TCC08 (Dec 15, 1988)
Summary of Receipt
Summary
Transcript
DINER RECEIPT
RECEIPT NUMBER: TCC08
RECEIPT DATE: 12 15 1988
MANAGER TITLE: BALTIMORE
RECEIPT NOTES:
Of course Shaka shared everything with you. He worships at the shrine of secrecy—right up until it’s no longer convenient. Or perhaps he never saw my secrets as his to keep. Probably the latter. At least he’s out of our hair for now. But he’ll be back. They’ll all be back. Alfa, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot, Golf—the whole lot of them. The Astorians don’t take kindly to competition. And what are we, if not direct competition to their hegemony?
They’ll return. If we keep the Cafe going, that is. If we pack up and go underground, we might slip beneath the Salt and Pepper’s radar for a time. Another potential perk of flipping the script on Fate.
But let’s be clear: I wouldn’t shut down the Cafe and Diner out of fear of the Astorians or the Indigos, not for a second. I’ve run a Cafe and Diner before, and I’ve seen others run them in my absence. Astoria is powerful, sure, but far from almighty. No, if I ever considered shutting down the Cafe, it wouldn’t be because of the Agency or the Indigos as a whole.
Maybe for the Zulus.
Or the Towers.
Or the Muladharas.
Or Tses.
…Okay, really, just the Zulus. Towers are barely worth a passing thought—I don’t like their head, but then again, old Abby doesn’t like much of anyone, does he? The Muladharas? Intimidating, sure, but Yaksha is all bark and no bite, especially this far outside their jurisdiction. And the 900th Sluzhba of the Ozhogs—the Tses? Well, let’s face it: just about everyone is afraid of them, even the Ozhogs themselves. There’s no point in us worrying about them specifically.
Ah—got off track. At the very least, I’m relieved the Zulus have gone, for now. Still, I wish Shaka hadn’t shared what he did with mon amour… but I suppose the cat’s out of the bag now, isn’t it? I’ll share what I can—no, I have to do better than that. I’ll share everything I know. It’s only fair. Just… give me a few hours to sort through all of it.