The next few days passed in a blur of academic normality. It was something of a relief, actually. I was not accosted by drug dealers or corporate thugs. My mind was not occupied with local government corruption or mysterious global conspiracies. I dug into my backlog of homework and quickly found myself happily buried in matters more mundane.
That changed when the weekend arrived. Unsurprisingly, it started with a Friday afternoon call from Dee.
"Hey Barry, dust off the suit. We've got a mission."
"I'm actually in the middle of something at the moment." I looked at circuit diagram of my current project and realized I would actually welcome a break from it.
"Don't worry, I don't mean now. How does tomorrow look for you? Feel like a road trip?"
"Sure... I guess... um where?"
"Just a couple of hours north. Wear comfy traveling clothes, but bring your suit... maybe an extra casual outfit too. I'll pick you up in the Quad around 9AM tomorrow."
"Sure I can do that, but what exactly are..."
She cut me off and said, "Sorry, gotta run... talk to you tomorrow," then hung up. A stared at the phone for a few more seconds before finally setting it down and returning to my circuit diagram.
I'd spent the last few days catching up on my homework, patching a few bugs in the geo-locater app, and even spending another night on patrol with Tilly's neighborhood watch... which was thankfully much less eventful than my first attempt. Having caught up in areas both academic and altruistic, I was now working on a personal project, something for Dee actually. I thought briefly about trying to finish in time to show it to her tomorrow, but even if I had all the parts, It would take an all-nighter. I reluctantly set it aside and instead grabbed a late dinner from the cafeteria, then came home and read through my Theory of Computing notes before crashing for the night.
Dee showed up ten minutes after 9AM. She called to me from the passenger seat of Homeless Joe's truck.
"Barry, jump in, we have to get moving." She slid to the middle, making room for me. It was a bit cramped since she had to angle her legs to avoid the stick shift.
"Hi Joe," I greeted our driver. He just nodded at me in reply. "So, um, a two hour road trip..." I said, letting a my unfinished sentence become a question.
"Yeah, don't worry, it won't all be this cramped," Dee replied, "Joe's just taking us as far as the train station. I was going to take us on Martin, but I only just got him put back together, and I didn't want to leave him chained at the train station overnight.
"Overnight?" I responded, the surprise evident in my voice.
"Yeah the train to and from Evensville runs only twice a day, and we'll have missed the last return train by the time we finish there. Don't worry, we've got a place to stay lined up. Here, I thought you might need this." She handed me a travel toothbrush still in its plastic retail packaging. It was orange and white, and the brush part could be folded neatly into the handle. I stared at it mutely for several long seconds before dropping it in my backpack.
"So what's in Evensville?" I finally asked.
"Professor Simonson," Dee answered, "she teaches at the Evensville Community College. I've lined up a meeting with her. We need to hear her side of the story from her own lips."
"OK," was all I said. I considered mentioning that she could have told me all this yesterday, but for some reason I held back.
The trip to the intra-city train station did not take long, giving us little time for further conversation. Dee and Joe made smalltalk. It was the most I had heard Joe speak since I met him. His usually guarded behavior was noticeably lessened when dealing with Dee.
YOU ARE READING
Devious Origins
حركة (أكشن)She was definitely the most interesting woman Barry had met at Penbrooke College, but when she claimed to be a superhero, he realized she must be crazy. Then again, maybe he was the one losing his mind, because the more time he spent with her, the...
