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Chapter 16 - Running with Coyote

Something grabs my hand and I'm yanked off my feet. It's Coyote, in canine form, sleek and powerful, my arm in his teeth. I'm a ghost beside him, flapping in the lunar wind raised by his powerful legs as we sail across the moon.

"Join me!" he howls and flips me in front of him. There is no denying a god when he's ecstatic, and as I stretch my arms in front of me, I transform, a dog of light next to a dog of dark, and race with him. My tears are ripped from my eyes, tears for the needless pain and suffering my cubs and tens of thousands of trillions of others are going through.

"Summon them! Summon your cubs, flesh of your flesh, spirits born from your spirit! Summon them!"

There are four of us now, as my boy and girl join in. They are quicksilver, tumbling and somersaulting over us. Yipping with childlike abandon, even though they were teenagers when they died. They are warm, even though we race through the dark side of the moon. Playfully I try to nip them, but they are always just beyond my reach. And then, as we are greeted again by the Sun, they vanish.

Coyote knocks me over and stands above me. He licks me all over, and you'll have to use your imagination as to what happened next. And a few more times after that. Then I needed some answers that I knew only a Divinity would have. He told me a few things that surprised me, and quite a few that didn't.

"Danny," he says afterwards, "You know what you must do? And where you must go? Who you must take, and who must be left behind?"

"Yes, dog-breath." We both laugh.

"If you succeed, I will grow old with you. Would you like that?"

I knock him over, stand above him, and show him what a terrible idea that would be. Except when all is said and done, I find myself back in my body, being hugged by the team in the Sea of Serenity. My found family, minus a few that are one planet away.

"Les," I say, "What are the odds that Mickey's Mare Imbrium has been inspected by our adversaries, and then abandoned?"

"I'd say about 50-50, Boss." Les has the beginnings of a smile.

"I like those odds, 'cause I'm feeling lucky. We're going back. I need to go on a long, long journey. Teeps, you're going with me. I'll probably need the rest of you for backup in Tolkien World. We're going to set things right."

Old Vera shot up tiny, short flares of light, so they wouldn't be seen by anyone other than ourselves. For a Dromedary, she's okay. I suppose there are other decent Dromedaries out there. If there are, I'll try not to zap them to kingdom come. Because Team Crow Feather is on the Warpath, and no no-good, death-cheatin' scumbag MetaAppleSoft clone is gonna stand in our way, or their greedy, craven customers who look just like freshly spewed barf, or their AI army.

Two hours flew by, and there were plenty of signs to show that our former base of operations, The Armstrong Arms, had been give the once-over. Tessa counted tracks from 6 vehicles, four of them security details. Unforgiveable, and worst of all, they'd taken the keg of Sapporo. Luckily, there was still a good deal of Chinese food left.

"Sit down, guys. Time to put this in perspective. I've gotten some info from a divine source..."

"If it's that hunky Aragorn guy, I'm sure you got more than just information..." says Sunny, prompting a torrent of laughs and jests.

"Alright, alright – knock it off. I was hired to find two things: the person who killed Zack Murkerberg the 23rd, and that Murkerberg's soul data. What I kept losing sight of was the fact that there are, thanks to Virtuaverse technology, four Zacks that we're dealing with. Some of whom do not see eye to eye. That's something Teepee brought up, and a good thing, too. It's one of the keys to this puzzle."