The Argo Goes West

101, Time-Slip Burger Restaurant

Pat Garrett's Rough Riders (except Bonnie Monaghan and Lou Blackman) were slowly moving through the wilderness towards San Francisco at night. They were walking along the railroad tracks. It was to avoid getting lost in the fog and to check the railroad tracks. When they spotted any trouble on the tracks, they set up marker stakes to alert the Argo. Orpheus Granger, a black aristocrat boy, lit his lantern, Frank 'Mad Bomber' Zuckerman held up the stake, and Billy Chen, the Chinese, swung down his hammer.

"Sorry guys," Slim said. He was exempt from the piling work because he had injured both legs.

"Never mind," said 'Mad Bomber' with a grin. "I will have you work hard when your leg heals."

"Sure."

"Huh?" Orpheus spotted something in the distance. He was a Masai, a hunter.

"What's wrong?" asked Pat Garrett.

"I can see letters in the distance."

"Letter?"

"Yes.It flashes and disappears."

"What is written?"

"Barney's Diner..." read Orpheus. "Hamburgers... twenty cents..."

Under the starry sky, in the middle of a wasteland, there was a lone single-storey building. There were bright lights in the building. A huge sign was hung on the roof, and the letters Orpheus had just read flashed. It was like a flame attacked by nocturnal moths. Pat Garrett approached the building cautiously in the night fog, thinking it might be some sort of trap.

A box-shaped truck was parked in front of the building. The car body was painted a gaudy crimson, and on the door was the word Jupiter Tonans (It looks like a person's name, but it could be a company name) along with a jagged thunder mark. A lot of lightning rods were piled up on the carrier.

Pat Garrett looked into the building through a glass window. He guessed it was a tavern or diner. A young woman and an old man wearing black glasses were sitting facing each other in the box seats in front. Their faces were very similar. Pat Garrett thought they would be father and daughter. The woman appeared to be in her twenties or thirties, but had a dark, sunken face, as if weary and tired of life. Behind the counter was a woman wearing a pink gingham check dress with a white hat on her head. Cheerful music played by guitars and banjos could be heard outside, but Pat Garrett could not find the performers.

"What do you do?" asked Billy.

Pat Garrett thought for a moment. There may have been men with guns inside. But even if they were, they wouldn't shoot all of a sudden.

"Let's go inside," Pat Garrett decided. "But just in case, you can wait here with Slim."

"Okay," Billy replied.

Pat Garrett, Orpheus Granger and Frank 'Mad Bomber' Zuckerman put their hands on the pistols on their hips and went through the door.

Music was blaring in the building. The woman at the counter looked at them with a puzzled look.

"Oh my gosh. Strange outfit. Are you doing it on location for movies?"

She was chewing something she had in her mouth.

"Movie? What's that?" 'Mad Bomber' asked her.

"A movie is a movie. So what's your order?"

Orpheus thought she was not polite to her guests. In England she would have been fired immediately.

"What's that hamburger on the sign?" asked Pat Garrett.

The woman frowned. "Your jokes aren't funny at all. If you don't want to order, get out."

'Mad Bomber' tried to protest, but Pat stopped him.

"I'd like that hamburger," Pat Garrett said gentlemanly to her. "Three. No, five. I have two friends outside."

'Mad Bomber' went to the bathroom while the woman was cooking. Beautiful white tiled bathroom, clean but with a strong chemical smell. When 'Mad Bomber' finished washing his hands, an old man in the box entered the bathroom with a cane. The old man looked like a blind man. Next to 'Mad Bomber', the old man removed his black glasses to wash his face.

'Mad Bomber' was surprised to see the old man's face. The old man's eyes had no lids.

"What's wrong with you, those eyes!"

The old man turned to 'Mad Bomber' and asked back in a hoarse voice.

"Are you asking about my eyes?"

"That's right." 'Mad Bomber' swallowed his saliva as he stared at the old man's lidless eyes.

"This is God's punishment," replied the old man, mocking himself. "I have committed a forbidden sin."

Waiting outside the building, Billy Chen, a young Chinese man, pulled out a small thin metal plate from his trouser pocket. Billy placed it on his palm and pressed the button on the side with his thumb. Glittering white characters appeared on the surface of the pitch-black metal plate.

H U A W E I

The letters disappeared, and this time a grid pattern of symbols appeared. Billy tapped his thumb on the bottom left icon.A list of strings appeared and Billy double tapped the word "Dr. Lao" at the top. There was an intermittent tone, but there was no change on the screen. Billy shrugged, turned off the cell phone, and put it in his pocket.