Step on the Sun

by Doug Plamping

  Sally said, crossing her arms, “So now you believe me!”

  * * *

  Amy woke first, and staff was in her right hand, again. Her hand was on the symbols in the middle of the staff, and she realized that was how she was holding it on other mornings. She hadn’t told Sally, but Amy had woken up with the staff in her hand at home every morning, but she’d just assumed that she was sleep walking. What was going on with the staff? She’d also had a dream about being in a big yellow space, a dream that she’d had at home as well. Amy woke Sally, “Let’s see what we have; the staff was in my bed again.”

  Sally went straight to the camera, “There are six videos, including me switching it off.”

  They both freshened up while the videos downloaded to the laptop. The first two were of Amy going to, and returning from, the toilet. The second two were Sally doing the same thing.

  Video number five was different. Amy watched, shocked, as the video showed the staff, leaning on the side of the closet just sliding upwards, but it didn’t go through the top of the closet, it disappeared in to a glowing red disk. On the upper left of the frame, was the staff appearing above Amy’s bed, sliding out of a similar glowing red disk until the entire staff was hovering over Amy’s bed. At that point the glowing red disks in the closet and over Amy’s bed disappeared. Then the staff slowly dropped down out of the frame, where she had woken up with it in her hand.

  Sally stuttered, “See I told you! Sacred objects don’t do that!”

  Amy wasn’t ready to answer that question yet. “Obviously they do. Play it in slow motion. I want to see if the part of the staff that disappears is appearing at the same time from the red disk.”

  “OK, but you’re still going to have to explain this!” Sally played the video in slow motion, and they watched it carefully, “You’re right; the part that disappears in the closet is appearing at the same time over your bed. You still owe me an explanation.”

  “Yes, I do. But I gave my oath…”

  Sally interrupted, “You and your word!”

  “…to keep what we are doing secret…”

  Sally interrupted again, “But there’s nothing on Earth that can do that!”

  “…This is a sacred object, and we were taught about some of its powers, but it has other powers that we don’t know about.”

  “Powers?! What have you gotten into?”

  “Yes, powers, and I can’t tell you now. Later. But you’re right, there’s nothing on Earth that can do this.”

  Sally just sat with her mouth open, then shaking her head, “Nothing on Earth! It’s alien? It can’t be!”

  “It is, and I can’t tell you how we know.”

  Sally looked at her intently, “Your oath?”

  “Yes.”

  “You want me to stop asking questions you won’t answer.”

  Amy shrugged, “Yes.”

  “But you will tell me later?”

  “Yes. When we graduate, or before.”

  “You’re frustrating! You know that?”

  “Yes.” Amy sighed, and squeezed Sally’s shoulder, “Sorry!”

  Sally was quiet for a while, “OK. If we weren’t best friends I’d have thrown you out already. But having sacred alien objects flying around my room is going to freak me out. I don’t believe this! We have to make some changes.”

  “What changes?” Amy was worried that this might be the end of their friendship.

  “We turn your bed around so your right hand is by the wall. That way you won’t drop it on the floor.”

  “OK, no problem.” Amy agreed, relieved.

  “That’s not all! You will go to bed every night with the staff in your right hand, even if you have a guy in the bed.” Amy opened her mouth to protest that there wouldn’t be a guy in her bed, but realized this wasn’t the time to argue that. Sally continued, “That will stop it flying around, I hope. I can’t believe I’m helping you when you won’t tell what’s going on!”

  Amy hugged her, “Thanks. You, sister, are the best friend!”

  * * *

  From: Amy La Reine

  Sent: Friday, 9:08am

  To: Frank, Paul

  Subject: Staff

  First week done! Good to be back at University. When we video chat I need to tell you about staff. Things have been just flying around here and we have the video to prove it!

  Love

  Amy

  “There's only one Elizabeth like me and that's the Queen.” - Elizabeth Arden

  * * *

  Paul had replied to her email, telling Amy not to send the video as he wanted to set up encryption on her email and files first.

