Patsy Murray

by Douglas E Roff

  “You don’t pay the lease. ‘Socios Ltda. of Panama City’ does. And they pay you too.”

  “Been checking me out I see. Adam, I bet.”

  “No, that was me. Adam stays out of my personal life.”

  “So, will I, from now on. My work is finished here; I’ll move on to my next job.”

  “For Liara?”

  “Yes, as a matter of fact. Liara da Deo. Quite a woman in my estimation. Don’t get me wrong, so are you. But sweetie, you are no match for her.”

  “Perhaps, but I am for you. You’re not leaving. Adam wishes to speak with you.”

  “Move, Kalindra, or I’ll be forced to hurt you. I have no issues with you now that my work is complete, but I’m leaving, and you’re in my way.”

  “Sorry, you can’t leave.”

  “Or what? I think as a parting gift and to make up for having to endure all your moralizing bullshit, I’ll have one extremely angry and abusive session such as you’ve never experienced, maybe for a few hours, then I’ll cut you up. Maybe not so pretty after that.”

  Adam walked in the room. “Not today, Zeke. Today you fly off a thirty-story roof. Suicide for embezzlement. You really should have hired a better accountant. Mine is excellent. Especially the forensic accountants who are just remarkable at what they can find.”

  “You’re no match for me, little man, so step aside before I hurt you too.”

  “Appareo!”

  Adam’s jeweled Blade appeared. “This is a My Blade, and if I command it, it will cut you up. Now come with me to the roof. “

  “No.”

  “Niona.”

  Niona entered Zeke, obtained the information sought as Zeke collapsed; Niona put Zeke to sleep then transported him up to the roof. Adam cleared the sidewalk below with a large garbage bin in the alley.

  “Time to go. Sorry, Kalindra, I know you loved him. Come with Niona and I. I have a list of the traitors, those who don’t want to go, and those who can’t leave the City.”

  “You’re not going to …”

  “No just the first group. Everyone else has severance waiting. I wanted to thank them for their service personally.”

  ***

  Severance was handed out, the remaining tech at the Mindwerks disabled or destroyed; only the traitors remained. “You are spies and traitors who work for Liara da Deo. As such, for stealing my property, just not the right property, of course, you all get to die.” The jeweled Blade did its job, returned to Adam’s hand, and the doors were locked up.

  Liara would burn the place to the ground out of fire and fury, but Adam made a killing on the insurance. The grounds were cleared, ready to be rebuilt later.

  ***

  The cruise for the families was terrific for all, and when they landed, Adam told everyone that their mortgages in New York, New Jersey, or Connecticut were paid, their homes maintained, and everything here on the Islands paid for. They would bank every penny but couldn’t leave the Island except for cruises. It would go on for a year, maybe more, but then if they really wanted, they could leave.

  “I will make your stay with us here fun. I must remind you, this is for your own safety. The Mindwerks was torched shortly after we left. Association with me, for the time being, is hazardous to your health.

  “Can we retire here?”

  “Of course! Who wouldn’t want an Island of retired computer nerds to kibbutz with?”

  ***

  Misti gathered all the women, along with Adam for the final conference on what had been done behind everyone’s back.

  Misti said, “This whole thing, including Hecate, all your Immortal wives, and our Lord are in on this. Your wives are all back in the Community, have been piously faithful, are very horny and can’t wait to come for a visit.”

  “Hecate too?”

  “Sorry about the kerfuffle, but yes. It had to look real.”

  “For who?”

  “Liara. Our Lord made some regrettable commitments to her when he created her. Seemed harmless at the time. Not so much now. She’s no challenge to him at present but could rule planets, solar systems, and quite a few Galaxies if she can complete her plan. Our Lord wants her dead, and Niona’s Sari is the only instrument that can do that. Your jeweled Blade and Niona’s jeweled Blade alone cannot. Together, perhaps.”

  “So Niona’s behavior was just an act?”

