"How are you feeling?" A man's voice swelled from the darkness.
Son of a monkey's butt! My fingers dug into the mattress as my heart resumed its normal tempo. That man needed to have a cow bell tied around his neck or I was going to die of fright. And just where the devil was he? "Tobias?"
"Here."
Propping myself up on my elbow, I peered over the side of the bed.
He sat up in a wedge of light cutting in through the window. Limp hands rested on his bent knees.
"What are you doing on the floor?"
"Catching up on sleep." He stretched and vertebrae popped, competing with the cicada's song.
Sleeping? On what? Bare carpet surrounded him. Guilt niggled at the back of my mind. I hadn't exactly been welcoming. Of course, he hadn't been the King of Hospitality either. Then again, he hadn't been raised by my mother. That woman had never met a stranger.
And I had been taught to do better.
"Why didn't you sleep on the bed?" Glancing over my shoulder, I eyed the empty expanse of the king-sized bed. I'd bought the thing as a decadent luxury. Yet, I'd only slept on a small quarter. He'd fit, broad shoulders and all. I turned back to him. "There's plenty of room."
There. I'd done my part. And it had only cost me a twinge in my stomach.
Tobias shrugged and pushed to his feet. After tucking the hem of his gray shirt into his jeans, he twisted at the waist and stretched again. "It would have made you uncomfortable."
Each pop lashed my conscience. Like I wasn't now? It had taken me four months of scrimping to save up for my bed. I knew first hand how hard the floor was. And I didn't have to re-grow, or reattach my arms. I flopped back on the bed as he continued his noisy contortions.
"Sleep on the bed next time." I peeked at him from under my lashes. Heat shimmered through me. Unease at him lying next to me. Nothing else. I wouldn't let it be anything else. "Left side." I patted the emptiness. "And don't steal the covers."
He grunted and rolled his shoulders.
What did that mean? I didn't speak alien caveman. Crossing my arms, I stared at the fan. The douche probably wouldn't elaborate. Well, I refused to feel guilty anymore. If he chose to sleep on the floor then his stiff joints were his fault, not mine.
"I'll make some sandwiches and soup." He padded out of the room.
Soup? My stomach rumbled, then growled, then threatened to eat my back bone, if I didn't eat soon. Crap on a cracker! I don't ever remember feeling this hungry. The heck with an elephant, I could eat the whole heard.
I rolled off the bed and something clunked to the floor. Now what? Glancing down, I noticed I'd landed square in man-shaped matted carpet. His residual body heat warmed the bottoms of my feet—one bare, the other still wearing its pink sock. I seriously doubted my sock could have made such a noise. Hunkering down, I peered under the nightstand.
A rectangle of blue light glowed in the darkness. The Smartphone. Bracing one hand on the carpet, I reached under the nightstand and scooped up the cell. I quickly tapped the screen. It remained blank. Great! Either I'd broken the thing or I didn't have any apps.
But which? Tobias would know. I glanced through the door toward the kitchen. No sound, not even the squeak from the cabinet doors. Did the man have to do everything silently?
My stomach voted I head to the kitchen, my bladder vetoed it. Tucking the Smartphone in my short's pocket, I strode to the bathroom. The cell slapped my thigh with every step. The noise sounded overly loud in the quiet. Tobias would have no problem finding me even without the magic Spam dots.
Kicking the door shut, I slapped the switch and blinked as the lights flickered on. My reflection's mouth dropped open. Red creased the right side of my face and sleep boogers hung out in the corners of my eyes. More hair stuck out of my pony tail than in it. Good grief. All that was missing to make my humiliation complete were drool tracks. Yanking the tie from my hair, I attacked the rat's nest with my brush. My scalp tingled and burned before the locks lay flat. After using the facilities, I washed my hands and face with cool water.
Drying off, I stared at my new and improved self. Better, but not a beauty pageant finalist. I stripped off the sock, tossed it into the hamper and headed to the kitchen.
Burbling happily, my stomach led the way. I hoped lunch/dinner was more substantial than soup. I wanted to sink my teeth into something like meat. My mouth watered at the thought. I missed meat. My budget barely allowed for canned tuna and chicken hot dogs.
