Under My Heel

by Michael Anderle

  The men spent the next three hours, working with TOM, on the ship’s capabilities and drive specifications. TOM explained things and Marcus translated them into what would help define their ship’s design parameters. At the end of the session, Marcus told TOM ‘goodbye for now’ and he sat back, amazed.

  Marcus had his head tilted back, staring at the ceiling. “I’ll be damned.”

  Bobcat put the bucket of beers on the table and reached in to get one. There was a Coke in the bucket for William. Marcus waved off Bobcat’s offer, “Not yet.”

  Opening his bottle, Bobcat took a swig. “Why are you going to be damned?”

  Marcus stood up and tried to ‘pop’ his back. It felt stiff and sore from sitting so long. “It’s an anti-gravity device. If Podkletnov could see even half of this information he would shit bricks, I’m sure.” Marcus walked over to the white-board. The guys had written down some information for him while he was chatting with TOM. “Right here, this calculation that William wrote down almost verifies his and Modanese’s calculations for anti-gravity pulses at sixty-four c.”

  Bobcat interrupted Marcus, “Doc, remember not all of us know your shorthand.”

  Marcus picked up the green dry-erase marker. “Speed of light. Sixty-four ‘c’ is sixty-four times the speed of light.” Marcus added a couple of mathematical notations next to William’s note. “The only thing is, TOM’s people had an ability to make it quadruple in capacity. So they can go two hundred and fifty-six c for short bursts of time.”

  William opened his Coke carefully. Bobcat had ‘accidentally’ shaken up a Coke one time. William had to go and take a shower to get the sticky stuff off of him. “Wouldn’t you die from the acceleration?”

  “Good question, but no.” Marcus grabbed the red marker, “Here are the notations on how to build a locally transitive gravity shield so that the effects warp around using a gravity sphere.” The mathematical notations might as well have been Sanskrit to the other two team members.

  William looked over at Bobcat, “Is he punking us?”

  This time, it was Marcus that barked a laugh and looked over at his two team members. “Gentleman, if we have the ability to fabricate the right shielding I could get you to Brazil in five minutes. Of course, you would probably destroy anything within a quarter mile of your vehicle due to shock waves.” He turned back to the whiteboard using the marker to scratch the back of his head, “Guess that means a limiter for atmospheric travel.”

  It was another hour before the doctor sat down, and accepted his first beer of the night. He was officially the most knowledgeable scientist in the world related to anti-gravity and light-speed travel between the stars. And, it annoyed him that except for these two men and one alien, no one had a clue.

  Well, they would soon enough.

  Key Biscayne, Fl - USA

  Bethany Anne had Nathan and Frank on a conference call.

  “So that about sums it up. Both of you say that Tabitha is solid and she’s an almost terrifyingly good hacker. She passes your background check Frank. And Nathan, you also have Ben’s comments to back up performance reviews from her bosses, right?”

  Nathan spoke up, “Yes. Although her bosses are just about as happy with you taking Tabitha, as they were when I took Ben, away from them.”

  Bethany Anne replied, “Can’t be helped. I need someone really good that already has been exposed to the UnknownWorld and she fits the bill perfectly.”

  Nathan knew there was something else going on with this selection. He thought he could feel an undercurrent of mischievousness in Bethany Anne’s voice. “Boss, anything else you need to know about Tabitha?”

  “Yes, is she snarky? Maybe a bit of a pain-in-the-ass?”

  Nathan looked over the table at Frank, who shrugged but answered as best he could. “The background check showed a few run-ins with the law before she was eighteen. She has a bit of a chip on her shoulder. Is that a problem?”

  “Fuck no, not for me anyway. I think she’s perfect!”

  Nathan wanted to bounce his head against the table a couple of times. “Boss, who is going to be using Tabitha’s skills?” Franks eyes started to open wide and his mouth made a little ‘o’.

  “Guys, I thought you knew? Michael has asked for some help to find someone who can replace Carl. He needs a person to fill the technical liaison role, for him, in South America.” Her answer was so smooth Nathan was sure that she was doing her best to not laugh out loud.

  Nathan agreed to get Tabitha and her traveling clothes ready. Paul would go and pick her up in Texas. Bethany Anne would then take her down to Michael after she arrived in Florida. They said their good-byes and hung up.

  Nathan stared at Frank.

  Tabitha and Michael together? Oh god in heaven what was Bethany Anne up to?

  —

  Michael was standing in the house where Anton had held his last party. He was looking down off of the balcony to the floor where Bethany Anne had killed the two Nosferatu that Anton’s scientists had created. It was the location that Bethany Anne could most easily remember. It would be her target when she trans-located from Miami down to Argentina.

  He was staring at the spot where he expected Bethany Anne, and the guy who would become his new technical support specialist, to appear.

