Reboot

In the morning, I said my goodbyes to Rourke, Dutch and William, and I left with Mayor Stevens. Rourke would go back to his people and resume with the organization in Eugene. William and Dutch would get our car ready. I was planning to be gone about a week. We’d leave for our new adventure eastward after that.

It didn’t work out that way.

We drove in my racecar. The passenger seat had been removed in order to fit the mayor. He harrumphed himself into place with effort, some dignity, and a significant amount of time.

“Go fast, Robert. Scare me a little bit.”

“Ok, Mr. Stevens. Hang on to something.” And we took off, tires screeching, Stevens smiling. We drove quietly for a while. The mayor just looked out of the window daydreaming.

“This brings back memories,” he said sadly after a few minutes.

“Good or bad?” I asked.

“Not sure yet. Good I guess. I was a truck driver before all this nonsense. I really liked it. Some might say it’s boring work, but I was always thinking up stuff while driving the long hauls, you know?”

“What kind of stuff?”

“Stories, ideas… messing around with words. Always thought I’d end up writing them down at some point.”

“You still can.”

“No.” He shook his head slowly, and he was quiet after that. He kept looking out the window. I didn’t press. I spent the time looking at the trees, wondering if there were any left east of here. And then, “Robert, tell me something; how do you think this will end?”

“What do you mean, Sir? How will what end?” Then he was quiet again for a long time. I thought he’d given up on the subject.

“Us.” I understood that he had existential questions about humanity.

“You think the fighting will continue?”

“On and on my young friend. I’ve lost faith. I think this Mooney is a lunatic and he won’t stop. I think there is a very good chance that… it will all end very badly. He won’t get his way; he can’t, we can’t let him, and he’ll push it. He’ll come down to the people and he’ll never give up and we won’t either and it will end badly.”

“You have every right to worry. I worry too. But Mr. Stevens, I do have hope. I think my friends can make this happen. They are an amazing bunch. We’ll take the fight to him before he can come down here.”

We spent the time discussing the future. Tony and Rudy followed us in another car. I felt good driving as fast as I wanted without the stress of the race. It relaxed me.

Once we got near Veneta, we were surprised to see that there was a different group handling security. They were dressed differently. Black armor.

“Do you know anything about this?” I asked him.

“No, really, I have no idea,” answered Mayor Stevens who sat up straight. As soon as

the gate opened, we slowly drove in followed by the Italians in their car and were told to stop within a few meters. We got out of the car and were held at gunpoint.

“What is the meaning of this? Who are you? Do you know who I am?” All his questions left unanswered, Mayor Stevens and I were directed forward. We were ushered into the Mayor’s office, but there was a man sitting in Stevens’ seat who didn’t look as if he was in any hurry to get up.

“What is the meaning of this?” He repeated. “I want answers now!” Usually this worked. Mayor Stevens was an exceptionally impressive individual. But not this time.

“Calm down Mr. Stevens, we just have a few questions for you and then things will be back to normal in no time, yes?”

Stevens fumed and looked around looking for angles.

“YES?” The man repeated louder. He had weird eyes. Big eyes. And they were immediately a hand’s width away from the mayor’s face. He made Stevens nervous.

“Fine, fine. Hurry it up. Who are…?

“We are aware that you helped a certain Mr. Morgan? Robert Morgan, Yes?” The man wasted no time. I suppose to add a measure of distress to the questioning. To keep things unbalanced. But to Stevens’ credit, he tried to remain solid.

“Possibly. Many people come through here. I have no idea.”

“Now, now, Mr. Stevens. Don’t.. I’m not in the mood. I don’t like it here, stupid hick town, and I’m stuck here because of you. So let’s shorten my purgatory and lengthen your life, YES? Now, what can you tell me about Mr. Morgan? Where did he go? What does he look like? Maybe it’s this young man here?” he said with a smile. I suppose he simply didn’t believe he could be so lucky as to catch me immediately because he didn’t seem to even entertain the possibility.

The mayor didn’t give me up-.

“This is Trek, he’s one of our drivers, didn’t win I’m afraid and these are his mechanics Tony and Rudy.“

“My name is Alfred Millikan. I’m the newly appointed government supervisor of this area. Congratulations on an interesting race Mr. ah, Trek? We listened to it on the radio. Quite exciting,” he said dully.

“Sharksniffer. And thanks. I guess.” Changing names was normal now. So Millikan didn’t ask.

“This area? What are you talking about? This is my town!” Stevens was trying to show strength, he tried standing up, but was held down by a soldier.

“Goddamn it!” he exclaimed weakly.

Millikan’s cold certainty was destabilizing. Stevens was visibly shaken.

“No. It WAS your town, it is now a prison facility. And until you’ve been processed, you and all the inhabitants of this quaint little place are considered suspects. You cannot leave until I say so. I have yet to decide if you will continue to have responsibilities in this quadrant, or if you will become a permanent guest of this place. Is that in any way unclear Mr. Stevens?” He added with a smile. Daring him to do something foolish. But one look at the three armed professionals behind Millikan calmed him down. It would be stupid to get shot now. Maybe later. Choose your battles.

“It’s perfectly clear,” Stevens said grudgingly.

“Take these three out of here,” Millikan told one of the men. And we were pushed out at gunpoint, leaving Stevens in the office alone with him and the two other soldiers. We were ushered out, into another room and simply left there. Our escort just went back to standing outside the office. No explanations were offered. We were stuck inside Veneta.