The Tau Ceti Transmutation (Amazon) by Alex P. Berg Page B

Carl.
    “Well, I already put that dang thing in the vintage arcade cabinet,” I said. “If this turns into some sort of token ransom situation, I may have screwed the pooch.”
    “I doubt anyone was after that particular token,” said Carl. “As you already mentioned, there wasn’t anything special about it. I ran every diagnostic I could, given the circumstances. If the intruders who caused this mess—” Carl waved about. “—were after the token, chances are they were after the same string of clues we already found.”
    “Ok, but why?” I asked as I scratched my head. “All we found on our goose chase was a pair of socks, a potentially sexually available professor, and another boatload of questions.”
    “Despite my superior computational power, I’d have to say your guess is as good as mine at this point,” said Carl.
    “I know as much about something as you do?” I said. “I’ll have to file that away for future gloating purposes.”
    I took another look around at the chaos.
    Carl caught the look in my eyes. “Formulating a plan?”
    “Not really,” I said. “But I do want to talk to Valerie now more than ever. There has to be more to this case than she’s letting on.”
    “Well, then we should probably head to the bakery,” said Carl.
    Something tickled the back of my brain. “She did say that’s where she was going to be, didn’t she?”
    Carl nodded.
    “Damn it, Carl, why didn’t you say something before we trekked back here?” I asked. “Not that it turned out to be a bad idea, but still.”
    Carl shrugged. “I assumed you had an ulterior motive. Like a desire to rifle through Miss Meeks’ unmentionables without her knowing.”
    I sputtered. “What? No. It was just socks. Really. But don’t tell her.”
    Carl smiled, and Paige snickered.
    “Wait…that was a joke?” I said. “You. This firmware upgrade of yours is definitely going to take some getting used to.”
    I turned tail and headed toward the door.
     

10
    I stared out the cab window watching civilization zip past me in all its shiny and transparent glory—a portrait of humanity painted in metallic silver and clearcoat and wiped into a blur, not by the speed of the car but by the degree of defocus of my own eyeballs.
    “Are you ok?”
    I peeled my face off the window and turned to Carl. “Huh?”
    He sat on the bench seat across from me, his hands clasped lightly in his lap. “I said, are you ok?”
    I knit my brows together, trying to get the gist of Carl’s comment, but my brain seemed to be functioning at a fraction of the rate of the images blurring across the cab window. “What? Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”
    “You remind me of a forlorn puppy trapped inside during a rainstorm,” said Carl as he intertwined his fingers.
    I snorted and turned back to the window.
    “You want to talk about it?” asked Carl.
    I shrugged and ignored him for a moment, but eventually I responded. “I can’t help but shake a feeling Valerie’s in trouble.”
    “Ah. So your vacant stare is a result of emotional pangs.”
    I turned back to Carl. “Are you making light of the situation? Because Valerie could be in a serious bind.”
    “I wasn’t,” said Carl. “Although I do tend to agree with Paige on this one. It would appear Valerie’s voluntarily severed communications for the time being. That alone doesn’t indicate anything unseemly occurred.”
    “And what about her apartment? The break-in?” I asked. “That didn’t change your mind?”
    “It didn’t indicate a kidnapping occurred, if that’s your concern,” said Carl.
    I shook my head. “I don’t know. Maybe you’re right. Maybe I’m overreacting…”
    Carl tilted his head. “But?”
    “But what?” I asked.
    “I assumed you were leaving something unsaid.”
    “Maybe I was.”
    Carl lifted an eyebrow.
    I sighed. “Fine. Maybe you were right. Maybe…I’m not cut out for this gig.”
    Carl untangled his fingers and placed them at his sides.