He woke next to Lacey, she asleep still, her hair spread out across the pillow in a fall of shiny black with blue highlights -- she'd given him a matching dye-job a few days before and they looked like a matched set now. He let his hands lazily trace her soft skin, the outlines of her tattoos, her implants and piercings. He felt a stirring between his legs. Lacey yawned and woke and kissed him. "Good morning, my handsome man," she said. "Good morning, my beautiful woman. What's the plan for today?" "Whatever you want," she said. "Breakfast, then down to the ride," he said. "I'll do my email and writing there today." "Something before breakfast?" she asked, with a lopsided smile that was adorable. "Oh yes, please," he said, his voice breathy. # The smell at the Wal-Mart was overpowering. It was one part sharp mold, one part industrial disinfectant, a citrus smell that made your eyes water and your sinuses burn. "I've rented some big blowers," Perry said. "They'll help air the place out. If that doesn't work, I might have to resurface the floor, which would be rough -- it could take a week to get that done properly." "A week?" Death said. Jesus. No way. Not another week. He didn't know it for sure, but he had a feeling that a lot of these people would stop showing up eventually if there was no ride for them to geek out over. He sure would. "You smell that? We can't close the doors and the windows and leave it like this." Death's people, standing around them, listening in, nodded. It was true. You'd melt people's lungs if you shut them up with these fumes. "How can I help?" Death said. It was his constant mantra with Perry. Sometimes he didn't think Perry liked him very much, and it was good to keep on reminding him that Death and his buddies were here to be part of the solution. That Perry needed them. "The roof is just about done, the robots are back online. The dividers should be done today. I've got the chairs stripped down for routine maintenance, I could use a couple people for that." "What's Lester working on?" Death said. "You'd have to ask him." Death hadn't seen Lester in days, which was weird. He hoped Lester didn't dislike him. He worried a lot about whether people liked him these days. He'd thought that Sammy liked him, after all. "Where is he?" "Don't know." Perry put dark glasses on. Death Waits took the hint. "Come on," he said to Lacey, who patted him on the hand as he lifted up in his chair and rolled out to the van. "Let's just call him." "Lo?" "It's Death Waits. We're down at the ride, but there's not much to do around here. I thought maybe we could help you with whatever you were working on?" "What do you know about what I'm working on?" Lester said. "Um. Nothing." "So how do you know you want to help?" Death Waits closed his eyes. He wanted to help these two. They'd made something important, didn't they know that? "What are you working on?" "Nothing," Lester said.