by Scott Rhine
“This is going to feel weird.”
“After I have a stretch and soak in the whirlpool, we can all head to the small dojo this morning. Trina and I can help the two of you through the first few lessons.”
“What incentive do I have for working out that long twice each morning?” asked Zeiss.
“The showers are built for two and the doors lock.”
“That’s . . . convenient.”
Daniel sent messages to the women to meet them in the dojo. Mira was bouncing with excitement at the family event. After the workout, the dojo was too crowded for romance, and Zeiss wasn’t in the mood for more analysis of his fighting technique. He limped home alone to shower and change.
As Zeiss came out of the communal shower, wrapped in a towel, he heard the door click. Since they were the only couple on the floor for the next week and access required a red badge, he assumed it was his bride. He shouted, “You’ve already exhausted me, woman. Give a man a chance to re-hydrate. Besides you have a quiz . . .” He stopped when he saw the angry, gray-haired woman in the entry foyer. Seeing the red badge, he deduced, “Ms. Ramsey.” This was Mira’s dreaded biological grandmother, the one she had sacrificed her corporate votes to escape.
“Given the circumstances, Conrad, I think you can call me Rebecca.” She closed the door behind her.
“Um . . . come in, make yourself at home. I’m going to change. Mira will be back after her class. Would you like tea?”
She inspected the rattan furniture and reluctantly seated herself. “The people of the island speak highly of you. Everyone knew where to find you.”
“Yeah. Everyone liked the party. Can I change?” He gave a crooked half-smile as he gestured to the towel.
“Who are you to my granddaughter?”
“I think she should tell you.”
“I’m asking you.”
“I’m her team navigator and husband.”
“She doesn’t need some boy-toy holding her back. How much to get it annulled?”
“The tea’s in that cabinet. I’ll get cookies out of the safe when I come back,” he said, stepping into his bedroom.
When he returned in his interview suit, Grandma Rebecca was reading her computer pad. She glanced at the outfit and nodded her approval. “I searched your history,” she announced, making him wince. “Half the entries said you’re an Einstein, and the other half painted you as Don Juan. Which is it?”
“Neither, ma’am. Your granddaughter is the only one for me. With her gifts, she can vouch for that.”
She crossed her arms. “Your clearance level is higher than mine. Why?”
“I have a UN military rank.”
“No, the company clearance.”
“I couldn’t say.”
“I’m a board member.”
“Not anymore, ma’am,” he said, offering a cookie. She blinked. As the wife of a powerful congressman, she was unaccustomed to blunt truth. He gave her another dose. “Which is probably how you tripped to Mira’s deception. You visited Paris to barter for more time with her proxy and found the wrong girl.”
Stone-faced, Rebecca studied him. “I wanted to wish Miracle a happy birthday and found Mary.”
“Don’t use her full name here, ma’am, or you could get us all killed. Mary didn’t talk. How did you trace us?”
“What does it matter?”
“I’m her head of security, too, ma’am. If there’s a hole in her cover, I need to fix it now.”
“On Mary’s desk, I saw a team photo of the real girl in her astronaut costume.”
“The wedding photo,” he sighed. “We would have invited you, but it was sudden. Even Daniel couldn’t make it.”
“Her period was late?”
“A rocket launcher reminded us life is short, ma’am. If you ask Mira questions this way, I will respectfully escort you to the airport.”
“I don’t scare you, do I?” Rebecca said, narrowing her eyes.
“Respect is different than fear, ma’am. I just spent an hour in hand-to-hand combat with Red and Trina. I can take a hit.”
“Red?”
“Short for Redemption. It’s her pilot call sign. Everybody but me calls her that. It’s her aggressive side.”
Rebecca glanced at the pad. “The UN investigation said you saved her from rape.”
He looked away. “She saved herself. I picked up the pieces.”
“Chamomile tea,” the grandmother ordered. He complied. “You’re a good man, Conrad. Ever consider running for office?”
