As soon as Max had latched onto the giant’s wrist, Zoe jumped up on the table, took two quick steps and launched herself at the giant, straddling his right shoulder. In one fluid motion she swung her left leg around so she was now astride the back of his neck.
With her right hand she grabbed his chin and placed her left hand on the right rear of his skull. She pulled the chin to the right while pushing the skull to the left.
She was trying to break his neck but all it did was turn his head to the right. By doing this he could look only to the right.
While Zoe was on top of the giant’s shoulder, Joyce jumped up and grabbed a bar stool. Her bar stools were massive and heavy. She swung the stool so the leading edge of the stool’s round seat would hit the giant’s kneecap, which it did.
You could hear the armor and the kneecap shatter all the way over to the other side of the bar.
The giant fell face down on the floor. On the way down, his head hit hard on the table. He lay there motionless.
Max was still latched on to the giant’s wrist. He was trying to disengage his teeth from the chitin. Zoe saw his predicament and rushed over to him. She took hold of his muzzle and lifted slowly but firmly, disengaging the teeth. She did the same with his lower jaw.
When he was free, she put her arms around his neck and said, “You’re my hero, my beautiful, faithful hero. While the rest of us sat there like a cigar store Indian, you attacked and probably saved us all. She squeezed him and kissed him.
When the giant first entered the bar, the teens and Victoria thought it was real, not a recording. The Three D rendition was lifelike. It was perfect. The only thing that kept them from joining the fray was they could see Zoe, Max, Buffy, Bryan and Joyce were, except for Max, drinking their beer and eating popcorn.
The bar was packed. Word had gotten out the greatest hits would be playing that morning. It was a crowd favorite.
Joyce in anticipation of a large turnout had laid on more wait staff and bartenders.
After number one, the giant video, they went to number ten and worked back up to number one. The next most popular hit was number nine, the small people video. It always drew gasps from the patrons.
About forty years ago a mob of small people came into the bar. There were about two hundred of them. By small people, they were small people. The tallest was maybe two feet three inches tall.
They climbed up onto the bar stools and into the chairs around the tables. They all talked at once. They sounded like a very large flock of noisy birds The cacophony was overwhelming.
One of them peeled off and walked on the bar over to Zoe. It was obvious he was propositioning her.
She politely turned him down and he became not just angry but violent and grabbed for her breasts. She backhanded him off the bar, knocking him about twenty feet in the air.
From noisy chaos, the bar became deadly silent and then as if on signal all two hundred plus little people swarmed Zoe.
They covered her like a moveable carpet, biting clawing and gouging. She moved off her bar stool like a person on fire, waving her arms around and trying to scrap them off, nothing worked.
This happened so fast that Joyce and Bruce couldn’t get to her before she was covered in little people.
Then all of a sudden, it was as if Zoe exploded. Little people were thrown in the air thirty feet in every direction. Some hit the ceiling.
Her clothing was in shreds and she staggered a little but outside of that, there wasn’t a mark on her.
All of the small people that were on Zoe were injured. Joyce call for security and regeneration chambers.
When Jack saw the attack by the little people, he likened it to being attacked by piranhas. He asked Zoe how she did what she did to get the mob off of her.
She said, “I expanded my force field, violently by thirty feet. It was like an explosion. They attacked me with intent to kill me so I showed them no mercy. None were killed but all who attacked were injured.
After Mac saw the tape, he banned them from ever coming to his resort again.
After a few months as your body and the nanobot adapt to each other, you’ll be able to not only expand your force field but other neat things too.”
She didn’t elaborate and Jack didn’t ask.
After the show was over, they went back to Mac’s penthouse. Joyce and Bruce had to stay at the bar to help out with the overflow crowd.
When they arrived on the roof of the penthouse they found Mac, Pete and Gryo drinking beer and eating chips and dip.
They were seated in Adirondack chairs under an awning. They had an unobstructed view of the city, the inland sea and the snow covered mountains beyond.
Mac had the bots pull up some more chairs. The teens ordered lemonade and popcorn, Victoria, Zoe and Buffy, beer and chips. Zoe had a large bowl of water delivered to Max along with a 16 once sirloin.
They hadn’t seen Mac and Pete for a while and Gyro in months so there were hugs and kisses all around.
Beth asked, “Where have you been Gyro? We haven’t seen you in months.”
“I’ve been at Stumpy’s. He and Katherine have greatly improved our warp drives, our weaponry, our force field and our interspace communications.
He wanted me to test it all out. I must say they outdid themselves. Katherine is constantly working on improvements and every couple of years they call me to check it out.”
When Zoe, Buffy, Victoria and the teens arrived and had their drinks, the topic of conversation was Zoe and Buffy’s greatest hits. True, Buffy was only in four of the hits but she played a leading role in the greatest hit with the giant.
After the excitement wore down, the conversation turned to discussing past experiences, the mundane and current events.
Jack asked Victoria, “After all of your adventures, do you ever wish you were back in New York at your paper, doing everyday mundane tasks?”
