The Inscribed Angle

by Andrew Bardsley

  After several more presentations it was time for questions. Freya was able to help with the more technical questions having developed most of the theory herself, but when she had just finished her last question, a lady close to the front stood up.

  The woman introduced herself as ‘Abigail Rogers: life style reporter’, and said, “Ms. Eos, are you dating anybody at the moment?”

  Freya was shocked and paused while she tried to understand the question. After a few seconds silence she responded. “Sorry, I don’t see the relevance of the question.”

  Abigail Rogers smiled coolly and said, “From a life and interest point of view, anything about your life is important. So, are you in a romantic relationship?”

  Freya, refused to answer and tried to bring the meeting back on to the more technical questions, but every now and then, questions about her life came up. Each time she refused to answer.

  Finally, the press conference finished, and Freya and her entourage were able to retreat to the top of the building. In her personal lab, Freya went back to the experiments inscriptions she was working on. Presently, she was trying to interface the crystalline computational devices within her own magically inscripted body. She hypothesized it could enhance her abilities significantly, adding the power of the computational device to her changing of the inscriptions on her body. When it worked it would enable her to be more accurate in her magical casting, increasing her speed, power and efficiency.

  A communication request on her labs farseeing device sounded for Freya to answer. The screen indicated it was Racheal calling. Freya activated the screen, and saw Racheal sitting in her kitchen. She was looking beautiful with her hair all made up, and she was smartly dressed.

  “Hi Racheal. Hope your day is going well. Anyway, what can I do for you?”

  Racheal smiled not meeting her eyes. “I desperately need your help tonight, Mark’s friend is in town tonight and, we want to go on a double date. I need you to be his date tonight. I’m really desperate, will you do it?”

  Freya laughed at the face her friend pulled, and said, “Still working on getting me some type of social life?”

  Racheal replied quickly, “You have been talking about doing something other than working. So, you must come along. We'll meet at the waterfront bar at seven. By the way your hair looks nice and remember to wear something prettier than normal.”

  “I have been wanting to have a better social life.” Freya thought, grimacing inwardly. So, she nodded in acceptance, which produced a beaming Racheal as she faded from the farseeing device. Setting aside the project she had been working on, Freya considered what to do next. “Well I’ll need to buy a dress, I only have business suits and plain clothing that Racheal doesn’t consider pretty.

  She walked through the bright office environment to Beck’s office and knocked on her door. Beck shouted to come in, and Freya entered, seeing that she was working on some documentation at her desk.

  Freya said with a smile, “I have a slight problem. Racheal is forcing me to go on a blind date tonight and wants me to wear something smarter than my usual attire. I was wondering if you knew anywhere I can quickly get something that fits the bill for tonight?”

  Beck had a thoughtful expression, “It will do you good to get out and mix with people instead of just working for a change. I’ll send notice to a good clothing store and let them know that you are coming.” She hastily scribbled an address on a scrap and handed it to Freya.

  Freya took the scroll with the address on and was soon flying to the shop. It was on a street with other very exclusive shops. Several of them had security personnel standing outside, trying to appear ominous. In the area Freya could see a lot of high-end sports magical vehicles, making her stocky but powerful vehicle look out of place. As she stopped her car in front of the shop, the parking valet stepped neatly up to the side window.

  “Ms. Eos, I presume. We have been expecting you. If you would go with Julie here, I will park your car.”

  He gestured to an older woman that was standing in the doorway. Freya walked up to her and shook the offered hand. “Hi, my office called ahead, I'm looking for an outfit for tonight.”

  Julie led Freya into the shop that was not like any shop Freya had ever been in before. It was more like a palace with comfortable sofas and arm chairs with customers in them. There was only modern art work on the walls and Freya could see no clothes on display. Julie led her to a more private section of the stall.

  As Julie sat opposite Freya, she said, “Firstly, what are your preferences and what type of occasion is it?”

  Freya tried to make up her mind of what her preferences were. “I normally wear things that don’t constrain my movements. The occasion is a double date with a friend, is not that formal.”

  Julie looked perplexed. “How about I just bring out a range of casual evening dresses and we can look at what you like.”

  While Freya was waiting, somebody brought her a selection of drinks. She went for the sparkling fruit juices. Julie soon was back with a rack of different outfits. Both women started to go through the selection. Most of the dresses were too tight or revealing for Freya’s taste. She was always careful about the exposing the slight glow of the inscriptions on her skin to the world. After going through the selection of clothes that were brought in, Freya finally decided on an elegant full-length dress with a deep blue colour that matched her eyes.

  Julie looked happy to have found something that Freya was satisfied with. When Freya asked how she should pay Julie just replied, “It will be added to your companies account. Come back in the future if you need any more clothing.”

  That evening, Freya found herself inside the Waterfront bar, looking for Racheal. As she looked around the drift wood inspired wooden counter topped bar, she saw Racheal in a quiet corner.

