Story: The Pickup
orward: First a few words to the background and original recipient of this, for a better word, story which is to follow. I meet C at the end of the seventies here in Cologne at a 'neu musik' concert where a piece of his was being played or reproduced or constructed whatever. Over the years we got together for curries, painting his flat, concerts and general silly talk usually in October. Why October, not really sure, we wouldn’t see each other that often, but if I was to plot our contacts over the last 30 odd years they would variably fall in said month. Over the years what started as a silly talk session became our contact signature code/phase. It has all to do with three shirts that where ready to be picked up at his Chinese laundry. It’s still as silly now as was then, but it is always "worked in" to our emails and calls, rare as they are.
A while back, I was in the office and a colleague pocked his head in the door - fortunately it was open - and said I have a call and remarked that he was asked not say who it was. I hesitated a moment, I looked at my watch - middle of October - I was primed to what was coming. Although it was at least two years since last contact we went straight into our repartee.
Following the preliminaries he told me of a concert in November he was giving while taking a sabbatical. For the last six years he has a chair in electronic music in Santa Barbara. As he was in town he wanted to kill a curry. After the killing he was off to China to give a workshop, to India for family business and then returning for the concert.
Well after the curry and while he was away I thought I would see if I could spin our silly intro into an even sillier story and presented it to C after the concert. Well below is the result. No feedback from C but this is not unusual, maybe in October...
ackward: You may want (or not) to wiki some of the references. They should be valid in some way or other. If you feel the need to comment on anything please do but only if your questions/remarks are weirder that the content or references.In keeping with modern day “gadgetonomaties”, if there is such a word. I've added a PDA with a difference and an Imp which is not always helpful. Both should keep the dialogue moving and get me out of tight spots I’ve written myself into.
Note that this was written in 2009 and PDA's were still around and not completely over taken with the diverse hand held multimedia communication devices that followed.
I pulled my cloak tighter. It was a dark and cold night with no summer in sight. The rain had at least stopped. Crazy shapes reflected in the pools by the roadside. I glanced down at my PDA and tapped the screen for the umpteenth time until the display flickered back to life.
Having it possessed was nerving me. Since Ympe had found a backdoor into the device I had no end of trouble with Abi holding conversation with her uninvited house guest and distracting her from my requests. The screen cleared to a devilish grinning visage where the street map should have been.
I started to wonder if the ‘D’ in PDA should stand for Demonic. As the map appeared I could see that I was still three blocks away. As I headed off I reflected on the incident that morning and why I was out on a cold wet night.
A projectile had sailed through the open window of my office landing in my cuppa tea. On returning to my desk, after scanning the street below for the culprit, I removed the object which turned out to be a very soggy fortune cookie. On opening I recovered a slip of paper with what looked like an address and a cryptic message.
Xìngyùn Bǐnggān St. 3211
23:58 pickie up 三件衬衫
I wasn't entity sure where this was leading but following a scrambled phone call from a Chinese restaurant in Pisa and the cookies first pictograph I had a number of clues to go on.
I glanced again at the screen; it was covered in Tarot cards.
Another block to go and it started to rain again.
I turned the corner and there it was. A desolate shop front on a deserted street. The only indication that I could read maps was the sight of a neon sign hanging over the doorway saying ‘Wangs WashieUpie’ with the ‘Washie’ part of the sign buzzing and flicking as in classical film noir.
I glance around and crossed the street. There was something funny about the house number. It didn't exactly match the one on the cookie message..
As I approached, the noises of the distant traffic exited stage left and my tinnitus moved stage front. I tried the door, even before it’s reluctance to move hit my cortex motorius primus I knew full well it was locked.
Typical. I looked around, no door mat or flowerpots visible in the gloom so it meant I had to find the back door. There was a dingy alley to the left of the shop and even dingy'er one to the right.
I toggled the PDA search light, set it to tight beam and turned left.
The display flickered and Ympe appeared with oversized sunglasses.
Watch yourself with Abigale, she’s a cloud wanderer and has strange connections to higher regions. Also she downloaded herself, I had nothing to do with it so just beware..
I muted. The last thing now was to be distracted with a discussion on hybrid savant AL.
I turned the corner and entered the alley. My tinnitus went from white to pink. I raised the beam and moved on hesitantly. I expected any moment the obligatory alley cat to suddenly appear, snarl, knock the dustbins over and disappear into the night.
Fortunately I managed to reach the back of the shop without a feline fracas.
I found a sodium lamp bathing a long sliding metal service entrance door in its yellow light. I tried to move it but it wouldn't budge either. Now what! I went over the possibilities, I wasn't happy with my conclusion but I saw no other way out or in this case way in.
I un-muted and tapped the screen. I could hear vaguely hip hop music in the background.
Interesting, it has a biological component maybe bionic.
I moved and discovered a small rust coloured rusty box with a faded outline of what looked like a rabbit on the cover. It opened with a squeak and a mouse fell out leaving exposed a grimy hardly readable keypad and over it, a glowing dim red light.
