Out of the Black - Lee Doty [68]
He stepped into the hallway and looked around. To his left, the hallway ended in a door about four meters down. To his right were a few doors on either side of a longer hallway that ended in an open archway into a larger room.
Ping turned right and headed toward the archway. As he approached, he heard snatches of conversation. There were definitely more than two speakers, but none sounded familiar until he was almost to the archway.
"...saying Deckard was a Replicant? I didn't get that at all." Rae said.
A slightly familiar voice replied, "That was the point of the 'Too bad she won't live, but then again, who does?" line.
"Then there's the origami unicorn... like his dream." Alex said.
Ping rounded the corner. He knew what they were talking about. "I hope this isn't a private film festival."
The three looked up from their positions on a pair of couches before a large wall-screen frozen on the Blade Runner credits, not the dorky cloudscape of the original ending, but the dark background of the director's cut. In the corner of the screen was a bright green PAUSE.
The bristly-haired guy with the shark-gun look studied Ping for a moment. He glanced sideways to Alex, who sat on the other couch with Rae.
"Have a seat, Detective." Rae said, "We thought you'd never wake up."
"How long have I been out?" Ping said, moving toward an empty chair. "And where exactly are we? ... and who took my clothes off? ...that just makes me feel creepy."
The shark raised his hand, smiling. "I'm used to making people feel creepy."
"Figures... that was my favorite suit."
"Sorry 'bout the alterations," Alex said, "but I had to do some work on you."
Ping gave him a dubious look, thoughts returning to keys.
Alex elaborated, "Four broken ribs, shattered patella in your right knee- man, that was messy, the kneecap was in three pieces and a lot of splinters- hairline fracture of your left tibia, right radius... bit of internal bleeding."
"Don't forget the pre-arthritic spurs on three of his knuckles." Rae said.
Alex shrugged with mock arrogance, "Well, as long as I was in there..." He stretched his arms, cracked his knuckles. "Hey, by the way, did you know you've got a lot of healed microfractures in your hands, arms and lower legs?"
"Our detective is a pugilist, Mr. Ahmed." The Unnamed said.
"Actually, I'm a Capricorn." Ping replied with a shrug.
The Unnamed spoke again. "You're lucky that Alex isn't as bad with the Loom as he thinks."
"I'm lucky you forgot your recipe." Ping ran his hand through his hair. "A loom? You're saying he wove me a bandage or a potholder or something?"
"Not a loom- The Loom." Alex said as if that should mean something to Ping.
"The Loom." Ping gave a knowing nod constructed from the fabric of sarcasm.
Rae spoke. "As to when and where you are, it's been about thirty hours since the library. We're at Roy's house on Lake Geneva."
Ping stared down at his clothes, feeling creepy again.
Guessing his thoughts, the shark spoke again, "Don't worry Detective, you are welcome to them... he'd have given them to you if he still could."
"So what is 'The Loom'?" Ping asked.
Alex got melodramatic: "No one can be... told what the Matrix is..." his eyes darted about, looking for laughs and knowing winks, presumably. What he got was a grin from the shark and blank stares from Ping and Rae.
Frustrated at being the only one inside his inside joke, he continued. "It's like what you keep calling my pot of gold... the engine of 'magic', but it's just a tool like pliers or a quantum microscope. Well, not really a tool so much as a key abstraction that allows your mind to work with otherwise incomprehensible forces..."
"Thanks for clearing that up." Ping interrupted.
Rae nodded, "Yep, that was pretty bad, babe." She turned to Ping, "You should see him trying to tutor