Heaven & Earth

"This whole fucking city's turning into a ant's nest," Jinro said and eyed the northbound section of the M1 skyway, an elevated roadway that disappeared into a tunnel built through the center of the Arco .

The structure loomed in the late morning overcast, a few hardy salarymen braved the storm on their sky-bikes and looked very insect-like as they brought their craft down onto the VTOL pads converted for their use. AgraCon built themselves a mountain, a monument. As the world's leader in frozen foods, they had been the first to mobilize the resources for such a structure. The Arco was already a landmark. Noone was ever going to tear it down and AgraCon knew it. Competitors could only plan greater marvels.

"It's hard to believe they did all this selling microwave meat pies." Jinro said and turned up his collar as the wind blew up his back. I guess it makes a difference when everyone's buying them."

The factories inside the Arco fed on raw materials, vegetable and animal products of every type brought in by rail. The massive construct was designed to accommodate and support a population equivalent to a small city, it dominated the support yard that had risen around it, an Aztec pyramid of fibrocrete and steel. A guardhouse stood next to each access ramp.

"Metro inspectors?" The AgraCon security guy inside the nearest one said with an accent Jinro couldn't identify. The man stood, leaning into the open guardhouse window, displaying a large pistol hanging in an unsnapped holster. "I guess cold days in Hell do exist. What can we do for you today?"

"Expecting any other kinds of inspectors here today?" Jinro said as he watched a dog-team emerge from a shelter to begin going over the car.

"You might be from Interpol," He said and sneered. "Though I doubt it, I almost mistook you both for pieces of gutter trash. Badges please."

"We need to speak with your Inspector Sinclair or Inspector Cook," Jinro said and handed over his badge with a question. The guard stepped back and compared the picture to his face. "You got a permit for that?"

"Of course," The guard said and returned Jinro's badge. "It's company policy. Our permits are on file in the record hall. May I see your form twenty-oh-five, please."

Walter's badge got the same scrutiny.

"Uh, we're working jointly on a case that's still pending," Jinro said. "If you just call your Inspector Sinclair or Cook we can get that taken care of."

"Hold on," The guard said and lifted a finger to his ear. "This is Gunter. We have two Metro Inspectors at the visitor's gate. Put me through to Cook or Sinclair."

"Sorry to bother you, sir," Gunter said. "There's an Inspector Kume and an Inspector Jerik... Jer... Jerkowitz at F gate. No, they don't have a form twenty-oh-five... "

"Cook... it's gotta be Cook, he's a rules kind of guy." Jinro said as Gunter lowered his hand to the desk-top. His finger twitched and he punched in a code, the lifted a cordless handset up to his jaw.

"I need backup at F gate, please."

"We're in." Jinro said, though part of him saw the bum's-rush coming. In less than twenty seconds another guard arrived to relieve him. Gunter stood and picked up his duty-cap.

"It's Jerikowskowitz, by the way." Walter said as Gunter opened the door to the guardhouse. The arco was protected by wide reflecting pools and ground traffic carefully directed by thick barrier walls and L-shaped access ramps. A tank couldn't roll past a checkpoint without getting stalled. If the arco was buttoned up it was nearly impossible to get inside.

"You two follow me," Gunter said as he led them down the ramp toward the bowels of the mountain. "And don't touch anything."

***

"You got a serious set of brass ones coming over like this," Cook said as he fell into step with them and their burly escort fell away. As they went through the main entrance, they bee-lined for the security desk. "Article twenty-three of the Municipal code requires two-day notification before a visit by Metro or anyone else. Christ, I'll be writing contact reports until first shift comes on again."

The AgraCon workers that passed them in the quiet lobby scrutinized the interlopers with looks of restrained disinterest, perhaps even disapproval. It was the dichotomy of the new have's and the old have-not's, Jinro thought. The inside was polished and the people inside were the right kind, razor-sharp and refined. The world outside the Arco was dirty, smelled bad and was filled with savages and barbarians. Despite efforts to the contrary, visitors inevitably found their way into one of the two categories.

Be careful. The mongrel is wild. Jinro heard words around a buzzing in his ears as two androgynous looking men with weasel-like faces brushed past him. The fat one's never finished a crossword puzzle.

"Did you hear that?" Jinro said and looked for the speakers of a public address system. The Arco still smelled new.

