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"Yeah. I got a new paying roommate. She's a martial artist."
"Girl roommate working out okay this time?"
"Yeah, she's good at pumping the flywheel and she lets me get on with my bike work. Bike
business has been picking up a lot lately. Looks like I might get a legal electrical feed and some
more floorspace, maybe even some genuine mail delivery. My new roomie's got a lot of useful
contacts."
"Boy, the ladies sure love you, Lyle! Can't beat 'em off with a stick, can you, poor guy? That's
a heck of a note."
Eddy leaned forward a little, shoving aside a silver tray full of dead gold-tipped zigarettes.
"You been getting the packages?"
"Yeah. Pretty regular."
"Good deal," he said briskly, "but you can wipe 'em all now. I don't need those backups
anymore. Just wipe the data and trash the disks, or sell 'em. I'm into some, well, pretty hairy
opportunities right now, and I don't need all that old clutter. It's kid stuff anyway."
"Okay, man. If that's the way you want it."
Eddy leaned forward. "D'you happen to get a package lately? Some hardware? Kind of a set-
top box?"
"Yeah, I got the thing."
"That's great, Lyle. I want you to open the box up, and break all the chips with pliers."
"Yeah?"
"Then throw all the pieces away. Separately. It's trouble, Lyle, okay? The kind of trouble I
don't need right now."
"Consider it done, man."
"Thanks! Anyway, you won't be bothered by mailouts from now on." He paused. "Not that I
don't appreciate your former effort and goodwill, and all."
Lyle blinked. "How's your love life, Eddy?"
Eddy sighed. "Frederika! What a handful! I dunno, Lyle, it was okay for a while, but we
couldn't stick it together. I don't know why I ever thought that private cops were sexy. I musta
been totally out of my mind... Anyway, I got a new girlfriend now."
"Yeah?"
"She's a politician, Lyle. She's a radical member of the Spanish Parliament. Can you believe
that? I'm sleeping with an elected official of a European local government." He laughed.
"Politicians are sexy, Lyle. Politicians are hot! They have charisma. They're glamorous. They're
powerful. They can really make things happen! Politicians get around. They know things on the
inside track. I'm having more fun with Violeta than I knew there was in the world."
"That's pleasant to hear, zude."
"More pleasant than you know, my man."
"Not a problem," Lyle said indulgently. "We all gotta make our own lives, Eddy."
"Ain't it the truth."
Lyle nodded. "I'm in business, zude!"
"You gonna perfect that inertial whatsit?" Eddy said.
"Maybe. It could happen. I get to work on it a lot now. I'm getting closer, really getting a grip
on the concept. It feels really good. It's a good hack, man. It makes up for all the rest of it. It
really does."
Eddy sipped his mimosa. "Lyle."
"What?"
"You didn't hook up that set-top box and look at it, did you?"
"You know me, Eddy," Lyle said. "Just another kid with a wrench."
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