Ah! Now this was getting interesting..
| 23:55:05 | The PDA display time showed I had just less than three minutes left to figure out how to get in. The question is a four or six figure sequence? Four is too obvious, six would be the best bet. A minute is not a long time to try out that many combinations and permitations but I would try first the first four numbers of the sequence. Time was slipping slowly away, soon it would go oh so quickly. |
| 23:58:00 | The light turned orange. Ok here goes. I tapped in 1123 hit # and waited.. Nothing! I tapped in the numbers again and added the next two numbers from the sequence, hit # and again waited.. The orange light went out and came flicking back on again. Ah! it showed it wanted at least a six figure number! But still the code was incorrect. Now what! |
| 23:58:12 | The sequence must be the key, leading zero? No not normally documented. Maybe reversed? Of course the house number of the building! I knew there was something about it! Maybe it wasn't written incorrectly after all. I tapped the PDA screen – no response. |
| 23:58:16 | I tapped again. One of Abby’s avatars appeared. I thought I heard a vina and chanting. She looked vaguely like Saraswati, ok maybe not. It was probably the stress, but those arms.. |
| 23:58:21 | The numbers appeared on the display. Back at the keypad from the reversed sequence I tapped in 853211 and hit the #. Again nothing! In Leonardo's name what was I missing! |
| 23:58:30 | Maybe it needs an offset! But what could it be.. |
| 22:58:49 | Page 283! This is far too long for an offset! |
2+8+3 = 13 and 1+3 = 4
| 22:58:55 | So, reverse sequence with an offset of four, that is ending with a 5. In went 211385#. I held my breath as the orange light went out and started to breath again when it came back green. The door lock gave a reluctant click, hesitated a moment and then with a slugish silence slid open leaving a black void. As I shone the light into the shop the beam disappeared into the gloom. With nerves now on edge I expected anything from here on in. |
To my irritation, before I could analyse any further, the light beam turned diffuse until I realised it was my glasses steaming up.
It had instantly turned hot and humid.
Something had happened.
I glanced at the screen. The date and time zone were now 14th. August 1900 CST!
I turned round and peered out onto an unfamiliar skyline.
The PDA lit up and Abigale appeared unperturbed as always.
By the look of it, the orange sky is not from street lights.
In the distance there was the noise of what I thought was gunfire.
That was a volley from rifles of type Hanyang 88.
It is the Boxer uprising. We are in Beijing in the near from the foreign legations. The siege is almost underway..
Interesting, I'm picking up a transponder signal other than our own and in this world line event!?
Ypme get out here! I need you up front to reconnoitre.
The screen cleared and a maze of alleys and streets appeared, yellow monster-like icons indicating the marauding bands as they moved slowly about. An icon looking very much like a Pac Man indicated our location. The ideal route flicked and wiggled like a snake due to continuous updating in real time. The distance was not more than 85 meters as the Peking duck flies but by the look of it the route would not be a direct one.
We moved off. Ympe to the next corner while I eyed the map. Then if clear we set a pace to the next corner. Timing was everything.
This repeated itself a dozen times before we were in sight of Big Street. The British Legation was a part of a larger complex surrounded with what looked like a fortified wall.
Ypme wasn’t his typical red colour.
I scrutinised the updated map, the nearest entrance was now blinking red. After checking for marauding bands in the vicinity we moved on. The gate was shut and of course no keypad. I recalled the address. I knocked three times in rapid succession, paused, repeated and again paused, knocked twice followed by a single knock.
I waited. Nothing.
I was just about to repeat when..
I again waited. Eventually a hatch opened in the gate before me.
Now what? I had a hunch and only one try. I whispered “Wangs” into the gapping void and then held my breath as the stench emulating was abominable.
Suddenly a brown paper parcel tied up with string appeared. There was no more time to lose, I grabbed it and ran remembering to start breathing again. We retraced our steps as far as the yellow monsters in the display would allow. Ympe was losing more of his colour and taking longer at each move.
I realised that the marauders were not marauding about randomly any more.
Abi appeared..
I looked at Ypme and edged him on. We turned a corner and there was the back of the shop as we had left it.
I heard a commotion behind us, closer than was healthy.
I made a bee line to the keypad and hit the # key.
The light went from green to red and the door started to close.
For dramatic effect I hurdled myself through the diminishing gap landing flat out just as the door shut and a salvo ricocheted off it.
I just lay there in the dark my tinnitus almost deafening.
It was instantly cold again, a glance on the screen showed that we were back.
Reluctantly I got up clicked the PDA light on and surveyed the room. This exit was definitely now sealed so I headed towards the front. There was dust everywhere the place hadn’t been used in years or was it centuries.
After unbolting the front door I was soon out on the street taking in a familiar skyline and soundscape.
Back in the office following a hot cuppa and what was left of the Peking duck I opened the parcel fully knowing what I would find.
I headed for the couch, too whacked to go home.
I awoke to ‘Om Aing Saraswatyai namah’ and thinking I’ll have to talk to Sēvikā about her origins.
I realised that something was amiss. The parcel was gone and a laddu had replace it.
As I chewed, I read the sticky message I had found inside.
when the silence between two people
is comfortable.
Sometime later..
One is for three serkrs located somewhere in Holyrood, Edinburgh.
The other, three tongaks from the Patrang Marpo part of the Potala complex, Llasa.
I reflected on the recent incident and what would be in store if I took the bait. Both locations were intriguing. I'll leave Llasa for later as I will have to do some research before going.
Locate Ympe, I take it you tagged him before he left you?
I found him with chalk in his hand finishing off a pentagram on the floor. An ancient grimoire was open next to him emitting an unearthly light. I heard mumbling, I hoped it was Ympe and not the tome.
Never know what we will be confronted with in the highlands.
When you’re finished here, pack for light reading on the plane my Bardo Thödröl, the Evans-Wentz 1927 edition.
Interesting..
I wondered if there’s a connection here somewhere, probably not..
Time will tell...
To miss quote Holmes:
“the game is ashirt”
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