Turning to face Linda, Wallace said, "I'll read them later. This is the guy you worried yourself sick about when he was on the station. He's what we were arguing about when we broke up that night. A woman named Stephanie was up there with him, and that concerned you, too. Is this the same Stephanie? If she is, I think I need to know what, exactly, you were worried about, Linda. Was it is mission, his survival, or the fact that a woman who looks like her was up there with him?"
Chapter Thirty-Two
I said, "That was a compliment, Steph. He thinks you're kinda cute."
Steph drily said, "Obviously. Thank you, Captain Wallace."
After staring at him for a full five seconds, Linda burst out laughing. Wallace didn't like that at all. He stood up, stepped away from the desk, and looked at Steph and me with glaring eyes.
"What's so goddamned funny?" he asked Linda.
Linda laughed again, but her laughter stopped abruptly when Steph said, "Yes, Linda. What's so funny? While it would be difficult to accomplish, I can be harmed."
Wallace looked at her as if she might be nuts. I could see that Steph had genuinely not understood either the reason for Wallace's anger or Linda's laughter. Linda, however, suddenly looked alarmed and raised a placating hand toward Steph.
"Oh, Stephie, I wasn't laughing at you, honey. I was laughing at Emory. He thinks that you and Ed were having an affair while you were on the station."
Steph's quizzical gaze fell on Wallace. He looked slightly apologetic, but he didn't seem ready to back down.
"I'm sorry, ma'am," he said, "But... Well, I mean... Look at you! And your name crops up every time his does. Everywhere, all the time, on or off duty. I've run ops teams before, and they just aren't quite that close, ma'am. Not unless..."
Linda burst out laughing again, and this time both Barb and Steph joined her. Wallace was now confused as well as angry. He didn't seem to take being laughed at very well.
"Steph," I said, "Why not show this overpaid sailor how quickly you can change into your volleyball outfit?"
She looked at me uncertainly, then at Linda. Wallace's expression said that he now thought I was nuts, too.
Linda said, "Sure, Steph. Go ahead." She might not have said that if she'd known that Steph's volleyball outfit was a bikini.
Steph seemed to shimmer, then reform her surface until her absolutely stunning figure was encased only in three triangles of field-generated emerald-green fabric. Wallace's mouth fell open and his eyes nearly bugged out. I couldn't tell if this was in reaction to her method of changing or her goddess-like figure. Or both.
A soft, "Jeeezzzuusss!" sounded to my left. Barbara seemed dumbstruck as she stared at Steph. Her eyes tracked down, then up, Steph's figure, then retraced their path once more.
Damn. Not only did I forget she was there, I forgot she was a lesbian. Oh, well. If she wasn't sufficiently impressed with Steph before, she is now.
Linda tore her gaze from Steph and glanced at Wallace. She didn't like what she saw. "Steph," she said, "Change back, please. Now. This isn't Las Vegas."
Steph shimmered again and her jacket and skirt outfit replaced the bikini.
"Thank you," said Linda. "Ed, that was a dirty trick that I'll get you for. Count on it. Emory, she's a field image, not a real woman. Pull your tongue back in."
Wallace looked at Linda, then at me. I grinned. He didn't. His gaze went back to Steph and he managed, "Huh? A what?"
I walked over and put an arm around Steph's shoulders with a big grin.
"She's a computer-generated field image, Cap, and probably the finest-looking one anybody will ever see. She's also the brain in my flitter, my personal friend, and a helluva nice person." I gave Steph's shoulders a squeeze and added, "In fact, she's a little too nice at times, but whatthehell, nobody's perfect."
Steph gave me a sharp look, then faced Wallace and said, "I'm a computer, Captain Wallace. This is simply a form I use when interacting with people."
"And a damned fine form it is, too," I said, "But there's nothing simple about it."
Steph and Linda both said, "That's enough, Ed," although it seemed to me that Steph merely chimed in and closely followed Linda's verbal lead. They weren't quite in unison. More like harmony. Close, but not quite together.