  Amy was now driving from university to her parent’s home in Charleston, South Carolina for a short weekend, and to talk business with her Dad. She needed to be back at Duke by Sunday night. Glancing at Simon’s staff lying in the back seat, she thought about ‘why’ the staff needed to be with her each night, and what was it doing? If it had a purpose, what was it? She worried about that as she drove the 300 miles on Interstates 40, 95, and 26 to her parent’s place. She also rehearsed what she was going to say to her Dad about setting up a company. Less than a month ago she would have said she was going home. Now she wasn’t sure where home was?

  She'd put this meeting off for too long. Amy had asked to meet Dad in his office, even though it was after the time he normally left on a Friday. Dad liked to keep business stuff away from the house, so his office was in a small rental space in a strip mall near their house. Dad said that parking was easy and there was no wait for elevators. Amy parked in front of the glass windows right under the Larei Enterprises sign, the name being a play on their surname; you couldn’t surprise anyone here.

  The front door was open, and Dad was in his office at the back of the rental space. Amy liked his office; it was spacious with a giant antique desk where her Dad worked, a modern computer workstation in one corner, and a meeting table with four chairs in the opposite corner; very practical. On the shelves were plaques and trophies, photos of Dad with famous people, and family photos. Some of the photos, including the one of Dad and the President, taken years before he became President, intrigued her.

  Dad was already out of his chair to give her a hug, “How was your first week?”

  Amy kissed her Dad on the cheek, “It was good. Caught up with friends who were returning, and of course, Sally is my roommate again. No problems with my course schedule, a few minor changes, but that’s expected. Still on track to graduate in the spring. And you?”

  “Not much. Had a call on an old patent we have on mounts for auxiliary machine guns. They want to use the mount when they recondition some of the older models of the Bradley, that’s the M2 Tracked Armored…”

  Amy smiled and interrupted the explanation, “I know what a Bradley is. I was an army brat remember?”

  Dad continued, “Just making sure you understood. It isn’t a large number of units, so a per vehicle accounting would just lead to a lot of paperwork. So we negotiated a lump sum price that made everyone happy.”

  “That’s the spring and shock absorber mount?” Amy asked.

  “Yeah! The old one, it’s simpler to build. They’d had a few close calls with friendly fire when the vehicle bounces. The mount allows the machine gun to bounce when the vehicle hits a ditch or a boulder. Bounces with the operator. Not perfect, but it should keep the gun closer to the target. Also they can make our mount from parts available from any automobile parts shop, and they didn’t want to delay the project.”

  “Sounds good. Seeing we’re saving Americans lives, I’m sure they talked you into a big discount?”

  Dad laughed, “Yeah! That’s the first thing your Mom said.”

  “You’re getting predicable Dad!”

  He just shrugged, “So, why did you want to meet me here,” he asked, sitting down behind the desk.

  Amy pulled some notes out of her purse, took a quick look, and then started, “Its business, and I know you l
ike to do business here. You’ve set up dozens of companies to manage your patents. I want you to help me to set up a company.”

  “They’re ‘our’ patents, a family asset. Aren’t you going to be too busy with your studies to run a company?”

  “Yes, but until we finish university there will be only occasional transactions.”

  “We?”

  “Paul, Frank, and me.”

  Amy saw that answer didn’t surprise her Dad, he asked, “What business would this company be in?”

  Amy knew that this would raise the toughest questions. “Initially, it would just be to sell the gemstones that we now have. We’ll continue to sell precious stones we receive, and money would go from the company to all of us, to pay for travel, and our university expenses. Later, after our graduation, I think it would be a holding company with subsidiary companies for selling ideas, goods, and herbs we obtain, to customers in the US, Canada, and Italy. I stole that idea from you.”

  Dad shrugged off the complement, “Why are you being paid in precious stones?”

  Amy carefully answered, she didn’t want to break her word, but she needed to give enough information to satisfy her Dad, “Precious stones are the only form of payment we can bring back, and we intend to travel to Mexico on our breaks instead of working.”

  “Why not money? Pesos or dollars would be easier?”

