Nymphomation(92)
‘What does she want?’
‘Let her speak.’
Miss Sayer’s words appeared as typescript on the screen, issuing from her animated mouth. Time now. Grab wings. Come get. Rescue.’
‘Miss Sayer, wait…’
But the woman had already vanished, and Frank disappeared with her as Jazir hit the space bar. The cursor was clockless, at last, blinking like a drunk rudely dragged from sleep.
‘We’re in!’ cried Daisy.
‘You betcha.’
Jazir worked the mouse to pull open the hard disk, but the thing was a blank page, no windows, no knowledge. Before their eyes came an icon, dissolving out of the memory banks.
‘What is it?’ asked Daisy.
‘Miss Sayer. Didn’t I tell you, Daze. She’s unerasing…’
‘Press on it then.’
Did so. A file came up, dated the Friday just gone. Once opened, this revealed the workings of Dopejack on the evening of his death. Daisy and Jazir watched amazed as the computer worked itself backwards, deeper into the hidden depths of the AnnoDomino channel.
‘DJ was puzzled by the dancing patterns of the Joker,’ said Daisy.
‘Yeah, something got to him.’
They reached the point where Dopejack had called up his own screen saver, and then fed it back on the Joker’s dance.
‘Why’s he doing that?’ asked Daisy.
‘I don’t know. It’s weird. Why Frank?’
A door opened, marked NO ACCESS, and through it a blurb travelled. The history of the Joker Bone scrolled on to the screen. Real name: George Horn.
‘I don’t get it,’ said Jazir. ‘I thought he was dead.’
‘He is. Malthorpe stole the info from the maze, remember? After he was killed, Malthorpe took copies of everything: the maze, the nymphomation, the version of Georgie that lived in the hard disk. The wanderer.’
‘So Malthorpe has used this program to construct the Joker Bone image?’
‘I think so.’
‘Best get the others.’
‘Shall we put some clothes on first?’
Daisy rounded up Joe and Celia and her father. The latter, of course, went crazy when he saw the George Horn knowledge. ‘Fucking hell! He did it. Malthorpe actually managed it. He brought Georgie back alive.’
‘Not alive, not really,’ said Daisy, ‘only an animation.’
‘So who’s going round town pretending to be the Joker then,’ said Joe. ‘Since when could an animation kill people?’
‘I think I know,’ said Jimmy. ‘It’s to do with the nymphomation. Somehow, Malthorpe has found a way to release it from the computer, into reality. The knowledge is passed on.’
‘Dopejack’s message!’ cried Daisy. ‘About how he had to bite somebody.’
‘That’s it. It’s through a bite.’
‘I know that’s right,’ said Jazir, rubbing at his wrist, already feeling the blurb-wings beat on his shoulder blades.
‘So who did Dopejack bite?’ asked Joe. ‘And who’s the Joker Bone now?’
Nobody could answer. But Joe was thinking to himself, No more biting…
Dopejack left a desperate hidden message. Did Benny also? Joe pulled the folded paper out of his pocket. ‘Close all channels: connect to zero.’
‘I think it was Benny,’ he said.
‘Benny what?’ asked Jazir.
‘Benny who got bitten by Dope. I think Benny was the Joker Bone. That’s why he killed himself.’
He explained why, and then realized that Hackle was in that hospital ward at the end, along with Crawl, a domino official.
‘Shit!’
‘What?’
‘Hackle. Max Hackle. I’m sure…’
‘What’s happening?’ asked Celia, because the search on the screen was not yet over. All five Dark Fractals were gathered in a half circle, as last Friday’s Dopejack (deceased) forced open another door.
‘He’s calling up something called DANCING MASTER,’ noted Daisy.
Jazir was already aware of what was happening. He stepped back slightly from the circle, not wanting to know.
‘Jaz,’ said Daisy, ‘according to this, the Joker was taught how to dance by Frank Scenario. Isn’t that weird? That’s why he was consulting the screen saver. Jaz?’
Jaz wasn’t answering.
‘Jaz? What’s wrong?’
‘It’s his hero, isn’t it?’ said Celia.
‘Some hero,’ said Joe, laughing.
‘It’s OK,’ said Daisy. ‘Just because… doesn’t mean… Mister Million could have just copied Frank’s dance for the Joker. He doesn’t have to be involved. Frank’s still cool. He’s the coolest man in the universe. Jaz…’