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unintelligible sound indicating intense and overwhelming pain and dropped to his knees. I let go of his hand and he keeled over with a groan.
    "Tell me about Doctor Harold Melon," I said. Oh, I can detect lies alright; meeting in a remote location and using an assumed identity is a good hint that lying might be occurring. Honestly, humans are utter morons sometimes. Although the real stupidity here is putting out a public contract on somebody that knew something about me, when it seemed obvious that whoever was behind the contract didn't want me to know anything about Doctor Melon in the first place. Madness. There's an eighty-eight point nine seven percent chance that I would be the one picking up the contract. Don't they know that? Okay, they probably don't know it to quite the same level of precision as I do, but even so, I am the hitman – hitbot, whatever – round here.
    "Talk Faran. No doubt Doctor Melon was just supposed to be another hit, but unfortunately for you, he came to see me first."
    Faran was sobbing on the floor, not daring to move for fear of exacerbating the pain that lanced up his arm. "What do you mean? I don't care, I was just going to tell you where you could find him…"
    I raised an eyebrow – purely an affectation of mine, it served no useful function. "Oh really? Where?" I said.
    Between whimpers and gasps, Faran said, "He has a lab in the Manoogla Heights, but it’s never been found. I was here to tell you this in the first place! Fuck, why did you break my hand?"
    "Humans are often more truthful and more focused when they're in pain," I said. "I like my conversations to be honest and efficient. Now, why do you want Doctor Melon killed?" I took his other hand in mine, gently – for now.
    "I don't know," he cried. "Please, I was just told to wait here for you, to get you started on your contract, start you in the right direction."
    Okay, so they did want me, specifically, to find Doctor Melon? Or was this guy just blabbing?
    “Do you know what I am?” I said.
    “No.”
    “Where I came from?”
    “No.”
    “What I had for breakfast?”
    “What the fuck?”
    “Sorry, I’m just working on my humour routines. Humans like people who are funny, it helps put them at ease. Bad timing, huh?”
    Faran just whimpered.
    "Well, you’ll be pleased to know that the contract is complete. I expect you to contact me within twenty-four hours regarding payment. I will..." I tailed off because Faran had passed out. Bollocks to it, a few bucks for a kill I hadn't made wasn't important anyway – finding out what Doctor Melon knew was. I rifled through Faran's pockets, but he had nothing on him, and the inside of the farmhouse was bare apart from an old wooden table and some chairs. Sod it, I was probably wasting good time. I decided to get out to the Manoogla Heights quickly and find this laboratory. I gazed at Faran. I thought about killing him. He was probably within my usual kill parameters, but once again, I didn't have enough data to go on. I suspected he knew bugger all about anything, anyway. However, just in case I needed to track him down and speak to him again in the near future, it would help if I could be sure of roughly where he would be. So, with that in mind I quickly and cleanly broke enough of his bones to keep him immobile and in hospital for a few weeks. Stone-cold machine logic there. I strode outside and made a brief call to what passed for Boram Bay’s emergency services, notifying them about Faran’s condition and location, giving precise details of his injuries.
    “Computer, set a course for the Manoogla Heights,” I said to the thin air, even as I did just that in my own mind. Bah, I’d crack a funny one of these days, the law of averages said so.

Chapter Five
     
    The Manoogla Heights is a range of steep, rolling hills that forms the eastern edge of Boram Bay – the actual bay, not the city – and far beyond. My cave is on the opposite side, the western edge of the Bay,