  “We can’t say, but it’s the only form of payment we can bring back.”

  “From where?”

  “That’s also confidential.”

  Dad’s eye’s flicked briefly to the ceiling, he was getting frustrated. “This has something to do with that priest Simon?”

  “Yes.”

  “Where will these goods and herbs come from?” he asked in a demanding tone.

  “We promised to keep that confidential too.”

  Dad’s whole body was tense. “So why should I help you? You can go to any decent lawyer with this.”

  “Yes, we could have,” answered Amy, unclenching her fists, keeping her emotions in check, “but I wanted to keep it in the family. We promised to keep certain things confidential now, but we’ll tell our families later.”

  Dad was leaning forward, and holding his pen so tightly Amy worried it might break, “This isn’t illegal? These aren’t conflict diamonds are they?”

  “No! But it will be hard to explain the source. We can make sure that we don’t bring back diamonds. Good point. I’m just asking you to trust us. Will you help us even though I can’t answer your questions?”

  Dad carefully put the pen down, “Why not use your trust fund for the money you need?”

  “All three of us will be contributing to this. Paul and Frank won’t accept a free ride.”

  “You’re not going to tell me the source of the gemstones, or why you’re doing this, are you?” His tone and the fold of flesh between his eyebrows reflected that he was not used to an Amy who kept secrets.

  “No, we’re not going to say, we promised to keep it confidential. Will you help us anyways?”

  Dad stared at her, worry lines on his face, “Do you intend to pay taxes?”

  “Yes. The money should come to us legally.”

  Dad relaxed a little, “Good. I’m still concerned that you might be getting yourselves into trouble, but I’m glad you came to me. You understand that everything you have told me, and not told me, will be told to your Mother,” Dad said with a wry grin. Amy nodded, knowing that this step was easy compared to the grilling she’d get from Mom. Dad treated her mostly as an adult who was making her own decisions in life. Mom didn’t!

  Amy and her Dad discussed a number of options for the company, especially for the long term. Amy’s vision for the company hadn’t been complete when she had talked about it with Paul and Frank. She now knew that they would need a lot of money to support themselves out in the Isolated Planets, or when they came back to Earth, if they weren’t to sponge off family or friends. They would need thousands of dollars for airfares to and from Mexico, plus other expenses. They needed to somehow pay for a place in the Isolated Planets as well. Amy didn’t intend to live in a tent the rest of her life. Trading goods between the Isolated Planets and Earth seemed the simplest answer, but they would have to figure out what would be the best items to trade.

  Amy’s Dad explained to her why it was important to create something that gave the tax flexibility they would need later for a trading company, or they would have to start all over again. They finally decided to set up an international holding company, with the first subsidiary being a Mexican mining company, and later they would add trading companies for the US, Canada and Italy. This would, unless someone looked closely, explain the precious stones and allow them to sell to wholesalers without questions. The use of the holding company would also help disguise the sources of revenue to anyone who might become suspicious. Amy understood part of this as she’d absorbed some of this technical stuff when they’d held their family business meetings. In the past she had thought those meetings boring; now she wished she’d paid more attention.

  Amy insisted that they share ownership of the holding company equally among the three of them, and provided Paul and Frank’s full legal names and their addresses. He would be sending forms to all of them to sign. Amy agreed that her Dad would be the President and CEO initially, taking care of all of the paperwork for them. Dad offered, and Amy agreed, that he would advance the expenses to set up the companies as a loan, a loan to be repaid from the sale of the gemstones.

  Amy reached down into her bag and pulled out a hand sewn leather sack. She poured out the sapphires she’d picked up from soil for Simon’s grave. Seven sapphires, along with bits of grass, fern, and dirt landed on the desk. Amy looked at her Dad, “These raw sapphires are typical of what we can bring back. I had them weighed and checked by a jeweler when we were in Mexico. Together they would be worth about $21,000 retail, but that would have raised too many questions. When the mining company is set up we should be able to get about ten to twelve thousand at wholesale prices, with fewer questions.”

