Chapter 239: Fish Taco Tuesday
It took an hour to find the spot Belinda had told him about. He'd taken to the rooftops to search for it, and the little cul-de-sac was nearly invisible from above. The alley leading to it was narrow and partly roofed, where someone had connected two rows of buildings with rooms between them. The small dead end was likewise hard to see, with buildings that grew wider at the top and used each other for support, their upper levels merging together into a rooftop. Milo finally caught a glimpse of the area below because of the lanterns that ringed the round courtyard. Retracing his steps and dropping to street level, he found the alleyway leading to the cafe Belinda had been taking him to.
The area reminded him of parts of the Hollow. It felt like a smaller cave within the hollow city. Lanterns hung from the ceiling providing bright light. In the center of the courtyard was a statue of a dwarven warrior, most of the details lost to the ages. His outstretched hand pointed at the cafe, and a sign hung from his arm that said, "Every Day is Taco Tuesday." Milo took his advice and went into the little eatery. It was packed with people, and at the back, sitting at a table piled with food was Captain Pike.
"Oi! Look what wandered into my net. Come grab a chair and get some grub with me." He pointed to three people sitting at the table who had been listening to his stories, "You lot! Shift your loads over. Make room for my little buddy." The three sailors hurried to comply.
Milo took one of the seats. "Hi, Skipper. How are the tacos?" If there was one safe topic when talking to Ogres, it was food.
Pike stuffed two more crunchy tacos into his mouth, chewing noisily, swallowing, and belching. "Good grub. Some of the best in the city. Always something different."
"And we are always happy to have you come by, Captain." An older man in an apron brought out two more plates of food, placing a large platter in front of Pike and a smaller plate in front of Milo. "Try a little of each, and let me know what you like. The first is a crispy taco with grilled shark, spicy cave lichen, and pickled vegetables. The round patty is my family's recipe for crab cakes. Next to that is an enchilada with creamy cheese and shrimp filling. Finally, we have a bowl of New England clam chowder."
The Ogre looked at the bowl suspiciously. "I never can figure out half the places you've been, Carlos. Where the hell is New England? For that matter, where's Old England?"
A woman brought Milo a pitcher of sweet tea and filled his glass. "I'd bring you a map of where we're from, but I'm worried you'd sail off to find it, and then I'd lose my best customer."
"I want my chair, please. I'll feel better in it." She couldn't move independently in the bed and was reliant on others.
The Doctor nodded, which meant nothing at all. "We will. Just as soon as we find out what happened. I'm worried about the effect that game has on you. I'm going to run a scan, take some blood samples, and you'll be able to be back in your chair by tomorrow. But no game until I see what's going on."
"That doesn't make sense. You can monitor and scan me using the pod. No matter how many wires you hook me up to, I should be safer in a Mark 7 pod than in a hospital bed."
The doctor sighed. Belinda had heard that sigh a hundred times. It was her way of showing fake regret when she had bad news. "I'm afraid not. There is some worry among the higher-ranked medical professionals that those pods pose some long-term problems in special cases. I have to be careful."
Belinda cocked her head. "Really? What problems? Putting people in pods is the entire purpose of Manpower. Something that makes a pod unsafe affects our business model, not to mention tens of millions of people playing in the game."
"Everyone else isn't my concern Belinda, just you. And I did say special cases. It's very complex, and I don't want to worry you. You should just rest and concentrate on regaining your strength. Your father will be down soon to visit you, and Bart will be in the next room if you need him."
As soon as her doctor left, Belinda put in her earplugs, put the Teletubbies Christmas Singalong Marathon on the monitor, and cranked the sound high. She couldn't hear it and turned the video portion off. Bart hated it, and she played it whenever she could. A laptop was incorporated into her bed, and she swung that in front of her and brought up the company email, telling Uncle Erik that she had invited friends to come by tomorrow and gave him their names to notify security. At least she could visit with people and talk to Milo. She was increasingly convinced that he might be right, which scared her.
She waited for John to come down and visit with her, only half expecting that he would. She wondered what he knew about the supposed problems with the pods.
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