  His face was carefully schooled. He didn’t want Bethany Anne to get any ideas from the fact that he had actually arrived an extra five minutes early. He wanted time, to make sure that he was in the perfect place to witness her arrival. When she arrived she wouldn’t immediately be able to see his face, yet he would be able to see hers.

  Which was a good thing, if not for the reason he had expected. As it happened, she didn’t see his carefully schooled expression turn to shock. There were three females, and Ashur, that showed up and Michael realized that his new technical liaison was a ‘she’ not a ‘he’.

  And she had a nose piercing and tattoos.

  God in heaven, what had he done to this woman to hate him so?

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Buenos Aries, Argentina

  Bethany Anne followed her hearing to find Michael up on the balcony looking down. His face so smooth she was sure he had locked every muscle. He didn’t, however, remember to keep his eyes from opening a little in shock.

  Got you! Bethany Anne smiled up to Michael, “Why are you up there? Come on down and meet the newest member of Team Michael.”

  Ashur left the group to make a quick run through the house. Gabrielle decided that Ashur had a good idea. She wasn’t that comfortable around Michael and if the two of them couldn’t handle an attack, Gabrielle’s skills probably weren’t going to be the deciding factor for the next few minutes.

  But you can bet your ass she was going to be listening in on their conversation. Gabrielle smiled and waved to Michael who acknowledged the greeting with a raised hand. He watched as the woman walked out of the room, following the German Shepherd.

  That left two.

  The woman who remained beside Bethany Anne was lean and just slightly shorter. She had blond hair with … black ends? Michael looked a little closer as he got nearer. She must have naturally blond hair, but had died it black at one point. Wasn’t blond considered the most attractive color for women? When had black become the preferred color?

  With a nose ring. Michael had seen a lot of earrings and many of them were very pretty. It did tend to draw the eye to their neck which, he considered, was a fine feature. But their nose? Let’s not, he considered, get started with the tattoos on her chest and shoulders. None on the arms, though.

  Michael finished coming down the stairs and smiled at the two women. Bethany Anne’s smile was honest, warm and deceivingly innocent. Michael replayed their conversation for when he had asked for technical help. Not once had she mentioned the person who she had in mind was a male. It was always ‘they’ or ‘them’.

  He had been shown the price of his gender assumptions and she was standing next to Bethany Anne staring at him with c
alm, cool intelligence.

  Like he was a bug that she was judging for her collection.

  He turned his eyes to her face when he let a little fear creep into his voice, “Ladies…”

  The new technician’s eyes grew nice and round. Then Michael’s left arm stung like crazy and a ‘crack’ resounded off of the walls. Bethany Anne took a step into his personal space while looking up into his eyes, getting his attention. “None. Of. That. Michael.”

  It took a small amount of effort not to reach over and rub his arm where she slapped it. That woman had a mean right slap.

  Michael cut off the emotional overlay to his voice, “My apologies. South America has made me need to use that ability more often than not.” He didn’t step back. Bethany Anne had stepped into his space, she could damn well step back out, too.

  She squinted up at him one more time before turning toward the new woman and taking a step back. “Tabitha, let me introduce you to Michael. No last name, but then in the UnknownWorld…”

  Tabitha’s eyes went from surprise and caution to happiness and amazement. “Michael? THE Michael? Oh. My. GOD!” She even squealed like a teenager as she grabbed Michael’s hand that he extended and started pumping it like she was shaking a pom-pom. Michael looked over at Bethany Anne in bewilderment, hoping for an explanation, but Bethany Anne’s face was … Priceless!

  Bethany Anne was staring at Tabitha like she had brought the wrong young lady to South America. Michael’s face went from shock to satisfaction as he gently voiced, just loud enough for a vampire (or dog, had he thought about it) “You might want to close your mouth, Bethany Anne. You might catch a bug.”

  Bethany Anne’s mouth snapped shut as her head turned sharply, daggers shooting from her eyes at Michael who turned to give Tabitha his undivided attention.

  Michael returned Tabitha’s question with a question, “I’m not sure if I am the right Michael, maybe you can provide me with a synopsis of the Michael you think I am?”

  Tabitha dropped Michael’s hand and swung the low riding backpack off of her back and onto the floor. She bent down and unzipped it and then started to rummage through it. Michael snuck a quick peek at Bethany Anne who had a look of consternation on her face, watching the young twenty-something.