  “Sorry again, but yes. Well, not entirely. She is pregnant. Our Lord is furious. The child is not yours.”

  “Let us all be clear. That child is mine. Are we clear now?”

  All nodded, chastened that Adam would not countenance the truth even with his wives.

  “You suck. You all suck so much and so big that the word ‘suck’ needs to be redefined to encompass just how much you truly all suck.”

  “We know. And we agree. So, to make up for our lying, deceit, treachery and all-around duplicity, our Lord has said that while we are waiting to meet Saldana’s other two delinquents, you may order us around as much as you wish, day or night and have whatever sexual license with us individually or collectively as you shall alone decide.”

  “Go on.”

  “Saldana is invited here to Adam Central with Darii, or you may visit them alone on their flower island and spend as much time alone with them as you please as a family.”

  “And, what else has been kept from me?”

  “Liara wants you to mate with Saldana and produce offspring. So does, coincidentally, our Lord but for vastly different reasons. Those offspring will be brought to the Community of our Lord’s realm and raised as Cyclical Immortals by Hana and Niona, who are still mated to you. Liara and Saldana’s other two daughters are to be terminated at a time of your choosing.”

  “How do I do that?”

  “Patience, mister, patience. All will be revealed.”

  Chapter 26

  The relocation of workers to the Islands didn’t work out as well as expected. In fact, not at all. Fights broke out about the location and size of accommodation, and a whole host of domestic matters, including boredom and lack of access to shopping. The employees didn’t complain; it was the spouses, both male and female whose biggest complaint was being treated as mere baggage along for the ride.

  Adam called two conferences, one on each Island. He had made a decision, one he hated, but then there was nothing left to be done.

  “This experiment hasn’t been successful; there is constant complaining over trivial matters, and I grow tired of it. Though you all believe you’re indispensable to my work, you are not. I will be sending all of you away, terminated, in forty-eight hours. Prepare yourselves. And I wish you all the best in the future, just never again with me.”

  Adam turned away and left the great hall downstairs walking up the corridor to the residence. Though a mandatory meeting, most of the families didn’t bother; they were bored with Adam, his rules and their lives. They were vocal that, to their way of thinking, Adam and his family were utterly indifferent to whether they lived or died; they just didn’t matter. Adam concluded, with some justification, that they either breached their written agreements, and his trust in them, or they had never believed in his vision from the very start.

  Patsy suggested Adam should consider carefully what he was going to do and say; packing up families and sending them to remote islands to work was not in anybody’s vision of the perfect job. This was an almost impossible “ask” of regular men and women. They had every right to want to be in their homes and their hometowns with their kids and dogs.

  Maybe it was best. He had the Liara thing and his women to figure out, and he didn’t trust them completely anymore either. His mood suddenly changed from pissy and disappointed to contemplative and resolute. Resolute he pondered? About what?

  He knew of course. He was tired and being tired, it was not the best time to make decisions. His walkie-talkie beeped.

  “Yes?”

  “It’s Spangler. We want t
o make a counteroffer. One we think will resolve your issues and allow us to continue. Take away all the toys and perks and big bucks. We don’t care. We want to be a part of this work. We get that you have other issues on your mind. Let this be one less of them. We’ll leave if you want us to. But hear us out tomorrow morning down here. Please.”

  “You’re a good man Spangler. I’ve always liked you. How many do you speak for?”

  “Eight hundred sixty-nine. All fields, all top of their game plus a few promising newbies. Janaia Winters is one of the newbies along with Zoia Camsa. You can lose a lot of us, but I know you don’t want to lose them. Please hear us out.”

  “At seven, downstairs. No one late.”

  “Thanks, boss.”

  ***

  Adam came down the hallway to a room filled only with scientists, techs, materials specialists, physicists and others attached at a high level to the nanite project. Some older children were there too, but not most, and none of the younger children.