“Yes, every day I wish I was back home. My life is in New York. I dreamed of being an international journalist since I was a small child.”
She got out of her chair and walked over to Pete and stood in front of him and yelled, “Do you hear me Pete? I want to go home.”
Conversation stopped. All eyes were on Pete and Victoria.
Pete shifted uneasily in his seat and said, “You never told me you wanted to go back.”
She was really angry now. “Don’t give me that! The first two months I told you several times I wanted to go back to my life in New York.”
“Yeah but that was a long time ago. By then I had shown you amazing things and I thought you wanted to stay.”
“I’m not saying that this hasn’t been a fantastic experience. One that I will always remember and cherish but I had a life beyond this, a budding new career with wonderful possibilities. I want to go back and try and fulfill those possibilities.”
She leaned forward and put her hands on the arms of his chair. Her face was only two inches from his. “Send me back now!”
Pete swallowed hard and said, “Tomorrow after breakfast, we’ll go over to Amanda and have her figure out the correct coordinates to send you.
But right now, let’s have a leisurely afternoon and allow everyone to say goodbye to you.”
She straightened up. The anger had gone away. She hadn’t thought about goodbyes. She was going to leave her friends, her new family and possibly for good.
She turned and faced the rest and said, “I hadn’t thought about leaving you, my family. Tears rolled down her cheeks.
Zoe got up and hugged her. “You’re not leaving us forever. I’ve left just to be on my own.
I’ve gone to Pete’s ranch many times and spent two or three years there at a time, punching cows. It’s my passion but I always come back.
And you’ll be back too. You can have your job in New York and share our adventures, the best of both worlds. Maybe someday you’ll be featured in Zoe’s Greatest Hits.”
The prospect of being in Zoe’s Greatest Hits brought a
smile to her face.
Zoe led her back to her chair and ordered her a cold beer.
“I’ve been meaning to ask.” said Jack “How come in our first three jumps through time and space, Beth, Sonny and I were exhausted, slept and were weak as kittens but in our last jump we felt fine but Beth was vomiting?”
“Not everyone reacts the same way to a jump, said Pete, “and the more you jump the less reaction, until you have no reactions at all. Also the accuracy of the jump depends on where your jump is initiated. For example when I jump from the portal in my closet, I inevitably end up on the causeway that Victoria and I ended up on when we jumped.
When you jump from Amanda, Shawn or Katherine or any of the ships, you end up where you are supposed to be. They have very powerful computers that ensure accuracy so Victoria will end up in my closet and not in some West Texas cactus patch.”
“Well, that’s a relief.” said Victoria.
Chapter 12
Victoria Back in New York
The next day after breakfast, there were hugs and tearful goodbyes, Pete, Victoria and the teens rode over to Amanda. In the ship’s control room, where Amanda was housed, Pete explained what was going to happen.
“Amanda has calculated the coordinates for the jump. You should arrive within a few inches of where you left.
This time you will be fully clothed in what you are wearing now. The only reason you were naked the first time you jumped was so you could be injected with the nanobots. From now on, you will never lose your clothing.”
“That’s reassuring,” said Victoria.
“You should arrive within a half hour to four hours after the first jump. You’ll be in the closet and your clothes will be in a heap on the floor.
Do not pick them up. You want to get out of there as quickly as possible.
The Praetorian Guard and the witch may still be around. You do not want to run into them so be careful.”
She turned to the teens and said, “When will you be going back?”
Beth said, “We’ve discussed it and think we’ll stick around for a while. When we go back, we have business to attend to in the West. After that we’ll come and visit you in New York.”
“I’d like that very much.” She gave them one last hug and said, I’ll miss all of you.”
“Are you ready?”
“Yes.” She took a quick step toward Peter and gave him a fierce hug and said, “Thank you. I know I have bitched the entire time but in truth, I have loved every minute of it. I’ll never forget you and the others.”
She let go of him stepped back and in the blink of an eye was gone.
She was on both feet, a little lightheaded and disoriented. Within a few seconds her head cleared and she knew where she was.
She looked down and there were her clothes. She stepped over them and cautiously headed for the smashed closet door. The clothes racks were no longer a maze but lined up in neat rows.
She peaked around the door jam. There was nobody in the bedroom. She walked over to the nightstand by the bed to retrieve her purse.
That is when she could hear loud voices at the bottom of the stairs. The tall man and the witch were arguing and they were coming upstairs.
She spun around looking for a place to hide, gave up and dove under the bed.
The arguing couple entered the bedroom and stopped near the foot of the bed. Victoria could see their feet.
The little woman said, “You moron, we wouldn’t have lost him if you had the commonsense to not leave the room. You’re an idiot, an over grown dolt.”
“And what about you? You undersized pea brain. You’re the one who let her in. All you had to do was close the door in her face.”
“Be careful what you call me. Don’t disrespect me fool. I’m a fourteen degree Salem Witch. Beware!”