  “Got it!” Tabitha came back up with a small notebook that had a pen pushed into the rings. She opened the notebook and flipped through a few pages. “Here, ’The Michael’”, the fingers of her free hand making air quotes. “That I’m talking about is the assumed head of all the vampires and was the one who turned Anton.” With this, she looked up at Michael, “Douchebag move, if you did that.” She went back to her reading. Michael snuck another quick look at Bethany Anne, whose look of incredulity was starting to smooth back a little, towards one of pleasure. Tabitha continued, “Also is the parent of a Steven, David and Howard…”

  Michael said under his breath, “It’s Hugo.”

  Tabitha looked up at Michael, a gleam in her eye, “Got ya!” She turned the notebook around and Michael felt Bethany Anne’s shoulder touch his as she joined him in looking at Tabitha’s notebook.

  There was the list, Michael was first, then Steven, David, Hugo, Anton, Peter and Barnabas.

  Bethany Anne pointed to the list, “It’s actually ’Stephen’, not ‘Steven’. Bethany Anne’s smile was back full force.

  Tabitha turned the notebook back so she could read it, “Really?”

  Both of the vampires nodded.

  “Well, slap a bitch and make her howl.” She pulled the pen off of the notebook and started changing the name.

  Michael’s could hear Bethany Anne’s voice, ever so soft, “You’re going to catch a bug like that, Michael.” He closed his mouth. Bethany Anne whistled and Ashur came running back. Gabrielle came walking in a moment later, from the other direction.

  Bethany Anne looked over at Gabrielle, “Sorry, wasn’t ‘whistling’ for you, I forgot about your good hearing.”

  Gabrielle answered, “I bet.” Gabrielle reached down to pet Ashur for a second before hugging Tabitha good-bye.

  Bethany Anne was next, “You take good care of old what’s-his-face over here, ok?”

  Tabitha smiled at the women. “No worries, I’ve got his back, and Bethany Anne?”

  Bethany Anne had just grabbed Ashur’s neck. She turned to face Tabitha again, “Yes?”

  “Thanks, for everything, especially for Miami, ok?” Tabitha’s earlier protective walls were gone. In front of Bethany Anne was the young woman who had been rescued out of a dire situation in Miami and given a second chance. Her expression hinted at the powerfully adept support that she would provide the teams and especially Michael.

  Bethany Anne dropped her hold of Ashur and took a step back to Tabitha and opened her arms. Tabitha stepped into Bethany Anne’s embrace and listened while Bethany Anne spoke to her. “You have already paid me back for something that wasn’t your fault. I’m glad that you have been good in Texas and I appreciate you taking on this effort with Michael. It can be dangerous, so while he can be an egotistical wank-sack, he can and will protect you, ok?”

  Michael retorted, “I am not now, nor have I ever been an ‘egotistical wank-sack’…”

  Michael was surprised by Gabrielle butting into the conversation, “No, no … I have to agree with Bethany Anne on this one…” Then, Gabrielle’s eyes got big as she realized she HAD spoken that out loud.

  The two hugging women laughed as they parted.

  “Call me if you need anything? Or have Michael call me, understand?” Tabitha nodded.

  Michael looked down at the one backpack and an overnight bag Tabitha had brought, both resting on the floor. “Not to interrupt, but no clothes?”

  Tabitha answered for him, “Need to be local, so I don’t stand out. There are just enough clothes and unmentionables in there for a couple of days. So, shopping?”

  Bethany Anne winked at Michael as she grabbed Ashur and Gabrielle's arm and disappeared.

  Damn that woman!

  Key Biscayne, Fl - USA

  Bethany Anne dropped her hold of Ashur as Gabrielle unlocked the door. Ashur bolted out of the room heading downstairs.

  Gabrielle turned to her boss. “You need to have a talk with your dad.”

  Bethany Anne stopped and gave consideration to what had happened recently. She drew a blank, there was nothing that came to mind that should require her to talk to him, “About what?”

  Gabrielle put a hand on her hip, “Don’t tell me you don’t see how much Patricia likes the man.”

  “No, I know about that. Why? What is he… wait a sec. It isn’t what he is doing, it’s that he doesn’t have a clue, isn’t it?”

  Gabrielle just pursed her lips and nodded.

  “How bad has it been?” Bethany Anne went around her bed to pick up her phone, she had forgotten it here again. There had to be a reason that she was doing it, she was never this forgetful in the past.

  “He needs a 2x4 upside the head he is so blind? Really, he just needs to be ‘clued in’ so he can, what do they say around these fishing areas… fish or cut bait?”

  Bethany Anne rolled her head around, hearing the bones pop. Damn, that felt good. “Yeah, I was trying to not become cupid on this. He needs to get his head out of being the top in the chain of command.”

  “He needs to get his head out of his ass, you mean.”

  “Fuck, really Gabrielle, don’t sugar coat your opinion.” Bethany Anne smiled at the older woman. “Yeah, you’re right. He is probably aware at least subconsciously. Maybe there is more than one person scared of the future.”