Sliced Bread 2: The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread

Fehnruller and Misty didn't notice Ingrid's absence that evening, so really things should have been okay until the next morning.

Unfortunately I had the mustard dream again, which means I woke up screaming, and when Fehnruller came into the back room to find out just what the hell the noise was about, he found he had some other sensible questions to ask.

"Where is she?" he said, kicking me in the ribs.

Now, I'm not a fighter. I don't just mean that I don't like to fight, I mean I won't do it. At all. The last time I hit somebody was third grade, and it was so not fun I haven't done it since. I never got picked on a whole lot; I was normal enough and had enough friends that I got through high school only having had to step lively a couple of times. It'd be nice to say that this was a moral stance, but really it's just that I don't like hitting people, and that I'm not good at it, and that I don't like doing things I'm not good at.

So when I said, "Where's who?", and Fehnruller started in on me, all I did was dodge and cover up. It worked pretty well. He may be a crook and he may have masterminded the spaceship attacks on Earth, but he wasn't the best fighter in the world either. He got a couple of shots in, but nothing too bad.

Once he had tired himself out, he said again, "Where is she?"

"You mean Ingrid."

"That's not her name no more."

"Whatever. I don't know where she is."

"Bullshit," he said, and took another swing at me. He missed.

"I don't."

The conversation continued in this uninteresting way for a while, and eventually he left me alone. I knew I wouldn't be able to get back to sleep, so I e-mailed Cruickshank again with the latest details. It was possible he was in some kind of communication with Greyghost, after all, and Greyghost needed to know as much as he could about what I hoped he was walking into.

If and when I get back to Earth I'm going to see if I can get Itzhak to rig this thing so I can receive as well as send messages when I'm in space or another dimension or wherever. I have comic strips to catch up on.