Get a grip, Rae. You'd be lucky to get soup from that shriveled celery stalk, half onion and limp carrot in your fridge. I swear I heard my stomach cry. I patted my belly. Maybe I could splurge a little. Long Wok's always had a dinner special. Pulling the phone from my pocket, I stared at the blank screen. My thumb hovered over the nine button. Aw snap. Tobias would need to eat too. If his size was anything to go by, he'd probably eat a lot. My imaginary dinner bill went from eight bucks to thirty.
My stomach shot bile into my throat. I swallowed the bitterness. Screw it. I was hungry and part of a celery stalk, carrot and onion wasn't going to satisfy me. I pressed the button. Nothing. Not even an annoying beep.
"I think the Smartphone is broke. The screen is blank and..." I flashed it at him, lifted my head and jerked to a stop. Holy Toledo! Someone had relocated a grocery store to my dining room. Bags of chips, fruits, a veggie tray, and a plate of thick sandwiches laid siege to my table. At opposite ends sat two large bowls of soup. Steam wafted above them, perfuming the air with thyme, oregano, onions and chicken.
My nose twitched in delight. Stumbling to the nearest seat, I collapsed onto the rickety metal chair, set the phone down and clawed for the spoon. "Where did all this food come from?"
Not that I was complaining. But the food fairy had never visited me before. If those Spam dots gave me a direct line, I'd order steaks and French fries next time. Dipping my spoon into the soup, I stirred up dumplings, bits of chicken and flakes of spices. Oh man, oh mama. I fished out a fat dumpling out and blew on the steam.
Tobias tucked a jug back in the fridge and sauntered across the great room carrying two tall glasses of orange juice. "I ordered it."
I tightened my grip on the spoon and my dumpling splatted back into my soup. "You left me?"
When I was sleeping and vulnerable? Sure he might have that amazing alarm clock with special security powers, but if Konstantin was from the same place, wouldn't he have a way to get around it?
Tobias set a glass next to my plate. "No. The grocery store delivered."
Thank God. I stuffed my spoon into my mouth and swallowed the broth. Heaven. Pure heaven!
"You will have to change your shopping habits." He walked to the head of the square table and sat down. "You didn't have enough food to power the Cee-Bees for an hour. With such a low calorie diet, it is no wonder you slept for fourteen hours."
Poverty had worked great at helping me stick to my diet. I shrugged and chased around a lump of chicken. "I don't need to eat much."
Although, right now seemed to be the exception. My soup was already half gone, but my stomach still felt empty. I teased the morsel of chicken off my spoon with my teeth. I'd worry about it later.
"You do now." Tobias lifted a two-inch thick sandwich off the plate stacked with them.
The dark layer under the red tomato and green lettuce hinted at roast beef, or pastrami or... My heart leapt in my chest. Or, please Jesus, corned beef. I dropped my spoon and reached for a sandwich. Oats flaked off the seven-grain bread as I raised it to my nose. Over the scent of mustard and mayonnaise, I detected the pungent bay leaves, cloves and cardamom. Squishing the bread, I stuffed the corner into my mouth and bit down. Yes, yes, YES! My taste buds sang and I closed my eyes, savoring the moment of Nirvana.
"Glad you're enjoying it." Tobias chuckled.
I opened my eyes but couldn't summon a glare. The man had provided a feast. And I did love food. Good food, not that brittle noodle stuff, I'd been eating since I'd been RIFed.
Protein, carbs and salts. That sounded like a recipe for a heart attack. Still, I continued to whittle away at my sandwich. Who wanted to diet anyway? Especially since he was paying for the food. He was paying for the food, wasn't he? I rolled a bite of sandwich over my tongue. We'd work it out somehow. I accepted the bag of chips and dumped a smattering onto my plate.
Tobias freed a banana from the bunch next to the bag of oranges. "Eat one of these a day." He shook the yellow fruit at me. "Two on days when you're accessing your Cee-Bees more than twice."
