by Kip Hartzell
She looked over at Jay discussing strategy with Rhe-A, and then looked up. “Yes, I would very much like a tour.”
“Apollo,” Athene-A gave him a warning look, “it will be a long day for them tomorrow. Not too much, too fast.”
“Understood.” He held out his arm. She took his massive forearm, like a child reaching for a parent, and strolled out.
Jay looked up, noticing her attire, while she was being escorted away. She gave him a, nose up look, as they went by. “I don’t know which one of them I’m more worried about,” he said, half under his breath.
“Yes, remarkable,” John said, “She caught on fast.”
Jay woke out of his fitful dream to a beeping noise. He rolled over, and looked around his spacious room, at least he thought it was spacious for an underground facility. The habitat section was almost complete. There were no cave walls exposed. Smooth silver-gray surfaces took its place. He sat up to empty the fog from his head. “Alarm off.” The incessant beeping stopped. He went to the bathroom, wondering what half the equipment was used for, so he dealt with the ones he knew. He finished his water shower, hearing the beeping again, he grabbed a towel, and walked into the kitchen area. A full, hot, American breakfast sat, complete with coffee. He stood their holding his towel, searching for the off switch.
“Alarm off,” Rhe-A said, standing in the living room, looking into the kitchen area.
“Whoa,” Jay squeaked, spinning around, and gripping the towel a little tighter. “Don’t you people knock?”
“All areas on this facility are open, unless you specify otherwise.”
“Now, you tell me.”
Rhe-A moved a little closer, and softened her tone. Her knee length, two piece, gray skirt and blouse, appeared more business-like than casual travel ware. “I was asked to see if you had everything you needed.”
Shelly walked into the room with a more utilitarian shirt and pants. She stopped behind Rhe-A.
“A little privacy,” Jay sarcastically said.
“Oh...” She stopped and looked at the both of them. “Jay, what’s going on?”
“I’m trying to get ready to go, but I keep getting interrupted.”
“Is that what they call it, now?” Shelly walked passed Rhe-A.
“No, nothing like that. She just came by to escort me to the hangar bay.”
“Uh hum.” She moved in close to him and put her arms around his neck. “Unless you want to delay our departure time,” she purred seductively.
He slipped out of her embrace. “I think we’re under time constraints.” He scurried to his bedroom.
“I believe we can find our way to the hangar bay, by ourselves.”
Rhe-A showed no emotion at the snub. “As you wish. We leave within the hour.” She turned and left without so much as a look back.
Jay emerged with his usual jeans, sneakers, polo shirt with a tee-shirt underneath. “Where’s Rhe-A?” he asked, as he went to the table and poured himself some more coffee.
“Um, she went on ahead.” Jay sat at a small table. Shelly came around and sat across from him. “I want to thank you for saving me.”
“I care about you, I don’t want to see you hurt,” he said, between bits.
“I care for you, too.”
Jay couldn’t miss her pushing harder to rekindle their relationship. She had hurt him badly several times before. He didn’t know if he wanted to try again. He, of course had hurt her, also. With what was going on, he wasn’t sure if he could handle both, saving the world and a relationship, now that his life had so dramatically changed. “So, how did your tour go?”
“Chrysalis is an amazing facility, and big.”
“Nothing like Atlantis. Oh, yah, this stuff tastes just like the real thing. Apollo seems nice.”
“He’s the perfect Gentleman. I can’t believe how old everyone is.”
“Age, to them, is a bit irrelevant, especially when you spend so much time in a temporal suspension state.”
“Oh, no technical jargon. My head almost exploded last night, when Apollo tried to explain things.”
Jay smiled. “I know what you mean.”
“Jay,” she said putting her hand on her chin, “have you and Rhe-A had...sex?”
He almost choked on his eggs. He coughed, and then took a sip of coffee. “Ah, what, no. Why do you ask?”
“The way she looks at you.”
“She looks at me like I’m a lab rat in a maze.”
“She may be Atlantean, but she’s still a woman. I can tell.”
“Well, I think your spidey sense is off this time.”