  Racheal, said to Freya as she approached, “Wow, you look really good in that outfit and the hair.”

  Freya smiled at her friend and sat next to her, “So, who is this friend of Marks?”

  Racheal spoke excitedly, mostly because she had managed to get Freya on the date. “His name is Thomas. He is good looking, and his parents own a real estate company, which is doing very well. That’s about all I know about him. Anyway, he’ll be here soon.”

  After a few minutes of waiting, Freya saw Mark entering the bar with a tall man at his side, presumably Thomas. As Racheal had said, he was good looking, but he walked differently as if with a knowing confidence. He was smartly and expensively dressed. When his eyes lit upon Freya, he looked pleased with the appearance of his date for the evening. Mark came up and sat next to Racheal and kissed her on the cheek.

  Mark said with a smile, “Racheal, this is Thomas my friend from out of town”

  Racheal said, smiling at the two men, “Nice to meet you. Mark, Thomas, this is Freya, my childhood friend.”

  Mark said with a smile, “I finally get to meet the mysterious, best friend. Nice to meet you Freya.”

  Thomas said with a smile, “It lovely to meet you, and by the way, you look stunning in that dress.”

  The group of four ordered drinks, and while they sipped the drinks, Racheal asked Thomas about himself. For the next while, Thomas talked about his life and accomplishments. It was not that he was especially bragging, but he presented it in such a matter of fact tone, that it painted a picture of a rich privileged life.

  Thomas said, “My latest buy is one of the best sport vehicles on the market. It’s outside if want to go and see it.”

  As Freya was trying to be polite, but was bored with the details of Thomas’s life, she put on an interested face. “That would be nice, let's go and have a look.”

  The four of them walked outside the bar to the parking area. Thomas’s vehicle was parked across two spaces. It was red in colour and looked to be the latest fast sports vehicle model. Racheal, who was more into the latest rich play things was very impressed with the vehicle.

  Thomas said, with pride in his voice, “S
hall we all go for a drive?”

  The group all nodded, as Mark and Racheal got into the back seats, while Thomas got into the driver's seat, and Freya beside him. Thomas started up the vehicle, which had a lot of power. As he hovered vertically, he overpowered the magical flight grid, and pulled up too quickly for a safe take off. Freya was a bit shocked and Racheal audibly gasped, but Thomas smiled as if it was all part of plan. Thomas then flew, in a fast and erratic manner above the city. As this went on Freya was less and less impressed with his flying abilities and she noticed that several times the safety system had kicked in to prevent an accident.

  As Thomas did not know the city well and he soon was lost. After trying to find his bearings, they found themselves and the expensive vehicle over one of the worst areas of the city. Suddenly, three large dented and scarred vehicles appeared around them in the air. Before Thomas could move away from them, a magical net surrounded the expensive red car. Racheal, Mark and Thomas looked around wild-eyed with obvious anxiety. There had been a spate of vehicle hijacking reported in the news in this area. Gangs would force you to land and then take all your valuables.

  As the three were nervously talking about what to do, Freya said in a commanding voice, “Just descend to the ground and stay in the vehicle. I’ll deal with the gang.” She rolled her eyes as Thomas immediately launched into a protest.

  It took a while for both Racheal and Freya to convince the two men to do this. Thomas was mostly worried about his brand-new vehicle, but as he had no choice, he agreed to the plan. As the four vehicles lowered to the ground, into an empty derelict lot, Freya got out of Thomas's red vehicle. The gang members started to exit their vehicles and soon there where ten of them assembled menacingly.

  Freya placed an invisible shield around Thomas's red vehicle and walked toward the gang members. As she walked towards them, several of the gang members made obscene comments and gestures towards Freya. They all had cheap magical inscripted clothing, and some even had magic effects charging in their hands. When the first gang member reached toward Freya to grab her, Freya moved in a flash. She surrounded her hands and elbows with magical stunning energy. The leader was quickly hit in the throat and fell immediately to the ground. Moving in an elegant combat formation between all the gang members, hitting and chopping at exposed parts of their bodies, she stunned each of them in turn. Before any of the gang members could react, Freya had knocked them all to the ground. In a matter of seconds, the Racheal, Mark and Thomas saw Freya standing, surrounded by a group of men lying in pain on the floor.

  Freya, walked over to Thomas's red vehicle and said to Thomas, “Move over, I’ll drive out of here.”

  Thomas immediately moved to the passenger seat, forgetting to protest as he was in shock, while Freya got into the driver's seat. She efficiently took the vehicle up a short distance into the air. The others were surprised with the aggressive combat style of driving that Freya preformed to get them back to the bar in a few minutes.

  As Freya lowered the vehicle, into the same parking spaces, Thomas had a look of horror on his face, but now was relieved that he car was in one piece. The two men had a looked like they had been intimidated by Freya’s performance. Unfortunately for Racheal, the men wanted to end the date there, but Freya she was happy to finish as she was sick of the self-aggrandizing Thomas.

