Thursday, July 12
9:51 A.M.
An unknown safe house, Brooklyn
155 DAYS TO THE END OF THE WORLD
“They’re taking it all for themselves,” said Susan, seething with rage. “Did you hear what he said on TV? Not ‘destroy your lotion’ but ‘give your lotion to us.’ They’re stockpiling it!”
“At least they’re getting it off the streets,” said Larry. “That’s good, right?”
“That’s terrible,” said Tony/Cynthia. “I still need to get out of this body.”
“Getting it off the streets doesn’t count if all they do is put it somewhere else,” said Susan. “It needs to be destroyed, and that’s never going to happen if the most powerful government in the world holds a massive depot of it! Can you even imagine what the CIA could do with that stuff? The NSA? It’s not a beauty product or a biological weapon, it’s the greatest tool of espionage the world has ever seen. They could replace anyone who speaks out against them—they could replace foreign leaders.” She kicked the tray table her breakfast was sitting on, scattering it across the room. “What’s going on? This makes me so angry!”
“Getting angry doesn’t solve problems,” said Larry. “Acting on anger solves problems.”
“You’re right,” said Susan. “We need to act. We need to protest. NewYew has bigger problems now than trying to kill us, so let’s go public—let’s picket the steps of City Hall—”
“That’s not what I mean,” said Larry. “There are activists all over the place already, and nobody is listening, and three more voices isn’t going to make any difference. It’s time we stop shouting and really get their attention.”
“Okay,” said Susan. “I’m listening. What do you have in mind?”
“They’re dismantling the bottling plants tomorrow,” said Larry, “but you know where those plants are. Is there one we can hit?”
“Hit?” asked Susan.
“Hit,” said Larry. “Shoot at. Blow up. Is there a ReBirth plant we can get to before the government does, and destroy all the lotion before they take it?”
“Whoa,” said Tony/Cynthia. “That’s a big step up from a picket line.”
“Yep.” Susan nodded, trying to convince herself that this was a good idea. She knew something needed to be done, but to actually blow something up? “It’s just like … spiking a tree,” she said.
“Exactly,” said Larry.
“We’re not actually hurting anyone,” she said. “We’re just … creating a situation in which, if they do something wrong—like try to take a bunch of lotion—they’ll hurt themselves.”
“Exactly,” said Larry. “I know some guys who work with explosives—”
“What guys?” asked Susan. “Like, terrorists or something? I don’t want to work with terrorists.”
“Susan,” said Larry, “we’re going to blow up a building.”
Susan nodded again, then looked at Tony/Cynthia.
“Well,” said Tony/Cynthia. “Are we serious, or are we serious?”
“Okay,” said Susan. “Call your guys. Let’s do this.”