Transcript for 5.13: Juno Steel and the Sixteen Tons (Part 1)

So, we've been staying out for a while now. Tell me what you know about this place.

You say that's not enough? I thought I was talking to Rita here.

But that's not possible for this place.

It doesn't look any difference from the buildings that surround it.

Then there's no way to prepare for whatever's inside.

And Ruby, you're sure the track you're imprinted is coming from that building. Well, I guess that settles it.

If we can't prepare, it's the best thing we can do is prep for the fact that we can't prepare. Sitting in the ruby outside like this is only going to draw attention to us. Surprise is the only advantage we've got. We can't afford to blow it. So we'll find a pop-up net cafe, so we're not an escape set up in there, and I decide I'm a planet of action.

It's not going to be possible this time. We'll find a night cafe nearby, prepare, and then... I guess then I head to the unknown. I ain't got just a little long there in a rave. I'm coming for him. The Ruby 7's tracker had brought us along. Long way from home. That was for sure. We were in the outer rim on a mar's size planet called Amin, where the city's group densest jungles and the streets were paved with I would ever thought it wasn't concrete. The description array of it given the outer rim in his journal was pretty accurate as what I was saying. Nothing on the emin was made of material I realized. The streets were soft, porous. My feet left imprints in the eyes I walked. The insides of the net cafe we eventually found were painted to look like wood, but you could tell from the smell, damp and losty is soaked for if something was off. The food that wasn't actively moving looked like the lumps of molded protein paste. That's not breeder.

You know what I'm saying? No, no thanks.

For someone who grown up so close to the solar planets, it was all so alien. So strange, so uncomfortable. The home sickness, nor I have described it a lot more sense to me. My name is Juno Stale. I'm a private eye, and I'll follow a lead, no matter where it takes me. Even to the edge of the galaxy. We couldn't know how long Narea would stay on Amazon so we couldn't take our time preparing. Rita and I needed to come up with a cover story that would get me into the office building the Rubis Evans tracker was inside and we needed to do it quickly. I asked Rita to gather what information she could.

Not officially anyway.

What does that mean?

What's just the thing?

But you're sure there are people in there.

Hospital, huh? All right, I think I got it.

Rita, if I asked you to make a convincing news site on the net, how long would it take you to do that?

What if you only had a day?

I just about had an array of cornered, but for some reason the closer I got to him the more anxious I felt. At the time I chalked that up to nerves and tried not to think about it too much. I'd regret not thinking about it later. So I gave Rita the data set up my cover story, then made my way on foot to see him pee central office. I hated the way I'm inside walk squished under my feet, but I had a good reason for not riding in the Ruby 7, and it all had to do with the element of surprise. Or as much surprise as I could manage anyway.

I had another day. We don't have another day, Rita. Oh, we don't even know if we're already too late. The only thing we know is that the Ruby's tracker went inside that building, so it's where I gotta go. My cover story is all set up on the net.

I couldn't do the whole thing on my own, so I had to ask Mr. Mercury to help me out. Wait, you asked him if to help?

He's a writer, Amy. He is. That's what I'm worried about. I had him write a cover story for me before.

romantic. What the hell is it? It's the pride. Rita, I need to know my own cover story.

Rita, what the hell is this name? It's longer than most sentences.

Eat it fancy. Fancy's right. It's a little too fancy. I think I got away around it though. And a name I'll use instead. What name's that? Don't worry about it. But is this thing all set up? Am I ready to go in? You were meant to plan? Of course I remember the plan. It was my goddamn plan.

I will. Talk to you soon. Bye. I've been invited here to write an article on CNP Farmiff or a series on the best places to work. That's all a penny. Rose works fine, man. Just call me Mr. Rose.

All right, steel. You're almost there. Don't lose your nerve now. There could be anything on the other side of that door. I've gone into a lot of hideouts and headquarters and layers in my time as a PI, but I'd almost never gone in with no prep whatsoever. For some reason, people entered the offices of CNP pharmaceuticals, but they didn't leave. Pretty soon I'd find out why. I just hope they let me back out once I did.

All right.

