Contents
18. Jail-Time
Overview
Slick suffers stress-triggered Korsakov episodes after Gentry collapses from a terrifying encounter with the device over the comatose decker. As power fails, Slick tries to relocate the patient, sending Little Bird for a truck. Gentry intervenes, calms down, and reveals the supposed LF is actually an aleph, escalating the mystery.
Summary
Slick drifts in and out of awareness in Gentry’s loft, experiencing stress-triggered Korsakov episodes that erase his short-term memory. Cherry grounds him, identifies his chemo-penal past, and sedates him when he spirals. Gentry lies downed after having screamed at a gray, man-shaped manifestation from the device over the comatose decker.
When Slick wakes beside Cherry, she explains he shut down the table to protect Gentry, who collapsed and cut his head. With the building cold and the power out, Slick decides they must move the patient. He sends Little Bird to borrow a truck from Marvie’s crew, offering Gentry’s bike and a stash of drugs as leverage.
As they wait, Cherry’s beeper summons them: Gentry, still drugged, is trying to use a retinal camera on the decker to learn his identity. Cherry confiscates it and challenges Gentry’s judgment after his earlier panic. Gentry’s edge recedes, but he remains fixated on the data and the device.
Slick insists on evacuating, but Gentry counters that the jumpers are set and the decker must remain. He states the critical revelation: the unit over the patient is not an LF but an aleph. This reframes Gentry’s project and raises the stakes for keeping the comatose man in place despite the outage and rising tension.
Who Appears
- SlickSuffers stress-triggered Korsakov episodes; shuts down the table, plans to move the comatose decker, confronts Gentry.
- Cherry ChesterfieldNurses Gentry and the comatose decker; identifies Slick’s syndrome; sedates and stabilizes both; intercepts Gentry’s retinal camera.
- GentryObsessed researcher; collapses after seeing a gray form; later insists the patient stay and reveals the device is an aleph.
- Little BirdFactory kid; tends a fire; sent to fetch a truck using Gentry’s bike and drugs as leverage.
- The Count (comatose decker)Unconscious patient on the stretcher; target of Gentry’s retinal scan and the aleph’s mysterious effects.