Shackled inside of the security auto, he glanced back at the entrance to his office with the name above it ‘SATVID’ and realized that it was all over. He looked over at the next door building where he could make out the name ‘ TRUEREAL’ and shook his head slightly at the thought that though he had struck his best blow, they would still be around even if damaged. He looked down at his naked thighs, “What a loser!” Deep down he accepted his defeat. There was no reversing the singing that he had done inside that office and with the contents of that safe, he knew was a goner. Maybe he might get lucky and inflict a few casualties at his home with the devices there, he smiled to himself. At the end there in the office, the little bitch girl who had some kind of device or power to make his body freeze, had asked over and over, “Are you sure there isn’t something else you needed to tell us?” She had said, “we are going to send officers to your home Sir.” She had done that and so very politely too. He had sat there calmly, confidently, denying that he had anything else to hide. Inside though he had smugly thought to himself, ‘I hope the little lady is the one who gets to go there.’ A slight chill went through his body as he remembered how the bomb in his front office lay fully scattered on Yvonne’s desk. What if she had been playing me and already knew of my booby trapped house he thought. Well he was fried anyway already, he could expect no mercy. He could take solace that his software had been demonstrably successful all over Threeme, Baclet and Toigan! He was a genius in his own way, much better than those blokes at Truereal who did just virtual entertainment. He had programmed minds to do his bidding in the real world. History will prove me to be the more powerful, he comforted himself. He felt warm and confident again, ‘to heck with them all’ he thought.
23. A GOOD DAY FOR MICHAEL AND KICHA
Since there was no particular value to Six going after the two software developers who had initially helped Robert after a discussion with the Superintendent Boggin and his two Lieutenants, a few deputies were sent to their work places the next day to have them come in voluntarily for questioning, which they did. They had been approached to do the work as a research project only. They both had been intrigued by the history of those software advances, which had since been confined to the dump heap of history. After a while they had lost interest and were clueless that Robert who seemed to them to be a nice guy, had gone on to develop it for nefarious purposes. They both were nauseous at the thought that they may have contributed to the afflictions they were now learning about. Jonah of Six had even swung by to be close to them and he was able to verify that they were indeed earnest and truthful. They got to go home with the understanding that they may have to testify at some point. Robert’s home was searched after his booby traps had all been safely defused. Papers were brought by the Superintendent Boggin personally to a three judge panel with the request for immediately releasing Michael of Truereal from Millcreek Penitentiary, pending vacating of his conviction with expunging of his record to be done within the coming few months. In view of his total protestations of innocence, and now the clear corroborated confession of Robert Fuschon, there was no way forward other than by this pathway. There was a delegation of several scores of supporters to Millcreek to welcome Michael back into freedom two days later. Six was there with Kicha and Tumi plus all of the Truereal employees and others. It was both a tearful and joyous reunion of sorts at the same time. Michael had already had a complete narrative of events and he made a special effort to give Amy his employee who had been taken advantage of by Cayle, a tight hug.
Six heard him tell her, “It was not your fault Amy, thank you for helping me to get out of here.”
The teams working on the reprogramming were efficiently knocking out twenty one brain compromised blokes and gals a day and were done with the whole lot in five days. Team Six had a link up with Jongi telepathically and it was a joyous time on all sides to report their successful resolution to this crime spree. They all, including Charlie, Sonia, her other tech buddies and Six had a few days to do the sightseeing thing and they did. They took trips all over the city and out into the somewhat barren countryside to see the undeveloped wild parts too. The foodies among them too had a time of sampling quite a few dishes that were uniquely Threeme’s. Some of those who were interested, even got to overfly some of the mines that had helped to build the wealth of the people there.
All equipment had been packed up and they were back on the TDS entering the Celeste after just eight days on Threeme. They left behind a great reputation of professionalism and genuine friendships. The Superintendent Boggin, Chief Maitland’s and some of their underlings plus Chief Minister Salefuuna were all on hand for their send off. They went back up in the same craft on which they’d arrived, just now stacked on top of two very powerful chemical stages. Mrs. Debongo was there to greet them warmly again on her TDS. Next stop would be Baclet BMOS after leaving the Threeme Docking Station TDS.
They departed the TDS the following day and on docking with the BMOS hours later, got to greet old friends Munchin and Martinette there on the surface by video links. Ritchie and his two fellow technicians had worked twelve to fifteen hour days to get their jobs done. They had done it against all odds and in much shorter time than they could have hoped. They were loaded back into the spaceplane the Celeste along with their equipment. After only a five hour docking stay at the BMOS, the Celeste was on her merry way again. A short bit of relaxation and enjoyment of the low gravity onboard followed and they were again mated to Toigan’s main control orbital station (MCOS). They did have to spend the night though on the spaceplane, while awaiting the arrival of a mining and research crew who were to travel down to the surface of Toigan with them. The trip down went fantastically smoothly on the VLT and they were back on terrafirma in Toigan again. It had felt a little sad to leave Captain Ronald up there, but surprise surprise Rona, Janey, Charlie’s parents, Mehia, Moog and Juliana were there to welcome the team. ‘Charlie has now been up there with us,’ thought Jonah, ‘so one more thing that he and I would be able to share.’ That simple fact made Jonah so happy. To see Charlie and Janey beaming in each other’s arms brought immense pleasure to both Jonah and Jessi as well. Breecher and Buenafe had told them while on the MCOS last night, about the substantial share of bounty money that had been offered by the different planets and that that coupled with hazard pay would make for a very nice financial windfall for everyone. Charlie had been shocked to learn that he had earned his first million plus credits for his efforts. Jonah had slapped him on his back and said, “Welcome to the millionaire club Charlie. You will have a lot more coming from your licensing of Fetch’s operating system and your work with building the reprogramming software etc.”
Moog said to Six, “We will let you get some rest for now, but this weekend there is to be a big party at our farmhouse you all.” How could we resist that! We are Six, we work hard, we play hard and we have a lot of fun!
END
About the author:
The author with roots in the Caribbean, studied in London England, New Jersey and Brooklyn NYC involved in healthcare now lives in Bowling Green Kentucky USA with his wife of thirty years.
Back page promo: Unexplained gruesome murders across three planets Toigan, Baclet and Threeme mixed with suspected malevolent VidDarknet gaming plots provide the perfect mix for the sleuths of Team Six to shine. The recently wedded couple Jonah and Jessi recruits Charlie his best friend with his unique AI imbued robot Fetch, to help them along with the rest of Team Six to track down the mastermind. Is this artificial Intelligence gone amok or a human wreaking destruction on his own kind? They ride the Celeste space plane to confront their fate on planet Threeme.
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KILLER GAMERS Page 16