Chapter 38 – Jaws Theme Song
A month into the semester, Daniel came to Zeiss after his last class. “Conrad, my wife ditched me to watch a tournament that Red’s refereeing. I’m eating alone tonight. Do you want to make it a guy’s night?”
“Sure,” Zeiss said. “Restaurant? I can tell you about our search for a new fuel. Water fuel is too heavy for the amount of hydrogen we get from it. We’re considering ammonia, methane, and even doping the water with sugar to get the capacity we need for the prototype four-engine. Heh, Herk suggested vodka. We have to do some experiments to see what the side-effects are.”
“I ordered a pizza,” Daniel said, steering aside to his pod.
“What did I do wrong?” the newlywed asked.
“What?”
“Either Mira asked Trina to have you explain something to me, or there’s something distasteful and dangerous only I can do.” When Daniel’s face reacted like a pickpocket’s caught in the act, Zeiss hissed, “That’s it! You want me to do something and the girls won’t approve. Don’t ask me to move Mountain Dew for you, man. If I get caught again, I’ll do hard time. I’ve got a wife to think of now. I’ve gotta fly right, boss.”
“Don’t be so dramatic,” Daniel said. Once they were sealed in his room, he said, “I just need you to talk to someone.”
Zeiss’s face paled. “Not Kaguya.”
“If there were any other way, I wouldn’t ask. She’s not eating. Her hair’s all tangled. She perked up a little after we gave her a music mixer for confessing she was O, but she flew into a rage and broke the machine.”
“Sedate her and use an IV.”
“Ha. Trina wanted to use a doggy shock collar. Good luck finding anyone to attach it. The prisoner is broadcasting suicidal ideation so loudly that we have to monitor her guards. One of them started playing with razorblades and taking long baths this week. We can’t let empaths or broadcasters within twenty meters of Kaguya. You’re the only one with sufficient shields to talk to her. Plus, she still asks for you.”
Zeiss looked around as if cornered. “Wait until she passes out from lack of food, then use the IV.”
“This is the daughter and future majority owner of our biggest ally. Her father wants to talk to her, and she’s a screaming harpy. Kaguya trusts and respects you. If you asked her to take a bath and record a message to Daddy—”
“Red would never let me visit her.”
“So don’t ask. There are a hundred fifty thousand Fortune employees and they’re all at risk if we go to war with Mori.”
The newlywed squeezed his stress ball, pacing. “Trina ordered me never to go see her.”
“Trina leads with her emotions. She still holds a grudge against the Bermuda Triangle; it clouds her judgment. We’ve used Mori computers almost exclusively in our secure facilities. I need to know if there’s a vulnerability. Kaguya’s behavior’s been getting more extreme lately and we may have to turn her over to Ward Seven. If that happens, we lose the information and Mori’s support.”
“Red’s going to know where I am within minutes.”
“Do you realize you change what you call her based on her expected behavior?”
“Consciously; Mira can be reasoned with—Red’s the personality that reacts to perceived threats with violence.”
“She’s actually a multiple personality?” Daniel asked, concerned.
“More like a police officer so deep undercover that they lose track of who
they are. There are cues as to who you’re talking to. Most of the time with me, she’s Mira. But it’s a minefield.”
Daniel offered, “What if I give you a pair of shock cuffs and ear plugs. You sneak in and slap the cuffs on her. Taggart and I will monitor through the cameras. If the prisoner pulls anything, I’ll zap her.”
“Why now?”
“The type of explosives we found in the last raid will crystallize and become unstable over time. If she has more hidden, who knows what will blow up or when? You can also grill her about the rocket launchers they used on you.”
“You’ll tell your niece it was your idea?”
“Yes,” Daniel promised.
“Tape it; I’m not doing this twice.”
The billionaire nodded. “I’ll have the medics standing by in case she kicks your ass again, or in case Red gets past the barricade.”