  Amy’s Dad just looked at the sapphires for a minute before reaching out to pick one up and hold it against the light from his desk lamp. Amy didn’t think she flinched when he gave her a penetrating look. “OK, I’ve enough information for now; it will take a couple of weeks to set this up. Gems from every mine are unique; there will be questions as to where these came from, so we’ll sell them as a new find. If there are any questions we can just say we’re buying from a prospector who is keeping the location secret. As long as we pay taxes the government will leave us alone. Why don’t you go home and see Mom; she’s expecting you. I’ll make a few phone calls and join you later. It will take at least a month before we can sell these sapphires. Is that a problem?”

  “That’s not a problem. Cool! Thanks Dad. See you at home.” Amy gave him a quick hug, and took the opportunity to leave while she could.

  * * *

  Luc waited until Amy had pulled out of the parking lot. He made a decision. Even if the gemstones were legitimate, Amy could get herself in trouble. He didn’t want to cause a rift between them by trying to force Amy to tell him what was going on, and besides, Amy was too stubborn for that to work. Luc dialed a number from memory. “Hi, Sammy, this is Luc La Reine. How are you doing? How busy is your investigation firm right now?”

  Sammy answered, “I’m doing fine, Luc, and the business is doing well. We have five investigators now, all ex-army like us, and Gin has joined us now, so that’s really six.”

  “I thought Gin was applying for the Secret Service?”

  “She did, but they turned her down. While Gin figures out what to do next, she’s doing some work for us.”

  “How does her pretty face fit in?”

  “With us grizzled ex-army types you mean? Very well actually, people will talk to her when they just clam up on us ugly types. So,” added Sammy, “I have a feeling that this is not just a social call.”

  “Yo
u’re right Sammy. Amy, my daughter, is into something that doesn’t feel right; she’s being very secretive. Wants me to sell some gemstones for her, but won’t say where they come from. I need you to check the backgrounds of some people, find the source of the gemstones, and it will involve working in Mexico. Can you handle that?”

  “No problem, Luc. Why not make Amy tell you?”

  Luc found that hard to answer, “I don’t want to damage our relationship. Even this long after the incident, things are still fragile. She trusted me enough to come to me for help. I don’t want to push her away.” Sammy was one of the few people, outside of the family, that knew about Amy’s incident.

  “OK, fair enough. How about I come over to your office late Monday afternoon and you can give me all the details you have. I’ll take those gemstones and run some tests. You understand that this will take a few months.”

  Luc understood that having worked with Sammy on some Army Intelligence investigations, but it was different when it involved family; he knew he had to be patient. “Yeah. I know. I’m not giving you a lot to start with, but I’d appreciate any rush you can put on it.”

  “That’s understood, Luc.”

  “And bring your golf clubs; I haven’t clobbered you for a long time.”

  “You wish!”

  Next, Luc phoned home. Rosemary was in.

  * * *

  Amy’s Mom met her at the front door.

  “Well?” she asked.

  Amy took a deep breath.

  Chapter 12 – Enemies Prepare

  Greg Dennison was watching a man he only knew by his title, World Security Director. Each time they’d met, a different alias had been used.

  This was a successful legal firm, and the expensive furnishings and artworks were there to proclaim that fact. The law firm had some important political and commercial clients, so they swept the room for electronic listening devices each week. The two meeting in the boardroom were certain they could not be overheard. Dennison was in his late thirties, well groomed, and dressed in one of those expensive suits that placed him on the ladder as an up and coming lawyer.

  The Director was looking out of the window over the buildings of the financial district in New York City, apparently considering the verbal report John had given on the failure of the operation. Dennison was so afraid that his hands were shaking; he hid them under the conference room table. The Director looked to be fifty, perhaps, fifty-five years old. He ran the worldwide security operations of something known to those in it as The Organization. It wasn’t a criminal organization, although they did threaten, blackmail, or steal, when necessary. The Organization controlled a web of legitimate businesses and trust funds, but liked to exercise its muscle and power to ensure that its businesses were always profitable.