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Viktor arrived in his car about ten minutes after we did. Misty was with him, but she didn't look well at all. My girls noticed it right away, surrounding her with their attention.
"Well, hey..."
Viktor came up to me, put a couple of bags of drinks next to me, and held out his hand for a handshake.
"Hey, Vik..."
I happily shook the big guy's hand. Even though I looked a lot bigger now than I did before, I was still smaller than him. So calling him a big guy, even in my head, was a pretty reasonable thing to do.
"How are you? When was your last check-up?"
I grinned.
"Always thinking about the patient, huh, ripperdoc?"
Viktor shrugged.
"Well, you're my best client, so it would be weird if I didn't ask how long it's been since your last check-up?"
"Not long... only half a week ago. The clan's ripperdoc can't get enough of the fact that for once, someone comes in for regular check-ups without reminders, instead of waiting for problems with their chrome to appear and then coming in with complaints."
"Heh, that's good..."
"Uh-huh, but I was still planning to come and see you at the end of the month. The clan's ripperdoc is decent, but I only use his services because I don't want to bother you too much for a simple check-up."
"I don't really mind..."
Vik shrugged again.
"...although the number of patients has grown a little lately, so I have a lot of work right now... well, compared to how things usually were."
"I'm happy for you..."
While we were talking, Vik and I prepped the meat and the grill with charcoal, put the skewers on it, and then started making cocktails.
"So, how's Misty?"
"She's not doing well..."
Vik sighed, looking toward the girls who were "perking up" Misty, trying to get her out of her depressed mood.
"If Mrs. Welles had allowed her to go to the funeral, it would have been a little easier for her. But this way... You know where I found her?"
I raised an eyebrow in question.
"Next to Jackie's garage. She was sitting next to it and just crying... I tried to talk to Mrs. Welles, of course, but she was unyielding and didn't want to see Misty at the ceremony. And I couldn't just leave. Jackie was a good friend of mine, after all..."
He sighed.
"I spent twenty minutes trying to get her to just stand up and come with me, and then I just picked her up, put her on my shoulder, and took her to my apartment, where I gave her hot tea to drink."
"Why didn't you call me right away?"
"..."
"Vik, I might not talk to Misty very much, or to you, but I consider you both my friends. And in a situation like that, I definitely could have tried to help! And the girls, even though they knew about the situation, didn't realize it was that bad..."
"Actually, it's manageable..."
"She eats, she runs her shop, she tells fortunes with cards, and she's not suicidal, but any reminder of Jackie brings down her mood."
He sighed.
"Uh..."
I theatrically looked at Misty, as if asking, "what's wrong now?" You're not an idiot, are you? You wouldn't discuss Jackie with her on the way here...
"V called. She apologized for not being able to attend the funeral... so..."
"I see..."
"I heard you're helping her a lot?"
"Not that much..."
"Well, V was bragging to me that you made her some awesome cannons that she used to shoot down a Kang Tao av without any problems... you can definitely call that a significant help."
"For starters, I just completed a job that I got from a fixer. The fact that I first arranged the job with V herself is a different matter entirely. So you can't have any complaints about me. I just built a weapon; what they used it for..."
"Uh-huh..."
"Don't 'uh-huh' me..."
I slightly turned the skewers and went back to making drinks.
"There's a second reason..."
"And what is it?"
Viktor couldn't wait for a short pause, and after taking a sip of the cocktail he was making for himself, he looked at me with a question in his eyes.
"She also wanted to use an EMP, but to make it, she wanted to blow up the microwave power plant outside the city."
"Is she crazy?"
"That's the reaction I had, too, when she called me and told me she wanted to hire me and then described her plan... I had a very strong desire to agree then, and then just choke her to death after the meeting."
"That's... a bit extreme..."
"And how am I supposed to react to a proposal to become a terrorist who would kill thousands, if not tens of thousands, of civilians?"
"There's nothing to argue about there... I wasn't expecting that from her..."
"By the way, remind me to send you the files on her chip after our barbecue. Maybe you can figure something out, because my brains are leaking out of my ears just from trying to understand what the creator of that chip did to it."
I shook my head.
"No... I would have figured it out if someone had explained to me what the creator of that chip was smoking..."
Vik grinned.
"Well, you send it, and we'll see. Maybe I can find a solution."
"That's good."
Viktor went up to the grill and, after quickly checking the barbecue, he announced that it was ready. He then took the skewers off, and I went up to the grill with new skewers and put them over the smoldering coals.
"Well, I guess it's time to eat a little?"
Vik came to the table and put the skewers on the central plate, from which they immediately disappeared. The girls quickly took two portions each, leaving only two skewers in the center of the table, one for me and one for Vik.
At the same time, there were two skewers on the plate in front of Misty, even though she hadn't taken part in grabbing food from the central plate.
