Zero History

haven’t been sold off, otherwise at least a few would have surfaced on eBay. None have.
Could Bigend find them for me?”
“I don’t know,” said Hollis. “But if he couldn’t, I don’t know who could.”
“I don’t know what I could find out for you,” said Meredith, “but assuming I found
something, I’d consider an exchange. Otherwise, not.”
Milgrim looked from Meredith to Hollis, back.
“I’m not authorized to make that sort of deal,” said Hollis, “but I can certainly take him
the proposal.”
This reminded Milgrim of the closing rhythm of certain very backstage drug deals, the
kind in which one party may know of someone with an Aerostar van, full of some
precursor chemical, while another is aware of the approximate whereabouts of a really
efficient pill-pressing machine.
“Please do,” said Meredith, smiling, then taking a first sip of her wine.
>>>
“That was very good,” Milgrim said to Hollis, after saying good night to Meredith and
George outside the restaurant. “The timing. When you told them about Bigend.”
“What choice did I have? If I’d told them otherwise, I’d already have been lying to
them. The hotel’s this way.”
“I was never good at that sort of timing,” said Milgrim, then remembered the penguin,
and glanced up.
“What was that about UFOs, when you first walked in?”
“I don’t know,” said Milgrim. “I thought I’d seen something. It’s been a long day. I
have your computer. Would you mind if I kept it overnight? I have to check something.”
“It doesn’t matter,” said Hollis. “I only have it for a book I haven’t started writing. I
have my iPhone. What did you think you saw?”
“It looked like a penguin.”
Hollis stopped. “A penguin? Where?”
“In the street. That way.” He pointed.
“In the street?”
“Flying.”
“They can’t fly, Milgrim.”
“Swimming. Through the air. Level with the second-story windows. Using its flippers
to propel itself. But it looked more like a penguin-shaped blob of mercury. It reflected the
lights. Distorted them. It may have been a hallucination.”
“Do you get those?”
“P-A-W-S,” said Milgrim, spelling it out.
“Paws?”
“Post-acute withdrawal syndrome.” He shrugged, started for the hotel again, Hollis