Metrophage | Page 4

moments, it seemed to Jonny that they were
all engaged in nothing more than some bizarre battle of symbols. What
the smuggler lords and gangs provided--food, power and drugs--had
become the ultimate symbols of control in their world. The Federales
could not afford to ease up their rationing of medical treatment, access
to public utilities and food distribution. They had learned, long ago,
how it easy it was to control vast numbers of people simply by
worrying them into submission, keeping them busy hustling to stay
alive.
Los Angeles, as such, had ceased to exist. L.A., however--the

metaphorical heart and soul of the city--was alive and kicking. An L.A.
of the mind, playground of trade and commerce: the City of Night.
Known in the local argot as Last Ass, Lonesome Angels, the Laughing
Adder, Los Angeles existed in the rarefied state of many port cities,
functioning mainly as a downloading point for a constant stream of
data, foreign currency, dope and weapons that flowed onto the
continent from all over the world.
It was the worst kept secret in the street that half the State Legislature
had their fingers deep in the black market pie. Like some fragile species
of hothouse orchid, the city existed only as long as it had the politicos
backing. Without that, the Committee would be on them like rabid dogs.
For the moment, though, the balance was there. Merchandise flowed
out and cash flowed in, blood and breath of the city.
Jonny understood all this and accepted the tightrope existence. He
knew too, that someday the whole thing was going to crash. It was their
collective karma. Sooner or later some politico was going to get greedy,
try to undercut one of the gangs or simply sell them out for a vote. And
the Committee would move in. Jonny knew that this knowledge should
make a difference, but it did not.
In the alley, the speed came on like an old friend, an electric hum up
and down his spine. Suddenly all things were possible. The nervous
glare of neon signs and halogen street lamps domed Sunset in a pulsing
nimbus of come-on colors. Stepping from the alley, Jonny barely felt
his boots on the pavement. Easy Money was as good as dead.
There were five or six lepers clustered around the entrance to Carnaby's
Pit, begging alms and exhibiting their wounds to those willing to pay
for a look. An upturned Stetson on the ground before them held an
assortment of coins, crumpled dollar and peso notes and gaily colored
pills. Ever since the lepers' numbers had grown too large to ignore, odd
rumors had sprung up around them. Many people swore that the
Committee was putting something in the water, while others suspected
the Arabs. Some blamed the Alpha Rats, claiming they were trying to
destroy the Earth with Leprosy Rays from the moon. It was Jonny's
opinion that most people were idiots.

One leper in a nylon windbreaker was reciting in a low whiskey voice:
The streets breathe, ebb and flow like the
seas beneath a sodden twilight eye.
The sky appears from a maw of rooftops-
Dusk streets, dry fountains
coax the cemetery stars.
Jonny pulled a few Dapsone and tetrahydrocanabinol capsules from his
pouch and dropped them into the battered Stetson. The leper who had
been reciting, his head and face heavily bandaged, opened his jacket.
"Thank you, friend," the leper said through broken lips, pointing to his
freshest scars.
Nodding politely, Jonny left the lepers and stepped down into the Pit.
The skyline tilted, angled steeply downward, then up, became a vertical
blur of mirrored windows, skyscrapers leading to a hologram star field.
Jonny was in the Pit's game parlor, separated from the bar by a dirty
lotus print curtain. Around the edges of the room, antique pinball
machines beeped and rang prosaically while the air in the center of the
parlor burned with the phantom light of hologram games. Crossing the
parlor, Jonny was caught in a spray of hot blue laser blasts from
Sub-Orbital Commando, showered with fragments of pint-sized
galaxies spinning from Vishnu and Shiva's hands. Rat-sized nudes
swarmed above his head, frantically groping at each for Fun In Zero G.
One angry pinball player threw a glass and it shattered against the far
wall. Jonny stepped back as two members of the Pit's own Meat Boys
moved smoothly from opposite ends of the room to intercept the
shouting man.
"Goddamit, this machine just ate my last dollar!" screamed the pinball
player.

He was still screaming as the two beefy monsters grabbed an arm
apiece and ushered him through the front doors. They came back alone.
Jonny half expected to see them return with the guy's arms.
"Peace! Can't we have a little peace in here?" mumbled a sweating