  Chapter 10 Wealth

  After Freya’s failed attempted at dating, she got right back into work. In the office later that night she had a meeting with her head of security and intelligences. She’d ended up hiring Jack Connor, the original team leader in her mercenary escapades. After working so many years there was a high level of trust between Freya and Jack. As the Eos corporation had grown, Freya had approached the captain with the opportunity. He had been glad to sign-up for something steadier, and higher paying. Most of the mercenary team had also joined and were the core of her private security force.

  At the moment her security and intelligence gathering force were next to none, as Freya spent a lot of money in developing them. Most of the other corporations had shareholders or lavish items that their owner wanted to buy, which would eat up their profits, but Freya mainly put her money back into the business. This was evidenced by a large powerful security division, and a larger research division to develop new products. In a cut-throat world of corporate magical power, independent protection was important. The weak forces of many of the country states, could not be relied to up hold the rule of law when dealing with the mega-corporations. You could only keep control of what you could protect.

  Freya had just finished recounting her failed date story to Jack. He was laughing and said, “You need to be more careful with the young male ego, it breaks so easily.”

  Freya said with a hint of sadness in her eyes, “Still no social life through.”

  Jack winked, showing mischievous smile, “I may have just the job for you then. It will get you a social life, but maybe not the one you are looking for.”

  Freya looked inquisitive about the proposal from Jack and said, “Go ahead then. You’ve got my interest peaked.”

  Jack said by way of explanation, “We’ve been tracking, the dealings of the Longrow Corporation for years now.”

  This was the corporation behind the attract on the Institute, which Freya had been monitoring with Jack’s team help for all these years.

  Jack continued in saying, “Your intelligence division has been running the analysis, and it seems that they are preparing to move against you and the corporation. We still lack some of the important details of their plans. My proposal is that you need to mix with the super-rich executive class and be our spy.” He grimaced. “Or at least have our intelligence people with you that are the spies. Anyway, it will give you a social life, just not the one I think you are looking for.”

  Freya looked intrigued. “It sounds fun! Maybe somebody will try kill me and I can retaliate!”

  Jack frowned. “I know that you can take care of yourself, but let's try to keep this subtle for now. I will also have extra protection around you anyway. Anyway, your main job will be the rich and powerful hosts, not assassins in the night.” He cast a discerning eye over her apparel. “You're going have to spend a lot of money on things you wouldn't normally.”

  For the next couple of hours Jack and Freya developed a plan. She would have one of her top intelligent agents work with her at all times, giving her advice and warnings. The first actual thing for Freya to do was to start spending lots of money. Part of the plan was to have the help of Jen on of the best intelligence officer Freya organization had.

  --

  Freya, Racheal, and the intelligence office Jen were all walking between shops on what could only be considered a shopping spree of cloths for them all. Racheal was intrigued with the idea of helping her friend enter the society of the rich and famous. As her parents were in the movie industry, she was used to the parties and socialising with famous people, but the level Freya was going to be operating on would be a whole new level. Jen was the intelligence officer assigned to help Freya, and in the planning, she had been a very serious professional. Now that, she was out shopping, and was acting the part of a friend of Freya, it was best to describe her as light headed. She seemed to be happy over the littlest things, showing her excitement and giving of an air of non-seriousness. All three of the women were extremely beautiful in their different ways. Freya had a strong elegance to her look, while Racheal had a kind beauty, and Jen was a blond dynamo of unfocused energy. The three of them received second glances, as they drove past in the luxury sports vehicle.

  They were just about to enter into an expensive and exclusive jewel store. On the way into the store, the group had to go through several security screens, each powered by high level magical inscriptions. Meeting them at the door was an elegantly dressed woman, who knew all of their names, as Beck had arranged an appointment. The woman led them past all the displays of gold, diamond and other precious jewel, to a light backroom reserved for th
e super-rich costumers. This room was full of glass display cases with large necklaces, bracelets, earrings and jewellery of different types.

  After seating them and ensuring they were settled, the elegant woman said, “All of the items in this room are one of a kind. You will have never seen anything like them. Have a look around and I can tell you about any item that catches your fancy.”

  The three women walked around gazing at the items and whispered their opinions about how amazing each of items on display were.

  Racheal whispered to Freya, “There’s no indication of the cost on any of the items!”

  Freya grimaced and whispered back, “If you have to ask you can’t afford it!”

  The next hour was spent with the woman describing all the items the three women liked. Finally, after a lot of hard choices, all the all the women had several items they had selected. Freya had to keep thinking of each of the pieces of jewellery as an investment, to explain away the amount of money she was spending.

  They left the store after making arrangements for the items to be delivered. As this was the last shop to visit Freya and her friends walked towards her new sports vehicle. This was one of the latest high-end models, but had been improved substantially by Freya, with some of her own developments and tweaks. Now she considered it wolf in sheep's clothing. It did not look like it, but it was not only fast, but fully combat ready.