Out of the Black - Lee Doty [128]
"I've been expecting you," Issak beleaguered the obvious.
"That's not..."
"Nope. I still haven't found his sealed books."
"Too bad. I hear he's got a nude painting in there of you from the 1600's."
"That's a lie." Warm humor escaped through the cracks the scotch had made in Issak's composure. Dek noticed the plastic seal for the scotch lay on the table near the bottle; he'd never seen Issak drunk before.
Issak seemed to realize that he'd lost his ironclad composure like most people might realize their fly was open. He seemed to clamp down on the emotion, but as he did so, Dek saw self-loaomething in his face. Misery.
"Don't worry," Dek said, "Hey, we're together now. We're gonna work this out. I was afraid I'd be too late."
"Too late..." Issak mused, face darkening.
"What's all this about? Why did we drop everything and come to Chicago?"
Issak raised his tumbler. "The end of the world."
"Yeah, we couldn't have seen that from New York." Dek rolled his eyes and slipped into the chair across from Issak.
"I'm sherious." Issak slurred. He gave Dek a melodramatic wink. What was that for? It was probably just the alcohol winking. In more than eighty years, he'd never seen Issak wink.
Dek gave Issak his full attention, and perhaps a full minute to realize it was still his turn to talk.
"Not long before we came to Chicago, Ivo was attacked by three Savants and perhaps twelve grunts from Asado."
"Yeah, I remember Roy telling me about that. Asado has never been that major of a threat. Their kung fu is not strong."
Issak smiled... the scotch again. "Nope, but they had a major advantage. It was a lot closer than Roy probably let on." He paused for effect, and to refill his cup. "A new alliance."
"Not with Ciarac again..."
"Ciarac is gone."
"Gone, meaning..."
"All of them, Savants, grunts, government moles, families, friends, the producers of their favorite television shows... gone."
"Like 'on vacation' gone?"
"Like 'haven't found all the pieces yet' gone." Issak didn't look up.
"Last I heard they had fifteen Savants, maybe seventy grunts and a handful of demons..."
"Now you've heard more."
"How long ago?"
"When isn't the question... what you want to ask is why."
"You really parcel out the info in small chunks when you're drinking, Issak."
"New alliances." Issak said as if providing the clue that linked it all together.
Dek waited again, got bored. "See? Come on, spill the beans."
Isaac closed his eyes, then blew out a long breath. "Berlioz, Gamma, Valenza, Nikko... gone."
That was a lot of beans. It had been so long since Dek had been afraid that he wasn't sure this was it. Cold static fled in waves across his skin. He seemed to shift slightly away from the world. Six clans couldn't be gone, that was over a hundred Savants, maybe thousands of grunts, and three or four Replicants like Dek and Roy. This was not possible. If this was indeed the end of the world, it had gotten off to a great start. Dek did the quick math. Almost a quarter of the clans were gone. How could he not have known? Ivo and Roy were only a small part of a larger catastrophe.
"All of it..." Issak gestured expansively with his glass, "All my fault."
The chill continued to build around Dek. His vision blurred. Fear maybe, but this was something more. This was the working of the LoomIssak... what?"
Dek heard rustling from the other rooms of the house. He struggled to move but failed.
***
"I can't say how much I think you're right on this one, chief!" Roy shouted brightly from the other room. Heightened senses- he'd leave them out next time he remade someone. Ivo reinforced the room's sound damper with a little spice from the