Read Online Atom by Steve Aylett - Free Book Online Page B

resembling a third world bazaar. As the jury entered they were garrotted by the rigging. ‘Correct the offender forever,’ the judge told them, ‘or the impulse to imitate will overwhelm.’ It was hard to tell which side Harpoon Specter was on. ‘Nothing could be said about Harry Fiasco which has not been said before,’ he declared. ‘Feisty in every department of life, he has stamped his personality on my face and those of many gathered here. He’s so brave his balls are a threat to us all.’ Auto-Rhino’s explosive termination a few years back had put an end to the killing jar - Harry was headed for the Rosenberg rocker.
    Beyond the glass of the gawper’s room was a chamber side-slapped with migraine bars. Fiasco was brought over all decked out in electrolock manacles and dropped opposite. Despite the pen gear, the flip-up contacts and bulletproof tan made him an easy mark for a fashion prefab. He frowned at the visitor - there were raindrops on her coatcollar, on the brim of her hat. ‘Told me I had a visit I thought it was Kitty. Where’d I see you before?’
    ‘You know Taffy Atom to say hell to, Harry? You saw us at the Fort. I’m his partner.’
    ‘Atom. P.I. modality, right? And there was some story ’bout his daddy.’
    ‘Head clown at the circus. Killed in a miniature car pile-up. Went right over the hood. All four wheels came off. Taff never got over it.’
    ‘Tough break. So you’re Drowner. Say, how do I look?’
    ‘Underdone. But you’re gonna look like a dorito, honey.’
    ‘Dead-on balls accurate.’
    ‘So the end won’t be tepid.’
    ‘My style. You know me and Kitty used to have taser sex.’
    ‘She doesn’t say much for you.’
    ‘She’s a reserved lady.’
    ‘So much so,’ Madison put a shock absorber between her lips and lit it, ‘she aint there.’
    ‘No recoil on a remote - she’s the perfect crime.’
    ‘Nobody’s perfect, Harry. You shoulda left town when you had the chance.’
    ‘My ethics were in development hell. I never done nuthin’ like that before.’
    ‘Like what.’
    ‘Goin’ freelance. I figured someday me and Kitty’d be livin’ in a twenty mile house havin’ foodfights with beluga, you know? What, I meant to stay at that job till I put my fist through it? Easy as fallin’ in line, sure. But when I took a swatch at that squasher ...’
    ‘You knew it had to be valuable, right? The gent went to that much trouble.’
    ‘Not right off.’ Fiasco looked abashed. ‘Guess I consider alertness a sorta insecurity. Delivered the brain to the Candyman, but after, I started gettin’ like an intuition. Some feel a twinge in the leg with a change o’ weather - I feel it in my shirt. Get a real anchor in my pants. So I go back the next day and boost the brain, take a good blink at that baby. Looks like a tree disease and feels like a softboiled egg. Then I realise, I don’t know where to sell a squasher. Don’t even know why it’s such a big deal. By now I got a head o’ steam worked up. I can’t fence it, can’t go back to the gent, so I figure maybe I pitch it to Thermidor, tell him I happen to see a good thing and pursue it like on his behalf, nobody’s any the wiser as usual. But by now a little time’s passed, I don’t know what reception I’ll get, if I’ll have to run for it, so ofcourse I don’t swan into the Fort with the goods up front. The easiest way to lose your mind’s to mail it.’
    ‘Deposit box?’
    ‘Beerlight Grand. Five-eight-nine. Mailed the key to Santa Claus.’
    ‘Funny.’
    ‘What?’
    ‘Why you spilling this, Harry? Me and Taff haven’t exactly helped you.’
    ‘Something’s turned around, Miss Drowner. That death sentence was like a declaration of love, you know? A few words and the whole world changed. Life kicked me hello.’
    ‘You get free, the mob’ll take you to pieces and lose the manual.’
    ‘I aint gettin’ out, miss - Blince stores resentment in his cheeks like a hamster. Guess I’ll pop