Dirk Gently and The Waking Sea of Reality

Like Gasoline In A Building Already On Fire

       It was black.

"Were you followed? How do they know about this place?" The same voice from earlier boomed from the other side of the warehouse.

"I-I don't think so." A man stuttered.

"I told you to lock the damn door, Donovan!" The woman said.

Dirk shot his eyes open. He was facing a wall, not very helpful. He tried to stand up but he quickly realized he was bound to one of the foldable chairs, his hands tied behind his back and his chest tied to the chair, his feet bound together. How do I always manage to get caught up in situations like these? He thought.

He wiggled right fingers and felt Todd's distinctly calloused fingertips. He wiggled his left and assumed it was Farah on the other side. Thank God.

"Todd? Farah?" He whispered.

"Dirk?" Todd whispered back with excited relief in his voice.

"What other eccentric Brit would it be, Todd?"

"Would you two shut up? I'm trying to listen in on their conversation."

"Hello to you too, Farah," Dirk said.

"It's fine-" The woman clearly lied, "It's fine, just... don't let anyone follow you when the shipment comes in."

Shipment? What shipment?

"What shipment?" The man asked, dumbfounded.

"Damn it, Donovan, you really are stupid!" They heard a slap, presumably from the woman, and a grunt, presumably from the man. "At the docks tomorrow at midnight? The shipment?"

"Oh yeah, the shipment." He had a very stereotypically idiotic voice.

"Looks like we're going to the docks tomorrow," Farah whispered.

"If we get out of here, which I highly doubt," Dirk whined.

"We'll figure something out," Todd reassured him, grabbing what he thought was his hand. Very clumsily, they were tied up after all. It was less of a hand-hold and more of an affectionate brush of fingers. "Got any ideas, Farah?"

"Yes, actually, but we need them to be gone. And I need you to shut up!"

"Now," said the woman. "We've got prisoners. I'm sure the supreme leader wouldn't be pleased to hear that you practically let them walk in."

Supreme leader? What the bloody hell were they dealing with?

"Look, I was high, ok? It went weird in my brain. It went weird and made me think weird and do stuff wrong. I do drugs."

The woman sighed, "I know Don, we make the drugs."

He let out a gasp of realization, "Right, I forgot. I do drugs."

This guy is stupid.

"Why did they even choose you?"

"Because I do drugs, that's how this thing works, remember?"

"I remember, I'm not stupid like you."

"Normally I would take offense to that, but I honestly feel like I deserve it. Not sure why, maybe it's the psychic link."

" Psychic link?! " Dirk gasped. The two went silent. "Oh, bugger did I say that out loud?"

Bean ran up to his feet. It was important to note -since you couldn't see her- that Bean wasn't tied up or cadged. She simply pouted on the couch, worried about her new daddies -mostly Dirk but she was slowly becoming more fond of Todd- and their friend.