by Clay Moore
Brian saw it at once. Once she addressed the ball she adjusted the panty she was wearing. Brian stopped her before she could swing. Brian put his hand under the skirt and felt the culprit. She was wearing a lace panty that she was not used to. He took out a pocket knife and cut that panty off of her. “Now Swing away. He stuffed her panty into a small pouch in her bag.
She swung the club. She was indeed Kandi Kane. Brian swung his club after her. Her. This time he was only five yards ahead of her. They walked to where their balls lie.
“How did you know it was the panties?”
“You are what? Nineteen?”
“Yes.”
“Your father was a stick on how you appeared in public. You probably had to wear the granny panties.”
“That’s mom’s doing.”
“You were coming up on your majority. You are nineteen now. Your life is the tour and golf. You so want to meet mister right. You also want to have sex.”
“Will you help with that?”
“Yes,” said Brian without thinking. Then he remembered that he was twenty-five years old, and she was nineteen years old.
She dropped the club in her hand. She wrapped her self around Brian's neck and kissed him soundly on the lips. This was no sisterly kiss. Brian felt the lust in it. She slowly let herself down.
‘What’s this?” She reached to his crouch and felt the tumescence occurring “Did I catch your lust.”
“Look,” she said, “I already got a round in this morning. I got these awards show thing tonight. If we go to your apartment, Would we have time?”
“We would have all the time in the world. Let’s jog to my grav-car.”
My Gown is in my locker.”
“We’ll call your Dad, and he will express it over to my apartment. He may have already done that.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Why would he keep pushing us together. You’re willing, and I am ready. He put the right combination together to get a spark.”
“Welcome to womanhood, kitten,” said Harry Kane. A tear tried to fall from his eyes. He watched the Golden Aponte Sports grav-car drive off and start flying for the Central City.
Her mother told him what it felt to be on the precipice of womanhood and did not understand anything. From the rumor, he got about Brian Butler she was about to be introduced to the mysteries of life by a Grandmaster.
BRIEFING
Brian sat on a padded chair in the antechamber for the Director’s office. He had come from escorting Kandi Kane to her liner to Giesling Invitational. She turned and gave him a kiss on the cheek. It felt dead until she was at the apartment. She was learning self-control. After finding out what it all was about and finding out that she liked it, the awards show was a breeze. No one knew who that tall, dark and mean looking young man was. A paparazzi got too close. The young man took the camera from the intruding paparazzi. The news flashers were tittering over the fact the photographer was in prison sentenced to ten years on an asteroid prison. Brian thought he was going to catch trouble over that.
For the last three days he lived in fear that it was all over. His only solace was the golfing with Kandi as well as the the carnal form of golfing he also did with Kandi. This morning he received a summons to the Director’s office at noon. His usual sources of information were quiet. So, he saw Kandi off to Giesling. She mentioned bringing back another trophy to match the Best new Female Athlete. Then he drove to the Headquarters. He was early and waited in the single hardback chair with a seat cushion.
The receptionist’s com rang. She picked up and listened on the handset. She hung up and pushed the button. “You may go in now. She will see you.”
Brian got up feeling like that 5 year told to wait until mom gets home. He opened the door and walked down the short corridor to the second door. He opened that one. This was still the office he knew, except Carla preferred to have pictures of some of the Central Freight Lines vessels. He walked further into the office. He stopped in front of her desk.
Carla was working on some information on her Slate. When she finished she looked up at Brian. “The only reason you are not languishing in some jungle somewhere with a dart in your head is because you are damned good, and that paparazzi has had trouble with authority for years. Don’t trade on your skill. You understand?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Now have a seat. Gold rush is moving forward. I’m going to give you three days to get your ship completely kitted out. Then you need to land at least 8 hours prior to Harry’s landing. You need to mark him somehow, because on the way to Alphacent you will launch 3 stealth satellites. The marker will tell you where he is at any particular time.”
“I’m to launch the stealth satellites.”
“Yes, we are learning how to do that. The ship will do it for you. The satellites will last 8 days. Then their orbits will decay.”
“What other information will I have from the Satellites.”
“We are still looking at the platform. We need it for this mission, so all it will do is give you information about his location. In future missions it might give you everything including the number of births happening right now.”
Brian chuckled.
“Now, here is the plot. When you know who the contact is for Harry, give us that information. The second half of the mission is go/no-go from Headquarters.”
“Go to continue, or no go to return home?”
“Correct. The second half of the mission is for you to Kill Harry and his contact. Harry needs to die quietly if possible. His contact need die in a such a way to make all the scream sheets in the morning. This is a lesson for the people running the whole show.”
She waited for Brian to make a comment. It took Brian two minutes to think through several ideas..
“Are you expecting this to be the end point of the gold stream. Should I take care of their smelting operation?”
“How would you do it?”
“I have several ideas. I could use a burner grenade in their smelting pots. It might burn a hole and spray molten gold over everything. I could use HDX and cripple the smelter. I could take a mini nuke with a Lovat signature—”
“That plan is vetoed now.”
“Which one of the previous two then.”
“I like HDX because it would destroy the equipment.”