“Do you have feelings for her?”
Jay hesitated. “We’re soldiers in a war, comrades. I trust her.” Shelly didn’t look convinced. He wiped his mouth and gathered his dishes. “We need to get going. We’re going to be late. If anything, Atlanteans are punctual.” He grabbed his bag, and led her out of the room.
“We should stick together,” Jay said to Shelly as the door slid open to the hangar bay.
“I think I should go on ahead to Washington. My Mother has a short window before they ship-” She stopped in her tracks, and stared at Apollo, who, was now the size of normal man. Her attention then moved to the Minotaur towering next to him.
Jay kept walking. “Aidan,” Jay high fived him, and a fist bump. “Glad you came to see me off.”
“I wish I was going with you, but, alas, I’ll just be piloting today.” He turned to Shelly. “This is Ms. Masters?”
“Yes. Shell, this is Aidan. Aidan, Shell.”
He held out a giant hand. She slowly took it. “Pleased to meet you.”
“Um...Um...pleased to meet you, too.” She took her other hand and rubbed the fur on his arm. Realizing she was being watched, she quickly pulled back. Aidan let out a howling laugh, with a slight whistle at the end. Jay snickered. She slapped his shoulder, soliciting even more laughter. “Shouldn’t we be going,” she said, while walking around them, almost running into a Centaur technician.
“Jay,” John said, while finishing up instructions to a Medusan. “I’ve decided to send Maya with you as backup.”
“Expecting trouble?”
“Always.”
The group mingled around the shuttle bay, packing and checking equipment, while Aidan and Athene-A performed a preflight check. The craft disappeared before coming out of the mountain. It only took a few minutes for all to get seated in the rusty old taxi. The landing bay door opened, launching the vehicle onto a winding street. John maneuvered the car as if born to it.
“Everybody has the plan, right? Get in, get what we need. Get to Washington, set up a liaison with the US Government, and get out, simple. Simple is good.”
Apollo just looked up. “Simple, has never been your style, John.”
The taxi pulled up to the Athens International Airport drop-off zone.
“Alright, remember, we are a call away. Stay in touch.”
They grabbed their respective bags, and made their way to the security check point. Presenting their forged passports and tickets. The camouflaged security guards didn’t give them a second glance. All their equipment, and themselves, went through the security scanners with ease. The only indication of trouble, was a skittish security dog. The handler quickly reigned him in as the group gathered their things, and proceeded to the gate.
The first-class cabin was spacious. Maya pretended to be the ditzy damsel in distress, drawing lots of male attention. They clamored about trying to help her with her bag, where to sit, and her seat belt. She laughed, and played them like a fine musical instrument. Rhe-A just shook her head as she roughly squeezed by.
Jay and she, stopped at their row. “Rhe-A, you’re unusually quiet. Do you want the window seat?”
“Yes, it might make for an easier escape from this crude technological death trap.”
“Shh, you might want to find Rhea Wilkenson, and stop being so...analytical.” They sat down, giving room for Shelly and Apollo to sit down across the aisle fr
om them.
“Okay, Jay, I’ll give it might best try,” she flippantly said, flicking her, now, blonde hair back, making her extra bosom jiggle.
Jay looked at the ceiling. “God help me. This is going to be a long trip.” He looked over at Shelly, who sat glaring at him.
Thirty minutes into the flight, Rhe-A still had a death grip on the armrest, and stared straight ahead.
“Rhea, you need to relax,” Jay quietly said. She stared at the back of the seat in front of her that showed only advertisements. “What are you doing?”
“I’m going over all the manufactures specifications for this aircraft, modifications, and all maintenance records.”
“Ah, the contact lenses, again.” The flight attendant came by. “Oh, Miss, can we get a Bloody Mary and a Fuzzy Navel, uh, make that a double, please.” She nodded and retreated. “Now, turn that thing off and relax. Watch a movie, something distracting. The plane shook, causing Rhe-A to grab is hand, squeezing the blood out of it. “Just a little turbulence.” Her eyes were squeezed shut when the drinks arrived. “Thank you,” he said to the Flight Attendant, after she set the drinks down. She smiled and nodded, and then moved to Shelly and Apollo. Jay felt Shelly watching him, and was now flirting with Apollo. Her giggles and laughs, made him glad she had a distraction. “Here, drink this.”
