About 09:00, Orba Organics research centre, somewhere in the Pacific, Saturday the 17th of April, 2055.

About 09:00, Orba Organics research centre, somewhere in the Pacific, Saturday the 17th of April, 2055.

The AV-4 arrives to pick us up. In light of recent events, its pilot's taken great care to make sure we know whose AV-4 it is.

Those good-byes that weren't said during the night are said this morning. We load up and head on out.

After only about ten minutes, we're back aboard the good ship Lollipop, sorry Tarragon. Damn Yuki for singing that song last time we were aboard.

We've got a week before we'll make landfall in Peru, so we've plenty of time to get ourselves healed. The week passes pretty uneventfully, except for one small storm on the second day and the only thing that's notable about that was our collective reluctance to secure Roland's wheelchair when the ship started pitching about on the waves.

Eventually it was Yuki who tied him down and ended our fun saying that she didn't want her work undone should he get injured again. She wasn't impressed the following day either, when she found me trying to organise a wheelchair curling event. My argument that Roland was no more intelligent than the stones normally used didn't sit too well.

Still, we're all alive and in good health when we make it into the port at Callao in the early hours of the 24th. We are soon at Peru's Lima-Callao International Airport and catch a 10:30 hypersonic flight back to NMK and find ourselves back 'home' just after 13:00.

Before leaving the terminal I check a DataTerm™ to find out what has happened in our absence. Things seem to be fairly quiet. Apparently the outbreak of 'Blue Goo Flu' only killed 14 people directly. A good few more were killed in riots and various shooting incidents related to the outbreak. I find a news article where our own alleged involvement is stated to have been a mistake and we're no longer on the wanted list, so in theory we should be as safe walking the streets as we're likely to get.

A section of the docks is still under quarantine, which seems odd given the incubation time of the 'Flu' and the fact we've been gone for almost five weeks, but enough has been opened up so that the dockers have been able to get back to work.

Crash gets his bike from the airport parking lot and the rest of us get a cab back to Shen's place. It's pretty much as we left it, thanks to the fact it's been looked after by two of Shen's close 'buddies' while we've been away. Almost as soon as we're through the door they pull Shen aside for a word. We continue on into the kitchen and sit down for a coffee.

Shen comes through a few minutes later and says he's off to climb a volcano in the Himalayas. A volcano in the Himalayas! I'm pretty sure there isn't one. At least not one that I've heard of, but I don't say anything. He carries on to say he's gonna be away for a while, but we're welcome to house sit while he's gone.

As that sinks in, and it's clearly taking longer for it to sink into Crash than anyone else, Roland makes a call to find out about his car that was getting fixed up after Shen had indirectly trashed it. It's ready for him to pick up, but it'll cost more due to storage costs.

He should be able to afford it though, while using the DataTerm™ at the airport, I checked my back account and it seems that Orba have seem fit to award us 7,000eb each as payment for our 'holiday' on the island.

Yuki makes enquires about her Shiva, which we'd left securely parked near the central government offices. She's not best pleased when she's told it's been impounded by the police. She's even less pleased when she hears why. Apparently it was stolen and then used in an armed robbery. The perpetrators were apprehended, but have yet to come to trial and her bike won't be released until after the trial has been completed. She decides it'll be quicker just to get a new one.

She mentions she's thinking of getting her own place to stay, as she doesn't feel secure at Shen's after all the attention we've received while we've been there. I offer to go halves on someplace if she'd be happy with me doing that, as it may mean being able to afford a bigger place. She says okay, and before you know it, Roland and Crash offer to pitch in too.

Not good, I was hoping for somewhere to hang out with fewer people around. Those fewer people being Crash and Roland. Shen's place might fit the bill now as it would just be me and Sykes with the whole house to ourselves, and I'm sure he'd be hiding in his basement most of the time.

We head into town and Yuki buys herself a new Shiva. She goes for a chrome one this time. Then it's off to see some estate agents to find out about getting a place. It looks like apartments big enough for everyone are too expensive, so other options are looked at. I'm already losing interest in the idea, but go along with them to see if anything piques my curiosity.

They arrange a viewing of an old warehouse that is in an area that is due to be redeveloped. When we get there, one look at the building and the area, is enough to tell me that it's not for me. I go round on the viewing with them though, just to make sure. The place really is not fit for human habitation and will need a lot of money spending on it to make it so.

Regardless, they decide to buy it. I think having a little money has gone to their heads. Great, so they've bought it, but it's gonna take tens, if not hundreds of thousands to get the place the way they want it. Still, it's their money, and I've got some ideas of my own for mine...