“So what did you decided? I’m assuming you are deciding something,” a holo image of my sister Sally sits at a kitchen table that does not belong in the front room of my rented Cayucos home. The holo image only includes half the table so the top balances on two legs like it should not.
“Mac thinks I should take up drinking.”
“You’d be a natural. I can see you sleeping under a bridge drinking from something in a brown bag. Are you coming back to work or are you permanently retired? I need to know.” With the improvements Mac made to this house’s holo system Sally is life sized and there is no digitalization at all. It it wasn’t for one side of the kitchen table hanging in space I could believe she came to visit.
“I’m coming back. This doing nothing is about to drive me crazy.”
“I’ve got a task you might find interesting. Let me know when you are ready.”
“Couple of days. The next people to rent this place are going to be amazed with what Mac has done to the holo system.”
“If they can afford the utility bill. You would not believe the energy drain. A system like that uses enough energy to run a small town.”
“Hadn’t thought of that. I’ll check with the owners, see if it’s okay to leave it. See you soon sister.” The holo disappears and the living room returns to normal. Mac appears and plops himself down on the other end of the sofa.
“Sorry you couldn’t pull it off Randy.”
“What’s that Mac?”
“Not everyone can be a beach bum, it takes more dedication than most people realize.”
“What could you know about it Mac?”
“I read.”
“Contact the owner of this place Mac. See what we need to do to move out. Mention your computer upgrades and your holo array.”
Moving out turned out to be as easy as moving in. I don’t know if the owner is going to keep the upgrades or sell them but he was fine with us leaving them. The first morning back in Bakersfield I have Mac drive the fifteen minutes to Cayucos Coffee, it’s a long drive for an Americano but the one thing I’m going to miss in Cayucos is Trenton.
“Thought you moved.” Trenton put my coffee in front of me on my table by the window. He pulls out the chair across from me an sits down with his own foam and sprinkles covered drink.
“Did.” The Americano is perfect. Mac is capable of making a perfect Americano.
“Nice to have you visit.”
“Sally is sending me on a mission.”
“Top secret?”
“Not yet, it may get that way. You remember A. J. Spire?”
“Perhaps the richest man in the Galaxy, I’ve heard of him.”
“You remember what I told you about his part in inventing Living Matter Transfer?”
“He paid for the whole thing. You and your friends, in effect, stole it from him when you sent out the plans to people all over the Galaxy.”
“And he’s put a lot of money and effort into finding a way to fold space.”
“He’s the one who tried to get into the computer of that prototype you tested a while back.”
“Right. He was very big on providing a way for living matter to move out into the universe.”
“Was?” It was just a small word but Trenton didn’t miss it, one of the reasons he’s so nice to talk to.
“He’s dead.
“That’s big, he owns a bit of everything. Owned. When did this happen?”
“No one knows. I may have jumped the gun a little. He is assumed dead. He’s missed some important meetings and no one has heard anything from him in months.”
david blankenship 