“That is fucking awesome news,” Frank added with great relief.
“Hiro's account was tricky since he's Japanese, but I got it worked out.”
“I don't know what to say,” Frank said. “Don't forget to pay yourself.”
“Oh, I didn't forget,” Terrelle answered, “and you were very generous.”
* * *
Chloe was looking at herself in the mirror. She was wearing her hair in the style that her father had referred to as 'natural' and she once again opted to not wear any paint. Caja always praised her on the shade of her natural skin. The walls of the chamber often seemed to close in on her, feeling like a prison, but she was nonetheless thankful for them, as she would surely be dead without them. She thought of Earth again, as she often did when she was feeling particularly bored. Her memories distorted themselves over the years but she could still remember her mother's face. She felt that somehow, someday, she would see her again. Her daydreaming was interrupted by Caja strolling through the door with an air of confidence.
“How did it go?” Chloe asked.
“It went very well,” Caja answered. “The twins agree that I am old enough.”
“I just knew they would agree with you,” Chloe said as she took her friends large hands in her own.
“It was difficult. I had to convince them that I had no treasonous thoughts toward my father.”
“Their loyalty is commendable.”
“It certainly is,” Caja agreed. “Once they realized my intentions, they warmed up to the idea.”
“And they are really popular among the guard.”
“Yes. Those two deserve wives.”
Chloe smiled as she said, “So pick one.”
* * *
“Welcome to Vera,” Korick said with a fabricated confidence. “I appreciate you coming on such short notice.”
“Why did you summon us?” Moldew asked, his allegiance to the crown more than apparent.
“I need the services of this human.” Korick answered.
“Keep in mind that he serves the King,” Moldew reminded.
“Yes, of course,” Korick answered. “I have a tremendous relationship with King Ondex.”
“What is it that you require of me?” Raymond asked in Gotian.
“Do you know the language of the States of United America?” Korick asked.
“Yes,” Raymond replied, ignoring the improper phrasing and trying to not stare at Korick's garish robes.
“A business associate of mine has, in his possession, a human that holds the title of President. Does that title mean anything to you?”
Raymond had a difficult time hiding his shock. “Yes. Why would anyone abduct the President?”
“Oh, it's part of an ongoing business arrangement. We are expanding the empire. I won't bore you with the details. But the President has somehow made nice with a creature that we have been trying to break. Have you ever seen an Ezilak?”
“I have not.”
“They are fantastic creatures. Mammalian. Tall. Power on par with us Gotes. They defend their homes with extreme ferocity. The problem is when they get into the coliseum, they don't fight. We can't even get them past testing.”
“I don't understand what you want of me,” Raymond replied.
“It's pretty simple, really. I need you to talk to that President guy and tell him to tell her to make her people fight. Or else we will nuke their whole planet.”
“And she has the authority to instruct her people to do so?”
“Apparently. She is some princess or chief, or something.”
“Where are they being held?” Moldew asked.
“Korbaal. So you better hurry. He is due to be executed soon. That is, if the heat doesn't kill him first.” Korick was about to continue with more instructions when another Gote approached him and spoke in tones that were too low for the others to hear. “I'm in the middle of something,” Korick responded at full volume. The other Gote said something else. “A Li drone, operated by Ottwan, himself? The Great Ottwan? Well show it in!” And then to Moldew and Raymond he said, “You two, stand over there and please be quiet. The rest of you better be quiet or it's your ass.” He looked across the chamber to see the doors opening to allow the drone to enter. “Ottwan, something must have gone wrong if you're here.”
“Not just something,” a voice said, emanating from the drone. “Everything has gone wrong.”
“Where is Tirogof?” Korick asked.
“I assume he is dead. He failed at Lian.”
“What?” Korick was furious. “How is this possible?”
“It must be the Monster,” Ottwan replied.
“It was reported to me that you had killed the Monster, Ottwan. Did you lie?”
“He was stabbed through the heart and my assassins watched him die. He was somehow resurrected.”
“Ottwan, don't take me for a fool.”
“It's the Curse of the Sessik.”
“What does that even mean?”
“The Witch has made him immortal.”
“You sound as if you actually believe that yourself, Ottwan.”
“Did you even watch the video file that I had sent out, Korick?”
“I have no time for propaganda videos.”
“I made the video myself!” Now Ottwan sounded furious. “I tapped into their feed and stole as much as I could. Could I at least play it for you now?”
Korick paused for a moment to regain his composure. “Yes, play the video.” He watched the footage with great interest and was very impressed by the human that had come to be known as the Monster, of Earth. He glanced over at Raymond and was pleased to find the also was staring in wide-eyed disbelief. He then turned his attention back to the drone. “Ottwan, did you have the Witch taken to Korbaal?”
“Yes.”
“I would have them prepare for his arrival then. He seems very resourceful. He may find a way to track her down.”