  Spangler said, “We’re a few more; the older kids said they should be there in support of all of us, including you. My son said the only adult who knows every kid's name, birthday and interests is you. So, they wanted to stay if you’d allow them.”

  “If we work this out, your kids can stay for sure. They make this place seem normal and home.”

  “I’ll be brief. Everyone who doesn’t work on a project is leaving. All our families, with very few exceptions. All other non-essential staff, all staff that grouse and anyone else that doesn’t want this life for whatever reason. Leave tomorrow. The rest of us want to stay, and we will commit to two years.”

  “It will be very disruptive.”

  Zoia Camsa stepped forward and said, “Isn’t that the point?”

  “I guess it is, isn’t it?”

  Adam scanned the room.

  “You will lose boyfriends and girlfriends maybe even wives and husbands. Are you sure you want to risk that?”

  Janaia Winters said, “Those of us who have someone special have already told them goodbye. They are free to do as they please. There are enough singles here of every persuasion that no one will lack for company. As to the married folk …”

  A man at the back said, “Hookers! Haven’t had sex with my wife in years anyway!”

  Everyone laughed, but a lot of the men and women knew the guy was essentially correct.

  “We’ll figure it out. Let us learn the mind thingy and give us a-rockin' library, and we’ll be right as rain.”

  “I’m inclined to say yes, but I still think problems will arise.”

  “We’ll have our own system. Not your worry. We figured most of it out overnight.”

  Zoia said, “Besides, the ladies who stay might like some other female company. Your lasses might want some new friends too.”

  “You mean Misti, and she will make it her goal to seduce every woman on the Island?

  “A lot of us were kinda hoping so.”

  “All right. You all stay. Figure out your real bedroom assignments, the ones you want. Don’t concern yourself with appearances. Give me team leaders and assignments by Friday.”

  He turned to walk away. “And Spangler, you’re in charge. No complaints go above Spangler. Learn to love him. Period.”

  Adam started to walk away. “And boys, be nice to the girls. And girls, be nice to the boys. There will be no bad behavior that isn’t consensual on my islands.”

  ***

  Zoia and Janaia picked the big apartment they wanted; each had boyfriends in New York but dumped them in favor of the arrangement they preferred. So did most of the single men. Within a week, everyone was “out,” and no one cared. The usual BS back home didn’t operate on the islands. Married men and women, suddenly alone, hooked up more slowly, at first for company and chemistry, then later for sex. As predicted, some marriages ended as life apart did not seem as scary as it might have been before they left home.

  Adam’s people mostly inhabited Island One while a few specialists preferred life on one of the Five Islands; Adam and his women took both of the principal residences on the two largest islands but were not always together in either location. Misti was on Island One “socializing” most days and was busy every night.

  Saldana, Darii, and Adam kept to the two smaller garden islands and life there was sweet and peaceful. Adam neglected no one, and no one complained. The ladies were content, and the five nerds divided themselves between the two married to Adam, who stayed close to him at all times, and the other three who lived in residence on Island One. Alana, as the lead and most skilled hacker, was often with Adam on the Five Islands too.

  Within a month, all was right with the world and most everyone happy in both locations with work, sex, and their newfound freedom.

  Adam went back to work on Liara. The first order of business was finding her.

  Adam’s side trip to Costa Rica was rapidly approaching.

  ***

  Adam, Hanta Ri, and Torii Ri all arrived at the same luxury resort on the outskirts of town near San Jose’s Juan Santamaria Airport on the same day just hours apart. They were escorted by a security contingent and whisked quickly to the top floor penthouse, food drink and gifts labeled especially for the two women by Adam personally. Each had different dietary preferences according to the instructions sent by Liara in preparation, which included no weapons in the luxury suite.

  Adam asked, “May I ask who each of you are?”

  Hanta, the least kind of the two, said, “Are you a fool? We are Liara’s emissaries and Saldana’s wards.

  “No, I mean which of you is Hanta and which is Torii?”

  “I am Hanta the eldest and head of delegation; this is my little sister Torri.”