I stepped through the doors and it first I didn't see anyone. Just a long, clean hallway. Then on the ground by my feet I saw the shadow creeping up behind me. Before I could do anything about it I felt hands come up to my neck from behind and something was on my head and I felt a sharp sting of elastic on my chin and I whipped around to see.

To see a woman half my age with paper party hats on elastic rubber bands held in one hand. It took a minute for my heart to stop tripping the life fantastic. The woman was more than happy to fill that silence for me.

I'm good, thanks, site.

Now you sound festive up, too. Thanks. What are we celebrating here exactly?

This phaser hooked an arm around mine and tried to me down the hall. Everyone we pass was wearing one of those colorful cones on their heads, and I saw more than one cake laid out on the tables we passed. The walls seem strange, too. They were broken up into big panels with decorations on each. Poster sang things like, work like there's no tomorrow, and be better. When we entered the workroom, it was massive. Looks like the walls have been knocked down for nearly as entire floor, replaced with line after line of tables with computers on them in bleary-eyed people sitting in front of, typing like fast fingers where the only things that would keep them alive. Now one of them looked up when we entered.

I hope you aren't putting on this big celebration just for me, Miss Faith.

Uh, thanks.

Sure. This, um, sure seems like one of the best places to work.

I tried to refocus myself on when I had to do in that office, but Ms. Faser was dragging me from point to point so fast that my brain didn't have time to keep up. Somewhere in this building where that headquarters of the doconic room. Probably in the basement if readers researched the power use to this building was right. I had to get to the basement. Actually, Ms. Faser, we sort of have a specific system to writing these articles on best places to work. Oh, really? Yeah, it's more like the surprise inspection. I come in. I asked to see a few specific spots. And after that, I do my right-up. And actually, the first place I was supposed to check was your basement, so if you just show me.

Right. Yeah, you probably call it something else. The subterranean productivity chamber.

a man further down the hall turned towards us and that face. There was something slippery about that face and I don't mean it was well-moisturized. I mean it seems so familiar despite the fact that I definitely never seen this man in my life but trying to recall it, I couldn't tell you a single concrete thing about it. It was just slick. Like my eyes couldn't take in any part of it without sliding right off the sides. This guy didn't blend into a crowd. He was the crowd. The faceless thing that other people blended into. I could pick up on who he was from the way spoke. Just like those executives in the RAF's journal.

So you run this place? I've heard so many good things about it. Things you will know doubt repeat in your right up. I'll make a thorough assessment but trust me by the time I'm done here, you'll know exactly how I feel about this place.

As long as you treat people well here, you shouldn't have anything to hide, Mr. Doppel.

Mr. Rose.

I still have so much to show you. We don't have one. Yeah, I know. The thing is my editor's really going to want me to check the basement. It's weird, sure, but there are similar things like this. I know I gave my comms at the door, but do you have one I could use? I just have to contact my editor and let them know about the basement situation.

Talking about if they're still here?

Zero Gravity. What what?

The zero-gravity playroom was massive, which amnesium sized at least, with floating holograms drawing the boundaries for different zero-g sports. Phase our major way over to a complicated looking panel, swarming with little buttons. It looked like this room had everything, except for one thing you might expect in a gym. There's nobody in here.

who are on the office, Mr. Faser, to anyone you've ever been to youth? This is about more life balance. You should say that like it's a bad thing.

Can I ask you a personal question these days?

That's the last time you went home.

I was getting absolutely nowhere following the tour of his face or had prepared for me. I needed to get into the basement or to get my hands on a comms or preferably both. If I was going to do that, I needed to lose her.

Yeah, I'm not super resource. You already where people can go when they need to be alone.

Yeah, you know, somewhere you can focus without a lot of noise around you.

This phaser kicked off the wall and sailed towards the control panel, but not without giving me one of the stinkier eyes I've ever seen. To be honest, she was given me the creeps. All of CNP pharmaceuticals was giving me the creeps, actually. The sooner I got Narayah, it got the hell out of here, the better. After shutting down the zero-gravity playroom, Faser led me to a quieter hall of CNP. Far away from the grounds of keyboard-clacking and mundane media. I got the impression that people didn't come out here that often. Even Faser looked a little lost.