“Fourteen degree witch, my ass. I don’t believe in that superstitious horse manu…”
He was cut off mid-sentence. Victoria could hear choking sounds, like he was being strangled. His heels lifted off the floor and then his toes until his feet were about two inches in the air.
The choking sounds were horrible. His feet began the macabre dance of one who was being hanged. At first they were rapid and strong but after a minute they became weaker and weaker and slower.
Just before the dance stopped for good he was released and fell to the floor. His arms landed straight out from his sides and his head was on the same plain and Victoria’s.
At first his breathing was weak and wheezy . With each breath his breathing became stronger and the wheeze louder. To Victoria, it was a terrible sound.
His eyes fluttered open and his head lolled side to side. When his head turned toward Victoria he was looking straight at her but his eyes couldn’t focus.
Victoria was terrified. Slowly his eyes began to focus and eventually he could see her. At first he didn’t recognize her but all at once he did. He tried to speak but all that came out was a hoarse gagging sound. His finger on his right hand were relaxed and curled. He tried to straighten out his index finger and point but all he managed was to make all the fingers on the hand twitch.
At just about the time he could point the finger, a bright white flash filled the room. Even though she was under the bed and only saw the flash at an angle it blinded her. For a few seconds all she could see was a white light.
When her eyes adjusted, they were gone. She lay there too frightened to move. After she was convinced that they were no longer in the room, she slithered out from under the bed. She stood up, picked up her purse and stumbled out of the room and down the stairs.
She walked like a sleep walker to her car and drove to the Midland airport where she caught the first plane to the Dallas Fort Worth Airport and from there to New York.
She got back to her Park Avenue Penthouse apartment about one AM. She dropped her bag on the floor, walked over to the bar, picked up a bottle of 50 year old Scotch and an old fashion glass. She poured herself a stiff drink and put it down in one gulp.
She took the bottle and glass out onto the deck, poured another drink and threw it down as quickly as the first. She set the bottle and glass on a small table next to a chez lounge. Only then did she walk into her bedroom and shed her clothes on the floor as she walked to her bathroom and into the shower.
After a long hot shower, she dried off, went to her closet and put on her pajamas, slippers and winter housecoat. She picked up a heavy blanket and walked back to the deck and flopped down in the chez lounge and arranged her blanket.
She poured another drink and this time sipped it. She already had a buzz on from her first two drinks. It was a clear crisp night. The stars were scattered like jewels across the sky.
She began to lament, crying out, “Have I done the right thing? I wanted my life back but look what I gave up, an experience of a lifetime. What an idiot I am!
No! I wanted this. I wanted a life as a financial journalist.”
She finished her drink and went to bed.
She went back and forth on this until she fell asleep. Her last thought was a quote from Scarlett O’Hara, “Tomorrow is another day.”
Chapter 13
New York 6 Years Later
In the six years that Victoria had been back at “The Wall Street Review” she was now a full fledged serious reporter and her potential had been rewarded. She had a Pulitzer Prize and two Excellence in Financial Journalism Awards. She was a rising star. No longer was she writing man bites dog articles. Being extremely competitive and an A type personality kept her striving for more and to be better than she already was.
Even with all of this quick success there was a hole in her life. She was haunted by what she had left behind.
…………………………
It was a brisk, clear autumn night and she had just exited the Broadway play “Phantom of the Opera.” It was her favorite. She had seen it many times before but no matter how many times she saw it, she loved it. Andrew Lloyd Webber was a genius.
It was a pleasant night, cool but not too cold so she decided to walk home to her penthouse apartment overlooking Central Park. It was less than three miles about a 45 minute walk.
She buttoned her coat, wrapped her scarf around her neck and set out.
She was a little over halfway home when a police cruiser pulled up along side her. The cop on the passenger side lowered his window and said, “It’s a little cold to be working tonight.”
She stopped. Looked at the cop and said, “You never give it a rest do you Bobby?”
“It’s not safe for a woman or a man for that matter to be out alone at this time of the night.”
“I walk all the time. I’ll be fine.”
“We have gotten reports that low life thugs, muggers are being beaten to a pulp by a tall woman with reddish hair and an English accent. You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”
“Bobby, I’m surprised you would ask me such a thing. I’m really hurt, really.”
“I’m sorry Victoria. I had to ask.”
“Bob, I could never be angry with you or Al.”
She leaned down so she could see the cop who was driving. And waved at him. “Hi, Al.”
“Hi Vicky. Are you coming to the precinct charity barbecue this Saturday?”
“Wouldn’t miss it for the world, Al. As usual, I am looking forward to seeing both your wives and kids.
It always amazes me that you could find women who would not only put up with you two but actually marry you.”
They both laughed and started to drive off.
Bobby said, “Be safe.”
“Don’t worry about me. I will.”
She continued on her way.
She was almost at her apartment building on W. 57 Street when she felt them before she saw them. They were hidden by the foliage in Central Park.
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