What Would PKD Do?

340.

"I like the tinted windows," Mustang comments as we sit at a standstill in bumper to bumper traffic.

"If it makes you any happier, they're bullet-proof as well," I say, "to a point." She gets the implication and smiles with a satisfied, but concerned, grin.

"I have been trying to script some sort of a non-traditional - and non threatening - introduction because it's my guess that Mr. Turkin won't readily welcome an opportunity to verbally engage with us to discuss a peace accord."

"True, I have been thinking something similar, the hard part is telling the truth out of the gate, and not going the undercover espionage route. He might just say no thanks and leave it at that, THEN what do we do?"

"I don't know, this is all uncharted territory. Normally we are on offense after a crime has been committed, but here, it's all spec, inchoate, preemptive. The assignment is for us to try to talk him out of committing the crime before he actually does the job. Not encouraging. Did you ever see Minority Report?"

"The one where they have the predictive technology to see a crime before it's committed and send in a team to stop it prior to completion? Cruise right?"

"Yes, and Spielberg taken from the Philip K. Dick short story, an amazing bit of science fiction. I am a big fan of PKD as you know. How is this for the tag-line: 'In a perfect world, murderers would be caught before they could kill, and the innocent would never live in fear.'"

"That pretty much sums up our game plan doesn't it? I like it, and as I recall Cruise was good, tolerable anyway."

"He was terrific, the affected cop, working both ends against the middle. The ending is a heartbreaker."

"His daughter?"

"Yep."

I take my cell phone from my pocket and pull my notebook for the number. The futuristic device tells me that the number is ringing. Traffic begins to move at less than a fast snails pace.

"Hello?"

"Good afternoon, I am trying to locate Mr. Howard Turkin, is this a good number and can I speak with him please," I say in as calm a tone as I am able.

"Who is this?"

I introduce myself using my military rank adding a 'retired' to it, saying that I am working a study for Veterans Affairs and would like to hear Mr. Turkin's story since discharge for a National Study. "Is this Mr. Turkin?"

"Go fuck yourself."

I put the phone back in my pocket - and wonder what PKD might have his protagonist do now.