“The problem is that I would have to cart in five hundred pounds of the stuff. And then move it around. Too much weight.”
“I can see that.”
“If I had an action squad, I could do that.”
“We don’t have any experience on operating an action squad on Alphacent. What does the Burner Grenade weigh?”
“Half a pound.”
“One per smelting pot?”
“Yeah. I don’t see them having more than two of them. I’ll use Burners if I can after killing the main target. I assume the assassinations are primary?”
“Yes, we need those deaths. We also need to know with which organization they are affiliated.”
“Yeah. I accept.”
“Starting now you have three days before you must launch to Alphacent. See quartermaster before you go see your ship.”
Brian walked out of Carla’s office. As soon as he stepped out of the office, he jumped for joy. He was go mission for Alphacent.
CHAPTER SEVEN
A Lick of Kandi
AMARANTHA
The Secret Service Starport was located on Highway 101 about one mile beyond the official border of Central City. The underlying architecture was a large central Landing Pad for Medium Freighters and up surrounded by 12 smaller landing pads for the actual Special Agent Runners.
Brian ran "Runner" around in his mind. A runner was defined as a single-ship for the rich and occasionally idiotic. He put his suitcase on the ground. He floated out a steamer trunk that had a built-in Null grav. He put the suitcase on the steamer trunk. Then he put his briefcase on the suitcase. The last thing he put on his floating steamer
trunk was his golf bags. He floated the steamer trunk toward the front doors of the Starport.
In the main concourse, a man was standing at a circular desk. Brian went up to him. He surprised Brian by talking first.
“Good Afternoon Special Agent Brian Butler. Welcome to Endicott Field. Your ship is in pad 02. In your pad will be an Endicott manual. To get to your landing pad go to gate 2 and take the stairs down to the pad floor. Your IDs will pass you through the doors.”
“Thank you.”
Brian followed the signs until he got to a passenger waiting area for Gate 2. The stairs down to the pad floor was well marked and opened for him. He walked onto the landing pad floor and saw his ship for the first time.
Most Starships were squat geometric designs, circles or squares. Cassaways Limited B14 was a sleek bird. The first section was shaped like a large Capital D. The curved part of the D was forward. He could see the Windows for the cockpit. The middle part of the D was where the Quarters, and cargo bay were. Everything was sleek and smooth. There were no hard edge transitions. Attached to the wing were two double turrets with one-inch rotary cannons. No doubt the weapons could be fired in fixed-wing mode, or in turret mode.
The undercarriage was four skids on a broad base. The ship would not topple when down on a windy planet. Brian walked towards the aft of the vessel. The first deck extended past the trailing edge of the D. The first deck contained the Cargo Bay. From his position, he could see the Garage had been retracted into the Second deck to hide it away and allow access to the spacious cargo hold. He could see a grav-car that looked a bit worse for wear. The concept was a throwaway car. Drive the vehicle and leave it somewhere. It was not worth much and so was not much of a loss. The other vehicle would be a pretty profound loss for his budget. It was an SR-12 grav-rod. It was fast, stealthy, and had all kinds of attachments for sensors and weapons. With the SR there was no need for a sports grav-car. The SR provided for the need for speed.
Brian took his first steps on the ship by walking up the cargo ramp. The cargo bay used ceiling and floor lighting. He noticed that there were fire suppressant canisters located on quick release brackets along the starboard and aft bulkheads. On the port side moving forward was the main hatch leading into the people part of the ship. He walked to the door. Unexpectedly the door opened. Brian’s reflex moved his hand to his pistol. The entry must have opened for him.
“Good afternoon, Special Agent Brian Butler.”
“Who are you?”
“My name is Amarantha.”
“Are you built-in to the computer.”
“No, on the cockpit I reside in a very large Datastick. I was born two months ago in the AI creation and training center of the Marine Corps. I have taken both the Battlesuit section of AI training and the Starship operation and maintenance system. I am certified in both.”
“Excellent.”
“I must remind you that we need to complete the setup of the ship’s systems to your preferences. Once done that will give us our certificates for flight.”
“We will see to that later today. Right now I just walked the ship to get used to it.”
“Excellent, sir.”
“First Preference change, use sir or madam only when there is a guest aboard. When we are alone, you may call me Brian. Clear.”
“Very clear, Brian.”
Brian smiled. He wished he had an AI on his own light freighter. Brian pulled the steamer trunk through the door. When the door closed behind him, he turned to see the suit containers. Here were the ship’s vacuum-suits. He pulled the steamer trunk into a larger area. It looked like a lounge for the crew if any were needed. In the starboard area was an alcove that held 6 bunks. The rations for the team was foodbase. In the lounge area there was a complete cooking alcove for foodbase. Against the forward bulkhead was the surface for a lift.
Brian Butler maneuvered the steamer trunk onto the lift with the other suitcase. And hit the “up” button. The elevator started its inexorable climb to the second deck. Brian took the spiral staircase up to the second deck with his briefcase.