"Alright, let's raise our glasses to getting together like this as often as possible!"
I demonstratively raised my glass, and everyone at the table did the same. Misty was a little late, but Panam, who was sitting next to her, quickly put a glass in her hand and helped her join the toast.
We drank...
"Alright..."
A relaxed conversation began, and Misty joined in very slowly and, at first, seemingly reluctantly. But then a word here... two words there... they brought up the topic of mysticism... and now she was a full-fledged participant in the conversation. Vik just shook his head in surprise and nodded at me gratefully. In short, we had a good time...
Another couple of hours passed like that.
"Alright, I guess it's time for our little experiment..."
Judy got up from her seat and quickly brought over a couple of wetsuits.
"David, let's go get changed and dive into this reservoir."
I grinned.
"You know, if this were a date, I would have commented on your choice of location... a toxic puddle..."
I shook my head.
"Oh, come on, you'll get to see the town where I grew up!"
"That's the only thing that makes this situation better."
I took a wetsuit, after which Judy and I went into the little house. We started to get changed, and I didn't miss the chance to admire my girl's figure, who wasn't shy at all about me. I, meanwhile, wasn't shy either, so Judy was giving me some very telling looks.
"You know, if it weren't for Vik and Misty..."
"I know..."
I nodded, cutting Judy off.
"...I wouldn't mind slowly taking that wetsuit off you and..."
"Alright, that's enough!"
Judy shook her head and quickly left the little house. After that, I also left the house, finding myself under the watchful eyes of everyone present.
"So, are you going to put on the scuba gear yourself?"
"Nope..."
I shook my head.
"This is my first time... so I'm counting on my more experienced partner to be gentle with me..."
Chuckles were heard from all around, and even Misty quietly laughed into her fist.
"Alright..."
Judy sharply pulled one of the straps, and it tightened a lot.
"Tch..."
"Oops, sorry, sorry..."
"It's nothing..."
I shook my head, but I didn't say anything about her little stunt. She quickly fixed it, and then she gave me a light peck on the lips.
"Sorry... I'm just a little nervous... the first parallel braindance recording..."
I shrugged.
"It's all good. Let's just do it..."
"Mmm..."
Judy took a couple of shards and some extra gear out of the car. She put them on herself and helped me put them on correctly, after which we finally put on our helmets and gloves. And, fully dressed, we walked to the pier, from which we jumped into the water.
A couple of seconds later, I got a call from Judy.
"David, can you hear me?"
"Yeah."
"Good. I'm not going to connect the others. And Becca is supposed to get dressed now, according to our plan. We're not going to go too deep yet; we're just going to do a little syncing of our devices."
"Just let's swim away from this wooden pier a little, or Becca will jump in, and..."
"Alright..."
We swam about twenty meters away, after which Judy hovered in the water.
"Hmm... you're moving pretty funny in the water..."
"Well, you have experience with diving, and I have absolutely none, so I'm still getting used to it."
"Alright, let's start with something simple, with a deeper check of the connection. I'll hum a tune, and you'll try to figure out what song I'm humming..."
"Alright, hum away..."
And Judy really did start humming a tune. But I was never a music lover, so I had no idea what song she was humming...
"I don't know the song, but I can hum it..."
Which I did.
"Yeah, that's right. Now you go..."
Well, I thought for a bit, and then I started humming a song that David knew from a rock band. And Judy, after about ten seconds, started humming it, and after that, she even sang the chorus. It turned out pretty well.
"Elven Wanderer, if I'm not mistaken, the band is Kuszbóz?"
"Well, I don't know the band, but the name of the song and the chorus are right."
"Ugh, you're a terrible music lover. Now let's work on movement a little. Swim around me clockwise..."
I did what Judy asked, and to her quiet chuckles and comments about my attempts to swim straight, I swam a couple of circles around her clockwise.
"Alright, fine, now counter-clockwise..."
And I did that, too.
"Alright, fine... that's enough..."
She stopped me.
"Now, to stay at the same level, you have to do this..."
And Judy just hovered in one place for a couple of minutes, commenting on her movements. And then I started to get the hang of it, too. Not as naturally as she did, of course, but it was a lot better than before.
"Alright, that's good enough... where do I swim?"
"To me first..."
Judy swam up to me so close that we could touch.
"Now, away from me..."
And again, she did what I asked. In the meantime, Becca was in the water, too, but she was staying a little away from us and not interfering with the equipment setup.
"Clockwise..."
And again, Judy followed my request without question, and then she swam around me counter-clockwise as well.
"Alright..."
As soon as I stopped her, she checked the data she was getting from the equipment.
"...well, I can say that our synchronization is at sixty percent, which is more than I was hoping for, so we can start our dive."
"Alright, then let's go..."
I nodded at Judy and swam after her, and Becca swam behind us at a little distance...
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