SLINGING THROUGH THE TREES

Job 9: What's Up, Cop?

Sly is having a merry time staying out of Bentley's way, wandering the village and pick-pocketing, when he hops on a rooftop and spots a commotion by the bridge. He brings out his binoc-u-com and zooms in: the robot tigress, accompanied by nearly a dozen flashlight antelope guards, is inspecting it. The robot has on clothing, a vest and pants that seem designed with a special holder for her whip, making the resemblance to Neyla even stronger. "Hey Bentley, was this part of the plan?"

"Was what part of the plan?" Bentley grumbles as he comes into view, then blinks over his glasses. "No... though it is a good opportunity."

"Opportunity?"

"I haven't got anything finished that'd take out the robot yet, so we can't deal with her. But we can tail her. If that robot was uploaded with Captain Neyla's personality, as it seems, then Neyla was known for ranting and monologing when she was angry. We may learn something useful if you tail her."

"Sounds like my type of job," Sly says.

"If you get a chance, try to get at her pockets. There may be something useful in there."

"Okay, now it's my perfect job," Sly says, and tucks away his binoc-u-com.

The robot seems to be finishing its inspection on the bridge; she comes to the front of it (Sly jumps on top of the bridge and twists a landing to hear) and turns to address the guards. "A repair person will be here tomorrow. But in the meantime, no one goes in," she orders.

The guards salute. The robot leaves; three guards peel off to follow her.

And so does Sly.

"Easy does it, Sly," says Bentley in her ear. "No telling what'll happen if you get noticed, but so far, this robot has no idea we're here. Best to keep it quiet."

So this is a stealth mission. Sly stays on the rooftops, or the vines between them, as he follows the robot and her guards. They're jumpy; or, at least, the robot is. She stops now and then to turn in a full circle to listen.

They're halfway across town, near the safehouse, when the robot stops and scowls. "I heard something," she says clearly. "Each of you, go." And the three guards go in three directions while the robot goes a fourth.

Sly doesn't hesitate: he drops to the streets and starts rifling through the robot's pockets. He doesn't get anything but some coins before she nods and seems about to turn, so he takes to the roofs again.

But he still hears as she says, clearly, "The locals here are no trouble. They'll do anything to avoid getting on my bad side, the superstitious lot. And the money is nice, not that I need it anymore. It's not money that I need to pay her back."

Sly raises his eyebrows, but that's all she says before her guards return.

The robots tour ranges further, towards the edges of town. The gang hasn't been here much; there haven't been any jobs requiring it. There's a gorgeous piece of artwork on the roof of one house that Sly will have to come back for and a lot of trash, mainly bottles. There are also far fewer vines. Sly has to take to the streets at times.

It's at one of those times that the robot stops and stiffens. "I smell a rat," she snarls, and her guards scatter to look. Sly ducks into a convenient barrel and waits for his opportunity to rifle through her pockets again.

More money. Nothing actually useful. But when Sly ducks back into the barrel, she speaks. "As back-up plans go, this is working fairly well. Nowhere near as efficient as the Clock-la scheme, but both would have had me roboticized anyway, and I never would have known about either without her help." The robot growls under her breath. "Perhaps my other self's mistake was using the Klaww Gang to revitalize my immortality, rather than a more controllable group of criminals. No matter. This body may not be quite immortal, yet, but it's only a matter of time."

Sly swallows hard. Bentley's in his ear, but saying nothing important, and nothing he can focus on even so.

But he can't take the time to think about it; the robot's on the move again. And Sly has to move with her. Back into town.

Every rooftop has a guard now, an owl or a flying squirrel, even the ones that are generally empty. Roofs with two guards have one that flies to the street and salutes as the robot passes; other guards walk to the roof's edge and salute. They seem nervous.

Having so many guards around, on the rooftops and moving unpredictably, makes it harder for Sly to be a silent shadow. He has to time himself carefully, figuring out when to move, when to hide, when to go up and when to be down.

And when the robot stops in the center of the street in front of the big, fancy hut and says, "There's a raccoon nearby. I can smell him," Sly is ready.

The guards scatter; Sly ducks forward to pick the robot's pocket. This time, his efforts bear fruit: a well labeled WATERWHEEL KEY.

Sly ducks back before the robot turns around. She crosses her arms and scowls. "All I need is to take care of that low-down thief," she says. "Once that's accomplished, I'll have repaid my debt. And can start working towards a proper hate chip's design, not just the extended life of a robot!"

She flounces into the fancy house and slams the door before Sly can recover.

In Sly's ear, Bentley speaks. "Come on back to the safe-house, Sly. I'm getting together a plan."

JOB COMPLETE

Sly glares at the fancy building, almost trembling with rage.