Chapter 44:// Dropping in

 

“Hey!” Leo said and walked inside with broad steps.

The man arose slowly, his turban somehow exaggerating the turning of his head.

He stared at Leo with his scary, white-glass eye.

“Hey?” the man asked. “This is how you address a man, disrupting his prayers?” His voice was deep, smooth and accented.

Leo had not made a good entrance but he had to keep the momentum going, now that he had found the guts to step inside. Pausing to think would mean thinking over the danger he was in, would mean running back out screaming, would mean life in prison. “I’m in no mood for games. You framed me for the mayor’s murder and sent your cobra to kill me in my cell. Why?”

The Sikh smiled and showed his teeth. “Because someone had to get framed.”

“Hey look, I know this is a sacred place. Just tell me what I need to know. I don’t want to fight you here, it must be a sin or something, right?”

“I’ll append the sin to my looong list of begging for forgiveness,” the Sikh said, the end of his word blending with the hiss of the cobra into a long “sss.”

Could this get any more creepy?

Leo pulled up a modern, beautifully designed survival axe and braced himself as the serpent rose up to his height.

 

fingerd> Really? I have permission to access the net?

parrotd> Knock yourself out.

fingerd> Fingered! This man is Singh.bhai.sharan@Gurdwara.gr, 42 years old.

 

The information popped into Leo’s field of view and he swiped it away, gritting his teeth.

The Sikh sidestepped to the musical instruments and picked up two sticks. He took place over the two meter drum and began pounding.

 

fingerd> Damn, he is pounding hard.

armd> No comment.

httpd> Connecting… Please wait. The Ranjit Nagara (victory drum) was used to boost morale when they marched into battle.

 

The condemning piece of information was routed to the user’s field of view. The data in itself was irrelevant, the important bit was that it came through a normal, unencrypted web route that could be traced even by a moron reading out of step-by-step instructions.

 

parrotd> What’s the police response time in this area?

httpd> Estimated 4 minutes.

walkmand> What will happen to us when we get arrested?

parrotd> Who knows buddy… Who knows…

 

Leo read the victory drum info on his veil and cursed it away. The rhythmic pounding became furious, sweat dripping on the Sikh’s forehead and it sounded like there was some order in the deafening chaos.

Leo was scared shitless.

The cobra lunged forward, opening her mouth and showing her poisonous teeth.

Leo knew he had no real mobility. Having a limp arm is not just about handling things, it messes up your whole balance. There is a reason people alternate arms when running, and unconsciously balance out every movement with arm rotations.

All he could do was chop.

He sidestepped at the very last minute and brought the light axe in an arc straight down the cobra’s hood.

The tool was sharp, and the blow was lucky not to glance off. It went deep into the serpent, doing nothing more than pissing the shit out of it.

She twisted her body, Leo let go of the axe, and she tasted the air, rebounding for another attack.