****
When Zeiss crept into the dimly lit cell, the first thing he noticed was the smell. The singer had thrown feces and food at the walls. Extreme had been an understatement. He crept around the piles of wrappers and torn clothes to reach the huddled form on the floor. Her famous hair covered her face in a snarled mess. She was dressed in a long-sleeved white silk shirt. The buttons that she’d bothered with were off by one hole. He got one cuff on her before she reacted. “Conrad! I knew you couldn’t stay away. You came to finish our ceremony.” Her foul breath caused him to blink.
“No. I’m married now, Kaguya,” he said clicking the second cuff into place.
“I won’t tell if you let me be on top,” she purred. “I’m good at secrets.” She was a pleasure junkie, and she’d been without a fix for a month.
“I came to talk, to help. If you try a trigger phrase, use emotion control, or psi-bolts, Horvath will shock you senseless,” he said, lying about who was working the controls.
“You’re bluffing.”
The cuffs sparked and she gasped in pain.
“You’ve really pissed her off,” Zeiss warned. “She’s itching for an excuse. Please don’t give her one.”
“If I talk, what’s in it for me?”
“You haven’t had company in a long time. I’ll talk too.”
“And?”
He glanced at the camera. “I’ll brush and wash your hair.”
She softened. “I’d like that, Conrad. Sometimes I think you’re the only decent human being in this place. I think I threw the brush at the cleaning bitch. Look over there.” She indicated a direction with her head.
He bent over to grab the brush under her bed, and she whistled at the view. The cuffs gave her another mild jolt. “Easy,” she complained.
Zeiss opened with, “Tell me about the Iranian rocket launchers.”
“I want to hear about your new ring,” she countered.
“It’s unbreakable. It represents my vow.”
“Who?”
“Your turn.” Zeiss said, working on her rat’s nest, separating a few hairs at a time. “Someone tried to kill me from a Chilean ship using Iranian weapons. I need details.”
The brush made periodic ripping sounds, but she didn’t seem to mind because she had company. “Wasn’t us. We won’t go near the Iranians—too high profile, too much infighting between the branches of their secret police. We might use Pakistani, but more likely stolen oil rig explosives from Oman.”
She closed her eyes, feeling him with her extra senses as he worked.
“You’re saying it wasn’t Mori Electronics?”
“Definitely not. My last order was to keep you safe for recruiting; my mother backed me. Nobody crosses her.”
“Hmph. Thanks, I guess.”
“Believe it or not, we kept most of the little fish away from the island so no one would suspect our operation. You feel different now, more powerful. I can’t put my finger on it.”
“I’m Quantum now.”
“That means you can see me Out of Body?”
He shrugged. “I see Daniel-san. Does Mori have a secret backdoor for our computers?”
She chuckled throatily. “Do you like using the backdoor? Ouch!” She glared at the camera as the cuff tingled. “No. It would be too hard to conceal. We do, however, have a way to melt down our chips remotely. I never learned the details.”
They chatted for a few moments until Kaguya said, “It should have been us. We’d make an unbeatable team; our talents would dovetail perfectly.”
Zeiss caught a snag in her hair and apologized.
She smiled. “It’s okay; I like it a little rough.”
The cuff bit her again, harder than before, making her swear a blue streak. “Horvath, when I get my hands on you, I’m going to bruise your tits worse than Red did.”
When he laughed, a little emotion leaked past his guard.
“I don’t believe it! Red? You bonded to the twelve-year-old?”
“Mira’s eighteen. She’s very mature in a lot of ways.”
“You pervert,” she said, giggling. “Do you have to offer her a lollipop and vodka?”
“I’ll go.”
“No! Stay! The Oman explosives were shipped here in coffee cans.”
“Coffee is banned.”
“Banned inside the island. The guards keep a stash in the customs area.”
“Where are the explosives now?”
She stared at him and he felt invisible fingers dancing on his spine. “Do you think about me when you’re with her?”
