My Ride is a Bitch

by Michael Anderle

  The team ended up choosing an outfit with a tailored jacket and pants instead of a dress. She might have pants with hems that ended above her ankles showing off her shoes, or some that almost hit the floor hiding the shoes. Today, her outfit was comprised of lighter fabrics, but she had similar outfits that had more leather.

  All in all, she liked the general style. With her hair up as it was, the silver hair pins added a nice touch. Jean Dukes was working on some individual small rods she could use to spit out tungsten slugs, yet didn’t look like pistols.

  Bethany Anne loved Jean's devious mind. The lady was truly a master of kinetic destruction. Her team, probably already working on their team name, came to work with a purpose every morning.

  “Looks good, TW,” John vocalized. She pressed her lips together. That damned audio recording with Mason was all over the ship before she got back. John told her he considered it a penalty for leaving without her guards. She should take her punishment in grace.

  Bethany Anne about tore another strip off of him until he reminded her to think about what he felt when he thought she had died in the blast.

  She stopped her arguing, thought about it, kissed him on the cheek and told him, “I’m sorry for making you fret. You get seventy-two hours,” and that was the last of it. She wasn’t allowed to say anything about the jokes for three days.

  Three. Long. Assed. Days. Bethany Anne was going to kill someone, maybe herself, if this kept up. The grapevine on the ship spread that it was open season on the boss for three days. She noticed a countdown clock in the forward cafeteria on the ship.

  Fucking hell.

  Oh yes, she was now a firm believer in praying to Saint Payback-is-a-Bitch.

  She started walking out on the stadium floor, and the noise was moderately deafening.

  She concentrated to reduce the impact, and the pain, from the audio overload until she could handle it better.

  It took only a few seconds of walking before she was climbing the steps to the stage behind John and Eric, with Darryl and Scott trailing her. She could hear a few ladies call out the guy’s names from the audience.

  Bethany Anne started shaking hands until she got to where Yuko was standing with her parents. Yuko bowed to her, followed immediately by her parents. Bethany Anne bowed back slightly. “あなたには、美しくて知的な娘がいます。彼女は、私の個人のチームの大切なメンバーです。あなたは誇り高いはずです.”

  She left the family. Yuko’s father’s mouth was open, and a tear trickled down Yuko’s face. For the next few minutes, Bethany Anne was introduced to the local and national political representatives on stage. Then she was shown the microphone and asked to speak to the crowd.

  ADAM, I want you to connect in with the stadium sound system. Translate my English into Japanese, let me know if you have any questions on the translation.

  As Bethany Anne spoke, she would pause a moment and allow Adam to translate and interject the audio through the sound system. The first couple of times Bethany Anne did this, there was a murmur behind her on the stage as those VIPs realized she wasn't using an interpreter and they did not know whose voice was coming through the stadium speakers.

  Bethany Anne smiled, "Hello, to those here in the stadium and those that are watching the television or video on the Internet. I am Her Royal Highness Queen Bethany Anne. I am also known as the CEO of TQB Enterprises, among other roles. As you can see," she gracefully waved to the ship in the middle of the stadium and then pointed up to the ArchAngel in the sky.

  Bethany Anne continued, “We have advanced our technology to a point where even space is achievable. Many of our employees and my personal retinue love Japan’s people, love your culture, and admire your resilience in the challenging times our world faces right now, so it was decided to connect with your country and your people. We hope to be able to increase our official diplomatic relations with countries around the world, starting with Japan."

  She had to pause as the audience in the stadium roared their approval.

  She finished by speaking in Japanese, “ご支援に感謝します、ユウコのような強い娘が、ニール州から、私たちの世界をより安全な場所を作り、助けることができる国であるためにあなたに感謝します。貴重なお時間をいただき、ありがとうございます.”

  She had to dampen her hearing another fifty percent. The noise was complete bedlam driven by the younger people in the crowd.

  Bethany Anne turned away from the podium, noticing the tears streaming down Yuko’s parent's faces.

  QBS ArchAngel

  “Excuse me,” a good looking man spoke to Mason as he and his family were eating in the cafeteria on the ship. He was holding a food tray, “May I join you?”

  To say Mason had been shocked when they had arrived on the ship would have been a complete understatement.

  Once they landed, and Darryl and Scott had unclipped them, Mason found he was not prepared to answer Sheila’s question of ‘are we in space?'

  The family turned the corner of the container once they stepped out and saw what looked like an opening leading into the darkness of space.

  The only one who wasn’t afraid was Anne.