Would you mind showing me inside?

Thanks. After you.

There was a large desk next to the door. I turned into a large desk locking the door. Then added a few chairs for good measure.

I had no intention of doing that. I had a basement to find in a theory about where I might find it, so I headed back to an earlier point in the hallway where Miss Faser and I had passed an elevator. A quick examination showed me that Miss Faser had been telling the truth. The elevator only had one button on its side panel, a large arrow pointing up. There was no way down in the elevator anyway. I was ready for this. Without a comms, I didn't have read it to help me out. Sure, but I had one more ally waiting in the wings, and I thought this one might just do the trick. So I stepped back outside the elevator, and I whispered. Ruby. Now's your big moment. I held my coat pocket open with two fingers and out poured the ruby-seven. I've got the idea that it might be useful as more than a getaway car and I was about to find out if I was right. Slick as quick silver, it's slid from my pocket into a puddle on the floor, then pushed itself in the crack between the elevator doors. I heard it press the button inside the elevator, heard the elevator start to rise. Finally it inserted itself between the elevator doors and pushed, making a strange web like chute silver bubble gum as it forced the doors apart. And finally I had what I wanted. The elevator doors were open, but there was no elevator on the other side. I peered down into the shaft. I couldn't see the bottom but there was definitely something down there. Nice work Ruby. I can take it from here. I checked down the hall one more time to make sure nobody was watching. Then checked the shaft again. There was a maintenance ladder in the wall. I started my descent. As I climbed down, I could hear the sounds of CNP Pharmaceuticals, Monday, Maynia, Grow quieter, and quieter, but I couldn't yet hear anything from the basement itself. It was almost there. Getting closer by the second to where Nauria had to be, and that feeling of panic rose up in my throat again when I thought about him. I tried to push it down, but it was insistent. The ruby pushed open the doors to the bottom of the elevator shaft to a stark white hall, smelling and looking like industrial bleach. But they didn't have long to scope it out before I heard footsteps approaching me from down the hall.

Come on. Damn it, I have to hide. Ruby, close the door. What do you mean you can't close it then?

Damn it. Ruby, do something. Before I could say a word in protest, I watched the liquid ruby-setting scan. Stretch. Shift its colors to copy the wall or the elevator shaft. And it closed over me entirely. I heard the executive step into the shaft. They were inches away from me. I hoped the Ruby knew what it was doing.

That's when I saw him. through the open doorway leading into that room at the end of the hall. I thought I was ready to see him again. I thought I could handle it. Maybe I could have, if it weren't for the shape in a ray, it was looking at on a table in that room. The person he was looking at, the hookups for who knows how many machines twisting and snaking out of him from all sides. Slip Jackson. I thought it was odd that I didn't recognize him until I remembered that I'd never actually seen him before. I just read that damn journal so many times. Imagine him so many times that he felt real in my mind. I'd imagine somebody big with a soft embrace and a tired face, but the guy lying on the table with a dense web work of tattoos running down each arm looks so small. Light. Like a stiff breeze would tumble weed him away without all those machines dying I'd imagine someone larger than life, and maybe that was the truth hiding in these adoration. Slip was larger than life, to Nareiv, and I'd only ever seen him through Nareiv's eyes until this moment. I didn't have time to think through what he looked like to me though. From the angle I was looking in, all Nareiv had to do in order to see me was look up from Slip's face. A closet door hung a jar beside the door to the visiting room. I snuck inside and creaked the door almost close behind me, leaving just a crack, so I could hear them speaking.

He was walking towards me and my heart could barely take it, skipping and skidding with his every step. I knew what I was going to do. I knew it was a bad idea, but I knew I was going to do it. As soon as Neurayov closed that door behind him, I opened the closet door wide. I dragged him in. And then he looked at me. He went still and in his eyes I saw... No. Nothing good, that's for sure. And for the first time that nervous feeling, that panicky feeling, felt clear to me. He meant this. I've been so focused on catching the ray of that I hadn't spent a single second thinking about what I was going to do after I caught him.

I've been chasing after him for so long, and now we were so close. And all sudden it felt like, okay, steal your cotton. What the hell are you gonna do with him?