THE EDGE OF THE UNIVERSE

CHAPTER 9: BODY SHOP

I met James again three weeks after out last visit at "the Fox". We went out to play some basketball on a Thursday afternoon. Every sport or game was available to play electronically today, but James and I were on the same page – the old basketball court with the hoop near my elementary school.

As soon as I greeted James on the court, he said, "Marc, I have some great news, man".

"Oh really, what's up?"

"I proposed to Becca!"

"What, no way! For real?" I was smiling from ear to ear.

"Yeah, two nights ago. It's finally time to tie the knot".

"Well congratulations man, it was about time." I gave him a little punch on the shoulder. "Was she surprised?"

"Yeah, kinda. I took her out to this new restaurant downtown. The food was delicious, and when the dessert came, she was a bit suspicious because I was acting all nervous, but I didn't propose until we got home. I had the assistant bot set up some decorations, flowers, and all that girl stuff haha."

"Nice. I am really happy for you. Do you know the wedding date yet?"

"Nah, I think we'll just be engaged for a while, maybe a year or two. Now let's play some ball!"

I didn't want to ruin the good mood between James and me, but I was wondering if he had thought about setting up the meeting with Tanaka Shiburri. As we sat down for a water break, I just asked him straightforwardly.

"Have you given it any thought to that Astrix guy and the meeting with Tanaka?"

"Hmm yes, I really do want that switch man. And if it's only having to arrange to a date between those two, I'll do it.

"Well, not only arranging the date. The deal needs to come through as well." I looked at him, a bit worried.

"Haha, yeah that too. I tried reaching out to some former acquaintances, but once you're out of the picture, it's hard to get any information at all."

"I see. Do you know by now what Astrix wants with the Uranium, though?"

"Nah, and not gonna ask him, if I'm being honest. Sometimes it's better to know less."

"True that."

"I was thinking of going to old meetup point tonight. Wanna come with me?"

"Sure, why not."

I went home to take a shower and have a quick dinner.

As I entered my apartment, I noticed that Carl was acting a bit strange, looking at me with some sort of expectance. What was he up to? Did he want a treat?

Then I saw some grey feathers in the hallway. What the hell? As I followed the trail of feathers to my bedroom, I was disgusted by the sight I encountered. Even more feathers, blood and body parts scattered all over my bed sheets.

Carl had caught and brought home a bird. But that shouldn't have been possible anymore. All outside cats were required to have a low-frequency chip implanted that scared off prey before they could attack. Plus, the cat flap I had installed was able to detect if Carl had something in his mouth and would not open in that case.

I was really surprised at how he managed to overcome all of that. And annoyed that I had to clean up this mess. Poor bird.

I was running late to meet up with James again.

"So sorry man, I had an incident at home with my cat."

"Why, what happened?"

"He actually managed to bring home a dead bird".