49. Epilogue

Ayame called them back.  Mickey and Donny had been seriously considering going out for some Real-brand beer and her call caught them at the door.

"Hi," said Donny, surprised and a little concerned by the expensive call back.  He shared the stream.  "What's wrong?"

"You said you wanted to pick me up?" laughed Ayame.

"You want us to?" said Mickey, laughing.

"Even if you could dock with this module, the Waste-REL II won't be going up for many months.  Don't they have to build it first?"

"Months?" said Mickey.

"Yeah," said Verna.  "Didn't you know?  Welcome to Houston, toots."

"I need a map," said Mickey.

No one had a map.  Except Jules.

"A map of where?" asked Jules.

"A map of here," said Mickey.

"What's going on?" asked Ayame, who remained visible, but smaller and off to the side.

"Mickey's freakin'," said Donny.

"Do you mean Houston or the Milky Way?" asked Jules.

"I mean Texas," said Mickey.

Jules showed them Texas.

"Where's the water line going to be two months from now?" asked Mickey.

"Here, or thereabouts," said Jules.  It showed Austin as a beach community.  Houston was not there anymore.

"Uh, guys," said Mickey.  "We have a problem."

"It's the same in Florida," said Jules.  "There's not going to be any Florida.

"How are we going to get into space without a launch pad?" asked Donny.

"I'd better call what's his name at STC," said Portia.

"They won't believe you," said Mickey.  "Nobody believes me."  He sat down, dejected.

"I think they're going to believe you after tomorrow," said Jules.

"Why," asked Verna.

"Because," said Jules.  "I propagated a fresh copy of myself into the STC mainframe.  He tells me they've set up the pheely training stations to offload the contents of your skulls.  They'll believe whatever they find there."

"They what?!" said Portia.  "They can't do that.  It's against the law.  It's an invasion of privacy to use that technology without a signed release."

"Ah, well, those who write laws never feel bound by them."

"Can this hurt you?" asked Ayame.

"No," said Portia.  "It doesn't do any damage… it just.  It's a very inaccurate technology.  I studied it in a clinical psych class and it's somewhat useful in therapy.  I mean, it tells you what people believe is true, but not what is true.  It's useful as a lie detector, but what can they do with this information?

"Besides," said Verna.  "We can't let them know what we really intend to do."  She whispered:  "If they know we're going to steal the Waste-REL II and take it back through the fuzzynavel they'll fire our butts with no apologies."

"We can manipulate the results," said Jules.

"How?" asked Donny.

"My twin, the one I split into the STC mainframe.  He could arrange for the data to be strained vigorously before they see it.  You know, take out the parts we don't want them to see."

"Well, if there's no other way," said Donny.

"This could work," said Portia.

"As long as they can't hurt you," said Ayame.
"Mm-hmm," agreed Donny.

Next: To be continued