"Hear what? It's like a library in here," Walter said and Cook frowned. "You could hear a mouse fart. Not that there are any mice around, though."

Jinro was distracted by the small robotic mouse-catcher that rolled past their feet, disappearing into a forest of legs. Once caught, rotary buzz-saws built into the machine eliminated the pests.

"Sorry, this didn't come up until the last minute," Jinro said and logged his thumbprint into the visitor log. Walter did the same and they were issued passes. The background on the passes was a generic white, Cook wore one in red. Most of the other ones he saw were blue, but there were a few in yellow or green. "I don't know what shit you all are trying to pull but when there're discrepancies in evidence logs it makes both of us look bad."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Cook said and folded his arms. "What discrepancies?"

"I'll tell you what," Jinro said. "Bring me the wallet we logged as evidence in the Leonard Dean case and I'll show you."

"I can't do that," Cook said. "The personal affects of Leonard Dean have already been delivered to his widow."

"Then I'd like to have a few words with Missus Leonard Dean."

"Hey, don't do me any favors, Jinro," Cook said. "I can't approve that on such short notice. You're pushing your luck as it is."

"I'm sorry if this means more work for you," Jinro said slowly. "But in the advisory you sent us, we were assured full cooperation."

"On a case that's already been closed," Cook said and stopped Jinro with a hand to his chest as he was about to mount an escalator to the next level. "Besides, she's not been released from the wellness center, yet. I'm can't let you up there."

"I'd like to be notified whenever she's well enough to see," Jinro said and scratched an action note off his list. "It's standard procedure, now do you want it done by the book or don't you?"

Cook crossed his arms. Jinro could see him mentally waffling.

"Wait here," He said and stepped away. He walked twenty paces, then lifted his hand to his ear-piece. "This is Cook. I've got some visitors from the Police in the lobby. They want to talk to Lana Dean."

Jinro could hear Cook and an electronic buzz from the ear-piece but not words. Whoever it was gave Cook an extended earful.

"Of course, sir. Right away, sir," Cook took his finger off of the "transmit" button and lowered his arm. His face was calm when he got close enough for them to see it, but it had the rigidity that told them he'd just suffered a moral loss. "I've been informed that Lana Dean has been released from the wellness center. Keep the questions brief."

***

"Missus Leonard Dean?" Jinro said as the door opened a crack and a pair of sorrowful, dull eyes peered out at him. The residential levels of the AgraCon arco reminded him of the lo-rent complexes he used to patrol. The paint wasn't peeling away from the walls, and it was a uniform sunny yellow instead of a shocking hazard orange.

The same cheap fixtures hung from the ceiling but they were in working order and the burned out lights were replaced. The carpeting in the halls was new and swept robotically every three hours. There were no vermin in sight.

"Yes." A narrow, timid face peered through a crack in the door.

"We're with the Metro Investigations department," Jinro said and flashed his badge. "Would you mind if we came in?"

Mrs. Leonard Dean looked from Jinro, to Walter, to Cook. She unlatched the door when Cook nodded his approval. The inside of the apartment was nice. Modular furniture, tasteful prints hanging in expensive frames on the wall. Leonard Dean had lived comfortably.

"Please sit down," She said as Walter followed Jinro in and Cook closed the door. "Would you officers like a cup of tea?"

"No." Cook said, just loud enough to be heard, but already she was turning into the kitchen.

"Yes," Jinro said at the same time. "Sugar and milk, please. It's pretty wet out there."

"One for me, too," Walter said and shimmied past the coffee-table to the modular sofa. "Wait... it's not in violation of your protocols to accept a cup of tea is it?"

"Just don't get too cozy." Cook said as he folded his arms and elected to lean against a wall. Jinro shoved his hands into his pockets and wracked his brain for wordings to questions that would have to be delicately delivered.

Lana Dean came out of the auto-kitchen with three saucers supporting cups and rested them on the table-top. She sank into the cushions beside Walter.

"Now, Missus Dean, I know you've just had a personal tragedy," Jinro began as he pulled up a chair and sat down across from the thin woman shivering on the modular, ergonomic room-accessory. He sipped at his cup to wet his throat. "We really do hate to bother you but I need to ask you a few questions, is that okay?"

Lana Dean looked at Cook for prompting before she answered. When he gave her a nod, she relaxed slightly and inhaled.

