by Clay Moore
Miss Wren’s warning came to him. She had said that as he matured, he would seek out a woman who liked sex as much as he. He would then add the other dynamics so that he was on the road to love. Brian thought his eleventh grade English teacher was full of it. He was Sixteen and just about had the entire Junior class. He even had Miss Wren. She taught him a lot about women and how to please them. At the end of that year, they had to part. It was because of this parting that she gave him that advice and recommended that he take math with Miss Periwinkle.
Brian did not know this, but almost all of the women teachers would pick out a student and start having sex with him. Miss Periwinkle did not have an artists soul. She just liked sex with boys on the cusp of manhood. Her advice to him was to volunteer for the Marine Corps.
Brian shook his head to concentrate on the road ahead.
“What is the next thing we have to do?” He asked Ofana.
“Well, there is a small Oasis called Searing Sands. Here is where a large Marketplace does business.”
“So, why are you here?”
“They have a tradition of asking questions of a speaker. I can’t think of a better way to spread my reasons for doing this. They ask, and I answer.”
“You know that your enemies are going to put in people to try and trip you up.”
“I know, but I am glad that this is sort of in the middle of things. The other thing I am grateful for is that only citizens, no professional debaters, no lawyers, and no media. This will spread by word of mouth. We’ve already seen how that works with the slips.”
“Yes, Indeed. Does this Marketplace have rules, when does it start?”
“I’ve been told that the speakers must speak from a platform, some kind of crate, or container.”
“We have that metal ammo can in the trunk,” said Brian.
“I think you and your myrmidons might be a bit intimidating.”
“Sorry love, that is a non-starter. Some people would like to see you deceased. We would like to prevent that.”
It was both irritating and charming to Ofana. Six people came together and followed her to protect her. Only one person was actually assigned to her, and the others decided to protect her. Ever since Brian had shown up, he did a bit of training with them. They seemed more dangerous now than when she met them first.
“I don’t think that they want bodyguards.”
“Tough boogie. Use that as an argument against whoever brings it up.”
“What do you mean.”
“I understand,” said Luana. “If someone is shocked about armed guards in the Marketplace just reminds everyone that you have not one attempt on your life, but four. Someone must not want your message to get out.”
“And what is that message? It is time for a change.” Ofana ended the idea in a rhetorical mode.
“Maybe that was a little overbearing.”
“Not as much as you think. These kinds of forums are built for the overbearing orator. You like the structure of a scheduled speech where people are polite. This is going to be rough and tumble. If they piss you off, show it, and let it fuel your Oratory.”
Ofana looked at her Eridani Secret Service attack dog. She was coming to grips with the unexpected depth of the man. He read old philosophers. He held in-depth discussions with people who understood the same philosophers. She just wanted to fire her tutor, but could not.
“Is there general parking?”
“Yeah, my advisors told me that just before the market is a paved Parking lot. It’s open parking so we can be parked next to someone who wants me dead.”
“Everyone—combat unload as we practiced it.”
The team nodded. At just about every stop, Brian introduced a new tactic, and they spent an hour or so practicing it. If everyone stayed with the team, they were going to get a good understanding of noncom training.
Brian could see the parking lot coming up. He drove right on the paved parking lot, and he stopped and shut down the blue grav-car. Brian made a hand signal, and the team rushed out of the car.
The Team set up their cordon around the blue grav-car. Once done Brian stepped out with his Athro assault weapon. He looked around as he moved to Ofana’s door. He tapped her door. She opened the gull wing door and stepped out. She took Brian’s hand, and he helped her to her feet.
“I believe that the center of the Marketplace is along the walkway.”
They had to contend with the carnival atmosphere as some of the people driving their coalitions were here to speak. Everyone knew why they were here. They were here because they had to refute what claims Ofana made.
Sometimes Ofana wished she had Brian’s body. His height would make it easy to see over crowds. Then there was the more sublime reason. Some times she wished she were male so that she could experience the complete act of sex from Brian’s perspective. She also wanted to know what it felt like to have a massive tool like that. She always came back to the notion that she liked being female.
They reached an area the Ofana wanted to speak from. When Ofana indicated this was the spot, Brian had the Team step away from Ofana and bellow out any word they can think off. Every one of the Team said: “Back!”
The people milling around got the Idea. Then the Team stood their ground. Brian put down the empty ammo crate. He helped her stand up on the Ammo Crate, and it did make an excellent Podium. It also was a bit wider than some of the crates left behind by the merchants.
Ofana got up on the crate. Finally, she was firmly on her feet. Brian saw that she needed a little quiet.
“QUIET,” he yelled, using his Marine Sergeant Voice.
The entire Marketplace stopped talking. The Gieslings remained quiet because they knew who was standing up on the ammo crate.
“I thank you for your quiet and attention.” The crowd chuckled at her joke.
“Some of you know me, and some of you do not. For those of you who do not know me.”
A heckler in the Audience yelled at her: “I think there may be one of those here.”
