Plasma Cat

Ch. 15: Labor Day

The car was going to be the death of her.

Iris had inherited many things from her father. The Estate, several sailboats, a house in L.A., a house in New Orleans, a penthouse in New York, a jet, and billions in stocks spread out all over the world. Her sisters were still pissed about the Estate, even though they had gotten several houses, the mega-yacht, the penthouse in Monaco, and the chateau in southern France; not to mention billions in stocks as well. It was a prestige thing, Iris supposed. Everyone knew that the Maluhia Estate had been their father's favorite, and so by leaving it to Iris, it seemed to indicate that Iris was the favorite. Which was ridiculous. She was the eldest. That was it.

But then there was the car.

Iris wasn't a car person, but it soon became clear to her that the Citroën DS was a very special and very rare type of car. Many mechanics wouldn't even touch it. Which was a problem, since the car had come with an obligation. Her father had never been able to get the damn thing to run, and so he had somewhat jokingly, and yet somewhat seriously, commanded Iris in his will to avenge him by fixing it up.

But it was in Maui, parked in a garage on the Estate's grounds. And Iris had gotten the impression that there wasn't a mechanic on the island who knew anything about French cars. In fact, most expressed nothing but surprise when they were told that the French even built cars.

And so, she had simply pushed the project to the back-burner and then went off to found Babel United. But now, she didn't have any more excuses.

It took some doing, but Iris found a mechanic in Honolulu and flew him out to the Estate. It took nearly two hundred thousand dollars to source and buy the parts, but Iris managed to pull it off. In fact, it wasn't even that difficult, just expensive. And so Iris had wondered why the car had given her father so much grief. Not only was he a car guy, he was rich and stubborn. How had she managed to achieve something in two weeks that her father had never managed to accomplish after several years of effort?

She soon had her answer. For two days the car ran. The mechanic was dismissed, and Iris began to enjoy taking the exotic blue car into town where heads turned and many people would stop to take pictures. But then, on a rural road on the way home, the car just died.

Iris wasn't a car person, but even she knew that smoke was not supposed to be coming out of the hood.

She spent some time peering at the engine, waving away the smoke with her hands. She didn't know anything about cars, she just felt that she should at least look at the engine before calling for help. Nothing seemed broken, it was just that smoke was billowing out of the round thing on top of the engine. Iris didn't really care. She pulled out her phone and began dialing up her unibot handyman at the Estate.

"Hey, lady?" a voice called out.

Iris turned around to see two men in a pickup truck appraising her from the road. She hadn't heard them pull up.

"Yes?" she replied.

"Need help?"

Iris laughed. "Do you know what this thing is?"

"Of course," the man replied. "That's a Citroën DS. Real cherry car. Edward here has been worshiping them since he was a little boy."

"Oh yeah," Edward explained. "Those things are super rare. Great cars too, except they were built for the French climate. They tend not to do so well in the tropics."

Iris took a moment to size up the two men. "Are you mechanics?" she asked.

"I'm not," the first man replied. "I just tinker. But Edward here? Best mechanic on the island."