ref: cde05f4187aed1c77b8efb57ee5dabe8d5d5106d
dir: /troff/046.ms/
\" This master file produces text suitable for a 6"x9" paperback. .ds CH \" turn off page numbering (top) .B .nr HM 1i \" header margin .nr FM 1i \" footer margin .nr LL 4.25i \" line length .pl 9i \" page length .po .87i \" page offset (from left) .nr PS 8 \" font point size \" .kern \" pairwise kerning (groff only) .hy 14 \" automatic hyphenation \" .nr VS 24 \" double space .fp 1 R GA \" URW Garamond .fp 2 I GI .fp 3 B GM .fp 4 BI GMI .fp 5 CW H \" Helvetica .LP \& .nr % 125 \ " start with this page number .ds CF [%] \" first numbered page (bottom) .ps 10 .SH SECRET RECORD AT PINK MOUNTAIN .R .PP .ps 10 Spiro and TAB3 had not been her only children, of course. Far from it. Her misunderstood, misbegotten brood littered the Earth as well as known space, populating both sides of infinite irreconcilable differences. The more, she figured, the merrier. Keeping war in the family by diversifying the investment. Change your name and spread the blame. At least one of her offspring was bound to benefit from this security through obscurity in numbers. .PP .ps 10 TAB3 had been unique in that Maude Mold had impregnated his father. When they'd finally well and truly fucked, TAB2 had put forward some unusual requests. Sure, why not, Maude had thought. It wouldn't be any stranger than some of the shit Odin asked her to do. And really, he \fIhad\fR been asking for it. Nine months later, TAB2's baby was born in a Manhattan apartment. Just don't tell his wife how it all really went down. .PP .ps 10 Imagine Maude's surprise when she discovered a detailed account of these misadventures, written on a scroll, stuffed into a crack in the men's room wall of Plinth's shrine on Mars, several decades before any of it was fated to actually happen. Of course, she had pocketed the scroll. .PP .ps 10 Back then, TAB2 had still been a little kid. .PP .ps 10 But in that economy? She wasn't about to let it distract her. .SH 741.5 .R .PP .ps 10 "Bureau of Kami Affairs, ma'am. We have reason to believe you may be in possession of certain documents pertaining to unauthorized religious activities at a government facility." .PP .ps 10 The man was already leaning halfway inside her apartment door. He produced a replica pamphlet, quickly flipping through its brightly colored, computer generated pages by way of some kind of explanation, re: his inquiry. His badge looked real enough in the frankly inadequate resolution of her visor. Maude buzzed him in, illuminated his path to the kitchen. .PP .ps 10 "That elevator makes some strange sounds." .PP .ps 10 "Squash it," Maude said, tiring of the preamble. "Let's get naked and make a deal." .PP .ps 10 She kicked closed the kitchen closet and unzipped her shirt.