"For the record, Ma'am, I'll need you to state your full name and citizen ID number please." Jinro said.

"Lana Dean... four-two-three-one-nine-nine-three-zero."

"Tell me about your husband, Missus Dean," Jinro said and took out his notepad. "Do you know what he might've been doing outside the arco at those kinds of hours?"

"We do lots of recruiting from that area," Lana Dean said slowly, still sounding very sedated. "He went there regularly to approve the new candidates. He had late nights."

"Did you know your husband owned a gun, Missus Dean?" Jinro said. She dabbed at her nose and shook her head.

"No, that was a surprise to me," She said and shot a glance towards Cook, gauging his reaction.

Jinro followed her attention and said, "What about it, Cook? Are all Associate Directors issued firearms? Is his permit on file in the records hall?"

Cook bristled and said, "If that was what he felt he needed to protect himself, we don't have a problem with it, especially since there were none of your people around to do the job."

Jinro focused on Lana Dean, who was beginning to get wet around the eyelids, he gave her a tight smile and said, "I digress."

"He was a gentle man, he knew how to turn anger into passion. I thought he was a little rough on Leo Junior at times, but it was tough love."

Cook remained stoically fixed-in-place.

"Has he expressed unhappiness with anything to you recently?" Jinro said and tried to get her to meet his eyes. "Getting work dumped on him, or maybe a promotion didn't go through?"

"Nothing like that," Mrs. Dean said and shook her head. She sniffled back a sob. "He seemed so... happy. There were nights he got home and he couldn't wait to tell me about the prospects he'd found. He was so excited about the new talents."

"Did you come here to ask the lady about her deceased husband or are you here to talk about a discrepancy that she can help you with?" Cook said and gave Jinro a hard eye. Get to the point.

"I just though that before I ask her about that, I'd, maybe... ask her if she knows why her husband would go berserks after ten years of solid performance as a recruiter and a loving father?" Jinro said and sipped at his tea. "Oh, and if you don't mind, Lana. If you still have a wallet, that was included in you late husbands effects, I'll need to have a look at it, please."

"Get the wallet, please." Cook said as he stepped forward. "We're interested in uncovering your little question ourselves, Kume, but your presence here isn't helping matters."

"So got any bright ideas yet?"

"We're examining our management screening process. Some of our training schools can be quite rigorous. Sometimes men we think are everything that AgraCon expects fail to meet plan. We try to instill our managers with what is needed to overcome such obstacles."

"Well, if he was a good man, I'm sure he's got no worries, where-ever he went to," Walter chimed in. Jinro shot a warning glance his way as the eyes of Mrs. Leonard Dean welled up with tears. "Oh... right, sorry."

"Real sensitive, Walter," Jinro said. Cook's hard face broke into a sneer. "What I'm trying to ask is do you have any idea why your husband felt the urge to walk into a subway-tunnel?"

"No, I don't... now please leave." Lana Dean produced some tissue and rubbed at her nose and her eyes. Jinro heard a bored thought that said I'm tired of questions.

"You heard the lady, interview's over," Cook said and excused Lana Dean with a look. Jinro closed his notepad and stood erect. "The wallet, if you please."

Lana Dean started when she realized she'd been holding it in her hand. She offered it over. "Sorry. I just... I have a lot on my mind right now."

Jinro opened the leather and fingered through the business cards stored within the inner pocket. He suppressed a sudden feeling of relief when he saw the familiar pink flash. He pulled out the card from the Kitten's Den and showed it to Cook.

"This is it. It didn't show up the evidence log you sent over this morning," Jinro said. When he held it up, it became clear that the name on the back had been erased. The card he saw on the subway platform was blood-stained along the top edge, the one he held was new. "I know it sounds like a big hassle for a little thing, but we loose audit points for those little things. I hope you understand."

"Yeah, I understand," Cook said. "So what do you want me to do, put my thumbprint on something saying the error was on us? Sure, whatever, but you need to be out of here before the change of shift."

Jinro peeled the back off a small evidence sticker and secured the sticker to the back, covering the area where the name Miki should have been. He unclipped the PDA from his belt and used it to enter the piece into the evidence log. The keypad was tiny but he managed to put his name into the "Received by:" space and "Cook, Reynard" where the transfer form asked for it. When he entered their citizen ID numbers, a square icon came up on the touch screen. The small rectangle had a generic thumbprint pattern flashing red. Jinro pressed his thumb against it, making an impression in the liquid crystal.

