Jak sat back
Back sat Jak
Splat went Jak
Splat, Jak, splat
Jak went splat
and his body
Went back

Jak could barely contain his snickering as he crumpled the paper in his fist. The little death threat was complete with stick figures of him falling off a building and exploding, or was he being shot with a Peace Maker? It was hard to tell. He shook his head. "Good thing these morons are barely literate. I'll file it with the others." He threw the ball of paper into a corner. It hit an already substantial pile of death threats and caused a small avalanche. "Best way to start the morning ever."

He glanced out the open window and groaned. Thermals rose between the buildings across the street, warping his view of the panting slummers below. Jak wiped his forehead. Record temperatures had scorched the city for a week, to everyone's dismay. Ashelin had ordered a good majority of the KG to begin demolishing the oldest, slummiest part of the slums, and Jak wasn't excluded. "Wonder if Dax got that air conditioning at the Ottsel yet," he muttered. He sighed and reached for his armor.

"Jak."

He looked around wildly for a second until he realized it was his comm. Jak picked it up. Ashelin had set her frequency to directTalk; he still wasn't used to dT. He missed the warning beeps the comm usually gave when people tried to reach him. "Yeah?"

"I'm at Demolition Site 12B." Ashelin swung her comm around so Jak could see behind her. "There's something here that would interest you."

Jak rolled his eyes. Ashelin and the KG loved assigning random numbers to projects. "Why don't you just tell me about it now?" He pulled a splinter out of his tunic.

"I think you should see it yourself. Plus, we could really use some help." Click. The screen was black.

Jak sighed and hit another button on the comm.

"Naughty Ottsel."

"Hey Tess. Daxter there?"

Tess blinked. "I think he's in the back. Hang on." Her hand loomed over the screen as she picked the comm up. "How're you doing, Jak?"

"Pretty good. Got some more death threats today." He laughed.

"That's terrible." Tess frowned. "You should be careful."

"Of what? A bunch of superstitious slummers with nothing better to do than irritate the hell outta the guy who saved their city?" Jak ran his thumbnail along the edge of the Blaster gun, scratching away dirt. He didn't see Tess shake her head sadly.

"Yo?" Daxter's furry stare filled the screen.

"Dax!" Jak grinned at his friend. "You busy?"

"Do curious cats die? 'Course I'm busy!" Daxter waved his arms around. "The floor boards are swelling in the heat and some idiot moron ordered the low carb beer instead of the Lo Croix- what?" Jak heard muffled sounds from behind Daxter's comm. "That was you, babe? Oh, no, I didn't mean idiot moron..." He sighed. "It's okay, I'll fix it."

Jak's face fell. "If you can, stop by DS 12B."

"Yeah. Sorry buddy. I'll catch up with you later." Click. Black screen.

Jak glared at the comm. "I hate when people hang up on me." He jammed it into his pocket and dressed quickly. The jet board stood against the door in a puddle of its own paint. "Dammit!" Jak vaguely recalled Keira warning him that regular house paint wouldn't be good for the board. He hadn't cared at the time; the Precursor flame design was awesome and flashed light when he jumped. "Friggin' board," he muttered. He pried it off the floor and shook it. Drops of silver and red splattered all over his pants. Jak swore under his breath and stepped outside.

Hot. Holy Mar, was it hot. Jak tied his bandana around his forehead and stepped on the board. It groaned and shot forward. "Whoa!" Jak lost his balance and fell. Once his weight was gone, the board stopped automatically. "Let's try that again," he said, ignoring the stares of the slummers. He planted his feet firmly and set off.

Boarding in the streets was a challenge, although the slummers usually tried to get out of his way. Boarding in the streets in the heat was nearly impossible. No one could be bothered to move quickly, and the board was prone to sudden jolts and unexpected turns. Its tiny motor constantly whined and gave off black clouds of exhaust. Jak grit his teeth and maneuvered around a crowded stand. The group of slummers glanced at him warily and made signs with their hands.

"Beware, Dark One," hissed the old woman behind the counter. She shook a purple jar at him and fanned her face with the other hand.

"Yeah, whatever." Jak sneered. The board thankfully shot ahead and he turned behind another building. "These people have serious loyalty issues." He jumped off the finicky board and strapped it to his back. "Hey," he shouted to a passing KG. "Where's DS 12B?"

The armored guard pulled his helmet up, glad for an excuse to escape the heat inside. He wiped his sweaty face and took a deep breath. "Clearance?"

Jak pulled out a pass. "Here."

The guard inspected it closely. "Straight ahead, hang right after the clothing store. Big glass windows, you'll see it. Damn, it's hot."

"Sure is." Jak readjusted his bandana.

"I've been called five times today for Indecent Exposures; these damn slummers don't know how to take it, so they take it off, see?" The guard grinned.

Jak nodded, muttered an incoherent goodbye, and strode off. This armor almost makes me want to partake in some indecent exposure. He shook his head and tried to get his mind off the heat. When did Keira say that zoomer would be done? He checked the street signs against the map in his head. He'd been here only a few times before, back when he ran around doing side missions for the Underground. Heh. What did she say about me needing grills more resistant than just 'dent resistant?' He thought for a minute, grinning at no one in particular. I think she said I need collision resistance. I hope she can get those engine boosts upgraded before next month's qualifying races.

Jak turned right at Linna's Clothing Boutique and fished his pass out again. He showed it to the guard and hopped over the chain link fence. "Hoo, yeah. Look at that." Jak stood with his hands on his hips and surveyed the area.

