

"What?" snapped Jil, defiantly glaring at her.

"Um, tell me about Jayjay's teleporting," essayed Thuy.

Jil cocked her head, her mouth half open, processing the input. "Jayjay discovered it thanks to that Hibraner Azaroth," she said finally. "Azaroth figured out a way to use the orphidnet for remembering complicated things. Azaroth gets into close orphidnet contact with Jayjay when he's on the Pig, and he saves off orphidnet images of Jayjay's mental states for him. The beezies like Jayjay, they give him all the space he needs in the orphidnet. Azaroth says he wants to help bring Ond and Chu back from the Hibrane. Ond loves me, you know."

"Oh everyone loves Jil," said Thuy sarcastically. "And I know all about Azaroth. He's my Hibrane friend, too."

"Mainly he steals cuttlefish from the wholesalers," said Jil, slowing down again. "I don't fully trust him."

"Azaroth told me that he asked you about Chu's Knot, Jil, and you wouldn't help. You went to the Hibrane, didn't you? You touched the Knot."

"I did. But I don't remember much. I was really upset. I wasn't thinking straight. I was thinking-what's the opposite? Crooked? Bent? Ripped?" Jil sniffled and rubbed her nose. "It sucks that I'm using again. I'm throwing my life away. Last week this dealer offered me such a good price that I caved. I needed some relief. And now I don't know if I have another recovery in me. It was so frikkin' hard for me to quit the first time, Thuy. You've got no idea. But Craigor doesn't really love me, and I sure as hell don't love him. And if I can't have Jayjay-I'm all alone."

"You can get better again, Jil. Think about your children. Go back to your support group. Get help."

Jil sighed and shook her head. "I'm ashamed of being a relapser. And you know what? Maybe I'm not ready to be sober again. Life is too raw. It drives me crazy to have Jayjay here all the time: this delicious snack I can't eat. And, yes, little Thuy, I feel like shit about my kids. I wish I was dead. I want another hit of sudocoke." Jil fumbled in her pocket.