I stripped the wallpaper and repainted.
Locked IT away in a safe deposit box in the sector securities depot.
Went down to The Mass for a bit of long delayed R&R and lost my self in what Preen would call "The disgusting pleasures of the flesh"
The next day I dragged a reluctant squad out on a red BPN. A Carrien uprising no brainer. Mind you the interference of that advance carrien kept us on our toes for a while. The camera team from SIC, who tacked on to us at the crib, got some class footage of us in hand to hand. Even Slip played his part well and stuck with us. May be Iona's action had been a wake up call for every one.
On the gauss journey back I realised that the reasons it had been so easy to destroy my beloved notes and lock IT away was that I didn't actually need IT any more.
IT, its feel and shapes and designs, were all nice and safely in my head now where no one could reach them.
I closed my eyes and let the images spin and combine and morph. Patterns that occurred on different sides began to overlay and......and suddenly I was looking at a _whole_
And the door opened.
It all seemed obvious. So straight forward I could barely understood why I hadn't spotted it before? Looking back, I suppose I just wasn't ready.
It was more than the object and its markings, all sorts of things were falling into place. Maps of Mort I had looked at as a child drifted across my closed eyes, super imposing with the Gauss system diagram on the wall of the carriage behind me, and the major sewer pipes lay out that some lecturer at meny had chosen to leave on the screen during a particularly pointless class. And I could see the holes. Huge stretches of Mort city that were not served by any of the essential services.
But that was minor.My mind turned to other patterns closer to home...
I opened my eyes and found myself starring across the table at Iona.
All the little things fell into place in the greatgame she was playing. All her motivations became all so clear.
Then it struck me, the 'dead spaces' did not just apply to the geography of Mort. It also applied to its population.I smiled at her.
She looked behind her to see what I was looking at and then looked back at me, confused. Then fear appeared in her eyes as she stared into mine.
It was a real nice sensation to at last have the upperhand on that bitch.
I casually reached into my pocket and pulled out the psych exemption form, placing it face down on the table so she couldn't see what it was. I know her curiosity was burning her so I slid it across the table with the phrase "I wont be needing this. You keep it." She turned up the corner. Her face paleing as she realised what it was and it's invalid unsigned state.She spent the rest of the journey in the toilet.
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