I tucked it against my plate, set down my half-eaten sandwich then wiped my mouth on a paper napkin under my fork. I'd eaten more than I had for days, yet hunger still stalked me. All these calories had better not end up on my butt. I had an interview suit to get into. Sighing, I stuffed a chip into my mouth then prodded my Smartphone across the table toward Tobias. "As I was saying, I don't think this phone works. There's nothing on it."
Orange scented the air as he dug a thumb under the rind and peeled away a strip. "That's because you haven't asked for anything yet."
"I tried to dial out." Pulling the cell back toward me, I crunched on another chip. Mmm, salt. I licked my fingers before I caught myself and wiped my fingers on the wadded up napkin. "It wouldn't let me."
"You won't need to dial." He piled the orange rind next to his plate then split the fruit in two. "Just think of who you want to speak to and it'll dial for you."
I shook my head. You needed a contact list for that and I didn't even have that.
Tobias rolled his eyes and scratched the scar tissue sealing the joint of his right arm. "Ask a question."
Light winked off his brass arm band. "Why do you wear that brass bracelet?"
I slapped my hands over my mouth. Aw snap! I was supposed to ask the Smartphone a question not Tobias.
Pain squeezed his features before he blanked it out. He carefully separated all the orange segments and arranged them in a star pattern around his plate. "Check the datapad."
I glanced down. A smiley face appeared on the screen over the word emicons. "It's definitely not working right. Look what I got."
I held the screen up for him to see.
"Open it." He nodded and stuffed two orange wedges into his mouth.
Turning the screen to me, I obeyed. I owed him that much after such a personal question. Obviously, the bracelet meant very much to him. I tapped the smiley face and bunch of files filled the screen. Just how many emicons were there to be categorized according to emotion?
Tobias finished his orange then reached for the bag of chips. "Open the one marked grief."
Grief? Oh Lord, what did I get myself into? I scrolled down and found the file. My finger shook before I tapped the icon. Only one file remained. Military bereavement. Tobias was a Colonel. I'd really stuck my foot in it this time. I opened the file and read the entry. "Memorial bracelets. To honor those comrades fallen in battle, the deceased's particulars are recorded and worn until service has ceased."
Tobias rolled the bag of chips closed. "Sounds right to me."
The hair on my wrist stood on end when names appeared on the screen. A scroll bar appeared and the position dot shrunk. Lots of names. I cleared my throat. Ages at death appeared next, an odd looking date, rank and last mission. I scrolled down. Many of them died in something called Antaries. After that, names came in ones and twos, until the end. Twenty-five died on the same day.
Was this the mission where Tobias lost his arms? The one caused by the newbie? I backed out of the files until I reached the main screen before setting the phone down. "I'm sorry. I—"
Tobias tucked the bag of chips into a grocery sack with the unopened ones. "Whenever you ask a question you want the datapad to answer make sure you're in contact with it."
I nodded. Now to change the subject. I pushed aside the remains of my sandwich. Who knew humiliation could be so filling? Well, I shouldn't waste the food. Lifting my plate, I walked across the laminate tile to the open kitchen. "Why do I have to be in contact?"
Tobias picked up my abandoned banana and the rest of the sandwiches. "The Cee-Bees give off an energy spike that every treasure hunter, archeologist and government suck-up in the galaxy is looking for. The signal almost disappears when the datapad is in direct contact with your skin."
Almost? Son of a monkey's butt! Almost is means not in my book. The ceramic plate clattered to the counter. I already had one guy trying to kill me, I didn't need a frickin' Spam dot bounty on my head. I yanked open the side drawer and snatched up the roll of plastic wrap. "Why?"
"As a steward, you have access to information that could significantly weaken the UED if not bring it down altogether." Tobias added my sandwich to the remaining ones then set the banana down in front of me. "And those that don't want UED's information want the alien tech that's inside you. It'll go for a lot of credits on the black market."
Damn Cee-Bees should have a warning label. I yanked on the edge of the plastic wrap and three feet of clear sheet spun out. Just dandy! I ripped off the piece and draped it over the food. "If the UED didn't invent the Cee-Bees, who did?"
"We don't know and at this point it's hard to separate myth from reality." Tobias scooped up the shrouded plate before I could and headed for the fridge. "Eat your banana."