Ofana chuckled at the wit. Then she continued: “I am the Ofana of Eridani. Ofana has come to mean Princess. That is all that it does. I have no special authority. I have a pretty face and a love of liberty.”
Ofana paused to gauge the crowd. The crowd was silent and expectant.
“It is that love of liberty that brought me here. For the First Time in History, a dictatorship has given up their power and announced open election for Membership of the Hall of Councillors. How can a Person that loves liberty stay away, and so I came?
“I came to help. My help is nothing more than getting a collation of political parties to fly a single banner. And then I gave them a Thought,”
“You came to take over Giesling,”A heckler commented.
“That’s incorrect. Eridani wants an ally from Giesling. We want fair and equitable trade. The only thing That I am using is myself and an Idea. The Idea is this: it is time for a change.”
“If it is time for a change, why do you high behind guards, the same Heckler interjected.
“I tell you why I use guards. Because I like living. Because others do not want my message to get to you. They wish to use the grave to silence me. Whenever an Idea is silenced, we are all the losers. I would like you to vote for the people that I have asked to join me. I also ask for you to not vote for any of the groups that are made up of Miner’s Guild. Change means that they need to sit on the side and be just a guild once more.
“I was told by my Political Science Instructor that once the second change in power happens with no violence, then pretty much the despot will not rise again. I would like to come back to a Giesling where there is peace and plenty for all. I would love to see the Terraforming plan restarted. I would love to ski the slopes of Giesling.”
Brian saw that she had run out of things to say. He decided to get the crowd rolling.
“Time for a change.”
The Team picked it up and went with it, pumping their fists. Then Of
ana raised her right fist and pumped it, saying the chant.
While the chant was going, the Team handed out slips of paper. The chanting started to lose steam. Brian tossed the Ammo crate to Jasmine. Then Brian took Ofana by the arm. He did not push her; Instead, he set a steady pace.
He kept at his visual scanning. Brian was not a trained Guard, but the course he went through gave him the basics. Optical scanning was one of them emphasized a lot. Now he understood because, without visual scanning, the mission would have ended in tragedy. As it was, he almost missed it.
On Giesling a cheap weapon was made that was a dagger, but it had a ring in the hilt. You stuck a finger into the ring. All you had to do to deploy was spin the knife on the ring on your finger, and the dagger appeared in your hand as if by magic.
Brian nearly missed it. He was helping Ofana when he caught the normal motion that someone uses to deploy the dagger, he threw Ofana behind him. Then he blocked with his right arm. The young man suddenly realized who Brian was. The man sliced his right arm and then tried to run. Brian went to one knee, and He looked at the gash. And Brian heard two silenced shots. When he looked up again, the young man was laying on the floor.
Ofana got to her knees. She opened the net shopping bag she was using as a carryall. She Brought out the kit for healing with deep cuts, She laid the Gel along with the cut. She held the wound closed, The Gel seemed to paste the wound shut. Then she picked up the three syringes with the medicine. She jabbed him with the pneumatic needles.
“Are you okay?”
“Aside from the fact someone tried to cut my arm off, I’m okay.”
“It seemed to cut, and then stop cutting.”
“The weapon is sold as a stabbing weapon. Some dickhead tried putting an edge on the aftermarket. The Tip lost temper on that edge.”
“Was he trying to get me, or you,” asked Ofana.
“You, Ofana, he wanted to stick you. Let’s go look at him.”
Brian made it to his feet on the force of will. He was now holding his Athro, and he put on his “don’t fuck with me” face. The crowd looking at the dead man parted. They all were looking at the improvised bandage. What gave them pause was that Brian was still conscious. They all had seen the gash and the amount it bled. They did not know about the first aid meds produced by the autodoc corporation. The Gel was a dermal stitch that guided the healing of the skin. The three syringes were filled with Speedy heal, which puts the body’s own recovery system on hyper. One of the needles managed to make the blood-producing organs like the spleen produce blood more rapidly. The third syringe did the job of Ringer’s Lactate in helping with blood volume.
Brian could understand their hesitation around him. Most of the people thought that he should be dead by now. He did not have the time to explain to them why he was still living.
Brian made it to the body. He did a pat down of the corpse, and there were no other weapons or strange wires on the body. With his fighting knife, he cut open all of the pockets on the man’s pants. From one pocked spilled out currency and coins. From the other was a paper. Brian looked at that.
In straight language, the paper ordered the man to kill the Ofana “by any means necessary.” The note was signed by Anton Hecton. He signed the letter with his personal comm. He would upload it when he got to the car.
He looked at the currency. There were one thousand Alphacent Marks, and there were two hundred fifty in Giesling scrip. Brian called Luana over, and He handed her the money.
“Find a charity that can use that.”
She poured the money into a small purse she was carrying around. Ofana was having some effect on the ladies of his Team.”
“Let’s go,” he said.
Carla Sylvester was looking at her notes for the debriefing session for Dan Owen. Dan was turning into a Sherlock Holmes. He was able to determine who was killing the Teachers and bring them to justice on the Radamite refining station. Dan was able to get home to make this a one day mission.