Demolition Site 12B was much larger than the other two sites he'd help take down. There were mountains of debris everywhere. Some of the houses still stood; sweating KG's pounded the walls with demolishers. Young guards-in-training ran around frantically, carrying bottles of water and work orders. The old eco lighting system had been carefully dug up. Jak followed the grid, noting where people had put up deadly voltage signs. Pipes and open sewers spewed gunk all over the site, and it baked into the crumbling basements. The stench was extreme. Jak raised his eyebrows; at least this area didn't have high rise tenet housing like the rest. These shacks were probably made before high rises existed. Everything was covered in white dust and blurring in the heat. In the distance he spotted Ashelin, a body-shaped set of red armor and skin tone stripes. He kicked an ancient eco lighting board aside and made his way across a stinking puddle of sewage.

"Jak." Ashelin nodded and held her wrist up to her face, a small electric fan strapped to it. Her tattoos were faded under a layer of white grime. Jak squinted and stood next to her. Ashelin jutted her head at the giant umbrella that had been set up. "The only shade there is," she said, grinning. "Sometimes there are perks to this governess thing."

Jak shrugged and untied his bandana. "So... what's going on?" He wrung it out and streams of sweat ran down his wrists. He shook his hands.

"One of the guards-in-training found this," she said. She bent slightly and picked something up. "Look."

Jak took it. It was a trophy, beat up bad and covered in dust. He wiped the chipped plate. First place in the Annual Men's 200 Standard Ring Challenge, 2:53.98. He turned it over. "So? That's the record I beat last month. Big deal."

"No." Ashelin turned the trophy around again. "Look harder."

Jak did. "A picture...." He squinted.

"It's hard to see sometimes. It's a cheap old holopicture. Tilt it away from the light."

The corrugated plastic had blistered along the edge, but Jak could make out the subject of the picture. A young man in an old fashioned green shirt was jumping off a zoomer. Jak recognized the model as one of the first of the smaller, more compact types used for racing. He squinted at the painted writing on its side. C lyl ve. The blistered plastic obscured most of the name.

"Well?" Ashelin looked at him.

Jak shrugged. "I don't see anything special about this. It's a piece of junk."

Ashelin scoffed. "Men and details. Look at that guy."

"I did."

"Look again!"

Jak rolled his eyes. All right. What's she whining about? We got a guy here, maybe mid twenties. He's real freaking happy about winning- woo hoo. I shattered that record by a whole 30 seconds. He glanced up. Ashelin was still frowning at him. Yeesh. Wonder who spat in her pudding this morning. Prolly Torn- she had to cut his KG funding again. Ok, Jak. Keep staring and eventually she'll give up and leave us alone.

"Don't you see it?"

"See what?"

"He looks like you!" Ashelin waved her hands through the air in irritation. Her tiny fan whirred. "A lot like you!"

Jak looked again. Hey... she's right. He's got yellow hair. Mine used to spike like that. "I guess... a little."

"A little? Jeez, Jak. I could get you a retro shirt like that and you'd be him."

"So what?" Jak felt uncomfortable. The man in the holopicture grinned wildly, and Jak knew they shared the same shade of ocular blue.

Ashelin shook her head. "Fine. I thought maybe you'd be a little curious. Excuse me for caring." She pushed past him and started screaming at the head of demolitions.

"Yeesh! What was that all about?" Daxter climbed up onto Jak's shoulder. He grinned at his friend's shocked face. "I had to get away from Tess, she's driving me nuts. Siggy-boy gave me a ride over." Daxter waved to the Wastelander, who was busy trying to find a place to park. "Woo, it stinks here. Hey, what's that?"

"Ashelin found this old trophy and-"

"Whoa! Is that you? Is this one of those old timey picture deals?" He snatched it from Jak's hands. "Why didn't you take me? I love getting my picture taken. I am the epitome of all that is photogenic- charm, rugged good looks, an animal attraction no woman can resist." He struck a pose. Jak stared at him, highly unamused. "Ahh... but I guess you're too busy saving the world to appreciate Fine Art." Daxter inspected the trophy. "Look, they even got your hair to stick up like it used to! How much glue did that take?"

"This isn't me," said Jak, snatching it back. "It's just a coincidence."

"Just a coincidence? This guy's prolly one of your ancestors or something. We should look him up- have a grand ol' family reunion." Daxter panted a little and scratched his ears. "You are so lucky you don't have fur."

Jak silently agreed.

"Jak!" Ashelin shouted and pointed to her left. "They need help dewiring the eco sprawl!"

"Ooo, that doesn't sound dangerous at all," Daxter said. He imitated Ashelin's voice. "Here, Jak, you hold this end of the sparking eco wire while Daxter chews through the mainframe box to be sure there's no more power to this sector! It's okay to use Daxter for that because I'm a crappy governess who hasn't passed the Animal Equal Rights Act yet and it's still legal to abuse ottsels." Daxter stuck out his tongue and pretended to get shocked. "Zzzzz! Oh well, let's stuff him and put him on the mantle, next to Torn's dignity!"

Jak laughed. "I think the heat is getting to that tiny brain of yours," he said.

"You should see what it's doing to Tess," grumbled Daxter. "I remember heat rashes when I was human. I don't even want to know what's going on down there now."

Jak made a face. "Get off my shoulder."

"No prob, heat rock." Daxter jumped and stretched. "I'm gonna catch one of those guards-in-training and see if he'll spare some water for the quenched throat of a..." He paused. "A..." He stomped his foot. "See! It's too hot to even think of words anymore. I'm outta here." He took off after an exhausted guard.

Jak watched his friend go. He stood under the umbrella for a moment, unable to think about anything other than the heat and how much dewiring the eco sprawl was going to suck. "Jak!" He looked up. Ashelin was probably glaring at him from under all that dust on her face.

"I'm coming," he said. He shoved the trophy into his backpack and trudged over.