“You know alcohol has very little effect on-me, unless it was made by Dionysus.”
“Well, turn off the inhibitor, or whatever, and try.”
She concentrated for a few seconds, and then gulped the drink down, motioning for another.
An hour later, Rhe-A was leaning back in a light restless sleep. Jay remove her death grip from his hand. He got up to go to the bathroom. He passed by Maya, who was still drinking, and carrying on with two men. She glanced, and smiled at him on his way by. He skirted a few people and bumped into another Flight Attendant. He apologized. He stared at her face. It was blurred, or what he thought was double exposed film on a black and white aura. She smiled, accepted the apology, and moved on. Jay blinked away the vision, and shook it off as, too many drinks. He returned to his seat, to find Shelly sitting in it. She gave him a confrontational look. He took her seat next to Apollo.
“You look confused?” Apollo asked Jay, as he put on his seatbelt.
“I... I thought I saw something...” He dismissed it. “What are you doing?”
“Catching up on current events, world politics, wars, holes in the ozone, and the most popular, tabloids.”
“Really.”
“I was in the TSD for a long time.”
“Oh, well, don’t let me interrupt.”
He smiled his infectious smile, and went back to staring into space.
Jay leaned back, closing his eyes. He wondered how all this was ever going to work.
Chapter Twenty-One: Crystal Skulls
“Wha...What,” Jay slurred, after Apollo lightly shook him.
“We’re about to land, a request for stowing tray tables and seats upright, has been announced.”
Jay raised his seat back up, and looked passed Apollo at the city lights of Las Vegas through the window. The pyramid light blazed through the air, into space. Shelly reached over flicked Rhe-A’s seat up, startling her awake. She glanced around quickly, realizing where she was. Her hair was mussed, and make up slightly smeared.
“Rhe-A, we’re crashing!” Shelly barked.
“What!” Her eyes were now wide open. Shelly laughed, indicating to her that she was the joke.
“Funny,” she said, rubbing her forehead.
The plane touched down, giving her another start, eliciting a giggle from Shelly.They soon gathered their bags, made their way off the aircraft, and out of the airport. A limousine pulled up, expelling a black suited driver. Drof smiled, and tipped his limo driver’s hat.
“Glad for the backup, Drof,” Rhe-A remarked, while getting in the car. Jay helped him load their bags. The sun was already brightening the city buildings. Jay sat up front and took out his cell phone, he just stared at it.
“Something wrong, Jay?” Drof asked.
“It’s just that...I haven’t spoken to my father, since Gramps died. We were so...angry. Angry at the world. I’m not sure what to say.”
“We all grieve in different ways, but it appears you two grieve in the same way,” Drof remarked.
Jay smirked, and then made the call.
“Hello, hello.”
“Hello, Pops.”
“Jay, is that you?”
“Yes, it is.”
“How are you?”
“Oh, you know, busy, always in trouble.”
“Where are you?”
“I’m back in town, there’s an... archaeology convention...look, Pops, I wanted to say I’m sorry about the way we left it.”
“...well, I, uh, I wasn’t very pleasant, either. I’m sorry, too.” More silence. “Say, do you have a place to stay?”
“Not at the moment, no.”
“Good, you can come stay with me.”
“I don’t want to impose; besides, I have friends from the dig sight from Greece, with me.”
“Bring them, too. You know there’s room.”
“Okay, I’ll ask.” Silence. “Um, Pops, I told them about the skull collection Gramps had. They all want to see them.”
“You left before the reading of the will. Your Aunt Helen got his house. You and I got some money. He left you his memorabilia, and other collections, including those hideous stone skulls. Your Aunt moved it all into the garage. I’m sure she will be happy to be rid of it.”
“Good, we’ll go there, now.”