  “It’s completely safe,” Scott said to the family, “ArchAngel only allows Pods through the gravitic curtain. Anything human would find themselves pushed back whenever they get within twenty feet of the opening.”

  “Did you say gravitic curtain?” Mason asked, trying to catch up with what he was seeing and what he was being told.

  “Well, that’s what we non-propellerheads call it. Marcus has finally decided it was close enough to stop bitching about our name. Oh,” Scott looked down, “I’m sorry, I should watch my words around the young adults.”

  “It’s ok,” Anne looked up at him, “the kids at my school curse all of the time, and the boys are the worst. I’m just thankful no one is smoking in the bathroom, trying to act cool.”

  Scott looked over to her parents, a quizzical look on this face.

  “Wisdom of a wise woman,” Sheila answered his unasked question, “unfortunately it hits her at random times, never when I’m telling her what she needs to know.”

  Scott just shook his head in recognition of something he accepted but didn’t necessarily understand.

  He put up a finger and his eyes lost focus for a split second, “Ok, ArchAngel has provided me with the location of your suite. Let’s get you guys in place and then, after our conference in Japan, I’m sure you will have more conversations.

  Mason and the family had enjoyed their large VIP suite, relaxing together and now eating dinner in the cafeteria. He nodded to the man, “Certainly. I’m Mason,” he nodded to his left, “this is my wife, Sheila and our daughter Anne.”

  “Barnabas,” the man said in introduction. His food plate only had an apple and a ceramic mug with a lid on it. He laid the plate down and seated himself.

  “So, are you doing ok here on the ArchAngel?” he started the conversation while using a knife to peel the apple.

  “It’s cool!” Anne jumped into the conversation, “Do you know the Queen?”

  Barnabas looked down at the little girl. At first, Mason was concerned that she had offended the gentleman, “Yes, young lady. I do know the Queen. In fact, she sent me to speak with you and your parents to help us understand a few things.”

  The clip-clip-clip of nails on the hard floor caught their attention, and they turned to see a huge white German Shepherd come down the lane between the tables heading slowly in their direction.

  Barnabas heard Sheila ask her husband, “Is he safe?” There was a note of fear in her voice.

  “Yes, Ashur is completely safe to anyone who doesn’t attack the Queen,” Barnabas answered.

  “Ashur is his name?” Anne asked, “may I pet him?”

  “I can't answer for Ashur, why don’t you ask him?” Barnabas answered.

  When his name had been spoken, the
dog’s head had turned and honed in on the table talking about him. He had stopped three tables away as if he was waiting to make sure they felt safe around him.

  “Um, why did he stop?” Anne asked.

  “He is waiting to make sure he doesn’t scare you,” Barnabas answered.

  Anne turned to look at Barnabas, “Are you fibbing me? He knows what is going on?”

  “My Queen assures me, he is much smarter than any dog you have ever known.”

  “Does she ever fib?” Anne asked.

  “Well ...” Barnabas paused and scratched his chin. “If you mean would she fib for a joke? Yes, absolutely. Would she lie about something like this? No, she wouldn’t,” Barnabas finished.

  Anne turned back around in her chair, “Ashur, can I pet you?” She raised her voice a little. He broke into a little jog…clipclipclipclip and in a second he was up next to Anne.

  “Oh…my,” Sheila whispered. The dog’s head was as high as Anne’s shoulder sitting on the chair. He was huge.

  Anne put her hand on his neck and started petting him, “Momma, he’s so soft!” Then, Sheila gasped when Anne reached around and held on to Ashur’s neck in a big hug, “Thank you for coming to save me, Ashur.”

  Ashur chuffed to her, “Oh, sorry.” She let up a bit on her hug.

  “This is the dog that was with Bethany Anne?” Mason asked. The sweetness of this dog was at odds with the decisive animal Mason’s memory was telling him was a hunter-killer. His memories were getting foggier and foggier on the details.

  “Yes, this is Ashur. He joined a, uh ... disagreement between Bethany Anne and a few others in South America a few years ago and has been with her ever since. If there was ever a more spoiled dog in this solar system, I don’t know who it is.”

  “No, he isn’t spoiled, he is treated well,” Sheila said, “I’ve seen teacup dogs that are spoiled brats. Ashur here deserves everything he gets.”

  Ashur chuffed in response.

  “It’s almost like he is answering us,” Sheila said.

  “He is,” Anne’s muffled voice came from Ashur’s back, “He tells me you are right, he does earn it.”