The first deck was utilitarian, barely decorated, and minimally lighted. The second deck was paneled with real woods, the chairs were plush and soft. The second deck was bright. Every part of the floor was lit. Behind him was the hatch leading into the cockpit. There was a Ceramaglass panel between the cockpit and the rest of the ship. Directly opposite was a door to the Main Bedroom. Brian walked to that door and opened it.
For a starship his bedroom was huge. Two people could quickly move around each other. There was a sliding panel opposite the bed. He slid it open and saw a closet. To the left of the closet was the ship’s safe. It stood floor to ceiling. The Safe’s password was sent to him via secure message yesterday. He touched the code on the touchpad. The safe unlocked and opened automatically. Inside was a goodly amount of storage with a second mechanical safe inside. He opened that safe and put in the currency and Gold coins plus a pouch of gold dust. He closed the small safe. From the Steamer trunk, he produced Five of the new sub-assault rifle. These were the new design with the smaller silencers that were integral to the barrel. These he put on the shelves in the back of the safe. He hung three pistols from the hooks on the back of the front door. The silencers for these fit into holders screwed into the right side panel of the interior. He also had six boxed Burner grenades which he put on the bottom shelf. His ammo he placed near the various weapons. The loaded magazines he put into containers hanging on the left side panel of the interior. He closed the safe door.
He pulled out seven pressed and starched business shirts from the suitcase. He set those in the top dresser drawer. Next to those he put his ultra white T-shirts and underwear. Then he hung 3 of the gray business suits. The suits looked a little rumpled. He just snapped each suit, and it returned to its freshly pressed state. He did the same thing to his more formal black business suit and his black tuxedo. He set out three pairs of shoes in the shoe rack. With what he had on he possessed four gray suits on the ship currently. The briefcase contained the biological poisons, sedatives, and hypnotics with which he can work his will if need be. He would wait until he was safely in hyper before putting those away in the ship’s armory. He put the briefcase in his closet and shut the door.
As he walked out of his quarters, he saw someone coming towards him. He rolled forward drawing his pistol. A man wearing Secret Service uniform dungarees raised his clean hands and stopped at the command. He had black hair and a scraggly black beard. He wore a beanie on his head to keep the oil out of this hair. He had a tool belt on which had very well used tools in it. On the tool belt in its own pouch was his Slate.
Brian relaxed. “You must be Cody Corbett,” he asked the ship’s technician.
“Yea, soor.” His voice was thick with the North of Eridani.
Brian smiled and holstered his pistol. “You can relax, Cody.”
“Yea, soor.” He tentatively dropped his hands. “This is my first time working with the likes of you, soor.”
“Yes, it is the first time we met.”
“No soor, what I meant was working with people who do all that you do. Kill people, I mean.”
“You have nothing to fear on that front. I kill only on orders, or to protect my life and the life of innocents. I have no orders for you, and I see no weapons on you.”
Cody looks about his person and then visibly relaxed. “I heared you were coming on board today. Amarantha told me that you were aboard. I wanted to see if there is anything I can get for you. There is one thing I do want to do if you will let me.”
“What is that?”
“Your food rations are on the Pad in portable freezers. I want to put them into the pantry’s freezer unit. I think that is important so I like to get that done ahead of time.”
“Go ahead. Could you have the steamer trunk in there sent back to my apartment.”
“Sure I’ll set it on the dock in the area to be returned to your residence. Have you met
Amarantha yet?”
“Was on my way there. Also, there was supposed to be a bundle of clothes and some shoes for me to wear while on board.”
“They may have come. I’ll check with the Dock-master. If they came, I’ll put them on your bed.”
“Carry on, Cody.”
Brian watched Cody depart. Brian took out his pistol. All of the Agents demanded to go with the 4-inch barrel. The Lammertech H-14 forty caliber gun fired all forty caliber careless ammo. The one approved by the Special Agents were the darts, the soft jacket with a penetrator. Kills were at 90 percent with this ammo when they were near all fatal areas on the body. The addition of two more inches to the barrel increased accuracy and distance. It also increased muzzle velocity. It also fits in the holster to which he was used.
Brian continued his walk through the grand salon. The door to the cockpit slid open at his approach. He stepped into the cockpit. He took off his Suit coat and used a hangar provided for that purpose. Then he sat down on the pilot’s couch. He reached out with his feet. He was too far from the foot pedals.
He used the buttons on the couch to move it closer to the control console with the yoke. When he got to the correct position regarding forward and aft. He adjusts the seat a little bit lower. Now he was comfortable.
“Is this your seat preference,” asked Amarantha’s sultry voice.
“Yes.”
“Please name the preference so that I can retrieve it if necessary. I recommend a letter followed by a number. The letter can be a mnemonic.”
“A one will be good enough.”
“It has been listed in your preferences. Are you ready to set up your ship now?”
“Yes.”
“Name of Ship.”
Brian thought for a few moments. “Amarantha.”
“May I ask why?”
“If I have guests, they will think that I am merely talking to the ship and not to an AI.”
“The Ship’s name is Amarantha. I put your pilot’s information into the application. I transmitted the application to Ship’s registry. Ahh, it is approved. We are tail number PV 267. Beginning Activation of all ship’s systems.”
