A pool of darkness opened at my feet and was far deeper than the blackest night. I dove in. It had no bottom This was my chance to escape.
I was either dead or my watch stopped. Was death my ultimate exit? It was not what I expected. First of all I was still really cold. Uh oh.
Once again I experienced the ineffable. No more mysteries, collecting clues, collaring culprits, confronting cons. I was perfectly at peace.
That feeling of postmortem serenity happened to me before. Regi says "Yes. In Puerto Rico. You fainted when you thought you'd been shot."
"I didn't faint. I experienced the ineffable." "Uh huh." "Regi, are you reading my Twitter feed?" "I just glance over from time to time."
"Well, keep your eyes on the road. We're almost at my apartment." Where was I? Oh, yeah. I wasn't. The blackness had devoured me. I was out.
"All the same, I was still in. From deep in the black pool I heard a voice. "Arkaby wake up!" "Lemme sleep Ma. I'll look for a job tomorrow."
"I opened my eyes. I was in a small cell in just my underwear. "I'm not dead?" "No, but you look like it." He placed a compress on my head.
"You may have a concussion. Do you want to go to the infirmary?" "Yes." "Let me warn you going to the medic prolongs your stay." "Then no."
"I realized I was no longer in the group holding cell. "How did I get here? Where is everybody else?" They've all gone before the judge."
"Where are my pants?" "We found you like this." "OK. Give me something to wear." "This is a holding facility. We don't have prison garb."
"I can't go before the judge like this! Get me something!" "Now?" "Yes!" "Let me warn you finding you pants prolongs your stay." "Then no."
"I walked into court and took a seat. One by one detainees stood before the judge and were either released on bail or remanded into custody.
"My turn. Clad only in underwear, I stood before the judge as she read my file. Then she said "You are former Detective Arkaby?" "Yes I am."
"Where are your clothes?" "I don't know. They vanished mysteriously last night." "Are you in here for drunk and disorderly?" "No I am not."
"It says here you vaporized a man in his own safe room. Is that correct?" "No, Your Honor." "It doesn't say that?" "I mean I didn't do it."
"The judge looked back over my file. "Your Honor I can clear up this confusion. Farley Granger believed himself a target of the Singularity."
"The what?" "The Singularity. When computer intelligence exceeds human, changing civilization." "Why would this Singularity target him?"
"Because he thought he knew how to stop it." "Stop it from doing what?" "Changing our paradigm." "Our what?" "Our understanding of reality."
"The judge stared over her reading glasses. "What have you got to do with this?" "Granger's doppelgänger hired me to stop this Singularity."
"Doppel what?" "Doppelgänger. I thought it was his ghost or his clone or he was the walking dead." The judge continued staring. "It wasn't."
(The Twitter Mystery continues daily at @Twitstery)
No comments:
Post a Comment