Chapter Six: In the pink

"Do you mind if I ask you: what's that thing on your neck?"

Harper was sitting on a small space on the desk in Viper's room. The rest was taken up by computers and music equipment. It was almost as messy as one of Harper's workbenches in the machine shop. It made him feel strangely at home. The odd guy had made him a sandwich and given him a beer and Harper was feeling increasingly happy with the fact that he had left Tyr behind in the dark, damp hole in the wall. Served him right for shouting at Harper. Although, the DJ was giving him some weird looks, which he until now had been pretending that he didn't notice.

"Uh... it's a bio-port?" Harper chanced.

He knew Milon had one, so obviously they existed in this dimension.

"Yeah, that's what I thought it was! I've just never seen one that... advanced looking before! You mind if I have a look?"

Harper couldn't say he didn't mind, but he supposed he owed the guy something so he sat still and let Viper examine the neural interface on his neck. The guy's hands were clammy, but Harper kept quiet.

"So, are you into mechanics?" Harper finally said, as the silence was becoming a bit uncomfortable.

"No, not really. I'm more of a software man myself. But I do appreciate nice tech when I see it..."

Viper stopped fingering Harper's bio port and reached for more beer. He sat down on the bed and looked intently at Harper.

"So... Harper... what do you do when you're not trying to sneak into night-clubs?"

"I wasn't trying to sneak in!" Harper's face took on a telltale pink hue; "I was just... looking for something."

"Oh yeah? What's that?"

"Doesn't matter. Anyway, I repair stuff. That's my job."

That was safe enough. Not too much information.

"Aha."

Viper reached over and opened a small cupboard beside the bed. He took out something that looked like a small plastic box. Inside, Harper could see something that looked like pills. They were pink. He put the little box down on top of the cupboard and looked like he was trying to make a decision on something. Suddenly, he bounced up off the bed and ran over to a large TV set in the corner. The screen came to life and Viper said to Harper, without taking his eyes off the TV:

"Almost missed the Traveller! I know it's a repeat, but I never get enough of that show..."

The Traveller? That was Milon's show, wasn't it? Harper was almost sure that he had heard him call it that. Maybe watching it would give him some clues to where he could be found? But he couldn't really see the TV very well from his place on the desk. He walked over and sat down on the edge of the bed so that he could watch it. Viper sat down beside him. The show started.

"Ah, an old one!" Viper said, "The old ones are the best ones, in my opinion... look how young he is there... that's what I remember. That's how he looked when I knew him..."
He sounded almost... nostalgic. This was getting weirder and weirder. Sometimes Harper wished that people would be as easy to figure out as machinery, but he really couldn't seem to get a grip on this guy. He'd thought at first that he looked in his thirties, but now at a closer range, he looked more like in forty. Maybe more. Clearly he was trying very hard for it not to show.

"You used to know Milon?" Harper asked.

"Oh yeah. When we were both young... well, he was younger than me of course... we used to go Streaming..."

"What's that?"

"You know, go into the Streams?"

Harper shook his head.

"You mean, you've that big fancy bio port and you've never been in the Streams? What you get it for then?"

"Um... software maintenance..." Harper mumbled, fidgeting with the little ring pull on his beer can.

"But no Streaming? You one of those goody goody people who wouldn't dream of doing anything illegal?"

He gave Harper an almost suspicious look. Harper was beginning to feel a bit like it was time to leave. But he really didn't want to go back out there in the rain and the darkness.

"No! I mean... no, I wouldn't say that!"

"Hmm. Ah well."

What was that supposed to mean?

"So, you've no idea where Milon is now then?" Harper asked.

"EterniVision I guess. Why?"

"I just need to talk to him."

"You need to talk to him? What's that supposed to mean?"

Viper laughed a little as if Harper was the one acting strange. Harper didn't quite know what to say. He couldn't really tell the guy he knew Milon from his quick visit to the space ship where Harper worked. He'd think he was fit for a padded cell. Thankfully, Viper didn't wait for an answer, just said:

"Well... I might be able to arrange something..."

"You would?"

Harper couldn't believe his luck. Of all the people he could have run into, it happened to be a guy who knew Milon personally! But Harper wasn't stupid. He knew that there must be some reason for why the DJ was helping him. He must be wanting something in return. Judging from those weird looks he was giving Harper, it couldn't be anything good.

"Sure. But not now... tomorrow..."

Viper leaned over and picked up the little box with the rose-coloured pills again.

"You know what these are?"

Harper shook his head.

"They're nice. Have one."

Every instinct in Harper's brain was screaming 'bad idea!', but unfortunately the main psyche decided not to listen. That beer he had drunk must have been stronger than what he was used to, because he was starting to feel nicely mellow after just a few cans. It looked like Viper was putting a pill in his mouth and then sticking his hand in the box again to pick another one up. He held it out to Harper.

"What is it, what does it do?"

"Just the same as drink really... only faster. It's completely harmless, trust me..."

Harper was not really that fond of drugs. Apart from alcohol of course. But the day he'd had. The life he'd had. What the hell? He opened his mouth before he had time to change his mind. The pill was extremely easy to swallow; it was like it just slipped down unnoticed. For one second, he couldn't feel anything. Then he could. It was like everything turned red. Not anger red. Good red. Warm. Very warm. His eyes closed and he fell backwards on the bed. It felt like someone was touching him, it was nice. He forgot all about where he was, what was going on. All he could feel was warm hands. He could imagine it was Trance or maybe even Rommie. Yeah, this would do nicely.