  The two parents chuckled at Anne’s imagination and looked to see Barnabas hadn’t joined in their humor, “What?” He asked as the two parents stopped their laughter, “According to Bethany Anne, he does communicate. We just have to be willing to listen.” He shrugged and grinned at them, “I’m not saying she is right or wrong, but I haven’t understood him yet, myself.”

  Ashur chuffed, and Anne giggled, “Ashur said that’s because you are an old-fart with a brain as malu…malubable,” Ashur chuffed again, “mal-u-a-bull as a rock.”

  “Mason,” Sheila whispered, “I don’t think Anne knew the word ‘malleable.'”

  “Uh, I’m certain it must have come up in a science class…I’m sure it had to,” he stammered.

  The dog chuffed again, and Anne released him, turning to her parents, but leaving a hand on his neck, “Can I go with Ashur? He says there is a workout area that I can throw him stuff to fetch? Please?” Anne’s blue eyes opened as wide as she could manage.

  “Um, is it safe?” Sheila turned to Barnabas, not knowing what to expect at the moment.

  He smiled and reached into a shirt pocket. He put a small tablet on the table and slid it across, “ArchAngel?”

  The little tablet lit up, and the five of them could hear a voice come out of the tablet, “Yes, Barnabas?”

  “Is there anyone using the workout room near the forward cafeteria?” he asked.

  “No.”

  “Would you please show the video of the room?”

  The little tablet showed a large room, soft padding on the floor and multiple workout items along the walls.

  “If you give permission, then I imagine we'll see the two of them show up on the screen in about twenty seconds after they leave the table. You can ask ArchAngel to pipe your voice into the room, and they can come back when we are finished ourselves?”

  Sheila looked over at her daughter and squeezed Mason’s hand as she answered, “Ok, you can go.”

  Her mom’s permission wasn’t complete before Anne was out of the seat and running behind Ashur who had taken off out of the cafeteria. Ashur waited at the entrance for the little girl to catch up and the two disappeared out of the room.

  Barnabas watched the anxiousness around Sheila’s eyes relax when she saw her daughter and Ashur show up on the tablet. Sure enough, Anne picked up what looked like a tennis ball and threw it, Ashur taking off after the ball and Sheila and Mason could hear her giggle and call to his name.

  “I still don’t know if I believe the dog was talking, but they are playing,” Sheila said while watching her daughter interact.

  “How do you have gravity up here?” Mason asked, turning his head from the tablet video.

  “TQB implementation of Kurtherian Technology,” Barnabas answered. “Not Vril, certainly. That energy effort, I’m told, is several orders of magnitude less efficient.”

  “How…um, how do you know about Vril?” Mason stammered out.

  “Well, I didn’t know much although ADAM gave me an update. However, I just decided to ask someone who might have a better understanding, and he did.”

  “Who is this?” Mason, his scientific nature taking over.

  “The Yollin scientist, Royleen,” Barnabas answered, a tiny smile playing around the edges of his lips. Sheila watched as this man was reeling in her husband like a fish after a lure, baiting him with little tidbits of information.

  “What’s a Yollin scientist? Is this one of TQB’s companies?” Mason asked.

  “Mason Jayden, you know about Vril, you are part of a group that answers to MJ-12, with technology not even the highest officials in your country’s government know about, and yet you can’t differentiate between one set of aliens and another?”

  Mason’s mouth finally opened, and like a fish, it gasped for a moment or two before answering, “Vril wasn’t ever proven as a viable energy source.”

  “No, because Thule Gesellschaft Maria Orsitsch of Zagreb didn’t handle the information given her correctly. However, the communication did work with the Aldebaran aliens that had settled in Sumeria thousands of years ago. So, the Thule UFO’s and the later Nazi UFO’s your group have hidden are based on technology from the dawn of our technological birth. This,” Barnabas waved about the room, “Is advanced, very advanced, compared to Aldebaran, or, at least this is what I’m led to believe.”

  “How do you know so much about our work?” Mason asked, “The President isn’t even supposed to know.”

  “Oh, he doesn’t, I can assure you,” Barnabas agreed, “Although he suspects much as do many of the leaders who have been on this ship. We are tracking down the group who attacked you. The three we fought were mercenaries and the ones who hired them used untraceable connections. Well, untraceable so far," he clarified.

  “You think you will be able to find them?” Sheila interrupted, “those men aren’t going to be able to get off due to having the right lawyers?”

  Barnabas turned to Sheila, “My lady, those people have already been judged. They will not be dodging their punishment. I assure you.”

  “Good,” Sheila said, squeezing Mason’s hand.