Dan was railing at the missions that were being selected for him. He wanted something with more action. Carla felt for him. She wished that the mission selection committee would just choose the missions and let her assign them. She had a request in with the Emir.
Now the Emir is running around as if he was running on air. The Ofana was preaching them out of the trees. He is preening like a proud Papa. He never really thought that his daughter was up for the challenge. Well, she was up to the problem because a Special Agent was helping her. That surprised her. He expected the Ofana brought home after a trip in Brian’s brig or sedated for the entire trip. Carla would love to have the Ofana speaking for her service before the Intelligence committee. She would like to know what argument made him stay. Carla also wanted to know what made him go tearing off for Giesling. She knew it hat to be something that Intentions had in its stacks of documents.
Carla looked up and saw Mrs. Murphy run down to the desk. “Madam,” Mrs. Murphy said, “ the Ofana is on the Hypercom. She requests trid.“ Carla hit a button on her desk that activated the Hypercom.
The trid image of the Ofana appeared. She wore a purple caftan and a purple turban, and If anything, her bearing was more regal and self-assured.
“Director, my time is minimal. Brian does not know I am contacting you. He must never know.”
“He will not hear it from me or anyone else.”
“Thank you. I am going just to blurt it out. I am in Love with Brian Butler. He is in Love with me.”
Carla already knew that. She waited for Ofana to continue the message. Eventually, she did.
“I have a feeling that you already knew. The problem is that I have the gift of prophecy. I have a recurring presentiment of my death. I want you to undertake a task for me. I want you to find a replacement for me in Brian’s life. Perhaps there is a female special agent that might be special to him.”
“I think I understand what you want me to do. I don’t know Brian that well. I will authorize the person I task with this to use all resources. The Mission’s codename is Love.”
“How appropriate. I also want you to know that I will mention Brian in my will to the tune of 300 million crowns.”
“I wish you wouldn’t.”
“He won’t have access to it until he retires from active Mission running.”
“Anything else.”
“That is it. Thank you, Director.”
The feed was broken. That was the second person in this little romance drama to declare undying Love for the other. In this case, Ofana wanted Carla to find another for Brian because Ofana will be unavailable to him when they return from Giesling.
Carla knew that she was not the person for this job. She did know the perfect person, and She picked up her Briefcase and walked out of her office. Carla’s destination was on the sixth floor.
The sixth floor was a warren of small offices, and Two office suites faced each other. The two personal assistants had a communicating door. This allowed the two personal assistants to talk and watch the other office. It actually made solid friendships. Dan Owen and Brian Butler were one such friendship.
Carla found herself at suite 602, her destination. She stepped into Julie Brio’s office in front of Brian Butler’s office. Julie was in. She was cleaning up Brian’s mission report for the Ofana mission.
“Director, I’m glad you came.”
“I’m afraid that Brian has done it again. He had fallen for the wrong woman.”
“He fell for her, didn’t he?”
“Yeah.”
“It’s the physical which he is attracted to. He thinks it’s Love. Ofana is his physical type. A good sized breast and good sized hips.”
“Then that’s you, Julie.”
“I’m sorry, but I am spoken for. Brian could have had me any time, but I had to deal with Felicity and then Kandace.”
“Then who in the service would make him snap his neck looking at her.”
“Director, what is your view about Specia
l Agents falling in love?”
“I am planning on pairing Special Agents together so that they could do larger Missions. Tell me your ideal mate for Brian.”
“Z10, April Weiner.”
“Is she here?”
“Yes, Ma’am. Perhaps I can put a bug in her ear.”
Carla smiled at Julie. Julie thought of Brian as a wayward brother.
CHAPTER NINE
The Von Ribbon Crew
Brian was about to get in the driver’s side of the blue grav-car. Ofana stopped him from getting behind the wheel, and She got the Diagnostic wedge from the first aid kit. She took off his shirt. A few Giesling women gave him wolf whistles at the sight of his muscular abdomen.
Ofana put the sensors on the spots indicated by the diagnostic wedge she plugged in the sensors. The wedge thought for a moment or two and then flashed OK. That made Ofana feel better about letting Brian drive. It also made him feel better. He got into the Blue grav-car.
Brian was about to drive when Luana said: “Where’s Jasmine?”
Brian looked in the backseat, and She was not there. He stepped out of the car. Finally, she bounded out of the crowd. She ran until she got to the car, and Brian waved her in the car. He asked for his tactical helmet.
He put it on and pulled down the magnification visor. He looked at the general direction from which Jasmine came. He saw a man in a suit walking away. Brian upped the magnification. Then he saw something he did not want to see. He walked away and hunkered down over some trash.
“Amarantha, did you get the video from the helmet?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Compare man’s image with known images of Anton Hecton. Time for analysis.”
“What percentage Is your floor percentage?”
“My floor percentage is eighty percent.”
“Stand by. Running algorithm a second time.”