He shook his head to clear it. “No. I ran away from you to get to her. We had a previous . . . relationship.”
Her face bloomed with the taste of his shame and fear. “She’s O! That spiteful little girl is O?”
“I never said that!”
“How many fillies are in your harem?”
“Only one woman—ever.”
“Aw. If something happened to her . . .?”
Zeiss pulled her hair back hard. “Hint at that again, and I will leave you to wallow in your own filth until Horvath gets tired of laughing. She wanted to post pictures of your state to your fan site, but I begged her not to.”
“Okay. Your protection extends to Red,” Kaguya promised. “Begged? You like me?”
“I’ve never been your enemy, Kaguya. We wanted the same things; I just disapproved of your methods. I’ve been lobbying for an early graduation, but you haven’t made it easy for your allies.”
“Allies? There are other people who want to free me?”
“Of course. It’s against the charter to keep people against their will.”
“Then how are they justifying it?” she demanded.
“There’s a clause about terroristic threats. It gives Horvath sweeping powers. If you give us the names of your agents and the places where you store weapons, she has nothing!”
“Finish my hair,” she ordered.
As he did a thorough job on her hair, Kaguya reeled off a list of contacts and their sexual proclivities. While he lathered her hair in the sink, she moaned in pleasure a few times, and continued the list. After the second rinse, she stared at him in raw hunger. “You’re very good at hair. Does Red like this?”
“Mira washes her own hair. I did this for my mother.”
“You want me. Why do you resist?” she asked.
“No.”
“Prove it. Kiss me. Then I’ll believe you.”
“What do I get?” he squeaked.
“Anything you want,” she said suggestively.
“Promise not to harm or subvert any person in this program.”
She locked eyes with him, and he could feel her sincerity through the Collective. “Okay. Kiss me for a full minute and don’t pull away.”
His body blocked hers from the camera as she picked up her tanned leg and placed it on his shoulder. He thought himself clever as he kissed the tattoo instead of her mouth. Instead of objecting, she curled her toes and said, “Yes, pet the bunny.”
He wondered what excited her until he felt her toes curl around his neck while the other
foot caressed his crotch. He barely had time to find the whales before the assault arced between the base of his neck and his groin. A month’s worth of psi energy pumped into his pleasure centers as she soaked up every vicarious sensation, but it was too much of a good thing.
As the heart monitor flat-lined, Daniel bellowed, “Medics!”
****
Red met them at the clinic, tears streaming down her face. She’d been listening to the interrogation from Trina’s office. Daniel couldn’t look her in the eye as he said, “C-Conrad got everything we needed and more.”
“Tell me you let that bitch die on the floor,” Red demanded.
“She can’t talk yet. But her responses indicate . . . I made him go in there,” Daniel insisted. “He didn’t do anything wrong.”
Trina’s head snapped up. “She had an orgasm? She got off on trashing his nervous system?”
Daniel held up his hands. “We’ll get help, fly in professionals to undo—”
“Get her out of my home! Before he wakes up,” Red shouted shrilly. “If I see her again, I’ll break her into pieces!” Spittle flew from her mouth.
Hours later, guards gagged Kaguya, dressed her in a new blaze-orange flight suit, and escorted her to the mail plane. She squinted at the bright sunlight. The decks had been cleared so that she couldn’t touch or speak to anyone else. A red laser dot lit her chest.
In the midst of all the tension, one of the female guards glanced at the horizon and said, “Aquaman’s still at it.”
The other guard followed her gaze and laughed. “Yeah, they like Z.”
They wouldn’t let Kaguya stop and look, so once they stuffed her into a seat in the plane, she sent out her astral form to scout. Kaguya found dolphins and whales clustering around her end of the island. She felt a brief pang of regret and then one of the dolphins spit water at her. From her empathy she could tell it wanted her to leave.
Then she realized the dolphins could see her, just like the Quantum Computer Zeiss. She now suspected what whale-secret meant.