"Hey, Cap," I said, "Here's a sitrep: If we don't reboot this meeting, we're gonna have a fight sooner or later. What say we leave the ladies here and go outside for a talk? You know; get things over with one way or the other. Right now."
He tore his eyes off Steph and looked at me skeptically for a moment. "A talk, huh? About what, exactly?"
Linda rather warningly said, "Ed, don't..."
I cut in with, "Just a talk. Maybe another beer. Maybe we'll find a way to avoid the fight. Maybe we'll just get the fight out of the way now. Whatever."
Linda said, "Ed, stand down. Now. Emory..."
Wallace interrupted her with, "Sounds good to me, ol' buddy. The beer first?"
I nodded. "Yeah. The beer first. They're in the flitter."
When I turned and headed for the door, Wallace again beat me to it, holding it open for me with a smile.
Linda was on her feet and rounding her desk. "Ed! Emory! Get back here!"
We stopped just outside the door. I pointed at the door and used a field to pull it shut before she could reach it.
Wallace looked at me and asked, "It's true, isn't it? You have a working implant?"
I nodded. "Yup. Kind of an accident that it works, though, and I don't really need to point at things to use it. That's just theatrics."
He faced me squarely as the door opened. Without looking at her, he told Linda that we'd be back in a few minutes. She started to say something and he cut her off with, "Damn it, take a break, will you? This is between us. We'll let you know how it goes."
Linda looked at me in some strange combination of imploring demand.
I shrugged and said, "Sounds good to me. Back in a few, Linda."
For once, she backed down. I'd expected more argument, but she simply glared at us for a moment before shutting the door unnecessarily firmly.
"I think she's pissed," I said.
"You think right," said Wallace. "You aren't thinking of using that implant to sucker punch me, are you?"
I looked right into his eyes and said, "Nope."
He met my gaze for a moment, then said, "Uh, huh. Okay, let's go."
We headed outside to the flitter and got aboard. Wallace looked around the seemingly empty craft and asked, "So where's the beer?"
I gestured him to one of the seats and reached into the cooler to pull out two Ice Houses, then put a finger to my lips to silence him as he reacted to beer bottles appearing from nowhere.
"Steph," I said.
She appeared between us, startling the living hell out of Wallace, who jumped out of his seat and backed up a couple of paces.
"Yes, Ed?" said Steph, glancing unconcernedly at Wallace.
"No monitoring, please. Like I said, this is between us."
"I'd prefer to..."
"No. If we decide to fly, I'll tell you. No monitoring. Now leave us to sort this out."
After casting a decidedly disapproving gaze at me, then at Wallace, Steph disappeared from the bottom up, leaving only her eyes hanging in space for a moment before making those disappear, as well. Wallace took a moment to compose himself, then opened his beer and drank quite a bit of it.
"You have an unusual friend, there," he said.
"Yup. Sure do. That's what I was trying to tell you in there, Cap."
I opened my own beer and drank some before sitting in the pilot's seat.
"Do we really have a problem?" I asked. "You've got Linda, Cap. She and I learned a long time ago that we don't get along for very long off-duty. A few months here and there were all we ever managed before we blew up at each other."
Leaning slightly toward him as if imparting confidential information, I added, "She's kind of bossy sometimes, y'know. Real bossy, in f
act."
Wallace was in the middle of sipping his beer. He snorted beer and laughed.
"Yeah. She is that, and more often than not."
"Damned right, Cap. You've been with her over eight months. That's twice as long as I've ever managed to stay with her during the last thirty years."
That surprised him. Actually, it shocked him slightly.
"Thirty years? I thought you were one of 3rd World's people; some kind of retread retiree from one of the federal outfits. How the hell could you have you known Linda for thirty years?"
I laughed and said, "Woo, day-um! Maybe -- just maybe -- she hasn't told you every little thing about herself, guy. What do you really know about her, Wallace? I mean, about what she did before she joined 3rd World?"
"Maybe not as much as I thought, apparently. She's mentioned that she worked for the US government in Europe and elsewhere. I know she was in the Navy before that; it's one of the things we had -- have -- in common."