“I’ll call her, and let her know she’s going to have company. She’ll be excited to see you. I’ll be there as soon as I can get away from the construction site. Damn overruns, and Unions. It’s a wonder anything get built around here.”
“Okay, we’ll see you soon.”
“See you soon.”
Jay pushed a button, and just stared at the phone.
“That went well,” Drof said.
“Yah, it did.” Jay pulled up the address for his Gramp’s old house and set the GPS for Drof to follow.
The car pulled into the long driveway. The older part of Vegas had bigger houses on larger plots of land. A flood of memories came back to him. His last days he spent with his Grandfather, were here. But, he got him back, he wasn’t the same, but he got him back. His Aunt Helen was already coming out of the front door, with a smile. She was ten years younger than her brother, John. She had a heavy-set frame, with ice gray hair, that used to be jet black. Her overly red lips and 50’s style glasses, made Jay feel like he was home.
“Jay!” Her arms out, as she waddled toward him.
“Auntie Helen,” he said, stooping, and embracing her.
“Oh, I’ve missed you.”
“And I’ve missed you, too, and your peach cobbler.”
She lightly tapped him on the shoulder. “Come, all of you, inside, out of the heat.”
They filed in, Jay stumped his toe on the shiny brass elephant statue by the front door his Grandfather spent years trying to get rid of. He smiled, and moved further inside. “Aunt Helen, this is Apollo.”
She looked up at the bronze figure. He took her hand and kissed the back of it. “Most pleased to make the acquaintance of the Aunt, of my colleague.”
“Oh my,” she blushingly said, with her other hand up to her cheek.
Jay lightly pushed him further inside. “He’s not from the US.”
“Obviously,” Helen remarked, as he went passed.
“Pleased to meet you,” Maya said, and then took her hand.
“This is Maya.”
“Oh, such a pretty name,” Helen squeamishly said, feeling her cold hand, and looking into her dead eyes. She stared at her as she moved passed. She turned her attention to Shelly. “Shell, Dear. It’s been a long time.”
“Yes, it has, Miss Helen. How are you?” she asked, while hugging her.
“I’m fine,” She leaned back. “Have you lost weight? Doesn’t the Institute feed its employees?”
“You are too kind.”
She turned her attention to Rhe-A. “Rhea? Hello. I didn’t know you were a nurse and an archeologist?”
“Um, Jay was in town, and he gave me a call,” she vaguely answered.
“Come here.” She gave her a healthy hug. “I wanted to thank you for what you did for my brother. His final days were comfortable.”
She wasn’t sure what to say. “I... I didn’t do much.”
“More than you know, Dear.” Helen noticed the tension between Shelly and Rhe-A. She moved to a tall dark skinned man in a typical black chauffeur’s suit. He removed his hat to reveal a bald head. She gazed a little confused at his presents. “Jay never was one to leave anybody out. Welcome.”
“Aunt Helen, this Drof Avion. He’s a... tour guide pilot, who moonlights as a chauffeur for the Institute. Part of the family.”
“Please come in, you’re more than welcome.”
Jay shut the door, ushered everyone into the living room, and gave them seats.
“Jay, be a good host, and offer your friends a drink. This house is as much yours as it is mine.”
“Yes, Ma’am.” He disappeared into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator to a multiple of choices. “Hey! What do you guys want?”
Helen closed her eyes and shook her head. “Honestly, we have tried to teach him manners, and etiquette.”
The group, either smiled, or outright laughed. He came back in holding as many beers as he could carry. He noticed that he was the center of attention. “What?” This elicited a laugh from all of them. “Whatever.”
“Squawk, I need a beer,” a cockatoo in a cage in the corner of the room said, drawing everyone’s attention.
“Oh, that’s Captain Jack, don’t mind him. I was in need of some company,” Helen explained.
Jay mingled through the crowd and handed out the beer, until he got to Rhe-A, who, held up a hand, and quickly said, “Water, please.” Jay smiled this time. Once everyone had their drinks, and solidified their cover stories, Jay finally brought up the subject that brought them there. “Aunt Helen, as archeologist, I would like to show my colleagues, Gramp’s crystal skull collection.”
