Rytius Records (Substack Edition), Ch. 15

Chapter 15. Disvotion—February 5, 2143

15. Disvotion—February 5, 2143

At the request of his old friend, Balloony arranged for Ritius to meet Prince Razorbeem atop Orange Mountain Tuesday dawn, at the ruins of the old academy, quite close to Feelharmonica’s construction site, and not far at all from Little Falls dam, which Razorbeem in any case required to inspect. Ritius had two aims: to discover the price of New York’s assistance with his waterways, and to understand the reason for Razorbeem’s deception and subterfuge concealing those questionable arrangements—his strategic objective.

He drove himself.

One black-windowed black armored truck bearing the white-on-navy betentacled Jolly Roger insignia of the King of New York was parked in front of the bronze eagle sculpture, which once welcomed students. The campus was mostly destroyed, but sections of administration buildings remained, as did a complicated maze, a puzzle really, of concrete and steel retaining walls shaped precisely to purposes now unknown, but which forensic architects might one day study and solve.