DONE. THE ALBATROSS IS DONE. I LOVE AND HATE THIS NOVELLA IN EQUAL MEASURE.
I blame myself for what happened to Wilkinson. Oh, I don’t feel guilty, really: he brought it all down on his own head. But I’m not the easiest person to work for, especially when you don’t think you should be working for me in the first place. And that’s probably what it came down to. He had to work for me, and I guess that the money the Hershey Consortium was paying him just wasn’t worth enough.
Wilkinson got me pretty slick, too. I had forgotten about the ankle bracelet until we camped for the night and I came back from grabbing firewood to see him on the ground. He was working on the lock with a set of picks he either had and kept, or found somewhere. The picks slipped, he swore mildly, and then looked up at me. “I need two hands for this,” Wilkinson said. “Can you hold the lock stable for me?” That seemed reasonable, so I squatted down to help him.
…Only to have him pop open the lock in a flash, slap the bracelet around my wrist, and lock it shut again. Then he skittered away, trying to get out of range before I could react. Not that it mattered: ever have your magical abilities get suddenly taken away like that? It’s distracting, for just long enough.
And when I did realize what happened, he was already out of immediate range, and holding a club. “Don’t be stupid, Deckard,” he said. “This doesn’t have to end with you dead.”
I’m enjoying this one .. I’m sorry it decided to run long on ya, of course .. stories do what they do .. but I view it as yet another reason to send Moe a money.
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I’ve got what I *think* is a feel for it, and .. it looks like reading the enchilada, in order, will be pleasant.
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Mew