“I believe it might be too late for that. Look at these images I have recently captured of the compound on Korbaal.” The drone projected the images in succession.
Once again furious, Korick shouted, “I have a lot of money wrapped up in this!”
“We have lost everything, Korick. You at least got your faster ships out of the deal.”
“Yes,” Korick agreed. “Speaking of ships, where are all of the Li capital ships?”
“There is wreckage over Lian and Korbaal. The seven over Earth have simply vanished.”
“Vanished?” Korick was astounded. “How? The Monster?”
“I can only assume.”
“So all of your nukes...gone?”
“Yes, Korick.”
“Clear the chamber,” Korick said loudly to no one in particular. “I need some time to think this through.”
* * *
The door panel slid open, and Frank and Denise were pleased to find Gladys and Nera standing ready to greet them. After the hugs and kisses were passed around, Frank said, “We need to talk about some planning. Where's Phil?”
“I will summon him,” Constanthos offered.
“Thanks Connie,” Frank replied as he led the others toward the Loba tree, where Cindy was lounging. “I haven't forgotten about you, my friend,” Frank said to her.
“I know and I understand that these things take time.”
“Thank you for your patience.” Frank looked over to see Phildan coming down the path.
“Hello, Frank. Denise.”
“Hey, Phil,” Frank answered. “I'm sorry to pull you away from your work, but I want everyone's input. I was thinking we should move the Mingrein to Korbaal real quick. After that one big, I don't know, jump, Connie should be moved.”
“I do like the sound of that,” Constanthos replied, her voice coming from everywhere. “Phildan, how is the project coming along?”
“Just fine. There will be some minor adjustments, but those will have to wait until you are in your human form.”
“So, will
we be dead in the water at that point?” Frank asked.
“What do you mean?” Gladys asked.
“Will we be able to open rifts and move freely about the galaxy?”
“Yes, Frank,” Gladys answered with a smile. “The computational systems will perform as they were originally designed. We will have to make shorter jumps in order to give them time to measure and recalculate, but there will certainly not be any down time.”
“We will be regaining our speed in a short time,” Constanthos added.
“Oh, yeah?” Frank asked. “How does that work?”
“Allow me,” Phildan said. “Constanthos and I have been working on a new halo design that will allow her implant to communicate directly with the computational systems. It serves a number of purposes. First it will allow her to make sure another artificial intelligence doesn't form. We all agree that we were very lucky that Constanthos is so delightful. Secondly, she will be able to coax the system into handling larger measurements than normal.”
“You're talking over my head again, Phil.” Frank was visibly confused.
“She'll tell the ship to go fast, Frank.” Phildan somehow shrugged all four of his shoulders as he said the words.
“She will have to learn how to be human first,” Gladys said. “It may be a slow process. She will have to learn how to use her senses. She'll have to learn to walk and talk.”
“I am with you all the way, Connie,” Denise said. “And I'm sure Nera feels the same way.” Nera nodded.
“I'm sure Miyako and Hiro would want to help as well,” Gladys added.
“When we get back. Let's give them some more alone time. We just need to find out what Robert wants to do,” Frank said.
“I'll call Hiro and ask if they want to stay on the island or head back to Japan,” Denise offered.
“Cool. I'll call Robert. I at least want to give him the card for his spending account.”
9.
“Well, I'll be damned,” Oscar Jones said out loud as a man fell from the sky and landed gracefully in his front yard. The man stepped aside to make way for a beautiful blonde lady who made the same entrance. The man took her hand as if to steady her, although it was clear that she had perfect balance. She then stepped aside and they were joined by a small, orange-skinned young lady who, although her skin had the odd hue, was just as gorgeous as the blonde.
“Dad, this is Frank Ford. And that is Denise Blake and Nera Bunto.” Robert was smiling as he made the introductions and shot a glance over to Michelle, who while being entertained, couldn't help but to size up Denise. “Guys, this is my dad, Oscar Jones.”
“I am very pleased to meet you, sir,” Frank said as he took a few steps forward.
Oscar stood up from his chair, walked down the steps of his porch, and extended his hand. “I didn't believe it was real. But then you drop out of the sky and right into my front yard.” He turned and looked at his son. “Robert, I owe you an apology.”
“Don't sweat it, Dad. It all sounds very unbelievable, I know.” He noticed that his father was looking up, searching the sky. “You won't see it. It's cloaked. Invisible.”
“Amazing. I don't know what to say.” He looked over to inspect Nera. “Young lady, I'm guessing that you're not from around here.”
“I am from Nuun,” She answered. “You are smaller than I expected.” Her words incited laughter from everyone, which made her feel a bit uncomfortable.
“My Robert is a big one. That's for sure. It nearly put us in the poor house just trying to feed him.”
“You must be very proud of him,” Denise commented.
“I am,” Oscar replied. “With his size and strength, I figured he could have been a professional athlete or something. But he was always so gentle natured. He got that from his mother. I was really surprised when he joined the military.”