The PDA beeped when it scanned his thumbprint. He offered it to Cook, who took it and did the same.

"There, happy now?" Cook said with increasing venom as Jinro put the computerized assistant away.

"Very, it's a load off my mind, I'll tell you," Jinro said as he pulled his on Kevlar-armored jacket. "Thanks for having us in, Missus Dean. I just got one last question... do you have a friend, or is there any member of your immediate family, named Miki?"

"No, there isn't," She blinked and folded her hands in her lap. "Inspector Cook, who's Miki?"

"No more questions," Cook said promptly and spun Jinro to face the exit. "Lana, I don't know what he's talking about."

Cook gave Jinro a firm shove that sent him forward a few steps toward the exit. Cook just about had him out the door when Jinro heard a crash, like the sound of a tea setting cracking against the floor.

"Who's Miki?" She cried louder. As Cook gave him a final push, Jinro looked over his shoulder. His eyes widened at what he saw. Lana Dean had had her hair in a bun but it had come loose. Clumps of blond strands slowly rose and stood on end as if shocked by a strong static charge.

Jinro could feel the room had gotten suddenly cooler. The chill running up from the base of his spine made him tingle with disbelief. To his amazement, she had objects in orbit, sloshing cups half-filled with tea and the saucers they had rested on, each one spinning separately around the room as if they were weightless.

"Who's Miki?" She screamed. A cup changed course and accelerated away towards the door. It smashed into the wall and pelted Jinro with crockery fragments and drops of tea, then Cook had him out the door. It closed behind him and he sealed it by swiping his card through the lock control.

"She's freakin'! Oh, real subtle, Jinro!" Cook shouted at him, then regained his composure as panted in breath. He swallowed and lifted his hand to key the 'transmit' button in his ear-piece. "This is Cook. We got a situation on residential eleven... lockdown unit twenty-one-eleven. Code blue. I need backup and medical here now."

"What's going on in there?" Walter asked as he pulled Jinro to his feet. He leaned in towards the door to listen, then drew back suddenly as something else shattered against the wall. Jinro gaped dumbly at Cook until the younger man met his eyes.

"Nothing," Cook said sternly as several AgraCon security officers rounded the corner at a full run. "That's exactly what's going on in there, that's exactly what you saw... nothing."

"It sure didn't look like nothing." Jinro said softly. What it was he didn't know, but Lana Dean did not sound happy.

"What didn't?" Walter demanded in frustration. Cook, sitting against the door, started as he heard the beeping noise of the lock keypad being tried, from the inside. The keypad signal honked forbiddingly as each sequence was tried and rejected at an increasingly rapid pace. Jinro hadn't seen a keypad on the inside, just a doorknob. Cook lifted his radio.

"She's trying to get out," Cook said. "Where's that medical team, control? I need it now."

"They're right behind us." One of the security troops offered as he leaned back against the wall and caught his breath.

"Good," Cook said. "Tell them to bring up a canister of happy fog."

He pulled out a strange instrument that looked like a Geiger counter and scrutinized the multi-function display. Sound crackled from a small speaker attached to the device that sounded like white noise static, except heavier, and it was increasing in pitch.

"Nuts," Cook said and killed the power to the device. "She's past beta-level already. Better tell them to bring two." He folded the small device and dropped into a pocket. "I think you've done enough damage for one day, Kume." He waved a guard forward. "Get these two out of here."

Walter managed to keep his mouth shut until they were inside the cruiser and pulling away from the AgraCon arco.

"So what'd I miss?" Walter said quietly. Jinro's mind was still trying to convince his eyes that what he'd seen was real. He had heard the cup shatter and felt the tea hitting his exposed skin. It had to be real. Could he tell Walter? What if he didn't believe him? He had too much time invested in a police pension to get himself dropped on a psych-out.

"Nothing, Walter," Jinro said slowly and watched the traffic flash past. "You didn't miss a thing. The Dean lady just needed a little rest."

"If you say so, buddy-boy," Walter said, clearly disgruntled with the answer he was given. "She sounded rested to me."

"Oh yeah?" Jinro said. "Do I sound rested? You promised I'd be home by noon. It's a little past noon, granted that was mostly because of my little detour."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Walter grumped and floored the accelerator. Traffic northbound was only moderate.