I nodded. "Well, I don't know how much I can tell you without checking with her, but I guess can tell you that I began working with her in 1971 and I've worked with or for her off and on ever since then, up until I retired in '85. When the Amarans showed up, I was called back to active status. By Linda."
Wallace sat back against his seat and gazed at me for some moments before he said, "So you aren't just an old boyfriend, then."
I smiled and said, "Oh, no, sir, Cap. Nothing as trivial as that. I've been on both sides of her fence and I've found that I truly prefer being on this side, but the real issue right here and right now is how well you and I are going to get along. She seems to want to keep us both, and I don't think we really have anything to bump heads about. Would you agree to that much?"
He looked at me examiningly for a moment, then asked, "Your word that your relationship with her is business only?"
"You got it, Cap. As I said, been there, done that. Besides, there's a lady in Florida who would not understand. In fact, it took her quite a while to finally believe that I was actually coming up here to work."
He seemed to root around inside his head for a moment, then said, "Describe her."
"Red hair, tall, almost thirty. A long-time, part-time student. The same one you saw in the security report that made you ask about her. Her name's Selena."
He nodded. "Okay. You don't mind if I verify some of this with Linda?"
"Oh, hell, Wallace, go right ahead. We'll play it straight now or we'll fight later. You didn't really think we were coming out here to talk, did you?"
He grinned. "No. I really didn't." With a glance at my golf shoes, then at my shirt, he said, "And again, you weren't exactly what I expected."
"Sometimes you have to look inside the box, Cap. Labels and uniforms can lie. I thought you might turn out to be a certifiable brasshole, but here you sit, shooting the shit with me over beer like a real gentleman."
"An interesting turn of words, there," he said. "A little slap and a tickle, all in the same sentence. Lots of practice?"
I nodded. "Lots. Learned it working for Linda, mostly. Ask her about John sometime. He was our boss in the first few years. One day he told me that he'd decided to force her past the line to take his job when he retired. He wanted to see how I'd take it."
"And...?"
"I felt relieved. No shit. A lot of the others were smart clerks, but not field people. If it had been anyone but Linda or Samuelson, I'd have quit, and that's what I told him."
"What kind of field people weren't they?"
"If you don't know that, check with Linda. Suffice it to say that I'd have quit."
"I see. You really think a lot of her, don't you?"
"In all ways, Cap, including all the cautious ones. She's beauty, brains, cunning, competence, and cold ruthlessness on the hoof when she has to be."
"That would seem to mean that you're the same, except for the beauty part."
He grinned at me over his beer.
"Yeah, well, I'm still here," I said, "In spite of the Cold War and several hot ones."
"I see," he said again. "Mind if I look up some of the details?"
"Don't bullshit at this point, Cap. Just say you will or don't say you will."
He laughed. "Yeah. You got it. I like to know who's around me."
That's one way of saying 'know your enemy', I suppose.
"Return the favor," I said. "Who are you in terms of experience?"
"Conned a ship. Naval Intelligence. Twenty-two years in. You want details? You'll have to see Linda, same as me. She isn't my boss, but she has the keys."
"Good enough. Last note, Cap. I work for her. Only for her. Nobody else hands me assignments and nobody else chews my ass."
He grinned and asked, "Isn't that kind of up to 3rd World?"
I grinned back and said, "No. It isn't. I can re-retire at any time."
"You'd lose the big bucks if you did that."
"It isn't the money, Cap. Check my files about that, too."
Our beers were almost gone when Linda almost brutally shoved the building's door open and stamped outside to stand glaring into the flitter at us.
"Want a beer?" I asked. "We're about ready for another."
Linda ignored me and looked at Wallace. He gave her a generally innocent look in return. She then focused on me for a moment, spun on her heel, and marched back into the building.
Chapter Thirty-Three
"We may both be fired," said Wallace.
I shook my head. "Nope. You don't know her well enough yet. She talks when she fires people. I know that for a fact. She's fired me several times."