“Robert is a hero,” Frank added. “We couldn't have done it without him.” The words left Oscar standing in silent contemplation.
“I know you guys are in a hurry,” Robert said. “You were wanting to give me something?”
“Yes, let's talk in private.” Frank politely led Robert toward the street where they could speak freely.
* * *
“You must be Michelle,” Denise said with her hand extended.
“It's nice to meet you,” Michelle responded. “Robert has spoken highly of you.”
“He's nice. He was never a big talker. He always seemed to be a deep thinker. It's nice to meet who he was thinking about all that time.”
Michelle seemed to really warm up having heard Denise's words. “It's funny. He said the other guys in his unit were all crazy for you but he never once hit on you. And now I meet you and you are absolutely beautiful and somehow it makes me believe him even more.”
“Thank you. Yeah, the other guys were rather flirty. They are all very sweet and I appreciate everything they did, but there was never anything romantic between any of us.”
Michelle nodded toward Frank. “I understand you're trying to change that.”
Denise looked over at Frank and couldn't help but to smile. “We are all working on an understanding.”
Michelle couldn't help but to notice Nera staring at her. “Is something wrong?” Michelle asked.
“Your hair,” Nera responded.
“What's wrong with it?” Michelle asked as she reached her hand to her hair nervously.
“It's amazing,” Nera replied as she made an awkward smile.
Michelle dropped her hand and smiled. “For a great warrior, you are just the sweetest little thing.”
* * *
“I have a little bit of money saved up. I can't accept this.” Robert was refusing to take the card from Frank.
“You deserve to be compensated for your time, at least.”
“I may have helped a little, but protecting the planet shouldn't be a money thing.”
“You helped a lot, Robert. And there's no reason it can't also be a money thing. I mean, I got paid. There's no reason you shouldn't get paid too.” Frank smiled like a car salesman.
“I'm pretty sure you would still be doing what you do without the money part,” Robert replied.
“See, now you're getting it!”
“Frank, you're contradicting yourself.”
“No, Robert. You're contradicting me. I am getting paid to do a job that I would have done for free. You realize that gold is pretty much worthless everywhere else in the galaxy, right? Now I have more money than I could ever need or want and a ridiculous job title that enables, no, necessitates me hiring a staff. That would be you, Denise, Hiro, and everyone else. By being hired, you must be paid. If it makes you feel any better, just buy job related stuff with the card.”
“You are out of your mind.”
“I know. That's how I got the job in the first place.”
Robert paused, staring at the card. “So what kind of things would be considered job related?”
“Simple things. New truck. House. College tuition for your kids.”
“You're getting ahead of yourself.”
“Okay then, look at it this way. Think of all the cool shit we can build when we're not off fighting aliens.”
“You see, that's what I want to do. I want to earn my money honestly.”
“I've done that my whole life. I actually love my work. The construction work. But now I get to build stuff and not have to worry about the money part.”
“Is the money part an issue if you're really good at it though?”
“I got lucky by signing on with a decent contractor. There were plenty of times when I had to go out looking for my money. That totally sucks. There's some shady fuckers out there.”
“Well, shit. I thought carpentry would be a good fit for me but you got me second guessing myself.”
“Wait. Hold on just a second. Robert, you are a natural. You have so much potential as a carpenter that it's ridiculous. Please don't second guess yourself.”
“You're ta
lking in circles, Frank.”
“Just take the card and we'll keep doing what we're doing. You don't have to use it if you don't want to. Or you could get a truck and a bunch of tools and just go for it. I'm not familiar with this market but I'll help in any way I can, if that's what you want.”
“I had considered moving up to Indy. I was going to use you as a reference. But now things are going well with Michelle, so I don't know.”
Frank looked over to where the girls were all talking and laughing together. “She seems pretty cool, Robert. What does she do for a living?”
“She's currently between jobs. She had a falling out with her last employer.”
“She strikes me as a woman that doesn't take any shit from anyone.”
“Yeah, especially an office full of racist, sexist assholes.”
“Damn. White people really suck sometimes. So she's comfortable in a business environment?”
“She better be. She got a degree in business administration.” Robert let the racial comment slide by without comment.
“Oh, really? Perfect. I happen to have a job opening for a business administrator.”
“Frank, don't be making shit up.”
“No, seriously. I had a talk with Terrelle and he is overwhelmed with everything. He's an attorney and he's been stuck handling all this other shit. He isn't willing to hire anyone himself out of fear of hiring the wrong person.”
“For real? I can talk to her and see if she's interested.”
“She'd have to move to Indy, since it's kinda my base for stateside operations.”
“Frank.”
“Seriously. I'm even part owner of the bar there.”
“Okay. I'll talk to her.”
“How does she feel about beaches? She'd have to be willing to split her time between Indy and the island. I'm going to need your help with a couple of building projects.”
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