  “You said ‘wards,’ not ‘daughters’ about yourselves. Are you not Saldana’s daughters too?”

  “Daughter to that weakling. Saldana produced one daughter, the cur named Darii. That is the entirety of her family.”

  “Yet you have been with her for many years?”

  “Centuries. I since Rome and Torii since the Middle Ages.”

  “She has protected you, life after life, yet you hate her?”

  “What concern is that of yours?”

  “None. Idle curiosity.”

  Adam said, “You called the meeting, so what’s on your mind?”

  “We want the woman and the whelp back, and we wish you to surrender unconditionally to Mother.”

  “Mother?”

  Torii said, “Liara.”

  “Oh, her. Liara was once a mother to one of my daughters, you know. No more though; that ended. She’s a full Immortal now and quite in favor with our Lord.”

  Adam paused, then, curiously, asked, “What do I get out of this?”

  “You get to live, and we won’t bother your world or your whores for a thousand years. After that, who knows.”

  “Seems like a shitty trade and one that couldn’t be trusted anyway. Tell your new mum ‘no thanks.’”

  Hanta said, “She will be most displeased. And as for trust, Mother explained how you tricked and raped her. Don’t expect to try that on us. We are armed and prepared.”

  Both women held identical handbags in front of them. Adam grabbed both in one swift move. Yes, I see you came prepared with weapons against our agreed upon rule. I have the right to kill you both right this instant. That was agreed upon too. I think I may just end one of you.”

  Adam pointed the pistol at them and released the safety. Suddenly, he stopped. “Or not. Not yet anyway.”

  Adam smelled something that came from the Gens part of his brain, the sweet odor of fear in your enemy. To a Gens it was intoxicating. He wished to savor the fragrance; the women didn’t move. Then he decided to see if he could produce more from his captive guests. His Gens mind craved the intoxication again like a narcotic.

  Torii was the most frightened, but Hanta was a real psycho. Life, death, what did it matter?


  Adam grabbed them both by their throats and lifted them off the ground, reading their minds as he did so. The ladies failed to notice.

  Adam set them down.

  “Hanta, strip or I shall do it do for you, and not gently. Torii, sit down in that chair and don’t move.”

  “Rape, just like Mother,” said Hanta.

  “I did not rape your mother. Or take advantage of her in any way.”

  Unclothed, Adam could see that Hanta had a knife taped to her back, and one more each to each of her inner thighs. “Remove them now.”

  “Go ahead,” she said. ‘I think you will enjoy the suppleness of my body.”

  “Agreed, right after you wash the poison off your fingernails and the same for your lipstick. Torii, join your sister in the bathroom. When you come out, you will each lick the others fingers while I watch and you will each kiss each other with passion until I tell you to stop. Now go!”.

  “I object. We’re sisters.”

  “No, you’re not. Besides you have forced yourself on Torii many times, haven’t you Hanta.”

  “You have invaded our minds. You’re as false as Mother said you were.”

  Adam threw Hanta a robe and told Torii to step into the bathroom. Adam bound Hanta with plastic ties.

  When they were in the bathroom alone together, Adam asked, “Do you wish to remain with Mother, or come with me?”

  “I don’t know. If I believed you, I’d want to return to my Mom. But if you are false, I wish to remain with Mother.”

  “Fair enough. You have the knowledge. Mind transfer?”

  “Yes.”

  “You can tell false memories from real ones?”

  “Yes.”

  “This is the two weeks I spent with Liara and the conception of our child, Hecate. You may see all my lives if you wish, and judge for yourself who is truthful and who is not.”

  Torii took some time, but in a compressed state, the viewing only took minutes.

  Torii looked at Adam and hugged him.

  “How do we escape.”

  “Air Immortal.”

  ***

  Adam had gotten everything he wanted, and more. He beckoned for Niona, escaped with Torii and alerted his security detail to move out, head for the airport and leave.