He chuckled and said, "Several times, huh?" He chuckled again, then said, "You do know I'm serious about her, right? I've asked her to marry me. If you try to get between us in any way, it won't matter who you are or how long you've known her."
"Ah, the threat and promise phase of things. Yeah, Wallace, I know you're serious. If you weren't, you wouldn't have been able to stand her for eight months, much less propose to her. Now it's my turn. If you hurt her, I won't just hurt you. Clear?"
His gaze narrowed a bit. "People break up. If it happens without your help, well, then it just happens."
I nodded. "Yeah. I know that, but I don't really know you yet. I'm talking about ripping her off or physical abuse or leaving her holding the bag for your sins. How you two handle or mishandle your hearts is your own business."
He stood up and drained his beer. I stood up as he looked for someplace to put the empty bottle.
"We'll dump the bottles inside," I said. "Are we together about Linda?"
"We are," he said, then he grinningly added, "As long as your story checks out."
"Good enough, then. I'll let you have the last word as long as you've actually heard and understood mine, Cap."
His grin seemed genuine as he said, "Gee, thanks."
After the ritual handshake required after such discussions, we went back to Linda's office. Barbara got to her feet as the door opened. Steph stood by Linda's desk. Linda remained seated behind her desk, fiddling with an inkpen. She didn't even look up.
"I'd just about decided to try getting along without both of you," she said. "Is anybody damaged?"
"Just my feelings," I said. "After all these years of loyal service, you dumped me for a damned sailor."
Barbara tried unsuccessfully to stifle a laugh. Linda allowed me a small smile.
"He doesn't wear golf shoes all the time," she said.
Barbara didn't bother to stifle her laugh that time.
I looked at her and said, "Hear that? They say that looks don't matter, then they won't date you if you don't look like a damned recruiting poster. Is that fair?"
"Oh, please," she said, laughing again.
Linda stood and came around the desk. She said, "If we're truly finished here, maybe you should consider taking Barbara home now, Ed. This was supposed to be an hour-long morning meeting, not an all-day tour."
As she ambled to the door and opened
it, she said, "By the way, Ed, you may want to be more specific the next time you decide to have a chat with someone in your flitter. You didn't tell Elkor not to monitor things. Once we realized that, we let him know that we were concerned about both of you. Elkor was kind enough to tell us that you were discussing my wellbeing."
She glanced hard at Wallace, then at me, and said, "I'll decide how I feel about that later. Now get moving."
I met her gaze for a moment, then looked over her shoulder at Wallace and said, "Good luck, sailor boy. You will need it."
He grinned at me again as Linda said, "Out! Go!"
Barbara and I left Linda's office by way of the door. Stephanie simply disappeared and stood waiting for us on the flitter as we stepped outside. She watched without comment as we boarded, then took a seat on my right as Barbara sat on my left.
As soon as we were all seated, the flitter rose and launched toward the Southeast. At forty thousand feet, Steph took us to full speed. She glanced at me once during this procedure. That she caused her image to turn and look at me at all was a statement, since she could see everything and everyone aboard the flitter at once from her console. Her silence continued unabated as we arced above sixty thousand and began the long downward slide to Florida.
Barbara craned to see around the flitter without leaving her seat. I watched her watching the world below us for a while, noting the way she moved and the way the muscles of her legs stood forth to brace her leanings. Very nice. Needless to say, while I was admiring her legs, she happened to notice me looking.
"Sorry," I said, even though I wasn't particularly sorry for anything.
"It happens," she said, and turned back to the view below.
I got up and wandered to the back of the flitter. Steph stayed in her seat.
Keying my implant, I asked, "Do we have a problem, Steph?"
"I can't say yet, Ed."
"Bull. If we didn't, you wouldn't be acting this way. What are the issues?"
"You know the issues."
I sighed. "Okay, then, what are the solutions?"
"I don't know yet, Ed. Something that you said today disturbed me."
"No shit." I sighed again and said, "No, sorry about that, Steph. What did I say that upset you?"
3rd World Products, Inc., Book 3 Page 24