I picked it up and broke open the tip. Could I ask the Cee-Bees themselves? Get real, Rae. If the answer could be found that easily, don't you think someone would have discovered it before now? I peeled the banana and took a bite. "So what do you know about the Cee-Bee inventors?"
"The Archa's society was rich, powerful and extended into neighboring galaxies." Tobias shut the refrigerator door and leaned against it. "They were at their height when humans were just crawling out of the primordial soup. Then one day, they were gone." He snapped his fingers. "They just disappeared."
I shivered. God, I hoped the Cee-Bees didn't eat them. Don't think about it. Turning, I crossed the kitchen and opened the cabinet near the stove. Rooting through the collection, I unearthed a clean margarine tub and matching lid. The chicken and dumplings should fit inside. My fingers drummed the bottom of the plastic as I walked back to the table. "The Archa sound like a cosmic Atlantis."
Tobias followed, but headed for his end of the table. "Finding some of their tech on Earth helped Atlantis achieve intersolar system travel."
I tripped over my feet and slammed to a stop against table. The bag of chips plopped to the floor. "You mean they were real?"
"I'm descended from them." He lifted a Styrofoam cup then walked toward me. "Atlantians were the first wave of humans to explore the galaxy. We still operate several bases on Earth's ocean floors. The most notorious is near Bermuda."
"Bermuda." White topped my knuckles. I stared at the empty margarine tub. "As in the Bermuda Triangle."
"Yes." He smiled before adding the contents of my soup dish to the chicken and dumplings still in the Styrofoam container. "I was stationed there twenty years ago."
Holy Toledo! It was real. All those nut jobs were right. "So all those planes and ships that disappeared..."
"We took them." He sealed the lid on the soup. "We wanted to monitor your level of technological progress before we began infiltration."
Right. He'd mentioned that before. Cold prickled my nape. He also considered killing an option. "What do you do with the people you captured?"
"We didn't capture them."
I trailed him into the kitchen.
He set the soup inside the fridge. When he turned around, he bumped into me. He placed his hands on my shoulders, steadying me. "When I was stationed on Earth, they were relocated to another planet. We have stewards on every world to help newcomers adapt."
"How long ago was that?"
"
Twenty years ago." He scooted around me and made his way back to the table.
Right. He'd said that before. Numbers flew in my head as I stalked him. If he was in the service twenty years ago and he enlisted at eighteen, he'd be thirty-eight. A very fit thirty-eight.
Tobias picked up his glass of juice and drained it. "I'm thirty-nine, in case you're wondering."
My cheeks heated as I studied my fingernails. His age was none of my business. I ran my fingers through the sweat on my glass before staring at my Smartphone. "Why did a smiley icon pop up when I asked about the bracelet? Why not jewelry or military insignias?"
"Because that would be obvious." Tobias stacked his bowl on his plate and sauntered closer. "Drink your juice."
I automatically raised the cup to my lips. What in the world? Did Cee-Bee's infect me with some obedience program? I almost lowered the glass. Since he was watching, I drank it. But only because the salt from the potato chips had made me thirsty.
"Our entire tech is designed to blend in with current technology." Tobias added my dishes to his then carried them to the kitchen sink.
I nodded. That explained the MP4 player that wasn't, as well as the key chain and cell phone. As for the pen... I still didn't know what it could do.
"Since not many people would have an app with a military insignia, yours won't either. And if your datapad falls into the wrong hands, they'll have a hard time trying to figure out what you were working on."
"Why don't the Cee-Bees prevent anyone but me from accessing the information?" Walking into the kitchen, I retrieved the sponge from the back of the sink and wet it. Warm water dripped through my fingers as I squeezed the blue square. Since he made the meal, I could clean up.
"The Cee-Bees can protect the information to an extent. But people like Konstantin are specialists at working around the firewalls and extracting information." Tobias opened a few drawers before finding the towels and selecting one. "They also know how to keep stewards alive for long periods of time so they can rip as much data out of UED's system as possible."
I swallowed the lump in my throat. Being kept alive is not the same thing as living. Don't get caught by the bad guys. That was definitely going on my anti-bucket list.
Blue Maneuver-Urban SciFi/Fantasy (Extraterrestrial security program) Page 9
