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STORY: Logan has 24 hours left to live. Logan has not reported in
to Francis. Logan thought if he could find Sanctuary and destroy it, his existence
would be justified, a hero. In tights and shirt, his leather jacket off, he rests
at home, thinking. The silver punchkey slips into the Communideck and a wall screen.
A girl appears but is going to a party. Halstead Complex, West Wing, 4th Level, living
unit 2582. Logan tells her he is up to the party and anything else. The girl is Lilith
4. A boy with high collar and vest with shoulder pads, tells Logan, "The boy
seeks, the man finds. That's a poem. I write them, you know." Logan didn't know.
One of his poems was read on TD. A man tries to give them Volney's Brew, an artist
Volney is, puts musk raisins in it. Logan prefers Scotch. A fat man slid in with
clothes, "Hail, lungblasters, glass masters, live fasters!" Lilith 4 in
silver snakeskins, bare hips, a pink cigarette in her mouth greets Logan. Logan slipped
his gun into an alcove and himself into a skintight bodysuit. She gives him Smokegoggles
for the ledge. 6 Blacklight cameras, one per couple, peepers, who know what to do.
They must peep and use cameras to take film. A half mile above a police paravane
ran its pin light. The girl swings on a guy wire to the next ledge. This game is
illegal. Most windows are blacked out. The girl attaches a wallcup against the side
of the wall. The girl goes down to take film of the couple having sex. Logan has
to hold onto her--part of the lift is the danger. They jump from a paravane patrol
and land on a patio below. The girl finds new prey. She wants Logan to take them
this time. Logan tells her now they talk or he will pitch her over the ledge. He
tells her he would really do it. He wants to know about Sanctuary. Lilith questions
him as he feels drugged sensations. She hits him across the mouth and grabs his hair,
bending his head back. She wants to know where he got her key. He tells her Cubs
killed Doyle 10. She tells him to go see Doc, his next contact. He asks, "Doc
Who?" His place is the New You. Arcade is where he is: a vast Logiam of Hallucimills,
Re-Live Parlors, and fire galleries. It has not closed its doors to funseekers for
50 years. A girl greets Logan inside and Doc (with a long pony tail and black hair)
comes out, telling him there is not another machine like the one Logan is seeing
now between here and New Alaska. It can add a few inches to his legs, give him a
new face, or a full body. Doc mentions Ballard, the world's oldest man, a legend
to frighten children, could he behind Sanctuary? Doc is a trained Mech. He gives
a little muscle to the Cubs, a sex lift now and then, a face job for Ballard's group.
The girl is Holly 13, her number in ancient times was unlucky. Holly don't work for
the money, Doc tells him, she gets her kicks from other things. She tells Logan he
doesn't have to undress for a face unless he wants to. Doc tells Logan with bone
structure like his he can give him almost any kind of face. Doc detects metal on
the table. Holly locks the door. They find a gun. He tells them he is not working
for DS (DeepSleep). Logan tells them he is not the first sandman to run. Logan is
strapped down. Doc tells a wide eyed and eager Holly to scramble the table which
with its knives and blades will kill him. A needle lanced into his knee and his right
leg went dead. Holly wants to watch, breathing hard and fast. A laser scalpel lowered
and sliced the strap holding Logan's right arm. He tells them to kill the table,
pointing his gun at them. The Robotic Mark J Surgeon attacks its own vitals, guts
itself and dies. Logan goes after the two, he must have the punchkey--without it
his mission is over. He kicks in a door and was in intersecting hallways. A Popsickle
sword hits his gun down--Doc attacking him, a cold Popsickle sword which will freeze
his heart if caught in the chest. Logan dodges a lunge and then punches Doc's face.
Doc falls, dead, making Logan mad that he killed him, "Damn. Should have been
able to handle it without killing him." Logan gets his gun which thaws out.
He hears breathing and finds Holly in the next room, a surgical knife pointed at
her heart, "Goodbye Sandman." Logan calls, "Holly...!" She stabs
herself, Aaaaargh!" Jessica calls Doyle. Holly dies, "Dark hair, better
with dark hair." Logan goes into the girl's area, through a mesh curtain. The
girl in the next room, gets off a pnuemo clot, she is a runner. He asks for the maze
key. She has it and takes him with her toward a branch key. This girl is Jessica.
The maze is a million miles of tunnel, serving the continents, linking Chicago with
NY with Detroit with New Alaska, London with lower Australia. A maze car comes and
they get in. Jessica knows Logan is not her brother. He tells her Doyle is dead and
she guesses he killed him. He tells her no, but that he saw him die. He wanted Logan
to have his key. They get out at the Cathedral. On one wall it says RUNNERS STINK!
Cubs call, "Sandman, sandman, leave my door, don't come back here, anymore,
now I lay me down to pray, sandman, sandman, stay away." Mary Mary 2, a homeless
girl with no shoes comes. A girl of 5 years of age, dragging something behind her.
An old man told her to meet them here. Hair black and white mixed together and deep
places in his face. He looked so wise, the oldest man in the world. Ballard. She
gives them the key. She catches things to eat, lives here not in a nursery. She shows
them an old fashioned rat trap. Mary Mary never goes upstairs, the bad people are
there and they chase you. She leaves, telling Jessica she is a nice lady. Logan and
Jessica debate about where Mary Mary should be living. Jessica tells Logan she accepted
the nursery but admits she was never happy there. She asks if Logan ever thought
about his mother, if she would be ashamed of what he has become. Logan thinks maybe
she became a runner too. "I'll never know what she was." Jessica talks
to him, "Children should be loved by their mothers. A machine can never love
you--only people can." Mary comes running, screaming about the bad people. Cubscouts
burst from the tunnel. The punchkey will be good in 5 minutes. Logan tells the boy
he feels sorry for him. Logan asks for this boy's help--Billy. Billy has on a leather
jacket and no shirt beneath. Cubs always do what he says. He has black hair and will
not be a stinkin runner. A blond says, "Let the runner suck muscle! Shakin'
to death will shut im' up!" Billy has taken out a hand knife with a holder.
Anger and frustration drained form Charming Billy's face. The Cubs, on muscle, run
at them. Logan knows he has to use his gun. Billy says, "Shake him to death."
The blond says, "Killhimkillhimkillhim." Logan uses Nitro to blast them
as a black shimmer fills the space, solidifying into Charming Billy. Billy was headless.
Jessica yells, "You're a sandman! You're a sandman!" Logan jumps in and
they slam off into the night. |