Peter Liu - Bald New World

“Are you?”

“Of course not. The Colonel — that’s their owner — thinks I have some say in what happens.”

“According to the news, it’s been bloody retribution out there,” she said.

“What do you mean?”

“Chao Toufa had several of their facilities attacked. More than eighty people have been killed in explosions.”

I looked at Rebecca and she appeared so vulnerable in her t-shirt and trainer pants. “I shouldn’t have come here.” My leg felt like a broken pylon. “Where’s the armor?”

“Sorry. I took it off.” She eyed the bruises on my body. “What happened?”

“I got shot.”

“By who?” she asked, startled.

I stood up and started putting on my armor. “Can I ask you a kind of weird question?”

“Uh, sure,” she replied.

“Do you love Larry?”

Her body took on a defensive slant. “Why do you ask that?”

“A yes or no would be great.”

“It’s a complicated situation.”

Should I show all my cards or balk? “I know the real Larry is dead,” I said. “I know the Larry you took me to see is an impostor.” Even as the words came out, they sounded like a joke. I didn’t believe them, or didn’t want to. Was there really a difference? “I overheard you talking to him in the bar,” I said, even though I hadn’t been sure it was him.

“Nic—” she started, confirming my suspicion.

I cut her off. “What do you guys want from me?”

“Who says we want anything?”

I’d been a fool for thinking she had been kind to me out of the goodness of her heart. “Does it have something to do with the package Dr. Asahi sent?”

“I don’t know what’s in the package.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah. What was in it?”

I slowly put my leg into the armor but had to do it carefully as fast motion was causing cramps. “You may not believe this, but there are still people who can grow hair. Chao Toufa is somehow connected to them, but I don’t know how.” If she wasn’t trustworthy, if she was working for Chao Toufa, it would only be a matter of time before she betrayed me. Then again, it wasn’t like I had much of a chance even if she wasn’t a traitor. I needed information and revealing what I knew seemed the best way.

“That’s impossible.”

“That’s what I thought too. But it’s real,” I said.

“Is that why Dr. Asahi was so desperate for me to find you?”

“Dr. Asahi?”

“After Larry’s death, they couldn’t find you so they asked me to look for you. But after they used the new Larry to replace the old one, they lost interest.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know.”

“Do you love Larry?” I asked again.

“Not the real one,” she answered. “His name used to be Harold Lew before all the surgery. He used to be an actor. We were friends until Larry — the real Larry — died. Then Harold and me became lovers.”

“I know Harold,” I answered, recognizing him as a minor actor in some of our films. He did have a resemblance to Larry, although he was a few inches taller. Image facilitation could have easily fixed physical differences.

“He’s changed a lot. I don’t think he can separate himself from Larry anymore.”

“You knew it was a lie but you didn’t say anything?” I demanded.

“They told me it was to maintain the future of the company and our facility. It would only be temporary until they set up a proper exchange of power.”

The armor fit me snugly and I picked up my strap of light bombs. “What was the point of keeping me around your place earlier?”

“I wasn’t trying to keep you. They just wanted me to keep tabs on you and make sure you didn’t cause any problems. I’m sorry. I know you’ve been through hell. And Larry — Harold’s a different guy now. He loses his temper all the time. I think he’s sleeping with other women too.”

“Do you know how Zhang Zhang is connected and why they care about me?”

“The only thing Larry and Dr. Asahi told me was to keep you distracted.”

I sighed. “Can you call the police downstairs?”

“That’s the weird part,” she said. “I called them earlier and they told me everything was fine.”

“What do you mean?”

“Those men have clearance to be here,” she answered. “I told security that I wanted them out of here but they said there’s nothing they can do.”

That meant they had some arrangement with the police and wouldn’t be killing us here as news of any deaths inside a prison-complex condominium would cause property values to drop drastically.

“If someone could grow real hair, why wouldn’t they announce it to the whole world?” she asked.

I didn’t tell her the business-driven answer that instinctively came to mind, but I think she saw it in my eyes.

“Profit?” she asked. If she had known about the existence of hair beforehand, she did a convincing job faking that she didn’t.

“What are the chances of them breaking through that door?” I asked.

“Those doors have three layers of titanium. They’ll withstand most explosives. Short of laser beams, and I mean the pure crystal kind, I don’t think they’re coming through.”

“Are there security overrides?”

“There are, but those are just for emergencies,” she answered, though a sliver of doubt had slipped in.

“Can I speak with them through here?” I asked as I strapped my paralysis gun into my belt. She nodded. “Hello, gentlemen,” I said through the communicator. “What can I do for you?”

“My boss would like to see you,” one of them said.

“Do I have a choice?”

“Of course,” he answered in the same tone as the one from Beijing.

“Patch her through.”

“She would like to see you in Bangkok.”

“I bet she would, but I can’t go to Bangkok right now.”

“She has allowed you eight hours to arrange matters before she insists you depart for Bangkok.”

“That’s generous of her.”

“In eight hours, be at the Shanghai Pudong International Airport. We will escort you to Bangkok.”

“What if I’m late?”

“We will assist in making sure you arrive on time,” he answered in a voice bereft of menace that made it all the more menacing. Abruptly, they left.

“It looks like I have a date with four faceless thugs,” I said to Rebecca.

I took out my Pinlighter and went to use her computer. There, I uploaded the footage of Russ Lambert confirming Larry was dead. I also had footage of the girl with hair. I had it on timed automail to several media friends in case something happened to me and those faceless thugs got me. I took out the locket of hair I’d gotten from Plath and felt it against my fingers.

Should I expose the fake Larry for being an impostor and reveal the possibility of people with real hair? I needed to head to Gamble Town, meet with Tolstoy and Beauvoir. Then track down Russ. I only had eight hours before the Colonel’s thugs would be after me again.

While I was contemplating my course of action, Rebecca held out her hand. The fox necklace dangled from her fingers. “I don’t think I should keep this,” she said.

“You saved my life.”

“I was keeping an eye on you.”

“I don’t care about your reasons. You still saved my life,” I said. “Throw it away if you don’t want it.”

“What are you going to do about those guys?”

“I have no idea.” I opened up the door. “Don’t let anyone in,” I told her. “And if I don’t see you again.” I stared at her. “Thank you. For everything.”

She slapped me.

“W-what was that for?”

“Be strong,” she said. “I hate weak men.”

“You don’t like short ones either.”